Guest post by Paul Fraser. Photography has come a long way in the last 200 years or so, or even since the first megapixel sensor. Newly developed robotics and software are now making it possible to photograph the tiniest of subjects, the most magnified close-ups, or the broadest panoramas with ridiculous depth of field, quality, and gigapixel resolution. At SIGGRAPH 2010 , where pixels are on everyone’s mind in some way, one exhibit focused exclusively on the topic. GigaPan , a company known for innovations in robotic camera mounts and custom image software, presented its latest hardware, software, and images. Using…

Jeff Bezos has survived the iPad. Predictions that Apple’s bright tablet computer would be a Kindle-killer haven’t quite come to pass: Amazon CEO Bezos says that the growth rate in sales of his e-reading device has tripled since June, when he dropped the Kindle price to $189. (Clearly increased competition from other e-readers, like Sony Reader and the Barnes and Noble Nook, hasn’t dampened the Kindle fire, either.) And he’s still kvelling over last week’s announcement that e-book…

One of our best-selling tees has been updated with new characters, new colors added and now printed with the superior “discharge” method of screen-printing. Check out the new design as well as the older one-color HERE . Both designs glow and are available in black or forest.

If size matters, Modu’s extremely tiny and lightweight phones that come with interchangeable casings are an interesting idea. Go beyond that and the phones seem rather dated . That could change as Modu is likely to introduce a new version of its phone that will run Android OS. A video showing a tiny Modu phone and some of the key screens has surfaced. Israeli company Modu, which makes these phones that are sold outside the U.S. and most of Europe, has engineered devices that weigh …

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Remodeling enthusiasts seeking an independent resource should bookmark Charles & Hudson , founded by Timothy Dahl. After doing stints at various decor magazines, Timothy decided there was a need for a blog that served the renovation community. Since 2005, C&H has been sharing helpful how-to’s, home improvement tips and building news. This year they’ve launched six new blogs that focus on green building, kitchens, paint, tools and home security. Their mission is to arm the DIY community with as much knowledge as possible to help them tackle their own home improvement projects. There are very few mainstream retailers that carry …

Every year the world holds many contests for industrial designers. Lots of submissions, lots of time spent by jurors reviewing them, lots of pretty pictures afterwards. Fun to read, wonderful for the winners. What’s the problem? I have been a juror for a number of contests, including the major American yearly contest sponsored by the Industrial Design Society of America, IDSA , and BusinessWeek . Although I always enjoyed the experience and the interaction with talented, hard-working fellow jurors, I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the results. Why are shows bad? Shouldn’t we reward good design? Sure, if that’s what the shows accomplish, but they don’t. In fact, I believe they do harm to the profession. They reward the visible parts – styling – and ignore the most important, but hardest parts: interaction, experience, truly meeting needs, …

We all know the kind of money that Russians spend on their ships and boats that is if they are billionaires themselves. Russian billionaires are also more in number than the American billionaires. Thus, most of them stay in the cities of Moscow or in St. Petersburg. Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko spent over $400 million to build a yacht the way he wanted them to build it. The mysterious looking boat would remind you of a spaceship from Star Wars. The guy is married to Serbian top model Aleksandra Nikolic. He has even asked Whitney Houston and Courtney Love to  grace the occasion of the marriage where he got married in 2005. The six guest cabins come with exotic eel Jacuzzis and…

Las Vegas luxury hotel chain MGM Mirage has set an example in the hospitality industry by wooing the aesthetically gifted LGBT even organizers. The Fabulous LGBT Weekend, to be held in Las Vegas would see the creme de la creme de societe nudge with other hot shots in the Las Vegas luxury hotel chain MGM Mirage. Las Vegas was chosen as the venue partly because of its openness and mostly because it has some…

MINT is a Latvian company whose simple, clean modern furniture stresses lightness and functionality. Their newest pieces include the Screw Stools and a child’s desk. During The London Design Festival 2010, they will be showing their collection at the Places and Spaces curated exhibit The Workshop at Studio Egret West September 21-26, 2010. © 2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook

Kalotte is a new lighting collection designed by trained blacksmith Sebastian Summa for Hugo Bräuer Metallwaren . © 2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook

Be it romantically motivated, a well-deserved break or some serious soul searching, a European getaway is a fix for the doldrums. Use

We like seeing big-name design firms throwing their weight behind green technology. Last month we showed you fuseproject’s electric vehicle charging station for GE , and now frogdesign has designed the Blink, an EV charging station that comes in both commercial and residential flavors. The evolving nature and adoption of EV technologies means that our design has to be fail-proof in order to build trust among early adopters. That’s why we created a design language for Blink that echoes current driving behaviors to make the transition to an electric vehicle as easy as possible. The driver instinctively knows how to …

Is danger your middle name? Do you enjoy adrenaline (and Red Bull) fueled action sports? Pummeling yourself until you perfect that new Quadruple-McTwist-Rib-ICBM 1472? Congratulations. But you’re still not Shaun White or Kelly Slater. You Visit Cool Material for the full post.

Rollout has developed a new wallpaper concept called QRious , covered in QR codes that lead you to various websites that they draw inspiration from. If you don’t know what a QR code is, basically it’s a code that can be scanned like a bar code with a QR reader (you can download various QR reader applications on your smartphone). Once scanned, the code instantly takes you to a specific destination. Easy as pie. Or cake, depending on your preference. With this new paper, Rollout takes interactive wallpaper to a whole new level — it piques my curiosity and …