Science of the Time, formally known as Signs of the Time

Solar powered hand bags, purses, briefcases with a thin solar panel incorporated ibnto the outer design so that one van constantly charge ones’s iPod, mobile phone, computer.

It’s not a tree cabin. It’s a luxurious tree house! Like, say, a boat with a sunroof, where one can play and sleep. Or like a walnut in a walnut tree, where a whole family can spend the night. Build in trees in undamaging ways. A full nature promise of adventure for the kids, a retreat for the adults, a romantic hideaway for lovers. Simplicity and luxurious living get more and more together.

Men using cosmetics: we have been there many times before. Especially in Britain, the country that perfected metrosexuality in the glamorous shape of David Beckham. Now the metro-sexualisation of masculinity takes its next elegant step. After moisturizers/conditioners/mousse/teeth whitening tooth paste/fake tan/eye gel now come: Manscara and the Guyliner from Taxi Man Cosmetics.

Barack Obama t-shirts have transcended the traditional promotional item and made their way into popular culture, with dozens of releases from credible street wear designers, including Geoff McFettridge, Ron English, and of course Obey’s Shepard Fairey. There’s an Obamafied Run-DMC logo shirt, “Obama Said Knock You Out”. Web store Digital Gravel has an expansive Obama series from artists from around the globe.

www.magcloud.com is a platform that enables people to publish their own hardcopy magazines. A person/persons only needs to upload a PDF, and MagCloud takes care of the rest: printing, mailing, subscription management and more. Printing good-old, full-colour, 80lb paper, with saddle-stitched covers, on-demand.

Everything is getting smaller, from homes to cars to technology to packaged goods products to supply chains. In the auto car sector the trend is all about greater fuel efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Which means that smaller cars are starting to rule the world and more models are in the works. Look for packaged goods companies to extend the concentrated detergent concept to other products (like ground coffee), decreasing the weight and bulk of packaging and allowing companies to ship more in each truckload, cutting down on cost, carbon emissions and waste. And while the latest mobile phones seem bigger than their ancestors, they’re actually minuscule relative to their robust computing abilities.

PLASTIC ART AGAINST POLLUTION
This Korean artist turns polluting plastics in thoughtful art. Asia by now is covered with plastic waste. Here the plastics trays used all the time at home or temples for fruits etcetera, are transformed into colourful art objects that looks magical when sunlight shines through. 

Thomas Voorn, a Dutch Renaissance man/artist/designer makes Garment Graffiti. He leaves (his) clothes in public spaces transforming it into remarkable artistic urban signs, robust and fragile at the same time.

Massimo Voltolina started practising sport only when he was 30 and he trains without following rigid schedules: he simply “listens the his body”. At the age of 43 Massimo Voltolina is one of the two Italians that has swam from France to England across the Channel. Of course, with worse weather conditions and a better timing. He is now getting ready for his next adventure: crossing the Adriatic sea.

Www.stitsh.com The site looks like a fashion blog, filled with loads of snapshots of cool kids from the streets. The impressive new thing is that you can buy any piece of clothing they are wearing by just clicking on it. That will bring you to an online retailer who sells that exactly the product.

The 17 is a conceptual experiment by Bill Drummond, gathering
different groups of 17 people to create and record music, play it back once, and then delete it. The 17 is a choir. Their Music has no history, follows no traditions, recognizes no contemporaries. The 17 has many voices. Only once, and then it is deleted in order to start fresh all over again.

Shanghai Tang does everything right. And the time is perfectly right for the brand too. Shanghai Tang is evolving in China’s first top luxury brand. Soon China will not only be the country where all commodities are produced. The success of Shanghai Tang, that has stores all over the world, indicates that the meaning of ‘Made in China’ does not always is about quickly made, cheap products. Now get prepared for a whole new range of Chinese luxury brands. INNOVATIVE Chinese luxury brands!

A Dubai bill board showing two men in traditional clothing. Close to one another, within each other’s personal space. The expression on their faces is soft, almost sensual. Their noses more or less touch.  Is this a billboard for a movie? Are we looking at movie stars? The movie story line one can image doesn’t seem to fit the environment. We ask a local shopkeeper for translation. He is proud to help us out. It happens to be the billboard for his shop. And indeed, on the fascia of his modest store front we see the same Arab text lines, including the translation. You could have fooled us.

Picture 2000 people, mostly in their 30s, seated outdoors listening to a DJ play an eclectic mix. Most are drinking beer or wine they carried in, and some have full-scale picnics. After sundown, the music fades and the real action begins on the giant screen as the classic (at least old) movie starts up. What’s special about that? Consider the venue: Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. Eternal home to such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Rudolph Valentino, and Cecil B. De Mille. The movies are programmed by the founder, and generally favor offbeat cult classics. Shampoo and The Birds were recent screenings.

As middle-class staples like cars, computers and phones become more accessible to society’s have-nots, distinctions between the first and third worlds will grow increasingly murky. The following innovations will help tip the balance:
The cheap mobile phone (15 euros) reaching out to 1 billion new owners. The cheap laptop (under 150 euros) accessible to a wide population of poor children and school - in Libya, Uruguay, Rwanda and Peru. The cheap Tata Motor car Nano (1800 euros) that will lead to a 65% growth of car owners in India to start with.

In co-operation with Lois Saldana