"Form and Function - The Battle" The Porsche Design image film

The Porsche Design Group presents its image film, entitled “Form and Function - The Battle”. The focal point is an offbeat portrayal of the philosophy of the luxury brand staged by Hollywood actors Billy Zane and Karel Roden.

The unusual duel based on the design philosophy of Porsche Design takes place in a completely dark room. The aim of the film is to eliminate the mistaken notion that form always simply follows the function. In the ideal world of Porsche Design, the two meet at eye level. One does not work without the other, neither they follow each other. A truly excellent product fulfils both of these demands. In the four minute film Form and Function fight ceaselessly over the importance of their tasks. They create a friction which is essential to allow the creation of the very best product in the end.

The products themselves only feature in cameo roles in the film. The focus remains on the cynical and entertaining duel of words between Form and Function. Homage to the design philosophy of Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the founder of the luxury brand Porsche Design, and his motto: “If you analyze the function of an object, its form often becomes obvious.” Instead of a piece of advertising, they have created advertisement which brings the purist, functional and timeless cornerstones of the brand to the fore - and manages to do so without mentioning them once. 

source: www.porsche-design.com

Pininfarina Wrist Watch

The Italian design firm Pininfarina is responsible for the design of some of history’s most beautiful automobiles.  In the last 80 years, Pininfarina has crafted the designs of many cars for brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Alfa Romeo and more.  While Pininfarina have dabbled a bit outside of the realm of the sports car, the Bovet Ottana Tourbillon is Pininfarina’s latest foray into the world of timepieces.

The Pininfarina Bovet Ottana Tourbillon watch is a black-and-bold timepiece, held on a chain or around the wrist, with a busy, gravity-defying interior just like the automobiles of their past.  The watch was designed for the Swiss watch company Bovet 1882, an intricate reflection of decades of micro-engineered history for a strong and storied brand.  Pininfarina’s take on the tourbillon watch is a success in execution, a beautiful and bold two-faced timepiece crafted for only the most wealthy of collectors.

source: www.thecoolist.com

Falling in Love with Renault DeZir

DeZir stands out as an illustration of the brand's commitment to more emotional styling. DeZir's sensuous lines and bright red finish express passion. Powered by an electric motor, DeZir is proof that environmental concern and a love for cars are by no means incompatible.

DeZir is the first project to be led by Laurens van den Acker and marks the implementation of the strategy based on the notion of 'life cycle'. The first step involves falling in love, an experience that is perfectly illustrated by DeZir's powerful, sensuous styling and bright red finish; red being the colour associated with passion.
The result is a two-seater coupé which is both sculptural in spirit yet perfectly harmonious. DeZir's shape features prominent wheel arches that accommodate 21-inch wheels, the design of which took its inspiration from the notion of movement.
DeZir's front end features a full-width air-intake which strikes out either side of a large, vertically positioned Renault logo that proudly displays the car's brand pedigree. Meanwhile, the chrome finish
of the diamond-shaped logo contrasts with the dark aspect of the grille to express the statement still further.

The front-end design previews the new front-end identity that is poised to become a feature of all Renault models in the future.

source: www.renault.com

Google Introduces Plugin To Sync Microsoft Office With Google Docs

Google is launching a new plugin for Microsoft Office called Cloud Connect, which will tie Google Docs directly into the Microsoft Office Suite, free of charge. The plugin supports Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and it’s a big deal for Google’s strategy with Docs. The new product is going live for Apps for Business customers today as part of a preview program (sign up here); everyone else will get it soon.

The new plugin is a result of Google’s acquisition of DocVerse back in March. Installing the plugin should be fairly simple; the download takes around thirty seconds, and the installation process doesn’t take much longer. Once you’ve installed it, you’ll notice a new ribbon toward the top of the Office UI, which gives you a Google Docs link for the document you’re currently working on, as well as a notification to let you know when it’s been synced with Google’s servers. Documents being edited locally save to your Google Docs account whenever you hit the ‘Save’ button, but unlike the normal Google Docs web editor, changes aren’t saved as you type them. Google Docs product manager Jonathan Rochelle says this is done because of user expectations — Office has always required that you hit the Save button to save (safety recovery versions notwithstanding) so it makes sense to leave it this way.

