Design

Back in 1989, "The Simpsons" had yet to appear on our screens, and 35-year-old Matt Groening -- who had been working as a professional cartoonist on his original strip "Life in Hell" -- picked up some work from a declining computer company by the name of Apple.

The job? Making computers appear "hip" in a brochure called "Who Needs a Computer Anyway?" starring his characters from "Life in Hell." The images featured an appropriately wide-eyed Bongo -- the main character's son -- who was overburdened with work.

This isn't exactly news; scans of the brochure have been floating around the Web for a couple of years now, thanks to The Comics Alliance via Reddit.

Web site VintageZen, however, has uncovered a pair of posters we hadn't seen before. See them at CNET Australia.… Read more

A watched pot never boils, but some pots can stir themselves.

Kurukuru Nabe, a pot developed in Japan, stirs its own contents, freeing you up to do better things with your time.

You'd think this is high-tech stuff, but no. It's a conventional saucepan with a grooved insert that produces a circular motion resembling a whirlpool in the water.

The design is fairly simple, as seen in this video of an aluminum pot with grooves that induce a spin. … Read more

Coffee in the morning is no small matter. Decisions get made while sipping the caffeinated brew, decisions that shape the day. Like an architect, we construct plans, piece by piece, layer by layer, until a form emerges. Of course, that usually doesn't involve the actual coffee cup. But then again, who is to say it cannot?

The ThinkGeek Build-On Brick Mug ($19.99) is a coffee mug designed to appeal to designers of all ages. The interactive mug invites users to fiddle with it, stacking popular parts onto their own creations. Exactly what those popular parts might be is, of course, of utmost importance; the last thing anybody wants to do is wrestle with their morning beverage.

Rest assured, the mug is compatible with Lego, PixelBlocks, Mega Bloks, Kre-O, or K'Nex Bricks. The mug itself doesn't come with any bricks; it's strictly BYOB.… Read more

It wasn't long ago when 3D printing was a really cool concept we liked to daydream about. Now, it's gearing up to change our lives. We've seen 3D-printed buildings, portraits, organs, prosthetics, food, couture, a moon base, and even a pen for all your creative and repair needs. What's missing?

3D-printed transport, of course.

That, however, could change if engineer Jim Kor has his way. Heading up the team behind 3D-printed electric car Urbee, Kor has more than 35 years of experience in designing automotive, bus, rail, agricultural and heavy mobile equipment, as well as civil … Read more

Tempting fate is a very human pastime. We know it will all end badly sooner or later, so why not see whether we can skirt the edge of disaster and experience how it feels?

Such an impulse will surely drive many to book an early ticket on Titanic II.

No, this is not another Donald Trump project. It is, instead, the idea of Clive Palmer, an Australian mining tycoon known for his dreamy qualities.… Read more

Not to be outdone by Apple and its upcoming spaceship HQ, or Facebook and its future complex designed by starchitect Frank Gehry, Google is planning a massive expansion to the Googleplex. And in the company's algorithmic world, form follows data.

The 42-acre expansion was reportedly designed by architecture firm NBBJ using mountains of info gathered and quantified by Google's real estate team and involving everything from where the sun is at different times of day to which way the wind blows to the importance of placing one work group near another to, quite simply, what sort of workspace employees prefer.… Read more

While anyone could dream up a spinning virtual GPS globe constantly updated with a slideshow of global Flickr photos emanating from a hat, competitors in Frog Design's contest for new wearable technology concepts had to keep their designs within the realm of feasibility.

The key requirement that keeps all the designs within reason is that they have to be able to come to market within three years. That doesn't necessarily mean they will come to market, but at least there's a chance.

The global design firm ran its internal competition for new wearable technology concepts last year and just unveiled the results (PDF). They include some fun and fascinating ideas that explore everything from communing with trees through technology to an urban compass that leads you into discovering unexpected parts of a city.… Read more

Many smartphones look the same from afar. I bet most of you own one that's thin, rectangular, and features a big screen. Boooring!

A fully transparent conceptual smartphone, developed by Taiwanese company Polytron Technologies, gives me hope for a future full of fancy smartphones far different from the common designs seen today.… Read more

If 3D printers seem too expensive, or too technically complex, WobbleWorks' 3Doodler 3D printing pen looks like a budget- and user-friendly alternative. It also looks like a ton of fun.

The idea behind the 3Doodler is that it takes the core functionality of a 3D printer, essentially an extruder and a heat source, and jams it into a pen-shaped handheld device. Loaded with either ABS or PLA plastic, common feedstock for traditional 3D printers, the 3Doodler "prints" plastic objects by letting you draw them in freehand in three-dimensional space.

The brainchild of WobbleWorks, a robotic toy company formed … Read more