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At the Margin London tradeshow earlier this week a boggling 90 labels were on show, 60 of which were brand new proving that in its sixth year Margin is still the place to go to find new talent in streetwear. Keeping our eye out for organic and fair trade labels in particular, we were pleased to find three new denim brands that we think will be making some noise on the fashion scene with their collections for Spring/Summer 09.

by Kyle SmallTired of all the Olympic controversy? Want to maybe see the games in a new, refreshing way? Well, this might be your chance. World famous London-based VJs
Addictive TV are remixing the upcoming Olympic Games for live TV. For an Austrian television network, the duo will remix live feeds of the games with music, outside footage and special effects, among other creative elements.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne researchers have built a hemispherical digital-image sensor that can take wide-angle pictures without distortion by mimicking the curves of a human retina.

(University of Illinois)

They attached an array of silicon photodiodes on a curved "retina."

The technology may make it possible to give the curved surface of a human retina a coat of digital sensors, helping blind people see again.

(Source: http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn14477-artificial-eyeball-does-away-with-distortion.html?feedId=online-news_rss20)

Researchers at the University of the Mediterranean, France have discovered a new type of virus that spreads at the expense of other viruses and could be used to combat viral infections.

The team says "Sputnik" is the first member of a new class they call "virophages" because of similarities with bacteriophages or phages (viruses that infect bacteria) and is the first time a virus has been seen to propagate at the expense of a viral host. (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn14480-first-virophage-could-take-the-fight-to-viruses.html?feedId=online-news_rss20)

Google has launched Google Insights for Search, an extension of Google Trends, designed to be used by advertisers, small business owners, academics and others.

Like Google Trends, the Insights software lets users type in search terms and then see search volume patterns over time and the top related and rising searches. But users can also now compare volume trends across multiple search terms, vertical industry categories, geographic regions and time ranges. (Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9111841)

a set of network graphs based on data from followthemoney.org, which tracks the political donations in all 50 states that have the potential to play a pivotal role in shaping public policy.

[link: weshowthemoney.com & treepieblog.blogspot.com]

h(y)r | sweet little online mag featuring a whole host of goodies. Go to features, product then matt jensen to see my boy matt putting together some goodness for you fixie crew. He does plenty of tasty furniture also, watch this space I will dig up more pics...

a new online service by google that allows users to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories & time frames.

[link: google.com]

Oak Ridge National Labs researchers have developed The Visualizing Energy Resources Dynamically on Earth (VERDE) system, which overlays real-time status data from the national electric grid and weather on Google Earth.

Federal, state, and local agencies can use VERDE for wide-area
situational understanding to coordinate and respond to major problems such as wide-area power outages, natural disasters, and other catastrophic events. It also enables grid-behavior modeling and simulation. (Source: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/30792)

While herbs have handily been cavorting with foodstuffs and teas over the years, water has been uncharted territory until now. Ayala's Herbal Water, one of the newest entries into the trend of water reinvention, is refreshingly tasty. While flavor combos like "lavender mint lemongrass thyme," "cinnamon orange peel" and "ginger lemon peel" might sound like an overpowering infusion, the effect is subtle, mellow and aromatic. Even better, all ingredients are organic with no artificial sweeteners, additives or preservatives of any kind. And, just like famed NYC tap, Ayala's has no calories as well.

By Hesseltje S. van Goor

A recent development on Facebook has shown that social networking may be more powerful than simply a vehicle for gossip between friends, co-workers and ex-significant others. When Coca-Cola executives responded to a Facebook-based call for humanitarian action, it showed a new opportunity for dialogue between consumers and corporations: smart organizers can harness this kind of rapid message-spreading medium to foster a conversation between the decision-makers at the top and the masses at the point-of-use.

By Morgan Greenseth

Mall culture in the United States -- at least as we know it -- is coming to an end. Last month, the fall of Steve & Barry's became the next addition to a series of recent retailer bankruptcies we've been witnessing across the nation. This trend is likely to continue, as the U.S. economic downturn causes people to reduce their trips to stores and to shop less, forcing more shops to close and leaving malls deserted.

