Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Every Monday, we link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you to get your week started on the right foot. Be sure to check in each week for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight…

Glances from beneath their transparent sheath missed us as we hid, the hair of their eye jibbles quivering in time with the rattles of their undulating movements, moistening the corridor with the critical ingredient needed to find, extract, and combine these links. Mack Sztaba – A concept artist with a wide range of talent, particularly in the areas of everything – characters, environments, ships and some stinkin’ sweet mechs. Anamorphic – Anamorphic grafitti by Lisbon-based Odeith. Anamorphic as in created on two walls and a floor in such a way as to make it pop right off. Drone Awards – The 1st annual drone photography awards with over 4400 entries from over…

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader. The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top stories on SolidSmack this past week. Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too. This Modified HEXA Robot Takes Care of The Plant On Its Back Over the course of evolution, plant life has gotten pretty complex. There are carnivorous plants, poisonous plants, heck, there are…

Not everybody knows how to play the game, but almost anyone can appreciate the quality of a good chess set. The smoothness of the pieces, the feel of the metal – it makes you wonder how some of the most expensive sports equipment is used on a tabletop “board” game. But not New York designer Jimmy DiResta. In a collaboration with fellow designers Mark Dolan, Brian McCauley, Brandon Fischer, Kip Vanover, and Sean Rubino, Jimmy aims to bring out the uniqueness of the sport in a chess set he crafted from blueprints he devised of from the back of his mind. This chess set is unique because unlike most designers…

If you’re a SolidSmack regular around here (and let’s be honest—you probably are), then you’re no doubt familiar with one of our all-time favorite ‘garage inventors’, Colin Furze. The five-time Guinness World Record Holder and YouTube’s undisputed king of crazy inventions have kept millions of viewers entertained with off-the-wall concepts that are both insane and functional—from The World’s Fastest Pram to a working Hoverbike. In total, his video process journals have earned him nearly 5 million YouTube subscribers and a staggering 450 million views. Now, Furze wants to inspire a younger generation to find their own inner-wackiness through invention with his new (and first) book, This Book Isn’t Safe. With…

While most folks say the best way to make a burger is by hand, a majority of them likely aren’t doing it over and over again on a daily basis. Some people love flipping patties as much as Spongebob Squarepants, but unlike the yellow cartoon sponge, they most likely want more from life than smelling like grease and meat all day. Creator, a start-up restaurant from San Francisco, aims to change the burger game by making their ingredients fresher and their employees more…robotic: Though the establishment has its human employees, what gets customers’ attention has to be the robotic chef. Run by 350 sensors, 50 actuators, and 20 computers, this…