Core77

We've just launched our new 1 Hour Design Challenge: Design a laser-cut grip tape inlay for a Longboard! Perfect for starting off the new year and easy enough to bust out in an hour no problem, this competition welcomes designers of all flavors to create a skateboard graphic, upload it to our discussion board, and win that design, laser-cut by Ponoko and mounted to a sweet Bustin Board. Enter as many as you like! Tell your friends! Here are all the details:

THEME:
Laser-cut Grip Tape Inlay for a Longboard!

DOORS OPEN:
Monday, January 5, 2009
9 PM PST (4AM GMT)

DOORS CLOSE:
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
9 PM PST (4 AM GMT)

BRIEF:
After a string of increasingly complex 1HDCs we figure it's time for a simpler task: make a graphic for a longboard skateboard! The twist here is that the design will be produced by laser-cutting grip tape for use on the top of the board (not the customary printing of a design on the underside of the board).

continued...

If you're looking to exhibit at this year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan (April 22-27), there's still time to participate in the Tuttobene group show.

Back for their sixth year, Tuttobene has consistently presented an inspiring collection of young talent surviving the overwhelming volume of shows in the Zona Tortona district with their formula of great spaces, curation and promotional newspaper.

The deadline for applications is February 6, 2009. You can download the form and get more details here.

A bite-sized list of what's happenin' now:

dexigner
Autodesk & Target Corporation to Sponsor IDEA 09

soa world
World-Renowned Team Commissioned to Design 2010 World Expo "Dream Cube"

ali baba
Alliance of Plastics Processors' first international plastics design competition

ucla
An Architect for the Next Generation: Hitoshi Abe of UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design

interior design
James Dyson Increases Breadth of Design Competition

design news
Virtual Product Development Gaining Traction

Macworld starts in about five minutes.

Here's something for you PC-lovers to mock us Mac lovers with:

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

via the onion

SSI Shredding Systems has a very simple mission statement, in the form of a question: "What needs shredding?" The contract shredding company designs, builds and operates shredding machines capable of destroying everything from torpedos to washing machines to full-size automobiles.

Watch as they shred engine blocks...

...bowling balls....

...and a refrigerator.

Not enough destruction for you? Check out all of SSI's videos, some of them quite disturbing, here.

We've come across all manner of uniquely-designed power strips (above, clockwise from top left: the T12 Power Strip, the Swivel Socket, the E-ball Rounded Power Strip, and the Rotating Power Strip) but one thing they all have in common: They're all designed to be screwed to the wall or sitting on the floor under our desks. And while that's fine for our stationery office set-ups, it means whenever someone introduces a new piece of hardware--let's say your friend brings over an external hard drive to show you some files--you've got to get down on your hands and knees to plug the darn thing in.

So the power strip we really want is this neato, integrated-into-the-worksurface pop-up power strip presented on the website of a custom cabinetmaker, HearthWood Kitchens.

Unfortunately there's no product info, so it's either bespoke or a one-off. We think we have our next DIY project....

Back in design school, making our projects was fun; photographing it for our portfolios was not. An expertly-shot photograph of your prototype will make all the difference, but while we had plenty of instruction on how to build that prototype and make it look convincing, we had little instruction on how best to manipulate light in a photography studio.

We could've learned a thing or two from Canadian photographer Michael C. Eng, who's licensed some of his photographs to design consultancy Ziba Design. Check out his excellent work here. His lighting, depth of field, and composition all make these products look even better than they do in real life.

In many suburban houses, the neatest piece of mechanical engineering is the folding attic stairway. It has to be compact enough to fold up out of the way, yet it must be strong enough to bear you and all the boxes of old photos you're bound to carry up it.

Australia's Attic Ladders Ltd. not only makes the common folding wood type, but has a nifty aluminum variant that "accordions" into shape and stays open by means of a spring-loaded suspension system. With anywhere from 9 to 15 steps, it will reach ceilings of virtually any height, and comes in weight capacities of up to 500 kilograms. Check 'em out here.

Stick lamp is one of many lighting prototypes from the recently formed Italian outfit AtelierUtopia. Produced in black aluminum, It comes in 2 sizes and is characteristic of their clean-line approach and monochromatic silhouette forms.

Is it just us, or does it look like a friendly nod to Konstantin Grcic and his Mayday portable lamp—not that there's anything wrong with that!

Senior Mechanical Engineer
OpenPeak
San Francisco, California

This is a "hands-on" position requiring initiative and the ability to communicate ideas and concepts visually, doing whatever it takes to make things happen, including: brainstorming and feasibility analysis with designers, part and assembly creation in CAD, prototype fabrication and testing, manufacturing support, etc.

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