BMW's Shape-Shifting Fabric Car

More on last week's Bimmer philo essay, Wired has a great article on BMW's GINA Light Visionary Model concept car. The body is made from a seamless polyurethane-coated Lycra fabric stretched over a moveable aluminum frame allowing the owner to change the car's shape. Purely conceptual, there is no intention of this technology ever going into production.

Chris Bangle, head of design for BMW, says GINA allowed his team to "challenge existing principles and conventional processes."

"It is in the nature of such visions that they do not necessarily claim to be suitable for series production," company officials said in unveiling the car Tuesday. "Rather, they are intended to steer creativity and research into new directions."

GINA (Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions) has been in development for six years, the working model is built on a Z8 chassis and has four panels which take about two hours to put on.

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New Gallery up at Core77: New York Design Week 2008

The pit-stop between Milan and Art Basel, New York Design Week 2008 (May 17-20) presented a hearty collection of the best the Design World has to offer.

>> view gallery

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MIT Digital Water Pavilion makes a splash in Spain

An MIT-designed building with walls made entirely of water was unveiled last Thursday at the opening of the Zaragoza World Expo in Spain.

The Digital Water Pavilion [...] is the first of its kind and illustrates the potential of digital architecture to create spaces that dynamically adjust to people and conditions.

"The design for the water pavilion grew out of a central challenge: How to make fluid, reconfigurable architecture?" said [Turin born] Carlo Ratti, head of MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory. "Our building aims to stand as a possible answer to this endeavor."

Read more

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FLARE - Kinetic Ambient Reflection Membrane (Huh? Just watch the video!)

On interactive skins, Mr. Bangle might be pretty hot with the GINA concept (see earlier post) but Berlin's WHITEvoid people can be credited likewise for their latest facade system.

"FLARE is a modular system to create a dynamic hull for facades or any building or wall surface. Acting like a living skin, it allows a building to express, communicate and interact with its environment."

The system consists of a number of tilting metal flake bodies which reflect light and are act like pixels. Last month, the first prototype was presented at the NEXT art & technology exhibition in Arhus, Denmark. See FLARE (+ video) yourself!

thanks paula paula!

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Independence Day's money shot. The end of the world, or just the beginning?

Life and the Big Screen: Media, Design, and the Apocalypse, by William Bostwick

For weeks, Iron Man has had the design world convulsing with what can only be called a grand maul geek-out. The lead character, Tony Stark, represents the tech-happy dad in all of us. A billionaire industrialist/master engineer, he builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero and all-around bad-ass, Iron Man. The cars, the girls, the computers: he's like Inspector Gadget in a mid-life crisis.

But the future hasn't always been so pretty. Let's rewind, way back, to 1996, when high-tech gadgetry wasn't a blessing, but a curse, when the blue glow of Stark's mechanical heart heralded nothing less than the end of the world. I'm talking about Independence Day.

Here, Jeff Goldblum's computer scientist is a straight-up nerd and the world's armies use old-school Morse code to coordinate their attacks. The blue light that pours out of the alien spaceships is deadly and depressing, like the TV glow from suburban windows. Independence Day didn't come up with this idea—here's Jack Kerouac almost 50 years earlier describing the lone poet in a wasteland world: "I see him in future years stalking along with full rucksack, in suburban streets, passing the blue television windows of homes, alone, his thoughts the only thoughts not electrified to the Master Switch." Will Smith's Capt. Steven Hiller sees that switch flipped on, full blast, and watches the White House go up in electric flames.

>> read on

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Bill Buxton is a Really Nice Guy.

And we're only mentioning the fact because many Core readers are aware of Bill's other qualities: smart, creative, experienced, and well-versed in the culture of effective innovation. Buxton impressed a hundred or so designers and marketers at the Portland World Trade Center last night with a 90 minute talk based on his latest book Sketching User Experiences, and managed to be engaging, witty, and really nice the whole time. Even after: post-talk pints at a brew pub around the corner found him enthusiastically discussing finer points with attendees for a good two hours after.

