George Chen DOT COM

New Shall gas pump which looks very much like an ATM machine. The buttons you use to select fuel grades are lowered below the waist level. Not sure if this is a national wide change at this point.

A small (?) consumer electronic company from Japan. All products are pretty whimsical and functional. I understand the lead ID/Founder (?) Naoto Fukasawa is also IDEO Design Fellow.

While this is not "consumer electronic", I think the Soccer Mat is the best out of its various offerings.

Related note, I also discovered the Japan Design Net web site. Seems like a good resource to learn more about Japanese design without a trip to Japan itself or to visit your local Japanese book store.

Fun little Flash site. I have the Helvetica book for a few years now, but it’s the first time I actually ran into the site.

Enough on politics… let’s talk about something fun. Camouflage. A new book just came out in the UK (Yes… associate with Maharishi) with a pretty comprehensive look into the history and applications of camouflage. A must buy for military nuts, designers, or fashion gurus. Find out more here.

Design geeks, if you use Sevenet in your projects, you might also want to take a look at another family of FREE bit map fonts 04B. Both PC and Mac. Have fun!

Is this the new Eames case study home for the year 2004? You be the judge. I am not in the market of buying just yet (if you know me, then you know I am still waiting for the “big one” to hit :P)… I find this house interesting in terms of the “openness” of it… Of note, this house is in Emeryville – my old neighborhood.

Site of the Day. The site was pointed out to me by June in one of our internal work mailing list. Really really lovely site!

Jee got a few more Mirkoman pics. from her visit at the London Design Meseum here.

My friend Jee just got back from her vacation trip at London and Paris. She brought back this very neat little gift for me.

This totally nice, delicate well designed 2D/3D metal “sculpture man” stands about 3 inches tall. It comes in a flat packaging and you are suppose to bend it to the actual finished form. Check out the Mikro Man Web Site to see more. The one I got is the “Gamer”. Thanks Jee!