I'm a 30-something chap who loves spotting a whole bunch of ephemera that may or may not amuse and entertain people.
I'm also on twitter - @robram - so feel free to follow me and keep up with my blather
Just in case you hanker after the days typing pools and analogue technology, but still can't kick your PC/iPad habit, here's just the thing for you.
Yup, it's a computer peripheral with a difference - a genuine typewriter acting as a keyboard and it's yours for just £550.
If you're interested in how it works, check out USB typewriter.
The Japanese are renowned for being slightly more wacky than most, but the fact that someone is selling iPhone cookies at $30 a go is pretty impressive, even by their standards.
They measure 12x6cm and have even received the seal of approval from the president of Softbank, the company that sells iPhones in Japan.
- via intomobile
This is exceedingly clever. Designer Alex Hulme has carved a clip into a bog-standard pencil.
Simple, but effective!
Coming just a few days after comedian Stewart Lee described how he ditched all his shelves of books, this is surely something to make him reconsider, although you might have a job living as a family inside.
Matej Kren has created a gigantic tunnel of books and, if you happen to be in Bologna, you can go and see it at the city's Museum of Modern Art (MAMbo).
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I mean, I think lots of books are pretty awe-inspiring, but this takes them somewhere completely new.
Spotted this today in my Pulse news feed and had to share...
I did tweet earlier, but felt it deserved a wider audience.
Favourite bit is the post-script about his brother LMAO
Spotted this very clever piece of marketing by Pilot pens on Twitter this morning and had to give it a try.
The essence to Pilot Handwriting is that you print off a template and fill it in with your own handwriting.
Then, using your webcam (or scanner if you possess such a thing), the template is scanned and turned into your very own personalised font - it acts as a sort of glorified OCR.
You can then send messages to whoever you wish, written in your own handwriting.
I used the webcam and it turned out OK, although I had to make a few edits (which you are cleverly allowed to do) to some of the characters.
By and large, though, it works incredibly well and the results are pretty impressive.
This marketing gimmick reminded me, though, of all the major effort that many companies put in to try and make commercially-viable accurate handwriting recognition software and hardware in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Even now, although most PDAs offer handwriting recognition, it's usually nowhere near as fast as typing and not as accurate either - idiosyncrasies make writing very difficult to recognise.
I may well use this a couple of times, just for fun, but I think we all accept that typing does the job well enough and, well, if you want to write a letter, pick up your own pen (Pilot or otherwise) and use snail mail instead.
It's great to be concerned about the environment, but could this be taking it a little too far?
An artist called Don Lucho has built a house completely out of paper - Casa de Karton.
He has created an entire apartment, using cardboard and paper, even fashioning slippers, rugs, crockery and a loo out of these natural materials.
I'm not sure if this is a statement about the current state of the world's climate and environmental problems, or just a flight of fancy. Whichever, it's highly imaginative and entertaining.
Love this new blog I stumbled upon today, in the vein of Stuff White People Like, but adorned with lovely images by the Barcelona-based illustrator (and blog author) Alex Noriega.
Some entries are funny, some are simply truisms, all look beautiful.
Go on, stick it in your RSS Feed - you know you want to.
- More Stuff No One Told Me
As proper books fight the inevitable march of their digital companions, it remains obvious that the way to keep the real thing afloat is by making them appealing and interesting, no matter that the content is no different.
Penguin scored a coup in the mid-90s with their Penguin 60s, to celebrate their 60th anniversary.
Now, step forward this genius set of repackaged classics from Tank Magazine.
Styled in the guise of good old-fashioned flip-top cigarette packets, you can buy these novels, including Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in a special Tankbooks tin.
What's not to like about these? Brilliant marketing, in my opinion. Using out-of-copyright books, there's no costs involved with rights, so you can plough more money into the design and feel.
The books costs £42 altogether in the tin, or £8 per book, if you buy individually.
(found via Alltop)
Modern art installations tend to be a bit 'too cool for school', but this is a brilliant piece of art, if you ask me.
An Argentinian artist called Leandro Erlich has made a swimming pool with a room inside.
Quite simply, he's put a piece of (very thick) glass over the pool and 10cm of water on top.
From the top it looks as if people are walking underwater, from underneath it looks as if you're underwater. Very, very clever.
- Read all about it at Make magazine
via Holy Kaw
