One thing we Americans have in common with our warplanes is that both are getting heavier. Traditional steam-driven catapults are not powerful enough to meet the future's projected needs (unless we drag the pilot's fat ass out of the cockpit and go all-drone, which is probably in the mail). So the U.S. Navy has turned to a more high-tech and powerful way to launch aircraft from a short distance: The EMALS, or Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System.

In addition to the increased power, a key advantage of an electromagnetic system is that the acceleration can be precisely modulated and fine-tuned, compared to its relatively jerky steam-driven antecedent. That puts less stress on all components involved, not least of which the aircraft itself, and less stress means less maintenance.

Other benefits of the EMALS system is that it's lighter, requires less men to operate, take up less space (you don't need those steam boilers or a nuclear reactor) and could even be installed in an inclined surface. (China uses older Russian aircraft carriers that use ski-jump-like contraptions to launch its planes.) It's also reportedly much more efficient than a steam-driven catapult, which has an absurdly-low efficiency rating of just 5%.

Here's a video of the Navy testing it out in 2010:

Following the successful testing period, the U.S. Navy is reportedly implementing the system into newer ships.

EMALS, by the way, is produced by a company called General Atomics. If their system doesn't impress you and you're a fan of Halo, perhaps this will: they're using the same technology to develop a bad-ass railgun.

Up Next: EMALS gets the attention of a certain commercial airline manufacturer.

Bicycles: they're great, but they're not horses. But since it's probably too much trouble to actually acquire a horse—what with the feeding and grooming and keeping it in a stable, etc.—a new product called Trotify is the next best thing. Check it out:

Unlike the Bike Butterfly, which was conspicuously launched at the beginning of April, yes, Trotify is a real thing (it says so on the website), something like a grown-up version of sticking baseball cards in your spokes to make your sweet Huffy sound like a motorized cycle. The CNC-cut kit ships flat—coconut shell not included—and when assembled, it fits on your front brake mount and works with a simple flywheel mechanism.

Shoreditch-based creative studio Original Content London is skipping the steeplechase of the traditional crowdfunding platform and kindly asking for £25 per (plus P+P); they've projected that they'll need to sell a thousand of 'em to make ends meet.

Via Aarn_

While many eyes in the commercial airline industry were undoubtedly watching the U.S. Navy's EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System) testing, it is Airbus that has first stepped forward suggesting commercial applications. Earlier this year the manufacturer announced "Smarter Skies," a series of concepts and promotional videos revealing where they want to be by 2050.

One component in their plan is for an EMALS-like system, though they never directly refer to military subcontractor General Atomics' invention; instead the company calls it "Eco-Climb," writing that "Aircraft could be manoeuvred onto a track system and accelerated using either electro-magnetic motors built into the track or an inductive circuit within the aircraft itself." Starting at 0:52 in the promo video below, you can see they're envisioning a much wider platform than what EMALS uses, this one scaled up to accommodate a commercial jetliner:

In the previous entry we looked at the advantages of EMALS over steam-driven catapults; but what's the benefit of having an electromagnetically-propelled takeoff, rather than a conventional one, for a commercial airliner?

Listen to the changing sound of engines during flight and it's obvious: an aircraft draws on its power reserves more during takeoff than at any other time... However, this takeoff power only is required for a very brief portion of the total flight. Once cruising in the sky overhead, an aircraft doesn't need as much to maintain altitude. So why not source the energy required at takeoff from an innovation installed on the ground?

An assisted takeoff - using some form of propelled acceleration - would mean aircraft could be lighter, with smaller engines consuming less fuel...A continuous "eco-climb" would further cut noise and CO2 emissions....

With less time and distance required for takeoff, the runways could be shortened by up to 1/3rd, minimising land use, and enabling airport capacity to increase or new micro-airports to emerge. These could be located near city centres - or the mega-cities that will become a reality - with space becoming even more of a premium.

