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Close-up 1:

The front face of the train was created in its own file. The reflections in the windows were added once the train was placed in position within the overall image.
The side of the train car was created in a separate file. Duplicating that file made it easy to add additional cars.
The duplicates required changing the reflections in the windows, the accumulated grime and the car numbers to make each car appear different.

Close-up 2:

Symbols, text and logos were created in Adobe Illustrator.

Close-up 3:

The grime was created with Spatter brushes, available within the Photoshop brushes palette, which were modified to randomize the effect.
The rust was created with the same Spatter brushes but with Color Dynamics applied. The rust was in a separate layer that was also given a layer style of Inner Shadow to add the dimensional effect of the rust appearing under peeled paint.

The name was inspired by Soviet Sputnik. The cars are often referred to as the Trabbi or Trabi, pronounced with a short a.
Since it could take years (usual waiting time 15 years) for a Trabant to be delivered from the time it was ordered, people who finally got one were very careful with it and usually became skillful in maintaining and repairing it. The life-span of an average Trabant was 28 years. Used Trabants would often fetch a higher price than new ones, as the former were available immediately, while the latter had the aforementioned waiting period of mostly at least ten years.

The Trabant was a steel monocoque design with roof, bootlid/trunklid, bonnet/hood, fenders and doors in Duroplast, a form of plastic containing resin strengthened by wool or cotton. This helped the GDR to avoid expensive steel imports, but in theory did not provide much crash protection, although in crash tests it allegedly performed superior to some contemporary Western hatchbacks. The Trabant was the second car to use Duroplast, after the “pre-Trabant” P70 (Zwickau) model (1954–1959). The duroplast was made of recycled material, cotton waste from Russia and phenol resins from the East German dye industry, making the Trabant the first car with a body made of recycled material.

Source: Wikipedia

The New Trabant nT

The “newTrabi” idea becomes the “Trabant nT” concept car
The new Trabant nT is supposed to emphasize the trend to simplification and ecological responsibility – without abandoning fun, emotion and safety. Its seed money is the publicity, the sympathy and attention, which the brand Trabant attracts. It already has its fans today.

The continuation of the newTrabi story at this year’s IAA in Frankfurt/Main is highly anticipated. In hall 8, the prototype of the “Trabant nT” will be presented to the world public. “We are past the vision– we are in the implementation phase”, emphasizes IndiKar-CEO Ronald Gerschewski, one of the initiators and main actors for the vehicle development. He continues: “Our goal is the series-production-readiness.” In the past two years since Herpa began the “Initiative newTrabi”, they’ve come closer to that goal. The concept is sound and ready for a strong investor to become involved in the serial design and –production. The best-case scenario would see the first “Trabant nT” with electric motor ready for sale in 2012.

Source: trabant-nt.de

Bottom line: I think that the new Trabant nT concept could be a serious contestant of the much known Mini Cooper, VW Beetle, Fiat 500, all these three being the legends of motoring.

Courtesy of 1x.com

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This fantastic work got the attention and recognition of everyone on Vimeo. It really blows everyones minds!!!
What really amazed me was the technique used to make it. Someone guessed that it was done with 3Ds Max, Vray, FumeFX and Krakatoa but the answer came quickly “It’s just After Effects and Particular.”
This is the perfect example of 1% perspiration and 99% of inspiration.

“November 9th 2007 – November 13th 2008
one year on foot – 4646km through China
unlimited beard & hair growth
thelongestway.com
musical score by the kingpins ( myspace.com/theoneandonlykingpins ) and zhu fengbo

Additional info:
- I never finished my original goal of walking to Germany. Instead, I walked for a year and roughly 4500km, passed the desert of Gobi, and then decided to stop walking for now.
- All of the distance from Beijing to Ürümqi has been completed solely on foot, straight good old walking. There are instances where you can see me in the video sitting on a plane or riding a boat, but those are during breaks I had to take from walking, either to sort out bureaucracy issues or to take care of some personal things.
- I had been planning this trip for over a year before I even started, and getting as far as I got was an experience for which I am very grateful.
- Obtaining the necessary visa for a trip like this was not very easy, hence I had to go back to Beijing a few times to resolve some issues.
- The songs I used in the video are 1) Zhu Fengbo – “Olive Tree” and 2) The Kingpins – “L’aventurier” – visit the Kingpins website if you want to know more, they are very cool I think.
- This is not a strict “1 pic a day” video, because I wanted to make it a bit more alive by adding some additional movement. Sometimes during the film you would follow me turn around, or something would happen in the background. I tried to capture these moments to make the video more interesting.
- The core of this project is in fact my website “www.thelongestway.com” where I have posted my extensive travel diary, starting from day 1 (Nov 9th 2007) and describing every single day until the end one year later.”
Cristoph Rehage

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Pearls on Film

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Color Picker is an innovative design of a concept pen that can scan colors from anything around and instantly use the color for drawing. After placing the pen against an object, the user just presses the scan button. The color is being detected by the color sensor and the RGB cartridge of the pen mixes the required inks to create the target color. This superb device will help people to observe the changing colors of nature. With color picker, all range of artists will be able to create a more sensorial and visual insight of their surrounding nature’s colors.

9. Philips Luminaire Chandelier OLED Concept

Philips are continuing their assault on traditional bulbs with the launch of two concept OLED lights, the first a compact table lamp and the second a more impressive chandelier. Both systems use the company’s Lumiblade OLED panels, which offer cool-to-the-touch, pure white illumination.

The Philips Luminaire Chandelier consists of five OLED ‘blades’ balanced out from a thin central pole. Light from the Lumiblades increases as movement around the chandelier is recognized.

Meanwhile a touch-sensitive button on the base of the light fixture controls power, while a proximity sensor is used to control dimming. There’s no word on whether Philips will commercially release the Luminaire Chandelier concept.

