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Design news articles

Viewing 16 to 30 of 42 articles

• Walking with Dinosaurs
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 16 May
  Dinosaurs last roamed the earth 65 million years ago. Since then there have been movies and TV shows, but nothing quite like this. Walking With Dinosaurs is the stadium version of the BBC television series - not 'stage', but 'stadium'version. It's big, it's boisterous, it's noisy - and it looks very real.
  Discussion starters:
  • Entertainment technology: recreating history; electromechanical srobotics; material useage
  • Intellectual property issues: confidentiality agreements
• New way found to add smell to TV
  PC Magazine article, 20 June
  What if when watching Pirates of the Caribbean, you could actually smell the ocean as Captain Jack Sparrow's ship sped through it? Or if you could catch a whiff of the fantastic desserts contestants were preparing on Top Chef? Adding scent to the entertainment experience is the promise of a new technological development.
  Discussion starter:
  • Characteristics of technology: proof of concept
• 'Hypersonic' jet: London to Toyko in under 3 hours
  nzherald.co.nz, 20 June
  Here is a glimpse of the future. By 2050, seaweed-powered space-liners will fly from London to Tokyo in two-and-a-half hours, at a cruising altitude of 20 miles and generating no significant pollution.
  This is the confident prediction of the Airbus parent company, EADS, which will unveil its plans for a hypersonic, stratospheric airliner, the Zehst, at the Le Bourget airshow near Paris today.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of technology: Social and cultural influences and impacts
  • Energy technology: Convergence of technologies
• Acoustic 'cloaking device' shields objects from sound
  BBC online news article, 24 June
  Acoustic cloaking was proposed theoretically in 2008 but has only this year been put into practice with an approach that borrows many ideas from attempts to "cloak" objects from light. It uses simple plastic sheets with arrays of holes, and could be put to use in making ships invisible to sonar or in the acoustic design of concert halls.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of technology: collaborative interdisciplinary practice
  • Technological products: material manipulation, transformation and formulation
• Ahuriri firm's roof a world first
  NZHerald online, 29 June
  Tumu ITM's 4200sq m store in Ahuriri features a world-first roof design, says University of Auckland PhD student Felix Scheibmair. The university designed a connection that enabled steel and laminated timber to be joined more efficiently with a bolt system.
  Discussion starter:
  • Resistant materials - Research and development; construction innovation
• Team develops winning Christchurch rebuild concept in a mere 48 hours
  Ideolog.co.nz, 7 July
  Being allocated only 48 hours in which to redesign a part of Christchurch's central city may not seem like enough time, but it was enough to earn NZ Wood the title of supreme winner for the 48 Hour Design Challenge.
  Discussion starters:
  • Nature of Technology : collaborative interdisciplinary practice
  • Design and Visual Communication: site permeability
  • Construction technology: timber as a safe construction material
• Shuttle docks with space station for the last time
  www.bbc.co.uk news, 10 July
  Atlantis has docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on the final mission of the US space shuttle programme.
  It will spend at least seven days at the ISS and, on its return to Earth, will be retired along with the other shuttles in Nasa's fleet. Atlantis is taking vital supplies to the space station, including more than a tonne of food, ensuring astronauts there have got enough to last a year.
  Discussion starter:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: fitness for purpose - in its broadest sense
• Innovator of the day: The swissRoomBox
  Idealog Daily Bacon video, 18 July
  Ah, those crazy Swiss people. First they invented the Swiss Army Knife, now they've come up with a way to turn your car into a house. It's a modular box system, installed in the boot of your car, that unpacks and folds out to a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.
  Discussion starters:
  • Design and Visual Communication: human aspects of design; modularisation
  • Manufacturing Technology: flatpack assembly
• Cooking for the blind
  NZ Herald Changespotting video, 5 August
  You've probably never tried to cook with your eyes closed, but imagine if you didn't have a choice. For the blind and sight impaired people around the world, this otherwise simple task can be as daunting as it is dangerous.
  Discussion starter:
  • Product design: Human elements in design
• Future of space travel: Looking for liftoff
  NZ Herald online article, 12 August
  It's billionaire Richard Branson's boldest plan - sending tourists soaring into space. But the countdown to commercial spaceflight hasn't always gone smoothly.
  Discussion starter:
  • Transport technology: future scenarios
• Snug as a FLUG in a rug
  Stuff.co.nz article, 23 August
  When times get tough, Mairehau Primary School pupils hug their flugs. After the June 13 earthquakes, teachers at the school realised the value of children having a soft toy to hug. The school did not have enough soft toys for all the junior pupils, so the teachers decided to get the children to make their own fluffy ugly toys, or flugs.
  Discussion starter:
  • Technological Practice: authentic need
• Innovator-in-Residence appointed
  Ideolog.co.nz news article, 29 August
  Massey University has appointed its first ever Innovator-in-Residence, who will work with a range of local companies to amp up their innovation processes and boost quality and productivity. Colin Gilchrist, managing director at Set Based Solutions, is a champion of the Learning First product development model based on the Toyota manufacturing approach. He will be based part-time at the Albany campus running workshops to help students and companies adapt the method, which he says will significantly enhance Kiwi business outcomes.
  Discussion starter:
  • Product Design: innovation issues; product development models
• Good progress on career pathways for students
  Beehive.govt.nz press release, 7 September
  Education Minister Anne Tolley says the development of new vocational pathways for senior secondary students is making good progress, as the Government improves the transition from education to employment.
  Discussion starter:
  • Career pathways: collaborative training opportunities
• From bikes to ovens, rocky airport terminals to typographic art: A plethora of winners revealed for 2011 Best Awards
  Idealog Daily Bacon article, 10 October
  More than 600 designers turned out for the Best Awards 2011, which received a total of 812 entries - the highest in the 23-year history of the event. A multitude of Gold, Silver and Bronze pins were handed out, with four winners picking up the most coveted pin of all, the Purple Pin, representing supreme design within each category.
  Discussion starter:
  • Design in Technology: good design
• Kiwi designer brings 'wow' factor to industrial innovation
  NZ Herald online article, 17 October
  John Brown designed the new Matangi trains for Wellington, where he grew up, and was one of two final contenders for the Metro electric train fleet in Auckland, where he was born and spent his early years in the shadow of One Tree Hill. Brown's Sydney-based industrial design business also includes boats, white goods and consumer products. His international clients include battery giants Energizer and Eveready, Danish cookware maker Scanpan and America's VeriFone, one of the world's leading producers of retail and banking transaction terminals.
  Discussion starter:
  • Design in Technology: Human factors in design