Photo credit: Design Boom
Let’s face it, purchasing old shopping carts ($45 – $50+) is far less pricier than a new wheelchair ($100+), so what better way to make use of the former than by turning them into affordable wheelchairs for those in need? This designer is doing just that, and is offering two models: a ‘manually propelled wheelchair’ that can be self-pushed and then a ‘transport wheelchair’ for use with a family member or a caregiver. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
This isn’t a future Disney theme park under construction, just Burj al Babas, a residential village built in north-western Turkey, in the provincial district of Bolu, approximately 3-hours driving from Istanbul. There’s over seven hundred castle-like buildings, each identical to the other, but are completely uninhabited due to the high inflation and the country’s economic crisis that have negatively impacted its real estate market. Read more for another video, additional pictures and information.
Bicycle startup VanMoof was losing quite a bit of money on its $3,000 bikes that were being damaged during transit, so they decided to start shipping them in fake TV boxes. “We asked ourselves, what do Americans really love? What would prompt couriers to be delicate with a parcel? That’s when we thought of a flat screen TV, because our box is the same size and shape as that of a really huge TV,” said Taco Carlier, VanMoof’s co-founder to CNNMoney. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Remember Angelfire, Geocities, Lycos, Excite and Microsoft FrontPage? If so, Captain Marvel’s official website should bring back some memories. How did they manage to pull this off? Well, the answer is a lot simpler than you think. According to Marvel software engineer Lori Lombert: “We built this in FrontPage and host it Angelfire.” For those who have no idea what this is? Angelfire, founded in 1996, was originally a combination website building and medical transcription service. Eventually the site dropped the transcription service and focused solely on website hosting by offering only paid memberships. Read more to see what the Captain Marvel page looks like and for a link to check it out yourself.
Photo credit: Recon Beat Lab
During the early 1980s, a NASA scientist named Lonnie Johnson created a heat pump system, and was testing it in his bathroom. However, a powerful stream shot from his prototype made him realize that this could make a great water gun, thus the legendary water gun was born. The idea was then sold to Larami Toys, and they released the Power Drencher. This name wasn’t very popular at first, but popularity grew significantly when they renamed it the Super Soaker 50. Nike decided to pay tribute to the Super Soaker 50 with these Russell Westbrook sneakers modeled after the classic water gun in its iconic packaging with the original tagline of “The most powerful watergun ever!” replaced with “The most powerful point guard ever!”. Read more for additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: TNW
For those who have never used or heard of Slack (an acronym for “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge”), it’s basically a cloud-based set of proprietary team collaboration tools and services. It began as an internal tool used by his company, Tiny Speck, in the development of Glitch, a now defunct online game. Today, they have just unveiled an all-new logo, created by Pentagram Design, that “uses a simpler color palette and, we believe, is more refined, but still contains the spirit of the original,” said the company. Read more for a short Slack office tour video and to find out why they had to change the logo.
Photo credit: Twitter via Bored Panda
A Japanese artist who goes by “02ESyRaez4VhR2l” on Twitter specializes in transforming product packaging, like Pringles cans, into anime-inspired sculptures, and has gained quite the following on the social media service. On a related note, did you know that the consistent saddle shape of Pringles chips are mathematically known as a hyperbolic paraboloid? That’s right, their designers allegedly used supercomputers to ensure that the chips’ aerodynamics would keep them in place during packaging. They were originally known as “Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips”, but other snack manufacturers objected, saying they failed to meet the definition of a potato “chip”. So, the FDA ruled in 1975 that Pringles could only use the word “chip” in their product name within the following phrase: “potato chips made from dried potatoes”. Read more for more examples of product packaging turned art.
Kai-Xiang Zhong, a 24-year-old self-taught artist from Taiwan, first gained fame back in 2013 for the incredible Iron Man sculpture you see above, which earned him the nickname “Tony Stark of Cardboard”. Since then, he’s continued to make incredible life-sized sculptures exclusively out of corrugated cardboard, and his collection now features life-sized animals, mythical creatures, and even “It”‘s Pennywise. Read more to see some of his latest work.
Photo credit: PS2FishTank
Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2) home video game console was first released in 2000 and competed with Sega’s Dreamcast, Nintendo’s GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox in the sixth generation of video game consoles. It’s currently the best-selling video game console of all time, with over 155 million units sold, and more than 3,874 game titles released since launch. So, it would only be fitting for a fan to create the world’s first and only PlayStation 2-inspired aquarium, right? That’s exactly what we have here, and this is just stage one, as the next one would involve turning it into a Raspberry Pi machine that anyone can access. Read more for additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: Garna Raditya
Your eyes aren’t playing tricks, the Pinecone Treehouse by O2 Treehouse is real, and can be yours for the right price. Its located in a forest in Oakland, and features a geodesic dome shape that is constructed from steel as well as magnificent California redwood. The exterior has been fitted with multiple glazed panels to make it look like a real pinecone’s scales. Inside, you’ll find kaleidoscope-inspired symmetrical windows, a sleeping area, an indoor/outdoor bathroom and a wooden catwalk to connect both. Read more for another video tour, additional pictures and information.