Photo credit: Roman Booteen
Russian artist Roman Booteen specializes in the art of the hobo nickel, or to be more specific, the sculptural art form involving the creative modification of small-denomination coin. He’s known for several pieces, including a Gold Bug that was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Gold Bug, and one of his newest pieces with a hidden gold chalice. Many of his coins have been sold on auction sites online (eBay, WorthPoint, etc.), and have fetched as much as $3,100. Read more for a video and additional information.
Assassin’s Creed Unity maker Ubisoft, which recreated the Notre Dame Cathedral in its 2014 game “Assassin’s Creed Unity” has pledged $565,000 in its restoration efforts. The Paris-based video game publisher said Wednesday that it will make its virtual rendition of the cathedral available to those involved in the rebuilding of the church. Plus, they’re also making “Assassin’s Creed Unity” available free to players on PC for the next week. “As the smoke clears on the events that unfolded on Monday at the Notre-Dame de Paris, we stand in solidarité with our fellow Parisians and everyone around the world moved by the devastation the fire caused. Notre-Dame is an integral part of Paris, a city to which we are deeply connected. Seeing the monument in peril like this affected us all,” said Ubisoft. Read more for a virtual tour of Notre Dame in Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Lord of the Rings may have a large following, but rarely do you see fans actually recreating something from the series, that is unless…you’re Jim Costigan. His day job is a New York construction supervisor, but his free time for the past 6-years was spent building an energy-efficient Hobbit House, complete with a lush green roof that Bilbo Baggins would most certainly approve of. “I thought that was the coolest house I’d ever seen. Architecturally, I thought that that house in the movie was just really well-done, that it was really original. The curvatures, everything about it was unique,” said Costigan about the home of Bilbo Baggins, Bag End. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: Modscape
Australia-based Modscape Concept specializes in prefabricated architecture, and they designed a strange five story home that hangs off a cliff’s edge a while back, but now, we get a first look inside. It features a modular design and was inspired by the shape of barnacles clinging to a hull of a ship, and that’s why it extends off the side of a cliff, rather than sit directly on it. Read more for additional pictures and information.
The United Nations has just unveiled Oceanix, a futuristic floating city that can hold thousands of residents, and is built to withstand natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, as well as hurricanes. In other words, the city would essentially be a collection of hexagonal platforms, and the six villages should be able to comfortably house up to 10,000 people. However, you won’t find any garbage trucks, but instead pneumatic trash tubes that would transport garbage to a sorting station, where it could be identified and repurposed. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: Andrew Ferrier via Yanko Design
Cable management accessories are nothing new, but what if there was an easier way to avoid tripping over cables? Meet the “Cable Cradle” by designer Andrew Ferrier. This creation basically fits over your existing outlet and can be snapped on securely for 1-second installation. After plugging int your device(s), simply wrap the cable around the outer edge to keep things organized. Read more for additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: JR
French street artist JR has just unveiled his latest work in Paris this past weekend, and it does not involve Photoshop. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Louvre Museum’s stunning glass pyramid, he, along with 400 volunteers, pasted 2,000 sheets of paper around an I.M. Pei design to make it appear as if it’s rising out of a quarry. “Once pasted, the art piece lives on its own. The sun dries the light glue and with every step, people tear pieces of the fragile paper. This project is also about presence and absence, about reality and memories, about impermanence,” said the artist. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Photo credit: Neil Dawson
At first glance, “Horizons” appears to be a larger than life piece of paper, but it’s actually just a clever optical illusion by New Zealand artist Neil Dawson. This massive steel sculpture is designed to look like a windblown piece of paper resting on a hilltop, and made its debut in 1994 for Gibbs Farm, an outdoor sculpture collection in New Zealand. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
The Apple Card was unveiled at today’s press event, and unlike other credit cards, this one is built directly into the Apple Wallet app on iPhone to offer customers a familiar experience with Apple Pay and the ability to manage their card right on their device. It also features Daily Cash, which gives back a percentage of every purchase as cash on customers’ Apple Cash card each day. When it launches this summer, you’ll be able to sign up for Apple Card in the Wallet app in minutes and start using it with Apple Pay right away in stores, in apps or online worldwide. Read more for a video and additional information.
Photo credit: Alpine Art via Twisted Sifter
Artist and master woodworker Scott Huebner specializes in creating other worldly sculptures that fuse burl – a tree growth where the grain has grown in a deformed manner – with resin. Burls are normally found on the trunk, at the tree’s base, and sometimes even underground in the form of a rounded outgrowth, thus resulting in uniquely patterned wood, which is perfect for these types of sculptures. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.