We have all been in a situation it seems where we have no outlet but we need to charge our smartphone, tablet, or camera. Well Dark Energy Reservoir ($129) makes this a thing of the past. This slim, portable charger holds enough power to charge the average smartphone for an entire week, and it does it as fast as a wall outlet. With the ability to charge two devices at once, and compatibility with any USB charging device, you'll never have to worry about charging again.

I'm liking these animated illustrations by Robin Davey.  Robin who is based in London does work as a freelance illustrator, animator, designer and director. Recently he's been working with Wired Italy, where he's created these awesome animated GIFs. This work was featured in both the print and the iPad editions of the magazine, and Robin says that it was a fun challenge to do something that straddled both new and traditional media. I love it and hope to see more animated illustrations like this in the future.

You can see more work from Robin on his website here



Source: Thefoxisblack

I don't have an iPad but if I did I would be jumping on this app to check it out. With this app you can remotely access any software on your Mac or PC as if it were a native iOS app from your iPad with Parallels Access (FREE). No matter where you are in the world, so long as you have an active internet connection, you can use software from your home or office machine, and access files. Features like tapping, swiping, pinching, and scrolling make it feel like you are working on an application meant for your iPad, while select, drag, copy, and paste let you seamlessly switch between remote apps and iPad apps. A built-in app launcher and app switcher keep you as productive as you would be on your full-size machine. So would you use it?



Source: Uncrate

This modest dimension house is self-sufficient and has everything needed for a normal person's living. It's called Diogene, after the antique Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, and designed by famous Italian architect Renzo Piano.

According to the architect, he has dreamed of a project like this since his student days, but back then he was unable to realise it. In 2000, Renzo decided to develop this project for himself, without any particular client. This work resulted in several prototypes, made of plywood, concrete and wood. The latter was published in 2009 in Italian design magazine Abitare, where it was noticed by Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of Vitra AG. Rolf felt attracted to the idea and immediately contacted Renzo, inviting him to carry out the project together. Finally, after three years of joint work the most recent prototype of Diogene was presented at the Vitra Campus.

Diogene is a small house for one person, assembled from wood and coated with aluminium panelling. It dimensions are only 2.5 x 3 x 2.3 meters. Despite this, the creator managed to find space for a living room with a pull-out sofa and desk, toilet with a pan and shower as well as a small kitchen with a sink, cooking top and fridge. So do you think it has all one person needs?



Source: visuall.net

Welcome to this month's Playlist-53. In this month's installment is a summer/fall playlist to move you into the beginning of fall. We have some new music by Smallpools, Washed Out and Bad Sun.

Click Play and have at it! If you want to check out any of the other Playlist then click on Archived Playlist in this post or on the right hand side of this blog or in the menu.

Tracklist

Unifold is an experimental project that explores ways to construct footwear with one piece of die cut pattern.  Made of EVA material, this design is easily recyclable.  Wouldn't this be sweet to have a pair of shoes that you could put together and then take apart to save space in your home for your shoes?  Who knows they could be the next TOMS.

Jeremy Kool created this collection of CG creatures for a print and Online campaign. The client, an industrial fabric manufacturer, wanted an engaging way to showcase their fabrics.  Jeremy did an amazing job on these CG creatures it's like you can tell how they would feel based on the fabric structure of the creatures.

"This job required me to model, texture, rig, pose, light, render and post produce large scale images to be used for print."

Check out the whole collection on Behance.

The Madrid-based advertising and industrial photographer Miguel Vallinas has done a wonderful job on matching the animals to their attire. You may thing well it's just animals in clothes but if you look closer you will see more than that. Aside from the solid retouching, lighting and overall execution, Vallinas took this anthropomorphic project a bit further and imagined what the fully-realized wardrobe of each animal might look like if it were wearing human clothes.

Titled Segundas Pieles (Second Skins), the ongoing series includes some 50+ animals whose personalities seem to be perfectly amplified by their pitch-perfect attire, making the portraits just a bit more human than animal. Picked out a couple of my favorites but feel free to check them all out here.



Source: Colossal

Looking for the buttons on the side of the phone?  Flip the phone over - the LG G2 Smartphone ($TBA) changes things up a bit by moving them to the back of the device, making the phone more ergonomic so you're less likely to drop it. They've also upped the ante with a 5.2-inch full-HD display (the largest of any smartphone in its class), a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 2.26GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. It sports some exciting user experience features like a pared-down guest mode, a programmable remote that can operate devices in your home, and a phone that answers automatically when you raise it to your ear. It also uses Graphic RAM (GRAM) technology. GRAM reduces the display’s energy use by up to 26 percent on a still frame and increases overall usage time on the device by approximately 10 percent. And with a generous 3,000mAh battery that is thoughtfully designed to take maximum advantage of the interior space, the LG G2 is more than ready for a full day’s work or play.

Key Specifications:
- Processor: 2.26GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 featuring quad Krait CPU
- Display: 5.2-inch Full HD IPS (1080 x 1920 pixels / 423 ppi)
- Memory: 32GB / 16GB
- RAM: 2GB LPDDR3 800MHz
- Camera: Rear 13.0MP with OIS / Front 2.1MP
- Battery: 3,000mAh
- Operating System: Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
- Size: 138.5 x 70.9 x 8.9mm
- Colors: Black / White

Source: Uncrate