In the realm of stylish SHTF fashion, it’s unlikely you’ll have a lot of choices. Fortunately, given the proper society ending event, there will be plenty of unnecessary road signage lining the untraveled streets. Just snag a couple or five and you’re all set to make colorful shielding to warn any would be attacker that…

This probably isn’t the first of these you’ve seen, but it’s likely the coolest. Who am I kidding, this is just paper stuck in some bike spokes, but it’s awesome paper stuck in some bike spokes and I’d like to see anyone try to make the same thing without taking a few fingers/fingernails off in…

If you want to see something completely mind blowingly, mind blowing feast your eyes upon RogueDZN.com. We’ve featured their Armadillo:161 Bracelet. Now, they have announced their newest precision machined men’s bracelet, the Armadillo: C6-DARKHORSE and boy, IS IT MANLY. Each of the 145 interlocking parts are individually, 9-axis machined from over 200 layers of compressed…

Moving dirt. Mixing concrete. Inspiring people. Not something you want to do with a spoon, a bucket and lots of screaming. Especially when your goal is to create entire civilizations from scratch. Typically, you would need a few dozers, a backhoe or three and a lot more money to throw at materials and manufacturing equipment.…

I’m convinced that what you’re about to see is the future of water sports, water exploration, water battle and anything having to do with the combination of insanity and awesomeness. Franky Zapata, World Champion professional jet ski/waverunner rider of Zapata Racing, is stepping watersports up a number of notches by retrofitting a jet to propel…

If you’ve ever mistakenly drank ferromagnetic fluid thinking it was coffee, you’re likely dead, or highly magnetized and sitting at In-n-Out gnawing on a burger dressed like Magneto. I am… right now actually, staring into the screen at the Kickstarter project David Markus has launched. Ferrite – Interactive Liquid Sculpture is a visual display of…

Robots! And they’re sooooo adorable! Wait, that one looks like… yes! THE FUTURE. Boys and girls, what you’re about to see IS the future. A glimpse at custom-fab-to-hand ingenuity in the shape of a wee, 3D print of eventual human devouring goodness. Now, customized fab tech isn’t new, but My Robot Nation is making it…

Thinking of getting rid of those boring old rubber wheels on your ride? You bet. And what better way to do it than pinning strips of sheet steel together, for an ever so subtle springy wheel effect. Ron Arad is a product designer and architect with just the approach to make that happen and the…

3D modeling apps can’t make it to the web soon enough and Chris Chalmers of Bios Design Collective could very well be pointing the way. His new, custom lamp fab site Fabripod is the foundation of a Kickstarter project set out to combine 3D design and web based visualization in a ingenious way… and as…

Not to get all personal with you on a Tuesday, but how many different design apps do you use? The non-CAD variety – the apps that help you document, store, take notes and generally be a nuisance to those who don’t like your repeated requests to join GMail or a Dropbox? There are likely a…

I’m all for kinetic sculptures that look like they could disembowel you, devour you, the move your remains through their undulating, kineticly cool structure. U-Ram Choe who is know for amazing metal work mixed with an array of glass, coils, resin, electronic bits and movement has a new sculpture showing in New York at the…

If you were to wad up a piece of paper, throw it in my face and yell, “what’s your favorite artistically represented graphical element!” I’d have to wipe the blood from my lip, pinch my elbow skin and scream from the depth of my lungs, “A decent, yet imaginative typeface!” Nothin’ better in my mind,…

There are some robots that take me back to my childhood, like this skateboard-mounted, paint-spraying graffiti machine whipping an arduino-driven pendulum arm around. Not that I went around spray-painting objects, but that I was often attached to a pendulum arm, but who wasn’t, right? It’s just the sort of thing that may have inspired So…

You’ve got loads of ideas from portable candy launchers to cheese grating iPhone cases, but steps in the process (and your evil arch-nemesis Tim “criticizes everything” Jerksteen) has got your design mojo, motionless. Never fear! Another idea funding, “slam that design process in the face,” product site is here and it’s absolutely delicious… in fact,…

Shocking and amazing. Creating something on the iPad, instead of absorbing the limitless digital content, browsing design variations instead of movie options, sending in an order of that design to be printed instead of sending in orders for a large deep-pan pizza. The iRing3D iPad app has done it. It’s all simple and quite basic…

As you may know (or not), digital puppet-maker and modo rigging master, Rich Hurrey of Pixar Animation Studios, has recently released new modo 501 Rigging Master Course. After years in the works and a spectacular video production that explains all the possibilities of animating models with modo, it’s definitely a course to pick up. Rich…

Sure, we talk a big game about high-falutin’ techno-logical mumbo jumbo around these parts, but now it’s time to flex those flabby brain-bags and see what you know about old-school manufacturing tech. Ready? Go.

