eStar Electric Vehicle Will Provide Emission Free Inner-City Deliveries

Any city will find that a logistics system that effectively supports flow of goods from one point to another is a crucial point in keeping things running. Fleets of vehicles currently travel around the country delivering food, clothing and other stock, but at the cost of heavy emissions. While there are plans to increase the use of rail freight, inner-city deliveries are still plagued with carbon heavy emissions. So what’s the solution? Enter the eStar Electric Vehicle, a green delivery vehicle that boasts an impressive 4,000 pound payload and can travel 100 miles on a single charge.

Dazzling Checkerboard Green Roof Brings the Countryside to South Boston

 

 

The idea behind 'Boston Fusion', a mixed use development for Boston, was to create an idyllic suburban landscape in the heart of the city. Designed by Danish-firm Bayarch, led by Christian Bay-Jørgensen, the green-roofed apartment and commercial building will resemble a hilly countryside. The undulating development will also feature sloping pathways that travel from the street level all the way to tip-top of the building, similar to BIG's 8 Tallet in Denmark.

China Planning to Construct a Mega-City the Size of Switzerland

China doesn’t do things by halves. Take the Three Gorges Dam for instance – it’s the largest hydroelectric project in the world, has cost $39 billion to built and could be responsible for the country’s earthquakes. Despite the perils that come withe the grandiose, this still hasn’t stopped the Chinese government from considering a plan to create a city the size of Switzerland (that’s roughly the size of New Jersey and Vermont combined). So how would they do this remarkable feat? Easy, combine nine of the country’s biggest cities.

Nokia LCD, nunchuck, and MSP430 join forces

[JB's] driving a Nokia 6100 LCD using an MSP430 with input from a Wii Nunchuck. He’s using the G2211 microprocessor that came with the Launchpad, and developing his code with MSP-GCC. As you can see in the video after the break, this works but there’s some room for improvement. That’s being said, he is bumping up against the code memory limit, with just around 500 bytes left to work with. The LCD screen is SPI and currently it’s hogging the pins that are used for the hardware i2c. Since he needs an i2c bus to talk to the nunchuck he had to go with software i2c which explains part of his program memory troubles.
We’re in no way experts on this, but it seems like he could save space (and improve the input responsiveness) by rewriting his LCD drivers in order to remap the pins. Then again, it might just be better to move up to a larger MSP430. If you’ve got some advice, make sure to share it by leaving a comment.
Read the rest of this entry »

Wireless electricity enables next generation of annoying packaging

Yep, these cereal boxes light up. They’re using a new branded-technology called eCoupling that provides electricity via induction, which means the shelves have a coil with AC power running through it. The “printed coils” on the boxes allow inventory control and data exchange presumably thanks to a low-power microcontroller. But in the video after the break you can see that the printed lighting on the boxes lets them flash parts of the box art as a way to attract customers’ attention. We’d bet that they’re using electroluminescent materials but we weren’t able to get find specifics on how this is done. We just hope advertisers don’t start rolling noise-makers into their packaging.

BIG Unveils a Ski Slope Waste Incinerator for Copenhagen

Bjarke Ingels Group just announced their winning design for an entirely new kind of building — a waste-to-energy plant that doubles as a ski slope and recreation center. Dubbed Amagerforbraending, the project is tucked between the industrial and residential sectors of Copenhagen and will act as a link between the two. The award came as a bit of surprise to the cutting-edge design firm, but given the poetic and functional nature of the project, it may be even more forward-thinking than they thought.
BIG has designed a lot of mountain-like buildings, but this would qualify as their most ambitious in terms of scale and use. They wanted to avoid just wrapping an industrial building to make it look nice. The philosophy from the onset is to use “Hedonistic Sustainability – the idea that sustainability is not a burden, but that a sustainable city in fact can improve our quality of life.” The design is all about the public good, as it stitches two very different aspects of the city together, making an industrial development a tourist attraction.

Making Black and White Bold and Beautiful

Checkered ’50s tiles might not be in season, but interiors that crave a little black and white don’t necessarily have to be bland and boring. Using black and white can be an effective design tool to highlight your home’s stylish simplicity if done right.
There are a few techniques you can use when going monochrome to avoid the possible pitfalls of a such a paltry palate. First, why not try adding one or two pieces in black and white before doing a whole room renovation? You can bring in a black sofa with white accent pillows, or a black glass table with a lily-white porcelain vase centerpiece. If you like the look, expand outward from there.
Black and white is all about contrast, so why not go beyond just colors? Some of the best black and white interiors use patterns and textures to augment the effects of the monochrome walls and furniture. And if you’re going this route, take a risk: pair plaid with checkers and hold your head up high! You’ll be surprised at how stylish black and white can be with some bold texture choices.
And finally, you can catch your guests’ eyes by embracing a single splash of color in an otherwise black and white backdrop. Take the photo above – the stunning amaranth rug is made even more eye-catching because it is surrounded by monochrome. A solitary rug, pillow, or accent wall in a solid color can spruce up a black and white interior.
If you want to wield this modern minimalist color scheme with confidence, all you have to do is be bold.

