Hasta La Ideas

Your correspondent was lucky enough to live in Japan for a year, and while there were many great things about it, the one thing I could’ve done without were the frequent, if miniature, earthquakes. It seemed like every other month a little tremor would shudder through Tokyo, and it was terrifying to be in a basement-level-three store (not uncommon in such a space-tight city) during a temblor, wondering if you were going to be buried alive.

There were products you could buy to mitigate the effects of earthquakes, for example, many homes I saw had curtain-rod-like braces wedged between the top of bookshelves and the bottom of the ceiling. But now the Dynamic Designs Challenge is looking for design to take a larger role in dealing with the problem: They’re putting out a call for student-designed earthquake-proof buildings.

Of course, design is just one of many moving parts (sorry, poor choice of words) required for this competition:

The competition will require participants to demonstrate many of the core attributes and skills required by employers and universities including teamwork, creative thinking, communication and the ability to solve complex challenges. The students will also apply skills in and knowledge of science and engineering, art and architecture, project management, finance and socio-economics.

Click here for more info.

via dexigner

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With broadband and wireless technology becoming faster and more devices always connected to “the cloud,” you could be forgiven for predicting the demise of consumer-based media storage devices; for example, once upon a time GPS mapping devices required inserting CD-ROMs loaded with data, but now something as slim as an iPhone can give you maps of virtually anywhere via the internet and Google Maps.

Yet “traditional” media is still being developed and improved. Case in point: Earlier this week, GE announced they have discovered how to fit 500 gigabytes onto a single DVD platter. The way that they do it is by making the discs several inches thick. Sorry, just kidding–for the real way they do it, check out this video:

Now the question is, what are the implications for consumer devices?

The company said it will initially focus on the commercial archival industry followed by the consumer market for its micro-holographic storage technology.

Would love to hear your thoughts on what types of devices we could use that would hold 500GB (or ultimately, 1TB) of non-web-based information.

via twice

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…Superbugs, that is. The UK’s Design Council recently commissioned series of medical equipment concepts, using the design itself to reduce the spread of germs–for example, by reducing a commode from 30-something parts to 11, making it much easier to disassemble and sanitize.

Other products designed under the initiative include:

– A redesigned porter’s chair which is durable, comfortable, and cleverly uses design to make it easy to clean while reducing the number of obvious user ‘touchpoints’ where infection can be spread.

– An ‘intelligent’ mattress which changes colour when it becomes compromised by body fluids.

– A patient bedside system comprising bedside storage and over-bed table which eliminates hard-to-clean corners, is made of special durable, scratch-resistant materials, and is easier for patients to use unaided.

Check out the attendant Flickr pools here and here, and hit the jump to read more details about the project.

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Core77’s Allan Chochinov will be the guest on Debbie Millman’s Design Matters radio show tomorrow, Friday April 30th. The show will start at 3PM ET on the Voice America Business Network, running for an hour (with call-ins!) More on the show:

Design Matters airs live weekly on the Voice America Business Network, now the industry leader in Internet talk radio. The show was voted a “favorite podcast” on PSFK’s Marketing Podcast survey and it was voted 9th out of over 300 entries for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum’s People’s Choice Award in 2007. The show is also available as Podcasts on iTunes, where over 100,000 people download the show every month.

Listen here
Learn more about the show, downoad podcast here
Debbie’s blog here

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