Self Sharpening Pencil

This mechanical pencil from Japan has an internal gear system that automatically rotates the lead as you go, keeping it sharp at the tip. I’m he kind of person who will just walk into a pen store and spend fifteen minutes trying them all out to find the best ones. I can’t stand writing with those gummy-inked bic pens. that always leak, fail, and skip. It’s about time the rest of us started to appreciate quality again. It’s one of the things that made this country great. What we purchase makes a difference to what is made, who succeeds, and who does not. Buy quality. Buy Innovation. It will lead to more of the same.

This Kuru Toga pencil can be found at amazon, or go straight to the source and buy it from J-List, which if you haven’t been there, is well worth looking at. They have all sorts of awesome Japanese stuffs and if you buy enough to make thge shipping worth it, their prices are very competitive.

Not Your Grandpa’s Legos

Legos may have lost some of that box of blocks charm over the years, but they have become a toy that, rather than being left behind as a child, will continue to grow with you. The Mindstorm series of Legos is a serious step into the world of robotics and computer programming.

(via GeeksAreSexy)

See also:

Mindstorm Madness

Slow Prototyping with Bees

Rapid prototypers are falling in price, but are still expensive to use, and the field of swarm robotics continues to work on making better bots with more useful emergent behavior, but today, the hardest working hives on the planet are still organic. Tomas Libertiny made a form for his hive in the shape of a vase and then let the bees do the rest. It took 40,000 of the little ladies a week to make the vase. The materials are free, as the bees gather them themselves, and even better, they work for queen and country. I was spoke with a beekeeper this morning who has been working on something similar, and others have made use of the concept in the past, inclding Garnett Puett, who twenty years ago apparently put a queen bee in a life sized cast of his wife and let them sculpt a work known as Apiscaryatid, but I have yet to see a picture. Hilary Berseth has some wonderful slow prototyping work that can be seen here. 

I think it would also be fun to use a lost wax process to cast the final product in a more permanent material. Next thing you know, the Danish will be using slow prototyping termites to make their clogs.

Virtual 3D Sketch Pad

This video shows a new interface for sketching on a touch screen called ILoveSketch. The software looks somewhat limited, but the interface is very well thought out and lends itself to quick intuitive sketching of three dimensional objects. I give it extra credit for being an innovative design for making innovative designs.