How to Build a Rock Garden

Fall is here, and you’ve no doubt already seen its withering effects on your perennials as they die off for the colder months. Gardens are a lovely addition to any home’s landscaping, but it can be a bit disheartening to care for them all spring and summer, only to watch them fade to brown come winter.
Rock gardens can help combat the retreat of your flowerbeds. Always a staple in modern landscaping, rock gardens feature large and small colorful rocks scattered artistically across a front or back yard. Here are the basic steps to create your own rock garden, so you can have a beautiful yard all year round:

1. Choose the location for your rock garden. If you want to place it in a large, sprawling space, you’ll need more rocks and a more natural design concept than if you want only a small rock garden bed amidst other landscaping elements.
2. Find the rocks that you’ll use in the garden. When choosing rocks, consider the color (do you want red sandstone or grey limestone?), size, and shape of your rocks. Large, oddly shaped rocks are often the centerpieces of a rock garden.
3. Choose the plants that will accent your rocks. Some believe that the plants you choose should only be those that grow naturally amongst rocks, while other go for sprigs of bright color amidst the stones. The choice is yours.
4. Place, plant and position your rock garden. You’ll likely need help from a strong friend or a landscaper when moving the heavy boulders and rocks around your yard, so before you even begin you should have a solid design plan in your head to minimize the amount of lifting.
5. Enjoy your year-round landscape!

The Lifepod: Yurt of the Future for the Modern Nomad

If the idea of escape seems all the more enticing now that the rest of the world is caught in the back-to-school rush, here’s another amazing prefab remedy for your wanderlust. Escape to the beach, the mountains or the trees in San Francisco-based Kyu Che‘s sustainable Lifepod. Loosely based on the traditional Mongolian ger (or ‘yurt’ as the Russian translation goes), the Lifepod is at once organic and high-tech. Built to be highly portable, the Lifepod is a fully functioning, off-the-grid mini capsule for modern nomadic living.

3 Benefits of Minimalism in Interior Design

Design aficionado will know that minimalism is a growing trend among modern interior designers. But why is minimalism so popular? For those who might be unfamiliar with the term, minimalism is a design concept that strips things down to their bare essentials – a chair will just be a chair, not a chair/cup holder/sculpture. Minimalism seeks to bring out the core of our interiors, enhancing their functionality while minimizing the unnecessary details and flourishes.
Some people have argued that along with stripping design of its “extras”, minimalism also strips it of its style. Without the little details that makes every piece unique, how can you create an inviting, beautiful space? We’re here to tell you that minimalism can achieve just this, if the right balance is achieved. Here are three benefits of minimalism that we think you’ll love, even if you only incorporate it into one room or add minimalist elements slowly to your home.

1. Reduced clutter and more peace of mind. Minimalism is all about trimming the fat of the often excessive modern design trends. A fully minimalist room will naturally be clutter-free, as clutter is hidden by chunky cabinets and concealed closets. Along with less clutter, a minimalist room will give you a subtle peace of mind, as you survey complete Zen in your surroundings.
2. Minimalism is money-saving. Depending on how you incorporate minimalism into your home, you can save hundreds of dollars on the little accent pieces that you don’t buy. No more throws, pillows, or wall art that you love and then leave a few weeks later.
3. Simply space. Minimalism will free up the space in your home, making it look larger and more inviting. You’ll love walking into your living room and taking a sweeping look across a wide-open space.

Ben & Jerry’s Factory in the Netherlands to be Powered by Ice Cream!

Ben & Jerry’s, the iconic American ice cream brand, has teamed up with Paques, a biotechnology company, to install a bio-digester in their Hellendoorn ice cream factory in the Netherlands. The new bio-digester will take excess food product that is wasted during the making of ice cream and turn it into power to provide energy for the factory. The bio-digester will cover 40% of the factory’s green energy requirements — will it make the ice cream 40% more delicious too?

Update: microtouch the 8-bit ipod touch

It looks like [rossum] and [Ladyada] have teamed up and been busy working on the microtouch. Since we covered it last year its had a few minor improvements like an upgrade to the ATmega32u4 microprocessor and some new software. The new and improved microtouch also features an accelerometer as well as some software to go along with it. Plus its now for sale on adafruit for about a quarter the price of an ipod touch (just in case you don’t feel like making your own).
For the unaware the microtouch is a lightweight AVR based ipod touch. It comes with a bootloader which allows you to download your “apps” to the microtouch without the need for an AVR programmer. While it may lack some of the computing power and features of the ipod touch (like music), the microtouch is definitely appealing for its open hardware/software and easy to use touch screen.

Decorating Your Home for Fall: The DIY Way

This post is for all of our do-it-yourself readers: those who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty, work with their hands, and create home accents on their own. Making decorations for the fall can range from the very easy (think carving a pumpkin) to the extreme. We’ve hand-picked three DIY projects that beginners can tackle over the next few days to have a beautiful autumn-ready home for September 22nd when the seasons change.