According to an article that ran in The Economist at the end of 2007:

The Vattenfall/McKinsey Report "A Cost Curve for Greenhouse Gas Reduction" contains a graph (below) that everybody needs to see. The graph shows how much greenhouse gas abatement potential lies in some popular strategies/technologies, and simultaneously shows the monetary cost of each strategy.

Thou software unlock is still looks agonizingly far away, the guys over over at Brando came up with a simple hardware unlock solution for you 3G iPhone, that doesn’t even requires you to scratch your sim!

EETimes report that a cheap electronic replica of the Olympic torch is the centre of controversy.Originally commissioned by the Beijing Games organisers, the gadgets were to be sold at all Olympic venues. A capacity crowd at any of them waving the torches would be an impressive sight - when the torches are waved, movement sensors coordinate flashing LEDs to spell out "Hello" in English or "China" in Chinese. A phone with a similar feature launched in 2004.But according to EETimes' sources, Chinese officials are concerned the devices could be hacked to display an unapproved message.

This is a great little (1 minute) film of traffic flow from space. Cars, ships and planes and the lines they follow. The BBC annoyingly won't let you embed stuff so you have to watch it here.

(Andrew Marr presents the series Britain from Above, the first
episode of which will be broadcast on Sunday 10 August at 2100 on BBC
One.)

The Vader Project , a "reimagining of the iconic Darth Vader helmet by some of today's hottest pop and underground artists", was recently on display at Star Wars Celebration Japan. A lot of them are pretty cool. says Geekologie... understatement of the decade I say - best thing on the interwebby I've seen this year. And that is a big statement.

With their deep blue hue, bold graphics and contrast lining,
Nankeen's bags, ties, pillows and other accessories win points for looks alone. The vivid color and name comes from an ancient Chinese hand-printing process using indigo dye (much like Japan's Nakajima), which has shown up as inspiration for artists and designers over the years — most recently on the runways of

Intel plans to release in 2009 or 2010 a first wave of Larrabee chips with 16 to 48 cores, tailored for handling computer game graphics.

Multi-core chips cut energy use and heat while speeding performance by dividing tasks between cores.

Intel Research director Andrew Chien predicts that multi-core chips will let computers "bridge the physical world with the virtual."

Other predicted research breakthroughs include software enabling people's mobile telephone to recognize faces of approaching acquaintances and whisper their names to users, and voice recognition software so accurate it could be used to record witness testimony in courtroom proceedings.
(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080804/tc_afp/usitinternetchipsoftwarecompanyintel_080804204836)

Melissa Saenz at Caltech in Pasadena was tipped off when a visitor looked at her screensaver, which made no noise, and said, "Does anyone else hear that?"

She quizzed him and found that his experience had the hallmarks of synaesthesia: a trigger through one sense was giving rise to a sensory experience in another. It was automatic and her visitor had experienced it as far back as he could remember.

via New Scientist

A variation on MRI called diffusion sensor imaging allows scientists to map the neural fibers that relay signals in the brain.

In this example, each fiber in the image represents hundreds to thousands of fibers in the brain, each traveling along the same path. (George Day, Ruopeng Wang, Jeremy Schmahmann, Van Wedeen, MGH) (Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21175/?a=f)

When combined with antipsychotic medications, estradiol appears to be a useful treatment in women with schizophrenia, a study by The Alfred and Monash University and The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia has found. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804165320.htm)

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have used a superconducting electronic circuit known as a Josephson phase qubit to store up to six microwave photons in a superconducting microwave resonator.

The research could help in the quest to build a quantum computer.

(Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805150812.htm)

A six-member team at the MIT International Development Design Summit is attempting to design a $12 computer based on old Apple II computers.

They are writing improved programs and hooking the devices to the Web via tethered cell phones. The group also wants to add memory chips to allow users to write and store their own programs.

(Source: http://news.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view/2008_08_04_Designers_on_quest_to_build__12_computer/)

Obscura Digital has released a video of a "multi-touch hologram" technolgy that shows a man interacting with holographic images projected before him, moving them around and resizing them much as you would on Microsoft's Surface. The product is dubbed VisionAir.

