Believe it or not, being minimal, and straight to the point via package designs, is a very rare thing. And being unique.... rewards. Its no secret that apple over the years have won alot of admiration (and awards) for their absolutely minimal and yet stylish packaging. Often apple packaging, especially for ipods, show the item in hiding, by a 1:1 scale around the outside of the packaging. Like seen here with the u2 5th generation Ipod.
Front. Actual product size on the outside of the box. back and side. Most significant and greatly typical for apple packaging is also, the actual size of the complete box, compared to the item inside. Especially with apples ipodline, its crucially important to underline the evermore smaller sizes of their devices, so they limit the packaging to being not much bigger than the products itself without too much glorification involved on the outside. What you see is what you get!. A very admirable "marketing strategy", that absolutely (unlike mcdonalds menus) radiates an honest image of the object in question. Isn´t that something even the dumbest consumers appreciate? honesty and trust?. And, yes! i personally agree- Apple makes trustworthy products wrapped in honest "no nonsense" packaging. So, lets conclude that all our mommies were right. Honesty does go along way.
Oddly enough another trustworthy yet fashionable company had a simular concept during the 70´s and 80´s. The Ipod of cameras- Polaroid. Like seen here on the box of a Polaroid lightmixer 630.
Front. Actual product size on the outside of the box. Back. Same thing. Side. Hey wait a minute....... what am i getting at?.
To be honest theres absolutely nothing wrong with being one of the few companies that like and adore polaroid cameras. Everyone loves polaroid cameras. So lets just leave it at that. But have in mind for part 4, that Apples Senior Vice President of Industrial Design- Johnathan Ive was born in 1967. So he was a teenager in the late 70´s into the 80´s. Wouldnt it be plausible that he (and/or his co-workers) had a big crush on polaroid already back then?........................ Well, more about that very soon, so dont miss out of the final chapter of "Apple: Who are you?". The chapter where i will take one last big bite at the apple of ive. (let me give you a hint. "North west" ).
1970´s was the beginning of the consumer electronics ecosystem . The remnants of revolution along a "healthy" appetite for a new decade, left alot of artists ( not just rockmusicians), designers and engineers hungry for more than just the popular shapes and colors of the 1960´s. With the first home video tape recorder coming out mid 60´s, public color TV transmitions hitting Europe in 1967, and personal computers like ataris claiming livingroom space globally from 1973. The foundation was set for alot new creative influences aiming to retrace design inside the home. With mentors like danish furniture designers Verner Panton, Arne Jacobsen and last but not least finish Eero Aarnio setting the pace. Alot of consumer design evolved into more than just a comfortable vision of the future.
Eero Aarnio´s Ball chair, also known as the "Pod chair". The Ball chair was exhibited in 1966 and became a huge commercial hit thru the 70´s. Together with Arne Jacobsens "Egg chair", the ball chair is one of the most popular and desired objects in design history.
Companies like German Telefunken, which in the beginning of the 60´s engineered the standards for European analogue televison PAL* ( *Phase alternating Line), quickly became one of the more popular affordable tv set fabricators, adapting fractions of the very same bold shapes and rich contrasts of Scandinavian furniture design. Even down to the trumpet feet details.
(ads courtesy of Gizmodo) Another significant detail about Telefunken tv´s, which tech site Gizmodo also pointed out two weeks ago, are the black trimmings around the tube on telefunkens Pal series tv´s. These trimmings are not a just a one time design fluke, no...
The very same type of black trimmings, also assisted this classic Brionvega Doney win the Compasso d'Oro (Italian industry design award) aldready in 1962.
"Thee black trimmings"- A fascinating phenomenon which ever since, strangely enough have become a semi-must within the more luxurious television design communities. A simple search on the phrase "design tv" on google images will emphasize my point, by showing not just retro noname italian travel tv´s, telefunken highlights onto newer Jvc 2005/2006 series, but also point out german Loewe (who are quite known for their know how) with their "black trimmings". Like on this late 2006 Xelos series.
What your search on google wont show, is computers (mostly because you searched on tv ofcourse), or computers that look like fashionable tv´s (both of the past and present). Computers like the 2007 Imac creature. A creature that just like all other creatures in its brand family, had its edges shaved off.
