Hasta La Ideas

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pThere’s still time to cast your vote for the best entry in Inhabitat’s second annual a href=”http://inhabitat.com/springgreening/category/finalists/”Spring Greening DIY Design Competition/a. The challenge was put out to repurpose obsolete appliances and find new uses for unused furnishings. Online voting ends tonight and while we’re not biased, we couldn’t help but notice a couple of the finalists are a href=”http://www.coroflot.com/public/project_home.asp”Coroflot/a members!/p

pPictured left to right; emIluminata Lamp/em made out of yogurt bottles by Basurata Chan, emChop-Flops/em made from recycled chopsticks by Joseph Palmer, emELASTICSHELF/em, a shelving system made out of used bike tires by SystemDesignStudio, emPotus Pot/em made from a recycled lightbulb by Natalia Hojman and Angeles Estrada Vigil, emCone Light/em recycled from used traffic cones by Loreta Haaker, and emDazzling Lamps/em made out of soda bottles by Sarah Turner./p

pa href=”http://inhabitat.com/springgreening/category/finalists/”Vote Now!/a/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/materials/inhabitats_spring_greening_competition_-_voting_ends_tonight_16659.asp”(more…)/a
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Of the millions of apps out there, none quite capitalize on the sheer fun and beauty of interactivity the way that Scott Snibbe‘s do. Combining “painting, animation, art, science, and gaming,” the San Francisco, CA-based digital artist originally developed the gorgeously elegant interfaces (all part of his “Dynamic Systems Series”) in the late ’90s and showed them in galleries until the iPad and iPhone came about.

Recently top-rated in iTunes, Gravilux starts with a field of tiny evenly-spaced stars that dance and swirl around fingertips in a simulation of gravity. With the ability to “tease and twist the particles into galaxies, or explode them like a supernova,” using it feels a little like playing God.

Bubble Harp draws cells on the screen to create fragmented images in the same way that bubbles or cells develop in nature. Settings allow for recording movements or for streaming of bubbles from your fingertips.

Bringing Snibbe’s concepts to a slightly more earthy level, Antograph uses ant behavior as the framework for this app. Touching the screen conjures a stream of ants and leaves an invisible chemical trail, which tells ants where to go and creates a pattern—from which the ants also lose their way.

Check out the video above to see all Snibbe’s apps in action. They sell from iTunes for $2 each.

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pWhether you’re an Americana collector, a trailer junkie, or just a design aficionado, here’s an auction for you: a href=”http://www.projecthdesign.org/”Project H/a’s infamous a href=”http://www.designrevolutionroadshow.com/”Design Revolution Road Show/a Airstream trailer is up for auction on eBay! The hard-to-miss silver bullet rig just finished its 9,500-mile, 36-city trek across the country promoting humanitarian product design with an exhibition, lecture series, and workshops, and will now go to the highest bidder. The 1972 27-foot-long travel trailer comes fully equipped with its bright pink stripe and 30 of the 40 products featured in the exhibition, with a refurbished interior open plan and bedroom. Bidding ends June 11th, 8am PDT, delivery available within the continental US./p

pstronga href=”http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemamp;item=180514431846″BID ON IT HERE and help spread the word! gt;gt; /a/strong/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/for_sale_design_revolution_road_show_airstream_16657.asp”(more…)/a
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While it seems like, in financial news, we’ve been on a slow but upward trajectory, things are still on shaky ground within the museum industry. Following a very rough ’08 and ’09, and this past March’s news that the Smithsonian-affiliated Fresno Metropolitan Museum had run out of money and was closing, the Fayetteville Museum of Art in North Carolina is the latest casualty of the economic collapse. After 38 years of operation, have closed their doors. Just three years ago, reports the local Fayetteville Observer, the museum was flying high, even planning a $15 million project to construct a new building for itself. But then that planning got too pricey and a large chunk of their government funding evaporated, both of which damaged the museum’s apparently already troubled method in which it was handling its finances. Although the paper reports that things had gotten slightly better over time, and it looked like the museum might be able to survive, the news that they were $500,000 in debt was enough to force the trustees to shut it all down. Although the museum has released a statement (pdf) saying it hopes to reopen some time in the future, it seems difficult that that would be an option in the foreseeable future. Here’s from the president of the museum’s trustees, Meredith Player Stiehl:

“The trustees for the Museum have agonized over the decision to close the Museum after two years of steady focus on improving financial operations. Many factors have made our decision for us. Everyone is concerned about their future in the present economy, but it is an especially difficult economy for non-profits. Museums for art and culture around the country are finding themselves in the same position. Economics does play a part in the decision, but there are other factors. Museums with faithful operational grants, a more established donor base or large endowments are in a stronger position to survive.”

A sad loss for the residents of Fayetteville and, sadly, likely not the last museum closure we’ll see this year, despite signs of recovery.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

My friend and professional organizer D. Allison Lee sent me an amazing unitasker that I’ve been laughing about ever since: The Wedding Ring Coffin. It’s a burial coffin for your wedding ring if you get divorced.

Although this is an entertaining idea, it started me thinking about how objects like engagement rings, wedding bands, love letters, jewelry and sentimental trinkets can instantly turn into clutter after a breakup. What was once extremely valued can become worthless in a matter of minutes.

There are laws in each state that determine who is legally entitled to owning engagement and wedding rings when these contracts end, so always start by following the laws of your state regarding these items. If you turn out to be the owner of the engagement and/or wedding rings after a breakup, and the owner of the other sentimental gifts, you’ll have to decide what to do with these objects. You might want to keep them, sell them, donate them, trade them, give them back to the person who gave them to you, have the materials turned into another piece of jewelry, or even bury them.

I thought it might be interesting to start a conversation in the comments talking about what people have done with sentimental items after a breakup. People rarely talk about these objects, so a robust discussion could be really helpful for someone in this situation. Personally, after one college romance ended, I found that I really liked a necklace I’d been given and actually didn’t associate it with the guy who gave it to me. I still wear it because it really is a cool piece of jewelry. Another piece of jewelry, however, had a lot of emotions attached to it so I returned it to the store where the boyfriend had purchased it and traded it in for a new piece. Have you done anything creative with breakup items? Share your stories in the comments!