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An EDC Video Full of Surprises: This Man's Truck is a Rolling Armory

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There's a reason "The Walking Dead" is set in the South; because watching a bunch of us Yankees trying to load 9mm rounds into a .45 or accidentally ejecting the magazine every time we try to turn the safety off would probably not be that compelling to watch.

Gun culture varies widely in the United States, depending on everything from local laws to regional history to personal upbringing. In NYC most firearms are illegal, thus law-abiding citizens here grow up with no familiarity with them; but I've met folks down South for whom owning and carrying multiple guns at all times is natural, and for whom firearms instructions was a part of their childhood.

The unnamed vet (that's veterinarian, not veteran) behind YouTube channel Demolition Ranch clearly falls into this latter category. His vehicle-based "everyday carry," or EDC video below skirts the line between dead-serious and tongue-in-cheek and packs several surprises. Regional differences being what they are, I'm sure Northerners will find it eye-opening while Southerners will think it old hat:

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Enko's Energy-Returning Running Shoes

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I'm skeptical, but very curious to see how these Enko shock-absorbing, energy-storing, foot-boosting running kicks come out. Skeptical because of...well, watch the quick video below:

The camera doesn't go down below the waist, does it? But if they do actually work, well, who wouldn't like to get better mileage on less gas?

The developed is France-based Christian Freschi, a longtime runner who's been working on the design for 12 years and who is referred to as possessing "genius" on the Enko website. As for how the shoe is meant to work:

The shoe adjusts to the weight of the runner, to his running style, and to whether he is a pronator or a supinator. With its double sole and a design aimed at avoiding injuries, it provides total comfort.

Maybe I've been brainwashed by Nike and Adidas into thinking that only large corporations have the scientists on tap to create new types of footwear, but I want to see, like, CG video of X-ray skeletons running around in these, with little blinky arrows indicating forces on the the tendons, ligaments and joints. Failing that I'd settle for video of the actual shoe being used.

It's possible Freschi will release more information later—the Enko is slated to go up for funding on Indiegogo come February.

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Awesome Posters of Graphic Designers' Homages to Braun

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Hey

Maybe you've already read our five-part series on the history of Braun design, which covered Electric Shavers, Timepieces, Audio Products, Kitchen Appliances and Haircare Products. And those of you lucky enough to be in Paris will soon get to see an exciting spin on some of these designs, albeit in 2D form; "Systems," the Das-Programm-curated exhibition of Braun design that first launched in London, is coming to Paris' Moda International gallery on January 29th. [Note: Moda's website had crashed at press time.]

While the exhibition will feature some of Braun's original commercial art, the eye-catching bulk of it are homage posters commissioned from modern-day graphic designers.

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Cartlidge Levene

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Derek Kim

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Material Matters: What Happens to the Valuable Wood Removed from Boardwalks? (And How Can You Get Some?)

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We know that both Coney Island and Atlantic City used valuable Ipe (and in AC's case, later, Ipe-like Cumaru) to make their boardwalks, starting in the 1960s. With a 25-year lifespan, the lumber in those boardwalks was completely replaced once or possibly even twice. So what happened to all of the old wood? Just because it was no longer suitable as decking didn't mean the wood was completely rotted through, as the planks could always be machined down and cut into smaller pieces to be reworked.

Well, it seems the traditional thing to do with that still-valuable wood...was to throw it out. According to an article in an Atlantic City local paper from 2013,

In the past, all of the wood removed from the Boardwalk through repairs and maintenance by the city's internal carpentry division was thrown out, [said Atlantic City Public Works Director Paul Jerkins.]

Thankfully, that same article points out that the latest batch of wood to be removed was auctioned off. "Designers...turned [the old planks] into custom-built tabletops, theater floorboards and outdoor benches." As people have gotten hip to the fact that huge lots of Ipe and Cumaru are becoming available, the city now expects construction companies bidding on Boardwalk renovation projects to adjust their bids accordingly; the thinking goes that construction crews can make extra money by saving the wood that they remove from the structure and re-selling it.

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What, Wood Filler? No no, WOOL Filler...

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Having witnessed a few of my nearest and dearest succumb to the mediative delights of knitting, I'm beginning to cultivate an appreciation—for the materiality and intricate skills of the art—that I might have normally reserved for wood or metal work. As with any craft, there are whole supporting industries attached that often remain hidden to the unindoctrinated—and any number of innovators tinkering on the peripheries—that can often be fascinating upon first exposure.

