Reason #100 to Love a Dyson Animal

If you have a pet, and you do not have a Dyson Animal vacuum, let me share this with you: it is really worth all that money. Yes, the vacuum is over SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. But, really, I have never seen a more intuitive, durable, or functional machine.

This morning after eradicating the ten tons of dog hair from my house, I noticed a slight decrease in suction. What? A decrease in suction? Surely not! Dyson says I'll never lose suction! I listened to the vacuum and thought, that sounds like something's blocked.

Turned it off, looked at where the attachment hose meets to machine, followed the purple tabs, and voila! The hose trap popped off the bottom, revealing a small Lego man trapped inside. Now, if Dyson hadn't made such a wonderful machine that really, honestly requires no user manual, my house would never be this clean again -- and that poor little Lego man would've been trapped for eternity in dog hair.

Snobject: Nike Thermo-molded Shoes. For Real.

"Seamless, one-piece vacuum-packed upper construction" of three of Nike's most iconic shoes -- the Air Force 1, Dunk, and Air Max 90. No stitches. I wonder what they feel like! Press releases say they'll be out later this year.

Want Lemon with that Seltzer?

I love this Sombrero Lemon Juicer from Umbra. Unfortunately it seems to be mysteriously out of stock everywhere . . . wonder if there was a patent conflict. When I find out where you can still get one, I'll add it to the comments. But for now, just appreciate the simple beauty of the solution to: How can I add fresh squeezed juice directly to my seltzer? Like this, friends.

Yeah, That's Halloween Awesomeness.

I am a Halloween fiend. We built the freaking Chamber of Secrets in our basement this year. I love this.

The World's Leading Creative Class Countries

The Worlds Leading Creative Class Countries

"The United States does quite a bit worse on this measure than on innovation and technology – ranking 27th in the world, just behind Slovakia.
At the top of the list is Singapore (47.3 percent), followed by the Netherlands (46.3 percent), Switzerland (44.8 percent), Australia (44.5 percent) Sweden (43.9 percent), Belgium (43.8 percent), Denmark (43.7 percent), Finland (43.4 percent), Norway (42.1 percent), and Germany (41.7 percent).
One BRIC nation, Russia ranks higher than the U.S. at 20th (38.6 percent). Brazil is 57th (18.5 percent), and China 75th (7.4 percent).
Many studies have shown that a key factor in American competitiveness and prosperity was its once world-leading system for developing and deploying human talent. That edge has clearly eroded. And not just in terms of educational attainment and performance, but in the share of its workforce in high-skill, high-wage Creative Class jobs. While the U.S. still holds a substantial lead over China, many other nations have caught up and surpassed it on this score. But America is a big country and my own research shows that the distribution of Creative Class jobs is geographically concentrated, with certain regions like Silicon Valley, greater Washington, D.C. and college towns like Boulder, Colorado scoring as high as the leading nations. While such creative concentration may be enough to underpin continued clusters of technological innovation and entrepreneurial business formation, it means a larger share of Americans toil in lower-skill, lower wage jobs—a key factor in the nation’s deep and widening socioeconomic inequality. While I am not as pessimistic as the declinists—there is still time for the nation to reverse course—many of “the rest” have clearly caught up and jumped ahead on this score. Given the deep divides that vex this country, it may be an issue that is particularly difficult to address."

Steve Jobs, Product Design,and Me

Yesterday's news was a bummer. I can't help feeling that with the loss of Steve Jobs presence, Product Design is changing irrevocably - our leader has left the building. For years now, much of traditional product design in the US has been slipping away, small parcels sneaking off to China, India, and beyond until what remains is a shadow of the former glory. Manufacturing exited the building first, quickly, soon taking engineering with it. Now, overseas factories provide modeling and tooling, promoting their own products to clients who used to pay for American design.

Nearly every client I've ever worked with has expressed their desire to emulate Apple, to be a leader in their industry, to be like Steve. Honestly, few have had the dedication and guts to risk long-term research and investments the way Steve Jobs did. But his standard still pushed everyone to do a little more. He made me more diligent. He made us all feel like everything is possible.

I hope that Steve Jobs pulls off another miracle, hits yet another grand slam, and surprises us all by debuting another astounding, design-minded company in a few years. I still hope to meet the man some day. But for now, take a listen to his Commencement speech at Stanford, it's classic Steve Jobs.

100th Post: $100 Favorites

It was hard to decide what to write about on my 100th blog entry. While I could certainly come up with top-100 lists, who'd really want to read all of that? One of the things I like best about reading blogs is finding out about cool new things that I come to love in turn. So on this momentous occasion, let me share with you a few of my favorite things that I'd happily drop a hundred dollars on, in honor of the hundredth post:

The Sodastream Soda Maker, favorite purchase of the year


KitchenAid Mixer Attachments - trust me, without these you have no idea what your mixer is capable of!


Philips Dual Screen Portable DVD Player takes long trips from excruciating to easy


Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker - consolidates the baby food process and is a super nice splurge for a new mom.


Dewalt 18V Cordless Drill - a bit over budget, but the ideal drill in my eyes. Great battery life and an easy chuck make short work of DIY work.


SimpleHuman SS Step Trash Can - think about how many times you use your trash can every day. Treat yourself to a good one!


iPod Nano - if you aren't in the apple game yet, this gadget is a great way to get started. With music, media, calendars, and apps like the pedometer, the nano quickly integrates into your day.

Snobject: Moleskine Coming to you in Color!

The Volant Collection from Moleskine offers beautiful vibrant colors - the black's a classic forever, but the new colors are a treat. The green and orange join a family of brightly colored books with great features - tear away notes, removable pages, the palest grid lines, and sticky tabs.  Moleskin continues to make the most delightful notebooks around.

Pioneers of American Industrial Design

Often when people hear the term "Industrial Design" they think of factories and machines.  Those things result from design, but Industrial Design is actually the discipline of solving problems through the design of objects.  It's a strange and wonderful merging of art, engineering, business, and research.  It's a unique field full of wonderfully unique individuals.  The masters of my discipline are being honored by the US Postal Service with lovely iconic images that showcase the simple beauty of designing useful objects.

P-Tree Gives you Permission to Pee

The P-Tree by Dutch designers Aandeboom is fascinating.  Drunken revelers can now pee on trees without worry - although having permission might take all the fun out of it.  The P-Tree is simple:  strap the rota-molded urinal to a tree, tie it into septic or drainage, and viola!  Instant potty.  The only question I have left for Aandeboom is, what about the ladies?