The talk, sponsored by local chapters of Siggraph, CHIFOO and ACM, essentially summarized his arguments from the book: that framing the question of what to design is as important as getting the design right; that "sketching," in its broadest sense, is crucial to this process; and that engendering a corporate culture that encourages these actions, and the acquisition of skills for creating and reading sketches is crucial, especially given the degree to which technology is affecting the lives of average citizens who aren't interested in becoming technologists.

It'd be too much to re-hash the entire presentation -- that's what the book is for, and it's an excellent read -- but here are a few choice quotes:

"Early in computing, technological problems predominated, and were solved by technologists. In the beginning, the users were the designers. The architecture of computing is essentially unchanged since the days they were refrigerator-sized. What's changed is, these technologies are affecting all of our lives."

On the growing attention the business world is giving to "design thinking": "There was even an article on it in this month's Harvard Business Review. I read it...and...didn't recognize much of anything in it."

On the need for sketches and concepts to be plentiful and disposable: "Hardly any of your ideas are going to end up in the product. If it's a good product."

On multi-disciplinary design teams: "The age of the Renaissance individual is long over, but not of the Renaissance team."

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One Cubic Meter of Storage by Arik Levy

Arik Levy's got a thing for cubes. First it was Baccarat, now it's Miami. The Rove Gallery presented Levy's Cubic Meter storage system at Design Miami show in Basel this year. A seven-in-one module, the system can be configured to create endless amounts of storage solutions. An edition of 5 Aluminum Cubes are available to the first lucky billionaires who can afford 'em. For the rest of us, there's also clear oak wood and blackened oak wood (each editions of 12).
Catch 'em while you can.

via dezeen

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Fractal Table

The Fractal Table debuted at the Materialise.MGX exhibition at Zona Tortona in Milan earlier this year. Developed by Platform Wertel Oberfell together with Matthias Bär, the table can only be produced with rapid prototyping to make the treelike stems that grow into smaller branches until they get very dense at the top. While it may not be the easiest table for cleaning food off after a Euro Cup session, it is an interesting exploration of rapid prototyping and it's limits.

via mocoloco

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DIY Vinyl Toy Speakers

Checkout instructables guide to customizing Kid Robot's Munny doll into a sweet pair of speakers. According to creator fungus amungus who posted the hack, the dolls didn't require any extra weight in the bottom to keep them balanced. We'd love to up-the-anti and see one with a subwoofer.

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Nike Mercurial Vapor SL

Nike have released the first soccer boot with a molded carbon fiber upper, seven layers of carbon composite material are interwoven with TPU and polyurethane. It took three years to develop this version of the Vapor, the new upper design eliminates the lasting board putting the foot closer to the ground for better performance.

via uncrate

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Product Designers Market, London

The Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London is packed with Graduate Art and Design Summer shows. We caught glimpses from cor-e-spondant Victoria Kirk who was on-hand to grab some snaps. Looks like, beyond the plethora of over-designed chaises, the Product Designers Market, produced by Middlesex University students, stole the show. Featuring work like Adam Amos' knock-down furniture (that's right, he uses magnets instead of blots n' screws!), the market was a welcome combination of smart engineering and flawless design. Check out more here.

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Postcards from Brazil: Nódesign

Taking out a Gold award for their Maxdoor at IDEA/Brasil, Nódesign are one of the freshest agencies to emerge from Brazil in recent years. Commissioned to reinvent the 'door' for a luxury loft development, the interactive solution combines a number of playful and practical features including, video capabilities, a touch-sensor lock eliminating the need for keys, built-in secure mailbox and the red dots are actually configured to display a life size apartment number.

We've seen some exciting motion graphics come out of Brazil in the last 2 years, and Industrial Designer's should take note of Nódesign's video above to showcase their project. If you can ride out the loading time on their flash-intensive website, it's worth downloading the PDF case-studies which are a great example of graphic rich presentations that tell the back story behind their work.

Founded in 2001, Nódesign are based in São Paulo where they specialize in consumer products, furniture, packaging, design research and user interface design.

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Power walking

This just in from the Times UK: British engineers have built a generator powered by footsteps. Bury the contraption under the floor of a building and it turns tiny pressure changes into usable energy (this guy's good for a couple of watts). They say the crowds in the London Underground's Victoria Station alone could power 6,500 light bulbs.

