Design:
- A discussion on the staying power of midcentury modern furniture and a bunch of design folks highlighting examples of both the stale and the underappreciated.
Watching the Watchmen (with Data):
Building Things:
- A new video from Formlabs that features our company and client Righthand Robotics came out earlier this week. It's worth a look if you're curious about how low cost rapid prototyping enables continuous product development/agile manufacturing processes (or if you just want to see some beautiful shots of robots and rubber).
- The Washington post with solid reporting on the dirty, dangerous work that goes into mining cobalt, a key ingredient in lithium polymer batteries that drive everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. If we really want to design a better future for ourselves, we have to solve problems throughout the entire system rather than focusing almost solely on the final user/customer. It also points to a need for devices to last longer, reducing the total amount of cobalt required (this was one of the reasons we were so excited some of the modular concepts in the Google Project Ara phone. If you're interested in alternatives, check out Fairphone).
Virtually There:
- How arcades in Japan leverage simple physical experiences to heighten the impacts of virtual reality.