It's been more than a century since the Wright Brothers needed a catapult to get their contraption to fly. They would undoubtedly be astonished to see us circling back to the same concept, and Airbus envisions a twist Wilbur and Orville might not have signed off on: "The ultimate, albeit very extreme, concept," the company writes, "is to have a system that not only launches but also captures the aircraft, removing the need for landing gear." Gee, what could go wrong?

This is easily one of my favorite shots from Salone 2012...

At over six months out, we're closer to the next Salone than the last one, but seeing as many of the projects we saw in April are worthy of closer examination, we were glad to see the "Sgabellissimo" stool turn up in the inbox last month. We got a first glimpse of the unorthodox two-legged stool (the pictures say it all) in Ventura Lambrate, where architect Claudio Larcher had co-curated the University of Bolzano's excellent group exhibition "Vertigini." (In addition to his faculty position at the University, Larcher is a principal of Milan's Modoloco architecture & design studio, which is producing "Sgabellissimo.")

I didn't realize it at the time, but the stool can be inverted as a cartoonishly short ladder, like something out of, say, Super Mario Bros.

Incidentally, "Sgabellissimo" echoes the concept of another stool, submitted by designer Moritz Marder, which similarly requires balance... though it has a radically different form factor.

Design Fellowship
IDEO.org
San Francisco, California

IDEO.org, a nonprofit that brings design solutions to poverty-related challenges around the world, is accepting applications for its Fellowship Program. The program enables future global leaders from the design, business, and social sectors to spend one year working with experienced IDEO designers on social impact challenges. Over a 13-month period, Fellows will create solutions for nonprofits, social enterprises, and foundations on an array of topics, such as agriculture, water and sanitation, health, financial services, education, and more. Frequent travel and getting your hands dirty in the field are required.

Speaking of seen-at-Salone stools: Jamie Wolfond is pleased to present two new seating designs (he exhibited "Communicable Seats" at the RISD Furniture Design department's "Transformations," which was also at Ventura Lambrate this year). The "Lunar" stool is made from expanding foam, which assumes a distinctive 'cratered' appearance when cured in a run-of-the-mill rubber balloon. The result is a uniquely bulbous yet pockmarked seat, set on a tripod of matchstick-esque legs.

Wolfond has documented the process in a short video on his website.

With Back to the Roots, a company that supplies Whole Foods with gourmet mushrooms grown in spent coffee grinds, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez figured out how to turn other people's garbage into money. For the entrepreneurial duo's next effort they've got a more product-design based offering, but one that still neatly fits their passion for growing your own food.

The Aquaponics Garden is a small-scale, low-hassle food growing system--or a fishtank that cleans itself, depending on how you look at it. The fish poop that fouls ordinary tanks is pumped up to the plants above, which are growing in nothing more than little pails full of pebbles; the fish excretion provides the nutrients. As a result, the user gets fresh spinach, baby greens, oregano, beans, basil, mint, parsley, thyme et cetera, no green thumb necessary.

Buy-in for a complete set-up starts at a measly $50 on Kickstarter, where Arora and Velez are trying to raise 100 large for tooling. The duo sound like they could use a little ID help--although they'd raised $75,000 at press time with three weeks left to go, they're still deciding whether to go with injection molding or sonic welding. (If you've got an opinion on which route is better, their comments section is open for business.)

Have a look:

You may also want to check out a TED talk the two gave, where they tell the fascinating story behind their successful mushroom venture, and how that came to be:

I'm totally digging these solid wood stools that look like they were made by elves with a 5-axis CNC mill. Designed by Karim Rashid for Italian manufacturer Riva 1920, the Fiore (first pictured) and Delta (second) are solid chunks of cedar. And the beauty of them, of course, is that while each are carved up according to that particular model's CAD file, no two will ever be alike.

When people projected that in the future we'd have robots doing our shopping for us, this is probably not what they had in mind. Massachusetts-based programmer Darius Kazemi has created, as a lark, "a bot that randomly buys me crap on Amazon and mails it to me."