The idea is that the built environment is a living, breathing, moving thing. We can get energy from waves and wind, why not sidewalks? Here's a taste:

David Webb, a structural engineer at the consultant Scott Wilson, which is in discussions with Network Rail and with retail firms to install the devices, said: "It's just picking up on the fact that all structures move a bit. This technology says, okay, we can do something useful with that energy."

In addition to floors, the technology could also be installed beneath railway lines and on road bridges to exploit the energy of passing trains and vehicles.

But I think they're forgetting an untapped energy mother lode: dance floors. I mean, isn't it obvious where the inspiration for a light-generating sidewalk came from?

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Sustainability contributes to bottom line

Cost reductions and brand image benefits accruing from investing in sustainability initiatives and reporting these to consumers are beginning to pay off for consumer product goods manufacturers, according to a new study (pdf) conducted for the Grocery Manufacturers Association by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Read more (Marketing Daily)

Check out also these GMA Environmental Sustainability Summit presentations

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Leica D-Lux 3 Pixel Dog

And finally, a few ad campaigns have manifested the lo-res pixel into the real world to make this point but this one's done well.

via notcot via comunicadores.info

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Special thanks to Mark Vanderbeeken, William Bostwick and Aart van Bezooyen for their contributions to this weeks newsletter!

Please share the Monday Morning Must Read with colleagues, clients and collaborators. Many email programs do not forward messages in their original format, so please use this link: http://www.designdirectory.com/blog/newsletter

Email us your feedback and comments. We are looking for stories, case studies and global news on where and how design can make the difference.

Photo courtesy of lumaxart

The Many Faces of Design Leadership, by Kevin McCullagh

'What the hell is Design Leadership anyway?' is what I keep hearing people mutter under their breath these days.

It has become one of those subjects that any player in design now has to have an opinion on, but debating it usually generates more heat than light, as self-anointed design leaders rehearse their personal or company agendas. Self-importance, not clarity, seems to be the main concern. At one level this isn't surprising. Leadership is a slippery topic these days: there are more books on Amazon attempting to define the mojo of leadership than that other holy grail, innovation.

The 21st century is dogged by crises of authority: whether they are presidents, CEOs or premier league soccer managers, today's leaders are less respected and less certain of their position than the self-assured chiefs of yesteryear, like Margaret Thatcher, Jack Welch and Bill Shankly.

>> continue

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Tableware on a different axis

Sunny Side Up Cutlery is less flatware and more standupware; the utensils emulate plants stretching towards sunlight. Conceived of by students from Israel's top design schools, the project is part of d-Vision, a product development/industrial design internship under Keter Factories that chooses fifteen of Israel's best and brightest each year. Click here to see more of their ouTable tableware projects.

via inventor spot

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Advertisement

IIT Institute of Design Graduate Open House Learn about ID's methods, community and degrees in the fields of communication design, interaction design, product design & development, strategic design, systems thinking, and user research. June 11, 2008 6:00PM to 8:00PM Institute of Design 350 N Lasalle St. Chicago IL

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1 Hour Design Challenge WINNER!

Pump up the volume! This month's 1 Hour Design Challenge was a hit! From fur-balls to rockets, Core 77 readers were challenged to design the next "Kick-Ass Speaker." Our guest judge, speaker-design guru Kurt Solland of Harman Consumer Group offered his professional opinion this round (see his thoughts after the jump) and threw in a set of Spyro Speakers as a prize!

Congrats to all the winners. Be sure to check out the boards for a look at all the entries.

First Prize: Peel Speaker by Eric Nichols (above)

Second Prize: Something for Fun (previously known as 900MHz Wireless Speakers)

Third Prize: 1hrdc

Special Mention "Ass-Kicker" Prize: Speakertron

>> click to see more

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Whatever 'design-art' is, it's thriving

Alice Rawsthorn profiles the 'design-art' phenomenon in the International Herald Tribune:

"'Design-art' is a commercial phenomenon, not a cultural one. It's a label adopted by auction houses in the hope of flogging limited-edition furniture for higher prices than it would muster if relegated to the unfashionable category of 'decorative arts.' And it has been very effective, commercially at least. A new season of design sales started last week, with the opening of the Design Miami/Basel fair in Switzerland, followed by auctions in New York. Despite the purists' sneers, collectors' interest in 'design-art' is still increasing, and as the market matures, a less ditzy side to it is emerging."

