Hasta La Ideas

Since it’s never too early to start thinking about our Holiday wishlist, we’re going to go ahead and pencil this one in: Democratech‘s “Sprout” (not to be confused with a Flotspotted concept) is a nice horticultural update to the classic wooden writing implement. The eco-minded cleverly incorporated a water-activated seed capsule into the non-business end of a Ticonderoga cedar pencil. “Sprout is a pencil with a seed inside. When it’s too short to use, it can be planted at home, at the office, or in the classroom.” Plant it, pour some water on it—the capsule is water-soluble—and tend it for a couple weeks, and voilà: your pencil stub has metamorphosed into a happy, healthy vegetable or herb.

Still, we assume that they’re being facetious when they say that “Sprout doesn’t have an eraser because we don’t believe in making mistakes”… though we do agree that ‘outboard’ erasers tend are more versatile.

We want every part of using Sprout to be fun, so instead of sacrificing overall quality (and adding cost and complexity) by grafting on an eraser, we scrapped it entirely. Putting an eraser on it would have been a mistake. There’s a lot of good “external” erasers out there, we’re happy to make some recommendations. And who knows, we may be putting seeds in them too…

Speaking on behalf of Democratech, Mario Bollini dryly relates that they’re “excited to see the project bear fruit” via Kickstarter, further noting “Sprout comes in a variety of flavors.” He proceeds to invite the Kickstarter community to “[plant] the seeds of a healthy lifestyle.”

The best part? Even a fiver will get you a useful and eventually delicious reward. Check it out on Kickstarter to get your hands (and mouth) on one come October.

Via MediaLab, where the six designers and engineers met. The Sprout pencil, of course, is a playful diversion from previously-seen work from team members, which is decidedly more research-intensive.

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As any contemporary lifehacking, less-but-better urbanite knows, it’s tough to reduce your everyday carry past the threshold of the holy trinity: keys, wallet, phone. The adventurous might try (and succeed) in doing without the last item, but realistically, it’s tough to forgo either of the first two personal effects. Designer Anthony Hoang and engineer Nhu Truong, childhood friends from Orange County, CA (not unlike another entrepreneurial effort we’ve seen), hope to reduce these irreducibles down to a single essential object. The Keylet is a card-sized metal money clip with a twist: a hinged key is concealed in two of its corners (the body is roughly as thick as a key between two thin plates of stainless steel… which is more or less exactly what it is).

The credit card form factor has become a sort of gold standard for what is worthy of toting around in one’s pocket, if not in the wallet itself: the Cardsharp knife and the ChargeCard (still available on Kickstarter) are a couple of our favorite examples. Yet the origami-like pocketknife and discreet USB cable are luxuries, for those of us who see fit to carry them alongside credit cards and ID—useful, no doubt, but not essential.

The Keylet is more ambitious, at once a threat to our trusty wallet and favorite keychain: it’s rather more versatile than, say, a card-carrying iPhone case (so to speak), and I, for one, would prefer the flexibility of having my keys+wallet separate from my phone.

Scott Amron’s “Split Ring Key” might be considered to be a precedent, though it has the opposite drawback: where the combination keyring+blank might not offer enough grip area (i.e. torque) for particularly stubborn locks, the blank+wallet might be a bit unwieldy at times (for example, the video shows the Keylet with a car key).

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What’s in the box?

The cube is perhaps the most perfect polyhedron, second only to the sphere as possibly the most perfect form known to man: in the past few days alone, we’ve seen new ways to make them and new ways to inhabit them. Similarly, I’ve noticed that a handful of recent Kickstarter projects—specifically, iPhone accessories for a target market at the ever-growing intersection of smartphone-toting urban professional and space-saving citydweller—have adopted the highly symmetrical form factor.

It should comes as no surprise that the “1Q” Bluetooth speaker by Vers Audio (a.k.a. David Laituri) has been hyped to the effect that they’ve raised nearly 20 times their $10,000 funding goal with less than a day to go. It takes the shape of a 3” wooden cube that acts as a miniature speaker cabinet to produce “warm, surprisingly natural sound” via a Bluetooth or wired source. They can be paired for true stereo capability, and the 10-hour charge comes via USB (of course).

