JUNE 9th, 2010
In a sign of things to come Copenhagen has become the first Scandinavian city to adopt a mandatory green roof policy. The policy is a keystone in Copenhagen’s drive to become a carbon neutral city by 2025. From now on, all buildings built with roof slopes of 30 degrees or less will be required to be covered with vegetation. This policy could mean as much as 5,000 square metres of grassy Danish roofs a year.
Source: Inhabitat
JUNE 7th, 2010
Vending machines have been turned on their head as part of a new concept dreamed up by Pepsi, Waste Management and Keep America Beautiful. Aimed at curbing some of the 100 billion cans and bottles that are thrown away each year instead of being recycled, the machine accepts rather then dispenses cans. Customers who use the Dream Machines will be given redeemable points and prizes in exchange for their unwanted cans and bottles. The project is in it’s infancy, but is ultimately expected to account for $400 million containers a year. Surely the most refreshing vending machine around.
Source: Webecoist
APRIL 23rd, 2010
Burned your last piece of toast recently? Locked your car keys in your car again? Chances are it’s Nick Clegg’s fault. The world of Twitter reacted to the right wing media’s coordinated assault on Nick Clegg by deciding that if Murdoch’s press could cook up four separate front stories defaming Nick Clegg, then the twitterati could do the same.
#NickCleggsFault was the second most popular topic on twitter yesterday, with the Lib Dem leader being blamed for world woes as disparate as Walker’s choice of blue coloured crisp packets for cheese and onion crisps and the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. Comedian Armando Iannucci got in on the act with the brilliant #nickcleggsfault Nick Clegg lived in the same town as a seriously ill man and never visited him, even though he knows he has a spare kidney. This episode proved a timely reminder of the devolution of power from the press to the people that social media is providing.
Source: Guardian
MARCH 31st, 2010
Spanish illuminists reclaimed the streets for an night in Brooklyn with their installation Literature versus traffic. The artists spent 2 days combining some 800 books with lights, before taking to a Brooklyn street in the early hours and laying them on the road. As you can see above, the results were ethereal and provoking. The artists hope their piece will be the first of many battles to be won against traffic. For more pictures from this and other installations, check out their website at luzinterruptus.com
MARCH 30th, 2010
Windows are undoubtedly brilliant, providing free light and views of the outside world. Technologically speaking though, they haven’t really moved on since double glazing was invented in the 1930’s. Until now that is: The Kyosemi Corporation have just unveiled transparent solar panels, capable of being integrated into decorative domes, glass bricks and windows.
The Sphelar solar cells are solidified drops of silicon, 1.8mm across. As well as being transparent, their spherical nature means they can pick up sunlight from all angles and therefore at all times of day. Sometime soon, glass towers such as the London Gherkin should be able to generate their own power.
Source: dvice
MARCH 26th, 2010
Alistair Darling faced his toughest critics when he released his budget on Wednesday: the British public. The twitterati were out in force for the chancellor’s speech, with a whopping 11,132 #budget 2010 tweets during the speech, averaging 2.29 tweets a second. In a reassuring sign of the nations priorities, the main bugbear seemed to be the price hike in cider. The facebook group Leave Our Cider Alone was set up immediately and had shot up to 10,000 members by the early evening. A high profile endorsement by those well known crusaders for social justice The Wurzels, didn’t hurt the groups cause.
Political parties got in the act as well. The Conservative’s set up www.yourbudgetresponse.co.uk, a website that optimistically hoped to enlist young Tories with time on their hands to sift through the budget document and flag any stealthy tax rises Labour may have tried to sneak in. The above picture gives a flavour of the main themes of Darling’s speech, it is a result of the BBC running it through the nifty visualisation tool Wordle.
Source: BBC
MARCH 26th, 2010
General Motors has given us a glimpse into the future with the announcement of a new electric-smart vehicle. The EN-V is a fully electric, two wheeled vehicle that can fit two passengers and creates zero emissions.
The intelligent vehicle is able to communicate with other cars to avoid accidents and can navigate itself with an advanced GPS system. A video of the recent unveiling in Shanghai can be found here.
Interested buyers face a lengthy wait though, as the EN-V is not scheduled for release until 2030.
Source PSFK
AUGUST 27th, 2009
We live in an age of information overload, attention deficit and general brand-bashing. It’s a bad time to be a brand, nobody likes big brands anymore they’re just not fashionable. So how do the big names fight back and beat the brand-boycott? They get subversive, and suddenly nothing is what it seems and it gets a bit difficult to tell who’s selling what.
McDonalds has spent generations actively building one of the world’s most instantly recognizable brands. However, you wouldn’t know it by looking at the latest two McDonalds to open in Toyko. “Quarter Pounder” (pictured above) offers only two choices on the menu and there’s not a glimmer of golden arches.
Meanwhile another high street giant, Starbucks, is undergoing a process of complete brand-abandonment. The famous coffee shop is opening new stores that not only make no mention of their owners but also deliberately mock the much criticized faux-ambiance of traditional Starbucks shops.
It is hard to know what to make of these changes but one thing is for sure, ‘no brand’ is the new brand and its seems to be working.
Source: WebUrbanist
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