Hasta La Ideas

Besides, say, a number of curious rituals, the prevalence of the smartphone has also begotten the so-called “Selfie,” a self-explanatory epiphenomenon of the social media era. Per TIME Magazine’s Top 10 Buzzwords of 2012: “People have been taking photos of themselves and sharing them with friends, family and Internet strangers for years. Yet it wasn’t until 2012 that a name for these self-portraits, typically made to post on a social networking website (or send in a text message), really hit the big time.”

For his final project at RCA’s Innovation Design Engineering program this spring, Chin-Wei Liao sought to refine the social experience of amateur portraiture, a paradox compounded by the advent of the digital camera. On one hand, “we have stronger memory connection and emotion projection” when we see ourselves in old photos, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that “documenting the presence of self is not an easy task”; similarly, “there is usually one person has to be excluded from photos taken in social events.” On the other hand, “many people feel uncomfortable being photographed or do not like seeing their self-images”; hence, the option to ‘untag’ oneself in Facebook photos.

Thus, Liao’s ‘DUO‘ addresses both sides of the Selfie, allowing two users to be both photographer and subject at the same time. The device consists of two identical, detachable cameras with synchronized triggers, such that every image has a counterpart, captured by its twin.

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That there is the Klein Bottle, first conceived of in 1882 by German mathematician Felix Klein. Klein’s “non-orientable surface,” as it’s called in the math community, is like a Möbius strip in that you cannot distinguish inside from outside; follow it with your eyes and you’ll see one turns into the other, which makes me very, very uncomfortable.

I’m told that the Klein Bottle is, in essence, two Möbius strips connected together. I’d like to start sketching that to work out how it goes together, but I can’t because I’m too stupid.

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Although vinyl acolytes swear by the unmistakable warmth of analog media, there’s no denying the advantages of the mp3 or its cousins: Between the ease of distribution, sheer convenience of having thousands of available at one’s fingertips and availability of playback devices, the digital format is now the norm (resurgence in record sales—500% since 2007—duly noted). But the audio source is only half of the story: what good is a fancy turntable or lossless FLAC file if the audio equipment doesn’t live up to the fidelity of the media?

Ever since custom equalizer and gain settings were introduced to consumer audio in the 70’s, an array of knobs and faders has been the standard interface for audio equipment. Casey Lin’s “Timbre Speaker” respresents a rather more interactive listening experience, allowing the user to manipulate the sound quality by moving physical objects on the surface of an unassuming transductive receiver.

Timbre Speaker trims the essence of a speaker down to the very bare minimum, allowing the inherent qualities of the materials to become the centerpiece of the design. All superfluous detail is stripped away, leaving only the necessary audio and power ports at the rear, and combined power and volume dial. Wood and glass were selected for their favourable acoustic qualities which enhances the audio experience of the user. The Black American Walnut wood adds a warmth to the tone, while the addition of the glass vessels bring a more reverberant characteristic to the music.

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Man I can’t get over that new Mac Pro. And while we all know the “thermal core” part is made from extruded aluminum, how is the exterior (which is also aluminum) made? It’s obviously not extruded, as it’s got that inward-curving lip up top, and it wouldn’t make sense from an efficiency standpoint to CNC-mill the entire thing out of a billet; there would be too much waste. Any guesses?

According to Don Lehman, it’s made using the production method known as impact extrusion. Conceptually, the process is more similar to blowmolding than proper extrusion, except a metal punch takes the place of compressed air, and the material used is metal rather than plastic. Here’s a quick look at impact extrusion as performed by Illinois-based Best Metal Extrusions, on a product significantly smaller than the Mac Pro. (Looks like a cigar holder, but your guess is as good as mine.)

Here’s something a little closer in size to the Mac Pro:

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Herman Miller’s Embody is one of the best office chairs on the market, and the company has a reputation for excellence in design and engineering. So we were surprised when both armrests on our review unit of the Embody independently stopped working within just a few years. (Two and a half, to be exact.) We subsequently saw the same issue on a second Embody.

The Embody’s cost has come down from a whopping $1,600 to a more manageable $1,100 or so, but that’s still a lot of scratch; shouldn’t a Herman Miller product last longer than that? After all, the company does guarantee their products for 12 years. But if you’ve got a busted Embody and don’t want to go through the hassle of shipping it back to HM for repairs, living without it for a spell, then waiting around for the delivery guy, we figured we’d see if we could fix ours using basic household tools. Have a look:

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