Rob Beschizza

QWERTY Is Obsolete

More.

Lisa Katayama

Otamatone, Maywa Denki's newest invention

Novmichi Tosa, the man who runs the kooky briliant art unit Maywa Denki, has invented a new musical instrument called the Otamatone, which is shaped like a musical note (or a tadpole) and sounds kind of like a theremin. It has cute little mouth and a long tail that functions as a keyboard. This video is in Japanese, but you can get a feel for how the instrument works and what a lovely man Mr. Tosa is. Watch him play a Japanese children's tune about singing frogs two minutes into the clip.

The Otamatone is currently in production and is slated to sell in Japan starting at the end of this month.

[Maywa Denki main page via TokyoMango]

Steven Leckart

Kool-Aid Man Is Giving NSFW Tours In Second Life [Wow, There's Still A Second Life?]

Kool-Aid Man has been tearing it up over in Second Life. So much so, he's now offering free guided tours for anyone willing to dive back into Second Life.

Of course, it's not really Kool-Aid man, but an avatar created by artist Jon Rafman. Still, seems like it could be quite a trip, especially since homeboy is known for busting through walls wherever he goes.

Warning: The above video features NSFW moments; mostly around 08:00 when Kool-Aid Man visits a sex club, then a strip club. See, I told you dude gets wild.

[via Beautiful Decay]

Steven Leckart

Mac Cake: Sweet 16 = Twilight

Steven Leckart

IBM Tape Drives (1965)

Rob Beschizza

Robocop on a unicorn

Source, not quite via Ffff. This is of course one representative of a glorious genre, masterminded by artist Olav Rokne.

Rob Beschizza

Kevin Van Aelst's strange gadget art

Illustrating a recent NYT piece about dads and technology is a clever photo-composite that echoes Magritte. His portfolio site has many similar works. My favorite is this iPod with rabbit ears!

Steven Leckart

HOWTO Create a GPS Grafitti Space Invader

SF Weekly writes:

With the aid of a GPS -- and nary a can of spray paint -- San Francisco graphic designer Vicente Montelongo has created a series of bike trails in the city shaped like videogame heroes of yore... Montelongo has been posting maps of his GPS videogame trips on the Web site EveryTrail.com.

New York Times more recently reports:

Part sport, part art, GPS drawing lets runners, walkers, cyclists and hikers imagine themselves anew -- not just as a collection of burning muscles, sweaty armpits, forward motion; not just as people endeavoring to crest a hill or lose five pounds. Instead, they are neo-cartographers, jumbo-size doodlers and bipedal pencils, mapping their track lines across cities, roads and farms, and sharing them online...

Pedaling the rectangular city blocks in San Francisco, Vicente Montelongo, 32, a graphic artist, realized the street layout lent itself to the pixeled shapes of vintage 1980s video game characters like Pac-Man, Q*bert and Donkey Kong. Back home with a printed-out Google map and a pencil, he drew Pac-Man chasing a ghost over in the Sunset District and then set out on his bike, iPhone in tow, GPS mapping application on. After riding 8.6 miles in an unwavering line, he uploaded the GPS track data from his phone, and had his picture.

If you're in SF or planning to visit, here are directions on how to make the above Space Invader.

UPDATE: Offworld beat eveyone to this months ago.

Steven Leckart

Money Origami: Star Wars, Star Trek

Gorgeous work, AndrewWan Park! (...nice photos, Andrew!)

[via Drawn!]

Steven Leckart

"Home... is where I want to be, But I guess I'm already there"*

Constructed by artist Kevin Cyr, this tiny trailer is a "functioning sculptural piece." Translation: heavy and impractical (I'm guessing).

Of course, if you hooked up a GreenWheel, it might actually be plausible... until you hit any big hills.

[via Designboom via Trackosaurus Rex]

*"This Must Be The Place"

Rob Beschizza

Amazing paintings by Josh Keyes

Gallery [Josh Keys]

Steven Leckart

More Video Games Should Look Like This.

Steven Leckart

As If Keeping Time Weren't Difficult Enough...

Everyone knows being a drummer kind of sucks. You sit in the back and watch the singer take all the credit. The guitar player's always stealing your lady (unless you're Mick Fleetwood). Your gear is HEAVY and, most importantly, no one ever wants to help you schlep it around.

Created by a Russian percussionist who was — I'm guessing — tired of setting up and taking down his kit at every gig, the "Moto Drum" is pure genius.

More photos at English Russia.

Rob Beschizza

Vintage-style Barometer

This barometer is $160 at WeatherWeatherWeather, and also comes in silver. A whip around the internet reveals some excellent pictures, taken up-close by The Invisible Agent. It looks pretty good, but the globe is plastic and it is described as "finished in brass design." That sentence is quite the little marvel, isn't it?

Update: Cory spotted it first!

Photo: The Invisible Agent

Rob Beschizza

MrScorp

MrScorp [iamgeekhearmeroar via Make]

Rob Beschizza

Power On Self Test: Tron Legacy

James White, the brilliant designer responsible for BBG's spectral background and much else besides, created this gorgeous poster for the forthcoming movie, Tron Legacy.