One such novelty that an education in needle work has revealed is the remarkable (if incredibly simple) textile innovation that is Woolfiller—the invention of Netherlands product designer Heleen Klopper, who was inspired after developing a fascination for wool and felt. In a similar vein to Sugru in the world of hard materials, Woolfiller is a product dedicated to fixing and repairing in the world of knitting and woolwear.

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What is Maker Speed Dater and Is It Coming to a Town Near You?

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Maker Speed Dater is the brain child of the folks at Scottish maker-movement movers and shakers Make Works. As part of their mission to reignite local manufacturing, the design-grad run start-up has been trying to make it easier for designers to engage with industry—not least by building their breathtakingly gorgeous directory of Scottish factories and maker workshops captured in image, text and film. Aware of the limits of their online endeavours, Maker Speed Dater was born out of desire to break down barriers by getting face-to-face—20 designers, 20 makers/manufacturers in a room taking turns to figure out where the hell the others are coming from and whether there might be a chance to 'make work' together. The inaugural Maker Speed Dater took place in Glasgow—fittingly held in a local brewery converted from an old carpet factory—and the guys at Make Works invited us along to take a peek at the action.

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Industrial Design Espionage is No Joke

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As I was marched over to an unfamiliar bank of elevators towards the back of the building, I realized I was the prime suspect.

An unreleased design that I had access to, and had done dozens of renderings of, had suddenly appeared on the market—produced by a prime competitor of ours. I was in the elevator with my boss, who was the Head of Global Industrial Design at this particular corporation, where I'd been working as a CAD and rendering jockey for many years. But I was still a contract employee, not staff. And I had access to this design that few people in the design group had even seen.

The elevator doors opened at a high floor I'd never been to, and I got my first glimpse of the Legal Department. We walked a maze of cubicles and I was finally sat at the desk of a lawyer. She was pleasant, even friendly. I was shown a bunch of my renderings, and then the competitor's product. There was no denying the similarities, and the small design details were way too dead-on to be a coincidence. And even though I knew I wasn't the source of the leak, I couldn't help but be nervous as they questioned me.

After I'd answered all of their questions—honestly and, it appeared, to their satisfaction—I was made to sign some documents and my boss walked me back down to our floor.

If I was my boss, I'd have definitely thought I was the leak. There were only two other designers besides me and my boss who'd worked on this and they were both company men with kids, guys who'd never risk something like this. And we hadn't sent the drawings out to a model shop yet. To this day, I never found out how the design got leaked or who did it.

One company that's recently experienced a design leak, however, feels certain they've found the source. According to a Cincinnati local newspaper, consumer giant Procter & Gamble filed a lawsuit last week against four former members of their Gillette design team. The section head of industrial design, a product design & development group mechanical engineer, a senior mechanical design engineer and a high-level research & design employee were all named. It seems all four quit Gillette to work for a competitor, Texas-based ShaveLogic, and the quartet allegedly brought more with them than framed photos of their families:

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10 Stools with Storage

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Professional organizers are always looking for good places to stash the stuff our clients need, so furniture that comes with storage always catches my attention. Prior posts have discussed beds and coffee tables with storage; now let's look at stools.

The bucket stools from Pedersen+Lennard are made from recycled steel buckets. Since these are galvanized, powder coated buckets, they're going to be quite durable. The stools provide a nice amount of storage—but they wouldn't work well for small items, which would tend to get lost at the bottom.

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Users who do want to store smaller items would appreciate a design like Matt Blatt's Orbit storage stool. Since this is wood, it's not going to be as forgiving as the bucket stool if someone carelessly puts something wet or sticky inside—so it wouldn't be practical for users with small children.

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The XTOOL from Combo Colab, first offered via Kickstarter, would be good for users who like their items to be at least somewhat visible. This is another durable product, designed to be used indoors or outdoors. Because the stools don't have a cushion top, they can be stacked when not in use. (But the lack of a cushion may also make them less comfortable.)

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Cologne Design Week: KISD's LABOR Design n+1 exhibition for Passagen

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Klanglichter by Onat Hekimogulu and Tobias Kreter

Our first stop during Cologne's design week is Passagen, a collection of 190 exhibitions scattered throughout the north part of the city. Off the beaten path for people who are more used to strolling through more established hubs and brands, the chilly walk lead us to some unusual venues and reused spaces. Our favorite exhibition was held in an empty, glass-fronted shop space in the brutalist concrete underground station of Ebertplatz. LABOR: Design n+1 by Köln International School of Design showed some experimental objects and lighting, exploring the boundaries of art, design and research.