1. A nature walk’s bounty. When the leave begin to turn, take your family out on a relaxing walk through a forest or other area surrounded by nature. Bring a tote bag with you, and gather up all of the fall goodies you see – leaves, acorns, pine cones. When back at home, you can make a family project out of combining these fall items into several displays. Using earthy, woven bowls or flower vases to hold your found items, you can be really creative with colors, textures and placement around the home.
2. Life’s about the little things. You can use dried fruits, nuts, grains and seeds to create beautiful accents as well. Small grains like dried wheat or corn kernels can be used to fill up a glass jar about two thirds of the way, surrounding a thick, honey-dew candle in the center. Or, you can take one or two handfuls of dried cranberries and fill a wineglass, adding a red candle for effect.
3. Pumpkin 2.0. Pumpkin carving is a nice activity to do with the kids, but why not make a more adult-friendly pumpkin for your home? Cut a circular hole in the top and scoop out the insides like you would when preparing to carve, but don’t cut any holes into the sides or base. Instead, fill the pumpkin (which is conveniently waterproof) with water and use it as a fall flower vase.

Houston Hive is a Sustainable Village Made from 500 Shipping Containers

When you think of sustainable building and green architecture, Houston probably isn’t the first city to come to mind. But a group of Houston-based artists have created HIVE, a self-sustaining village and living work of art constructed from nearly 500 recycled shipping containers to be built in Houston. Inspired by a former artists colony founded by HIVE’s creative director, Nestor Topchy, HIVE will occupy a 6.5 acre wooded plot of land just outside the city center.

Printable wax as PCB etch resist

What if there were only two steps for making your own printed circuit board; print, etch? That’s what [Jeff Gough] has been working on and he presented the process in his talk at 27C3. In the first portion of the video after the break [Jeff] talks about various industrial PCB manufacturing processes in a depth you may not have heard before. We found it to be interesting but at about thirty minutes into the clip he begins the presentation of his modified printer. It’s an inkjet that can print wax onto copper clad board. The wax acts as a resist for chemical etchants, and provides very high resolution. He’s using a heavily modified print head, which brings to mind that diy piezo inkjet head which also has wax printing in its future plans. This certainly seems promising and if the process can be simplified it might do away with the toner transfer method.

Bathroom Suites Available from BestBathrooms

Remodeling the bathroom can be a tough process. It’s hard to find affordable bathroom suites that compliment your home and retain a stylish appeal.
BestBathrooms has the solution: they offer everything from individual toilets and basins to bath suites, shower suites and full suites to make any bathroom shine. The bathroom suites available from BestBathrooms are the epitome of modern. They all feature solid construction and affordability along with a style that will bring life to a bathroom of any size and shape. You’ll love the “wow” factor that these sets bring to your home.
You can incorporate a stunning square bathtub with angular corners and sharp lines with a luxurious porcelain basin and pristine square-corner toilet. Or you can instead install an oval bathtub with modern, geometric feet and a matching curved basin. The possibilities at BestBathrooms are limitless. You have the option to purchase an entire set that consists of all the major bathroom appliances you need in the same style, or mix and match different baths, showers, basins and toilets to truly reflect your inner interior designer.
The best part about the modern bathroom suites from BestBathrooms is the price. You won’t find such stylish bathroom suites for prices lower than they’ve got. So if you’re looking for an affordable way to renovate your bathroom and up your home’s stylish interior, BestBathrooms is the place for you!

Make a Splash with Citrus

Refresh and revitalize your home with citrus. Oranges, reds, yellows and greens can be combined together in nearly infinite ways to give your home a splash of style and lively freshness.
Citrus is a growing trend in interiors. You can paint an accent wall in a deep burnt orange for some sophisticated citrus accents, or try a cheery lemon yellow in your accent pillows and curtains. Citrus has an innately upbeat appeal, so it is best used in a room that you want to bring a little life in to.
Lime green is an interesting citrus color that you can play around with in your home. It is bright, but not part of the red-yellow spectrum like the rest of the citrus group. This means that you can incorporate it with other citrus colors to make a bold statement, yet ensuring that the colors match completely.
If you’re considering citrus, you might want to pair it with earthy tones to bring down the energy a bit, depending on your room and the overall feel of your home. For instance, an orange accent wall and a smoky brown accent pillar or two will produce a rich, mature color palate that you wouldn’t get with citrus alone.
And one last tip for bringing a little citrus into your home: watch out for going overboard. It can look cute to have orange walls, yellow sofas and green accent pillows for a day or two, but after a while your senses will begin to feel bombarded. Citrus colors – like their food counterparts – are best served in moderation.

Nook Color gets honeycomb

[Deeper-blue] has released all the files necessary to get Android honeycomb working on your nook color. We had a chance to play with the nook color for a bit, but ours was only on Android version 2.1. It seems like they’ve come a long way with the capabilities of this simple e-reader since then.  While he’s built out the majority of the features, it is still lacking some fundamentals, like sound. As you can see in the video after the break, the scrolling is a tiny bit choppy but the applications themselves see to be fairly snappy. We can’t wait to see how this works after a little improvement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tulsa Architecture Firm Turns Route 66 Gas Station Into Their Office

Route 66 is an iconic highway and a nostalgic part of America's car obsessed past, but after Interstate 40 took over, many of the towns dotting the roadway died. In recent years, an interest in all things vintage is helping buildings and businesses along the original route come back to life. In Tulsa, Oklahoma for example, the architecture firm ElevenTH bought up an old PEMCO gas station and converted it into their new offices. Retaining the original edifice, adding a green lawn and vintage and recycled decor is helping to reinvigorate the streetscape and placing the firm right in the middle of the action.

The Power of the Coffee Table

The coffee table is an oft overlooked piece of furniture, but the right coffee table can make or break a living room. But what makes a coffee table a coffee table? And what modern styles are out there? We here at Padstyle are here to answer all of your coffee table-related questions.
Possibly the most defining feature of a coffee table is its long, low shape. It normally has shorter legs than a side table or a bistro table, and it is usually oval or rectangle as opposed to circular or square in shape. This is so that it can be placed in front of a sofa and compliment its long form and be at just the right height for easy access to anything on its surface.
However, not all coffee tables are created equal. These basic features don’t come close to describing a truly modern coffee table. Some are tall, some are short; some are wide, some are thin; some are made of wood, some are made of glass; and all of them can compliment their surroundings if placed appropriately.
You can have a coffee table that matches a handful of side tables, or you can create an eclectic look using a variety of shapes and styles. The coffee table you choose can be made of glass, wood, chrome, plastic or any material of your choosing, as long as it is sturdy and stable.
A coffee table is an integral part of a living room, because it centers all the other furniture. Your sofa set will pop if you incorporate the right coffee table – but it could fizzle if you choose the wrong one. Coffee tables are also used as a gathering place, so you’ll likely want yours to be warm and inviting.
Consider size, placement, texture and material when picking out your coffee table – you’ll thank yourself later.

Creating a Bedroom Without a Bedroom Set

When decorating a modern bedroom, most people start with the bedroom set. A 5- or 7-piece ensemble that is perfectly matched in espresso wood or white veneer. And there is nothing wrong with this approach. However, if you’re looking for a way to create your bedroom from scratch – without relying on a pre-fab bedroom set – we’ve got some great tips.
A mix-n-match bedroom can look simply stunning, and it will always be unique. The first rule of thumb, as with any interior decorating you do, is to let your senses guide you. Style guides, trends, and advice are all well and good, but it is your home, so you should have final say.
When choosing individual bed frames, dressers, mirrors, nightstands, benches, tables, curtains and other accessories for your bedroom, you want to keep color, texture and materials in mind.
For instance, if you’re going for the shabby chic look like the image above, you’ll probably want some rubbed bronze, worn or exposed wood, distressed finishes and otherwise antique-looking textures. Or, if you want to do the ethnic eclectic look, you might want to choose texturized and colorful fabrics and natural finish woods.
It can help if you have an interesting base from which to sprout your unique bedroom set ideas as well. Exposed brick, like the image above, inspires all sorts of creativity, as does an oddly shaped room or an eye-catching floor.
Designing your bedroom without the help of a bedroom set can be daunting, but you’ll feel like a true champion designer when you’ve pulled together a jumble of furniture and created a harmonious room from scratch.

Sacrificing Comfort for Style: Is it Worth It?

So much of modern interior design is both fashionable and functional, but there are some elements that look just plain uninviting. Sterile environments, sharp corners, hard plastics and extreme minimalism can be part of modern design but are not necessarily part of modern comforts.
So how do you reconcile a style that you want to incorporate into your home with comfort? After all, your home must be lived in – the pictures in the magazines and online can look absolutely pristine, but they don’t usually show a lived-in home. You’ve got to add your own touch of reality into those photos if you’re going to use them for inspiration.
When designing your ideal modern home, you should give equal thought to style and comfort. For instance, shelves can usually maximize on style without much consideration for comfort – you’re not going to be sitting or leaning on a shelf! However sofas, beds, benches and dining tables and chairs should be given a little more thought in terms of comfort. Are they padded? Ergonomic? Large enough?
Thinking about comfort doesn’t mean you have to forgo style though! Most modern furniture is made with functionality in mind.
It is usually never a good idea to focus solely on style, however. This can leave you with a room that looks simply stunning, but that you never use or invite guests into because it is cold, sterile and uncomfortable.
Just because you want to have a stylish home doesn’t mean you have to give up hopes of a comfortable home. Just find the right balance between beautiful modern furniture and ultra comfortable furniture, and you’re set!

Fermentation temperature control

[Eric Friedrich] needed to keep the wort warm enough for yeast to ferment it into beer. To solve the problem he built his own fermentation temperature controler using a microprocessor to turn some heating tape on and off. You can see the heating element embracing that diminutive fermentation bucket in the picture above. This was originally meant for keeping reptile cages warm. It costs less than similar products meant just for brewing and works well for [Eric]. A DS1820 temperature sensor gives feedback to an ATmega168 which then uses a relay to switch the heat on and off. The target temperature can be changed using a potentiometer on the board, with the setting displayed on a character LCD screen on the project enclosure.

Hot Item: the Planter

Plants were flourishing on Earth eons before we started building our modern houses, so it stands to reason that they’d find an eternal home within them. Planters will never go out of style, possibly because plants never will. You really can never go wrong with adding a little greenery to your home.
Planters are a wonderful modern accent that can bring life to any room. They are simple – just a pot and a plant, at the core. But within this simplicity you have so many options to make your planter stand out, so be sure to assess your home’s strengths and style before landing on the planter you want to incorporate.
Minimalism in planters is the best way to go if you have any doubts. A simple black, white, or earthy planter with little flourish will let the plant take center stage, which in turn will breathe life into its surroundings.
There are health benefits to adding a planter into your home too. They not only cleanse the air, but they also provide you mental relief. Their calming effects will radiate throughout your home.
Try experimenting with a cluster of planters on a low shelf, or placing several strategically around a room. Just be sure to give them the water and sunlight they need to flourish! You’ll find that once you start with your first planter, you can’t turn back.