This isn't official by any means, but it would certainly be a dream job to design a poster for the film, especially since they slated the mighty Daft Punk to create the score. So if anyone at Disney reads this, give me a call :)

End of Line.

Rob Beschizza

Microsoft Store logo revealed: pixel

Were it not for the too-thin whitespace, it'd be pixel art! Here, let me fix that:

Lisa Katayama

LED spray paint can

One of the newer projects by French artist Aissa Logerot (who made the ironing board that flips into a mirror) is called Halo, and it's a graffiti can that sprays LED lights instead of spray paint. When the battery runs out, you have to shake the can to recharge it. A cool tool for light-writers.

[Artist's page via NotCot]

Rob Beschizza

iPod Nano cases made of old cassette tapes

These CAD$49 cases are "gutted, routered and rebuilt" to fit fourth-gen Ipod Nanos. [Contexture Design]

Rob Beschizza

A weekend with Cakewalk's Sonar V-Studio 100

A digital music dilattente, I'm hardly qualified to evaluate the quality of Sonar's VS-100 compared to rival equipment. So I won't. Instead, I'll just tell you why I like this pricey $700 box, and look forward to the day I'm good enough at music to make it a worthwhile buy.

READ THE REST

Steven Leckart

Famous Joy Division LP Cover Visualized

Ever wondered what it'd be like to see the wave on Peter Saville's iconic cover for Unknown Pleasures actually SOUNDS like come alive?

Well, here ya go.

Better yet: The code's available here, if you want to play with it yourself.

[veer via knick/knack via Jay Parkinson]

Rob Beschizza

Time lapse: Public helps build massive Lego light bulb

Amazing--some dedicated Lego fields built an enormous light bulb over the course of a day--and the public helped out! LEGO sent over time-lapse footage of the work in progress:

In honor of National Inventors' Month, LEGO Systems Inc. launches its LEGO® CLICK! Awards, an essay contest for children ages 6 to 13. In addition, the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and LEGO Systems Inc. hosted families for a two-day collaborative build of the world's largest light bulb - the universal symbol of a big idea - made entirely of LEGO bricks on August 1 and 2 at the National Museum of American History.

The 8-foot-tall light bulb was assembled by museum visitors with the help of LEGO Master Builders. Additionally, the museum's hands-on invention space, Spark!Lab, hosted special interactive, construction play-themed activities for children where they are able to "patent" their creations. All of the programs reinforced the connection between play and invention explored in the museum's "Invention at Play" exhibition and celebrate the philosophy that anyone can have a big idea and then can bring it to life.

Check out the awards' page here: Lego CLICK.

Previously: Blade Runner LEGO Spinner Car Syd Mead w Joel Johnson
Welcome to LEGO, these are your business cards
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallinglego
Boing Boing Gadgets Lego archive

Steven Leckart

Photos: Comic-Con Toys, Art & Tchotchkes

READ THE REST

Rob Beschizza

Reading Lamp

Designed by Jun Yasumoto, Alban Le Henry, Olivier Pigasse and Vincent Vandenbrouck, this reading lamp turns itself off when you drape a book over it. Genius. [Core77]

Steven Leckart

Visualizing Complex Functions

READ THE REST

Rob Beschizza

Tiny Akai keyboard is tinier

Step aside, Korg Nano: Akai's LPK 25 keyboard and LPD8 pad are nearly as small, but offer pro-grade construction and velocity-sensitive keys.

Powered by the USB bus and 13 inches long, they're designed to fit in laptop bags and backpacks. The LPD8 has eight pads and 8 knobs, while the LPK25 has twenty-five keys, an argeggiator, and controls for sustain, octave switching and tap tempo.

Akai says they'll be presented at the Summer NAMM show in Nashville later this month. Stores will get them in Q3.

Update: Bigger, better pics from Akai. Now with orange glow!

Rob Beschizza

Laser-cut wooden keyboard

Rob Beschizza

"Nasty Business"

Over on the front door, there's an ancient arcade game you won't, I assure you, have any recollection of playing. It's part of a Date Farmers and Logan installation in LA over the weekend: Xeni with more.

Rob Beschizza

NES Controller Netbook Sleeve

This lovely sleeve, snugly accommodating a netbook, was made by mendicon's girlfriend for his Acer Apire One. [via Gizmodo]

Steven Leckart

iPhone 3GS: Adequate Filmmaking Tool?

Videos shot using the new iPhone 3GS are piling up on YouTube, which has reportedly experienced a massive surge in mobile uploads since the phone hit the market last month. Exciting, but not nearly as exciting as the idea of someone using the phone to shoot an entire music video.

Xeni posted about the video for Reyna Perez's "Love Love Love," which was shot by m ss ng p eces using only the 3GS. The team wrapped shooting and completed the video one week after the iPhone 3GS debuted in stores.

There are, of course, other music vids purportedly shot with only the 3GS. Below is "Love Love Love" followed by others I've found. Got a favorite? Got another one to share?

*Not a music video technically, but close enough.