Klanglichter, above, is a laser harp that combines gamification and music-making. The Arduino-based audiovisual interactive installation was designed by Onat Hekimogulu and Tobias Kreter. Fueled by the will to hit targets on a projection on the wall, visitors play the laser harp to create new compositions.

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Binary Talk by Niklas Isselburg and Jakob Kilian transforms the ASCII data of a word into binary code, which is then translated into a smoke signal sent off through the air by a subwoofer. We loved this experimental approach to uncover hidden processes of modern communication. The project combines advanced technology and one of the oldest forms of long distance transmission, the smoke signal. Light sensors in the recipient module detect the binary smoke puffs, which are translated back into ASCII code on a second computer. Mistakes in interpretation caused by a breeze in the room remind us of the telephone game, and the accuracy we have come to expect in modern means of communication.

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Jeff McWhinney's Intelligent "Active Wedding Rings"

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This past weekend I was at a martial arts training session. With twenty of us in the room, we rotated through partners for the hand drills. One woman neglected to take her wedding ring off, and left me this little gift on my forearm:

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Sure, it's just a tiny scratch, but it could've been a lot worse if we were going faster or harder.

I get that people don't want to remove rings that are difficult to take off, but it's kind of inconsiderate. And it's not just martial artists that need to regularly remove rings: Gym goers, folks who use hand tools, tradespeople whose fingers might get snagged are all better off with the jewelry off.

Someone who recognizes this, and is doing something about it, is designer Jeff McWhinney. An athlete, bicycle component designer and former Senior Research Machinist for 3M, McWhinney has turned to designing easily-removable "active wedding rings."

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Each design features unique, hinged opening mechanisms. This avoids the need for buying an over-sized band to gain knuckle clearance and can be a vital performance and safety feature in many professions or sports—places where all jewelry must be removed prior to activity. It also allows easy removal for washing hands, showering or even sleeping. These special features contribute to functional, modern art pieces that you will enjoy wearing daily.
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Winter Walking in Philadelphia is Looking For a Senior Industrial Footwear Designer

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Work for Winter Walking!

Winter Walking is North America's leading manufacturer of industrial ice cleats and winter traction gear. They've been helping the world's largest organizations to reduce their employee slips and falls for over 40 years. These cleats are built to be industrial strength because they are used in industrial settings. How would you like to make walking on icy surfaces much safer through your designs?

With your 5-7 years of Footwear Design experience (with an emphasis on industrial footwear and work boots) you'll be a great fit for this role. You will be responsible for helping Winter Walking perpetually improve and evolve their line with a constant eye on the market demands, so knowledge and experience with industrial footwear is key. Don't let this opportunity slip by. Apply Now.

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Why 2015 is Making Us Think Differently About Sensory Impairment

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If you haven't seen it already, BeMyEyes is a wonderfully promising and impeccably presented app allowing fully sighted individuals to 'lend their eyes' to someone with a visual impairment to help them through their day. As the slick promo video above introduces beautifully, the app connects those in need of some eyes (a blind person needing to read a sign or label for example) with a community of people willing to help—who can use the blind person's smartphone camera to help with the needed task. I can hear the 'CEO's pitch already—'Like Uber for eyes!'.

As if that wasn't enough triumph for the overcoming of sensory impairment, researchers at Colorado State University have been in the headlines this week with news of a new device that could help the auditory impaired by allowing them to listen with their tongues—thus avoiding expensive and invasive cochlear implants.

To be clear, the device won't magically transform the tongue into a hearing organ, instead it transforms sounds waves into electrical stimulation applied to the tongue (apparently with a sensation similar to sampling sparkling wine). In time, the sensation can be interpreted by the brain—a bit like braille in your mouth.

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These developments are of course very exciting (we're wondering what implications these ideas could have for the impaired and unimpaired alike) but if you've been listening to This American Life's podcast recently you might already be questioning if these developments are as beneficial as they seem.

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A Full Coverage Cupping: New HES Aprons And A Visit To Barista

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New American-made Hand-Eye Brand aprons are here! We've been using and curating work aprons long enough to know what really works (and what really looks great), and this new mini collection features our favorite designs and fabrics.

Whether you're in the workshop all day or just lucky Saturdays, and whether your messes are made of paint, metal, ink or flour, these do their job so you can focus on yours. Our thicker fabric keeps you better protected, and the cut comfortably fits a wide range of sizes and uses. They're double stitched for durability, reinforced at all stress points, and ethically produced in small batches in Los Angeles.

