Spend A Night At The Duncan House Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright
June 30, 2007
We’ve already shown Frank Lloyd Wright fans how they can easily explore his Falling Water house with a copy of Half-Life 2 but now a Pittsburgh area builder is giving people a chance to actually spend a night in another one of his designs called the Duncan House. The home was originally built in Chicago in 1957 (and bares the name of its original owners) but three years ago it was donated to Thomas Papinchak who dismantled and moved the entire house to his 125 acre resort in Acme, Pennsylvania.
The resort known as Polymath park is already home to 2 other houses from the 1960s that were designed by Peter Berndston, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright so it’s nice to see someone working hard to preserve the man’s legacy as well as other works he influenced. And I can’t fault him for also making a few dollars on the side.
Besides tours Polymath Park now offers a rare opportunity to spend the night in the Duncan House and up to 3 people can crash in the 3 bedroom home for $385 a night. You’ll want to keep in mind there’s a two night minimum and while you’re welcome to bring more than 3 people along they’ll each add $50 to the bill.
[ Polymath Park Resort ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]
New robot dog for kids to be exhibited next week!
June 29, 2007
Robotic pets have been creating a lot of hum in the toy market owing to their highly innovative design and almost life like actions. We have earlier introduced you to the robotic pony and the intelligent Genibo. Now, the ingenious folks over at Germany’s TU Darmstadt have developed a four-legged dog-shaped robot that will be unveiled at the world’s leading robot contest in Atlanta next week. The new robot dog was in making for the last six months and will be probably launched as a possible successor to Sony’s Aibo, which was ceased in 2006.
via TheRawFeed
Canon ScanFront 220P Network Scanner
June 29, 2007
Canon Europe recently announced a couple of new scanners designed to directly connect to an existing network without any additional hardware or software. The ScanFront 220 (standard) and ScanFront 220P (professional) can scan up to 24 pages per minute (A4 sized) and up to 48 images per minute. I assume by ‘images’ they mean photographs that aren’t full page size which would explain the difference in speed.
What’s particularly cool is how the ScanFront 220 can be used to easily move files around your network. Once the document is scanned the large LCD touchscreen can be used to send the files or images directly to a personal or shared network folder, an FTP site or a USB device. The ScanFront 220 can also be used to email the document by accessing your personal address book or a global company email directory. And since network security is a big issue these days the scanner also includes a biometric fingerprint authentication feature.
The ScanFront 220 professional and standard versions should be available in Europe sometime in September of this year. And while there’s no specific information yet it I can assume/hope we’ll be seeing North American versions as well.
[ Canon ScanFront 220P ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]
Miles Rug - The Harsh Reality Of Driving
June 29, 2007
By Andrew Liszewski
Every little kid who plays with Hot Wheels or other toy cars dreams about what it must be like to get behind the wheel of a real car and hit the open road. Well those of us who are old enough to drive know that in reality it’s nothing like cruising around the living room floor.
On the other hand this Miles Rug accurately recreates the experience of driving on a major freeway and interchange in a large city. The complicated maze of turns and loops actually compose an infinite freeway and the lack of any signs telling you where your off-ramp is will prepare the kid for the good times they’re sure to have behind the wheel. It also includes 3 wooden cars but I think if they’d included about 300 it would perfectly finish off the experience.
The Miles Rug looks like it’s available from BIG-GAME but I have no idea for how much.
[ Miles Rug ] VIA [ Cribcandy ]
Lawn Chair Takes It Literally
June 28, 2007
I love relaxing on a lush carpet of grass, but I’d love it even more if it had adequate lumbar support. The Lawnchair, from Fung + Blatt, consists of an aluminum frame supporting pillowy, pure sod in all of its grassalicious goodness. Since the grass is real, it’s in your best interests to keep it alive, a task which is made easy by an integrated “moisturizing system.” And of course, you’ll need to mow your chair… That may take some creative programming of your lawn mowing robot. Look for it in limited quantities this fall at an undisclosed price.
[ Fung + Blatt Lawnchair ] VIA [ Cool Hunting ]
YG Acoustics Voyager speakers are meant for a few
June 28, 2007
The long list of luxury speakers continues to mount with the entry of YG Acoustics Voyager speakers. But wait, you can?t lay your hands on these cast aluminum speakets until and unless you are a celebrated personality in the entertainment industry, the reason being the multitude of trade-secrets and the next-generation technologies employed in the Voyager as claimed by the company. What technology they are talking about? Anyway, the Voyager speakers tout YG Acoustics specialty that accounts for an astonishing soundstage, which is often associated only with a single-driver loudspeakers. The YG Acoustics Voyager speakers will set you back (oh sorry, not you but the music and film “industry leaders”) a whopping $100,000.
Push-pin Night Stand
June 28, 2007
Feeling like you’re growing up too fast? Here’s an easy fix: surround yourself with everyday objects in gigantic sizes and pretend to be a little kid again. The Push-pin lamp/night stand comes in lime, marine-blue, mandarin, or matte-clear. Turn the lamp on and off by pushing the pin into the base, which is cork, allowing you to stick real pins into it, which turns the night stand into a microcosm. Or is it macrocosm?
As far as I have been able to discern, you cannot remove the pin lamp from it’s block and use it to stab people. The Push-pin was available from Design Town for $50, but (as with everything else on Design Town) it’s not available anymore, so you’ll have to get creative if you want one.
[ Push-pin Night Stand ] VIA [ epotpourri ]
Always-On Millipod Micro Tripod
June 27, 2007
This is an awesome idea!
A slim and light P&S camera is great for slipping in your pocket and taking wherever you go but their compact size does have its disadvantages. That thin form factor makes propping them up for self-portraits or low-light shots very difficult. As a result it’s handy to carry a tripod with you but that tends to defeat the purpose of the camera’s small form factor.
Enter the Millipod which is billed as the “slimmest tripod ever” and they’re probably right. It’s designed to attach to the bottom of your P&S camera without adding much additional weight or size. But when you need to prop the camera up somewhere the Millipod has three small legs that can be easily unfolded providing some much needed stability. It can also be rotated while still attached for getting a specific shot or when you need access to the battery or memory card compartments.
Unfortunately info on availability and pricing has not been released.
[ Always-On Millipod ] VIA [ Image-Acquire ]