Multiple people can edit the same document and have their changes synced with each save (hooray for the cloud). But because these changes aren’t reflected in real-time, there’s the potential for conflicts — I could edit a PowerPoint slide to say one thing, and my coworker could put something else on the same slide. Google deals with these conflicts by presenting users with an alert prompting them to choose which version they’d like to save; if they want to go back and switch again later, they can using the document’s version history.

There is one significant caveat to the integration with Office, if you save a document from PowerPoint to Google Docs, and then edit that file using the Google Docs web editor, you will not be able to sync those changes back with the native version of the file. You’ll be able to generate a new PowerPoint file that reflects the changes, but they won’t sync automatically.

Combined with editing capability for mobile devices, Google Docs is looking more attractive. If you are are a Google Docs user, share your experience with us in the comments section below. And, as usual stay tuned for more news and info by following us on Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

source: mygadgetnews.com

Mobile Web Users Will Outnumber PC Based Web Users by 2012

Mobile Web will outgrow the PC Based Web

Lets take a look at developing countries, like India. 90% of internet users in India accessed the internet through a mobile device. The reason for this is mainly no traditional infrastructure, for pc based web access. Personal Computers are very high in price compared with average earnings.

This opens the way for more easily accessible cellular phone. The cellphone can be used to access web in rural areas where no infrastructure exists. The cellular phone offers more affordability and is easily transported. This trend is not limited to India. China also has shown a dramatic surge in mobile internet users. Phillipines the same story massive amounts of mobile internet users. Indonesia and the list goes on.
The hard truth is in most developing countries traditional internet access is very limited and inaccessible to the masses. The mobile web changes this and opens the way for many to get online.

Asia is expected to be the largest mobile web market as early as 2011. Japan has excelled in this industry producing many technology breakthroughs. The Japanese have embraced the mobile web. Japan still has a very large PC based web following as well.

Africa is another continent and many Africans only hope of getting online will be with a mobile phone. The same problems with infrastructure and very limited traditional internet access. Mobile web offers the solution and many are embracing the technology.

Huge world markets are opening and major companies have taken notice. Many well known brands have started with mobile websites and marketing campaigns. It is expected that by 2014 mobile internet users will way outnumber traditional web users.

By Chad J Peterson 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chad_J_Peterson

Innovative Product Design (2010 red dot award)

The spiral can be found everywhere in nature, in both animate and inanimate objects. An outstanding example is the shell of the marine creature called Nautilus, but fern leaves too first wind around the stem in a spiral shape, before growing further to unfold. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe even developed the idea of a spiral tendency in all vegetal forms, “according to which, in combination with the vertical tendency, each shape, each new leaf or petal of a plant obeys the same basic rule of metamorphosis.” The design of this eyewear series too is inspired by the shape of a spiral, translating it into a delicate design  it features sensuously appealing functionality, yet at the same time also presents a new approach towards the understanding and construction of eyewear.

The eyewear is focused around a spiral hinge of avant-garde appeal that is fascinating to almost any beholder  it makes the hinge look like a refined accessory, but actually it the basic design element. In their search for a form of reduced complexity, the designers came up with the idea of designing a hinge using the principles of helix geometry. This resulted in a dynamic form language for an eyewear that works completely without screws. The working principle of the helix-shaped hinge is convincing and attaching the temple follows a few logical steps: the spiral temple is simply attached to the front by placing the tip of the temple in the top hole in the front and turning it three times. Once in place, the design of the spiral-shaped hinge restricts the temple from opening more than 90 degrees, providing a safe fit. By translating a basic principle found in nature into a design shape, the helix series embodies a new and fascinating approach in eyewear design complexity reduced through a basic shape.

www.red-dot.de

New BMW 6 Series and Aston Martin DB9 Comparison

The Concept 6 Series shows that the next generation BMW coupé will be a lot less controversial than the current car, taking obvious inspiration from the classy looks of the new 5 Series.