A few months ago, sculptor Anish Kapoor won the competition to grace the stadium plaza for the 2012 London Olympics with his 375-foot ArcelorMittal Orbit. From the get-go, it seemed destined to become the enduring icon of the 2012 games.
Two decades after the Lebanese Civil War reduced Beirut, that storied Paris of the Middle East, to dust and rubble, the city is reemerging a hotbed of design. But whereas many of the earlier rebuilding efforts were either faithful reconstructions of the past or cheap proxies for the future, the latest batch of designers is forging a bold new path. They’re both riffing on the city’s history and gently defying it. From a gorgeous bar in an old booze factory to modernized Roman baths, the aesthetic is unexpected, occasionally dark, and always terribly cool.
TV is, in many ways, a really dumb piece of technology: If you turn on a cooking show midway, you're lost, and it's essentially worthless to you. If you click on a football game at the wrong time, it could take 30 minutes to get all the info you want--such as how your fantasy-football lineup is performing. And if you're watching any other show, the real motive (what with all those commercials carefully geared to your demographic) is to sell you stuff. But you can't buy stuff on the damn TV.
[Update: Dr. Morrell writes with the following: "We are presently working on ways to make the chair less bitchy and more like a trusted yoga coach. Good posture at the expense of productivity or happiness is not where we want to stop. We'll keep you posted." Looking forward to it, Professor!—Ed.]
Bad news for happy slouchers: Now, there’s a chair that’ll straighten you up, whether you like it or not.
Are you a Foursquare freak? And a data nerd? Then congratulations! WeePlaces is a nifty Web app that lets you visualize your entire Foursquare history as a timelapse video. All you have to do is log in to Foursquare via WeePlaces, and it automatically scrapes that data and creates your very own map:
Are you a Foursquare freak? And a data nerd? Then congratulations! WeePlaces is a nifty Web app that lets you visualize your entire Foursquare history as a timelapse video. All you have to do is log in to Foursquare via WeePlaces, and it automatically scrapes that data and creates your very own map:
![DJ’s, Trash the Turntables. Get a Touchscreen [Video]](/multisite_files/codesign/imagecache/642x368/DJtouchscreen.png "DJ’s, Trash the Turntables. Get a Touchscreen [Video]")
DJ's usually trash other DJ's who eschew turntables in favor of iPods and laptops--the idea being something like: "Man, to feel the music, you gotta have old school skills and really feel it."
Bullshit. That's like saying to really experience the essential genius of the wheel, you shouldn't power your car with an engine; instead, you should punch a hole in the floor and use your feet.
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