Waldspirale is a Curvy Rainbow Colored Apartment with a Forest on Top

It may look like something out of a Walt Disney film, but this multi-hued, swirl of an apartment complex is 100% real and located in Darmstadt, Germany. Dubbed the Waldspirale, which translates to "forest spiral" in English, the building has another feature (besides looking crazy) that makes it unique - it has a forest growing on top of it! Designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and built by architect Heinz M. Springmann, the kooky residential complex is certainly one of a kind and must be an enchanting place for its regular tenants - as well as its "tree tenants," as Hundertwasser lovingly referred to them - to make their homes.

Image © Heidas

The Waldspirale contains 105 apartments, a parking garage, and a kiosk. There is also a café and bar located at the top of the forest spiral (imagine how nice that must be!). The building is shaped like a U, in the center of which there is an inner courtyard, playground, and small artificial lake for young residents to play in.
The Waldspirale’s breathtaking diagonal green roof is planted with grass, shrubs, flowers and trees that wind their way up the path of the 12 story building. But those aren’t the only plants that make their home at the Waldspirale. As is typical of a Hundertwasser building, “tree tenants” also protrude from windows and along the facade of the building (though, unfortunately, they don’t pay rent).
And the fun doesn’t stop there. If you take a closer look, the building has some other weird characteristics that you won’t see elsewhere – at least not all in one place. For starters, the Waldspirale has over 1,000 windows and no two are the same. The handles that are attached to the windows and doors follow the same mismatched aesthetic. Oh, and did we mention the gilded onion domes? Yes, the Waldspirale has got those too.

Rotary dial authenticates sudo commands

[W1ndman] won’t win any security awards for this build, but it’s an interesting idea. On many Linux-based systems commands can be run with administrator privileges by prefacing them with the keyword ‘sudo’. Normally you’d be asked for a password but [W1ndman] used the Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) to authenticate via his own shell script. That script checks a code from this rotary dial for authentication. An Arduino takes care of listening for each digit that is entered and then sends the code via USB for comparison with a stored file. We’re not sure if that stored code is in a plain file or is otherwise protected, but at the very least this prevents you from using ‘sudo’ willy-nilly.

Water-dosing coffee maker augmentation

[Arthur Benemann] has the worst part of making coffee licked. His add-on for a drip coffee maker fills the water to the proper levels for you, saving the drudgery of rinsing out the carafe, carefully filling it to the appropriate level, then pouring it into the machine without getting everything wet. This isn’t limited to a full pot, but is user selectable by the cup based on how many times in a row you hit that red button. One LED gives feedback on the selected mode, then the device uses a washing machine water valve to turn on the tap for the appropriate amount of time. We’re a little bit leery of connecting homebrew hardware to the water pipes in our house. Make sure you’ve done a good job of debugging so that an infinite loop doesn’t flood you out.

ECO EWOK TREEHOUSES: Finca Bellavista Rainforest Village

If you been dreaming of picking up roots, living on the edge, or literally going out on a limb in terms of eco-lifestyle possibilities, then Finca Bellavista: A Sustainable Rainforest Community might be just the thing for you. Located on the base of an almost 6,000 foot primary rainforest mountain on the South Pacific Coast of Costa Rica – not far from the Pan American Highway, Finca Bellavista was created with the sole purpose of preserving 300 acres of local rainforest by offering a unique opportunity for ecologically minded property owners to live sustainably in and steward a managed rainforest environment.

Emulating ink cartridges

[Smartie_on_computer] wanted to do some experimenting with an epson printer.  After getting a somewhat disassembled one, the first step was to simply get it running. Unfortunately, one of the ink cartridges was missing and these printers refuse to do pretty much anything without all the cartridges installed.  Rather than go purchase a costly cartridge that they didn’t intend to actually use, [Smartie_on_computer], chose to emulate the cartridge using a microcontroller. After some searching for the protocol used on the cartridge, the info ended up being in the patent. [Smartie_on_computer] now has a functional printer that is destined to be a 3d printer in the near future. You can see a video breakdown after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »

Shiny acrylic MAME box

This nice table-top MAME arcade features a two-toned acrylic case. [Fabricio] spent about 50-60 hours designing the 29 parts that make up the enclosure. Originally the sides were meant to be orange but one design flaw meant he had to have them recut and only had enough black stock for the job. But we like it this way. The screen is just over ten inches and inside you’ll find a mini-ITX motherboard with a gig of ram and a solid state drive. The seven page build log features some bending, glue, screwing, and wiring that really show off the depth of the project.
This results a very modern look but if you like your retro gaming to appear vintage we recommend this cocktail cabinet.

Lattice-Pattern Dome is a Beacon of Passive Indigenous Design for New Parliament Building In U.A.E.

Plans were unveiled this week for the new Federal National Council's Parliament Building in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. They reveal not only a beautiful design centered around a large white dome, but they also rely on passive solar design and inspiration from indigenous desert architecture to achieve an energy efficient masterplan. LA-based Ehrlich Architects beat out some heavy hitting architecture firms to win the grand prize to design the striking complex, which marries modernity and tradition.

