PSFK Author:
Joel Horowitz

Possibly frustrated with rampant tourism around his ‘hood, Berlin-based artist Julius von Bismarck developed a device that manipulates photographs being taken by ‘vandalising’ the subject matter with light. Working much like a portable light projector, Bismarck’s “Image Fulgurator” is comprised of a regular camera, flash control and unit, sensor and a positive-developed picture slide of “graffiti”. The Image Fulgurator fires its own flash when it detects a photograph being taken nearby, flooding the area with a projected image invisible to the naked eye. It’s when the photos are being reviewed after the fact that the vandalism is noticed. Now we just need to get prepared for more paranormal activity reports.

Julius von Bismarck

[via Freshness Magazine]

German designer Akbiyik Volkan has come up with a camera concept that detects emotional response – only capturing footage when the user is angry or happy. While only capable of recording the trigger of your emotion, the device rests on the your ear like an earbud, the lens always facing out towards the action. Let’s just hope it won’t be compatible with video-conference-calls.

via [crave]

Gizmodo makes an interesting comparison between the design of Apple products today versus Braun’s innovative product design in the 1960’s. Dieter Rams, Braun’s lead designer back then, was the revolutionary that sculpted the look and feel of Braun’s line. And it’s that which seems to have inspired Apple’s design guru, Jonathan Ive:

This passion for “simplicity” and “honest design” that is always declared by Ive whenever he’s interviewed or appears in a promo video, is at the core of Dieter Rams’ 10 principles for good design:

• Good design is innovative.
• Good design makes a product useful.
• Good design is aesthetic.
• Good design helps us to understand a product.
• Good design is unobtrusive.
• Good design is honest.
• Good design is durable.
• Good design is consequent to the last detail.
• Good design is concerned with the environment.
• Good design is as little design as possible.

Ive’s inspiration on Rams’ design principles goes beyond the philosophy and gets straight into a direct homage to real products created decades ago. Amazing pieces of industrial design that still today remain fresh, true classics that have survived the test of time.

The similarities between products from Braun and Apple are sometimes uncanny, others more subtle, but there’s always a common root that provides the new Apple objects not only with a beautiful simplicity but also with a close familiarity.

Gizmodo - The Future of Apple is 1960s Braun

Warranty-less, Manhattan-dwelling iPod on the fritz? Fortune magazine reports about an iPod doctor that makes house-calls in New York City, repairing the ubiquitous device on the fly. Demetrios Leontaris charges substantially less than Apple charges with way less hassle – about $70 for a repair – and can fix almost anything Apple can from the confines of his car. What could be next? Roving Blackberry technicians? Freelance Facebook updaters? We hope so.

Fortune Magazine - A day in the life of the iPod doctor

The UK’s Glastonbury Music Festival will feature a charging station powered solely by the wind and sun. The French mobile-providing giant, Orange, is the proud parent of the latest edition – last year they tested out a similar station with then-partner Gotwind (and is talks with them for larger-scaled wind-power generators). The tent itself is capable of charging 100 phones per hour and will be a free service offered to concert goers – the “free” part being something that trendwatching.com has been researching religiously for quite some time.

REcharge Pod
[via springwise]

While pacing may be the cure for nervous energy, it might also become a generator of, well, energy. Spinning off American military technologies involving soldiers’ boot-mounted mini-generators, British engineers have developed underfloor generators that can produce energy from footsteps above. They’ve calculated that 34,000 commuters in London’s Victoria Underground station are capable of powering 6,500 light bulbs every hour – the plan being to install the first foot-powered generators at Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth as tourists climb up and down the seven-trillion or so stairs.

Times Online - Light Fantastic

[via inhabitat]

McDonald’s Chicago-based advertising agency Leo Burnett has installed a growing billboard promoting the fast-food giants venture into fresh salad meals. Having just won Gold at New York Festivals’ Innovative Advertising Awards, the billboard was carefully constructed with a horticulturalist/landscape architect, allowing the lettuce buds to bloom over time, gradually filling up the sign with beautiful, edible leaves.

[via trendhunter]

“Adopting” the fruits of another mans labor is in. Following the idea from the vineyard adoption WineShare, and Nudo the olive oil sharing concept, now you can have your very own premium Maine lobster trap and everything it catches for a year. For just under $3000, your trap will be set and hauled up time and time again – which you can monitor online. As the lobsters are caught you have the option to overnight them (shipping is included in the fee) in batches of four or more to yourself, or anybody else you that you really, really like. They also include clams, mussels and some locally produced desserts, plus information of who caught what, when and where.

Catch A Piece Of Maine

[via springwise]

Architect Sheila Kennedy has designed a home capable of generating 16,000 solar watt hours of electricity with light-sensitive curtains. While the technology is currently too expensive for immediate use, it gives us an idea of how a home could be designed using power-generating curtains that define space as well as sustainability.

[via inhabitat]