"It's just a phone."

We flew Olav Strawe, Publisher of TeleTalk Magazine (several months ago, on his dime and unbeknownst to him at the time) back from Germany to cover the hype and excitement surrounding the launch of the new iPhone at the San Francisco Apple store. His coverage of the event consisted of this photo and one sentence:
"It's just a phone."

We can't really argue with that.
(nc)

Lawnchair

Some (literally) fresh stuff is coming out of LA. Fung & Blatt Architect bring us this awesome lawnchair to relax on and feel as if you were lying in the grass, even though you might be on a 29th floor rooftop in NYC.
Upholstered with rolled sod, a built-in "moisturizing" system helps irrigate while avoiding run off. When in production (prototype pictured), the literal lawn chair will be lightweight (at least under 25 pounds) and shipped ready to assemble. ummm, ... I WANT ONE!
(tk)

government sponsor

The German government is paying experts to expand German Wikipedia entries on renewable resources and nutrition, agriculture and consumer protection. They're looking to hire existing Wikipedians who are familiar with Wikipedia culture:

"A number of key words already have excellent entries in the German Wikipedia" within the field of renewable resources, explains Andreas Schütte. Schütte is the executive director of the Renewable Resources Agency (FNR), which receives funding from the German Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection to conduct research on renewable resources with an eye to launching products on the market. At the same time, Schütte says that a number of key words in the German Wikipedia have very short descriptions, are not up to date, or are missing entirely.

Entries on this topic are to be improved under the direction of the private-sector Nova Institute. The Institute plans to get external experts to write entries on renewable resources for Wikipedia. These experts will first receive training for Wikipedia because collaboration in the community project has its pitfalls. The Institute is therefore looking for someone well versed in Wikipedia to handle project coordination. The project partners have issued a call for tenders for that position. Wikipedia experts can send in their applications immediately.

I thought it's pretty cool that the government is pushing this type of knowledge distribution. Even though it'll be in German, it's a start ...
Thanks to BoingBoing for covering this! (tk)

Sell Your Wares With Video - Realpeoplerealstuff.com

Perfectly described as "Youtube meets Craigslist" by Springwise, this new service allows you to make your very own videos/commercials to sell your products and services. While services like Spot Runner are making television advertising more affordable, Realpeoplerealstuff is allowing the little guy to have a presence.

And what's even better:
1) It's totally viral with the "send to a friend" feature on each post.
2) There's nothing more contextually relevant than a person going to a website to look for things to buy.

We likey.
(nc)

Super Chalk Mario

Super Mario continues to inspire street artists to come with cool pieces that make our daily commutes a bit more colorful! Luvin' it!
(tk)

believe the hype

The Onion, published these hilarious iPhone specs that I thought everyone needed to know about.
Don't believe the hype? Then settle for the cheaper Nokia N95, which features all of the above plus high speed Wifi, GPS, and a 5MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens.
Make sure to watch the video below, which is NYT's David Pogue's review of the iPhone.
(tk)

The Chipmunk VS. The Lad

Ok, so we can't decide and your assistance is required:
What's more funny, the Berries and Creme Starburst Commercial or The Dramatic Chipmunk Clip?

Please cast your vote and reason for it in the comments section.
(nc)

Berries and Creme


Dramatic Chipmunk

Window Art

Working exclusively in white, Korean-born artist Nanan's nature-themed window art is currently decorating five different storefronts in downtown Manhattan (see below for locations) through 30 June 2007. Her delicate patterns draw "attention to the threshold between interior and exterior," adding spiderweb-like detail to planes of glass. Check out her illustration work for the likes of MTV, adidas, the W Hotel and other stores here. (tk)

Super Post It Mario

An brilliant street artist decided to turn a normal pole into a work of art, using colored pieces of paper. It is a reference to Nintendo's latest release of Super Paper Mario for the Wii.
This masterpiece can be found in the streets of Seattle. (tk)
Thanks to Techeblog for checking this.

super exclusive

Because exclusive just doesn't cut it anymore Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann created Hotel Everland, the world's most exclusive hotel with just one room.

It features:
- tasteful vinyl collection with player
-i-Pod Connector/Airtunes
-Wlan for free web surfing
-Leipzig special: Mini with a parking space at Hotel Everland

Price per night: €222

current locations include Yverdon (CH), Burgdorf (CH), Leipzig (DE), Paris (FR)
(tk)