Yes, Inspiration (and trendy design) is a constant fleeting moment. In times like the late 60´s and 70´s where global consumerism got its very first technologically enhancements like cheap synthetics (for mass production) and television marketing, designers and companies faught each other greatly with loads of fun games such as: "impersonate this, impersonate that" and "I did this...Oh, me too". Both vast games of great corporate stamina, that obviously reaches far into the predetermined freedoms of the very simular future which is today. A today where quality design, originality and modifications there off, dominates discount outlets of every streetcorner, of every city, in every country. At very affordable prices. So.... Yeah baby, cheap shiny fascinating white plastic, black trimming remnants, retro design and globalization, can co-exist together in eternal harmony. Its just a matter of.....eh.... inspiration?
Part 3 of "Apple: Who are you?" (and 4), coming sooner. Believe me.... You aint seen nothing yet.
"Silent Bob here's an electrical genius. He won the science fair in eighth grade by turning his mom's vibrator into a CD player using some chicken wire and shit.The mother fucker's like MacGyver. No, the mother fucker's *better than* MacGyver." (Quote from the movie "Mallrats" by Kevin Smith).
Pretty impressive. So... in that case, what came first?- Silent bob the original thinker, or Silent bob "the guy who got inspired by the right thing, in the right place, at the right time" and then... Cdplayer!. Its a tough one. The movie makes it seem like, that even the most common pothead (as Silent Bob) can modify/engineer cool things, with a little inspiration. Well ofcourse, Kevin Smiths character in the movie Mallrats, is just as fictional as a 20$ Hummer. But the essence of the situation comedy film quote in the beginning of my post, is absolutely relevant when it comes to me attempting de-bunk the grey areas between infinite layers of corporate inspiration, original thinking and re-invention. Again, theres a long walk from a sexual device (such as a vibrator) to a real functioning cdplayer. But having that walk in mind and putting fiction aside. I wonder..... How easy would it be for a reasonably intelligent well travelled designer (or company), to convert a basic, but wellknown shiny "pictureframe" design into an "original" mobile phone design? Well...
First of all lets focus on fx. Milan, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Oslo, Chile, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Malmö... and the many more cities, that Jcdecaux, a world wide outdoor advertizing company are present with their products (and have been for years). To narrow it down, lets lock on to the french town of Plaisir, a city not far from Versaille. Here you will find the Jcdecaux designers who are responsible for the neat worldknown looks of the "Paris 3".
Yes, it is indeed an outdoor display with very smooth looks. A simple square, with nice rounded corners, cool chrome finish... all of it together, almost too classy, for being a passive display. I really wonder how this french design would look if it was to be the size of a hand. "A tiny billboard in your hand" (or pocket). A tiny chrome square, with oh so cute and shiny corners. That would be kinda cool. Hmmmmmm... (thinking).
Part 2 of "Apple: Who are you?" (plus 3 and 4), coming soon.
A dedicated user over at richard-kelly.net named Gunji, took a closer look at the yahoo high definition version of the Southland Tales trailer. He kindly spent his latenight going thru the trailer with keener eyes and... posted his findings in the forum (in 1024x768 resolution). "I watched it frame-by-frame and was even more impressed by all the stuff they put in. Now it's almost 2 o'clock at night here and I gotta work tomorrow, but here are some hidden stills I found!" - Gunji. Here are some of the Eerie stills he found burried in the faster transitions of the trailer. Click the images to see bigger versions (in new window).
If you wanna see, hear and discuss more about this film, i can definently recommend heading over to richard-kelly.net (signup required). Lot of nice people over there, and Richard Kelly himself drops by and says hi once in a while. Great work Gunji. Nice stills.
After a good... hmmm... weeks, months, well.. almost a year. Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly finally got his ultimate doomsday movie thru what apparently was channels, heaps, and furthermore, a bit more than just months of re-editing and bargaining with the man and his bright red tape. Sci-fi weirdness, massive blimps and Atomic bombs, along side: Justin Timberlake, The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sean William Scott, Kevin Smith and more. Not to mention wonderkid Moby doing the official soundtrack. Who wouldnt wanna see that?. Yes, there you have it- A genuine preview of what to expect in cinemas everywhere the 9th of november. The official Southland Tales trailer is finally among us.