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Berlin Design Festival 2008

"The Sky is Not the Limit" at the Berlin Design Festival, a five day event (May 21- 25) produced by DMY Berlin. Core 77's Aart van Bezooyen was on-hand to snap up some of the best blue-sky finds. Enjoy!

>> view gallery

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Paul Polak demonstrates his $3 irrigation system

Sustainable Brands 08 - Out of Poverty

Longtime advocate for "Design for the Other 90%" Paul Polak's new company, D-Rev, hopes to make "serious profits with multinationals, designers, engineers and business creatives working alongside the 800 million people making less than a dollar a day." He also wants to revolutionize design education by expanding the Stanford program Design for Extreme Affordability to 100 other schools that will send students into the field to "go where the action is."

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Medidome Syringe wins NPSA Award

Christopher Holden's 'Medidome' syringe recently won the NPSA (National Patent Safety Award). Inspired by the band-aid, it's unique patented design prevents needle-stick injuries and cross contamination of blood born viruses while simplifying and speeding up the patient treatment process to mass immunization.

When its sterile cover is removed, an anesthetic antiseptic adhesive is exposed which sticks to the patient's skin before the needle is injected. Designed for single use only, the Medidome reduces the possibility of needle-sharing.

See more images here.

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What is social design?

The Social Design Site is an online platform committed to foster a discourse for social design on a broader level, and to build a community around meaningful projects and dedicated individuals. Social design projects from across the globe are exhibited here to highlight different aspects of our social world, and to sharpen our common understanding of social design in context and practice.

Check the 7 minute presentation video

via CPH127

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Peter Wege, founder of Steelcase, Tony Cortese from AASHE and Grand Rapid's Mayor, George Heartwell of Grand Rapids at the new Grand Rapids Art Museum

ACUPCC - Two Eco-Icons in Grand Rapids

"We get so late old and so smart" said Peter Wege using the accent of his immigrant germen grandmother. Wege, founder of Steelcase, welcomed the group of 100 university and college presidents who have gathered in Grand Rapids Michigan to discuss the greening of college campuses and curricula. He applauded the group's willingness to lead the nation in the formation of "What needs to happen." Wege's own environmental philosophy "economicology" seeks to balance nature in the finite world. Wege has led Steelcase's environmental vision for over 40 years.

Ray Anderson, self-described as a "radical industrialist and lover of profits" described the re-invention of Interface over the past 14 years in seven key steps: examining whole systems, waste as food, climate neutrality (which is chemically broader that carbon neutrality), dematerialization of the entire supply chain, bio-mimicry, thinking upside down and thinking in the round. Anderson reported that the company was halfway to its "Mission Zero by 2020" goals and linked each step to innovative products and services that have reduced GHGs (Green House Gases) at Interface by 82%, reduced water usage by 72%, reduced waste by 52% and has resulted in the shut down of 50% of the company’s smoke stacks. Quoting scientist Amy Levin, Anderson suggested that "We just need to stop having the bad ideas."

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Aligned for Sustainable Design

Business for Social Responsibility and the design firm IDEO just released a free 48-page report showing how companies are infusing sustainability into their design processes in ways that have led to innovative products that offer value to consumers.

Press release - Synopsis - Report download

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A Cellphone Accessory That Could Save Millions (of Lives)

Even if you tricked out your cellie with a Bedazzler and a crapload of charms, it's nowhere near as cool as this. The CellScope, still in its prototyping phase, is an attachment for camera-enabled mobile phones that turns them into microscopes. The attachment would allow any user with rudimentary training to diagnose malaria in the field, and transmit the image directly to a clinic or lab. Developed at UC Berkeley, the researchers involved have already attracted participation by Microsoft and Nokia, and expect a mass-manufactured version to sell for less than $100.

Given the rapid proliferation of cellular technology in parts of the developing world where malaria is the leading cause of child mortality, this could represent an enormous boost in the race to defeat the wily parasite.

via The Economist

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The digital wild stylin' Wii

PSFK has the lowdown on Wii Spray, a prototype using the Wii controller as a virtual spray can. The project is part of Martin Lihs final thesis at Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Germany and we're hoping he gets a chance to update his site with some samples pictures soon.

