Hasta La Ideas

pNow it’s becoming a little more apparent what can be done, from a manufacturing perspective, with the Liquidmetal material that Apple has recently licensed. And we couldn’t be more excited./p

pBack in May A HREF=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/oskar_zietas_inflated_steel_furniture_16648.asp” we posted on Oskar Zieta’s blow-molded steel furniture pieces/A, which are bulky objects rendered using brute industrial force. While I applauded the experimentation, I wasn’t a huge fan of the aesthetic (see photo below). /p

div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/08/0almtl001.jpg” width=”468″ height=”393″ alt=”0almtl001.jpg”//diva href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/technology/materials_manufacturing_liquidmetal_can_be_processed_like_plastic_17186.asp”(more…)/a
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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!

I have no idea what it is about bananas that inspires unitaskers, but they do. Oh, how they do.

We’ve written in the past about the Banana Saver and the rectangular-shaped Banana Slicer, but did you know you could also get your hands on …

A Banana-Shaped Banana Slicer:

A Nana Saver banana clip:

Or, the “special” looking Banana Bunker:

If you’re carrying a banana around in your backpack, I can see how the banana-protection devices would be useful. However, I crack up at the idea of someone bringing a bunch of bananas home and individually protecting each banana with a Bunker as it sits on the counter — like outfitting each banana with its own suit of armor.

Now I’m off to slice up a banana using just a knife. I know, I live on the edge …

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Brazilian stools, each handmade by Mr. Silveira.

He also has a really impressive website (english version here). I’m a big fan of full-screen images.

After its launch back in December and various shortlist and judging panel teases throughout the spring and early summer, the “Framing a Modern Masterpiece” effort by the city of St. Louis and the National Park Service to renovate, reconstruct, and reinvigorate the area surrounding Eero Saarinen‘s iconic Gateway Arch, has finally released renderings by the five finalists vying for the job. We knew the project was a big deal, but really had no idea the sheer size of its scope until seeing these new images. While, like with all sky’s-the-limit original plans, we’re sure whoever wins the competition (announced September 24th of this year) will have to deal with various alterations and budgetary trims, seeing these ideas makes us appreciate the effort all the more, and ups the excitement tenfold, knowing that one of these will actually be happening. So go browse around and marvel the soon-to-be majesty of St. Louis. And if you happen to be wandering around the Midwest in the next month, make sure to check out the traveling exhibition that will be showing off all five plans.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On Monday, the BBC published the article “Cult of less: Living out of a hard drive” about a group of 20-something hipsters who claim digital technologies have replaced all but a few of their possessions.

One of the men interviewed for the article says he only owns “his laptop, an iPad, an Amazon Kindle, two external hard drives, a ‘few’ articles of clothing and bed sheets.” Another says he only has “a backpack full of designer clothing, a laptop, an external hard drive, a small piano keyboard and a bicycle – an armful of goods that totals over $3,000 (£1,890) in value.”

Owning just a few electronics and pieces of fabric is an interesting take on extreme minimalism. In contrast to most ascetics who eschew the conveniences of the modern world, it’s current technologies that make these hyper-digital ascetics’ lifestyles possible.

[Kelly Sutton of Brooklyn, New York] … says he got rid of much of his clutter because he felt the ever-increasing number of available digital goods have provided adequate replacements for his former physical possessions.

“I think cutting down on physical commodities in general might be a trend of my generation – cutting down on physical commodities that can be replaced by digital counterparts will be a fact,” said Mr Sutton.

The tech-savvy Los Angeles “transplant” credits his external hard drives and online services like iTunes, Hulu, Flickr, Facebook, Skype and Google Maps for allowing him to lead a minimalist life.

However, the tech-savvy minimalists are quick to point out that their decisions have made some aspects of their lives difficult:

Mr Klein says the lifestyle can become loathsome because “you never know where you will sleep”. And Mr Yurista says he frequently worries he may lose his new digital life to a hard drive crash or downed server.

What do you think of these modern minimalists? Discuss your reactions in the comments.

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