These are days when amplifiers, speakers and other audio gadgets are making brisk business. The more luxurious the better it seems, and luxury technology companies have been offering several cool new gadgets that are not only highly efficient but also very exclusive. Chord Electronics is one such company which knows what the luxury market really wants. Their new CPA 8000 Reference stereo preamplifier is meant for high-end amplification and digital conversion and has targeted the two channel audiophile and home theatre markets. The amplifier comes …

Flowers are most loved by people because of its natural scent and beauty. A lot of people would prefer to send fresh flowers for their loved ones or use them for certain special occasions to brighten the day of someone and bring colorful decorations to an event.

Joseph Joseph is no stranger to the pages of Core77, blogged a couple of times in the past year or so. We ran into Richard Joseph, one of the twins behind the company, at the Home and Housewares Show in Chicago earlier this week and had a little chat about the rapidly growing business, a success story sure to be interesting to any aspiring design business owner. (Oh, and watch above as Richard demos their newest product: the Quicksnap Ice Cube tray, designed by Graeme Davies. This was launched at the Gift Fair earlier this year, but it’s nice to see it in action!) A brand new addition to Joseph Joseph: the Orb Mortar …

Inspired by the hit number game Sudoku, the Sudokube is sure to challenge even the most gifted 3D puzzle player.

Haul is a great modern bike design from Globe Bicycles . [via Stilsucht ] ©2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Technology | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook More Milk: Art Milk | Dog Milk

Who needs turntables when you have cardboard? GGRP Sound has come up with a brilliant way to play records: with the record sleeve. The needle-embedded carboard package folds up to hold a 45rpm in place, making sound while you spin it with a pencil. Instead of outputting to a speaker, the vibrations go through the needle and into the cardboard, and the sound quality is not bad, from what we’ve heard anyway. via Gizmodo (more…)

Whenever we think of a lighter, we think cheap and nasty corner shop jobby that we can pickup with the shrapnel left in our pockets, the flints fail constantly, bits snap off, and they have the street cred of wearing polka dot tracksuit. This all changed when the Zippo Lighter was released, first of all lets talk about its function, this lighter creates a perfect flame that is windproof, the moving parts are robust and replaceable and they come with a lifetime guarantee!

If you can’t pitch the press, pay them. That’s the proposition some review sites have for publicity-starved iPhone developers. Several websites dedicated to iPhone app reviews are requesting payments from developers in exchange for writeups of their apps, Wired.com has learned. Those payments are not always clearly disclosed to readers, and the practice hasn’t received much discussion outside of gaming blogs. Soliciting money in exchange for a product review is not illegal, but the practice should raise questions about the credibility and independence of the review sites, critics…

A lamp that is surrounded by adjustable blinds designed by Enric Jovani and Mariona Cruells. This concept is more than merely decorative, by design it asks us to interact with light and mood, going beyond light being just a necessity. From the designers: Light is a part of our daily environment. Gives life to it, fills up the space and makes our movements easy. Imagine now that, apart from being capable to enjoy this light, we can manipulate it, play with it far from the traditional use of the switches. Surpassing the on/off routine, the lamp opens a whole univers of nuances and luminosities, a fan…

In this graduate project , Lotte van Wulfften Palthe utilizes both found and bought personal objects and materials to create large-scale worlds that take on an unique existence of their own. By changing the arrangement of objects, a new world is born and a make-believe quality is created. To give some pieces in each “world” a bit more personality, the designer gave them names: Henry (the lamp), Fred (the cabinet), and Sofia (the pouf). ©2010 Design Milk | Posted by Catrina in Art | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook More Milk: Art Milk | Dog Milk

NEW design by Xenotees An oversized fortune screen printed on the perfect spring accessory, a lightweight t-shirt scarf! SUCCESS IS THE JOURNEY , NOT THE DESTINATION

Saint Patrick’s Day might have officially come and gone, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to decorate yourself – even if it isn’t an Irish tattoo and it won’t turn you into a brother Visit Cool Material for the full post.

Shedding heavy winter clothes can be such a breath of fresh air. Limbs seeking warm spring light can finally emerge with the aid of coquettish skirts and smart shorts , playful sandals and flats . Put your pants and tall boots back in the closet; this spring-inspired Etsy Finds is a celebration of the return of the leg! For more seasonal shopping, see other spring-themed Etsy Finds , and try the search terms ” Easter ” and ” spring .”…

In case you didn’t pay attention in history class (we didn’t either), the Industrial Revolution was kind of a big deal. Restoration Hardware wants to get the gears turning again with their reproductions of – Visit Cool Material for the full post.

Professor Ishikawa Komuro’s Tokyo lab is better known for robot hands that can dribble and catch balls and spin pencils between their fingers. Now, two researchers have taken this speedy sensing tech and applied it to the ripping of paper books. Books are different from other kinds of media, like music and movies — it’s very hard to get them into a computer. There is no equivalent of CD or DVD rippers like iTunes or Handbrake. This not only makes piracy laborious, it also stops you from turning your own books into e-books. This high-speed scanner changes that, at least if you have the room and tech skills to build one. By using a high-speed camera that shoots at 500 frames per second, lab workers Takashi Nakashima and…