Kazemi coded up the Amazon Random Shopper and gave it its own Amazon account, to which he feeds gift cards (as a basic way to install spending limits). The bot then accesses the Wordnik API (that's Application Programming Interface, not Academic Performance Index; it means source code that software uses to talk with other software) to pull a random word out of the ether. Next it trawls Amazon and buys the first object that matches both the word and is under budget.

This week his first two objects arrived in the mail. The first was Noam Chomsky's Cartesian Linguistics, the popular beach-reading thriller that links Rene Descartes' Enlightenment-era linguistic theory to the Romanticist ideas of Wilhelm von Humboldt. (I hear Michael Bay has snapped up the movie rights, and I smell an action franchise.)

The second object, pictured below, held a bit more mystery:

From the back of the CD cover I could tell it was from Sweden and printed in 1999. But what kind of music? I had no way of knowing, so I popped it in a CD player in my car.

Let me tell you: the tension was palpable. It is not often that I get a CD where I have no idea what's on it, and can't even make good inferences from the cover.

Lady Justice, ironically 3D-printed on a Cubify by Trompevenio

Well folks, it was just a matter of time: Kickstarter is being sued.

The plaintiff isn't a disgruntled pledger who didn't get what they paid for, but none other than 3D Systems, the company behind the Cubify 3D printer.

The first target in 3D Systems' crosshairs is Formlabs, the company behind the FORM 1 3D printer, which created quite the Kickstarter stir by garnering nearly $3 million in pledges. Says the press release of the lawsuit,

"3D Systems invented and pioneered the 3D printing technology of stereolithography and has many active patents covering various aspects of the stereolithography process," said Andrew Johnson, General Counsel of 3D Systems. "Although Formlabs has publicly stated that certain patents have expired, 3D Systems believes the Form 1 3D printer infringes at least one of our patents, and we intend to enforce our patent rights."

Okay, so why the hell are they suing Kickstarter? The full 12-page legalese-filled text of their complaint (which Wired has posted here) deems Kickstarter a "funds raiser and selling agent of Formlabs," thus putting them in the crosshairs. Here's a relevant excerpt from the complaint:

Upon information and belief, Kickstarter knowingly or with willful blindness induced and continues to induce infringement and possessed specific intent to encourage another's infringement by, or was willfully blind as to the '520 Patent and with respect to, its activities and Formlabs' activities described above.

...The foregoing acts of patent infringement by Kickstarter has caused, and unless enjoined by this Court, will continue to cause, immediate and irreparable injury and damage to 3D Systems, and 3D Systems has no adequate remedy at law.

It's going to take a good lawyer (and maybe a psychic) to tell us what this may mean for Kickstarter, but the prognosis is probably not good.

Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York

Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York

This will be difficult for Generation Xbox to comprehend, but it used to be that when kids wanted to get their game on, they had to amass a bunch of quarters and take the subway to a videogame arcade. And arcades used to be something like dive bars for kids—they were always shady, filled with cigarette smoke exhaled by miscreants, and there was always the possibility you'd get your ass kicked or have your jacket forcibly taken from you. Even still, arcades were awesome.

Perhaps the strangest thing compared to today's sleek gaming system boxes were the huge cabinets games used to be mounted in. They were phone-booth-sized particle board affairs sometimes laminated with fake woodgrain, as if some artisan had carved Ms. Pac-Man out of mahogany. The fact that they were in cabinets had at least one positive long-term effect: Shigeru Miyamoto, game god and Donkey Kong inventor, started out as an industrial designer tasked with creating cabinets for Nintendo.

In any case, we've just learned that the International Center for the History of Electronic Games, up in Rochester, New York, has somehow got their hands on what they're calling the Atari Arcade Design Collection: 250 industrial design drawings of arcade game cabinets dating from 1974 to 1989, in all of their primitive marker-rendering glory.

Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York

The collection provides a rare visual documentation of the thinking behind the design of Atari's coin-operated games at a time when the arcade was the hub of the video game industry and Atari was the leading producer of arcade games.