8. Optimus Tactus Keyboard

Optimus Tactus does not have physical keys, which means there are no restrictions on their shape and size.
Any part of the keyboard surface can be programmed to perform any function or to display any images.

7. Zero Mouse

Made by Oliver Rosito, it’s one of the most beautiful, most thrilling visual mouse I have ever seen! The revolutionary design of the Zero Mouse combines state of the art design and lightweight materials.

6. Honda Cyborg Legs

Well, actually there are two different gadgets:

The first one is Robo-Legs

Honda’s first foray into robotizing old peoples’ haunches looked pretty tame, but this new one, on which geriatrics are supposed to mount like some sort of meat trophy, feels like a glimpse into a horrible, dystopian future where up is down, right is wrong and grandmas and grandpas amble through Sears on mechanized rectal steeds instead of walkers. The machine, which I’m 90% sure is just the missing half of this Battle Droid from Attack of the Clones, is more a passive support device than it is a set of active robot limbs, though it does have a small electric motor.

Details are a bit sparse for the time being, but Honda claims that the legs transparently reduce the strains of walking, standing and crouching, and should be “as easy to use as a bicycle.” The AP reporter who got to test the robo-legs had this to say about them:

The second one is Walking Assist Device

Honda has developed a gadget that they say could make walking easier for the elderly and others with weak leg muscles. The aptly named Walking Assist Device is a 6 lb. motorized belt with hip sensors that gauge how much help the wearer will need. The motor then gives the wearer an appropriate boost, lengthening his or her stride enough to make walking easier on the legs.

The device’s lithium-ion battery only last two hours on a charge, so don’t expect Grandma to run a full marathon, but some time moseying around the retirement village while looking all cyberpunk will surely make her coolest geriatric in Del Boca Vista.

Take a look at how they act:

5. Tria Wireless Sound System

Thought you have to throw the vinyl collection? Think again!

OK, to summarize, it was designed by Ricardo Baiao from Portugal and it comprises three elements: the vinyl player/ripper, the stereo loudspeakers, and the remote control center. The first one is an elite vinyl player loaded with no less than 4 cartridges, which allow the playback of both sides without having to take the disc out and turning it yourself. Even more, the self-contained cleaning system will ensure a dramatically longer life for both the cartridges and your discs, while the built-in DSP block sports an efficient noise reduction module, which will come in handy when you want to rip a vinyl record.

4. Philips Carousel UltraWidescreen Cinema 21:9 and Ambilight:

Or: what you’re missing without Cinema 21:9 and Ambilight

Check out the 2+ minute new Cinema “interactive movie” which takes you through a fictional movie setup with director, FX supervisor and director of photography chiming in on the importance of cinema widescreen. The interactive bit comes into play as the viewer can switch between 16:9 and turn Ambilight on and off on a simulated screen playing the flick. Cinema 21:9 launches this month in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Russia. 4000 Euros. If you’re ready to come out of pocket for this 2560×1080p beast.
Curiously, Philips doesn’t have any plans regarding a U.S. release of the UltraWidescreen 21:9.

3. MacBook Touch

Some people were born just for the sake of it. But others are born to create wonders of the world. This “thing” I’m gonna show you is so cool that they could easily named it OMFG.

Designed by Tommaso Gecchelin, MacBook (future – let’s all pray to God – to be released) Touch will be the reason for Apple to build a small but flexible fine piece of machinery. Flexible OLED technology may be the key because it can provide the rich color and resolution density needed for a smaller screen without being a power hog and resists damage by its malleable nature. The thinnest screens now are barely 8mm thick and can fold like a piece of paper.

The core of this concept is a technology he calls iSpine. Like the spine of a book, the tech avoid excessive compression on the screen, yet allows the laptop to sit in multiple viewing positions. Go from a normal laptop with screen and touchscreen board – to a large widescreen canvas for drawing, presentation or movie watching. To keep everything minimal, ports like power, the mini display, and additional USB are externalized on a “Magic Dock” to keep most of the laptop slim and clean of an array of holes and plugs.

Bottom line: I Love It!!! And I don’t have it

2. PSP Game Console

This game console was designed by a fan of PSP and you have to admit that it far more cooler than any existing PSP right now. It’s got a big beautiful screen and an iPhone-like home button on the front, but when it’s slid open it reveals all the necessary buttons for gaming bliss. I think it’s so cool that it makes any other portable game console blush.

1. 4G iPhone

Though it’s not known if this is how it will look, this photo was recently released and I have to say that not only that it’s thinner but it has apparently a bigger screen and a silent toggle switch moved. As for the specs rumors … well it will be , probably, the best phone – again – on the market.
Anyway, we have to keep in mind that until it’s official release, all this are simply speculations.

Yes, that’s right folks, in my opinion, these are the greatest future technology inventions which are going to make our life – if not beautiful – at least easier. I chose the 4G iPhone No. 1 because I think that this piece of machinery changed the notion of gadget itself. We are now taking as a usual thing a touch screen device. Three years ago this feature was available only on the most-expensive-top-notch-state-of-the-art equipment. Nowadays it’s as usual as the coffee in the morning. Which I love, by the way!

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You can evaluate a domain based on its station’s height, width and position:

• Height: A station’s height represents its domain’s success. “Success” refers not only to traffic, but also revenue and trend.
• Width: A station’s width represents the stability of the company behind its domain. However, not every large corporation has a large building. Unless its domain has proven itself as a significant online component, its station remains thin.
• Position: A station’s location on a metro line indicates the group it belongs to. In addition, a station’s position on the map – wether inside the main line, on the main line or outside the main line – indicates wether it is a part of the tech establishment, a traffic hub or an online suburb.

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