Yes, we have to publish our lovely little recap early this fortnight, as on Friday we’re off to Spain! Yes, we’ll leave behind the chilly Autumnal weather and head off south, a bit like birds, to warmer climates and lots of tapas and wine (not so much like birds). So here you have our fortnightly 13-day titbits to enjoy this lovely Thursday. Kick back, have a cup of tea, and think about how nice it is that it’s nearly the weekend. Enjoy.

The Social Tattoo Project seemed to be quite a popular link we shared recently. It’s a pretty nutty idea – but has good intentions behind it. Basically, they have a bunch of volunteers who will get the most popular cause tattooed somewhere on their body. Check out the video below for a full explanation. Needless to say it raises a lot of questions…

Next up, a slightly less….extreme story. Diet Coke (or Coke Light as it’s also known – not sure why) packaging was on the receiving end of a make-over by Turner Duckworth. It’s rather beautiful, we think, but is (for now) a limited edition.

IKEA once again make it to our best-of with their Man Land, essentially a play area for bored husbands and boyfriends. With TV, Space Invaders, an Xbox, sofas and other games, I don’t think it should be restricted to the male species…

This video game in a box from Teague Labs was genius. A perfect mix of old and new school, it’d please anyone. Maybe not as portable as an iPhone or even a Gameboy, but still just as fun (OK maybe not but the novelty value makes it just as cool).

If you’re anything like us, you love LEGO (if you call the bricks ‘LEGOs’, close your browser and never come back), and you love Kickstarter. Imagine the two combined. That’s pretty much what Cuusoo is – a platform for LEGO ideas that, with enough votes, will get made. I’m rooting for the DeLorean! Check out the blog for updates.

The Nissan Leaf gives us a brilliantly interactive way to discover the car. Walk around it, sit in it, hear more about what you want to hear about – give it a go. Even non-car people should be impressed!

So that’s it for the next 14 days. We’re off early tomorrow morning, so stay tuned to either Twitter or Facebook to stay up to date with our antics work in Madrid!

Adios!

Another two weeks have flown by and here we are in September. Autumn is well on the way here in Denmark, the leaves are falling, and while the sky is still blue, the sun is rising just that bit later every day. It’s also getting pretty chilly, but we solider on regardless!

Now it’s time for some more of our favourite links from around the massive interwebs. Get your tea or coffee, put your feet up, and enjoy a 15 minute break. You deserve it.

First up, the brilliant campaign from Movia for their night bus service. Move your mouse and get to see what you think you look like, and what you really look like, after that one drink too many. Probably should have just gone home….

Although the internet of things is no new area, it’s still great to read about and, well, imagine. This is a nice article about just that; the internet of things. From TVs that mute when the phone rings to sewage overflow warning systems, by inserting a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag we will become more connected to objects and ‘things’ than ever before.

You should definitely sign up for Gimme Bar. Gimme Bar allows you to save anything from the web, and we’re talking photos, videos, text, whole pages, screen dumps – you name it, you can save it. Make it public or private, and filter them in to different categories. You can even share directly on to Twitter through it. It’s awesomeness rolled in gold with a cherry on top. Sign up (I believe that it’s actually open for today, but tonight it’ll close back down so you’ll have to wait a few weeks before you get it, so do it – now!).

New Gimme Bar Demo from Gimme Bar on Vimeo.

Here’s another little video for you to watch and enjoy. The Museum of Obsolete Things is brought to us by Jung von Matt/next, and is, well, a museum for all things obsolete, like analogue radios, cassettes, etc. It’s fun. It’s interesting. It’s cool.

One of our most popular posts on Facebook was a photo from the office. This photo. It’s very cool. It’s also very handy to be able to speak on the phone and type – which yes, you can do using headphones but then you always run the risk of looking a bit mad. Another plus is that it fits well over your ears, you can’t accidentally turn off your phone, and (if you’re like me) it’s nicer to use when you wear glasses. You can buy the Moshi Moshi retro handset here.

There you go. Some videos, some advice, and even something to buy. What more could you want? Except a 3 day working week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

We thought we’d take the best of what we have shared over the past two weeks and throw it all together in one post every other Friday for you to, er, ‘reflect’ upon. Or procrastinate. It all comes down to where you work, which way your computer faces, and what bit you’re reading/watching when the boss walks in. Some is nonsense, some is genuinely interesting.

So what has caught our eye this past fortnight? From IKEA to the Copenhagen Philharmonic, we’ve got it all!

First up are Penguin Book’s redesigned classics. Six titles with their covers redesigned by tattoo artists. Beautiful.

IKEA Australia go all Braveheart on us – successfully if you ask us. We wish we could have been there taking part.

The INDEX (what’s with all the capitals!) Awards are coming along soon, so don’t forget to get your vote in for the People’s Choice Award. “The 60 finalists for INDEX: Award 2011 have been carefully selected by the international INDEX: Jury as the best of the best Design to Improve Life. As a whole, the finalist group offers unique proof of the wide reach and huge potential of Design to Improve Life in terms of challenges addressed, solutions created and people affected.”

