Consumers are currently accustomed to seeing LEDs as the prime components of modern flashlights and Christmas tree lighting. But heretofore only specialty lamps have produced light from light-emitting diodes.
That will be changing over the next few months. LED light bulbs are coming to a lamp near you. An array of companies are launching LED bulbs that will fit into regular light sockets. And, unlike previously marketed LED retrofit bulbs, these will produce a light in the same color temperature range as incandescent blubs, 2,700K to 3,000K.
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It may resemble a giant Jenga game. But to Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto his wooden bungalow (photo, above) represents the next generation of home design.
The primary qualities of Fujimoto’s vision: minimalism, compact design, harmony with surroundings and multi-use spaces.
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Spot Cool Stuff can get geeky when it comes to airport codes. Those three letter combinations unique to every airport, used on all manner of airline documents from tickets and checked bag tags, are familiar to every frequent air traveler. So it was only a matter of time before some one incorporated those codes into the design of travel gear.
That some one turned out to be Jason Solarek, a former journalist and diplomat in South America. Solarek apparently shares our love of airport codes because he’s made them central to host of products collectively called Airwear.
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If your Fish Highway is not firmly secured you'll find yourself in a wet room having sushi for dinner.
Why does nearly every home aquarium have a simple round or rectangular design? As with chairs and lamps, aquariums are furnishings that can take on a variety of styles and shapes. Here are nine cool expamples:
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Durable, environmentally friendly and cool looking. Those are the first three adjectives that come to mind when we think of Architec Housewares, one of Spot Cool Stuff’s favorite designers of cookware.
What Architec’s hot pads, cutting boards and mixing bowls are best known for, though, are their non-slip properties. For cooks who have suffered our share of burns, cuts and spills this is no small thing.
A look at our three favorite Architec items:
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There’s a scene in The Simpsons in which a cartoon rendering of architect Frank Gehry casually tosses a piece of paper onto the ground, gives it a look and then says to himself “Frank, you genius! You did it again!”
That joke is probably funnier seeing it than reading our recounting. And it’s certainly funnier if you are familiar with certain Gehry-designed buildings—like the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A., the Experience Music Project in Seattle and, especially, Bilbao Spain’s Guggenheim Museum—which really do bear some resemblance to crinkled paper (if you squint a little).
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˙uʍop ǝpısdn plɹoʍ ǝɥʇ uɹnʇ ʇɐɥʇ—puɐloԀ puɐ ɐıɹʇsn∀ ‘˙∀˙S˙∩ ǝɥʇ ‘ʎuɐɯɹǝפ ‘ɐpɐuɐƆ ‘uıɐdS uı—sǝɹnʇɔnɹʇs uǝʌǝs ǝsǝɥʇ ɟo puoɟ ʎllɐıɔǝdsǝ sı ɟɟnʇS looƆ ʇodS ʎɥʍ sı ɥɔıɥM ˙ʎʇılɐǝɹ uo ǝʌıʇɔǝdsɹǝd ɹnoʎ ǝƃuɐɥɔ uɐɔ ʎǝɥʇ :ǝɹnʇɔǝʇıɥɔɹɐ puɐ lǝʌɐɹʇ ɥʇoq ɟo ʇɔǝdsɐ looɔ ǝuO
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