You can also watch the trailer in HD at yahoo. Click here
This post have been removed - since i was encouraged to take it down. Fair enough. I was a bit to fast on the trigger there, sorry. Anyhow, it was a pic given to me by a friend, who claimed that it was a live zune 2 in the wild at a Copenhagen party (at some office). To describe the pic: A guy and a girl was posing together, with some people in the background. The guy was showing of a videoplaying zune (i presume) in his hand, towards the camera. Though the pic was very small and not that good. I could not quite determine if it was real or not. But i was encouraged to take the picture down, so i did. The reason why i think it was a zune, was because the concept of it, very much looked like the zune 2 i posted about last week. That zune i recently discovered was a genuine fake, because it was entered as a part of the "design a zune" competition on engadget last year. Hopefully another "real" pic will manifest itself soon.
Be sure to come back this week and check out the posts on apple, the iphone and where apple get "their" ideas. I tell you, it is gonna be good/serious fun.
So... there it was. Not one, not two... but three new ipods (3 and a half if you count the new shuffle). Am i impressed? Well, to be honest im having a hard time figuring out what the big news is. Apple relatives always inherit the looks of their socalled parents, meaning... the classic ipod white on their computers got dropped for silver. So, was it unlikely to expect anything less than silver on the ipod series (instead of white)? Apple recently launched a touchscreen device (iphone). Would one not assume that this technology would be transferred to atleast one of their new devices? Anyhow, enough biggering..... what im trying to say is- From a technological standpoint, i am so far, not that impressed with apples "newest" ongoing beatsaga. From a design standpoint... i simply cannot contain myself regarding the new nano. It is directly hideous. Too fat for its own good, an epic eyesore of wellproportioned dimensions. Sometimes apples obvious visions for "music lovers" remind me of washingpowder commercials and cleaning product promises over time. Because the powers or "technologies" for washing things whiter, is so much better today, than 20 years ago. Havent you noticed? Our clothes are so white today that its beyond white, because... washing powder just keeps getting better. Right? Or perhaps i could even stretch it so far and say that apple is the new gillette... they just keep adding blades on those damn razors, and everytime you sit there...infront of your screen, suckerpunched and amazed... thinking- How the hell do they keep having room for all those blades? Right? Well you shouldnt be. Ofcourse a 5 blade gillette razor will, without a doubt, always outperform a 1 blade bic razor (the yellow ones from the same company that also makes pens... yeah). But is it fair to compare the same simple razor to a nice new pimped out philips shaver? Well......... my general question is? Has the ipod really become that much better?
Ipod touch notes - 8/16gb: Yeah its thinner and absolutely begging to be bent the wrong way one day or another. The ipod touch appeals to customers who insist on using both hands operating, while proudly attempting to impress everybody else in their school/work lunchbreaks with its wauvfactor.... and since it appeals to mostly "i dont know much about gadgets or music, and i dont care, but i want one too" and their ways of encountering everyday life. The thin ipod touch is most definently to become a fragile sucker in the wrong (apple=right) hands. Design wise, the touch is sleek and clean... apples patented circles on squares. Simple to the core, but perhaps a little bit too blingy for its own good. An all matt black ipod touch would have been nicer. Who knows, an "a chemical romance" ipod might be lurking soon enough.
Ipod classic notes - 80-160gb: Not many changes here. The screen is as always, brighter. Always good. Design has been tweeked a bit with some slopes up and over, into the ipod front itself. Acceptable, but not an actual inprovement that really ads more to the simpler design. I guess they were aiming for a "thinner" look. The big news- was 160gb of room for the biggest ipod classic. Ok? Somebody humour me- Who the hell needs 160gb space for apple related content?
Ipod nano notes - 4/8gb: So the rumours were right. Apple brought a fatty into the camp. Looks as if though, they tried really hard to squeeze everything into place. Probably the most obnoxious of apple devices ever. Be pleased that it fits in almost every pocket. Keep it there please.
Yep. alot words in one chop.... anyhoo, be sure to come back within the week and watch me track down, uncover, and document where apple found their inspirations. Yes, it will all be there... Soon enough.
Within the last month or so, a whole heap of interesting Cowon/Iaudio designs/mockups flooded the net here and there. I figured i would post the ones that wasnt shown too much. Apparently these pics tell the mythical tales of a new, smaller "colored" version of the x5, which Cowon fans over the years so proudly enjoyed to worship (for a good reason aswell). It pleases me very much to keep seeing consistent Cowon supporters (which i assume it is) creating a stir with their own designs. Good ones too if i may add. So no complaints here. Ufortunantly credible rumours of a future sibling to the x5, the x7 (or x8) are sofar non existent. So, youre gonna have to settle for these fake mugshots. Notice that the black design has X8 on its back, where the red and brown have X7.
