With cold weather just around the corner, tea anyone?
Gems Teastick
The Teastick GEMS bring new light to your cup of tea. Now with two brilliant colors so sparkling clear you can see the steeping tea bloom. With classic “scoop it, slide it, steep it” functionality The Teastick GEMS are as useful as they are beautiful in [...]

This cool coffee maker offers up a smart industrial design which cleanly integrates a ceramic mug in place of a carafe.
The WMF1 Coffee Pad takes a single portioned coffee filter and can brew up a fresh cup of Java in about 1 minute. The compact coffee maker features a clean white design, with a [...]

What is this? An electric toothbrush on a stand? Darn, the title gives this product away. It is the Dyno outdoor shower by MyYour.

The Dyno designer shower is totally waterproof and UV-ray resistant and will stay looking new for years. It’s made from self-colored polyethylene, which is strengthened inside, and Dyno is available in a [...]

This summer something caught my eye on top of a neighbor’s SUV. It looked like a lighter - than - air aircraft wing but found out it was a collapsable boat. It looks much better in vitro than in these photos.
Adding collapsability into the design criteria can be a bit of a challenge. Here is [...]

Electric/pedal power hybrid bicycles make a lot of sense as commuters. With a small amount of battery power to augment your pedaling efforts, you can achieve extra speed and distance while leaving a minimal environmental footprint and paying next to nothing per kilometer. The Electrobike Pi is a fine example of the state of the [...]

source = http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/469/top-10-2008-hybrids (show cars.com though!!)
Hybrid rankings have often been simplistic: Most are little more than lists of the highest-mileage models on the market. Here, we ranked hybrids based on how much fuel savings they get when compared to their non-hybrid version, as well as how much all that saved gas is going to cost [...]

Robots. A very interesting topic. DA recently showcased a sewer inspector, the world’s most powerful per the manufacturer, a very practical solution. But what about robotics that inspire art? An example: Christopher Conte. By day posing as a designer of prosthetics and making artificial limbs for amputees in New York. At night and on weekends(?) [...]

On May 2, 2008, Nau announced that it was closing shop. The reason? They could not get financing to continue operations. If you don’t know who Nau is, they’re a uniquely new business—selling eco-friendly clothes with a unique business model: brick and mortar stores that displayed examples of their product but the purchases were online.
Ironically [...]

We are alerted: World Animal Day is October 4. This post celebrates environment, design, fashion, and animals used in marketing efforts.
Here we feature a collaboration between Puma and Atmos NY, which consists of three pairs of Puma models inspired by three endangered polar animals: the Harp Seal, Macaroni Penguin and Polar Bear. Each sneaker [...]

Phillipe Starck’s latest — a plastic chair — earned it’s name on the first sketch. Mr. Impossible. The designer said it couldn’t be made. The challenge being the weld. Using existing methods to weld the seat and the legs would create an unsightly seam. Kartell’s engineers had to go the blue water route. The [...]

Less about breaking news and more about affirmation: The Zeppelin iPod dock from Bowers and Wilkins not only looks good from across the room and CU, but the music is consistent with the manufacturer’s reputable sound.
First seen almost a year ago but did not mess with it until killing time in an Apple store last [...]

A home that makes the Smart car, standing side-by-side, look like a SUV. No, an 18-wheeler. “Micro-Compact Home” [m-ch] was inspired by Japanese tea houses, yes, the Smart car and first class air travel. They are lightweight, modular, mobile and very minimal 2.65m (roughly 77 sq ft). That equates into a 266 x 266 [...]

High-design. Electric. 50-state approved (USA).
After quite a bit of tweaks, good and bad press the FDA finally blessed the Tesla in January 2008 and this red (green) car can go on sale. The car won’t solve the world problems, at least not this particular car — $100K — but it is a start.
Tesla is [...]

The bad news: $77,000 USD and Peraves will only make 100 units a year. The good news: This unusual vehicle is manufactured by the Swiss company Peraves. The Ecomobile is essentially an enclosed motorcycle. The power for the Ecomobile originates from a rear mounted liquid cooled 4 cylinder BMW K series motorcycle engine.
When in [...]

Here’s one electric vehicle where limited range no longer seems unpalatable. Designed and built in China by a company called Axle Corporation, the EV-X7 is driven by an electric wheel hub motor and has a top speed of 93 mph. This, of course, is a snail’s pace compared to modern motorcycles, but then again, this [...]

If you like Eames, a collectors item, a childs toy resurfaces.
During the early 1940s Charles and Ray Eames developed a successful technique for molding plywood into three-dimensional shapes, which led to the creation of a variety of furnishings and sculptures. The Plywood Elephant, in particular, has attained legendary status among collectors. Designed in 1945, this [...]

What do these two bikes have in common? Two wheels? We can feel the love.
Designer Roland Kaufmann has gone and built a bicycle out of wood. He calls this cycle Jano, and says it’s a dual bike, equally at home trekking cross-country or taking its rider to and from work every day. This project [...]

Italdesign Ggiugiao Quaranta concept powered by Toyota Hybrid Synergy drive
Uncompromising innovation in Giugiaro tradition
An ‘extreme’, clean-technology project embodying 40 years of styling research and engineering celebrated by Italdesign Giugiaro in Geneva
The ‘Quaranta’ project is a concept car designed to celebrate Italdesign Giugiaro’s forty years of business in styling and technological research at the service of [...]