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Posts Tagged ‘Wearables’

Made for Introverts: 13 Furniture Designs & Wearables That Prioritize Privacy

29 Dec

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Nothing says ‘don’t talk to me’ like a soundproof helmet, a cocoon-shaped desk or a chair that basically swallows you when you want to disappear. Designed for introverts and people who just want some dang peace and quiet in a noisy open-plan office, these furniture designs and wearables offer hiding places for the busiest and least private of environments, like airplanes, coffee shops, hostels and even city sidewalks.

Tunnel Chair & Bed by Noga Berman

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Can you find privacy within existing furniture? Designer Noga Berman has come up with a way to incorporate ‘hiding places’ into relatively ordinary-looking functional furniture pieces, including a chair and a sofa. Wrapping elastic bands around the frames creates ‘tunnels’ within the furniture that you can hide part or all of your body inside.

Brody Desk by Steelcase

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This desk by workplace furniture manufacturer Steelcase feels enclosed yet open at the same time, with a design that offers some privacy and minimizes distractions without cutting you off from the entire office. It might look like tight quarters in there – and it is – but the design is intended as a sort of break from your regular desk, for periods of time when intense focus is required.

Privacy Pop Bed Tent

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Worried about privacy while traveling, or stuck in a dorm room with several roommates? The ‘Privacy Pop’ bed tent may not offer much in the looks department, but it’s highly practical, offering a room-with-a-room that sets up in minutes and blocks out light.

Desk Chair Hoodies by Bernotat & Co

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‘Chair Wear’ is a series of textile chair add-ons by Bernotat & Co that bring a little extra functionality, like pockets, without requiring an additional piece of furniture. The ‘Hoodini’ has an oversized hood that you can put over your head while reading or talking on the phone.

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Made For Introverts 13 Furniture Designs Wearables That Prioritize Privacy

Resource Furniture: Convertible Designs for Small Spaces

When living in a small space, every inch counts – so multifunctional furniture that can adapt and change is a top priority. A coffee table needs to be more than a coffee table, possibly rising to …

Antisocial Seating: 14 Distraction-Cutting Privacy Chairs

Sometimes you wish the whole loud, distracting, eavesdropping world would just go away, especially when you’re trying to work on your computer or take a private phone call. These clever chair …

Complete Series: 90 Awesome Modern Furniture Designs

In a world where most people move into spaces that were designed by and for someone else furniture becomes a way in which we can customize places to suit our needs, lifestyle and aesthetic …

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[ By SA Rogers in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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How to Be Invisible: 15 Anti-Surveillance Gadgets & Wearables

29 Nov

[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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We don’t have to wait for a dystopian future in which our faces are scanned as we walk down the sidewalk and our every movement is logged – we willingly carry personally identifiable tracking devices in our pockets everywhere we go, and cameras are everywhere. What’s the average law-abiding citizen concerned with privacy to do, let alone activists and protesters seeking to exercise their constitutional rights? These wearable counter-surveillance designs, including drone-evading cloaks, signal-blocking phone cases and fingerprint spoofers aim to provide us with privacy-preserving tools in the age of Big Brother.

Edward Snowden’s ‘Snitch’ iPhone Case & The Tunnel Case

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Designed by the infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden himself, who knows a thing or two about the NSA, this modified iPhone 6 case features a screen that monitors when an iPhone is transmitting, covers the rear camera and triggers alerts when the phone is transiting data via radio signals that can make a user detectable.

“If you have a phone in your pocket that’s turned on, a long-lived record of your movements has been created,” Snowden explained while presenting the case at MIT’s Media Lab via video connection from Russia. “As a result of the way the cell network functions your device is constantly shouting into the air by means of radio signals a unique identity that validates you to the phone company. And this unique identity is not only saved by that phone company, but it can also be observed as it travels over the air by independent, even more dangerous third parties.”

A lower tech option with similar albeit less robust features, called the Tunnel case, provides similar benefits and is available now, unlike Snowden’s concept. It’s a signal-jamming copper-lined sleeve that blocks all electromagnetic frequencies within ten seconds, making you untraceable.

URME Anti-Surveillance Prosthetic Mask

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There’s no denying that this 3D-printed resin prosthetic mask is creepy looking – especially the way the wearer’s eyes tend not to line up correctly with the eye holes. But wearing another man’s face can help you slip past biometric scanners without revealing your true identity. Artist Leo Selvaggio has lent us all the use of his visage so facial detection software identifies the wearer as him. The mask is also available in a budget-friendly, printable paper version.

“Our world is becoming increasingly surveilled,” reads the URME website offering the mask. “For example, Chicago has over 25,000 cameras networked to a single facial recognition hub. We don’t believe you should be tracked just because you want to walk outside and you shouldn’t have to hide either. Instead, use one of our products to present an alternative identity when in public.”

Fingerprint-Spoofing Strips

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The IDENTITY kit by Mian Wei is a ‘fingerprint substitute’ you apply to the tips of your fingers like band-aids. Since fingerprints are biological identifiers that we can’t change, they can be used against us, and the rise of consumer devices requiring a fingerprint passcode can put this crucial piece of identity verification at risk. The black prosthetics are made of a mixture of conductive silicone and fibers so you can assign ‘false fingerprints’ to your iPhone and other devices, and so your ‘fingerprint’ can’t be molded and used as a key to your life.