Ok. Im kinda on hiatus... and along that preparing a few somewhat bigger controversial posts for next week. So far my cool detective skills have presented me some trails and brought me places i didnt even imagined existed... and besides that, it has demanded quite a bit of vast agressive research. But, im really enjoying this quest of tracking down the inspirations of last weeks "legend" and its infamous master (hint= "not pear"). Wanna know more? Yeah. Stick around, and i´ll toy with your senses soon enough. In the meanwhile, for you, who havent gotten around to it yet.... Click the pic. (and then..... shake some pics).
...And while all desperate eyes and ears are on the Apple event tomorrow, i have decided to switch camps (not that i ever was in "one" camp) and post this new fascinating (and plausible) 2nd generation Zune mock by an unknown designer, that i discovered on a german Zune site. Very interesting design. I especially like the double edges of the device. Which would make room for both the neat "double-shot" finish on the outside, without it interferring with the solid frame inside surrounding the actual screen. Also it makes it easier to keep your fingers curled along side to the front of the device without having to be forced resting you fingertips on the edge of the screen. (source: www.zune-info.de/forum)
As mentioned some days ago, the IFA consumer eletronics fair in Berlin has been a busy week for alot of manufacturers. Plenty of companies presented somewhat interesting devices. Korean Cowon on the other hand presented this little thing, which im not really sure about how to react upon - The Iaudio U5. A smaller device, with a 1.8" tft lcd screen at 128x160. Capacity wise ranging from 2-8 gb along the skills of doing voice recordings, FM radio and recording. How they will manage to unveil this device further, is a mystery i guess. Is it sofar, inferior in comparison to its other Cowon Iaudio family members? It seems so. Am i a bit dissapointed? Havent decided yet. Hopefully the U5 is just a teaser or a prototype of sorts. The design itself is interesting, yet generic and very much not even near as consequently executed as i thought they would vision their future designs. Check it out.
Navigations/tactile closeup. Cowons IFA 2007 booth. (pic by Steven@cowonboards)
More IFA 2007 booth pics at the Korean Cowonboards. Enjoy.
After quite some searching for the origin of the Ipod nano pic sent to me by a friend of mine (claiming not knowing the source). After several hours of searching, i finally found a bunch of pics claiming to be nano g3´s. Also being the source of my pic i assume. Let me just state one thing. THEY ARE ALL FAKES. I looked closer at the real pics and pointed out the photoshop mistakes. Just in case you got youre hopes up.
pic 1: The shadow line on the top right side is photoshopped. The line is pixelated and has a too strong contrast compared to a realistic photo. Hence its added. Also the screen is a tad more to the right side of the player, crossing into the curves of the actual device.
pic 2:: The surrounding textures of the clickwheel is too blurred compared to the texture of the normal surface on the device. Which also screams PHOTOSHOP, apparently he either couldnt find a matching color good enough or he used a bad click wheel copied from another pic. Besides these flaws, MacFranky´s flickr page reeks of "i love mocks".
These 2 pics along more fake nano pics can be found at MacFranky´s Flickr page. Check it out.
Alot of talk have been roaming the corners of the Ipod communities lately. Mostly regarding some suspicious Widescreen Ipod nano photos posted on Gizmodo, Engadget and other bigger gadget and consumer electronics sites. The 5th of september apple is having a major apple event and many fans/sources assume that this new Ipod breed will be making its appearance this day. My question is - Is this the Ipod we will be seeing on Wednesday?
Just like Creative and many others, french company Archos whom are extremely wellknown for their exceptional build quality, unveiled a few of their new devices at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin last week. Amongst these, this very cute Archos 105, which for now only packs either 1 or 2gb of memory. Fantastic about this device is the price. A 1gb device will go for around 80euro, the 2gb for around 100euro (according to Pixmania whom are launching the sale the 6th of september). The Archos 105 measures 45mm wide, 85mm high and is only 7mm deep, packing a 1.8" screen and comes in white, silver and a blazing nice red. Hopefully a bigger capacity will turn up soon. But, are you looking for a nice new skinny companion to take hostage your sweet sweet music... and would you settle for 2gb of storage (or 1). Then you will definently not go wrong with one of these.
