We’re big fans of beautifully designed urban beehives on Inhabitat, and Mexico-based design studio MaliArts’ new shelters for solitary bees are just as buzz-worthy. Dubbed ‘Refugio,’ the project currently consists of three distinct and sculptural beehives aimed at attracting different species of solitary bees. Built with natural materials, each shelter offers a resting place and access to food and water […]
Urban Beehives
“Hey Alexa – what comes next…?”
By Danny Tomsett, CEO, FaceMe “Hey Alexa – what comes next…?” Almost every strategy article today sets the scene with stats that scream: “The world has gone digital…so should you.” Brands are increasingly turning to AI to automate customer services and assistants like Amazon Echo are playing a key role in doing so – you only have to utter the […]
Chewable Straws
The drinking straw seems pretty simple and unassuming, but it’s contributing to one of the most pressing environmental problems today. With millions of them used and discarded every day in the US alone, it’s no wonder the little plastic pipes are piling up in the oceans. To help cut back on that, a start-up in Singapore is getting ready to […]
Buried Museums
Following three years of construction, Beijing’s Open Architecture has completed a new art museum that is integrated into sand dunes. The UCCA Dune Art Museum is almost totally covered by sand and has an interior made up of cave-like spaces. The building is located in Qinhuangdo, east of Beijing, and takes its place well among the rugged landscape. It consists […]
Automatic Suitcase
Believe it or not, artificially intelligent suitcases that automatically follow you around the airport aren’t a new idea. Thanks to crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, they already exist in various forms, and can be purchased online right now. The only problem? Most major airports have issued a blanket ban on “smart” suitcases because they typically contain lithium ion batteries […]
One Handed Drone Controller
Dual-joystick controllers have been the go-to control system for drones for as long as the flying machines have been around. Thing is, this isn’t necessarily because two joysticks are the best way to control drones — it’s more because the two-stick layout was popular with the RC aircraft community, and when RC aircraft evolved autonomous capabilities, it made sense to […]
Advice For Smart Cities
After more than three decades maintaining and upgrading Michigan’s transportation systems, the state’s former head of transportation division (Michigan Department of Transportation, or MDOT), Kirk Steudle, has seen it all. Working with partners, big and small, and tackling problems, also big and small, Steudle has been on the front lines of smart city dreams and disappointments — not to mention […]
Hybrid Cooling Solar Panel
Over the last few years, we’ve been keeping tabs on a cooling systemdeveloped by a team led by Professor Shanhui Fan at Stanford University that draws thermal heat from a building and beams it into space through a process called radiative cooling – all without requiring any external power source. Now the researchers have paired this technology with a solar […]
Travel In Style With This
The exterior of the Draper features black corrugated metal with a hint of red wood. Much like its sister design, the Drake, this RV has a unique, slanted shape that creates a sense of movement even when it is not in motion. The elevated volume not only gives the tiny home a bold presence and more interior space, but it […]
Bodyrocks
We’ve already seen haptic devices that let you “feel the music,” although they’ve typically just delivered bass vibrations to a particular part of the body. BodyRocks is a little different, in that uses individual “stones” to put a full frequency of vibes wherever users want At the heart of the system is an item known as the BassBelt, which receives […]