We live in exponential times

Some fascinating mass-comm factoids worth watching... like how China is the world's biggest English-speaking nation? Or that India has more people with IQ's over 120 than the total population of the USA? Or that a home computer in 2049 will have more computing power than the total human species of 2008?
 Both inspiring and daunting; might leave you feeling a bit small and overwhelmed.

Solar-Powered Bionic Eye?!

It seems we're materializing all our sci-fi movie fantasies these days (I'm still waiting for my hover-board, btw...) - could this technology allow the blind the gift of sight again? Stanford University seems to think so. Although yet to be tested on humans, researchers at Stanford have invented goggles that can send information to chips – which behave like solar cells – implanted into eye retinas. These new retinal implants would require far less invasive surgeries than the limited options that are currently available.

The goggles have a miniature camera embedded in the nose-piece, from which images are sent to a tiny portable computer. In turn, the computer generates the video images that are transmitted into the eyes via infrared lasers inside the goggles’ lenses. The lasers then are reflected onto tiny photovoltaic chips embedded under the retinas, effectively allowing the patient to see hazy images. The device implanted behind the retina is essentially an array of mini solar devices, which use energy from the sun to provide power to the chip as well as to transmit data through the eye to the brain.

This new system is capable of producing vision of 20/200, which is beyond what is considered legally blind, but the researchers reasonable expect to achieve 20/100, which would produce a picture clear enough that a person could recognize faces and read large print.

Vancouver Land Bridge - How it SHOULD be done!

Project: Vancouver Land Bridge; The Confluence Project
Architect: Jones & Jones
Location: Vancouver, Washington

Kudos, Vancouver, good on you. This pedestrian overpass - designed to reconnect Fort Vancouver to its waterfront and link the Discovery Trail system - utilizes a rainwater collection system to irrigate its indigenous landscape plantings. Sweeping across the State Route 14 in a simple, elegant arch, the interpretive landscape or the bridge is meant to pay homage to the native peoples encountered by the Lewis and Clark expedition.
 
"The land bridge is a link back to the Klickitat Trail, Lewis and Clark, and the development of the Northwest. It completes a circle that's been broken."
   -Johnpaul Jones (architect)

Casa Corallo: Ultimate Modern Treehouse

Project: Casa Corallo
Architect: Alejandro Paz
Firm: Paz Arquitectura
Location: Guatemala City, Guatemala
Constructed: 2008-2011

Simply an amazing project that needed sharing - tree houses are already my weakness, and this project's modern geometry and raw materials make it everything I fantasize about... I am so in love with this house.
Working with a site containing dozens of big trees, the design team chose to fully integrate this modern home into the existing landscape, laying the foundation around the trees with room to accommodate future growth.

In architect Alejandro Paz' s own words:
"The design process began with the aim to preserve the existing trees, in order to have the trees interact with the living space. The floor plan is free of columns and the changes in level adapt to the existing topography.”
Situated in a lush wooded hillside in Santa Rosalía, the house actually incorporates mature trees right into the living rooms. With its linear geometric planes, sharp right angles, and contrasting materials of concrete, wood paneling, and glass, the juxtaposition of living trees within is made all the more striking. The large windows and openings really help connect the indoors with the natural world outside. And the best part: the tiered home features catwalks on the highest level, which pass through the trees to the home’s entrance. Perfecto!

http://www.pazarquitectura.com/proyectos/casa-santa-rosalia/

WOBO: Beer Bottle, Brick, or... BOTH!

This is an old idea, but the growing interest in cradle-to-cradle design has shone the spotlight back on this innovative idea. Back in 1963, Alfred Heineken (yes, the beer guy) and Dutch architect John Habraken devised the concept of the beer-brick. The glass bottle was designed so it could be reused as a building material. As the story goes, Heineken initially came up with the idea after visiting the Caribbean, and witnessing tons of bottles littering the beaches. Combined with the lack of affordable building supplies on the islands, he saw the necessity of building in a double life into his beer’s packaging.

The WOBO’s interlocking design was three years in the making, made to work like brick and mortar construction. The final bottle designs came in two sizes - 350 and 500 mm. A thousand bottles bonded with cement mortar could build a 10″ x 10″ shack, and construction would be simple because the instructions could be printed right on the beer label.

The use of bottles in wall construction dates back much earlier, like the famous example of Tom Kelly's house in 1902, nicknamed "The House of a Thousand Headaches" for all the hangovers it held. But the step to embrace mass production is credited all to Heineken - I'll drink to that! Cheers guys.

http://www.anneke-bokern.com/pdf/athousandheadaches.pdf

zecOO: new electric motorcycle

Designer: Kota Nezu
Company: Znug Design
Country: Japan  
Speed: 130 km/h
Charge time: 6 hours

Completely electric powered, the zecOO was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show this March and is reportedly headed for small scale production at the end of the year. As a design artifact, the body impresses with its single-sided swing-arm, hub-center steering and long, raking windshield (how aerodynamic the latter is, I'm not sure?). Although the performance specs aren't quite as bad-ass as its sleek low-rider aesthetic, it still promises to breathe new life into the e-bike movement. (Probably at a pretty penny, however... hey I can dream)

http://www.zecoomotor.com/

I NEED this couch/bunk-bed transformer

I had to post this, as it is just pure awesomeness. I love convertible toys!

Find it at Bonbon: Compact Living Solutions:
http://www.bonbon.co.uk/clei/doc.htm