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Creative Economy Report 2008

The Creative Economy Report 2008 - The challenge of assessing the creative economy towards informed policy-making (also available in French and Spanish) is the first comprehensive study to present the United Nations perspective on the creative industries. This policy-oriented analysis is intended to facilitate a better understanding of the key issues underlying the emerging creative economy at national and international levels.

The development dimension is the guiding principle of the 350-page report which aims to assist developing countries to harness their creative economies and to maximize trade and development gains by recognizing the creative economy as a feasible development option for linking economic, technological, social and cultural development objectives of our contemporary society.

If you like numbers, check the tables as of page 260 of the report (284 of the pdf) which lists the top 10 world exporters by a range of product groups.

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Brad Pitt with Ambra Medda, Director of Design Miami/ (Photographer: James Harris)

Shopping with Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt picked up 2 of Max Lamb's Bronze "Poly Chairs" and a "Family Lamp" by Atelier van Lieshout at last week's Design Miami/ Basel in Switzerland. 55,000 people were expected to attend the annual cultural fair.

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Special thanks to Mark Vanderbeeken for his contributions to this weeks newsletter!

Please share the Monday Morning Must Read with colleagues, clients and collaborators. Many email programs do not forward messages in their original format, so please use this link: http://www.designdirectory.com/blog/newsletter

Email us your feedback and comments. We are looking for stories, case studies and global news on where and how design can make the difference.

Postcards From Berlin: Fresh Photos From The DMY 2008 Design Festival!

Last week, Berlin celebrated its yearly design event (formerly known as DESIGNMAI) now organized by the DMY organization who created a platform for creative things, talks, workshops and parties one of Europe's most creative cities.

A central exhibition at the Arena anchors a five-day DMY 2008 festival with over 150 designers showcasing their latest works. Some 36 ALLSTARS exhibitions are spread out all over town making sure that an inspiring tour along the city of Berlin is included.

What happened (and is still happening) this year? -- See more pics here!

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IDEA/Brasil Award 2008, São Paulo

Showcasing the best in contemporary Brazilian Design, The IDEA/Brasil Awards took place with an Oscar-like fanfare in São Paulo's Teatro Frei Caneca. Organized by Objeto Brasil in association with the Apex-Brasil, the award is endorsed by the IDSA and is the first time the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) has been held outside of the United States.

53 Designers and Agencies were awarded prizes for work ranging across the full spectrum of consumer and commercial goods. Highlights included the 'Phenom 100' private jet from the Brazilian aircraft manufacture Embraer, the 'Super Bossa' pendant lamp by designer Fernando Prado, 'Max Door' by design agency No Design, the 'Ziplux' outdoor light-totem by Komlux, the awesome 'Stark 4WD Flex' off-road jeep by Questo Design and TAC, the 'Gear Cube for wheelchairs' reducing 50% the amount of energy expended by Ronem Perlin, and the playful 'Goma Stool' from designer Renata Moure.

In the next few days we'll be posting more detailed reports and interviews with some of the amazing Brazilian designers we've met in the last week, and for anyone lucky enough to be visiting São Paulo in the next 2 weeks, don't miss the finalists work on display at the IDEA/Brasil exhibition on the 7th Floor of the Teatro Shopping Frei Caneca.

Click here for more action from the opening party.

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New Gallery up at Core77: New York Design Week 2008

The pit-stop between Milan and Art Basel, New York Design Week 2008 (May 17-20) presented a hearty collection of the best the Design World has to offer.

>> view gallery

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We Don't Want To Make Things panel discussion from 02NYC

On Tuesday, June 10th at 7pm, Allan Chochinov will be moderating a discussion produced by 02NYC with an all-star panel: Wendy Brawer from Green Map System, Tamara Giltsoff from ozolab, David Reinfurt from Dexter Sinister, and Damon Rich from the Center for Urban Pedagogy. It will be at Cooper Union's Great Hall.

Here's the pitch:

Designers as a group exercise significant leverage to create cultural influence and catalyze social change, for better or for worse. Given our growing awareness of the ecological, political and social impact of unsustainable consumption, what responsibility (and what means) do designers have to change the course? Join us for an inter-disciplinary panel discussion about how designers are addressing the systemic challenges of ecological design.

