Commune - you just made my day! The surprise 2013 packages that arrived have put a smile on my face with the fun “The future ain’t what it used to be” bumper sticker and i cant stop grinning about how DELICIOUS the Good Mix with Valerie Confections is… almonds, pumpkin seeds, light brown sugar, bittersweet chocolate, honey, cocoa powder, vanilla paste, sea salt, canola oil, cocoa nibs = ridiculously deliciousness. It’s addicting. In fact it’s terribly difficult to put it down while writing this! Take a peek on the next page for all the details…

p.s. just found out you can buy the Good Mix at the Valerie Confections boutique on West 1st Street…

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This week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org includes tiny remote controlled flyers, firefighters’ battle axes, and Mandelbrot’s lost fractals. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

Director of NOTlabs, Shawn Sims, is taking us behind-the-scenes of our latest piece, the mirrored, Instagram Infinity Cube that just got installed in Virgin Atlantic’s new EWR Clubhouse!

The Instagram Infinity Cube was designed and built for Virgin Atlantic’s new Newark Clubhouse at EWR to complement the #howIclubhouse campaign. When visitors arrive at the lounge, they can’t miss the mirrored cube as they approach the Liquid Lounge Bar and Passion Pit… with the exterior reflecting the dazzling space around, the opening inviting them to peek inside for an even more mesmerizing look at how people clubhouse around the globe, and then encouraging them to add their own!

All sides of the inner and outer cube are mirrored, and the far interior face of the cube has a screen that displays a rotating gallery of photographs. The interior mirrors especially, create a kaleidoscopic effect by reflecting the Instagram photos from the hashtag #howIclubhouse. Since the entire cube is made of mirrors, it generates an endless symmetry in 3D space of the Instagram photo. The outer cube reflects the lounge and people moving through it. The entire cube swivels 360 degrees allowing people to view it from multiple vantage points as they move through the space.

Take a look on the next page to see how this quick project came together at NOTlabs…

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Rootcup - love this simple, elegant solution to growing plant cuttings! Designed by product development firm, good3studio of Michael Good in San Francisco. The root cups are molded from a flexible elastomer that’s highly UV resistant, nonporous, and water proof, and have such nice details! The flexible lid helps protect the roots from light, holds the cutting’s leaves above water, captures evaporating water, and has a slot to help easily remove cuttings when ready for planting… and it now comes in a BIGrootcup as well… or it nearly does, their kickstarter campaign just successfully completed for the big ones! See more details of both sizes on the next page!

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Here’s the latest natural inspiration from our resident zoologist and London based editor, Justine Aw.

My fascination in animal behavior stems back to the creepy crawlies I spent hours watching when I was young. Inverts were a bit of an obsession of mine (I was even a member of SASI as a child!), and as a result I’ve still got a soft spot for them. I’m lucky enough to dabble in entomology in my volunteering behind the scenes at the Horniman Museum and biodiversity work for Mudchute Park & Farm, but it doesn’t quite satiate my appetite for ‘bugs’. That’s where blogs like John Horstman’s Sinobug come in. I discovered the blog through reddit’s whatsthisbug (a guilty pleasure) and have been a loyal reader ever since! I mean, sure I’ve encountered a fair few cool insects along the Rio Negro, but Horstman’s images coming from Pu’er, China are mind-blowing. Not only are they incredibly beautiful composites of textures, colors and patterns, they’re even shedding light on some of these species scientifically. See some of our favorites on the next page!

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This week’s roundup from Tasteologie and Liqurious includes sparkling champagne and strawberries, panettone bread pudding, and homemade curry powder. To find out more about each delectable post, click on its individual image.

Adidas Golf brings the superlight adizero line to golf! And to really drive the “Adizero, so light, it’s like wearing nothing at all.” message home, they sent out quite the press kit… showing the shoes glowing and hovering off the grass as you unbox it! Certainly not your usual shoebox! This hefty astroturfed acrylic box has a built in light sensor, that when it’s exposed turns on the led strips creating quite the glowing effect around the floating adidas golf adizero shoes! The lightest model weighs in at a mere 10.6 ounces! Seen in the box is the adizero Tour model, which comes in 4 color ways. There is also a womens adizero tour which will come in 3 colorways, as well as an adizero Sport line in 3 colorways. Take a peek at the unboxing and details on the next page!

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This post is presented by Virgin Atlantic ~ Clubhouse [kluhb-hous] (v): The art of enjoying one’s time before a journey in an exquisite manner unique to Virgin Atlantic. How do you Clubhouse? Send us a picture of you enjoying your favorite Clubhouse experience on Twitter or Instagram, using the #HowIClubhouse. Well, to see how WE clubhouse, Virgin Atlantic invited us to check out their latest lounge in EWR (Newark, NJ).

