Wood -- Engadget

Amazon Kindling wooden e-book is a luddite's dream of the future

by Laura June, posted May 13th 2009 at 5:24PM

E-readers aren't for everyone, apparently. Clever hands fashioned this Kindle out of wood -- cutely called the Amazon Kindling -- using a laser cutter. You might only be able to read the same page of The Count of Monte Cristo so many times, but at least the battery will never punk out on you! One more shot of this wooden beauty after the break. Hit the read link for the whole set.

[Via Boing Boing]

Continue reading Amazon Kindling wooden e-book is a luddite's dream of the future

Video: Musiblocks rock the house

by Thomas Ricker, posted Feb 27th 2009 at 4:16AM

Here's something that managed to slip beneath our radar but is definitely worth the double-back: Musiblocks. The design project consists of a central control block at the base of the tower with an embedded force sensor and 6 circular connectors. Add more (or heavier) blocks to increase the volume or twist the block atop the base to switch tracks. The only block with any electronics is the core, control block at the base -- the other blocks are just hardwood slabs with tin conductors. Remember, if Sony can mass produce the Rolly, don't be surprised to see Musicblocks go retail sometime soon. Video after the break.

[Via Yanko Design]

Continue reading Video: Musiblocks rock the house

Tree Camera doubles as really cute MP3 player, doesn't take stills

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 6th 2009 at 8:22AM

We've always heard that judging a book by its cover is a bad, bad idea, and if you're assuming this wooden camera takes snaps first and plays tunes second, you'd be terribly mistaken. In fact, The Tree Camera is actually a DAP alone (sorry for crushing your dreams), and aside from boasting a standard headphone jack, it includes 256MB of storage and plays nice with OGG, WMA and MP3 file formats. We'd say it's totally cute enough to justify the $43 price tag, and even more so if the wood used to make is, you know, real wood.

[Via PMPToday]

Wooden 2GB thumb drive doubles as Post-It Notes dispenser

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Feb 5th 2009 at 11:20AM

What can we say? This is a 2GB thumb drive elegantly ensconced in White Oak. If that weren't enough, this convenient and portable package not only allows you to listen to some of your favorite Grateful Dead bootleg MP3s on your laptop at work, but also ensures that you always have a supply of tiny little Post-It Notes on hand. What better way to begin your workday in the soul-shattering plastic corporate world than popping in a somewhat eco-friendly wooden peripheral and rocking out to Picasso Moon? You should really check out the version from their October 25, 1989 show in Miami. This guy goes for ¥2,680 (about $30).

[Via Akihabara News]

Wooden MacBook case for would-be Amish road warriors

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jan 20th 2009 at 8:37AM

Cut down a tree to save a Mac? Sure, it's better than using your face. These unpriced (hey, if you gotta ask...) wooden slip cases with leather lining and magnetic enclosures are designed and custom crafted by Rainer Spehl to fit 13-inch MacBooks or 15-inch MacBook Pros. While that's clearly a last-gen MacBook Pro pictured, we'll bet that Rainer will build the case to whatever dimensions you'd like just as long as you've got the cash to back up that pretty smile. Else, why not roll your own.

[Via SlipperyBrick and Notcot]

Eazo's Z70 wooden PC looks uncommonly natural, expensive

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 31st 2008 at 8:25AM

If Eazo's ultra-dark X70 was just too rich for your blood, we have all ideas the Z70 will really be out of reach. This luxurious tower -- coated in some sort of exotic rosewood and presumably sourced from the same jungle as Odeon's Sex Panther cologne -- includes a Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processor and lots of other components that we simply aren't privy too. The good news is that the internal water cooling system should prevent said CPU from lighting the wood on fire; the bad news is that a spill could eventually cause severe decomposition. You can't win for losin', can ya?

[Via BornRich]

Chiaroscuro case mod riffs on Beijing Olympics building

by Ross Miller, posted Dec 20th 2008 at 12:05AM

Arboreal case modder Nick "Greensabbath" Falzone's latest creation is an Ebony and Maple Frankenstein inspired by the Beijing Digital Building. Dubbed Chiaroscuro -- meaning a contrast between light and dark -- the tower sports an AMD Phenom X4 9350e quad core, 4GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 4850. Hit up the read link for a full breakdown of the creation, with pictures galore (not pictured: the requisite wooden mouse and keyboard). Your move, Suissa.

