MS&Co. Selvage Sleeves

Amazingly simple Selvage Sleeves for iPad & iPhone, Field Notes notebooks, & glasses by Portland based MS&Co. The sleeves use 100% White Oak denim that is still manufactured in same the White Oak plant that has been since 1905. The denim is narrow selvage denim that is still made on vintage shuttle looms. It your not a denim aficionados, and I am not, this is all good. Apparently White Oak denim is the best there is, hands down.

The Selvage Sleeves can be purchased for between $28.00 and $48.00 on the MS&Co website.

Macintosh Icon Prints by Susan Kare

Susan Kare holds a place in any Mac geeks heart even though we may have never heard her name before. The designer of the original Macintosh system and program icons has released a limited edition line of prints of some of here most loved icons. For me, the Rattle Can icon brings back fond memories of creating truly horrible works of digital “art” at a young age.

The prints are available in limited editions of 200 on Susan’s web shop. They come in four sizes starting at 8.5″x11″ digitally printed for $89.00.

Macendonia iPad case by Janne Kyttanen for Fresh Fiber

The Macendonia iPad case by Janne Kyttanen for Fresh Fiber is one of the most original device cases I’ve seen lately. The case features an organic looking double layer “mesh” of fibrous plastic that is lightweight, easy to hold and has a high impact absorbancy. The case isn’t cheap, coming in at €99 but I guess that’s the price you pay for having by far the coolest gadget case on the block.

— Via NOTCOT

The World Wildlife Fund – WWF File Format

The World Wildlife Fund has released a new PDF based file format, a “.WWF” that disables the ability to print the document. I love this idea! So many of the files we send around are needlessly printed, wasting both a vital resource and some serious money.

A simple software download adds the support for saving and reading the new files and although the file format probably won’t be adopted many, the message is still clear. “Save a tree, and some green, by not printing things that don’t need to be printed.”

Learn more about the WWF file format and download the software today.

Endless by Dirk van der Kooij

The Endless chair by Eindhoven based Dirk van der Kooij is more manufacturing method than furniture design. The chair is the outcome of creating a new robot that prints objects using one long strand of recycled plastic material. Dirk was getting frustrated with the increasing complexity of the molding industry, an industry that although it has had many technological advancements, has become more and more difficult for designers to work within.

“This opened the possibility for me to design in the good old-fashioned way. Making a chair, evaluating, refining. Making a chair, evaluating, refining & making a chair.
Or developing an infinitely large collection
of variations. Endlessly.”

Block22 iPad Stand by Sherwood+Meister

The beautiful Block22 iPad stand from Sherwood+Miester is hand carved from FSC certified South American Ipe wood and is hand finished with a natural wax, bringing out the Ipe wood’s amazing grain and color. The stand has a shallow bowl carved into the back portion of the stand to hold your accessories.

Square: Accept credit cards anywhere

I just got my Square credit card reader in the mail today! I was so excited to try it that I charged myself $5.00 plus a $1.00 tip just for the hell of it. Luckily most of that money (minus the $0.15 and 2.75%) goes right back into the same account.

The entire transaction took place through my iPhone, swiping the card, adding a note, taking a picture of the product, signing, and sending receipts. They also have an iPad version and an Android version of the software, all working with the same reader.

The cool thing about the Square program is that you don’t need a merchant account and the reader is free.

Learn more about Square here: Square

The best iPad cases & stands

The early adopters of the iPad had a few options for stands and cases but non of them really shined, even Apple’s iPad case is horrible. After trying about 5 different cases and just as many stands, These are the 4 products that I feel are the top in their category.

Freitag F23

Available at Freitag online for approx. $90 USD

Hard Graft

Available at Hard Graft online for approx. $75 USD

TwelveSouth

Available at TwelveSouth online for approx. $40 USD

MoviePeg

Available at MoviePeg online for approx. $20 USD

Holga-D Digital Concept by Saikat Biswas

I for one hope to god that this concept goes into production. In a world where accessories, lenses, and software are all proprietary, The Holga-D concept looks to break the mold. The The Holga-D digital Holga concept by Saikat Biswas could not only revolutionize the art camera market, but could open a whole new breed of cameras. Biswas hopes to develop the platform in a completely open-source manor, allowing custom software, controls, accessories, and pretty much anything you could want.

From Saikat Biswas:

Even though it’s a digital camera, it retains the qualities and simplicity of the original Holga camera and brings back the joy and delayed gratification associated with good old analog photography. In the old days of analog photography one had to wait, wait for finishing an entire roll of film, wait for development and so on. But now, in the age of digital photography many photographers agree that the anticipation and delayed gratification of analog photography made the overall experience of photography even sweeter!

Using The Web to Combat Global Warming – Coalition of the Willing

“Coalition of the Willing” is an animated film about an online war against global warming directed by Simon Robson aka Knife Party. Robson used an interesting method to create this film, relying not on tradition methods of film making, but the methods he proposes to combat global warming outlined in the film, a hybrid of open-source, crowd sourcing and web 2.0. The script was written and then divided into 23 separate parts to be produced in 6 different waves. Each part was assigned to a different animator, graphic designer, or artist who was tasked with creating the visuals to follow their part of the script. The parts were then masterfully stitched together to create one cohesive film.

Well worth a watch for both the genius of Robson’s idea to fight the war on global warming using  network of websites, but also for the top notch film making of all the 26 artists involved.

More about the Coalition of the Willing below the video.

About “Coalition of the Willing”

‘Coalition of The Willing’ is a film that discusses how we can use new internet technologies to leverage the powers of activists, experts, and ordinary citizens in collaborative ventures to combat climate change. Through analyses of swarm activity and social revolution, ‘Coalition of the Willing’ makes a compelling case for the new online activism and explains how to bring the fight against global warming to the people. As the film tackles the subject of online activism, we decided that the logical home for ‘Coalition of The Willing’ is here online.

Between the start of February and the beginning of June 2010, Coalition of the willing was released in sections onto this website. Groups of sections were released roughly every 2-3 weeks, with the final completed film going online at the start of June. This un-conventional release strategy allowed us to build and engage with an audience whilst the film itself was being made. “coalitionfilm” has now become an online environmental brand in itself, with contributors Tweeting and Facebooking every day about issues discussed in the film; environmentalism, open source culture and swarm politics. See the links above to follow coalitionfilm.