Our focus is on non-product-oriented design processes--on rethinking and reframing our purposes. For example, thinking outside the (very important) box of greening the supply chain, in what ways can/does design enable people as producers of meaning, rather than of waste?

Ten bucks at the door and no RSVP. Hope to see you there. (Site)

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Coffee carrier for "common" customers

If you're stepping out to grab a coffee, decency requires you ask your co-workers if anyone else wants one. But on the way back to the office, you curse your own decency as you juggle multiple hot cups and the phone rings or you need to pull out your keys.

A nifty solution is this carry-bag for coffees, apparently from a chain. As the page showing the bag and the comments on it are in German, we were unable to get more info about it, but Google Translator did let us read some excellent comments like these:

So I find it great. This hole every day I think decaffeinated coffee with 0.1% milk. The will for me gepustet extra cold, so I opened my mouth or by not verbrenne get stomach pain. You are all so common :-(

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Solar Collector Performance

Should you happen to be in Ontario for the summer solstice this year (shouldn't we all?!), drop by the Solar Collector, a solar-powered, web-connected, interactive sculpture by Matt Gorbet, Rob Gorbet, and Susan Gorbet. The form is made up of shafts faced with solar panels that are oriented to reflect the angles of the sun through the changing seasons. During the day, the sculpture collects energy and at dusk the lights on the shafts come to life with graceful patterns that are created by the community via the web.

Join Gorbet Design on June 21st at 8:30pm, 100 Maple Grove Road, Cambridge, Ontario, to see the sculptures come to life.

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New iPhone is near, but Nokia's still the big dog

Here's an interesting statistic: While the iPhone is popular, Nokia "sells more phones every week than Apple has sold since the iPhone's introduction" (italics ours). Guess there's a difference between being popular and global.

The above statistic, from Charter Equity Research analyst Edward Snyder, was mentioned in a Times article on the upcoming iPhone launch, which has been widely forecast for June 9th. That's a little over a week away--or in Nokia terms, a few million phones.

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BluDot Dutch-Style

No more packing your student projects into storage! Blue. (pronounced BlueDot, but no relation to this BluDot) is a brilliant initiative that sells consumer products designed and made by Dutch students during their study at the Industrial Design department of Delft Technical University in the Netherlands. Products like Crispijn Westen's Salt and Pepper set and Goran Aleksijovski's Aluminate lamp are two examples of, yet again, a strong Dutch Design collective.

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Plastic bags and the environment: the young kid and the tall man all play their part

We designers can have a positive impact on the environment by spec'ing out green-friendly materials, but that's for products and stuff we're working on now. What about all the junk that's already been made? Chains like Whole Foods have switched from plastic bags to paper, but what about the plastic bags that have already gone into the wastestream at an estimated rate of 500 billion to 1 trillion a year?

Help is here, from an unexpected source: Canadian high school student Daniel Burd, who has reportedly discovered how to speed up the decomposition of plastic bags using a specific cocktail of bacteria. Left on their own, plastic bags can take centuries to decompose; with Burd's brew, it allegedly takes three months!

Also, here's a bizarre tale (with photos) that you'll swear is an urban myth:

A dolphin in a Chinese aquarium mistook a floating plastic bag for food and ate it. Obviously this could kill the dolphin, so surgery was performed to try to remove the bag. After the surgery failed, aquarium authorities then enlisted the help of the world's tallest man, 7'9" Bao Xishun, to reach his long arms into the dolphin's stomach to remove the plastic bag manually.

via dvice and no plastic bags

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P&G's forward-thinking CEO on innovation

In today's business climate, is it possible for rivals to collaborate even as they compete? Apparently so, according to a New York Times interview with Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley: though P&G and Clorox are competitors, P&G actually developed Clorox's Glad Press-and-Seal wrap.

"We set a goal, that half of the innovations we take to market should have external front-end partners," Lafley explains. "We'll accept innovation help from any source, even competitors.... So we compete like crazy with Clorox on cleaning products, but partner with them on wraps."

What we found most interesting is Lafley's forward-thinking view of product innovation:

Lafley: ...We have regular innovation reviews, where we move ideas and best practices around our 22 businesses.

