T.O.O.B. Dome Screens

by CH Contributor

by Julie Wolfson

Imagine being in an epic Star Wars battle, standing on stage playing Guitar Hero or an Animal Planet show where you can practically touch the tigers. T.O.O.B. makes an iMax-like video experience possible with their new omni-directional digital dome screen.

As 3D movies take over the entertainment landscape, the market for ways to make entertainment more experiential increases. Animator and inventor Alexander Marten McDonnell woke in the middle of the night with a big idea and stayed up sketching out preliminary plans to bring the big screen 3D experience home. That night T.O.O.B. was born.

McDonnell had always been fascinated with the Mugar Omni Theatre in his hometown of Boston. While searching for a dome projection for his home, he thought, "Why not make one?" His home dome screens aim to give cinephiles, gamers and technology enthusiasts an immersive experience at an affordable price.

So far the response has been enthusiastic. One of the first T.O.O.B. customers is a legendary champion of technology, NASA who purchased a screen for display and are considering future options for how they could incorporate them into their many programs.

The home screen (three feet x six feet x three feet and customizable to any room) sells for $1,440, but rental screens are also available through the T.O.O.B. site.

Parra Solo Exhibition and Pop-Up Shop

by Tim Yu

Famed street artist and respected illustrator Parra opens his first exhibition in Germany tomorrow, 27 August 2009, called "I like the tee shirt but I will get the painting." Presented by Arkitip, the Dutch image-maker's brightly colored typographic illustrations are showing at the Pool Gallery in Berlin, an achievement that comes in addition to Parra's work plastered on clothing, sneakers, record sleeves, flyers and streets worldwide. (See install shots and a mystery sculpture wrapped for delivery below.)

Full of the self-taught artist's distinctive hand-drawn look, often somewhat racy subject matter and unusual color combos, the exhibition runs in tandem with a corresponding Parra Pop Up at Wood Wood Berlin, named "I like the painting but I will get the tee shirt." As Parra makes clear, for those who can't dole out the big bucks for something framed, the shop offers more affordable works.

"I like the tee shirt but I will get the painting"
28 August-10 October 2009
Opening Reception: 27 August 2009, 7pm-12am
Pool Gallery
Tucholskystrasse 38
10117 Berlin, Germany map
tel. +49 30 243 42 462

“I like the painting but I will get the tee shirt” Pop-Up Shop
28 August-10 October 2009
Wood Wood Berlin
Rochstrasse 4
10178 Berlin, Germany map
tel. +49 30 280 99 039

via Arkitip

NYC Helmets

by Karen Day

An homage to the city of New York and its avid bike riding community, fuseproject's NYC helmet caters to urban cyclists' fashion sense while promoting a greener environment.

The innovative two-fold design consists of a protective polystyrene shell on the inside, covered with a customizable soft fabric that attaches with integrated straps. Blending seamlessly, the cohesive design allows the wearer to remove the shell for cleaning and storage when not in use.

With this latest design, it seems that industrial designer Yves Behar has positioned fuseproject well within the ever-growing sustainability sector. This project, along with others like their recent PACT underwear collaboration, proves that eco-friendly products don't need to sacrifice quality, aesthetics or design prowess.

Not yet available for purchase, the City of New York NYC is currently distributing helmets at community events around the city.

Woofer

by Jacob Resneck

As Twitter continues its indefatigable march towards digital brevity by limiting us to a scant 140 characters per dispatch, a parody website developer invites us to try something else entirely with their 1,400 character minimum version called Woofer.

The results range from my not-so-thoughtful screed to the downright lazy cutting-and-pasting Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Woofer carries no affiliation with Twitter in any way—a fact the site goes out of its way to make clear for a myriad of legal reasons. Yet after you've composed your 1,400-character rant and enter your Twitter user name (no password required), the site "borrows" your Twitter profile pic, allowing users to impersonate other Twitter users. But given it's a parody site to begin with, who wouldn't take its output with anything more than a grain of salt?

via Network World

Mud Furniture

by Brian Fichtner

Jennifer Anderson's "Mud Series" collection translates iconic chairs into steel and mud. The studies of classics—an Eames LCW, a Thonet Café Chair, a Wegner Wishbone Chair—resemble the artifacts of an architectural dig, their once flawless surfaces marred by the cracked earth. (Click images for an expanded view.)

The series evolved from Anderson's Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, "Permanence/Impermanence," which included a standard chair of her own design, fashioned from ash, wax, bronze, grass and mud. Following this "Material Series," Anderson experimented further with mud, inspired by its textural qualities.

The act of transforming such icons, which echoes Maarten Baas' early work for Moss or Mario Minale's "Red blue Lego Chair," is at once homage and assertion—a young designer caking mud on history and charting her own path to the future.

The "Mud Series" is available by special order only, with prices starting at around $2,900. Inquiries can be made by contacting Anderson through her website.

Read Anderson's more detailed account of the series after the jump.

Panelfly Mobile Comic Reader iPhone Application

by CH Contributor

by Laura Neilson

The smart new iPhone application from Panelfly fills the digital void for comic book fans with a mobile platform for purchasing, storing and viewing comics.

An all-encompassing reader app—currently the only one of its kind available via iTunes—it includes a mobile store offering titles from a growing spate of comic publishers like NBM, SLG and Sterling, as well as complete library functionality that organizes purchased books according to title, publisher, author, artist and genre. It also takes advantage of the iPhone's landscape viewing capability, allowing users to browse with a sideways cover flow option.

When reading comics, users can swipe between full pages, refer to a page index menu or find a previously-saved page via bookmarking. Don't have the eyes of a teenage fan? The application's exclusive navigation engine intuitively zooms in from one sequential panel to the next at the tap of the screen. It's a feature that, unlike other mobile device readers that reformat the text and illustration layout, maintains the integrity of each comic's illustrations on a full-color display, giving them the unabridged focus they deserve.

Panelfly is available from iTunes for $2. Comics vary depending on publisher, but run approximately $3 each.