adicolor Podcast: White (aka adiporn)

by Josh Rubin

Continuing the adicolor blow-out, adidas has commissioned 7 different directors to make video shorts for each adicolor hue. The first one just dropped—White was created by Tronic and stars Jenna Jameson playing a game of whack-a-mole. Apparently we now have adiporn, but don't get too excited—it is work safe.

You'll find the RSS feed for the adicolor podcasts here.

M3 Summit 2006

by Josh Rubin

Already in its third year the M3 Summit is beginning to take shape as an informative, energetic and eclectic festival. It is the ideal alternative to shivering through late March in New York. M3 in sunny Miami Beach makes you feel like you are cheating on winter with spring.

This past weekend the Surf Comber and National hotels on Collins Ave in Miami Beach hosted panel discussions with minds like Chris Anderson and Giles Peterson. The theme of this years festival revolved around the ‘Long Tail’ article by Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired magazine. The Long Tail, is a term that suggests, amongst other things, that the era of the ‘big hit’ is over and that the future economics of entertainment will be decided by mini mass markets and niche audiences. Not a revolutionary idea, but refreshing to hear from the editor of Wired.

Caddy

by Jacob Resneck

Wood & Wood Design, a consultancy firm in London, has hit upon the novel idea of combining a mobile suitcase with a walker. While the "Caddy" (as their product has come to be called) is designed as a mobility-aid, who wouldn't want a suitcase they could lean their weight on while careening across the O'Hare airport terminal in a frantic rush to make Gate 28 that's just made its last "final boarding call for passengers..."

The Caddy is still in its prototype phase while Wood & Wood seeks a development partner, but they were happy to give us this exclusive first look.

More pics after the jump.

Jun: Always Loving You—Love Songs in 5 Languages

by Evan Orensten

Add a little international flare to your romantic dinner with Japanese singer Jun's album of love songs. Born on a farm in Japan, Jun began singing along with Japanese and American pop songs he heard on the radio before he could walk. After a career as a caberet soloist in Japan and appearances Off-Broadway in NYC, he has recorded Always Loving You—Love Songs in 5 Languages, his first album.

Jun and his music director and arranger, Marvie Asakura (who played with the legendary Duke Ellington), take you on a compelling journey of love and its many faces through novel arrangements of classic songs by Porter, Trenet, Styne, Rogers, Manzenaro, Tanimura, Hatutori, and Sato. All of the tracks are accompanied by a string quartet and piano/jazz guitar/bass rhythm section that combines the aesthetics of Japanese folk music and the American swing era to create a funky, vintage structure for Jun's soothing vocals in French, Italian, Spanish, English and his native Japenese.

The album also has some serious moments and ends with a stirring rendition of Seeger's Where Have All the Flowers Gone with an abrupt line of unaccompanied spoken text, "They are all in uniform."

Available from Amazon.

Contributed by Edwin Cahill

Miss A Kit

by Josh Rubin

Based in Sydney, The Useful Chick Stuff Company makes products "for when the gods of fashion decide that today is not going to be your day." The Miss A kit is basically a pink Swiss Army Knife optimized for the girl on the go—it has a flashlight, keychain, needle and thread, safety pin, corkscrew, mirror, tweezers, perfume bottle, bottle opener, screwdriver, scissors, ruler, nail file, pill box and even a knife.

$19.95 from The Useful Chick Stuff Company via ThreeThousand

Ed. note: I know I'm a bit out of school writing about girl stuff, but I figured I'd give this one a go.

Star Electric Eighty Eight: Pursuit of Happiness

by Josh Rubin

It's finally starting to feel like Spring is here—time to start thinking about sun, fun and of course T-shirts. One of our favs from last year, Star Electric Eighty Eight, just sent us pics of their latest collaboration. Called Pursuit of Happiness the designs were made by Harlem, New York based Jennifer Garcia and her ex-husband Anton Lopez. Drawing from both obvious and more obscure influences, the new line explores both "synthetic happiness and real bliss." Irony is often explicit, like in this one called I'm So Happy, which story book, candy land like scene made up of pills (click to zoom). Pursuit of Happiness will be available here in New York at Zakka and also online at SEEE.US.

Jennifer talks about the process of making the line, which is pictured, after the jump.

The Trip

by SummerSeventySix

This is a very early heads up, I admit, but trust me, it's worth it. The Trip has been one of the best-conceived compilation series of the past couple of years, allowing as it does a choice number of DJs and musicians to let their many and varied tastes run wild over a double-album. Eclectic is an understatement.

Of the seven releases so far, Tom Middleton's has been by far the best, mainly because on paper, it looks like it just shouldn't work. Seamlessly combining rarities, oddities and obscure covers from every decade since the 60s, it was the soundtrack to my summer a couple of years ago. Now, he's set to finally mix a second volume, and I can't wait.

The label tells me it's hoping to release the record by June, but as Tom's partner's expecting a baby pretty soon, that's not completely certain. Whenever it's out though, it is sure to be utterly essential, so I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, Joey Negro's stab at The Trip has just come out and is worth a listen. Or, check out Tom's original before the baby/follow-up arrives, safe and sound I hope.

Rubik's Sudoku

by Evan Orensten

Rubik's x Sudoko = this travel friendly, programable game. No word on the official Rubik's site but the game is already hitting (virtual) store shelves in advance of its expected U.S. release in May 2006 (and a bargain at an expected MSRP of around $14). The colored tiles help you visualize your rows/squares. Simply set up the board to replicate the starting point of any puzzle, and play from there.

The set comes with a case and a book of 100 puzzles and is currently available from Amazon U.K. for £9.99. Can't wait? We found it available for preorder from Fun Again in the U.S. for $12.55.