To test them out we visited the coffee techs at Portland's Barista cafe. While the guys went through the meticulous rigors of a cupping, we got to watch our new favorite aprons in action. Check out the photo essay and the fly new American-Made Hand-Eye Aprons!

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Where Dead Space, Darth Vader and Dieter Rams Meet: In UI Designer Dino Ignacio's Work

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We all know that your average, workaday industrial designer's work often goes unsung. The same could be said of the guys who design UI for videogames. And when those games are designed with an efficient UI, literally millions of players work through those games in smooth immersion, never considering the pains a designer took to make it so.

Dino Ignacio is one such designer. He's the lead for UI Design over at Visceral Games, and a Kill Screen article called "How Dead Space 3 Pulled from Dieter Rams and Instagram" highlights what Ignacio does, like ensuring that game interfaces are designed properly for the hardware they're running on:

"The problem is that most games design thinking they'll have dropdown menus," he says. It reflects a fundamental disconnect between what game designers want and what the players need. Designers suddenly realize the freedom of motion on the PC isn't available on game consoles. "A lot of UI is designed with the mouse in mind. It never translates."

These types of decisions unwittingly doom many games before they've even started. It's Ignacio's job to make sure that doesn't happen. As the user interface design lead for the survival horror game Dead Space 3, he's tasked with designing all the elements that a player might need to navigate and manipulate this virtual world. His fingerprints are all over what you see on screen. To be more specific, it's what you don't see.

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In the video below, Ignacio walks you through the weapons crafting interface he designed for the Dead Space series, and shows you how it evolved through the games. (Warning: Potentially NSFW, contains gory action footage.)

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More "Playable Art" from John Edmark: Interactive Kinetic Sculptures

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You've seen John Edmark's trippy Fibonacci Zoetrope Sculptures, which bring animation to 3D-printed pieces via a turntable. For those of you who've read up on multicreative, multi-hyphenate Edmark's background, it'll come as no surprise that he's got more tricks up his sleeve than those. Check out other examples of his "playable art," this time made with a laser cutter:

That's the Helicone, which is now carried by the MoMA Store and the Guggenheim.

Maybe one day, someone will make a spiral staircase that unfurls on-site like Edmark's Nautilus Column:

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In the Details: Turning Aluminum Foam Into Meteorite Shoes

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When Microsoft approached Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves last November, offering to partner with them to realize a project of their dreams, it probably goes without saying that the duo jumped at the opportunity. Murakami, an architect, and Groves, an artist, make up the London-based studio SWINE (short for Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers), and they were given only one requirement by Microsoft: to use its Surface Pro 3, a 12-inch, all-in-one tablet meant to compete with laptops currently on the market.

SWINE typically focuses on what Murakami and Groves describe as "luxury artisanship," with projects that are often handcrafted using a range of production techniques and innovative material applications. (You may have seen SWINE's Hair Highway, which uses hair to create a series of vessels, when it made the rounds of the design blogs a few months back.) With the Microsoft-sponsored project, the duo wanted to push things in a new direction. "We aren't a very tech studio," Groves says. "So we embraced the opportunity to do a lot of tech things, such as 3D scanning, modeling and CNC milling."

Murakami and Groves had been closely following the recent NASA mission to place the Philae lander on comet 67P. "It was such a plucky and inspiring mission," Grove says. "We really wanted to celebrate that incredible feat in some way." In addition, he notes, the studio had "always wanted to make heels." Those two desires came together with the Meteorite Shoes, a pair of high heels that, as Groves describes them, "capture the look and sensation of large rocks suspended in zero gravity."

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Groves first called up a geologist he knew at London's Natural History Museum, pumping him for everything he knew about meteorites. The designer then made a trip to the vaults deep beneath the museum to see what is widely considered the best meteorite collection in the world. "We put together a proposal and had just three weeks to do the research, design, find the fabricators and make the project," Groves says. "It was like D-Day. There was no time for a prototype." For the material, they settled on aluminum foam, typically reserved for industrial processes such as energy absorption and compression beams in luxury cars—but perfect for its ability, Groves says, to form "bulky, rock-like irregular forms and be incredibly light and strong."

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Material Matters: A Handy Wood Durability Chart

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Our entries on the types of wood used for boardwalks might have you wondering: What types of wood are more durable than others?

You may recall that in our wood series, we went over the Janka hardness ratings of wood. But when it comes to durability, Janka numbers only tell part of the tale; the hardness rating of a wood has to do with its ability to resist nicks and scratches, and gives you a heads-up on what types of blades you'll need to machine it.

