Top 10 Most Popular Stories over the Past Week

1) Logos Of Famous Brands, Then And Now









StockLogos.com has compiled and compared the first and current versions of logos used by some of the world’s biggest brands. In the list ‘The Original and Current Form of Famous Logos’, it features logos of companies such as Apple, Firefox, LEGO, McDonald’s and the likes.









2) Artist ‘Paints’ With Marijuana Smoke









In a form of protest, Brazilian artist Fernando de la Rocque uses marijuana smoke to print images.









3) An App That Helps Freelancers Put A Price For Their Services









As a freelancer, some of you may find it quite difficult to give reasonable quotes to clients for your services—if the quote is too high, you’ll lose a potential client—too low and you’ll end up making a loss.









4) ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ Characters Reimagined As Hipsters









In the series ‘The Hipsters of Oz’, Dorothy, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Wicked Witch of the West, and Tin Man get seen through the lens of one of the most prominent groups of today’s generation: hipsters.









5) Moleskine Teams Up With Evernote To Create ‘Smart Notebook’









Called the ‘Evernote Smart Notebook’, the limited edition notebook has features that let you digitize your scribbled pages—and was designed specifically for the new Evernote iOS app.









6) Disney Characters Slim Down, Get A ‘Supermodel Makeover’









Disney princesses may have gotten a dose of reality, but some other Disney characters are getting a supermodel makeover and slimming down for Barneys NY’s 2012 Holiday Campaign.









7) ABC Flash Cards For Design-Savvy Hipster Kids









South African illustrator Emma Cook has created an interesting way for hipster parents to teach their kids the ABCs.









8) Physical 'Instagram' Camera To Be Launched In 2013









Great news Instagram fans—ADR Studio has announced that they are planning to launch the 'Instagram Socialmatic’ camera by the middle of 2013.









9) The World’s Most Expensive Camera Lens









The most expensive camera in the world is a 1923 Leica O-series, which was sold at an auction for US$2.79 million. The most expensive (longest, biggest and heaviest) camera lens is also a Leica with a similar price tag.











10) Potential ‘Pickup Lines’ Of Beethoven, Karl Marx, Thomas Edison









As a joke, CollegeHumor imagined what famous historical figures, such as Karl Marx, Albert Einstein and Beethoven, had to say to gain the interest of females.













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Artist Uses Pasta To Make Mini Vehicle Sculptures, The New Dinner Garnish?

[Click here to view the video in this article]







To most people, pasta means dinner. However, for Russia-based artist Sergei Pakhomov pasta is his passion—he makes miniature sculptures of vehicles using the food.



For his craft, Pakhomov uses variations of pasta, from spaghetti to lasagne and rigatoni.



Each model takes him 20 to 30 hours to build—thus far, he has a collection of over 30 miniature pasta models that range from cars to helicopters.



All models are kept at home, and stored at a certain temperature and humidity so that they would last.



What’s now a passion to Pakhomov started six years ago, when he was working for a PR company and was asked to create various things out of macaroni—but the advertising campaign was canceled.



Whether or not he’d cook the pasta models to serve as dinner for his guests, remains unsaid.





















































[via Viola.bz and Perm.aif.ru]

Biodegradable Urn Turns Ashes Into A Tree

Spanish product designer Martín Azúa has combined the notion of ‘life after death’ with an eco-friendly urn called the ‘Bios Urn’.



This conceptual urn is made with biodegradable materials such as coconut shells, organic fertilizer and seeds of a tree.



Once ashes have been added into the urn, it can be planted in the ground, which causes the seed to germinate and grow into a beautiful tree.



According to the designers, you can even choose the type of plant or tree that the urn contains.







































[via Martín Azúa]

The World’s First Bionic Eye Helps Woman Regain Her Sight

A blind Australian woman has regained her sight after being implanted with an early prototype of the world’s first bionic eye.



Dianne Ashworth is the first patient to be fitted with the device, which was created by researchers in the Bionics Institute in East Melbourne.



It was switched on after her eye had recovered from the initial surgery of implanting the device.



In the bionic eye, electrodes are inserted into the retina of a vision-impaired patient, which sends electrical impulses to the nerve cells in the eye—stimulating a natural occurrence in a person with normal vision.



“All of a sudden I could see a little flash…it was amazing,” Ashworth was quoted saying in The Age, “Every time there was stimulation, there was a different shape that appeared in front of my eye.”



Although the device is only able to restore restores mild vision, Ashworth is now able to pick up major contrasts and edges such as light and dark objects.



The Age reports that researchers are now collecting feedback from Ashworth, which will allow them to develop a vision processor that can build images using flashes of light.



According to Bionics Institute director Rob Shepherd, he said that the next step was to test various levels of electrical stimulation.



“We are working with Ms Ashworth to determine exactly what she sees each time the retina is stimulated using a purpose-built laboratory at the Bionics Institute,” Professor Shepherd was reported saying.



“The team is looking for consistency of shapes, brightness, size and location of flashes to determine how the brain interprets this information.”



“Having this unique information will allow us to maximize our technology as it evolves through 2013 and 2014.”



Will the blind be able to regain their vision in the future? We certainly hope so.



Click to watch the video below:













[via The Age]

‘Condescending Corporate Brand Page’ Wants To Engage With You On Facebook

A Facebook page entitled ‘Condescending Corporate Brand Page’ pitch-perfectly mocks companies that have no idea how to use social media.



It humorously encapsulates exactly how boring corporate brands use Facebook to beg for ‘Likes’ and ‘Shares’, by using: ‘engaging content’, semi-inspirational quotes, and stock photos of animals or children.



“We’re a big corporate brand using Facebook,” the page’s description writes, “So look out for us asking you to like and share our stuff in a faintly embarrassing and awkward way.”



The page is run anonymously and has, thus far, amassed 9,281 ‘Likes’.



It also has a Twitter account to post tweets from the Facebook page.



With just as much wit, the Twitter account’s description reads: “This is the twitter account that simply tweets from a linked Facebook page with an annoying ‘on.fb.me’ link at the end chopping off what's said. Point missed.”















































[via Condescending Corporate Brand Page]

Unseen Photographs Of Steve Jobs By Norman Seeff

Renowned photographer Norman Seeff has released a series of unseen photographs featuring a young Steve Jobs and the early Apple crew from the 1980s.



Published in Retronaut, Jobs can be seen in uncharacteristically lax positions, drinking beer and of course, wearing his trademark black turtleneck.



One of the images featured is a picture of Jobs in the lotus position with a Mac on his lap, which has made the cover of TIME magazine.



Seeff is currently selling the iconic ‘lotus’ image as a lithograph on his website for USD$75.



Besides the images, Seeff also offers his personal account of the photo shoot—revealing interesting details about Jobs.



The following statement was taken from Retronaut: “I was aware of the character flaws that people have described about Steve. For me however, my interaction with him revealed none of these views, although I don’t doubt the anecdotal stories about his impatience and qualities of dictatorial control. What I did discover, and this is true with other artists, that once they trust you, that level of control tends to fall away.”



Check out some of these unseen photographs of Steven Jobs below:



















[via Retronaut]