I once CNC’d a foam shelter for a family of marsupials, except they ended up eating it, then attacking the neighbor family. It could have been worse, but I certainly wish I had come across Zomadic’s zensational (HA!) Zome structures before then – perhaps the wee creatures would have been happier. The Zome is a…

This is a guest post by Daniel Herzberg about his experience over that last few months of going through open-heart surgery and what he found out about a company that is changing the lives of people everywhere. You can follow Daniel on Twitter, view his models on his GrabCAD portfolio and check out his blog…

After I wrote about the ThinkPad Tablet last week, I was contacted by Lenovo and offered a unit to review for a month or so. Of course I took them up on the offer. This is a quick post which will be followed up in a few weeks with an in-depth review.

If you’re hankering for a magnificent piece of man metal (and a magnificent manufacturing process), RogueDZN is about to make you clench your teeth so tight they shatter… twice. Matt Tremblay, Founder of RogueDZN (and chief designer at __________) just announced the release of the ultimate in high performance, machined G5 titanium hotness for your…

How many times have you said, “I need more plastic bits on my desk, and I need them NOW!!” I do, EVERY DAY, followed by spooning large amounts of plastic nibs and milk into my mouth. If you’re looking for something equally delicious to add to the collection of desktop trinkets in your cubicle, look…

Ah, the project scope. The crucial document many of us follow as a guideline while we’re designing or engineering the next greatest thing. Its entire existence is to keep the focus by describing in detail the new product’s soon to be features, costs, and milestone dates. Love them or hate them, many of us couldn’t…

You’ll need more than a forklift to get your jaw off the floor once you find out the details of the upcoming Apocalypse. Yes, it involves robots. OBVIOUSLY. Yes, it involves sharp cutting tools. LESS OBVIOUS, but… yeah. And yes, it even involves 3D CAD…and bikes, and… Go NOW!

I’ve considered a 24 hour Inception marathon – watching it attached to the ceiling whilst eating large quantities of burritos inside of burritos inside of burritos. Instead, I think I’ll just stare at this wonderfully cool Inception Chair design for a few hours and call it done. Created by Vivian Chui from a fine specimen…

Have you heard about the SolidSmack Design Contest yet? Well, the contest is underway, but we’ve got a couple updates, plus the short and simple version of how to submit your design. There are a lot of prizes to giveaway and plenty of time to get those designs in, so hit the jump and see…

What’s more fun that regular old fun? We you put four ‘e’s in front of ‘fun’ and scream it in your highest pitch possible. Then, after you’re done choking on phlegm and throat skin, move your finger to the mouse and click on eeeeFUN.com. You’ll be glad you did, because if you’ve been sitting at…

Autodesk has had a near endless stream of announcements for the past several weeks… and it isn’t over. Next week, they’re launching… I don’t really care what they launch. I just like this teaser graphic they put out. Reminds me of Mortal Kombat for some reason. Red and Black, Blood and Glory… or something. Maybe…

I tell ya, there’s nothing quite like viewing the inside of well design gadget. Not because it makes me feel like peeling back my own flesh to see if it looks similar, but because it shows exactly how much design and redesign went into it. The HTC Evo 4G is just such a device. It’s…

I’m here to tell you what you already know. Underground lairs are FULLY AWESOME!!! On top of their virtually unlimited awsomaucity, they are THE answer to all manner of ,nigh unavoidable, calamity. Huge killer bees all hopped up on GMO corn pollen barreling toward you and yours at cannonball speeds got your boots soggy? UNDERGROUND…

This is a guest post by Bruce Buck, avid photographer, videographer and workstation geek at MySolidBox.com. There’s one constant in product design – the development of new products. Shocking and unexpected I know, but when that development gets down to all the individual component parts of a larger product, the process gets a whole lot…

Every once in a while, something so cool comes along that it makes you stop whittling that sopping wet piece of MDF and stab the jack knife right in your leg meat. This is one of those things. Today, FurnLab has launched their Open Source CNC project on Kickstarter. Headed up by Jeffrey Matthias, they’re…

Look an eclipse! Wait don’t look! Wait look. It’s not an eclipse. It’s a personality core. space, space, SPACE! These Portal 2 Personality cores created by Chris Myles are all the goodness of Portal 2 wrapped up in fully functional replicas of the characters that hamper and help you throughout your adventure in the Aperture…

