After implementing music players, cameras and video recorders, what else can/should a cell phone do?

1. Bang Olufsen Serene. A square cell phone is pretty unheard of. At first sight, this phone has a very unique design. Instead of the traditional grided cell-phone key pad, it has a retro-inspired circular keypad. It also has a built-in camera on the side of the phone. The phone is as big as a palm and is very easy to carry around. It is designed in a way that you can stand it on your desk just like how you would do to a clock.

2.Stefano Casanova Concept Phone. From the beginning when we started to implement cameras into our cell phone to nowadays when we are trying to implement the entire computer system, our technology is advancing by the day at a incredibly rapid rate. Besides its extremely elegant minimalist exterior, this concept phone by Stefano Casanova is operated using Windows and it includes a built-in micro light projector integrated into the LCD which comes in handy for presentation.

3. Triple Watch Phone by Manon Maneenawa. This is a phone of my dreams; a phone that does not need to stay in a pocket; a phone that can be worn as a piece of accessory. Designer Manon Maneenawa came up with this Triple Watch Cellphone that allow users to slide the middle piece out, extend it, and use it as a regular phone. If sliding our your watch and using it as a phone is not your style, you have the option to use the Triple Watch with it’s headset unit and talk using a wireless connection.

4. Chinavasion Projector Phone. Although the Stefano Casanova concept phone has much more elegant design, it is still a concept. From Chinavasion, we have this projector phone that is already in the market. Selling at the high 200 USD to mid 300 USD range, this phone is capable of projecting a 640×480 imagery on flat surface. It has a touch screen, blurtooth capability and a micro SD card slot. Although its exterior looks exactly like an old Nokia phone and it’s user interface is an unbranded clone that iPhone uses, it is one of the first first cell phones that has a built-in projector. ■

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I love wrapping paper. I love the colors, the patters, the bows and the ribbons. But it pains me to see the shreds of paper and envelopes strewn in the living room, the next day.

During the holiday, among of trash collected increases 15 to 20 percent alone. “Aside from creating waste, wrapping paper presents a set of recycling challenges that include tape contaminating paper pulp, and ribbons and bows jamming recycling machines.” [according to sfgate]

London based design headhunter Represent challenged the design community “to develop fresh and eco-friendly solutions to the problem, by designing sustainable and totally tape-free ways to wrap a Christmas gift.” They are adding a new one every day, and they include lots of clever ideas that will come in handy this frugal holiday season. [via NOTCOT]

It shows that with just a little bit of creativity, ordinary items can be used to wrap any gift in an eco-friendly way.  Here are 10 tips to wrapping the eco way, to get you started:

1. Newspapers are great wrapping paper, and is transformed by a big, shinny ribbon
2. Calendars that have pretty pictures and 11 months are already over
3. Re-use gift bags, paper and tissue you’ve received
4. Fancy-schmancy gift boxes you often see these come in nesting boxes, one fits into the next. They’re meant to be used year after year.
5. Fabric gift bags, just stitch together scrap fabric
6. Buy inexpensive rolls of leftover wrapping paper or baskets at second hand stores such as Goodwill.
7. Hemp wrapping paper (Paper organics has a line of sustainable gift wraps)
8. Use natural elements to top off your gift, such as pretty branches, pinecones and hemp twine.

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While the economy is rolling down the hill, the Christmas spirit does not have to!

The team at Ocean Lakes Family Campground (OLFC in this article) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has issued a contest in which each department of the team has to decorate a tree or a wreath using nothing but things they can find in their own department. According to Barb Krumm, Marketing Director of OLFC, the contest did not started out as is, it was merely a creativity challenge. Everyone in the team was very excited when the challenge was announced, and when all the creative mind unleashes their powers all at once, a challenge turned into a contest.

The requirement of the contest is that purchased decoration is not allowed. Things that can be used include office supplies, signs, electronics, parts of an object and anything else within the competing department. Not only does this contest promotes creativity, it also promotes recycling and the use of extra resources.

With a camper tire, a couple tail lights and other camper parts, the OLFC storage team created a pyschedelic wreath(in the banner above). The front office dug up a 3-foot tall tree from the camp ground that is now festooned with light switches, neon materials, reflectors with a star made out of a washer on top. The game center decorated another wreath with game tickets, glowing objects and toys. The scent of Christmas is prevailing in the office.

The OLFC team are planning to auction out the items to their summer guests to raise money for charity, but before then, three winners will be anounced - Most Festive, Most Creative Use of Department Supplies and Wow!. ■

via {PRWeb}

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Christmas is right around the corner. If you have not done anything to decorate your office, it still not too late to do so!
That being said, decorating an office space is a difficult task. As I have mentioned in my last entry - Make Yourself Home , most offices use poor lighting, which automatically makes things look dull and dreadful, including Christmas decorations. Remeber when my co-worker at my old job used to put up a Christmas tree in the office, it almost always ended up looking dead because of the piercing cold office lighting. Besides, you have to worry about space issues; you don’t want to go over the line and take too much space, which can affect the productivity of your office, and you ended up getting dirty looks for your Christmas.

However, difficult is not impossible. Besides observing the attributes of your office, the best way to find out your limits is to communicate with your supervisors and co-workers to see what they think. Check out the above images and see Willa’s effort in making decorating her office. She really made her office look nice. Okay, now make it work.

By the way, speaking of trees, our application on facebook - Green Office is doing very well recently. We have been saving a lot of trees. Make sure you check that out as well! ■

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I think that books are always one of the easiest way to embellish your living/work environment. While there are simple and effective bookcases options such as barrister bookshelves to aggregate and display your own personal collection of books, I would favor more eccentric bookcases. Here is a list of my favorite ones.

Platzhalter Bookshelf Splits To Store Extra Books

The Platzhalter bookshelf unique designer can  help you accommodate your always expanding collection by splitting into a “V” shape.

When the bookshelf does finally reach critical mass, the result is actually quite interesting. Unfortunately, the design is only a concept at this point—but it has a lot of potential.

[via Gizmodo]

Infinity Bookcase Stores Finite Amount of Books, Is Infinitely Cool Anyway

Created by Dutch artist Job Koelewijn, The infinity bookshelves symbolizes the power of learning, or the infinitenature of knowledge through its lemniscate  shape. While it may not fit in your average office, it would be an great piece to have in the publishing firm.

[Via Neatorama]

 Expandable Bookshelf

The REK bookshelves features an ingenious design that is both visually interesting and practical for those who accumulate a lot of books.

The REK expands and collapses like an accordion to eliminate negative space on the shelf. As you book collection grows, the shelves can be pulled apart in a configuration of your choosing.

[via Dezeen]

Invisible Bookshelf

Saving in space and a minimum of emcombrement on your wall for this very astute rack which will enable you to arrange your books without seeing the structure of the rack!

The “invisible bookshelf” is completely obscured by the books you put on it, creating the illusion of floating piles of books mysteriously affixed to your walls.
Topple Bookshelf

Out of all the furniture we’d safely add the feature of “rocking” to, a bookshelf would be down near the bottom of the list next to ovens, refrigerators and ironing boards.

Julian Appelius has the opposite idea, adding a five-degree tilt to the bottom of this Topple bookshelf, which supposedly still keeps books upright as long as you have enough of them to fill a row. Still, the looming threat of being crushed by old copies of National Geographics and Playboys puts us on edge.

[via core77]

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