Video: Waste = Food (documentary)

Shown in this article is the documentary video, Waste = Food. Released in 2006 by the Dutch public broadcaster VPRO (English version in 2007), this documentary explains the Cradle to Cradle design concept created by chemist Michael Braungart, and designer-architect William McDonough. The principle of the Cradle to Cradle design concept is that instead of creating more and more landfills filled with waste and unwanted products, products can be designed and manufactured so that the waste would instead become "food" for the biosphere (our Earth) or the technosphere (the products we make).

Billed as the next industrial revolution, this design concept is not only a form of recycling, it is a really interesting design concept which could be a major change in the way products are made and built, and this concept is environmentally friendly and sustainable. This ecologically sound design concept is explained in more detail in the video itself.

Restriction signs and depth indicators

Following on from the previous article "Supplementary plates for warning and restriction signs", this article looks at restriction signs and depth indicators, which needs to be converted to metric-only.  This article gives examples of metric-only signs for height restrictions, width restrictions, and length restrictions signs, signs warning of restrictions ahead, and correcting the symbol on the already metric weight restriction signs.  In addition to this, an example of a metric-only depth indicator is shown.

OLED wallpapers could make light bulbs obsolete by 2012

Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) wallpapers require very little power to produce light, and uses 2.5 times less power compared even to energy saving light bulbs. At the same time OLED wallpapers can emit almost as much light as a flourescent lamp, if not more, whilst lasting longer than a fluorescent lamp. The OLED surfaces can be printed on walls in homes and businesses, and can even be printed onto road signs (and the lighting for the road signs can be solar powered).  OLED wallpapers can as a result make light bulbs obsolete and benefit the environment in terms of reduced energy needs and lower carbon dioxide emissions.

Supplementary plates for warning and restriction signs

Supplementary plates exist below warning and restriction signs to tell you how far a hazard / restriction is. In the UK, the measurements on these plates are either in yards, fractions of a mile, or miles, and need to be converted to either metres or kilometres as appropriate. Conversion of these measurements will be very straightforward. Examples of what converted signs might look like are also shown in this article.

Videos: The innovative SixthSense device

Imagine using a gadget which lets you use any surface such as a wall or even your hand as touchscreen. The MIT Media Labs have developed such a gadget called a SixthSense device, it is an augmented reality device, and a gestural interface device in that one can use gestures to determine what gets done (such as taking a photo, viewing the time, or even dialling your mobile), and you can have images projected on almost any surface.

Pattie Maes (associate professor of the MIT Media Labs), along with PhD student Pranav Mistry who invented this device, demonstrated a prototype in a TED Conference in February 2009, a video of which is shown below: