October 2009 Archive

Let there be light!

Check out this amazing new LED globe from Lemnis Lighting, the Pharox 60 LED Dimmable Lightbulb.

This compact little unit has the same output as a standard 60W incandescent bulb but uses only a miserly 6W of power. It fits a standard screw type socket, is dimmable and has a rated life of 35 000 hours (that's around 25 years).

It's category leading, energy efficient design provides an output of 300 lumens and a warm light of 3000K. It's manufactured from recyclable material and is the most eco-friendly bulb on the market, containing no lead, mercury or wolfram (unlike it's compact fluorescent competitors).

But, best of all, over the life of the product users can make massive energy savings and therefore, greenhouse reductions. According to Lemnis, if every American household switched just one 60W light bulb to a Pharox light, $1.4 Billion in electricity costs and 9 billion kilowatt hours would be saved annually. This would equate to a carbon emissions reduction of 5.2 billion kg annually. That is very significant.

At US$40 a bulb, these little gems remain pretty pricey. But for consumers looking at a long-term view they could be the answer.

Digital sketching on the go

Autodesk, a major product design software developer, has just released a mobile version of their industry leading digital sketching software, SketchBook Pro. This amazingly cool iPhone app called SketchBook Mobile gives users the ability to sketch and digitally render right on their iPhone.

"What's wrong with a paper napkin or envelope?" I hear all the purists scream. Well, nothing really, but this little beauty allows you to do similar quick sketches (and some more complex illustrations depending on your skill level) with ease, and then email them or store them for later use.

With a lot of the functionality of the full version of SBP included, this little app packs a punch, allowing you to adjust drawing tool types, sizes, colours and styles, utilise layers, even import underlay images from your library or via the camera (this feature alone has us hooked).

It's definitely not designed to replace it's big brother, or for that matter the ubiquitous pen and paper, but for designers who need to document or direct changes to projects on the go this is an extremely convenient tool.

Now if I could just stop playing with it and get back to work...

Ask yourself WHY?

At first glance this gigantic super yacht designed in a collaboration between Wally, a Monaco based yacht maker, and French uber luxury brand Hermes, would not seem to fit our normal areas of interest.

But, if you look beyond the striking exterior, you'll discover an amazing design where no detail has been overlooked. The Wally-Hermes design team was driven by a vision to produce a boat without compromise, and they look to have delivered.

The innovative 58m x 38m triangular hull was inspired by an ancient Greek Caique and a more modern Norwegian designed working ship. It breaks new ground in performance, providing greater stability and interior room. Coincidentally, the flat aft deck provides a great patio area for sunbaking and swimming when the boat is anchored.

As well as luxury appointments, the WHY yacht also works extremely hard to minimise it's eco footprint, or should we say wake. The sleek wheelhouse emerges from the hull in a subtle, understated way, but what can't be missed is the 900 square metres of solar panels covering it. They produce enough power to partly supply the entire boats needs. The diesel-electric motor, clever interior environmental systems and on-board computer management allow for a yacht that uses less power at cruising speed than boats of equal size.

With plans for a telescopic wind turbine and a retractable, computer controlled sail the boat will get even greener in the future. Obviously it's not to everyone's tastes, and the actual need for such a craft is debateable, but if you have to do it, why not do it well.

As for the Katapult team, we'll keep saving and wait for the next model before we lash out our hard earned!