Cool Hunting
| 11 June 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Mac OS X Leopard
by Ami Kealoha
At Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference today, Steve Jobs showed off several new features in Leopard, the forthcoming release of Mac OS X, including a new, clean look for the desktop and Finder.
Taking its design cues from recent versions of iTunes, Leopard is focused on keeping files on your Mac neat and accessible. "Stacks," a new automated organizing system, groups recently downloaded files and current projects into menus which spring from the three-dimensional dock, keeping your desktop free from clutter. Coverflow has been extended to the operating system itself, letting you browse your files just like cover art in iTunes and preview them without having to open an application. Jobs reviewed previously announced features such as Time Machine, Leopard's automatic backup utility, and Spaces, which lets you organize your open applications on virtual desktops, keeping them organized by function and reducing window clutter.
There is also an emphasis on sharing in Leopard. Computers on your local network now appear in a collapsible section of the sidebar, just like a DVD or iPod, and can be searched using Spotlight. Subscribers to .Mac have this level of integration extended to all their machines, using Apple's web service to simplify the process of remote connections. And the crowd-pleasing upgrade to iChat not only features slick backgrounds and effects in video chats, but allows live sharing of files with your chat buddies.
By adopting many of the familiar interface elements from iTunes and integrating them across the Mac operating system, Leopard is obviously appealing to Apple's new audience. But it feels in step with the classic Apple mantra of "it just works," and is proof that Apple designers remain focused on simplicity and elegance in the way we interact with technology.
Mac OS X Leopard will go on sale this October 2007 for $129.
by Adam Simon
Veneer
by Ami Kealoha
A new collection of 18 books to be published quarterly over the next five years, Veneer resists easy definition—it's the kind of thing you really shouldn't think to hard about. When we met the founder, Flint Jamison, in Portland a couple months ago, he described Veneer as a venue for experts to write about their area of expertise. It's a 'for geeks by geeks' kind of thing, almost like a curated print edition of blogs. As Flint writes, "It vaguely reminds me of the internet."
The inaugural issue (launching at a gong-style reading with paintball instead of gongs on next month in Portland) includes filmmaker George Kuchar's hilarious take on "French people," Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly in conversation with Ray Kurzwiel on The Singularity and anti-Mormon activists Sandra and Jerald Tanner discussing a famous trial. Each issue will be printed in a different format and you can either purchase the entire set of 18 or buy them individually here.
Ice in a Can
by Ami Kealoha
It's summer. And hot. According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there are an increasing number of teen and preteens who getting hyperthermia (advanced state of heatstroke). The condition occurs when the body absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. Serious stuff—it's even lead to fatalities. Osaka's Kiribai Chemical Co., who invented those clever kairo hand warmers, has released a series of cooling packs to keep kids and teenagers from melting.
Heads can stay chilled thanks to the company's hat cool pack, which can be affixed to any cap. It lowers body temp by two degrees celsius (about 3°F). There's also an ice-in-a-can spray that shoots out -10 degree frost onto towels for handy face wiping. Each can contains about 70 squirts! But the best place to ice down? Necks and pits. A 15 degree cool neck wrap keeps arteries from boiling over and helps with circulation. The arm pit packs help reduce body heat in the chest. Kiribai recommends using both together for best results. So cool. Literally.
by Brian Ashcraft
Blomus Pinwheel
by Jacob Resneck
The spinners also make good gifts for dads and are available from Unica Home or Sleekspaces. These ornaments have sharp edges so are not recommended for small hands.
Maker Faire 2007: Part One
by m ss ng p eces
In the first of a two-part series, we visit Make magazine's second annual Maker Faire in the SF Bay Area. There we meet Dale Dougherty, the editor and publisher of Make and founder of the Maker Faire. We also learn about Art Center College for Design professor Phillip Van Allen's open source hardware and software for creating interactive objects and tools called Net Connect, that he developed in collaboration with Moto. John Dyer shows us his homemade Tesla Coil and ITP student James N. Sears explains his inspirations for Orb and UltraOrb, 3-D displays he made using rotating LCDs.
