Hasta La Ideas

A couple of cool LED-light-related materials over at Inventables, “the innovator’s hardware store:” Reflective Light Pipes and LED Light Diffusing Plastic Compounds.

The Light Pipes are like gasless neon tubes, but rather than using fragile glass they’re made from virtually unbreakable acrylic with a co-extruded reflective layer. It makes me think of the umbrella handles in Blade Runner.

The Light Diffusing Plastic Compounds are simple-looking sheets that break hotspots up, giving you a nice, even glow. They’re paintable, printable, and even laser-etchable.

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Urban Beekeeping has been experiencing a true revival over the last couple of years, with alarming news about declining bee populations and the catastrophic consequences of this trend. The Beepod, a collaboration between the head beekeeper from Milwaukee’s Growing Power Urban Farm and the Industrial Designer behind a computerized milling machine for a family business that produced beautiful wooden quilt-making machines. Instead of typical stacking beehives (Langstroth hives) that are designed to maximize honey production, the beepod is a modified top-bar hive design, a beekeeping technique that has been used for thousands of years. Benefits of top-bar design include higher quality honey and easy inspection and maintenance of the hives. This means pest control and inspection can be targeted. When checking honey combs in a top-bar configuration, the hive itself is not compromised because only parts of the hives are exposed at a single time making for more docile and happy bees.

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For years Ikea showrooms have had a certain modern aesthetic, and if I had to nail it down to two colors I’d say blonde-wood and silver. But their recent booth at Toronto’s 2011 Interior Design Show, which won the Gold Booth Award, has unveiled a different aesthetic. “This year, we have featured a sexy new black modern country door style,” explains Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick, IKEA Canada’s PR Manager. “This is a departure from the ultra-modern high gloss look we have shown in previous years and most competitors are still showing.”

While the booth is clearly not representative of an actual kitchen we could reasonably inhabit–it’s nearly 1,000 square feet, which no one who lives in Manhattan will comprehend–the design touches do signify a clear aesthetic shift, even if we do block out the cool but impractical touches like that pretty storm cloud of hanging lamps. And if Ikea decides to move the needle, it will have an effect: Globally, some 626 million shoppers traipse through Ikea stores each year.

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Have you checked out the Core77 discussion boards lately? Undoubtedly some of you don’t even know it exists, but you should, and here’s why: Post a question, boom, get an answer. People love showing what they know, and the Core77 readership has a collectively deep expertise in matters across the broad spectrum of industrial design.

As an example let’s take a look at some recent questions/answers (paraphrased) from the Materials & Processes board:

Question 1: I found some velcro stuff that audibly clicks shut, is it new?

Answer: It ain’t. That’s 3M’s Dual Lock Reclosable Fastener, and if you want the stuff you can get it here.

Question 2: I can’t find this stuff anywhere, it looks like textured rubber with a cloth backing, 0.5mm thick. What is it?

Answer: I’m a mechanical engineer and we had to use that stuff on an upholstery project. It’s a non-slip fabric called Tough Tek.

Question 3: I’m setting up Carnegie Mellon’s first materials library.
1. What’s the best way to organize the materials?
2. What’s a good spectrum of materials to have?
3. What are some good resources for samples?
4. Any other tips, advice, caveats?

[photo is representative, not actual]

Answer: I believe the classical way is good for organization, i.e. Metals/Polymers/Ceramics/Composites
Then Metals – Ferrous/Non-Ferrous
Polymers – Thermoset/Thermoplastic
Ceramic – Conventional/Engineering Ceramics
Composites – MMC/PMC/CMC

The last one is new and only has a few answers, so please click over and give the guy your thoughts.

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In this day and age, who’s actually got time to locate an opponent and sit down to play a physical chess match? And even if you make it happen, how many moves can you get in before you’re interrupted by a phone call, text, e-mail, or a compelling need to tweet “My pawn just p0wned?”

Carnegie Mellon design student SJ Lee’s Flip-board Chesstable takes checkmatus interruptus into account, featuring a magnetized board on hinges that can be flipped 180, turning it back into a coffee table while inverting and saving your game. So now when you’re losing you can kick your opponent out, citing work, and spread out that copy of Grandmaster Techniques.

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