Presso “is a manual espresso machine.
You simply fill the steel filter with the coffee, attach it to the Presso and pour boiling water into the cylinder at the top.
Then you lift the lever arms, place your coffee cup into position and lower the arms.
This action forces the water through the coffee at high pressure to deliver a perfect cafe into your cup.”.
(from ecoutlet.co.uk)

Dimensions (L x W x H): 23 x 14 x 31 cm
Weight: 2,3 Kg
Price: $150 (in USA), £80 (in UK)

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Last Exit to Nowhere “is a small collective of like-minded film enthusiasts, designers, illustrators, screenprinters and photographers. We collaborate to create unique T-shirts that pay homage to the most memorable places, companies and corporations in cinema history.”.

From the top:
Weyland-Yutani Corporation (Alien, 1979);
Kobayashi Porcelain (The Usual Suspects, 1995);
U.S.S. Sulaco (Aliens, 1986).

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Renault Twizy “delivers all the fundamentals associated with any car, namely four wheels, a steering wheel and pedals, plus an enveloping body for two occupants sitting in tandem.”.

“Customers will lease the battery. The monthly subscription is €45 inclusive of taxes.
The integrated battery charger can be plugged into any 220V (10A) household electrical supply.
The battery fully charges in three-and-a-half hours.”.

Dimensions (L x W x H): 2,32 x 1,19 x 1,46 m
Numbers of seats: 2
Weight: 450 Kg
Power – Max speed: 7 Kw – 45 Km/h (Urban) / 15 Kw – 80 Km/h (Technic)
Autonomy: 100 Km
Standard equipment: driver airbag, front and rear seat belts, four disc brakes.
Price: from Eur 6990 (in Europe). Available from end of 2011.

Above: Twizy Urban. Below: Twizy Technic. See also: Twizy Lab Design.

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The Dollar ReDe$ign Project: “It’s time to rebrand the buck.”. By Richard Smith.

Instead we created a new system, the famous red band on the M1 line , for the signals.
Before then, the station’s name appeared only once in the middle of the quay.
I proposed to repeat the name every five meters so that, with the train still in motion, one could immediately see it.
This was a world first.”. “I believe that my work is always a work of communication.
Communication means that I have to do a service to another, to be able to make readable a text, and to make understand enough.

That’s not to say that it is boring and you can’t do anything.
No, there are many possibilities.”.

(interview for Rai Educational, 2002)

Top, right: Milan metro sign, 1964.
Bottom, left: Bob Noorda (Amsterdam, 1927 – Milan, 2010), designer.

Miyota OS-20 quartz movement
diameter: 41 mm
height: 13,5 mm
stainless steel, mineral crystal, leather strap
price: 325$ (in USA)

Books At Home: a blog about bookshelves by Erik Heywood.

Above: Vitsoe 606 (Dieter Rams, 1960), living room shelving.

“…America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest.
A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.
All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good.”.
(Andy Warhol)

“…I guess the same could be said of transistor radios. They were as ubiquitous as soft drinks, items of pop culture.
Technology was going to make life easier and the newly invented transistor was on the leading edge of that brave new world.”.
(Michael Jack)

Transistor radios: a set on Flickr, by Michael Jack.

Above: Regency TR-1 (1954): the world’s first commercially released transistor radio.

He is the author of several Personal Annual Reports that collate countless measurements into a rich assortment of graphs and maps reflecting the year’s activities.”. “He is the co-founder of Daytum.com, a site for counting and communicating daily data, and frequent designer of information graphics for numerous corporations and publications.”.

Top: The 2008 Report: Dining/Drinking, detail.
Bottom : The 2009 Report: Relationships/Activities, detail.

“Polyvore is a web-based application for mixing and matching images from anywhere on the web, to create outfits, interior designs, or any kind of collage.”.

Right: Mon identité, by minaplume; based on Red 2007 by Oleg Dou.