Mon, 07/26/2010 | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

A Potential Breakthrough in Offshore Wind Power

If you've ever driven past a wind farm in the desert or the plains, you've probably marveled at the turbines' scale, then wondered: why are so many of them still? There are a number of reasons—wind speeds and directions vary, broken machines are hard to fix, since the machinery sits hundreds of feet off the ground—but the bottom line is that wind power generated on land is relatively inconsistent and it takes up a lot of real estate. Many wind prospectors are looking to off-shore cultivation instead.

This Clock Is an Attention Whore

We recently wrote about neurotic robots. So why not a clock with sass and an overweening love of attention?

Almost Genius: Greek Skyscraper Proposal Resorts to Kiddie Labor

So what do you do when you’re Greece, and you’re broke as hell, but you still want to make pretty buildings that dupe the world into thinking you’re not broke as hell? Hire child laborers, obviously!

Is This the End of “Apple Retentives”?

While Antenna Gate is causing all the static around Apple these days, it's not so much the specific technical issue that concerns me as much as what it represents. It's a glaring failure in the near-perfectionism of Steve Jobs's second era at Apple.

Meet the Vikings Redesigning Times Square and SF MoMA

Snøhetta is the most famous architecture firm you’ve never heard of. Headed by Norwegians Craig Dykers (above left) and Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (right), the studio--named for a snowy peak in Norway--has brought off some of the splashiest international projects of the past two decades, from a striking revival of the ancient Library of Alexandria to Oslo's Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, an ice-floe of a building that looks like the set of a Bond film (pictured below).

Printable Furniture Gives DIY a High-Tech Update

A young designer has produced what might be a glimpse of the future of everyday, at-home design: A program that allows you to easily create a 3-D model of a flat-pack chair, which can then be sent to a laser-cutter for fabrication.

Designer Greg Saul worked with the JST ERATO Design UI Project in Tokyo to pull off the program, called Sketch Chair.

Infographic of the Day: Rich Countries Have an Aging Problem

Infographics demi-god Ben Fry has created another interactive infographic for GE, and it's truly a jawdropper.

Infographic of the Day

Infographic of the Day: Pasta, Not Bacon, Makes You Fat. But How?

Expert Perspectives

Paddy Harrington Discusses: Wanna Figure Out If Your Product Is Any Good? Think Like A News Editor
Roderick McMullen Discusses: Usability Is King For Your Product. Here’s How We Can Finally Measure It
Enrique Allen Discusses: Silicon Valley’s New Secret Weapon: Designers Who Found Startups

From the Editor

Thanks for stopping by Fast Company’s Co.Design. If you’ve been a reader for some time, you’ll notice that we’ve just unveiled a brand-new redesign. You can read about the thought process behind it here. Our content, of course, will be the same: Our focus is on highlighting the world’s best examples of design and innovation, working in concert.

We started this site with a few simple premises in mind. First, design is a window onto the world at large, and the culture we live in.

Continued