(Source: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/216582/obscura-demonstrates-minority-report-display.html#)

a time-based bubble chart of the number of past olympic medals won by countries. circles are mapped on a geographical world map or can be ranked by size. the circle size is determined by the number of medals each country won in past summer Olympic Games.

[link: nytimes.com]

Geekhouse just perfected a sublimated powder-coating technique that can recreate virtually any digital design on the surface of a bicycle. The Allston, Massachusetts company has been hand-crafting custom bikes for a number of years, but they debuted their new coating process on the track bike pictured above. Along with some unconventional touches (curved seat tube, triple triangle stays), they've coated the frame and front rim of the bike with a detailed paisley print that looks something like a classic bandanna.

by Kyle Small
In collaboration with Amsterdam's newly opened
Maxalot gallery, the exhibit of video art called Advanced Beauty, will — put simply — blow your mind. With a multinational cast including 18 different artists, this ongoing project focuses on the combination of sound and video and how the two interact.

I stumbled across this book shop in Berlin and it's a corker. It's mainly good for art, design and architecture books but also has some fiction and non fiction too.

I managed to get an old Arkitip which was pretty nice. Very few shops stock it, so I was quite impressed.

PROqm is situated in the heart of Mitte so it's super easy to get to, which is also a bonus. Recommended shopping.

The Panini family in Modena, Italy not only produces some of the most delicious and coveted organic Parmigiano Reggiano in the world, but next to the feed barn that houses the cows is the most complete collection of Maseratis in the world. As such, the farm gets hundreds of visitors per year just for the extensive range of cars, motorbikes and tractors they have on display.

The video below shows a neat way to squeeze a bit more onto your desktop - have the computer fool the user they are looking into a 3D box with their desktop stuck onto its walls.Called the Parallax Augmented Desktop, it was thought up by researchers in Masatoshi Ishikawa's lab at the University of Tokyo.As the system needs to know where you are looking to produce the effect, a simple

Perhaps the next James Bond villain with plans to dominate the planet can use this newly announced
Hysek "Colosso" to time his greedy destruction. The most obvious tool is the crystal pustule filled with a dimensional earth that rotates to tell local or GMT time but the massive size suits evil of any stature. And of course, the French watchmaker has appropriately priced it at $550,000 to make it worthy of any haute dictatorship.
See the Watchismo site for more info and images.

Sonos is a company we've been following since they came on the scene a few years ago. They've made it incredibly easy to play music throughout your home wirelessly, and continue to outdo admirable competitors, like Apple's AirPort. The Sonos Controller (pictured above right) allows users to play songs from their computer's digital music library, satellite radio or elsewhere in any room of their choosing.

Genetic genealogy has the potential to reveal information about your health (for example, DYS464 can reveal infertility and sequencing of the entire mtDNA genome can reveal mutations that are suspected of being associated with certain disorders).  Although I usually don’t consider this possibility to be serious enough to discourage genetic genealogy testing, I do believe that people should be aware of the possibility before being tested.

Committed to design innovation and quality, there's a reason why

Feel like saddling up? Brazilian furniture designer
Fernando Akasaka just dropped word about his new Cowboy Junkie concept stool, an unusual merging of two seating options. Anyone sitting on the stool will inevitably feel like they've just rode in by horse and are saddling up right up next to the kitchen bar. It's great for a thirst-quenching drink before riding off into the sunset, or more likely the next room — if only it had wheels!

If the scenes in your rearview mirror bore you, why not upgrade from passive mirror to active TV screen?This blogger points out the wide range of mirrors-cum-monitors available in China.

We've had an enjoyably nautical summer, so we can actually speak to the proper uses of deck shoes. (If you hadn't noticed, the preppy resurgence has made the style a persistent streetwear option as well.) Whether on dry land, aboard a 46-foot racing yacht or a rowboat, we've come across several updates to the classic pairs that are suitable for either. The current crop of boat shoes all provide the proper traction to keep you from falling off a slippery deck with an added new stylistic approach.