The iGo Green power smart tower is a well thought out power strip not only for the user but also for the conservation of energy usage. This smart surge bar has eight outlets and four of them stay in a fixed position while the other four feature iGo Green technology and it rotates 360 degrees to accommodate all the different shaped plugs.

The iGo Green technology automatically powers down outlets that aren't currently in use and powers them back up when devices need power, reducing standby power usage by up to 85%. Other features include a tower-style design with integrated cable management, dual front-mounted USB ports for charging portable devices, and a 6-foot power cable with a right-angle rotating plug. The price on the iGo Green power Smart tower is a little pricey at ($80) however, it is sure to save you money in the end.

Apple has unveiled it's new Tablet called the iPad. Apple will sell the newly unveiled tablet-style iPad starting at $499 which is a lot cheaper than most would have expected from Apple. The new iPad looks to be just a overly large version of the iPhone which I think most will agree in that department.

The iPad has a 9.7-inch touch screen, is a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds and comes with 16, 32 or 64 gigabytes of flash memory storage.Carrying a custom 1 GHz "Apple A4" chip, the iPad weighs in at 1.5 pounds and is .5-inch thin. All iPad models have an accelerometer, compass, speakers, a microphone, and a 30-pin dock connector. It will also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity built in. The iPad screen is an OLED back lit which is a plus. Just a note on the iPad it does not allow you to run more than one app at a time. Jobs said the device has a battery that lasts 10 hours and can sit for a month on standby without needing a charge. The basic iPad models will cost $499, $599 and $699, depending on the storage size. The iPad will start shipping in 60 days. And, then later, they will have 3G models. The Non-3G models will be available in March.

Now if your looking for an iPad that has 3G services you will have to wait longer and pay more in price and also have a subscription with AT&T for the data plan. AT&T will have two tiers of data plan will be available without contracts: $14.99 per month for 250 megabytes of data, or $29.99 for unlimited data usage. The 3G models will cost you $629, $729 and $829, depending on the amount of memory. These models will be available in April.

Jobs said the iPad will also be better for playing games and watching video than either a laptop or a smart phone. The iPad comes with software including a calendar, maps, a video player and iPod software for playing music. All seem to have been slightly redesigned to take advantage of the iPad's bigger screen. Applications designed for the iPhone can run on the iPad. Apple is also releasing updated tools for software developers to help them build iPhone and iPad programs.

Now here comes the task of convincing the consumer that they need this product. So many of use out there already have laptops and smartphones. Is this something that you think you would use or want. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.





Via: NPR.org, Yahoo! News

I happened to find the photography works of Julius Shulman wondering the internet of the world. I was fascinated by his work and his use of different angles, styles, and lighting that he used to capture his images. So while I was doing some research I found that he has a movie about how his works have coined today's view of modern architecture, many of his photographs became iconic shots. Especially famous are his photographs of Californian modernism, buildings by Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pierre Koenig, and Charles Eames.

Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930's. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images. The movie came out October 2009 and was narrated by Dustin Hoffman. I rather enjoyed watching the trailer to Visual Acoustics and enjoyed his photography. Therefore, my hat goes off to you Julius Shulman.

The people at the University of California, San Diego are looking to find out how babies develop and it's importants of understanding how the human brain works. So to do that they built a creepy robotic baby. In cooperation with Japanese robotics firm Kokoro Co., Ltd., the team constructed this rather complicated machine that is meant to mimic the actions of a one-year-old human child. I still can't figure out why they gave it a baby face but they forgot to give it body skin.

The robot, named Diego-san, has over 60 moving parts in its body. Its five-fingered hands are able to grasp objects, and the robot can even stand up from a sitting (in a chair) position. The head contains more than 20 moving parts that allow Diego-san to create facial expressions. The head also contains high-res cameras in the eyes, a speaker in the mouth, and accelerometers in the ears that detect the robot’s movement and position.

Diego-san is also learning while he is being taught which I think is pretty cool for a robot to do but on the other hand if he got mad. That would not be good. It could turn into a really disturbing Chucky movie.

The KODAK SLICE is not an ordinary camera. It’s an instant connection to all of your memories. With its sleek touchscreen interface, you can cruise through thousands of your favorite shots. And with just a tap, the unique SLICE Search feature lets you sort pictures by person, place, occasion, or date. The KODAK SLICE also recognizes friends by face, so even the moments you can’t put a label on are as easy to find as they are impossible to forget. You’ve always kept your pictures close to heart. Now you can have them all right at your fingertips.

