To celebrate the fact that WDB is back online after a severe server crash I’ve decided to make another Premium giveaway.
You know the rules to participate:
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Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months. And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we’ve decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn’t it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application?
A Department of Defense memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynne outlines the Pentagon’s new policies on the use of social networking services like Facebook and Twitter. To my surprise, it basically boils down to a total embrace of social networking, with just enough restrictions so we don’t see tweets like “Headed to Kabul for surprise attack on taliban–don’t tell @insurgency LOL.”
Prior to this change, DoD policy was largely left up to individual commanders, and was mostly banned, especially blogs written by active military personnel. In contrast, while this new memo makes a strong division between official and personal use, it doesn’t discourage either, instead praising the capabilities of social networking for education and publicity. Official blogs, Twitters, Facebook pages or what have you will come with certain requirements, including links to official websites, images of the military seal, and language cleared by a higher-up.
Instead of dumping old storage boxes, why not give them a second life as alcohol-slinging pop-up shops? Designers Diogo Aguiar and Teresa Otto have provided an excellent blueprint for aspiring pop-up bar owners with their temporary bar, a modular white cube made out of 420 IKEA boxes.
PriestmanGoode has a radical solution to how hospital wards should be designed.
Sam Aquillano and Derek Cascio launch a nomadic design museum in Boston.
Slates News Dots features offers a new way of connecting the threads between the day’s news.
We very rarely feature foreign cell phones in Fast Company, but that’s because we’re crashing iPhone snobs (that’s a joke, albeit one with more than a half-truth about it.) But Indian firm Intex Technology’s $100 cellphone has a software app on it that beggars belief.
It’s fuel cell madness! First Bloom Energy revealed its much-hyped fuel cell-powered Bloom Energy Server earlier this week, and now a group of design students from the ISD of Valenciennes in France have unveiled a slick concept BMW motorcycle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The bike doesn’t physically exist yet, but the students imagine that a lithium polymer battery will store electrical energy, while hydrogen can be stored in a 20 liter cryogenic tank where the engine could normally sit. A 100 kilowatt motor provides propulsion.
A major disaster–and a few success stories–show architecture is the problem and the solution for earthquake-prone cities.