designapalooza’s posterous

Most eye glass cases open via a spring hinge on the long side of the
case in clamshell fashion. Silhouette takes an entirely different and
sleek approach because it is known for manufacturing thin titanium
flexible frames. It's a very non traditional and creative approach to
holding these flexible frames, and requiring customers to have to use
ONLY Silhouette cases to store their Silhouette glasses.
 
One of my biggest bugs about using a design such as this is the
accessibility to objects inside the case. For example, oftentimes, I
like to store a cleaning cloth along with the glasses in an eye glass
case. In the traditional clamshell design, i usually put the cloth at
the bottom inside the case and the eye glasses on top of it. However,
in the Silhouette eye glass case design, I have to jam the cloth deep
inside the case and then squeeze my glasses sideways inside. Sometimes
this doesn't work very effectively when the cloth ends up taking up
too much space and prevents the glasses from sliding in all the way.
 
SIhouettes can definitely improve upon this design, and include a
piece such as a velcro strip on the inside of the flap for the sole
purpose of holding onto the cleaning cloth. This will eliminate the
annoying task of having to fish for the cloth inside the case with two
fingers.
 
-Rich

Felt pens, sharpies in particular, are very good for sketching and clarifying
ideas by going over previous lines or filling in large spaces. They produce a
consistent colour and as long as you are fairly regular with the direction of
your lines you get a pretty flat tone with no darker splotches or lines.
One thing that is tricky with a sharpie is doing fine detail or filling in and
acute angle or some other small space. It would great if there was a twist
design which would narrow the tip. The tip could be made or several rings of
felt which retract as you twist or a mechanism within the tip could
expand/narrow the end much like an umbrella as you twist. I don't think this
would cause the pen to draw fragmented lines as any gaps between the felt would
be very small and surface tension in the ink would probably ensure a solid line.
 
Ruaridh Macdonald

Desk lamps are a great way to ensure your work is well illuminated and you're
not straining your eyes. One of the big drawbacks is that a lot of the light
also bleeds out into the room, potentially waking any roommates who aren't
burning the midnight oil quite as fiercely.
I'd like to design a sleeve to put around the lamp which would try and keep the
light focused solely on the desk. It could be secured with velcro which would
also allow it to be reversible. One side could be mirrored for when you have a
relatively weak light and a matt side for use with a brighter light. This would
keep the light focused where it is specifically needed meaning I can get some
sleep while my roommate works late at night and vice versa.....though I suppose
we could just work in the library.
 
Ruaridh Macdonald

   

Click here to download:

Desk_Lamps.zip (48 KB)

It's called "Uncle Oinker's Bacon Scented Bacon Print Tuxedo!"

Each Tuxedo is tailored from chemically treated latex print fabric in one of four different sizes. Best of all, it smells just like bacon sizzling in the pan. Dry clean only.

'The Scan Toaster connects to a PC over USB and downloads everything from local weather conditions and the current time to the morning's news headlines.

Inside the toaster is a network of toasting "modules", each heated by a hot wire. Each module can move by 30° and, once the user selects what they want on their toast, the modules align themselves and burn the appropriate content onto the bread.

The appliance is a finalist in design competition run by manufacturer Electrolux and designer Sung Bae Chang.' (engadget)

Amazing!  This product reminds me of the "infinite range" concept from 2.009 this year.  Who needs clocks and the weather channel when they can have it all on toast?

-Ben

When I first tried this hat on in the Coop, I thought it was somewhat
good-looking, and very warm. That's why I bought it. The inside lining is made
of fleece, which is regarded as one of the warmest fabrics in the winter,
excellent for protecting your head/ears from the fierce cold in Boston.
 
A week after I bought it, it began to bug me. First of all, not only did I
realize that I could have bought a nicer hat, but it also did not fit my head
the same way it did when I first tried it on. When I wear it, I have to firmly
pull it down in order to make sure that it's fully covering my ears. As I walk,
however, it gradually makes its way up my head until eventually my ears are
totally bare and about to be blown away by the wind. Another 'bad' design
feature is that the lining has already begun to rip off (as can be seen in the
photograph). I can only conclude that the hat was not worth the money spent on
it.
 
-Iman

   

Click here to download:

My_MIT_Winter_Hat.zip (262 KB)

I love my camera. It has numerous cool features, and takes very high quality
photos. At 7.1 megapixels, this camera makes me feel like a genius photographer
when I take photos. I know that 7.1 megapixels is not that much these days, but
my camera makes it that much.
 
The screen is very large, which makes it easy to navigate the menu, and is also
great for viewing photos. It can take videos in addition to still pictures,
which means that I don't have to carry a huge video camera with me when I want
to tape something. The menu is very user friendly, and easy to get used to.
 
One thing I dislike about my camera is that it does not warn you about the
battery status far in advance. The red battery light only starts flickering
right before the battery dies, so it doesn't give you much of a warning. I
always suddenly find myself with a camera with a dead battery. One thing I
would change about that is I would keep the user constantly informed of the
battery usage, so something like what you see on your ipod or cellphone.
 
-Iman
 
p.s. no photo available because my camera can't take a photo of itself.

I guess I can see what the product designers of this screwdriver were
thinking: Many battery operated appliances use screws to seal a
battery compartment, so in the spirit of batteries, why not screw your
duracell batteries in style with one shaped like a duracell AA
battery. Cute.
 
And that's probably the only word to describe it. In terms of
functionality, there are many inherent problems with operating
something like this:
 
a. The handle is round, so it drastically makes it an ergonomics
nightmare trying to grip it.
b. It's short, so there's not much surface area for hands to get a good grip.
c. You place it on a table, and next you know it has rolled off the
table and properly situated on the floor
d. No magnetic capability for the screws, so it's a pretty lame screw
driver if you ask me. Why have one of these to add to the clutter in
your hope over a designated bad@$$ magnetic twist locking screw
driver?
 
Guess Cute isn't enough for me.
 
-Rich
 
 
 

I'm a dude pretty big on tea drinking, and so when it comes to having
a nice tea party with the ladies, I need a device that will fulfill
the demand. This sunbeam speed water heater has served me well, and
produced many cups of delicious tea, instant coffee, and instant
oatmeal in a matter of 1.5 minutes after filling the top with water.
 
One big problem: Notice that bowl in the picture underneath the water
release? No it's not because I drink hot water from a bowl. It's
because that thermo on the right of speed heater is too tall to fit
under. So a ghetto workaround I have developed is to pour hot water
into the bowl first, and then dump all that into the thermos. (this
usually isn't a very dry process).
 
Therefore, I propose that sunbeam remanufacture this brilliant product
with a height adjustable backing such that you can adapt to varying
heights of cups. Even if you have a short tea cup, it would be nice to
shorted the height such that when the water pours into the cup there
isn't as much splash and splatter of hot water at bystanders.
 
-Rich

By: Heraclio Hernandez
Throughout my whole time at MIT i never rode a bike to class. This past fall term was the first time I bean pedaling to class, mostly because it got me there faster.  So for the first time in a long time I got back into the habit of locking up the bike. All has been well in terms of locking up the bike except now that it is cold.  On very cold days the locking mechanism jams up and it makes it very hard to lock the bike.  What was originally an easy task can now take me up to a minute sometimes, plus i look like a fool struggling with a bike lock.  What originally started off as a time saving transportation alternative has become an annoying necessity for making it on time to class.  I want masterlock to fix their lock mechanism so that it  can work smoother during the cold season, this way riders will not have to waste anymore time than necessary locking up their bike in the cold.