Immer besser

That's German for "Forever better." Boy, I'll say.

At KBIS in Chicago last April, the German appliance manufacturer Miele offered those of us in the trade a sneak peak at their new line of dishwashers. They are pretty cool and they will begin appearing on the consumer market between now and Christmas.

Most notable is the G2002 La Perla series of dishwashers. Through this series of appliances, Miele has raised the bar quite a bit when it comes to efficiency. The La Perla senses the the temperature in the room and adjusts the temperatures inside the appliance in response to the ambient temperature. That may seem like overkill, but get this, when La Perla is going through its drying cycle, it opens its own door automaticall

y and it uses the air in the room to finish drying the dishes rather than running its heaters to do the job. Pretty slick. The La Perla also uses less water and less electricity than other Miele models and if that weren't enough, La Perla is also quieter.

I have no idea what the retail price tag on these things will be but they won't come cheap. But all is not lost though. Every time Miele raises the bar like this, every other dishwasher manufacturer out there clamors to catch up. Look for similar innovations in less expensive models and brands in the coming months.

What gives with the "Pickens Plan?"

I saw this video as an ad on TV Sunday night and it's an intriguing idea. Intriguing yes, but I'm not quite sure I trust this "Pickens Plan" or its backers. I believe that the US has to replace gasoline with every fiber of my being. Eight years of an administration that's allowed this country to be run by the interests of the gasoline producers of the world have made that abundantly clear. At the same time, I get it that a replacement for gasoline isn't going to come unless someone can make money off of the transition to and final replacement with whatever comes next. But who is T. Boone Pickens and what are his interests in all of this? His role as a shadowy figure in the Swiftboating of John Kerry give me pause to say the least. Is CNG the stepping stone to hydrogen he's claiming it to be? Or is CNG another dead end? Comb through their website and give it a think through. I'm genuinely on the fence. Think about it and leave a comment.

Mass Customization comes to me

So, yesterday I started talking about Shapeway.com's Light Poems. Today, I go in and make one for myself. Come join in on the fun!

In order to make this Light Poem, I needed some text to cut an paste onto Shapeway's web application. So I took an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to my brother. It reads: "Salt-cured capers are like vinegar-y raisins packed in coarse sea salt. I eat them like candy." Pure poetry if you ask me. so I popped that onto their site and BAM! As soon as I hit done, my poetic words appeared on their model.

So now that I had my prose uploaded, the app made some formatting suggestions so that my structure would be sound. I made the suggested changes and I ended up with something that reads: "SALTCURED CAPERS ARE LIKE VINEGARY RAISINS PACKED IN COARSE SEA SALT AND I EAT THEM LIKE CANDY." Then I selected the font I wanted to use, Gil Sans.

Then I selected the wrapping style my finished Light Poem would have. I selected "rings" over "spiral" because I like straight lines.

Then I selected my material. Because this is still a beta at this point, there is one material available for Light Poems. There will be more materials made available in the coming weeks (and more models). So my Light Poem will be made in a pure white, flexible but strong plastic.

Finally, I saved it and placed my order. Shapeways calculated the price for my Light Poem as I went through their process and they figure the price based on the cubic centimeters of material needed to make my Light Poem. So for this one, I came up with $95.11 and that includes shipping. Pretty slick.

The next product they have coming online a bowl, and you'll be able to make it in virtually any shape you want. Keep an eye on this one kids.

Mass customization arrives

A dear, dear friend of mine is someone I'd refer to (affectionately of course) as a laborious schemer. He's an idea man and keeping up with his brain children is one of the more enjoyable aspects of my life. A pet topic of his is something he calls "mass customization." Mass Customization is an idea that makes me nervous. The idea behind it is that anyone anywhere can have anything manufactured to his or her specifications whenever he or she wants it. The logistics of something like that make my head spin, and there's something about the idea that there's no expertise needed to select specialized products that rubs me the wrong way. That must be it --the idea of empowering anybody to customize whatever they want leaves me and my profession out of the loop. Well, the day of mass customization is dawning with no regard to how I feel about it. Since I can't stop it, I'm going to hype it instead.

So the dreams of my friend the laborious schemer have come true in the form of a website called Shapeways. Shapeways uses a three-dimensional printer to produce 3D images uploaded to their site and then they sell the uploader the finished product. 3D printing has been around for a couple of years. Industrial designers use it for prototypes. It's a pretty cool technology, that's for sure. Where Shapeways takes it a step further is that they are opening up access to this technology to anyone with an internet connection. 

If this were a service for the trade only, I could upload a model, they would print it out and mail me the finished prototype. Now that's it's been opened to the general public, you can do the same thing. Don't know how to use modeling software? No problem, because Shapeways has a web application that does the modeling for you. Although it's still in a beta form, their service now has a generic prototype that you can customize to your specifications and then buy for yourself. For now, their offering is limited to something they're calling a Light Poem. But what's possible in the form of that Light Poem is mind-bending.

The Light Poem is a table lamp that looks like a candle holder. It is essentially made from text that you upload and lay out with the help of web application. Here's a video that shows how it's done.

Here's what the prototype looks like and in the background on the screen is its computer rendering.

Here's how the Light Poems look in life.

Stay tuned, I just joined this website and I am going to make a Light Poem of my very own.

Fresh photography for hip homes

My title today is how photographer Jennifer Squires describes her work and I can't think of a better description for love or money. I'm mad for this woman's eye. The idea of elevating the art inherent in everything around me is a thrilling one and I love to see it expressed. Squires succeeds in capturing the beauty of every day objects in a way that seems both studied and casual at the same time. That's a tough act for a photographer to pull off, but she does it with grace and aplomb. Many times, it's easy to fall into the habit of ignoring my surroundings. It takes work like Jennifer's to snap me out of it and I appreciate her efforts tremendously.

Follow this link to Jennifer's website, and then follow this one to her shop on Etsy. If you have a patch of barren wall or a spot that needs some livening up, think about adding one or a few of her photos.