Over at archoslounge.net they fundled, studied and forced a silver 105 to pose for some nice shots. Go take a look.
About an hour ago the folks over at french Generationmp3 did a nice video walkthru of the new Creative Zen. Check it out. Very tiny player i say, tiny.... indeed.
This week at the IFA Consumer electronics fair in Berlin, Creative launched their new supersmall creditcard sized media player, the Zen. With a width of 8.3 cm, 5.5cm high and measly 1.13cm thickness, it still manages to pack from 4/8/16gb internal memory and an SD card slot, making it upgradable to a total of whopping 32gb (counting the new Toshiba 16gb cards coming out soon). As if this wasnt enough, it packs a 2.5", 16.7 million color capable 320x240 bright tft screen..... and the real news is.... not only does it do Radio, voicerecordings, a calendar, but it is Itunes compatible my friends. Yes, the Zen does Aac4. Heres the list of formats it supports : Audio- MP3, WMA, AAC4 (.m4A), WAV (ADPCM), Audible 2,3,4. Video- MJPEG, WMV9, MPED4-SP3, DivX3 4/5 and XviD3. Wauv... thats what i call every Indiekids dream. Get it everywhere soon. 149$ for the 4gb, 199$ for 8gb and 299$ for 16gb, aint bad.
It seems (obviously) that the original Sony Bravia ad (with the colorful bouncing balls) over the years has inspired quite a bit of commercial progress when it comes to Tv-ads. Doing things, in a bit more imaginative, childish and hands on way (adding special effects ofcourse). I can only state, that from my personal point of view, its a delite to see more and more groundbreaking and not to forget lovely ways of making tv more exciting. Take a Ford..... some balloons.... and some music from the movie Donnie Darko..... and you instantly have a succesful tv ad.....right? Im not even into new cars (or cars in general for that matter)... but this commercial just like the latest Nissan Qashqai ad, is nothing less than fantastic.
The new Iriver unit2. What is it and where to even begin? Its a dvd/cd player stereo with a massive 7" display. A display that doubles as a Portable media player supporting Divx, Xvid, mp3, photos etc.. Its wifi at its coolest, its a tv, its a widget (or hostage taker of widgets atleast)...... Its highend design wrapped in "Wauv".... and its all remote controlled with a delicious remote (standard remote on outside, Qwerty keyboard flips out from the inside). Bang & Olufsen eat your heart out, Apple cry your eyes out..... This is what the good life is all about (ehhh... the tech fetish part of it anyway).
As mentioned above, the huge 7" display comes of, claiminig a life os its own as a very nifty media player.
When the display/pmp is of the unit, the speakers slide together, melting into a new smaller unit, so to speak.
The remote doubles as a "standard" remote, but also folds out revealing the qwerty keyboard inside. Crisp, clean, nice big squary buttons, for your punching pleasure.
Along the unveiling of these fantastic pics, iriverfans forum suggests that 2 other units - unit 2a and 2b (3 and 4?) are in the process aswell.
Im seriously stoked about this general direction that Iriver has managed to thread. This is bright and refreshing news for, not just the design commuity, but also for consumer electronics in general. One can only guess that maybe a smaller device will be joining aswell, maybe one that doubles as a remote (which Iriver have done before). Enjoy the pics. Spread the good news.
As promised in my earlier posts about the Commodore Gravel series, i would follow up on the last of their devices, the c200. It is in the wild, and apparently available for preorder in the Netherlands already. The Gravel C200, is the smallest of all the players in their wonderful new Gravel series. The specs for the C200 is, 1.8" Oled screen, 1/2 gb capacity, Wifi capable, playing up to 18 hours of music and 2 hours of video, supporting all possible formats from Divx, Xvid, Mpeg2, Mpeg4, Wmv, mp3, mp4, Wav, Wma, Jpg, Gif, and Bmp. The 2gb version is currently available for preorder thru Dutch Misco for 125euro/170$. A bit steep, but pressumably not the "real" price, since its preorder. And if you didnt know already, the Gravel devices is a big part of Commodores fullscale attack on not just music and film sharing/shopping services, Television but also social networking (apparently). One could say from the rumours, that what Commodore is approaching with their Commodore world and its Gravel series along it, is a mix of Apple Tv/Tivo crossbreeding with Joost and Myspace. I am very excited about that. Very excited.
