Photographer Thomas Kalak sent me his new book “Thailand - Same same, but different!” containing a colorful variety of street improvisations containing creations in leveling objects in challenging environments, sourcing water in unique ways, making broken products useful, converting objects into other uses, and a variety of other everyday needs. The photos are simple, mind-provoking, and very humorous once you realize the entire story. You’ll look at an image, wonder what they were solving, realize the initial problem, then understand how they solved it. Each image is a puzzling fun story in itself.

We live in a culture where resources are abundant, but at times we also find ourselves sourcing our needs around what we already have. The art in improvising is one of the most elemental needs in creativity just as “perspective” is to creation. Just because something is made to do “this” does not mean it cant’ do “that”. Thomas has created a wonderful simple book giving us a lens in seeing such beautiful samples in Thailand!

A little bird tells me this is selling out fast! Get your orders at RupaPublishing.com or direct here!

A few pictures from the book after the jump provided by Thomas!
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I learned long ago in a science museum that women can see more colors than men naturally, and some women can see more colors than anyone else . Anyhow, I stumbled into this “Test your color IQ” test by Xrite and think I did pretty good considering I did it in 5 minutes using an lcd laptop screen from 2002. Give it a go and let me know your score. I got 32 messing up in the middle cool colors a bit.(lower is better)

EepyBird’s Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

The Eepy Bird Guys, infamous for their Diet Coke Mentos fountain experiment(post), hinted during the Art Center conference their next experiment with Post-it notes here (above)!

This video reminds me in the shift in marketing. The Coke+Mentos video was made for fun and gave Coke and Mentos tons of great PR (even though I still dig the old fresh-maker commercials), and the post-it note was most likely a paid experiment. You no longer need to explain what a product does, you just need to make people curious and aware of that “something”. Anyhow, this can be a long discussed topic, so I wont dive into it, but I guess it’s just a note on how companies are pushing for the success in viral videos for their brands and products.

eepy website

Wow… Ubiquity by Mozilla labs is pretty freaking cool. Kind of an advanced user type of plugin, but some definite worthy features I’ll adapt to over time.

“Today we’re announcing the launch of Ubiquity, a Mozilla Labs experiment into connecting the Web with language in an attempt to find new user interfaces that could make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily.

The overall goals of Ubiquity are to explore how best to:

* Empower users to control the web browser with language-based instructions. (With search, users type what they want to find. With Ubiquity, they type what they want to do.)
* Enable on-demand, user-generated mashups with existing open Web APIs. (In other words, allowing everyone “not just Web developers“ to remix the Web so it fits their needs, no matter what page they are on, or what they are doing.)
* Use Trust networks and social constructs to balance security with ease of extensibility.
* Extend the browser functionality easily.”

Add the ubiquity plugin here.

I know this “pixel/make my desktop physical” trend is somewhat old, but I just had to post this cause it seemed right though the price is somewhat questionable. I might have to pick one up along with the metal “folderix usb” stick!

buy it here!
via BetterLivingThroughDesign

Thought of the week: Keep trying and believe.

- A peek into Jetblues new restaurant terminals!
- Made in USA shirt in Chinese.
- Flower Foaming Fire Extinguisher.
- Wifi Heatmap..kinda nerdy, but kind of works.
- How to get into any club by pretending to be a DJ.
- A very bad paramedic!
- Free the airwaves!(internet for all!)
- Windows Error page projected during Olympics opening Ceremonies!

This made me smile!
Grow up,but stay a kid

“71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?

Play as you go…” Bruno Taylor.”

via Woostercollective

Avatars have always been a hit online along with emoticons and especially after the Wii came out with the awesome Wii Mii’s. So why not create your own Manga Avatar here!

How clever… a napkin for your keyboard which let’s ya keep typing without a worry in making a mess! So grab that sandwich oozing with cranberry sauce and type away as you get your lunch geek on!

via TechDigest.tv

Watch out Segway, Toyota’s rolled out a pretty nifty tiny transporter with a “look mom, no hands” option! Check out the video after the jump… seems like it’ll get you places, not in a rush, and for the same 5k price tag as a Segway.

Toyota’s Winglet video
via Engadget