Hasta La Ideas

Video and still photographs combined to show the beauty of a huge flock of flamingo on Lake Bogoria,..(Read…)

Fresh from Singapore’s International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits comes a fascinating selection of images which were entered into, yes, the conference’s annual photography competition…

The winning image was by Lim Saw Sing of Infineon Technologies in Malaysia, who won first prize for the above picture of what could well be a large group of people cavorting on a beach (and clearly on drugs). It’s actually a scanning electron microscope image of what happened when Sing “exposed a polyimide surface to etching by reactive ions”.

Tan Lee Koon of Systems-on-Silicon Manufacturing Co. took third prize with this image of the chipping at the edge of a silicon wafer, examined under a scanning electron microscope

According to the IEEE, the professional association for “the advancement of technology” which organises the symposium, Singapore has one of the largest concentrations of microelectronics technology expertise in Asia.

Flocking to its IPFA conference are a legion of “researchers, engineers, technicians and others who work in the area of Failure Analysis in Wafer FAB, Packages, Board Assembly and Service Labs.”

While we’re not entirely sure what that means (though ‘failure analysis’ is essentially the process of finding out why a particular electronic component fails to work), we do very much like the idea of their photography competition in which images are submitted taken by people working with extremely high powered microscopes.

The results were recently announced on the IEEE’s Spectrum website and linked to by boingboing.net.

According to point three of the rules of the photo competition, “The main judging criterion would be the aesthetic aspect of the image rather than its technical quality to be in line with the theme of the contest. Nevertheless, the image must be related to failure analysis.”

In no particular order, then, here are some of our other favourites from this year’s competition.

This is Lim Chan Way at Infineon Technologies’ picture of a membrane structure (top) sticking to a piece of carbon tape:

This image of what appears to be a set of wings is by Advanced Micro Devices analyst, Foo Fang Jie, who was looking at a fracture in a sample of silicon at the time. It won second prize.

And these scientists are not without a sense of humour in pursuit of lovely imagery. Here’s Jacqueline Kwa at Advanced Micro Devices’ transmission electron microscope picture of a rather elephantine silicon sample:

Finally, Khoo Bing Sheng took this image of a 20-micrometer-wide sculpture made from copper (using focused-ion-beam nano fabrication) at WinTech Nano-Technology.

The full list of winning work is at the IEEE’s Spectrum website, spectrum.ieee.org.

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The August Olympic Special issue of Creative Review contains a series of features that explore the past and present of the Games to mark the opening of London 2012: Adrian Shaughnessy reappraises Wolff Olins’ 2012 logo, Patrick Burgoyne talks to LOCOG’s Greg Nugent about how Wolff Olins’ original brand identity has been transformed into one consistent look for 2012, Eliza Williams investigates the role of sponsorship by global brands of the Games, Mark Sinclair asks Ian McLaren what it was like working with Otl Aicher as a member of his 1972 Munich Olympics design studio, Swiss designer Markus Osterwalder shows off some of his prize Olympic items from his vast archive, and much more. Plus, Rick Poynor’s assessment of this year’s Recontres d’Arles photography festival, and Michael Evamy on the genius of Yusaku Kamekura’s emblem for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

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All Unitasker Wednesday posts are jokes — we don’t want you to buy these items, we want you to laugh at their ridiculousness. Enjoy!

Back in ye olde tyme days, toast was typically made in a home’s hearth using a device that looked like a rake or a pyramid shaped gewgaw that is still popular with camping enthusiasts. With the invention of electricity, the rake and pyramid were pushed aside as people started toasting their bread speedily under their oven’s broilers or in toasters or small toaster ovens. Gone were the days of slowly attending to toasting bread over the fire, people could now let a machine make their bread dry and brown for them!

My guess is that it was around this transition period when this week’s unitasker selection hit the market. With toast coming out of the electrical appliances so quickly, it must have been stacking up faster than folks could eat it. And, since apparently plates didn’t exist in the 1800s (except, they did), there must have been a need for a Toast Rack:

Since we now have plates (and by “now,” I mean “have had them since the dawn of civilization”), we can use plates to hold toast. This is such a terrific advancement! Plates! In fact, plates can hold lots of other things. No, it’s true! I’m not kidding around with you. Plates really can hold all types of food in addition to toast — like cake and steak! They’re amazing. I’m very pro-plate.

(Also, I strongly recommend reading the Toast Rack product description, where it tries to justify the device by saying it can also hold waffles. Awesome, because who doesn’t love to display their waffles before eating them?! Oh, and the user review from Marcus is priceless: “Who settles for horizontally stacked toast?” Hee.)

Thank you, Chaya, for sharing this device with us.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

These tree house-like cabins by Thai designer Worapong Manupipatpong are built up around the column of a building rather than over the branches of a tree.

The three wooden playhouses overlap one another as they stack up around the column and ladders connect each floor to the one above.

Manupipatpong created the cabins for “Politics of ME”, an exhibition taking place at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre in Thailand that is centred around personal experiences.

“I want to bring back the memory of when we experienced space with our small bodies, but with large imagination and borderless freedom,” he explains.

Manupipatpong previously created a similar installation that was halfway between furniture and architecture.

The project description below is from the designer:

Shelter of Nostalgia

The installation is part of the “Politics of Me” exhibition at Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC), Thailand during 28 June- 12 August 2012.

The wooden structure is attached to an existing column like a tree house. In a way, the interior space transforms into artificial landscape.

The idea is to create a space that reminds the visitor moment from their childhood. I want to bring back the memory when we experienced space with our small bodies but large imagination and borderless freedom.

The purpose was to design a structure that can relate to adults and children, somewhere in-between reality and dream. The intimate space is also one of the most important qualities of this tree house-like structure.

It could be a perfect place for hanging out with a friend or a good hide out spot during the Cultural Center visit.

Material: Pine Timber
Size: 3.60×3.60×5.80 m.
Location: Bangkok Art and Culture Center (BACC), Bangkok , Thailand

The post Shelter of Nostalgia by
Worapong Manupipatpong appeared first on Dezeen.

Headwear Graphic Designer
New Era Cap
Buffalo, New York

New Era Cap is seeking a Headwear Graphic Designer with at least four years of experience. He or she will create and develop innovative designs through research and insight into fashion trends. The designer will design relevant, on-trend products for seasonal product lines and account-specific needs, as well as collaborating with Product Development and Sourcing Teams to develop new design concepts including new colors, embellishments, techniques and silhouettes.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

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