Check out Commodore world of Gravel here : Commodoreworld and the Gravel c200´s Commodore profile here : Gravel C200.
Went to malmö today, to have a look around. Dropped by the weekday store, looking for some new pants at the weekday 75% off sale (Cheap Monday pants for 100sek/10Euros. Yes. Seriously). I didnt find any and it was to hectic to wait around hoping to find some... people everywhere. Anyhow, after walking around the city, getting a falafel etc. etc..... there it was.
I found a very strange thing, that i would love for some swedes to decifer for me. I already consulted one swede about this, but the answer i got, was a bit more freaky than i expected (Or is it?. Help me out here). Well you see, swedish and danish, language wise, is very alike, and most of the times its funny to see how swedes can write completely innocent things, that in danish (spelled almost the same) means something completely different and perhaps even not appropriate (and vice versa). Today i saw a sign in the window of Scandinavian training/gym center S.a.t.s. I thought it was funny because it looked like it stated "White classes" (Vita klasser), but i assumed they meant "Wide classes" (which also is kinda funny, if you think about that). Anyhow, i understood they meant wide in the sense of, open for for both entry level users and trained etc. But after carefully looking into this, together with my swedish friend. We´ve come to the conclusion that it can only mean "white". So apparently S.a.t.s, are running "White classes", in case you were wondering the same thing.
So.... do they really mean what i dont think they mean? Can you help suggest what it means?. Tomorrow i am gonna get to the bottom of this, i will call them up and ask.... Because im pretty sure they dont mean, what i dare to think they mean. Unless theyre absolutely, positively, hardcore EVIL.
*EXTRA/NEW- I already figured out what they mean, from searching on "Vita klasser" (white classes) on Google (ofcourse). I kinda had a hunch (that they werent racist, obviously) that it meant something deeper, than what "I" Mr. flappy belly, who have no clues on how to break down and debunk fancy gym philosophies and terms, if thats what it is. Well, apparently by White classes they mean.... "Our white classes. Here we strive for a body and soul in harmony with each other. Perfect for you who feel stress in your weekdays and/or in your worklife. The White classes, gives you strength, balance..... yada yada."
Ehhh... Im actually still confused. (No im not drunk).... And i still think its very very funny, if not amusingly daring and ridicolous that they use this on a poster like that. Very funny, indeed.
5 quick indierock tips, some new, some not so new, some quite fashionable, some not... But all 5, bands that are relevant to be hyped shortly (if not already). Take your pick.
Aberdeen City (Usa) - God is going to get sick of me.
A newer, but absolutely great Boston band with big songs, and explosive liveshows (with cowbells and more). Aberdeen City at myspace.
The Robocop Kraus (Germany) - You dont have to shout.
A band thats been around for a while. But theyre awesome, and actually one of the best livebands ive ever seen. The Robocop Kraus should have been much bigger than they are, but i guess theres plenty of time for that.The Robocop Kraus at myspace.
Snowden (Usa) - Anti Anti.
Not one of their best songs, but... damn this band is good, and their album is superb. Snowden at myspace.
120 Days (Norway) - C-Musik.
Yeah well, Norway have "rock" bands too. 120 Days live rumours are pretty good aswell, so i would keep my eye out for them. 120 Days at myspace.
The Veils (New zealand) - Vicious Tradition. The Veils, i actually didnt care much for untill i saw the movie Mr. Brooks. Their end song for that film is absolutely wonderful, and their new record aint half bad. This song is from 2004 though, so it aint new. But, if you havent heard The Veils before... I guess they are. The Veils at myspace.
For a while (almost a year), the news had been that Benq Siemens were working on a release for their "pure touchscreen" based cellphone entitled Black Box (and Codename Ruby). But the joint company efforts of Siemens and Benq broke down and the previous line of phones are now only under the name of Benq. Rumours were that Benq would keep working on the Black Box phone. (one can only hope). So far only concept images have been posted of the phone, but i thought it would be appropriate to sum up the few images that had been spotted. I personally hope that someone within Benq will keep this project running, and get it released.
Who doesnt love pictograms. (very nice).
Sorta like on the Nintendo Ds, it looked like Benq Siemens were aiming for alot more than just the standard cellphone with features concept.
Im keeping my fingers crossed, that it will turn up somewhere... someday.... soon.
