Dornob | Design Ideas Daily |
- Breathtaking Desert Home Blends Perfectly With Landscape
- Ingenious Axe Uses Kinetic Energy to Simplify Woodcutting
- Mirror Mirror On the Wall, Which Takes the Best Selfies of All
| Breathtaking Desert Home Blends Perfectly With Landscape Posted: 22 Apr 2014 08:00 AM PDT Living in the midst of a breathtaking landscape can pose a problem for those who want to live there. Should they build homes that will possibly change the look of the area, or should they try to blend in as much as possible? For this incredible house in Joshua Tree, California, the choice was the latter. The home was conceived and built by architect Ken Kellogg. Construction began in 1988 and did not finish until 1993 – a testament to the thought and care put into the structure’s shape, materials, and impact on the surrounding environment. Using concrete, glass, copper, and steel, the home blends in beautifully with its surroundings. It looks like an organic element, something that grew spontaneously from the rocky landscape. The Joshua Tree residence looks at once both gentle and rugged. Its tough but nature-inspired exterior is inviting, but secluded enough to make residents feel protected and surrounded by nature. The interior largely contrasts with the exterior, displaying a warm yet modern aesthetic. Otherworldly light fixtures hang above a table reminiscent of a centipede. A magnificent spiral defines the shape of much of the living area. The home’s interior also includes plenty of features that connect it to its exterior. A stone hearth and copper chimney look like they would be right at home in the surrounding landscape. Curves, natural light, earth tones, and plenty of stone details make the interior cozy, livable, and definitely drool-worthy. At the time of publication, this stunning home is up for sale for a cool $3 million (US). Keep Going - Check Out These Great Related Dornob Articles: |
| Ingenious Axe Uses Kinetic Energy to Simplify Woodcutting Posted: 21 Apr 2014 06:00 PM PDT Chopping wood is great exercise, but it’s also difficult and incredibly tiring. Luckily, most of us can pick up a bundle of firewood at the supermarket or convenience store. Still, humankind has been waiting centuries for someone to improve on the regular wood-chopping axe, and now Heikki Kärnä, a Finnish inventor, has done just that with the Vipukirves. Vipukirves translates to “lever axe,” which gives a good idea of what this ingenious tool does. It uses not only the power of your muscles and a simple blade to chop wood; it acts as a lever instead of just a wedge. The head of the axe does use a blade, but there is also a piece projecting from the side of the head that moves the axe’s center of gravity. When you swing the blade down, the axe’s kinetic energy pushes the head down and to the side thanks to its shifted center of gravity. In this way, the axe not only cuts the wood but also pushes it apart with one smooth movement. The best way to understand how the Vipukirves works is to watch it in action in the video above. (It isn’t necessary to watch the full 7 1/2 minute video unless you really enjoy watching firewood being chopped – the first demonstration will give you a good enough idea.) With what looks like very little effort, the axe chops logs into neat little pieces of firewood ready to keep you cozy on a chilly evening. Keep Going - Check Out These Great Related Dornob Articles: |
| Mirror Mirror On the Wall, Which Takes the Best Selfies of All Posted: 21 Apr 2014 02:00 PM PDT Love posting endless pictures of yourself online but hate that telltale arm reach in the picture that gives away the fact that you took it yourself? The SELFIE mirror from iStrategyLabs will take pictures of you and then post them to Twitter on your behalf – no cell phone, awkward poses, or even tech knowledge required. SELFIE (or Self Enhancing Live Feed Image Engine) looks like a regular bathroom mirror with a medicine cabinet behind it. But if you were to open up that cabinet, you would find a webcam and computer parts instead of aspirin and cough syrup. The inventors used a Mac Mini to power the facial recognition software that realizes when you are smiling and, after one and a half seconds, snaps a picture. A special decal on the floor in front of the mirror tells you where to stand so the camera can see you. The mirror is lined with two vertical rows of lights. As the camera gets ready to snap a pic, the lights go on in sequence, both to provide a visual cue that a picture is about to be taken and to provide adequate lighting for the snapshot. An audio signal then indicates when a photo has been taken. Without further intervention (or Photoshopping) from you, the picture is posted right to your Twitter account. The goal of this unique project wasn’t to either encourage or mock selfies. The creators of the SELFIE mirror simply wanted to show what kind of amazing things are possible when you have a great idea, the right hardware and software, and the drive to make it happen. IStrategyLabs encourages you to contact them if you want a SELFIE of your own – and who wouldn’t? Just remember not to be too cheerful when you’re getting ready in the morning or you may end up with a bed-headed, bleary-eyed selfie. Keep Going - Check Out These Great Related Dornob Articles: |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Dornob To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
