As the winter sets in, more of us are going to be downing the liquid gold, just to keep out the chills. Coffee! A warm mug to curl your hands around, just as you watch the first snowflakes hit the ground. Here are Ten ways to get your fix; machines, coffee sets and kettles. I like mine instant coffee with milk and strong; how about you?

On a recent trip out of town, I crammed into my suitcase this vanity bag containing soap, facewash, lotions, perfume, gels etc. In short a mini replica of my personal hygiene collection. Then again Murphy’s Law kicked in and the bottles of lotion and shampoo just burst open, soiling all my clothes! Wish I could have carried this “Wash One” pills instead. Tablets of hair, face, body wash and even toothpaste! Brilliant!

Is publishing your contents on online design communities or hosting your own portfolio site enough for creative satisfaction? Don’t you want evaluation or recognition for your efforts? Much like how a post is done on YD, where we hear scores of you either trashing or praising a design, forcing the designers to re-think his strategy or go-ahead with his convictions. The Bombardier YouRail Design Contest by HYVE gives you instant feedback, allowing you to re-think your contribution or simply refining it.

What’s that? You want more organization in your kitchen? Well contrary to the title of this post, that’s what “Quatuor” is here to do! You’re in a hurry to create that perfect cake? Not to worry! Quatuor has your flour in a perfect proportion! Not only can in dispense both solid and liquid ingredients, it’s also got mystical magic charms cast on it!

Let me tell you what a media center is, first of all: it’s a computer. It’s a computer from which you have a bunch of cords and plugs and bluetooths and everything running into and out of so you can, from that one machine, run your whole media experience in your home. What have we got here? “Mod Systems’ GreenPlay” system from Samuel Hoang with Teague – a media center without all the keyboards and mice!

It’s quite funny actually when you think about it; products that you use in extreme conditions, when refined and gilded, suddenly become prized possessions and artifacts. For example the oil lanterns that the electricity-deprived population uses, becomes an iconic possession for the fortunate one. We don’t really care much about the construction lamp found in the garage, but if Form Us With Love decides to glam it up and give us the “Work Lamp”; WE WANT IT!

At a scant 9.99mm, the Dell Adamo XPS really is the world’s thinnest notebook – truly design like no other. I’ve been trying to keep my tongue in check when Dell invited me to grab a first hand look at their new baby. It doesn’t look real. It’s almost too thin, yet underneath that metal exterior and diamond cut logo is hardware powerful enough to run Windows 7 without skipping a beat. Hit the jump for my review.

The concept of Blinds doubling up as Solar Powered Window Air Conditioner is not new, but there is something that makes Briz tad different. Briz uses water as a coolant; water runs through both tubes beneath the bottom part of the blinds emitting dry mist. As water evaporates, it absorbs the heat thus naturally cooling the atmosphere. BTW Solar Power and other concept gimmicks still prevail.

The idea behind the Tree & Root Lamp is to make us aware of the fact that we are cutting down way too many trees. So how does Kitae Pak translate this into motion? When positioned inverted in the pot, the lamp signifies a dead root, with the tree cut-off. Upright the lamp and it illuminates the room, depicting the true virtues of a tree and its importance in our lives. Besides the poetic garble, I simply think it’s an elegant design that can find pride in many homes.

So you’re at the library, you’ve got all your stuff spread out, and bam! You’ve gotta potty. You need to use the bathroom but you can’t leave all your stuff there! You’ve got like 16 mp3 machines and 4 laptops and 8 bars of gold! What do you do! You have to gather it all up and put it back in your rucksack and by the time that’s happened, you don’t have to potty anymore! Just say no! No more of this! We need desks that lock down! Choi Minaa has the solution to that!

What simplicity is this? This set of furniture, seats and tables, is made by students of the school of art and design Saint-étienne in France. What’s fun? It’s made for a new construction of the school of Arts and design of Saint-étienne in the Cité du design. In and beyond that, this is a set of seats and tables with designers in mind.

Dignity and pride in whatever you do, even if it’s cleaning the streets. Someone has to the dirty job of cleaning up your litter, and why not equip them with the perfect gear so that they can do a perfect job. With this contention in mind, we have Youn-il Lee designing the Green Fox Street Cleaning Kit for the road sweepers of Seoul. However, it’s something that the street-sweepers from the world over can do with. A standard 100-liter bin with special care to the peripherals makes this an ideal design.

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