Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

It looks like Bodum’s unofficial mission to give every kitchen a colorful makeover continues with their Bistro Flatbed Toaster. Like the company’s conventional toasters this model is available in 8 different stylish colors, but unlike their conventional toasters there’s no slots on this one, just a stainless steel flatbed cooktop that uses a 700-watt heating element to toast slot-unfriendly items like croissants, baguettes and leftover pizza slices.

There’s a simple dial allowing you to specify the level of browning, and when not in use the Flatbed Toaster can be stored on its side, freeing up counter space. They appear to be available on the Bodum UK site for about $98 after currency conversion, but it looks like Hammacher sells them as well for $89.95.

[ Bodum Bistro Flatbed Toaster ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Marc Ecko’s no stranger when it comes to Star Wars, and Star Wars themed apparel, as is evident by his line of hoodies inspired by that galaxy far, far away. But it looks like he’s recently teamed up with Timex as well to produce a series of Star Wars themed watches that so far only look slightly dorky.

This post on The Marc Ecko Blog actually dates back to July, but it shows off a couple of watch designs including a Stormtrooper model and a Boba Fett one, which each feature a mixture of metals, rubber and nylons as well as sounds and light-up ‘Indiglo’ features. Pricing and availability info is still scarce, though the blog post does mention “Holiday 2009″ so if there’s a Star Wars fan on your Christmas list you might want to keep an eye out for them.

[ The Marc Ecko Blog - Exclusive: Star Wars x Marc Ecko Watches: Holiday 2009 ] VIA [ aBlogtoRead ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Think you had the world’s greatest treehouse as a kid? Well this guy’s got you beat. Horace Burgess’s treehouse is located somewhere near Crossville, Tennessee and stands over 97-feet tall thanks to the 80-foot white oak tree it was built around which also happens to be about 12-feet in diameter at its base. It has 11 floors, somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, a miniature basketball court and is held together by roughly 258,000 nails. If you can think of a better way to spend $12,000, I’d like to hear it.

[ USA Today - Divine vision inspired a 97-foot treehouse ] VIA [ Baking with Medusa ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Nooka seems to be heavily promoting the fact that their new Zaz watch allows your own skin tone to show through thanks to a transparent LCD display. But hopefully they’ll realize that the nifty design is more then enough to sell the timepiece, since I don’t think anyone, anywhere at anytime has lamented the fact they couldn’t see their skin through the watch they were wearing.

The time is displayed via your typical pseudo-confusing grid of blocks and a series of dashes, though it doesn’t actually appear to be that hard to decipher, and you’ll have your choice of a black or white leather or silver mesh band to complement the silver face. $380, available for pre-order now from Watchismo.

[ Watchismo - Nooka Zaz ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By David Ponce

We’ve written about Philippe Stark a few times before. He’s an influential French industrial designer who’s gotten involved in the design of an endless stream of consumer products from juicers, to teddy bears and now hard drives. Partnering up with LaCie, he’s helped develop these drives with an interesting design. The desktop drives have a customizable touch-sensitive surface allowing you to launch preselected applications based on how you touch them. They comes in 1TB or 2TB sizes ($129 or $249) , and also feature the Starck Signature LED (a “+” sign, since the man likes to spell his name S+arck) which glows green or orange based on activity. There are also portable versions of these drives in sizes 320-500GB, with prices starting at $99.

[ Desktop Drive Product Page ] AND [ Portable Drive Product Page ] AND [ Interview With Starck ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I wouldn’t exactly consider myself part of Diesel’s target demographic, but they’ve definitely won me over with this set of turntables & analog audio gear print bedding. I mean look at it, the pillow shams even line up to form a mixer between the two turntables. All I have to say is goodbye Hannibal, Murdock, Faceman and B.A. because Andrew has finally found some new bed sheets.

The Turntable bedding is part of the company’s ‘Diesel Lifestyle Home Textile Collection’ and is apparently available from Diesel retail stores, though I have no idea for how much.

[ Diesel Turntable & Audio Gear Bedding ] VIA [ Freshome ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s just another concept at this point, but Jeong-Sun Park’s Knob Light will be appreciated by anyone who tends to wander the house at night. It’s basically a replacement door knob in the shape of a glowing light bulb, making it easier to find your way around when the lights are all off. There’s no specifics on how the bulb is supposed to get power, since doors aren’t usually wired for electricity, but I’m pretty sure it will use LED based bulbs instead of incandescent ones because of the whole hot glass vs. skin issue.

[ Yanko Design - A Knobby Light ] VIA [ Toxel ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It doesn’t look like it gives off that much light, and those sharp, pixelated edges might not be safe for kids, but Marcus Tremonto’s pixel bulb made from electroluminescent paper is certainly unique. You can’t buy one I’m afraid, but if you happen to find yourself passing by The Apartment at Ledbury Road gallery in London between now and October 5th, you can pop in and see it for yourself.

[ yatzer - New arrivals by Marcus Tremonto ] VIA [ Wired Gadget Lab ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Created by design studio MAEZM (whose website appears to be over its allocated traffic limit) the Sofa-Dress is essentially a foam cover designed to sit atop a horribly uncomfortable wooden or metal chair, making the sitting experience feel slightly less uncomfortable. It’s a clever idea, and with some more substantial foam or padding it could actually bring relief to thousands of school kids or press conference attendees all over the world.

[ yatzer - Studio MAEZM ] VIA [ Freshome ]