In Joburg this could become a thriving business opportunity. Filling potholes with miniature gardens could really take off over there. Of course in reality very few would give a damn unfortunately.

via Design Indaba

This mapping idea doesn’t have to just be done on a huge scale outside on the side of buildings. It can also be used inside shopping malls, which have become our modern-day forests (where people roam and forage and spend family leisure time instead of outside where you may get skin cancer or stung by a wasp).

This one was created for such a modern-day forest mall in San Fransisco over Christmas time.

Soon there will be no reason to walk into a shop and have to deal with humans, ’cause we augmented reality is here to give you that consistent brand experience that a 19 year old gum-chewing, hungover student never could anyway.

After downloading the NET-A-PORTER iPhone/iPad app, customers who turn up at stores can activate an Augmented Reality shopping experience by pointing the camera at the various pieces in the window, revealing 360 degree product models, video catwalk showcases, product information, pricing and the ability to buy instantly… It’s also a great way to generate after hours sales. Via.

People really seem to love it. Wonder why retailers would even bother with the rent of the shop in the first place. Doesn’t everyone shop online these days in any case?

A night light for your skirting board. Kinda looks like last night’s sunset in Cape Town. Or half an egg. Pacmac on a strict diet…

via

The more things go high-tech, the more really simple things are seen as an attractive alternative.

We’ll be honest, every since our shiny new iPhone was stolen last year – we’ve been using a Samsung that is so simple they forgot to even give it a model number. It costs R99 new, the battery lasts for about 3 weeks on one charge, has no camera, no Internet access, has been submerged in water for hours and bounced back after spending the night in a bowl of rice to dry it out. It weighs nothing and honestly, if we were offered the iPhone back again from the son-of-a-bitch that stole it – we’d tell him to keep it.

So the new John’s Phone makes perfect sense to us.

John’s Phone keeps things simple. John’s Phone requires no explanation. Use the phone to call and hang up, turn the sound up or down, and lock or unlock it: it couldn’t be any simpler. The speed-dial feature, which allows you to save speed-dial numbers under every number key, makes John’s Phone perfect as a kids’ cell phone…. The back of the phone features a flap containing an address book and a pen – this makes John’s Phone perfect for older users too. via PSFK

Sounds bloody brilliant. We want one, but only if the charge lasts longer than 3 weeks.

Cape Town is full of struggling entrepreneurs and loads of empty retail space. We’re not sure whether or not an empty, derelict shop is beneficial to a landlord, but most of them seem to be in no hurry to fix the situation any time soon.

 popuphood in Oakland, San Francisco is an urban initiative offering free retail space in unused buildings to local entrepreneurs, in yet another variation of the pop-up concept.

Popuphood was launched in December 2011 by Alfonso Dominquez and Sarah Filley to encourage urban renewal in Oakland where — despite a thriving bar and restaurant scene — retail is struggling. The project started in the historic neighborhood of Old Oakland, filling five previously vacant store fronts with five new retail shops, including a jewellers and art gallery. The project’s main focus is to support the local community, providing them with a vibrant shopping area and giving local artists, designers and retailers the opportunity to open their own store for six months, rent free. By building cross-sector partnerships with state and federal governments and economic development professionals, popuphood hope to incubate small businesses and create a dynamic community-centric neighborhood, optimizing empty retail space block by block.  via

Just looking at the growing number or To Let signs in our own building – it seems that a solution like this couldn’t get to Cape Town soon enough.

Using something called Quantum Levitation [which we suppose is something similar to Zero Point Energy], liquid nitrogen and all of the geek mind processing power that they could muster - the Japan Institute of Science and Technology has created a real-life working model of the video game WipeOut.

If you are not familiar with the WipeOut game concept – the basic idea is to race funky looking hovercraft over various outta space tracks to dubstep and Prodigy tracks. If it works as a model – it’s just a matter of time before this is what our streets will look like.

Here’s an example:

The N1 North from Cape Town will be a treat.

UPDATE: Sadly is seems the video is a fake [thanks Andrew]. Guess we’ll all just have to walk home now.

Behold – a Lamborghini 3D projection mapping. That’s all.

Shadowgram is a special photobooth where your silhouette is captured and transformed into a cool sticker that you can then stick somewhere random for sh*ts and giggles. Perhaps we’re still being influenced by an 80′s Roland Sassoon poster here, but we think this is an awesome idea. What’s not to love about plastering a shadow depiction of yourself onto stuff.

via

As part of the talks in Durban – CNN have an online tool that allows you to follow the global Twitter conversation about COP17. You sign up and then hashtag your Tweets which get added to the flash tree as part of a collective global though bubble. [Check it here]

What’s even cooler is that the tree has been projected as a hologram inside the conference venue too.

Much better than that annoying Twitter stream that conference organisers wrongly believe somehow add value to the overall experience.