The Kodak Slice is an ultra-thin camera with a decent price tag of ($350) to match the other competitors in the touch screen sector of cameras. It has a large 3.5-inch, 16:9 touchscreen on the back, the Slice also features a 14 megapixel sensor, a 5x optical zoom lens, 720p/30fps HD video recording, optical image stabilization, an included rechargeable Li-Ion battery, and more. The Kodak Slice will not be available until April of 2010. If you want to find out more about this new camera check out Kodak's website.

Do I have a nice treat for you. In this playlist I decided to do a deep house/house mix. I have been digging on some good deep house lately and thought I would share some of my most liked tracks with you. So have a listen and get down. Listen to the stream mix or download it. If you want to hear other Playlist sets click here.



Cover Art by Damion Schweizer

Tracklist

1. Bay Hum (orginial mix) - City Walkers
2. Volar (Montano Sunset Mix) - Mike Montano
3. Beautiful - Stryke
4. Yearning (Shingles Edit) - Basti Pieper & Florian Dalinger
5. You're Special (Ralf Gum Gogo Music Dub) - Soul Creation Feat. Stephanie Cooke
6. Fearless - Nacho Marco
7. Keep On (original) - Pascal Dubois
8. Remember When (Orgininal Mix) - Phonic Funk & Teika
9. Que Me Levante (Original Mix) - Miss Jools
10. Schaumbad (Original Mix) - Smalltown Collective & Dj Miguel
11. Gotta Use it (Gorge Remix) - Solan
12. Garuna (Original Mix) - Gorge
13. Solbel - Kresy & Handrus

Ecospace

We’re entering the realm of ‘affordability’ in 2010 with this green studio composed of roughly 120 sq feet of room. I dig the large windows and such features as a green roof, heated water-resistant rubber flooring, sustainable red cedar insulated walls, and the small footprint offered by Ecospace. A standard model costs about $37K. Check out there website as well its very well designed and gives great information on there product.

The Mini-Jot

Although if your looking for another cheaper alternative to align with your budget then how about the Mini-Jot. At roughly $100 per square foot, this 120sq ft. studio can fit perfectly as a home office, guest house, etc. The structure is designed with passive solar in mind to reduce heating and cooling costs; as well as insulated lightweight structural panels, super-efficient windows, and optional concrete flooring to act as a heat sink. With the money you save on building costs, you could also add on solar, a wood stove, or other cool green features.

I was looking for some inspiration for some poster designs and I came across Mihail Mihaylov. He is a graphic designer and illustrator from Sofia, Bulgaria. Mihail designs are influenced by the aesthetics of modernism. He says that he loves doing minimalistic graphic design and playing with type, colors and shapes. Which you can tell he does by his work.

If you haven't heard Andy James then you should. Andy is an up and coming Techno DJ/Producer. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio where he was inspired by earlier electronic groups like Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Orbital etc. He started spinning back in 1998 and hasn't looked back.

Now in 2010, Andy has risen to become one of the Midwest's hardest working techno DJ/Producers. Some of the DJs/Producers he has played alongside are Richie Hawtin, Barem, Dan Bell, John Tejada, Stacey Pullen and more. He is a very talented DJ/Producer who I know personally so I can say that this guy has skills. If you don't believe me then listen to his new January 2010 mix. This mix is full of some hard hitting bass that will fill any techno head with enjoyment. This mix will definitely have you bouncing the whole time. Take a listen below with the stream version or click the link to download. You can also check out some of his tracks he produced as well on soundcloud.



January 2010 Mix by AndyJames

Tracklist

1. Intro
2. Greg Kobe - Good Deal (Mikael Jonasson Remix) - Definitive Recordings
3. Alessio Mereu - S' Accabadora - CMYK
4. Monokao - En Casa de Paola - inoQouo
5. Davide Guigliano - Banging Shit (David Padilla, Juan Kue, Juano Velino Remix) - Dropkick Records
6. DJ Mickey Da Funk & Costantino Nappi - Feeling Your Soul (Andrea Di Rocco & Ivan Di Blasio Remix) - Italo Business
7. Speedy J - Minimal (John Acquaviva & Oliver Giacomotto Remix) - Plus 8
8. Sascha Krohn - A Tree Is A Tree (Tim Xavier & Camea Remix) - Dreielf
9. Dandi & Ugo - Deep Putka (Alex D'Elia & Nihil Young Remix) - Kol Mojito Records
10. Andy James - Uno - Unreleased
11. Deepbass & Roman Toletski - Oddity (Mark Broom Remix) - Dark Beat
12. Andy James - Profundo - Unreleased
13. Kevin Gorman - Shakey Stripped - Mikrowave
14. Alan Fitzpatrick - Bumblebee - Drumcode
15. Pfirter & Monoloc - Trucker 2 (Ascion Remix) - Synewave
16. Martin Mazzola - Hoppa - Machine Jockey
17. Alex D'Elia & Nihil Young - Surrogates - 1605
18. Wehbba - The One With The Disco Stab - 82 Recordings
19. Kevin Gorman - Shakey Metallic Beats - Mikrowave
20. Mi'ka & Kala - Mochi - SubSensory Recordings
21. Hollen - Annoying People - N.O.I.A. Records
22. Mickael Davis - Karnage (Orakls Remix) - Impulsif Records

