iainclaridge.net

Dropclock is an aesthetically intriguing motion clock screensaver from tha ltd. Every minute of real time is numerically expressed with heavy Helvetica dropping into water in super slow-motion.

Never thought I would get so excited about a vacuum cleaner but I have just been nipping around the house with our new Dyson DC-22 (aka the Dyson Baby) and I must say it makes vacuuming a pleasure.

Here is a machine that functions as beautifully as it looks. Quoting the booklet that came with the product:

“To Dyson, ‘design’ means how something works, not how it looks — the design should evolve from the function. That’s why the people at Dyson who design products are called ‘engineers’.”

I guess the novelty will wear out soon though, however, and it won’t be too long before my wife and I are arguing over who’s turn it is to do the vacuuming..!

+ Dyson

WIFE UPDATE: “Since when did you ever offer to do the vacuuming anyway Iain…!?”

Only a designer would understand..!

I love the freaky Tiki style of these alien dudes, so you can’t blame me for treating myself to one of the Invisible Plan range of toys by San Fran artist Mars-1, found at my local Forbidden Planet store — hell it was knocked down to £1.99 so what the heck..!

Meet his buddies below.

UPDATE: These things are addictive — just bought myself two more..!

This is creepy but also very cool.

Beautiful new website for Snøhetta architects — done by Bleed.

SpaceCollective.org is a cross-media information and entertainment channel where post-ideological, non-partisan, forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction today. It is, furthermore, a treasure trove of visual stimulus.

Above, from Wildcat’s personal cargo, Mother and Son by Bill Beath, a winner in the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2007.

The Nagra IV-S professional tape recorder - a classic example of form and function in perfect harmony.

Astonishing flickr set revealing an abandoned futuristic housing complex called San Zhi outside of Taipei, Taiwan. It was apparently built in the 1970s as a series of vacation homes marketed towards affluent Taipei residents but ditched because of hauntings/real estate bubbles/adverse climate, depending on who you believe.

More background on NOTCOT.

Via sub-studio.