According to ICHEG Director Jon-Paul Dyson, "These drawings offer a rare look into how designers created Atari's iconic arcade cabinets. Researchers will find new information about the development of these games, and the vivid visuals of these designs give them great potential for public exhibit displays."

Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York

Speaking of which, when will they be displayed? We contacted ICHEG and they're saying possibly this summer, though no hard date has been set. Sadly all we've been given are the paltry teaser images here, which weren't even scanned, but appear to be cell phone pics of drawings laid on a table. Shocking, isn't it, to see how these primitive marker drawings created a generation of dreams?

Courtesy of The Strong, Rochester, New York

Rochester's a good six hours away from NYC, but if ICHEG posts some more compelling teaser images, I'd consider taking the trip up there. I'd like to see the drawings displayed in a gallery populated by civilized adults, where I could walk in wearing whatever jacket I wanted and not have to worry about walking back out in a T-shirt and with a fresh black eye.

It'll take a bit of diligence, but I'm hoping to save up enough for my first custom bicycle next year. (I've acquired two bikes a year for the past two years and while I've been very happy with my collection thus far, I hope to go for quality over quantity from here on out.) As such, I've been following Prolly's excellent documentation of his enviable new ride, a custom carbon road frame from Portland's Argonaut Cycles (not pictured here).

However, I was also curious to see that a commenter mentioned another process for fabricating the material, carbon braiding, with a link to a new concept by designer Jacob Haim for Munich Composites.

Per the Munich Composites website:

Weaving is one of the oldest textile techniques at all. Alternately yarns over and under each other out and thus formed a braid. Converted textile looms have been used for the 80 years in research facilities for the processing of carbon fibers and developed. The braiding is now used in the series.

With the help of braiding the fibers are braided into a tube which stores closely to a shaping core. The fibers are then infiltrated in an injection process with resin and cured. The braiding technique offers the advantage of fully automating the fiber deposition. This minimizes the manual work previously required and possible sources of error are eliminated.

This manufacturing process was the subject of Haim's thesis project for his degree in Applied Technology and Sciene from the University for Applied Sciences FH Joanneum - Graz. "The goal of this diploma work is a product range for high-end racing and casual bikes on the basis of a new frame technology, lug connections, special materials and high-end components." As Haim told Bicycle Design:

His goal with the project was to challenge the way high-end composite bicycles are constructed today, and he went with a lugged construction that allows for a range of frames sizes (50cm to 60cm) using the same parts. Jacob points out a few of his reasons for the construction—"no material waste, low error rate, customized to the individual needs." He also feels that it creates "a connection between high class engineering and the spirit of design."

The young designer shared more information about the project via e-mail:

Tom Taylor is a technologist and engineer who enjoys working "in the fuzzy space between matter and radiation," and he's got a neat Mac app (probably most fun for those who travel a lot for work): Satellite Eyes. The simple application changes your desktop wallpaper to a satellite photo of your current location as soon as you connect to the internet.

"It features a number of different map styles, ranging from aerial photography to abstract watercolors," writes Taylor. "And if you have multiple monitors, it will take advantage of the full width, spanning images across them."

Surprisingly it does not use Google Maps' images, and unsurprisingly it doesn't use Apple Maps' images either; data comes from OpenStreetMap, Bing Maps and San-Francisco-based design/technology studio Stamen Design.

Best of all, London-based Taylor has made the app's price conversion nice and easy: £0 equals $0.

an Assistant Professor of Industrial Design
The University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio

The University of Cincinnati is seeking a tenure-track full time faculty member within the top-ranked Industrial Design program in the School of Design. The undergraduate program is comprised of a unique 5-year curriculum requiring academic and co-operative educational experiences. The Industrial Design program emphasizes creative problem solving through a solid technical foundation in conceptual ideation; design visualization and communications; design thinking, theory, and research; design technology, design process, aesthetic execution, and professionalism.

