'French marine architect Jacques Rougerie has designed a floating research lab called the Sea Orbiter, intended to observe ocean life and the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere.

The Sea Orbiter will simply be driven by currents and is designed to have a lifespan of 15 years. And according to the French Musée national de la Marine, the project seems to be moving along at a rapid pace, with its first missions planned for 2008 or 2009, when it will be deployed in the Gulf Stream, eventually making it’s way to the Pacific Ocean and then the Indian Ocean.' via Protein
Tags: Technology

A non mobile phone offering from Nokia, the 770 is in fact a handheld PC which allows you to surf the web etc from anywhere with a wireless connection. It does everything you'd expect from a PC as far as web browsing is concerned (RSS, PDF, Flash are all supported) but it's tiny. The great news is it's pretty damn cheap and is out this year. via engadget
www.nokia.com
Tags: Technologyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

There are a couple of excellent adverts on British television at the moment. The Heinz efforts for their baked beans product line is witty and engaging with it's use of stereo types giving the beans their very own personalities. My other favourite is the Aero advert that makes me turn the volume up on the TV as soon as it comes on. Beautiful art direction and a great choice of soundtrack make for a captivating advert (it's Lujon by Henry Manchini).

One more to mention is the latest incarnation of the ipod adverts. This features yet another exceedingly catchy tune (the Gorillaz)and showcases the ubiquitous sillouettes roller dancing. Could this herald the return of the roller-disco?
www.heinz.com
Aero
www.apple.com/uk
Tags: Marketing

iTunes will support podcasts in it's 4.9 incarnation. Steve Jobs has announced that the apple music application will now support podcasts the rapidly growing audio equivalent of a blog. Podcasts have so far remained fairly leftfield despite massive off and online hype. However, this addition to iTunes could bring it to a full mainstream audience and podcasts could be about to tip. via engadget
www.apple.com/uk
Tags: Music

Apologies for the lack of posts recently but due to holidays and a new job there hasn't been much time to sit down and type let alone sift through all the emails that are sitting in various inboxes. Anyway enough excuses because one email that I have checked out contained Puma's new Summer 05 catalogue and it's quite a treat.

My favourites are:
the Siena shoe (based on an original 60s football shoe)
the K1 shoe - you will have seen the ads for these bright urban shoes
Urban mobility range - practical summer garments that look the business

The whole catalogue is interactive so play away.

Puma
Tags: Fashion

A promotional blog the way a commercial blog should be done. This has been put together by Svedka a Swedish vodka company and it showcases relevant stuff and has no product shots, banner ads or fictional stories about brand heroes. via PSFK
gardenofsweden.com
Tags: Marketing

Holds a great collection of the best CSS based designs. CSS Reboot is the brainchild of
Benjamin Adam Howell and Matthew Pennell their aim:

'To bring together web professionals who design with CSS and standards in mind to launch their redesigns on May 1st along with all the Flash designers. This way we can both participate and show everyone just how great semantic, accessible design can be.'

As an advocate of CSS design myself I am most impressed by these entries.
www.cssreboot.com
Tags: Design

Having never really been one for extreme sports or even skateboarding I have been surprised by the interest that I've been showing in All Terrain Boarding or Mountain Boarding as it is also known.
The sport is based around a skateboard deck which has pneumatic rubber tires instead of solid wheels. The board can be used offroad thanks to the size and composition of the wheels, people have been known to use them for kiteboarding, towing on the backs of powered vehicles and of course racing downhill at up to 60mph.
As soon as I get back from holiday I will be putting an order in for one of these!
www.mbseurope.com
Tags: Transport