Hasta La Ideas

PUSH N900 is a unique design and hacking project from Nokia. Conceived by Hyper & Tinker.it!, PUSH N900 gives designers, hackers, modders,creatives and artists the chance to get their hands on, and heads inside, the new Nokia N900. The PUSH N900 project launched on 13th September, with an open call for submissions. Entries need to demonstrate how you would hack & mod the N900 to connect it to something you love. The winning submissions will provided with N900 devices, funding &support to develop their PUSH idea. These will then be toured around international Nokia Flagship Stores.

To launch the project, Hyper & Tinker.it! have developed the PUSH BriefBot. This connects the N900 device to a range of 1980s retro items, allowing these items to control the N900. Featuring 8-track players, joysticks, Speak and Spell & multiple N900 devices, the BriefBot will be launched at onedotzero. PUSH N900 will be at the London Design Festival as part of Designersblock. Here Hyper and Tinker.it! will be demoing the 80s themed N900 mods. Visitors to Designersblock will be able with them and ask questions about the build process, competition entry and N900 24th to 27th of September 09.

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The Feast Social Innovation Conference, hosted by All Day Buffet, is looking like a great event to start October off with. Speakers include William Drenttel (Partner of Winterhouse), Matthew Bishop (Chief Business Writer of The Economist), Joshua Viertel (President of Slow Food USA), Annie Duke (Professional Poker Player), Becky Straw and Ron Arnold (COO and Director of Water Programs for Charity Water), Uffe Elbaek (Founder of The Kaos Pilot) and Ken Banks (Founder of kiwanja.net & FrontlineSMS), and the conference will take place in the swank-city The Times Center in NYC.

Tickets are almost gone, so hit the site and register.

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We’ve talked a bit about literary objects in the recent past (see our post on Significant Objects), and we’re especially excited to announce that The Thing, a quarterly periodical in the form of an object, will be celebrating the release of Jonathan Lethem’s Issue at Printed Matter on September 15th, 5-7pm.

Jonathan’s issue is entitled the “Chaldron Optical System.” It relates to his upcoming novel CHRONIC CITY and consists of a glasses case, a pair of clear glasses with text on each of the arms, and a care and maintenance manual written in both English and French.

Though we won’t know what it’s all about until Chronic City comes out on October 13th, we love the idea that objects in stories can become objects in real life. If you’re into this too, pick up a copy of Lethem’s issue at Printed Matter on the 15th, and, bonus, have it signed by the author himself.

Oh, and in case you’re curious, Amazon has posted the first chapter of Chronic City here.

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A Better World By Design Conference will be taking place at Brown/RISD in Providence, RI on October 2-4 and looks to be an incredible get-together. Core77 is proud to be a media sponsor, and we will be hosting our first-ever LIVE 1 Hour Design Challenge during the event. Here’s the conference pitch:

A Better World by Design brings a global community of innovators to Providence, Rhode Island, to reach across disciplines and unite under a common goal. Presenters share engaging stories, workshops teach creative skills, and discussions reframe perspectives. A Better World by Design is an immersive experience that deepens our understanding of the power of design, technology, and enterprise to reshape our communities and sustain our environment.

The all-star lineup includes Jan Chipchase, Stefan Behnisch, Michael Braungart, Teddy Cruz, William Drenttel, Stuart Harshbarger, Kigge Hvid, Jaime Lerner, Vivian Loftness, Emeka Okafor, Emily Pilloton, Anna Rubbo, Nathan Shedroff, Ken Banks, Niti Bhan, Cameron Sinclair, and John Maeda.

Registration is now open, and their $99 hotel deal is valid until Sept. 16.

See you there!

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GOGBOT Festival 2009 kicks off tonight. The theme of this year’s gathering of socially and aesthetically curious artists, designers and thinkers is Atompunk – drawing inspiration for new ideas form the period framed by the cold war.

GOGBOT 2009 takes place September 10-13 at ten venues in the center of Enschede, NL (about an hour and a half east of Amsterdam and Utrecht.) The festival program was developed over the past ten months by the good people of PLANETART with shared ideas and images from the global community via the Atompunk mailing list.

Tonight’s opening ceremony features a presentation by guest of honor Bruce Sterling and a live performance by Alec Empire. Read Bruce’s introduction to Atompunk here.

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