Cool Hunting
| 08 October 2007view entries from: this week | this month | view previous day | view next day |
Pure Cocoa Collection Shots
by Ami Kealoha
If you're looking for a way to get a calorie-free chocolate fix, Pure Inventions makes a line of supplements that packs all the antioxidant benefits of chocolate into a couple droppers full of liquid. Made using their proprietary blend of cocoa extract and powder and sweetened with Lo Han fruit, the collection includes three flavors (plain, vanilla and mint) which can be added to water or anything else to reap the blood pressure-lowering, skin-improving and other helpful benefits of chocolate.
We found the taste to be much like other "health food" chocolates we've tried—without the creaminess of regular chocolate and with a fruity sweetness that grows on you. As a water boost or added to yogurt, ice cream or milk, as recommended, it makes for an easy and tasty way to kick up your antioxidant regime. A set of all three flavors is $50 from Pure Inventions.
Jill Greenberg: Ursine
by Ami Kealoha
The latest subject to get photographer Jill Greenberg's black-belt photoshop treatment are members of the Ursidae family. Known for her images of crying babies and more recently for her portraits of monkeys, the bear series continues to explore themes of humanity, emotion and duality seen in her previous work. Like with her other subjects, the bears express a range of often contradictory feelings, running the gamut from menacing to positively charming.
The new models required outdoor shoots in Canada (for behind-the-scenes footage watch our video) and the resulting large-scale photographs, retouched in Jill's trademark painterly way, undermine the beast's ferocity with hyper-realist sentiment.
Also running concurrently at the same gallery, Jill's "End Times" series of hysterical babies is not to be missed.
Jill Greenberg: Ursine
Opening Reception: 11 October 2007, 6-8pm
11 October-24 November 2007
ClampArt
521-531 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10011 map
tel. +1 646 230 0020
Also on Cool Hunting: Jill Greenberg: Monkey Portraits, Jill Greenberg: End Times
Elektroon Electric Bike
by Ami Kealoha
Giving mopeds of yore a new look and an energy boost, Citydoo's Elektroon relies on pedal power to get up to speed before the electric engine kicks in. But once it does, it can hit speeds up to 40 mph and the battery will keep it going for about 80 miles. To recharge, the bike plugs into a standard outlet and six hours later, it's good to go again.
Silent and clean, it's an eco-friendly way to get around town. It's currently available only in a few locations in France for €790.
Piezoelectric Concept Backpack
by Tim Yu
Capitalizing on the friction and heat created by walking, running and even just wearing jeans, engineers from Michigan Technological University, Arizona State University and NanoSonic Inc. devised a way to use this type of generated energy in a concept backpack that can charge portable electronic devices, like iPods and mobile phones.
Shoulder straps made of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a strong, flexible material that feels similar to nylon, are piezoelectric, which means that an applied stress generates an electrical charge (just like when you rub your feet on the carpet and shock your baby sister). Converting otherwise wasted, ambient energy into electrical energy, there's virtually no difference in the feel or characteristics of PVDF versus normal nylon. Now, all the rubbing of your backpack straps on your shoulders could finally be put to good use and you can leave heavy batteries and bulky chargers at home.
Expect to see this new design in soldiers' backpacks in the near future. A little further down the line we could be seeing such energy-harvesting systems integrated into our more normal line of outerwear.
Also on Cool Hunting: Power Pack
