Silver is the new green
by Christoph, April 24th 2012
The title might be a bit of an overstatement but I am mightily impressed by the guys from Altaeros from Massachusetts. For the windsurfers and kitesurfers amongst us we all know what a boost you get from flying your sail that much higher in the air. And the way Altaeros has delivered this is nothing short of amazing. What a beautiful and innovative way of delivering renewable energy. I am sure that a lot of wider impact assessments still have to be done before we can hail it as a perfect step forward but the signs are good.
Animated GIFs – no more naff spinning logos
by Christoph, December 5th 2011When websites changed in the late 90s from rigid lists of words and images to jumping balls, morphing globes and spinning logos, animated GIFs were a hot property which with very little memory demands allowed all sorts of moving things. Not always to the better as not everything was meant to be moving. Nowadays Flash has taken over for most animation purposes and soon html5 will do this all over again. Some people might contest this outlook but what is certain is that animated GIFs have developed into their own art form. And while I find animated GIFs of even my own children much more interesting than a 20 minute long video, Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg have taken the animated GIF to a whole new level. Enjoy the link and don’t blink – you might miss it.
‘La vache qui rit’ and Grain
by Christoph, October 24th 2011
Babybel is a long standing love affair for some of the staff at Grain – since their early childhood as a matter of fact. But this now is almost too much of an honor. Approaching swiftly the first anniversary of the new Grain our friends at Babybel have responded with a fantastic limited edition in our honour. They got the Pantone reference spot on but sadly the spelling of our name got a bit muddled up.
Not only the cow is laughing.
Natural light
by Madelyn, September 27th 2011You may have heard of light tubes or tubular skylights which bring in natural daylight. I don’t know the starting price for light tubes including installation, but I’m guessing that it’s more than 1 or 2 pounds. Have a look at this story from the Philippines – an amazing use of appropriate technology.
A bumper for the bumper…
by Christoph, June 21st 2011
… or how the oh-so-advanced automotive design of today requires to have a bumper (of questionable appearance) which protects the bumper from bumps. Is that right? What was that bumper for?