DIYer gets crafty with plywood laptop case

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 17th 2008 at 9:43PM

We thought the AirMail was our most favorite niche case of all time, but the homegrown Ply Laptop Case is really making a case (ahem) for top honors. After hours upon hours of masterful plywood bending, sanding and carving, the wooden case you see above was created. Internally, the case is lined with cork to "provide additional heat resistance and protection," and best of all, those with the requisite skills can make one to hold any size machine you can dream of. Now, if only there was a TSA-approved version...

[Via MAKE]

Wooden Nokia concept phone goes beyond the drawing board, gets built

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 4:09PM

Oh sure, LG has teased us with a faux wood cellphone, and Hulger has actually produced one that four people in existence can afford, but this... this is something else. According to the captions in textlad's Flickr pool, Nokia's own eco-team designed and created the object of desire that you see above: an 8-megapixel "handset" that appears to function just fine. We can already tell you this thing isn't coming to market, but we would absolutely love to be proven wrong.

[Via TreeHugger, thanks shellshock]

SimpleTech hops on eco-friendly bandwagon with [re]drive HDD

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 28th 2008 at 3:11PM

Not that we haven't seen bamboo-based gizmos before, but there's something about SimpleTech's [re]drive that just screams upscale. This elegant, smooth looking external HDD was crafted to be easy on the eyes and Mother Earth alike, with the outfit utilizing "renewable, naturally grown bamboo and recyclable aluminum" along with an Energy Star power adapter and eco-friendly packaging. You'll also find a USB 2.0 jack, automatic power up / down and 500GB of internal storage space. Not too shabby for an estimated $150.

[Via Wired]

Mobiado Professional 105 EM / GCB handsets: too luxurious for our fingers

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 12:32PM

Heads up, affluent sect. The immensely pricey Professional 105 line is expanding, as two new members slip in to tempt your stuffed wallet. Mobiado's Professional 105 EM is available in Cocobolo and Ebony, and the frame is even constructed from anodized aluminum; you'll also notice sapphire crystal buttons and a black finish. As for the Professional 105 GCB, it's layered with a 5-micron thick 24-karat gold plating and jazzed up with a fancy logo 'round back. Both candybars feature quad-band GSM support, a measly 1GB of internal storage space and a ho hum 2-megapixel camera, but fret not, as it'll (very likely) be the most expensive lackluster cellphone you'll ever pay for.

[Via UnwiredView]

Suissa carves out Enlighten desktop PC

by Donald Melanson, posted May 27th 2008 at 1:16PM

Suissa already has a decent range of custom-made wooden PCs for you to choose from, but if you've yet to be satisfied with one of its luxurious offerings, you may want to consider the company's new Enlighten model, which pushes the company's unconventional designs to even greater heights. In addition to your choice of materials used for the exterior, this one comes based around a micro ATX motherboard, which accommodates either a quad-core Intel or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ processor, an NVIDIA 8800GTX or ATI Radeon HD2900XT graphics card, 4GB of RAM, 1TB of hard drive space, a DVD burner and an ample 620W power supply. No word on a price, but each one does need to be commissioned, which is rarely an encouraging sign.

[Thanks, Martynas]

Wooden mousepad works great with wooden mice

by Darren Murph, posted May 22nd 2008 at 9:23AM

What better to complement a wooden mouse (and wooden keyboard, for that matter) than a wooden mousepad? Nothing, that's what. This masterfully constructed jewel not only brings the tree to your workspace, but it's slightly angled for ergonomic pleasure and can likely be used upside-down in a pinch. Yeah, the $60.31 sticker makes this thing absurdly overpriced, but your wooden PC just wouldn't be complete without it.

[Via CrunchGear]

Cowon's N3 slips into a smoking jacket and Burl Walnut finish

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 24th 2008 at 6:24AM

Better get used to it 'cause wood emblazoned consumer electronics is a trend that's apparently here to stay. This time, it's Burl Walnut (not bamboo) on this N3 which Cowon puts up for sale in Korea on April 28th. We're not sure when deforestation become synonymous with ecological so we'll assume that Cowon's going for recyclability here and involved in some form of sustainable forest management program. Surely this isn't just some marketing ploy. The 2GB DMB with GPS device will cost you ?419,000 (about $437) -- a $20 premium over the standard 2GB N3.

[Via Akihabara News]

Fujitsu's WoodShell laptop: go ahead hippie, hug it

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 11th 2008 at 7:47AM

That's Fujitsu's WoodShell concept PC. It joins an increasingly common trend of so called "natural" products already demonstrated by MSI, ASUS, Olympus, LG and others. No specs are provided on this feel-good piece. However, we presume it's powered by the blood and tears wrung from the baby Gore's heartbreak.