Ben Stiller, whose foundation, The Stiller Foundation, raises money to help build schools in poverty stricken areas, takes a new approach to getting people to the site. If you liked Zoolander and Envy as much as we did, you’ll like this.

From Danish bank, Jyske Bank, comes The Woodward Report. Dedicated to hunting down knowledge and cool stuff, this great 16 minute report focuses about the mobile industry, smartphones, the battle of Android and Apple, and where it’s all heading.

Another tip we shared this fortnight (OK, the only tip we shared) was for Prey. A free, open-source programme to install on your phone or laptop that tracks it wherever it is. We’ve heard a number of occassions where owners have been able to find their stolen goods through this programme, from phones stolen in bars, to computers stolen in burglaries. It’s free. Just, as they say, do it!

This brilliant article from 2010 discusses skeuomorphic design – things like the shutter sound on our mobile phones, or brass rivets on jeans covering the steel ones beneath – basically anything that retains design from the original that were once necessary or an unavoidable result of mechanisms etc.

One the best 404 pages we’ve seen in a long time came to our attention over the past few days. Danish agency Wasabi made theirs into a bit of an Easter Egg. Space Invaders FTW! Coded by Sune Lundby.

To round things off on a more mature note, here’s a flashmob from Copenhagen Central Station that really gets us going.

If you like what you see, let us know, and maybe we’ll do another one in another fortnight!

Robot geeks, check out Botjunkie, or as a starter, Fast Companys great line up of Boston Dynamics amazing running, walking, climbing ’terminators’. Cool stuff. I’m gonna buy one of these guys asap. Maybe the RHex on the video below who seems to be the perfect role model and buddy for my Husquarna AutoMower®.

One of my colleagues circulated a series of 70′s Trabant commercials. Watching them with both amazement and ostalgia, I realised that I’d almost forgotten about this automotive impossibility which survived more than thirty years. Including most of its strange signature features. 15 years delivery time. Under-the-hood, fast refuelling. Its funny two-stroke sound. Its signature 50 meter smoke tail dragging behind it. And not to forget, the innovative body work in Duroplast composite (which unfortunately wasn’t really water resistant). But even more fascinating is how more than three million of these things were put together – finished off with both passion and frustration. Have a look, and rediscover that superior product finish is nothing but a matter of creative craftsmanship and a willing heart.

Governmental health care communication can be boring, finger-wagging and just a bit too lecturing. The result is that we don’t listen! So how do you get in touch with huge part of your target audience, engage them to listen and help spreading your message at viral speed? Here is a good example – it’s fun, entertaining, and works on your iPhone, too!  Click below to get the first (and fun) part. But you only get the full message by going to Computertan.com to get the sad end of the story. Anyway, if  you think you’re just a click away from getting the perfect tan online (like an unnamed colleague of mine here at the Copenhagen office did) you’ll be surprised.

“What am I supposed to do with this thing?,” I asked myself while washing my hands and staring at a Hygiene Monitor. Apparently it is there to improve the airport toilet experience. I couldn’t help smiling, expecting some kind of service value moment to happen. But it just sat there…counting the minutes until next cleaning round. A lot of gear and very little substance. Over-designed and over-conceptualised? Mistake or innovation? You decide. Anyhow, I’d swop this monitor thing with a an organic wall, a SANIFAIR solution or simply maximise customer experience at security checkpoints instead.

Know road heating? That stuff has been around for about 30 years without really taking off. Bum heating in urban spaces will definitely make it big. This massive, concrete bench with built-in bum heating and internet access, and a halo found downtown Umeå, Sweden documents this trend. I guess the purpose is to get a couple of people out on the streets when it is minus 20°C and dark at 3PM. Cool thing but someone told me that each bench consumes the same amount of energy as a family home. You might want erect a wind mill beside it to get heated in a sustainable way.

The other day I saw this sign in downtown Aarhus. It might be interesting for Novo Nordisk to know that an ice cream maker in Aarhus made a new cure againt diabetes…

By the way  – this photo is taken with the new iPhone 3G

If you’re fed up with your Hummer, Segway, monowheel, fixie, wakeboard or whatever your means of commuting you prefer – switch to BigDog. This beast beats ‘em all. It hit the news this week because of the attention it’s attracting on YouTube. Watch the video and you’ll see why.

The US military has invested millions in creating this robot with characteristics of people, dogs and horses. Although it’s designed to help troops transport heavy loads in tough terrain, the general public is expected to be able to buy it soon.  

Could this be the next trend in commuting? It’ll guarantee you an extraordinary ride to work. And it’s a breakthrough in parking, driving your kids around and getting your shopping bags home. Amazing work from Big Dog’s designers at Boston Dynamics. I think it’s got potential…even if it looks a bit odd!

Watch the video