Interviewer: And yet only half of your product innovations succeed. Why isn't the rate higher?

Lafley: I don't really want it to be. Human nature is such that, if we push our people to drive the batting average up, they'll try to hit more safely, take a shorter swing, go for the singles instead of home runs.

Lafley recently wrote The Game-Changer, a book on business innovation, with management consultant Ram Charan.

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Green product designs: cabinet composter, water filtration bottle

Two green innovations that almost seem too good to be true:

The NatureMill kitchen cabinet composter only draws 50 cents of power per month, but will allegedly turn your table scraps into compost in just two weeks, without attracting the insects and vermin that can plague urban applications of composting. It's hard to tell from the crappy product photos, but it's about the size of a paper shredder. Retails for around $300.

The Lifesaver water filtration bottle is designed for simplicity--you dunk it into dirty water to fill it, use the integrated pump to get the water through the filter, and can then drink the clean results. Takes under a minute to process and can be used for over five years. The catch? $460 retail!

via green home and inhabitat

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Inconvenient Truths + more from Alex Steffen

If you got a kick out of the current Wired Magazine's cover story on Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green, and wondered what the greener-types thought of it, well, the editors were good enough to give Alex Steffen a rebuttal right in the book itself.

Ah, but there's more. Here's Alex on yesterday's Worldchanging:

The discussions we see today -- whether we're talking energy sources, farming practices or fashion choices -- are not even the right kind of debate. Unable to mentally grapple with the idea that we need to be aiming for total sustainability right now, we talk to death the same series of inadequate baby steps. Faced with the need to reinvent the material basis of our civilization, we argue paper or plastic.

If you want truly dangerous bright green ideas, go way out beyond what the conventional wisdom thinks is possible. The conventional wisdom's sense of the possible is irrelevant to reality; it's being melted by climate change and planetary crisis faster than an Alpine glacier. Think, instead, of the implications of ideas like zero energy, zero emissions, zero waste, closed loops, true-cost accounting for the value of ecological services, product-service systems, visible flows, totally transparent backstories, open innovation, green infrastructure, etc. These concepts are really weird, full of new insights and critical uncertainties -- and they, or ideas like them, are very quickly going to become the operating principles of our entire society. If we want to avoid a catastrophic collision with ecological reality, we need to change our thinking.

Our ideas of what's normal, or even what's possible, will not outlast the next decade. Unfortunately, Wired's list of heresies is a list of normal, contemporary approaches (nukes, tree plantations, factory farming, living in the Sunbelt suburbs) and current environmental commonplaces (cities are good, China can be green, carbon trading needs reform) packaged in a way designed to shock and titillate.

What would have been far, far more heretical is to do for planetary sustainability issues what the first issues of Wired tried to do for information technologies: explain why the whole current debate was stale and out-of-touch, and attempt to illuminate a new way of thinking that to the folks back home seemed unfathomable, often crazy, but which turned out to be more right than wrong -- to predict the present in a way that changes our understanding of the world in which we live. There is an emerging culture of real, bright green hand-waving brilliant heretics out there, and the reading public deserves to know what they think.

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Mazda designs and processes, in-depth

It's a PR push for them, and a good look inside a car design studio for us--Mazda has recently flooded Car Body Design (main site here) with a slew of content:

- Design People takes a look at the people in front of the drawing boards.

- Nagare Design Language gives a comprehensive look at the design process of their Nagare concept.

- Design World discusses "design DNA," concept sketching, and follows the route from concept to production.

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New New Favorite Thing: Protomold's Demo Mold

And finally we still haven't gotten around to actually using their services, but Minneapolis-based rapid molding company Protomold has got the Coolest Promotional Shwag prize all wrapped up. First, they sent us the infamous purple cube, making sink marks, pass-core features and screw boss design a cinch to explain. Arriving in the mail last week, though, was something that tops even that: the Demo Mold. It's essentially a super-simplified injection molding tool, complete with runner, ejector pins, slide action, and enough annotation to make the exhaustive process of describing the problem with undercuts to your client/manager a thing of the past.

On top of all that, it's a nice thought-provoker: when tooling time and cost drops to the point where you can manufacture an object to do your explaining for you, what's next?

Free to the industry; click here to order one.

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