Building infra red light sources with regular lights

[Oneironaut] sent us another IR hack. This time it is a writeup on the best ways to create IR light sources from regular lights. Since normal flashlight bulbs emit a broad enough spectrum to include visible light and IR light, this basically comes down to filtering. [Oneironaut] explores different light sources and different materials in depth, along with great pictures to show his results. This is a great resource if you’re needing to do some night vision for cheap.

A Modern Home Theater Must: Hidden Cables

You’ve invested a fair bit of time and money into your home theater, so you no doubt want it to look its best. While simply having that gorgeous black flat screen TV mounted to the wall or on a black glass shelf is stylish enough, you’ve also got to pay attention to the details if you want the room to maintain its clean, organized look. And that means gathering up those bundles of audio and video cables.
Hiding your home theater cables is not as complex as it might seem when you first stare despondently at that mess at the back of your TV. It just takes a few small tools, a little effort, and an eye towards the moment when your home theater is complete.
You can get cable ties from your local electronics store, in black or white, and use these to tie your cables in a bundle. You’ll want to tie them every few feet, and then run the bundle along your baseboard. You can tack it to the corner, but be sure you don’t pierce any of the cables themselves.
For the more daring (and for an even more concealed look), try hiding the cables under the carpet. Lift up the carpet at the edges, and tack the cables down underneath, just along the baseboard.
Or, if you aren’t really a do-it-yourselfer, you can get a professional to hide your cables inside your walls and along the floor.
It might seem like a lot of work, but trust us: an organized, clean home theater will be a much better environment for your next family movie night.

Automating automatic racing

Hackaday forum user [Nikescar] upgraded his XBox360 hard drive. During this upgrade, his Forza 3 game save was lost. He had accumulated millions of in-game dollars and really wanted to get back to where he was. We’re not familiar with the game, but he says that one easy way to make some money is to allow the AI to run races for you while you do other things. Unfortunately, this requries coming back to the system and starting a new race every hour or so. Luckily, [Nikescar] had an arduino lying around doing nothing, so he patched it into the controller and had it carry out a the correct button press sequence on a schedule.  Now his virtual driver makes virtual money while his virtual-person keeps it going. His real person sleeps.

OFF Architecture Proposes Belgrade Science Center Built as an Entire Mountain

This artificial mountain proposed for the center of Belgrade dubbed “Sciencescape” is the innovative vision of OFF Architecture. OFF entered their proposal for the Center for Promotion of Science Competition, but bad weather delayed their efforts and unfortunately it missed the deadline. While it leaves us to wonder if such a radical melding of mountain and building would be well received, if the recent winning proposal of BIG’s Urban Ski Slope tells us anything, it is that this concept would have bode well amongst the competition. Standing tall, the iconic design by OFF is an immersion of natural elements and the built environment, ready to envelop its visitors.

Redecorating your Children’s Rooms: Is it For You or for Them?

It can be tough to strike a balance when it comes to your children’s rooms. On one hand, you want them to be happy – on the other, you’ve got to remember that they’ll outgrow their obsession with nailing posters into the wall but your walls might not so easily recover.
When redecorating your children’s rooms, you can maintain the overall modern look of your home while giving them the colors, vibrancy and fun they’re looking for.
Things to keep in mind:

• Safety. Whether your child is five or fifteen, you can’t have too many potentially breakable items in their room, or you might end up with more of a mess than a redecoration on your hands
• Storage. Kids have toys, books, CDs and loads of other things they tend to hoard in their room. While their closet is a good space for this, you might want to think about extra storage under the bed or by installing hooks in the wall.
• Comfort. Although your children might want black walls or a small but stylish desk, you’ve got to remember that they’ll be using the room to play with friends, study and sleep.
• Style. The big one for all of us interior aficionados. Any color scheme can be incorporated into your children’s rooms, but be sure that it is something they won’t grow out of within a year or two. And you can minimize costs while maintaining style if you renovate only the linens, bedspread, curtains and the like – keep the basics (the bed, the desk) as they are, and just dress them up!

If you can balance your desire for a modern home with some (but not all!) of the requests your children make of you, you’ll have a versatile, pleasing child’s bedroom that they will hopefully love for years to come – saving you on having to do another redecoration a year down the road!

Fabulous Florals

The modern home can be dressed up in nearly infinite ways, but one of our favorites here at Padstyle is by using flowers. Floral interiors are naturally more bright, organic and fresh in their appeal. We’ve compiled a list of four ways you can incorporate floral into your home, but there are hundreds more – so why not get a little creative?
You can add a floral touch to your home by choosing floral wallpaper. Just be sure that the design is modern and updated, or that it matches its surroundings. There is nothing worse than falling in love with a pattern at the store only to find that it clashes with your couches!
Floral patterns on furniture is another option. Although you probably want to avoid dated patterns, there are some modern geometrical florals out there that are simply stunning. Think thick lines, geometric shapes and lots of color.
Wall decals can also add that floral appeal. There are many types of black and white or colored wall decals that will give a blank wall some character. Wall decals are especially popular in small doses, as a subtle border of roses along the bottom of your wall or a single bird in a tree beside your sofa.
And finally, add a touch of floral with the real deal: flowers. Bunches, bouquets, vases, or pots – flowers look fabulous in almost any container. Don’t be afraid to choose hot pink posies or looming yellow sunflowers, as the color will be a welcome splash of life in almost any modern home.
patterns on furniture wall decals etc

Qatar Unveils New Green Stadium Designs for 2022 FIFA World Cup!

Like any good soccer fan, Qatar is gearing up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in a grand way. The country which has already started making preparations to host the games in 2022 just unveiled detailed plans for their brand new, state-of-the-art stadiums, in addition to the expansion plan for two existing stadiums that will provide spectators with a new way of experiencing all the action. Conceptualized in Germany by AS&P, each of the stadiums will be built to exceed environmental efficiency standards and be easily accessible by public transportation from New Doha International Airport, all host cities, hotels, FIFA Fan Fests and all FIFA Fan Zones, including water taxi parking.

Bringing an LCD viewfinder back to life

[Foobarbob] posted a pretty simple job of bringing an LCD viewfinder back to life. He doesn’t specify what was wrong, but since he replaced the backlight, we’re guessing that was the main issue.  It was pulled off of a JVC camcorder. The camcorders with LCD viewfinders are getting more and more common at garage sales, so we’re surprised we don’t see more of these used. [Foobarbob] cracked it open, traced out the power lines and replaced the backlight with an LED and a makeshift diffuser made from a bottle cap. His results look great, we could see this being perfect for an HMD, or possibly a home made VR helmet.

Grey is the New Neutral

If you’re struggling to find a color palate for a particular room, you don’t necessarily have to reach for the beiges, taupes and off-whites. These can be great starting-points, but they tend to be a little boring, especially if your home relies too much on their unassuming neutrality.
Instead, why don’t you go grey?
Grey is a wonderful neutral color that can be combined with almost any color to fabulous effect. Take a look at the image above: the purple pops, because of the dark but not overpowering grey.
Grey also looks fantastic with yellows, greens, blues, reds, oranges, pinks… you get the idea.
As a base, grey is much more powerful than traditional neutrals. It has the intensity of black without the severity. And with grey, you can explore the whole spectrum: light grey with a pastel pink, or dark grey with a glossy canary yellow.
Grey is a monochrome, and you can try experimenting with the options it provides. Different rooms can feature different shades of grey and a complimentary (read: any) color.
Your home will experience a boost of energy and your guests will ooh and ahh if you have a grey neutral rather than a bland beige. Try it out in a small room like a powder room first, but we guarantee, you’ll love its pop!

Space-Saving Home Office

If you’re low on space but need a home office, there are several ways to make it fit into your home without sacrificing style. You can create a hidden home office with a few simple tricks and a bit of creativity.
For starters, the desk. This is often the largest part of a home office, which is great if you’ve got room to spare. But for those of us who need to save space, a large executive desk is a pain. So how do you fit the desk into a small home office?
You can try affixing a board with two fold out legs to your wall. Using hinges, you will be able to fold up the desk when not in use to give the appearance of more space.
Or, you can use a small student desk on wheels. This will allow you to push it against the wall when you’re not using it, and pull it out in front of a window when you need to work.
Painting your office white will also give the illusion of space. White reflects light, so light from a window or lamp will seem all the more bright and fill the room.
And instead of buying that bulky, thick shelving unit, you might want to consider affixing shelves to the wall. This way you can go floor to ceiling – increasing your storage capacity, always a good thing in a small space – and you won’t have an overly large back or side to deal with, only the shelves.

Coloring Your Home: Red

Red will always be part of modern interior design – it represents passion, love, excitement. However, 2010 and 2011 reds seem to be more content to be on the periphery as accents and scattered here and there around the home.
If you want to add some red to your bedroom, avoid the walls – for other rooms, red can make a space feel cozy, but it is usually too overpowering for a bedroom. However, red can be incorporated into a bedspread (often with gold, taupe or blues running through it to break it up), curtains or pillows.
To pack a powerful punch with red, you can pop a red leather couch into an all-white room…or go the other way, and use white accents against a red wall. This is a retro throwback, but it looks stunning in a modern home.
If you’re looking for something even bolder, you can paint your front door bright, firetruck red. This suggests opulence and daring – think about the Draper’s home from Mad Men, and you’ll get the idea.
Kitchens can get a spark of red in the form of glossy red cabinets or red dinnerware.
Curtains are another area that red can shine without overpowering. Thick curtains, gauzy curtains… red can give a minor facelift to any room if you want to use it to adorn your windows.
Try adding a splash of red here and there to your home, if you are looking for some action and excitement in your modern interior.

Bathroom Tiles that Sparkle

Ready for some good old fashioned renovation? Why not tackle the bathroom – specifically, those cracked, greying and dirty bathroom tiles under your feet.
There are many ways you can update those old ceramic tiles to look fresh and new. Try out these ideas, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how much your bathroom changes with just a simple upgrade.
If you’re determined to maintain a neutral look, you can earn some style points by opting for an off white, grey, or taupe ceramic rather than the traditional white.
Or, you can have some fun with checkered tiles. Black and white, brown and beige, green and cream… try playing with a variety of checkered patterns, both large and small, to see what works best for your space.
Oddly shaped bathroom tiles are also an option. Take a look at the pentagonal tile above: it is odd shaped, and uses black spaces to fill in the gaps.
Tiles can move beyond just the floor, too. You can run your tiles up the floor behind the sink or along the back of the bathroom cabinet. This will give your bathroom a sense of continuity and a fresh appeal.
You can use tiles as borders along a standing shower, and even start with the tile as the point of reference for your color scheme. You can match your soap dish and other bathroom accents to your tiles for a harmonious look.

Is it OK To Mix Glamor with Shabby?

If you’re a moderately proficient interior designer – even if you only have design experience in your own home – you’re probably pretty comfortable within a single “look”. You can pick out a high end, modern glass table that matches the gauzy curtains, or work within your retro-modern themed bar and barstools.
However, it can be tough to move out of your comfort zone. We want to help you achieve a new level of modern style, so we’re going to cover how to mix glamor – upscale, detailed and ultra-modern furniture – with shabby – antiqued, distressed and reclaimed furniture.
Shabby chic furniture has an organic feel, so it is a great natural compliment to the graceful curves of glamorous furnishings.
Try mixing a reclaimed wood table with a beautiful silk table cloth. This will give a touch of sophistication to an otherwise dull piece, and it will tone down the table cloth’s potentially overbearing sheen.
A nice overstuffed sofa with white linen upholstery can benefit from a touch of glamor with some silky colorful accent pillows or a nice throw. White linen is a staple of shabby chic, but it can get a little humdrum if it’s not dressed up.
Curvy glamorous furniture like a mahogany side table could be accented with a lacy table cloth or a distressed white wood picture frame.
A glamorous look all at once can be a bit overpowering, and shabby chic can come off as dis-organized. Together, they are combined to produce a look that will be elegant, versatile and unique – perfect for your modern home!

Three Stylish Alarm Clocks that Will Replace Your Smartphone

If you’re anything like us here in the Padstyle office, you fall into the “convenience trap” of using your smartphone to wake yourself up every morning. Now, we’re not saying that smartphones aren’t stylish, just that they maybe don’t belong at your bedside when you have other options.
We’ve gathered three stunning, modern alarm clocks that will hopefully serve as inspiration for a little bedside redecorating. Without further ado, three stylish alarm clocks that will replace your smartphone:

Sleek. Black. Sophisticated. This minimalist alarm clock is any modern bedroom’s dream. The Sonoro Cubo Elements alarm clock features lots of little extras in addition to its bold style, like an iPod recharging dock, great speakers, and internet radio capabilities. But aside from all that, we really just love its black lacquered, high gloss finish and brushed stainless steel accents.
Image credit: Mobile Whack

This Jacob Jensen alarm clock is compact and stylish. The extra large chrome buttons that flank the flat LCD screen really make the clock pop. It features a 24 hour clock and a sophisticated beep alarm.
Image credit: Studio Design Collection

If you’re looking for a little retro-mod for the bedroom, look no further, This cute clock is the perfect accent piece. It features a smart white front plate, birch construction, and a prominent starburst front-facing speaker. Mornings don’t get funkier than this!

Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Gardens

Vertical Wall on Jean Nouvel’s Musée du quai Branly
Plants have found a home on walls for centuries, but are sometimes incongruous with architecture, often breaking down the structural integrity of a building’s facade. Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Garden System, known as Le Mur Vegetal in French, allows both plants and buildings to live in harmony with one another. The botanist cum vertical landscape designer is probably best know for his gorgeous living wall on the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (shown above). But Blanc’s Vertical Garden System can be implemented anywhere: indoors or out and in any climatic environment.

Quiz Time: How Clean is Your Home?

We’re not perfect. We have rowdy kids, long days, and not enough energy to tidy our modern homes during the week nights. But it’s nice to find out just how clean you are naturally, so you can find your ideal balance between hours of scrubbing and living in a pigsty.
Take this short quiz to see how clean your home really is (and be honest!), and look for some quick and easy home cleaning tips in tomorrow’s post!
How Clean is Your Home?

1. If you smell a distinct odor coming from your kitchen, what do you do?
   • a. Rush to your refrigerator and cabinets with anti-bacterial spray in hand, determined to get to the source of the problem asap.
   • b. Do a quick wipe down of the counters, toss the garbage, and spray some Febreeze.
   • c. Wonder for a second if it might be the three-day-old yogurt you spilled on the counter this morning, and move on.
2. How often do you change your bathroom towels?
   • a. I wash my towels every 2 weeks.
   • b. Whenever I’m doing a load of laundry that could use a few more items, I’ll throw them in.
   • c. Change them? I guess I would change them if they began to sprout…
3. When do you clean your bathtub?
   • a. I spray it with daily shower cleaner after every use, and wipe down the curtain. I’ll also usually give it an intensive scrub down every week to keep it glistening!
   • b. Every two weeks, I’ll spray and clean it.
   • c. If my mother-in-law comes to visit, I’ll scrape away the grime and throw out the four or five empty shampoo bottles… if I have time.

Did you get mostly a’s, b’s or c’s? Remember your letter, because tomorrow we’re going to give you targeted tips to keep your home clean without going crazy!