August 22, 2015

Clothing made from recycled ocean plastic

Filed under: Design,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 8:13 pm

Pharrell-Williams-for-G-Star-RAW-AW-2015_dezeen_468_1

Dutch denim label G-Star Raw together with music artist Pharrell Williams have teamed up to design an entire range of clothing made from recycled ocean plastic. The RAW for the Oceans collection for the Autumn-Winter 2015 line for both men and women features a stylish jellyfish logo that pops up in amusing places on the clothing.

“The garments in the collection are all created using fabrics developed in collaboration with textile company Bionic Yarn [whose creative director is Williams] and environmental group Parley for the Oceans, an initiative that encourages creatives to repurpose ocean waste and raise awareness of the growing issue.”

(Link and photo: www.dezeen.com)

August 21, 2015

Knocking on your phone to exchange your details

Filed under: IT,Technology by Orangemaster @ 3:06 pm

Knock Knock

You meet someone and you want to exchange all your social media details, and that’s a lot of work. Dutch-born David Wyler and his American business partner Ankur Jain, both Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with many accolades, have developed a free mobile app called ‘Knock Knock’ that lets you swap details and instantly follow people. Unfortunately, Google Play won’t let me download it to my Samsung Galaxy to try it out, but y’all go ahead.

The app has received undisclosed investments from British investor Richard Branson, American rapper Will.i.am. and American actor Sophia Bush who can all be seen in the promo video. For reasons unknown – and I have asked – Bush was left out of the Dutch sources of this article as well as Jain, which is very odd.

Knock Knock is apparently the third in a series of similar apps, as Spincard and Bump were first, but are not around anymore. Maybe third time’s the charm.

(Links: techcrunch.com, www.rtlnieuws.nl)

Tags: , , ,

August 20, 2015

Consumers can report embarrassing complaints anonymously

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 1:32 pm

Cracked-egg

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), which protects consumer interests, is encouraging people to complain about unsatisfactory products and has decided to let people lodge complaints anonymously from August 20 to September 10.

The idea behind the anonymity is to get people who have been duped buying ’embarrassing’ products such as sex toys and dating site subscriptions to come forward, something many people don’t do because they have to mention their personal details.

The ACM site mentions a person who paid 50 euro for a ‘pamper yourself’ package that only contained a thong and a candle. A woman bought a ‘remote egg’ sex toy that didn’t work remotely. And then there’s the elderly who get pushed by salespeople at the door to sign something, which they later find shameful, and people having won something but have to pay postage or taxes to get their ‘prize’.

(Link: www.consuwijzer.nl, Photo of cracked egg by John Liu, some rights reserved)

Tags: ,

August 19, 2015

Oxboard self-balancing device to conquer Europe

Filed under: Design,Technology by Orangemaster @ 1:22 pm

oxboard

Earlier this year Dutch company Oxboard launched a two-wheeled, self-balancing transport device that looks like a cross between a Segway without handlebars and a skateboard. It uses four gyroscopes that correct balance in real time, allowing users to go backwards and forwards, and spin around. The Oxboard’s maximum speed is 15 kilometres per hour and a full battery can transport you for 20 kilometres.

Currently only available through the company’s website with a price tag of 799 euro, Oxboard was designed in Eindhoven and is manufactured in Asia. It is both for business and pleasure, and will soon be presented in Berlin at a major trade show in order to entice the rest of Europe. Although not my cup of tea, I can’t find anything really wrong with it except for the prohibitive price, which might go down eventually.

In 2008 the Segway had speed and permit issues in the Netherlands, something the Oxboard most probably won’t have to deal with.

Watch this kid rock the Oxboard:

(Link: www.deondernemer.nl, Photo: Oxboard)

Tags: , ,

August 17, 2015

Boy find bones of prehistoric cave lion

Filed under: Animals,History by Orangemaster @ 10:44 am

800px-Panthera_leo_spelaea_in_Vienna

Ten-year-old Enzo Smink from Wekerom, Gelderland has found part of the jaw of a prehistoric cave lion, according to the director of prehistoric museum De Groene Poort in Boxtel, Noord-Brabant, who said a find like this only happens about every 20 years.

The boy had found the bones back in 2012 while swimming with his father near Oosterbeek, Gelderland, but nobody had realised what he had found. The bones then ended up in a box at his grandmother’s house. It was only when he decided to bring the bones to school for show and tell earlier this year did his mother take a picture of them and send it off to experts.

“The Eurasian cave lion commonly known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is an extinct subspecies of lion. It is known from fossils and many examples of prehistoric art.”

Today the bones will become part of the De Groene Poort’s collection. They have been restored and one would imagine they’ll be on display soon enough.