The unnamed gentleman featured in filmmaker Josh Clason's "Poetry in Motion" mini-doc, below, is not like most car collectors. He owns a beautiful piece of German industrial design history—Mercedes' super sweet 300SL Gullwing—and he actually uses it. I have tremendous respect for him for the following reasons:

1) He's dreamed of owning the car since he was a 10-year-old boy assembling a model of one. Thirty years later he made it happen.

2) He understands that what he's got is more than a priceless object of art: It's a machine, and one that was meant to be used. So while other 300SL collectors baby theirs, rarely driving them and towing them about in trailers, this dude regularly drives the car, bad weather and minor cosmetic damage be damned. He is using, enjoying, and experiencing the car.

3) This is not a man who wants to die with his toys. He speaks of how when he becomes too old to drive it, he wants to pass it on to someone else who will appreciate it. He understands the object's longevity, appreciates that it will outlive him, and is happy to bestow the experience of the car on to the next person.

Without any further ado:

How thrilling is that engine note?

It's that time again! For the eighth year in a row, we're excited to launch our Ultimate Gift Guide for the designers in your life, including selections from KiBiSi, Snarkitecture, Fort Standard, Christopher Gentner, House Industries and many more, available now at bi-coastal pop-up stores in NYC and PDX and online as well. This time around, our editorial experts have identified a taxonomy of seven known 'Designer Phenotypes' who might be on your shopping list. From Designer Dandy to Studio Snob, Homebound Hobbit to Workshop Workhorse, we have something for the discerning gift giver and receiver alike.

In addition to our beloved online Gift Guide, we're also pleased to announce that we've partnered with Blu Dot in New York City and our sister store Hand Eye Supply in Portland, Oregon, to open bicoastal Holiday Pop-Up Shops for your shopping convenience. Stop by before December 24th to check out the product in person and pick up a handy poster guide to identify the designer phenotypes in the field, featuring the beautiful illustrations of Core-toonist Tony Ruth, a.k.a. lunchbreath (while supplies last).

Stumped on what to get your design-o-phile friends this holiday season? Need a quick wish list to share with family? With our integrated online storefront, you'll easily find the perfect gift for your friends, your family and yourself!

New Yorkers are invited to celebrate the holiday season at the opening reception this Thursday, November 29, from 6–8pm at Blu Dot Soho. RSVP@core77.com

Core77 Pop-Up Shop
Blu Dot
140 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10012
Open from 11AM – 7PM on Mon. – Sat. and 12PM – 6PM on Sundays through December 24

Hand-Eye Supply
23 NW 4th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Open from 11AM – 6PM daily

Before we can get to Mercedes' iconic 300SL Gullwing, we need to delve into a little auto design history. The lightweight and groundbreaking 300SL, believe it or not, had its roots in this rather unwieldy machine:

That's the Mercedes-Benz Type 300, their top-of-the-line model in the early 1950s. It was strong, powerful, heavy, expensive to produce, and could be kitted out in luxury style; if Jay-Z was a German living in 1950, he would have owned a 300 for sure.

Options inluded an onboard radio, a freaking mobile telephone that operated over VHF, a dictation machine, a writing desk, a sunroof, window curtains, and dividing partitions. It could be made in coupe, four-door, convertible, hardtop and limousine variants, as well as a pimpish parade-going landaulet version:

In their quest to cover the full range of wallet needs, the relentlessly-evolving Bellroy has released a new model that's the opposite of the carry-all Travel Wallet: The Card Sleeve Wallet.

Minimalist and ultra-slim, the Card Sleeve does away with the bi-fold form factor and adopts the company's "Nude Approach," where the idea is "better outcomes with fewer materials. There are no linings, no zips, in fact, there's almost nothing but vegetable tanned leather and thread." And, of course, design: A pull-tab prevents wallet-mining when it's time to produce a business card, and there are quick-stash slits front and back for the plastic you use most.

"We've been testing and refining this for several months now, and have fallen in love with the updates," writes Bellroy's Lincoln Eather. "And we think we've nailed it."