Graphic and image editors can help you create beautiful graphics and give your digital images amazing effects, but they can be expensive. So I can understand that some people just don't want to buy an expensive program just to make a couple of alterations. So I have decided to provide you with some Free Graphic and Image Editors that can fit your needs. These programs can be used by graphic designers, photographers, animators, and artists. Some have basic functionality, for the amateur or learner, others are very powerful and professional, suitable for the professional.

Project Dogwaffle

Project Dogwaffle offers both freeware and commercial versions, the freeware version is fully functional, lacking only the advanced layer and scripting tools of the full version. Project Dogwaffle (current version 1.2) is based on its commercial big brother, Project Dogwaffle 2.0. It’s a lighter, yet powerful tool for graphic designers and animators. Its features include realistic paint effects, a frame-based animation tool, the standard paint tools common to most modern bitmap paint programs, an alpha channel for transparency effects and support for plugins.

Pixen H3

Pixen is an innovative graphics editor for the Mac. It’s designed from top to bottom for pixel artists—people who make low-resolution raster art like the sprites you see in old video games. But it’s great for artists of all arenas: Pixen is like a very powerful MSPaint or a simpler, more agile Photoshop. And best of all, it’s Free!

Inkscape

Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor just as powerful (perhaps better?) to Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.
Inkscape does not have all the features of the leading vector editors, the latest versions provide for a large portion of basic vector graphics editing capabilities. It is not unknown for Inkscape to be used on different projects, it can be successfully used to create web graphics, technical diagrams, icons, creative art, logos and maps. It can also be used on Windows and Mac OS.

PhotoFiltre

PhotoFiltre is a great freeware bitmap graphics editor program. I have been using this one personally for my photography and giving it that vintage look. This program has a lot of different features. One that I like the most is the quick contrast/hue and saturation buttons because you can check out the effects and immediately and easily correct the image if you’re not satisfied with its quality.

Paint.net

Paint.NET is a free image and photo editor, it features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.
It was originally intended as a free replacement for Microsoft Paint, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool, not quite as powerful as Photoshop or Gimp, but a damn good replacement. It is trying to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals.

Pixia

Pixia is a freeware bitmap graphics editor program originally developed for the Japanese Manga but has become very popular with all graphic designers.
This Japanese application, is also available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Polish, Korean and German. The program supports multiple layers, transparency effects, standard file formats and a number of RGB file formats including .PSD. The main file extension used by this program is .PXA.

While being stuck in a traffic jam the other day I was thinking about the designs of the cars on the road. I was thinking about the futuristic type designs and practicality of the automobile. Then it popped into my mind what about the bicycle. What kind of designs have come out that are futuristic looking but yet still have some practicality?

Creative design can be pure art or it can add usefulness to its product. When an item combines beauty and practicality, then it becomes an excellent product. So check out some of these beautiful designs.

Oryx

Designer Harald Cramer decided to integrate handle bars, stem and fork in the same piece. The crank is designed like a ring and mounted in the inside of the frame by two ball bearings.

Grasshopper

Designer David Goncalvez decided that its folding composition be partial, so that it can be carried as a trolley and fastly charged without unfolding it. I think this one is pretty sweet for anyone who lives in a high populated sector.

Unknown Name

This prototype has a built-in locking system that can only be activated and opened by the owner’s fingerprint. The computer-equipped machine can also monitor the amount of calories burned, and its battery will assist you when going up a steep hill. The tires are puncture-proof and self-inflating.

The blob VB3 took 18 months to build and it's here. This mobile living space was built by architectural firm dmvA for the office of xfactoragencies. The blob vb3 is mainly made by polyester, and holds all necessary items one could possibly need as bathroom, kitchen, lighting, sleeping space and several niches for storage. Moreover, the nose can be opened automatically and functions as a porch. While being closed, it blends into a complete smooth blob.

Now who wouldn't want one of these if they were looking for a way to travel and still be in style or been seen as a weirdo with a strange contraption. It could be used as a studio, or an office, a garden-house or whatever we want. The most exciting thing is that it can be moved to any place.

2010 will be the year for new and upcoming tablet alternatives in smaller formats. Dell just introduced there Mini 5 this year at the CES conference.

Dell's 5-inch Internet tablet is to be called the Dell Mini 5 according to the company, suggesting that it will fit in its portable products range as the second handset to follow the Dell Mini 3 and slot in under the "Mini" range of Netbooks. The Dell Mini 5 ($TBA) looks to be a solid option amongst the sea of upcoming slates.

The Dell Mini 5 will come with a 5 inch multitouch screen and a five-megapixel rear and webcam-quality front facing cameras, a built-in SIM card option, Wi-Fi, an included headset, and Android OS, it will be blurring the lines between phone and computer later this year. The device will be available in several colors including Red, Black, and Pink.

Imogen Heap such a talented and creative musician has just release a new CD called "Ellipse". It is nothing but magical and soothing to the ears of those who listen to this masterpiece of music.

Imogen Heap is known for her work as part of Frou Frou and for her solo record Speak for Yourself in which she wrote, produced and mixed. In 2006, she was nominated for two Grammy Awards and since her new CD Ellipse has been rising in the charts. She has earned two more Grammy nominations so congrats on that Imogen Heap.

The new CD Ellipse has the sounds and feel that you would expect from Imogen Heap with her use of electronic sounds and her use of vocal manipulation. She also mixes sounds of ambient tones which takes into account the airy sounds and various soothing background sounds. She is one to craft and shape her sounds when it comes to producing and you can hear that by the hinted sounds in the backgrounds of her tracks. So check out her new CD and have a listen for yourselves.

In June of last year, I wrote a blog about "Useful Tools for Choosing Your Color Palette". One of the sites I wrote about was ColoRotate. Well I received an email from Michael Douma of ColoRotate who wanted me to know that they are now out of the beta testing phase and now have a working Photoshop CS4 Plugin.

Michael stated, my colleagues and I developed ColoRotate because, while color is inherently three-dimensional, all color pickers were flat. From the feedback we received during beta testing, it seems that those who engage in computer color selection and design also felt that vacuum. They found some features of ColoRotate especially appealing, such as gaining more control over foreground and background colors through fine-tuning with sliders, and easily creating meaningful palettes.

The plugin is available at http://plugin.colorotate.org/ for ($39) -- Plugin users can also subscribe to the ColoRotate Cloud for ($49/Year), which enables users to sync palettes between multiple computers and share palettes with colleagues, collaborators, and clients.

Touch screens have made the world of technology faster and smoother with its ease of use when it comes to accessing our information on our devices. Then we have had projectors since I don't know how long. So why has no one come up with a device that integrates both? Well I'm glad you asked. Light Touch ($TBA) is only a reference product for now, but it features up-and-coming tech like holographic laser projection technology that allows it to create a bright, high-quality, always in focus WVGA resolution image — up to 10 inches — on nearly any surface, and pairs it with an infra-red touch sensing system to turn the projected image into a touch screen. By using red, blue and green lasers to project large triangles onto a 10-inch area, Light Blue Optics has created Light Touch, resulting in a fascinating laser touch screen that's surprisingly interactive.

Watch the company's video simulating a few of the astonishing possibilities manufacturers have suggested for Light Touch. (in a few minutes, you can see our hands-on video). Light Blue Optics plans to license the tech to a variety of hardware and software creators such as Samsung, Microsoft, Adobe, Toshiba, and many more.



Reference:DVice

Walltat are the newest alternative for wall and surface finishing. It provides the freedom to enhance accent areas with style and DIY ease. Walltat offers self-adhesive wall decals or "tats" as they like to call them. They have a varitey of sizes for you to choose from and have over 40 color options in hundreds of Walltat designs. Walltat also gives you have an endless options of where they can be placed.

Walltat is a company that is on the right track. Consumers are always looking for a way to stand out.I have said this many times but its true. This is a great idea for anyone who wants something different or unique to show your design style. It also helps if your not wanting to paint or stencil a design on your wall. The artists at Walltat have created exclusive designs that are sure to fit any theme or design genre. With a quick peel and stick application, you're on your way to transforming those areas with potential into visual delights!