Outdoor durability, on the other hand, has a slightly different scope. Even though wood used in building boardwalks or houses is almost always elevated off of wet soil on concrete pilings, there are other environmental factors the material has to deal with. For one thing, moisture—whether from rain or in the case of boardwalks, sea spray—and the fungi this can bring. On top of that you've got UV rays, temperature changes and pesky insects. Working in concert, this group of difficulties can impact how long a piece of wood can last and continue to serve its function.

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While you can find tons of Janka breakdowns online, we couldn't find many charts that specifically linked wood types with durability. So here's one from Woodworkers UK, a Welsh outfit that makes wooden gates and garage doors—items that are meant to withstand the elements for as long as possible. (Graphically speaking, the layout of the chart is a bit confusing, particularly since we had to edit the image to fit our format, but at least all of the info's there.)

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Join the OXO Team in New York, New York as a Product Engineer

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Work for OXO!

OXO was founded in 1990 with the introduction of 15 OXO Good Grips kitchen tools. It has since grown to over 850 products, including cooking, storage, cleaning, office and organization tools. A philosophy of making products that are usable by as many people as possible is what drives OXO, and they're seeking the same passion in their next Product Engineer.

As a Product Engineer, it is your job to be the owner of all technical aspects of a project from conception through mass production. This means you will perform a variety of tasks that are necessary to bring an idea that starts as a sketch to life, so every day is different. You will have the opportunity to work with several top industrial designers as well as cutting edge manufacturing partners in Asia. Don't let this opportunity pass you by - Apply Now.

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3D Printing Medical Tools in Haiti and Beyond

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A 3D printed umbilical cord clamp, co-created with medical workers in Haiti

By Danielle Perretty

Haiti is both a land of beauty and a land of suffering. Among the awe-inspiring mountain views and coastal areas, eroded lands and deforestation are abundant. Five years after the devastating earthquake, a slow reconstruction continues. The capital, Port-au-Prince, is a city pulsing with a lively energy but the citizens there also face difficult barriers for improvement. The World Bank estimates that 59% live under the national poverty line of just $2.44 per day and 24% under $1.24 dollar per day. The majority of people lack adequate shelter, clean water and access to health care.

Recently, I witnessed some of these contrasts while collaborating with the nonprofit, Field Ready. They provide humanitarian aid by using technology and education as a vehicle to transform logistical supply chains. The team of aid workers, designers and technologists are bringing 3D printing to the healthcare space for developing countries. Eric James, a co-founder of Field Ready, explains "3D printing offers a lot of flexibility and this will only improve in the future. And the future is what we're working on now."

As the cost of 3D printing continues to go down and usage goes up, collaborative design initiatives are empowering people to overcome low socio-economic environments and also enabling new ways to provide humanitarian aid. The growth in 3D printing has also encouraged an exploration of new materials and applications. This inspired Field Ready to begin recycling ABS and to investigate how to recycle other polymers with the goal of turning plastic waste into filament.

Mark Mellors shows a UPMini Printer to Johnson and Willio of iLab Haiti in Port-Au-Prince

By co-creating with medical workers in Haiti, Field Ready identified medical tools and parts that could be 3D printed to meet localized demand. One example is the umbilical cord clamp. Many traditional birthing attendants are women living in villages without easy access to healthcare and medical supplies. Given the lack of sterile tools and training, newborns may suffer from a high rate of infections or postnatal umbilical sepsis. Typically, birthing attendants will use what is available to them—ranging from shoelaces to the improper use of a sterile string. Even when using a hygienic cord, the risks are high from improper use—either tying too tight and severing the cord, or tying too loose and causing hemorrhaging. Clamps, on the other hand, have a precision grip and clamp, leaving no guesswork for birthing attendants.

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Facebook vs. YouTube Video, a iPhone Clone-Creating App and the Circuitous Path to Unattributed Virality

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While L. Young has four albums out and a host of TV music credits, the Kentucky-based R&B singer has been toiling in relative obscurity for years. But 10 months ago he began playing around with an iPhone app (we've not been able to find out which) that records multiple takes of him singing different parts of the same song, then strings them all together into a single split-screen video for upload to social media. Though he's the only member of this "band," he attributed the subsequent videos—primarily covers of R&B classics—to "L. Young & Da Youngstaz" in a nod to his on-screen clones.

The videos were modest hits, with the least-viewed barely cracking 15,000 views and one just squeaking past 100,000. But last week he quietly posted this one, covering "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson's collaboration with Bruno Mars:

At press time the YouTube version only had 166,000 hits. But uploading the same video to his Facebook account racked up 1.8 million in less than a week.

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