Happy Halloween, to all you scary readers.
Ok, I know that Halloween is in a couple of days - but like most holidays, we celebrate them the whole month before. What I love about halloween is the enthusiasm is brings among the creative minds. Between the amazingly detailed pumpkin carvings, the gruesome costumes, the spooky products - they are so many instances of great concepts and here is a small roundup of my favorite ones.

Zombie plush Dolls

What happens when you take old broken plush toys and bury them in the woods by the light of the full moon while whistling the theme song from “Halloween”? Unfortunately nothing… which is why the skillful design monkeys over at ThinkGeek were forced to come-up with our own scary (but cute) zombie plush. The Dismember-Me Plush Zombie begs to be torn limb from limb. You can rip off an arm,tear him in half and more - and they reassemble it for more fun.
Also check the video - i am really hoping that because of the success they make another.

[via Think Geek ]

Halloween for Mac Addicts

The perfect Halloween gift for any mac lover - this collection of Mac themed pillows are so adorable. Pick your favorite from “Count Macula”, “Spooker”, Mac-o-Lantern and “Finderstein” .
[ available at Etsy

Spooky Usb Drive

For halloween, Mimobot comes up with rayD8gig - an inversely-colored skeletal figure combing black paint and a glow-in the-dark base. The 2.5″ by 1″ designer USB drive like all the other Mimobots will let you customize sound effects played during drive mount and removal. As the name implies, rayD8gig will ship only in 8GB capacity, but not so obvious is that only 200 will be made going for $99.95 each.
[ Buy it at Mimco]

Dress up Steve Ballmer

Halloween is all about dressing up, and if you’re not so into dressing yourself up, there’s no way you won’t enjoy dressing up Microsoft honcho and complete madman Steve Ballmer. This shouldn’t be as fun as it is, it really shouldn’t. I made Ballmer look like a ballerina! Ah-haw-haw-haw!
[Joy of Tech]

Bookmark This !

Laptop sleeves have become another accessory of fashion as diversity in range and style increases. They are no longer only the protective enclosing for your precious new laptop but have become just another outlet for one to show. Moreover, i find it interesting that a majority of these eccentric laptop sleeves were made (or displayed) with Mac computers. Here is a short list of my new favorite sleeves.

The “Air Mail”  by Manila Mac

The clever developers of this sleeve came up the concept of the Air Mail idea minutes after watching Steve Jobs sporting the new Mac Air at his keynote at Macworld. They took the concept of the thinnest laptop fitting the envelope and released a laptop sleeve that resembles to a manila envelopes - but made out of more sustainable fabrics. Learn more at their website: http://www.manilamac.com

DIY Laptop Sleeve

If you really want to express who you are, you’ve got be able to communicate it. Your most expressive nature is in your art. So pick up your pen, pencil, paintbrush or whatever you’ve got and get your freak on. DIY Laptop Sleeves are bare canvas, ready for your individuality to come out. [via ThinkGeek]

Plywood laptop case

This project is an exploration into the process of bending plywood. The laptop case is formed from two bend panels of plywood which slide along one another to encase the laptop computer.The case is lined with cork to provide additional heat resistance and protection. The case is lined with cork for a natural form of protection. The case opens and closes using two pieces of wood that slide along one another. Currently, its not available for purchase but hopefully some design firm will pickup the idea. [via NOTCOT]

More: Etsy also has a great selection of homemade Laptop Sleeves - or if you are feeling really creative, Instructables has a great DIY laptop sleeve

Releated post: Cute Laptop Sleeves That Will Make You Famous

Bookmark This !

Satsuma press just released a beautiful new calendar for 2009. titled ‘pattern + texture’, Satsuma’s new letterpress calendar was inspired by the owner’s love of Japanese textiles and vintage fabrics. These calendars are each made of 100% cotton paper. Even though these days most of my calendars are digitalized, looking at these beautiful calendars definitely makes me crave the days when I used to terrorize my beautiful paper calendars.

These calendars sold out quickly for 2008. Thus for 2009 Satsuma press is printing 350-400 copies. Order yours before this batch is gone. These paper calendar is available for pre-order (via email right here) for $40 (plus $5 for domestic shipping). If your purchase is a holiday gift Satsuma press will include a gift card and is happy to write your message for you and send directly to your recipient (for an additional $7). [after November 1st calendar prices will raise to $44 so order now if you’d like the $4 discount!]

For more utilitarian calendars, be sure check out Shoplet’s 2009 calendar store.

Bookmark This !

Well, if you are someone who is feeling overwhelmed by your job, feeling that your work has snowballed into a bottomless vacuum that just sucks away all your available time and energy, well, don’t worry, you are not alone You are among 88% of the American workforce that have difficult time juggling between life and work. Working more is not always more. Rather, working more often times can contribute to decrease in productivity, general happiness, and your all around well being. Working more can often times contribute to the opposite intention of what you aimed to achieve in the first place. Working more is often times less. Having the time each day to celebrate your values and the core of your happiness is just as important to your productivity as any. Here are some of my tips for managing my daily activity that I would like to share with you to seemingly squeeze more hours out of my days for life, which ultimately makes me a happier, and more productive contributing member of our society.

Wake up early, to reflect, imagine, and structure your day

Mornings are my favorite time of the day. Especially in a city that never sleeps, during the wee hours of the morning, New York Citysoftly drifts into a lazy stupor before jolting back into its energetic pace. I love waking up early to the quietness of the morning to get ready for the day. I use the serenity of the morning hours to reflect upon what I have to do, this technique really helps me in executing later on during the day as I have already envisioned what I have to do, thus making execution easier and speedier. Getting an early start in the morning really helps me in structuring my time better, which actually frees up a nice chunk of mind space and time during the end of the day for some quality me time.

I have a few ‘days’ in my day, what about you?

This is something I do which I find to be extremely useful. Sometimes when I am pressed for time, I like to imagine each of my day as consisting of as many mini ‘days’ as I need. Each mini day has its own beginning, and ending. Each mini day has its own agenda I need to fulfill by the end of the day. Each mini day also ends with me taking a break where I attempt to recall the peacefulness and restorative power of deep sleep. Most importantly, I try to greet the beginning of each one of my miniature days with cheerfulness and vigor as I would for a real day.

Turn off your crackberry, and connect with people!

Turn off you electronic devices! You may think your crackberry, your laptop, your flat screen tv is contributing to your productivity and your sanity by hyper connecting you to the rest of the world in the name of speed and efficiency, when the truth is that information begets information ( not necessarily the good kind either ), and tasks begets more tasks. Your mind space and your perception of time does not increase with speedier gadgets and information overload, rather, all digital age ever did was tiring you out to the point where you think perpetual mental fatigue is deservedly normal, and make you perceive there is less hours in the day then there actually is. If you feel there is not enough hours in your days for life. Turn off your gateway to information, clear your cluttered mind space, focus on the few hours in the day that you do have, spend those time wisely. Eat, love, and make merry with the important people in your life. I guarantee you will feel drastically refreshed, and you have gotten a lot more out of those few valuable hours left at the end of each day!

So, now you have read my techniques, dear readers, what is your tactic for getting more out of your daily routine?

Bookmark This !

Ahh, life takes reminders. Post its, our ever loving object of pure utilitarian pleasure, pops in expected and unexpected places to add spice, fashion, and convenience to life, just in case…

During these unforgettable moments, you just happen to need a reminder to the best part of the moment.

For more  of our obsession with 3M post its. Check out our other spectacular posts on post its now! Check out Post it - The 2nd Generation if you want to take a look at how post its have evolved since its inception. Check out Post It Art: 8 Bit Edition, if you want to see nostalgic video-game characters reconstructed in these versatile post its!Subscribe to our blog today, to be the first one to be updated about our interesting posts!

Bookmark This !