Late 2005, the "brilliant" minds of Tiger electronics gave us the second generation Furby. A generation which was a bit more gifted (and creepy) than the simple first generation. Anyhow, a year ago i gave my girlfriend one as a joke present. In the beginning, both of us very much hesitated to turn it of when we got bored with it (him/her). But as time swept by (over the year, and we got to know his every cute/dumb move), he ended up on behind our books on the bookshelf, only to come out during social gatherings testing him for responses on various words and movements. Anyways, during the last year people all over the planet have gone thru the same thing, though..... some people have gone to extremes, either doing morbid autopsies, d.i.y surgery or mean things to and on their Furbies. Others simply just keep enjoying them, whether they be partly broken, modified, german.... or still going strong. Heres some various interesting (and funny) videos of the Furby race doing its best to survive. (Be a tiny bit warned with the massacre vid. Its kinda creepy.)
Normal functioning 2nd generation Furby. (cute huh?).
2 Second gen´s and a 1 first gen. Singing together.
An aging generation one braindamaged Furby.
German 2nd generation Furby. Speaking german. Funny stuff.
A hardcore Furby massacre compilation.
Microwaved 1st generation Furby. Toasty stuff.
I guess this means that people around the world enjoy Furbies, no matter what their situation is.
Over the last couple of months, ive been spending measly amounts of money, but still a little bit of time, in order to go hunt for vintage, kitsch, dumb or "junkish" objects. So far i think ive managed to sum up quite a bit of interesting things. You know what? Let me show you how great it is to be a talented "junk-hunter".
Item No.1 - A Polaroid Camera, with pop-up flash. Yeah, yeah. Ive actually found quite a few polaroid cams, though... this one was a bit different. It has autofocus (yes), and a nice push-pop flash. A great one for the collection. And it works too. Found on the 19th of july 2007 in a second hand store. Price - 10 swedish kroner. Approx 1 euro.
Item No.2 - Track and Field for 8bit Nintendo. I simply love it when i stumble upon old games for my Nintendo Nes. I was absolutely ecstatic to find this at blocket.se for 50 swedish kroner. approx 5 euro. A very classic game that can break your thumbs off within minutes of gametime. Found on the 7th of july 2007.
Item No.3 - A classic Burgerking backpack. I simply couldnt resist this rather freaky purchase. But you know, the first thing i thought was - This would be awesome for my Atari, you know when i wanna go to friends houses and do Miss Pacman nights... And despite the fact that im a vegetarian, im a huuuuge fan of fastfood culture. Now i have the backpack to prove it. Price - 5 swedish kroner, approx 0.5 euro at a second hand store. Found the 24th of july 2007.
Item No.4 - A bunch of cool Spiderman stickers. To be honest, i have no clue if these are vintage or not. Though ive searched and havent been able to find these. They have a kinda nice matt finish to them, with a coat of "old feel". They dont look new, but i like Spiderman so.... got 6 sheets of these for 6 swedish kroner, approx. 0.6 euro. Found them among some books at a antique furniture place. (go figure). Found February 3rd 2007.
Item No.5 - 2 kinda creepy/cute dolls. Yes, i took these dolls, which i found chilling by the garbagecans outside my girlfriends moms apartment complex. I figured i wanted to use them for either scaring little kids, or maybe use them for artwork later on. Price? Free!. Found on January 2nd 2007. I seriously love these dolls, theyre pricelessly awesome.
Item No.6 - A Russian Kiddie Keyboard This damned little thing is freaking amazing. At first it didnt work, but me and a friend had a look at it. Now it works, runnig on a 9v battery.... and you know what? My wee wee tickles when you hit the darker notes. Oh my i love this thing. Am also using it on some songs im doing for later on. Price? 5 swedish kroner, approzx 05. euro. Found the 2nd of December 2006 at a market place. (Beck stickers i added myself).
So.... why do i show these things to you? Well because they make me happy, and i wanna show you that you dont need to spend all your money on Itunes, when it gives endless times more inspiration to use your petty allowance on stuff like this. Im serious. Forget everything about Botox, Ipods, White sneakers, Accesories and smiling at people you dont know. Junk is way more personal.....its what the world is made of... and its no shame taking pride in that. Its even good for the environment. Yup. More junk shots coming up (and believe me, you aint seen nothing yet).