(Links: dearkitty1.wordpress.com, www.gelderlander.nl-1www.gelderlander.nl-2, Photo of Panthera leo spelaea in Vienna by FunkMonk, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , , ,

August 14, 2015

Tram stop honouring football player spelt wrong

Filed under: History,Sports by Orangemaster @ 12:09 pm

Haamslaan

Dutch professional football player and coach Bob ‘Bobby’ Haarms is being honoured with a tram stop in the district of IJburg in Amsterdam. However, Amsterdam’s public transport company GVB couldn’t be arsed to check the spelling of his name, as an ‘r’ is missing.

The GVB has six more days to modify the sign before the Haarms family officially drives through a banner on a tram to unveil the tram stop. Haarmslaan is spelt properly online so far. Amusingly enough, the tweet is from a police officer and it’s not clear if she noticed the mistake.

(Link: www.at5)

Tags: , , ,

August 13, 2015

A brain operation in Utrecht on a singing tenor

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 1:54 pm
consult

Professional Slovenian tenor Ambrož Bajec-Lapajne recently put a video of him undergoing an ‘awake craniotomy’ where he was asked to sing in order to ensure a successful surgery.

Bajec-Lapajne, who is now fully recovered, was diagnosed with a brain tumour over a year ago. In this video, the music neuro team of the UMC was also involved in order to assist the surgery, like a medical DJ.

“I sing two (first and last) couplets of Schubert’s lied ‘Gute Nacht’ [The first lied of Schubert’s Die Winterreise (‘The Winter Journey’): the minor-major transition in order to see if I can still recognise the key change. All is fine until 2:40 when things start to get very interesting…”

I’m a big fan of Die Winterreise, especially sung by German Hans Hotter (bass-baritone), but it would be great to see Bajec-Lapajne in concert some day.

There’s no blood and guts in this video, consider it ‘safe for work’, and he sings a few times:

(Link: www.ad.nl)

Tags: , , ,

August 12, 2015

A non Rembrandt stolen from not quite Philips

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 4:18 pm

On 8 August the news was that a Rembrandt had been stolen in March 2014 from the Philips family (the one from the company) from their villa and kept quiet because of protocol. Then, the Rembrandt was not stolen from the Philips family, but from an insurance company. And now the painting isn’t a Rembrandt, but said to be from a pupil of Rembrandt depicting Titus van Rijn, his son. Oh, and the Philips villa De Laak belongs to the Philips company and no longer the family.

An ex cop has been said to be the fence for the stolen painting, having tried to inform his ex colleagues of the theft back in 2014 and not being taken seriously. The whole story is still unclear, so we’ll keep you posted once the interns have stopped mucking about with it. You’ll notice many news sources haven’t bothered to correct any of the original information, which says a lot about them as well.

(Links: www.omroepbrabant.nl, www.volkskrant.nl, Photo of wilted tulip by Graham Keen, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , ,

August 11, 2015

Dutchman designs DIY surgical robot

Filed under: Design,Science,Technology by Orangemaster @ 10:34 am

OpenSurgery

London-based Dutch designer Frank Kolkman, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, has built an open-source device that could enable ordinary people to perform keyhole surgery on themselves, aptly entitled ‘Open Surgery’.

This DIY surgical robot was made using 3D printing and laser cutting technologies, and would be suited to do surgery on the lower abdomen, procedures including prostate surgery, appendectomies or hysterectomies. The device would normally be controlled by a person and in this case, using a PlayStation 3 controller to be able to move in all directions.

“Open Surgery investigates whether DIY surgical tools outside regulated healthcare systems could plausibly provide a more accessible version of healthcare,” Kolkman explains. His idea is to demonstrate that medical innovation can come from outside the medical field, as more and more people from first world countries turn to medical hacks that can be found on YouTube.

It cost Kolkman 5,000 USD to make the device, and at the time of filming, he claims that an appendectomy in the US costs 10,000 USD, while a professional surgery robot costs 2 mln USD.

(Link and screenshot: www.dezeen.com)

Tags: , , , ,

August 10, 2015

Artwork of rubbish still cool after 20 years

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 11:17 am

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The bus I normally take to get around town currently takes a detour due to construction, which means getting off at a bus stop near the above cool bit of Amsterdam West street art.

Entitled ‘Morgenster’ (‘Morning Star’) created by visual artist Arjen Lancel in 1995, the artwork is located at the gates of the cleaning and maintenance department of the local district. The television and toilet are made of terrazzo, the bin bag of cast aluminium, and the broken wheelbarrow, shovel and wood of bronze. The street light ties the whole thing together because when you walk by the artwork for the first time, you think it’s trash simply because it’s next to a street light. As well, walking from the bus stop you’ll see it from behind, which makes you wonder if it’s not trash. And of course, at night, ‘Morning Star’ gets its own light.

(Link and photo: buitenbeeldinbeeld)

Tags: ,