The Card Sleeve comes in both flat leather, for those who prefer an even-wearing black, and pull-up leather in cocoa or blue, which will more quickly develop patina and character marks.

Just as the general goodwill of holiday spirit permeated the ether last week—like a redolent apple pie fresh from the oven—so too did its economic doppelganger launch its annual assault on wallets throughout the First World as early as last Thursday. Our own gift guide notwithstanding, we're pleased to see a decidedly anti-consumerist 'product' from the folks at Sugru: the Fixer's Manifesto.

Fixing is the unsung hero of creativity. And it really shouldn't be. It's the most common, humble and beautiful form of creativity. Let's wear that belief proudly. Let's notice and celebrate these little everyday triumphs, and help others see their value. We made this to fuel the conversation about why a culture of fixing is so important.

In keeping with the open source ethos behind the Manifesto, Sugru invites fellow fixers to do what they do best: "...We're pretty sure you won't agree with all of it, and you'll want to fix it. So this is version 1. There are plain text (Markdown), EPS, and PDF copies on GitHub, where you can contribute improvements, fork the manifesto, or make stuff with it." And while the team at Sugru thank Holstee Manifesto (among others) for inspiration, it's also worth revisiting Dieter Rams' 10 Principles of Good Design.

But it goes beyond whether it's (or you're) broke: whether it's a case of elevating ordinary things to forever objects or rescuing no-longer-made-but-entirely-serviceable equipment, resourceful DIYers are rediscovering an instinct to preserve, restore and ultimately endure in the face of the prevailing tide cheap mass production. Thus, the Fixer's Manifesto is but one manifestation of a slow but welcome (if not altogether necessary) sea change towards conscientious consumption.

World War II put a lot of things on hold, among them, international auto racing. Mercedes, or rather Daimler-Benz as it was then known, stopped producing racecars and started producing war materiel sometime around 1939. But by the 1950s the world was getting back on its feet, and Mercedes was flexing with the 1951 release of their Type 300. The company higher-ups decided it was time to get back into the racing game.

Before the war, Mercedes had dominated European Grand Prix racing with a car that set an astonishing 270 mph speed record. But for their 1950s re-entry their budget was small, and they had to make do with what they had. And what they had was the Type 300.

So it was that Mercedes engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut was told he'd be building a racecar—using the engine and transmission from the Type 300. That car's three-liter straight-six was good for 115 horses in stock form, which was fine for the road-going Type 300, but underpowered by racing standards. (The Mercedes racecar of 1939, for contrast's sake, was half the size and produced nearly two and a half times the power.) Uhlenhaut and his team tweaked the engine to squeeze 60 more horses out of it, but no racing enthusiast in their right mind would say 175 horsepower was enough to bring home a championship.

Even worse, the engine was as big as it was heavy: The tall engine block fit neatly into the ship-like hood of the massive Type 300, but in the racing scene low, aerodynamic styling was coming into vogue. Uhlenhaut's problems—a big, heavy, and underpowered engine meant to fit into a sliver of a car to win races—provided quite the design challenge.

Luckily for Mercedes—and later, a generation of car collectors—Uhlenhaut was equal to the task. For the W194, as the racecar was known internally, he and his team drew up the wind-cheating, bullet-like shape seen here:

To shoehorn the relatively massive powerplant inside, they decided the engine would have to be tilted 50 degrees to one side:

Note the tight fit, and how the center of the hoodline arches just enough to accommodate the air filter. Form follows function indeed.

Then there was the problem of the engine and transmission's heavy weight and low power. Under those restrictions, the only way Uhlenhaut could make the car fast was if the rest of it was built using some kind of innovative, lightweight method.

Uhlenhaut calculated that he could make a super lightweight frame, that still had the desired rigidity, by using a concept bicycle manufacturers would find familiar: take a bunch of tubing and weld it together in triangle formations. I should point out that no documentation exists saying Uhlenhaut was directly inspired by bicycle frames, but take a look at the picture below and decide for yourself: