Powerstrips don’t have to be the most unsightly part of your office or entertainment center. In fact, here are a couple of designs sure to spruce up most any modern space. First, the WirePod by Joris Laarman makes an elegant way to offer up open outlets while the Revolve outlet tower by Takumi Yoshida creates a unique solution to crowded and hard-to-access power strips.

Here’s an amazing concept by Christine Birkhoven, a small table lamp that instantly becomes a portable lamp or LED candle. Just lift from its base for those midnight excursions to the restroom, refrigerator, or both.

Because everyone loves stuff that looks like other stuff, ”the.” now offers this killer set of multimedia ”Speak-ers” ready for your iPod or laptop amusement. Get ready to shell out $120 bucks though, ironic whimsy doesn’t come cheap.

When simply giving the time isn’t enough - we feature a nice selection of modern clocks from BAI Design with a range of helpful functions. First the Here & There Wall Clock offers 2 independent time displays and saves you from the hassle of constant minor math problems when you wonder what time it is “over there” (wherever that may be). For a cute retro modern look, check out the Kitchen Timer Retro Wall Clock which includes a working, built-in 60-minute kitchen timer - a real must-have for any busy kitchen.


If that’s not enough, the Aluminum Weather Station Wall Clock (pictured left) gives you the time, temperature and humidity while the 8-in-1 Weather Station Wall Clock offers a barometer and calendar display in addition to those 3 features. See our full selection of clocks from BAI Design [ here ].

A new emerging trend spotted on Yanko Design: bedside rugs that do stuff. The Carpet Alarm Clock (pictured top) features an LCD clock that actually forces you to step on it in order to disable the alarm. Now while I really like the idea and design, I’m still going to need a snooze function on mine. And although I can’t really say as much about the Bedside Slippers (pictured second), it still looks like a fun accent for the forgetful or people with OCD.

Spice up you bar area with our selection of sleek, stainless steel accessories from WMF Americas Inc. As if anyone needed any extra incentive, the Faces 7-Piece Bar Set (pictured left) is a totally legit reason to get completely sloshed. Cap off a wine bottle with the Vino Wine Bottle Seal (pictured right) or a variety of other wine tools such as the Vino Magnetic Drip Ring. See the full WMF collection [ here ].

So we’ve completed our first day at Maison & Objet in Paris.  We’re used to seeing a lot of stuff… but this (almost) takes the cake.  I was hoping to start off the day writing about some cool new light fixture, furniture company, etc. Instead I find myself intrigued on why this gadget exists—the Handpresso.  I’m a hard core coffee/espresso lover, but this takes it a bit far.  They market this thing as essentially a portable espresso maker while out in the wilderness.  Really!  Who on earth will be worried about their espresso when their Landrover is broken down in the middle of nowhere?!  With a few pumps of the handle (think bicycle tire pump), and some hot water (assuming you’ve boiled it on your engine) - and Voila!  Espresso.  (shaking head)

At PureModern, we feature the full catalog of BAI’s modern and contemporary clocks. Here is a small sampling of their sleek, contemporary line of “Modernist” Wall Clocks, the Script and Rainbow Modernist. You can find the full selection of BAI products [ here ] or just keep your browsers tuned to Perspective on Design as I’ll be featuring many more of their wonderful creations in the coming days.

Your data will be in good hands with ioSafe!  Disaster proof products range from external USB drives, internal hard drives, USB RAID systems, and Network Attached Storage Servers.  See the key features below; the Data Recovery Service alone makes these products worth looking at.

- Fireproof to 1550°F for ½ hour
- Waterproof to 10 feet of fresh water or salt water for 3 full days
- USB 2.0 Interface — Plug and Play for any PC, laptop or Mac computer
- Patented Air Flow Cooling ensures hard drive reliability during normal day to day use
- 3 Year Warranty & $1,000 Data Recovery Service - Upgrade to 5 Year, up to $5,000 per disk
- Bolt-down the ioSafe Solo or cable lock for greater security and theft resistance

Make office life exciting with Pure Modern’s newest collection from Made By Humans. Fans of the previously featured Eco-Stapler may recognize the unique style of Made By Humans’ designs, this time applied to your run-of-the-mill desk calendar, clock and USB hub.  The Puzzle Calendar can be arranged in many different ways, making the chore of “updating your calendar” a fun and exciting one. The Multicolor Cube Clock offers a clock, thermometer and alarm all in a whimsical rubik’s cube package, while the Multicolor USB Chain turns an office necessity into an entertaining and fun accessory.

A small preview from our latest collection of new designs from Fred & Friends, the Inset Salad Servers are made with brushed stainless steel and nestle perfectly inside one another. Makes a cute gift for your vegetarian friends, or instant conversation starter for your next salad party! Stay tuned in the coming days as we feature more of the latest designs from Fred and Pure Modern.

I wonder if these speakers really sound like $325K?  Will these speakers deliver the delicious beats as I have heard from the Funktion-One sound system at Sonotheque?  The design could use some work, but feel free to check out some other sexy speakers with a heavy price tag - The World’s 15 Sexiest Speakers [via Audio Junkies]

Olympus Sound System by Adam Audio

Urban Outfitters released a limited edition production run of Polaroid instant cameras this past Friday - if you haven’t gotten one yet you better hurry there are only 700 kits scattered across their US and UK stores. I planned to hit the Oxford St. shop here in London but didn’t make it up there yet. One caveat - unless The Impossible Project gets that film factory up and running that one pack of film isn’t going to last very long.

Although these high end PC’s pack a performance punch when it comes to the guts of it, but WHY on earth would you want a PC decked out in 24ct gold and diamonds?  These Gaiser High End PC’s range from about $5K to $32K (give or take a few $’s).  I suppose in 5 years when this PC becomes obsolete, you can melt it down and make yourself a ring?  Surely you can’t wear this on your finger.

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Sure it looks like a laptop on a vertical stand, but this nettop offers some nice features for being 0.7” thin (about the size of a small book).  The Lenovo Q110 comes with the Nvidia ION graphics platform featuring an Intel Atom N230 CPU, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, gigabit ethernet port, Wi-Fi, and an HDMI out port (1080p HD capable).  Not too shabby for a small form factor PC.  The Q110 is expected to be released in mid-September with a price of $349.

Key Features:
Ultra Slim and Small: At only 6 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches thin, the size of this tiny desktop makes it perfect for tight spaces. The nettop can even be mounted on the back of a monitor

Energy Efficient: The Q100 runs on just 14 watts when idle and 40 watts at full operation

Enhanced Multimedia: The Q100 supports VGA output, while the Q110 supports 1080p high definition video with DirectX 10 graphics for crisp and vibrant content and 3G games and also enables smooth playback with NVIDIA CUDA technology