When I sit, it’s got to be in style… long, wooden style that bends and wraps around the urban landscape creating a perfect home for woodland creature and vagabond alike. Just try to tell me that wooden slates pushing against your spine is not comfortable. It’s one reason I’m thrilled with the new bench design…

I love a good yacht design. Particularly if it’s covered with mermaids, seahorses and has sails covered with the illustrative history of sea serpents. Fortunately for you, Ramazan Kaya doesn’t share my appreciation of sea legends and instead prefers to amaze you with in incredibly stylish design. He’s known for his Yacht designs, but had…

Fab.com is a service that launched a few weeks ago and sets up deals—ala Groupon but with better terms for the vendors—for retail designer goods. This ranges from Andy Warhol silk screens to modern furniture. At present, it is invite only, but that is very easily taken care of. I’m more than happy to provide…

The future. Tis glorious. And while I dream of the day we’ll all have transparent skin and morphing appendages, it’s those amazing flying machines we’re likely to see such things on first. The Future by Airbus is a look at the possibilities and where they see the design of aircraft and aircraft interiors going. The…

I think you’ll agree with me when I say, there are just not enough vehicles out there that can hover. It’s a problem, but one that some people have been inspired to change. One such person is Chris Malloy. Chris works as an optics engineer out of Sydney, Australia. In his spare time, he has…

Prepare to run over and shake someone’s face skin. The contest of the year is here with a list of prizes you just won’t believe. T-Splines has launched the Make the World a Better Place contest and since they are making the world a better place with freeform modeling software like T-Splines for Rhino and…

What’s slightly less/more awesome than driving cool cars? Drawing them. Making sound effects while turning red and eventually passing out just adds to the enjoyment. I Draw Cars can help. A project started by product designer Matt Marrocco and car designer Adam Hubers, it brings their car sketching passion and knowledge to you via the…

My eyes. They’ve grown fingers and are clawing my face toward the screen. If your eyes haven’t hemorrhaged with delight at the sight of the image above, keep reading. This Lamborghini concept was recently done as a Master’s thesis project by Victor Filipchenko at the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan. With the guidance Portuguese…

Creating amazing looking structures using SolidWorks… Many doubt it, others toy with it and still others know just how to blend the capabilities to make it possible. Project Frog, out of San Francisco, CA, is one of the later. They’ve got sweet looking, highly efficient, modular building systems down in a big way. They do…

If there was one desk I would sit behind and make loud, obnoxious race car sounds followed by dry hacking… it would be this one. A desk inspired by the 1930’s era of Bugatti Grand Prix racers tearing blue streaks around the track. This work of engineering brilliance is the brainchild of Alan Sawyer and…

If you’re like me, you’ve been slaving away for hours carving mermaids, mer-cats and other mer-creatures into your surroundings, so this should provide some inspiration and give you something to talk about over dinner tonight. William Jeffrey Jones is a guitar carving beast of mythical proportions himself, carving such details as tails, scales and curly…

Guest post by Bradley Derry from bradleyderry.com Design is details. Design is the tiny elements in a product that work their way into final production from hours of sketching, prototyping, and CAD. Details are what the designers agonize over and what the manufactures spend so much time trying to get just right. This post is…

I know, were on a coffee kick, but after you shoot your coffee into your cup, are you just going to sit around waiting for it to cool or take action with heat transforming phase change material? Then coffee Joulies are for you. Developed by two design engineers named Dave, the stainless steel beans cool…

An espresso maker.. that’s a gun… that’s an espresso maker. It doesn’t get any better than that. Actually it could be better, but you’d need to adapt the gun to use a needle big enough for your neck vein. Even still, this is a design of caffeine creating beauty. Stefan Riegebauer, Christina Carli, Florian Kainz…

I’ll tell you right now, I’ve always wanted to construct a pair of my own flat-packed space shoes, but these… these bring a pain to my mind that has made everyone around me start convulsing in a violent shoe-kicking rage. This stylish little ditty is the brain child of United Nude (He said NUDE!) with…

Of all the things that Google announced yesterday at the Google I/O developers conference, the one I find most exciting is their new Android Open Accessory standards and the Accessory Development Kit (ADK) that goes with it. The best nerdy part of this nerdy story is that the ADK is centered around the Arduino open…

My eyes! They’re bleeding. Flattened by the sheer velocity of awesomeness. I often forget the times spent as a child, beating the frame of a bike into an abomination of blood-letting bliss. Jagged edges, missing spokes, lighter, faster. All you needed was a steep hill and a thick pair of Garanimal corduroys. Jeff Tiedeken of…