Makeup That Thwarts Facial Detection

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For now, facial detection software still isn’t quite advanced enough to recognize human faces that significantly depart from the usual symmetric arrangement of features. That’s where the ‘anti-face’ comes in, a way of altering your appearance via hairstyles and cosmetics to fool computers into thinking they’re looking at something other than a face. The CVDazzle project explores this idea with a series of six style tips for reclaiming privacy, explaining how to foil detection via makeup, obscuring the nose bridge and eyes as well as the elliptical shape of your face, modifying contrast and avoiding symmetry.

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How To Be Invisible 15 Anti Surveillance Designs Installations

Stealth Wear: Counter-Surveillance Fashion Protects Privacy

The rise of surveillance technology, including face recognition software, drones, body scans and cell phones as GPS locators, has resulted in some creative attempts to elude it. Designer Adam …

Nemesis Machine: Cybernetic Cityscape Visualizes Surveillance Data

Activated by unspecified data transmissions, spinners whir and lights blink atop skyscrapers of computer parts arranged like a miniature city, visualizing information in real time as it’s …

Going Anti-Viral: 10 Neat Gadgets for Germaphobic Geeks

Computer viruses aren’t the only infections you have to worry about, especially if you’re a geek, gamer and/or gadgeteer who lives in the scary, paranoid land of germaphobia. These 10 neat gadgets …

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[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


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Gamer Geek Wearables: 12 8-Bit Fashion & Decor Designs

09 Apr

[ By Steph in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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If you’ve always wished you could step inside an old 8-bit game or computer, outfitting yourself and your home in these pixelated designs is about as close as you’re likely to get. Make your own post-it mural, throw on a pair of extra-geeky glasses, strap a clock icon watch to your wrist and even assemble a real-life replica of an early Microsoft Windows trash can.

8-Bit Fashion by Kunihilo Morinage

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Designer Kunihilo Morinage of Anrealage unveiled a collection of 8-bit fashions at Tokyo’s Japan Fashion Week in 2012, featuring pixelated dresses, tights, shoes, masks, jackets and more. As the models walked at the show, a pianist played music reminiscent of ‘80s video games.

Key Holder and Hanger

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Meninos Design offers a hand-shaped 8-bit hanger and magnetic key holder for under $ 20.

Superhero Mural Made of Sticky Notes

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A group of employees at an office used 8,024 colorful post-it notes to create a series of 8-bit portraits of superheroes and comic book characters including Batman, Captain America and Wonder Woman. The use of sticky notes makes it look as if the murals are made of tiles from afar, but get close up and you’ll see that they’re actually paper. This idea would be easy to reproduce at home, if you’e so inclined.

‘Gary’ Costume by Toshiba

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Artists Kiel Johnson and Klai Brown created this relatively creepy wearable 8-bit sculpture for a Toshiba commercial. ‘Gary’ is made of thousands of pieces of high-density foam glued to an articulated cardboard suit structure.

Pixelated Glasses Concept by Dzmitry Samal

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Parisian designer Dzmitry Samal created ‘6 DPI,’ a series of 8-bit-style eyewear made of acetate, available in a range of colors. According to Samal, the design is an homage to ‘our age of informational esthetic.’

8-Bit Sleeves by Big Big Pixel

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“Is retina display too much for you? Go backwards! You define your resolution!” says Big Big Pixel, the designer of this 8-bit sleeve made from waterproof kraft material and a soft microfiber material. It’s available in a range of sizes for MacBooks, iPads and iPad Minis.

Secret Video Game Stairway Sticker

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Pretend like you’ve got a secret portal to another game level with this fun vinyl floor decal by JamesBit, available on Easy for $ 30.

Geek Wear: Matching Watch & Tie

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Go into full-on gamer geek mode with this matching 8-bit watch and tie set. The ‘Icon Watch’ by Japanese firm &design is made of ABS and stainless steel, and comes in black and white, while the tie is available in red or blue at ThinkGeek.

Pixelated Bed by Cristian Zuzunaga

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Sleep in a pixelated dreamscape with this bed set by Spanish designer Cristian Zuzunaga, created for Swedish bed manufacturer Hastens. The limited edition upholstered bed frame, headboard and bedding set is pretty cool but comes with a steep price tag of $ 58,430.

Real-Life Microsoft Windows Trash Can

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Just what you’ve always wanted: a three-dimensional replica of the trash can icon from early versions of MS Windows. Codeco offers a PDF so you can print sections onto pieces of paper and assemble them into your very own can.

8-Bit Sculptures by Shawn Smith

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Made of tiny plywood cubes, Shawn Smith’s pixelated creatures look like they climbed right out of a video game screen. “My work investigates the intersection between the digital world and reality,” says Smith. “Specifically, I am interested in how we experience nature through technology. When we see images of nature on TV or on a computer screen, we feel that we are seeing nature but we are really only seeing patterns of pixelated light.”

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[ By Steph in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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