It seemed only appropriate that with all of this twitter/instagram fun around #HowIClubhouse, that we share our adventure lounging at the brand new Virgin Atlantic Newark Clubhouse through Instagram photos! From the fun decor (tons of designer seating, lighting, and more) - to the beautiful mirrored, geometric bar (and delicious drinks) ~ to the screening room ~ to the Mirror Cube of infinite instagram mirrored madness of an installation we built right here in our NOTlabs… We hear that this lounge is so coveted that the British Airways passengers in the lounge next door often try to buy their way into the Clubhouse because, “every night seems like a party.” Rumor has it that with two flights a day at 8am and 8pm, people come straight from work to have a few drinks before their flight, as well as dinner (or breakfast if you’re there for the 8am)! It’s a beautiful space to relax and unwind pre-flight, and there are so many fun design details… take a peek at how our friend and photographer Jessica clubhoused for us on the next page!

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This week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org includes astrophotography, origami, bluetooth soundsticks and more. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

Happy 2013!!! To ring in the new year, we suddenly decided to hop in the car and escape to Palm Springs, relaxing and celebrating an incredible 2012 in the brilliantly colored Saguaro Palm Springs. While it still has the layout and feel of a roadside motel of day’s past, the classic Joie de Vivre style of livening and updating it certainly breathes new life into the space. From the hallways to the patios to the lobby, you can’t escape the playful rainbow that follows you everywhere… the color palette just screams HAPPY all over! Take a peek at the details on the next page… from looking inside our room, to running around with my cell phone, and more!

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Happy almost 2013!!! The final weeks of 2012, i have been giving Windows 8 a real chance. I’ll admit, i’ve been a mac girl for years now, avoiding windows whenever possible… but with the addition of NOTlabs the last year, i’ve had to get back on windows for some of our modeling/lasercutting software and it’s been a bit of an adjustment (even on Win 7). Well, VIZIO convinced me to give Win 8 a proper try when they sent their stunning looking All-In-One Touch PC. It’s so pretty… so sleek… and so much more than just an all-in-one super touch screen. (Side note: we also tried out one of Vizio’s notebooks, but i quickly found that windows 8 is much easier with a touch screen, and stuck to the All-In-One while getting to know the many quirks of the OS… which is another conversation for another day.)

We set up the All-In-One alongside the monstrous NOTlabs Laser Cutter to run the laser cutter software, modeling/graphics software, and more… Veering outside of the purely digital, i’ve quickly been learning that physical fabrication requires much time and patience. Thus, there has been lots of waiting… hours and hours of waiting at times when running larger projects where we end up babysitting the machine… so the All-In-One Touch PC’s HDMI portsessentially turning into a TV at the push of a remote button has been awesome! We’ve been plugging in our DirecTV receiver, PS3, Co-Star, etc. to relax while still keeping an eye on things! And best part, when flipping over to use it like a TV, the computer keeps running, so we don’t lose anything that is in progress and can flip back and forth easily. Verdict? If i’m going to have to have a windows machine around NOTlabs, i’m loving the versatility of the big 27” All-In-One Touch PC. Take a peek on the next page for more details, our unboxing, and a peek into some laser cutting/call of duty multitasking in NOTlabs.

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Shopping the sales in Paris, exploring the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey and Hogmanay in Edinburgh are all part of this week’s roundup from NotVentures. To find out more about each destination, click on its individual image.

Here’s the latest from our resident zoologist and London based editor, Justine Aw.

We’ve been watching the installation in Canary Wharf’s Middle Dock coming together from their beginnings as just a single strand of floating paper boats to their current complete form. The installation is titled Voyage and is the work of Aether & Hemera. The boats house individually programmable RGB LEDs controlled by a system including an Arduino, a Rasperry Pi as DHCP and Web server, a wireless access point, bespoke DMX circuitry and and software that lets visitors change the patterns and colors of the lights by connecting to the specialized local wireless network and visiting voyage.co.uk (see videos later in the post!).

I love the way the boats play off the reflections in the water of themselves, the passing DLR and skyscrapers of Canary Wharf. They’re beautiful, making the most of the long winter nights. The installation will remain in the wharf until Friday, February 15, 2013.

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I was at a loss for words as i took these pictures. The most incredibly sweet package came for Bucky today. Like mind blowing amazing. Our favorite Natural Illustrator, Natalya Zahn, and her gorgeous Rhodesian Ridgeback, Oscar, created the most thoughtful and touching package of goodies for us. From Perfect Pumpkin Pup-Treats, complete with recipe… to BUCKY WRAPPING PAPER filled with illustrations of some of his instagramed puppy moments… and a USB key with the originals and more! I can’t imagine a more beautiful way to remember our adorable NOTpuppy’s precious puppy time as he gets bigger so so fast! Take a peek at all of the loveliness on the next page!

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This week’s roundup from Tasteologie and Liqurious includes peppermint pattie martinis, perfect roast potatoes, mini brie en croute and more. To find out more about each delectably recipe, click on its individual image.