It’s hard to entice notebook enthusiasts away from their classic Moleskines, but Pinetti’s giving it their best shot with their Quattrogiga leather journal that features a 4GB USB flash drive built into its strap. Made of silicone the strap is actually held in place on the journal with snaps, meaning it’s completely removable as needed. The journal is also refillable, which basically means it’s just a leather cover designed to wrap around a basic paper notebook, which makes its $85 price tag, $105 for the larger model, a little difficult to swallow.
As an overall artistic piece, Akko Goldenbeld’s Stadsmuziek (City Music) exhibit certainly stands on its own. But as an attempt to show that urban planners are just as concerned with musical composition as they are with traffic flow and green spaces, it’s a complete and utter fail. It looks like a giant music box, and in essence that’s exactly what it is. But instead of plinking out a simple tune on a miniature harp, it uses a full-sized piano. And instead of a drum covered in metal dots, the rotating cylinder is wrapped in a miniature 3D relief of the city of Eindhoven in The Netherlands. It’s no Beethoven, that’s for sure, but if a city ever needed its own civil anthem this is definitely a unique way to compose it.
I’m a devout iPhone minimalist when it comes to cases. I don’t even like using the notorious bumper, even if it means a diminished signal. But at the same time I would never stick a bare, unprotected iPhone in my pocket. Since day one I’ve relied on microfiber or suede sleeves to protect it from scratches, but sometimes you want to class things up a bit. And XtremeMac’s leather sleeve for the iPhone 4 does just that. I really hate to review a product without finding some critique on how it can be improved, but this is one of those rare times when I’m hard-pressed to find anything to complain about. More after the jump.
I can’t attest to how they sound, but if you’re the type who goes out of their way to carefully wrap their headphones after using them, instead of just cramming them in your pocket, Moshi’s Moonrock set will probably appeal to you. The ‘Moonrock’ monicker comes from the design of the earbuds’ included carrying case, not because they come embedded with bits of stone brought back from one of the Apollo missions. It’s made from a soft material, presumably rubber, with holes for securing each bud and a slot-accessible pocket for wrapping the cable.
The Moonrock earbuds also feature an inline remote and embedded MEMS microphone for controlling your music and placing and/or taking calls. They also include three sizes of earbuds to fit most people’s ear canals and are available directly from Moshi in black & red or white on white for just $39.95.
A great idea usually needs to be flushed out before it becomes something you can present to the masses, ideally for profit. And for years now the most important tool used by inventors, researchers and creative types for brainstorming and idea gathering has been the white board.
So if your most recent million dollar idea happens to involve Apple’s iPad, here’s a miniature white board that lets you mock up and sketch elements of your apps UI as they’d appear on the actual device. Well hopefully the final app doesn’t end up looking like doodles made with a black or red dry erase marker, but you gotta start somewhere right? The white board also features a subtle grid marking off 20 pixel increments, and on the back is a glossary of interaction icons and what they all mean. $24.95 from UI Stencils.
Postcards have always been the souvenir of choice for travelers who don’t trust their own photography skills. But they tend to feel overly manufactured and unnatural. So I really like this idea of sending up-and-coming artists around oft-visited cities, in this case Athens, Greece (even though the label on the camera in the product shot clearly says Paris) armed with nothing more than a disposable camera and their talents.
Once all 27 photos have been snapped the cameras are left undeveloped and put up for sale, allowing tourists, or even those wanting photos of a city they’ve never visited, to have the chance to pick up a truly original souvenir. And since there’s no setlist as to what the photographers should shoot, the photos on every camera are different making them each a unique piece of art in their own right. $45 for the ‘Athens’ version of the camera, available from UptoyouToronto.
Ever wanted to play your classic SNES games while on the go? Now you can. How so, you make ask? Simple! Hyperkin has come out with a new hand held device they like to call, “SupaBoy”. The most interesting part of this little hand held game-boy wanna-be is the fact that it keeps to legal terms. Rather than using downloads or emulators, the player gets to put the actual old SNES cartridge in the top of the hand-held gaming system. To add in a little more retro goodness, take note also of the two old controller plug ins right beneath the built in buttons.
For a simple 79.99$, it sounds pretty worth it to me. I’d love to re-live the good days of old school Zelda and Mario while waiting for the bus to pick me up. Want to order one for yourself? Check it out here.
Ferrari owners clearly have a taste for the finer things in life. That or they just like to show off, which Ferrari is clearly hoping to capitalize on with the release of their new coffee table book, The Official Ferrari Opus. The 82 pound tome is 852 pages long and contains some 150,000 words and 2,000 images covering the complete history of Ferrari, including every vehicle and driver affiliated with the company.
And just like with their supercar lineup, there’s a version of the book available for every budget- well almost every budget. At the top of the heap is the Enzo Diamante edition which sells for a ridiculous $275,000 thanks to a diamond-encrusted prancing horse on the cover. What’s even more impressive though is that it will be limited to just a single copy per country, which is sure to result in some outrageous eBay bidding wars… unless fans will realize they can get an actual Ferrari for that kind of scratch. Less limited, though similarly impressive editions of the book are also available ranging in price from $37,500 for the regular Enzo edition, $7,000 for the Cavallino Rampante edition, and a mere $4,100 for the Classic edition, which by the way each sport signatures from notable Ferrari employees and racing celebrities.
I’ve never ridden in anything that can remotely be considered a bike race, but apparently things can get so intense that even reaching for one’s water bottle can cost the rider precious milliseconds on their time. At least according to a company called Showers Pass who’ve created a sort of bike mounted CamelBak system called the VelEau.
A canteen/tool pack mounted to the rear of the seat holds 42 ounces of water which is made accessible to the rider via a frame-routed tube system that ends in a tethered valve held securely to the handlebars with magnets. This allows the rider to grab a quick sip while not having to worry about reaching or properly replacing a bottle in a holder. And on a hot day it keeps a heavy pack full of water off their backs. Available sometime in July with an MSRP of $79.99.
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