Emily Chang – Designer

Directed by artist Natalia Ponomareva from Russia, here is an amazing project with packaging of tea bags produced under the principles of origami. The bird forms and unfolds gradually while the tea infuses.

Elegant and subtle.

Via PicoCool

In Hack This (Please), Andy Kessler writes about the benefits of true hacks (“clever solutions to an interesting problem) and the “new breed of users out there, computer-literate consumers who don’t think twice about altering the look, feel and functionality of a product.”

Mass customization is the next big thing. It sounds like an oxymoron, but it really isn’t. Just open up your wares and your customers will not just show you what they want, but do it for you, too.

[via EvilEye]

For years I’ve been fascinated with those space age glowing green nightlights.  I’ve had two plugged into my wall for over five years now.  (They also only use 1/100th of the power needed for a standard 7-watt nightlight bulb and costing only 2 cents a year to operate.) You can imagine my delight when I read about these new wireless digital devices – ambient orbs that change colors based on information from the internet.  It mutates unobtrusively and visually when your IM buddies come online, the weather forecast changes or the DOW goes up or down.  I used to wonder how long it would be before we had full wall-size green light panels.  Now, it’s only a matter of time before these “light sources” also transmit real-time visual data from the internet into our physical spaces.