The Cosmonaut

I am super-happy to share this news about Planetaki: we already implemented a feature to embed a planet in whatever website you want. Ain’t that cool or what?

If you are a Planetaki user and want to try it out, experiment a bit or just do some good to your website readers, try embedding this ultra-tiny piece of code inside your html:

<script type=”text/javascript”
src=”http://www.planetaki.com/javiercanada.js”></script>

Make sure you change the “javiercanada” piece for your planet slug or it will be my planet showing up on your own house :)

From the great Mauro Entralgo:

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

There are industrial designers who look at an object and they modify it to improve its features in a specific circumstance. They designed the folding chairs, the anglepoise lamp and the unfolding package for the butter.

There are other designers who look at an object and they modify it with the purpose of worsen its features for any circumstance. They designed the three leg stools, the square-shaped glasses and the sinks with no place for leaving the soap.

Me comenta Kepa Landa que la Universidad Europea de Madrid ofrecerá para este próximo curso un grado en Diseño, oficial, aprobado por el ministerio y pionero en España.

Parece que aún hay poca información sobre el profesorado, pues sólo veo 12 nombres (y muchas más asignaturas). El plan de estudios tiene buen aspecto, bastante completo, aunque con poquita carga de diseño de interacción dado que las especializaciones son Diseño Gráfico, de Interiores, de Producto y de Moda, un poco en la linea del IED.

Creo que hubiera sido bueno apostar más por el nuevo diseño de producto, con más énfasis en lo tecnológico y en la interacción persona-ordenador. Aún así hay que reconocer el mérito de sacar una titulación así adelante. Les deseo suerte!

This is Orange-Cosmo (technical name: UniPo, Cosmo Knots-Series 3), one brave traveler ready to cruise the universe in the quest for adventure and beauty. It is now part of the crew at the Vostok Spaceship:

Orange-Cosmo comes from Smupf, a beautiful store of vinyl toys where there sure is something cute for your next gift, something that will stand on the owner’s table and say “hey” every morning.

When product design iterative methodologies (garage-style) and the business of sex toys converge you get early prototypes like this one:

There are free units for the betatesters. Wanna join their program?

;D

Remember the creepy-amazing BigDog robot made by Boston Dynamics? The one which resembled a half-goat-half-fly creature from hell (and amazingly never fell down). Yeah, you remember it.

Ok, here’s the beta version of the prototype by the guys at SeedWell:

(have a laugh or two ;)

In 1954 the first transistor radio was released. It was the Regency TR-1, a small piece of equipment very advanced for its time. Sony followed quickly and one year after that they launched the TR-55 branded as a “pocket transistor radio”. By that time Japanese engineers were not as good at miniaturization as they are today, that radio was way bigger than the Regency and by no means fitted inside a shirt pocket.

¿What did Sony do about it? Well, they took the easy way and made a new shirt for their sellers where the transistor could easily fit. As we say in Spanish, if Muhammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain will go to Muhammad.

And all this is just an excuse to introduce Michael Jack and his freakin’ amazing collection of transistor radios.

All of them are pictured there, on his flickr account. It’s like… unbelievable.