I’m curious to actually hear it myself, but I can see the appeal: it’s a perfectly understated portable speaker that would be useful in any social setting. Backers can pre-order a standard bamboo or walnut 1Q for roughly 20% off the $119 MSRP (the KS limited-edition in red beech is slightly more expensive), and Laituri & co. have promised earbuds for $180+ backers as an additional incentive in the final push to cross the $20K mark in these last 20-odd hours.

If the name ‘1Q’ is a subtle reference to the cube, an eponymous iPhone dock might be considered as an equally subtle homage to the iconic flagship store, a transparent 100%-polycarbonate desktop dock that’s roughly the size of a teacup. Unfortunately, KC Lee’s “Cube” fell short of didn’t make the cut, garnering two-thirds of the $70,000 funding goal by the deadline earlier this week.

Savvy smartphone users know the old trick of placing the device in a cup or bowl to amplify the unsatisfactory speakers of handheld electronics, a physical limitation of an object that fits comfortably in one’s pocket. The “Cube,” then, is a refinement of the makeshift vessel, with a compartment in the base to accommodate the charging cable.

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Bluetooth audio enabled with a simple accessory

Aiming to free you up from pesky cordage, EarTop Flow is an after-market bluetooth gizmo that attaches to headphones for wireless streaming. The device, currently fitted for Bose and Beats by Dre headphones, utilizes advanced Bluetooth 2.1, EDR and APTX technologies for high fidelity feeds with a 30-foot range. A practical design allows plug-and-play via a 3.5mm jack while the lightweight body floats externally.

A touch control system allows you to manually manage your music as well as interrupt playback to take calls through the headphones, and a full charge will deliver 12 hours of uninterrupted, studio-quality sound. The concept was developed by CEO Ketan Rahangdale, a former deejay who was looking for a low-cost option for bluetooth streaming. EarTop Flow technology also has potential applications in cars, home stereos and anywhere 3.5mm jacks are used—which is practically everywhere.

For now, EarTop Flow can be pre-ordered for $50 as part of the company’s Kickstarter campaign.

Paddy Donnelly designed poster, a backers gift for Kickstarting the 3rd Season of 99% Invisible. An ode to the audio cassette and a time when a pencil could solve all of our problems.

One of the coolest things about visiting a design studio and shadowing a designer is seeing their work in action. It’s amazing to see a design come to life, and to watch designers ask and answer all the questions that designers do. That’s also the beauty of solid design writing and journalism—the best writers are storytellers who find the tidbits that make design such a compelling field.

“I felt there was a real way to tell these stories in a cool way. And you can tell that the awareness of different aspects of design is at an all time high,” said Roman Mars, the producer, host and founder of 99% Invisible, a popular radio show about design. As a host for Public Radio Exchange, Mars brought his public radio experience to the design show and met with numerous designers and architects to refine the concept.

99% Invisible host Roman Mars.

Everyone he spoke with mentioned a quote from legendary designer and innovator Buckminster Fuller, who talked about the “99% invisible” forces that shape the world and with this inspiration, the show was born. What started as a 1 minute spot soon evolved into a 4 1/2 minute radio show with even longer episodes for the popular podcast.

While it might seem difficult to talk about such visual work in an aural medium, Mars has a knack for finding the remarkable in daily life. And it’s by identifying the compelling stories behind design that his program shines. In one popular episode, “Frozen Music,” he talks about just how radical it was record music:

But no effect has been as world changing as that original innovation: freezing music in time onto a recording, where a single version of a song, a single performance of a song, became the song. An inherently mutable method of communication was fundamentally changed.

“That’s sort of my favorite part,” Mars explained, “a little factoid about something that makes you see that thing differently and that makes you appreciate it and find some kind of genius or wonder in everyday things. I tend not to cover amazing or innovative design that makes you ooh and aah.”

“I kind of like to cover manhole covers,” he continued. “That’s more my beat.”

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