"The Bessenberg Bindery has served the university, medical, legal, publishing, advertising and book collecting communities in southern Michigan since 1978.

We are a hand book bindery that offers a full range of sewn, hardcover book binding, custom boxes, book repair, prototype objects, custom photo album and scrap books, portfolios, and desk accessories. We quote on jobs as small as one book, or as large as 500.

We are a craft shop and all our work is customized to meet our clients' varied requirements. In both original binding and book repairs we stress attractiveness, proper fit and durability."

"SOLSTICE SOLARGRAPHS: Last December, the staff of the Philippus Lansbergen Observatory in Middelburg, the Netherlands, invited members of the general public to join them for a solargraph-making party. A solargraph is a simple pinhole camera made from a soda or beer can lined with a piece of photographic paper. About a 100 cans were deployed around the observatory and, six months later, here are the results:…"

"Much of pinhole photography relates to the use of time and being creative with the light from the sun, similar wonders to that found in astronomy. A 6-month exposure will enable you to image the arc of the sun as it rises or sinks throughout 6 months of the year. As well as this you will get some foreground detail and a camera to look at with awe as a small hole etches its 6-month exposure from your window ledge, garden shed, lamp post, tree etc.

Being able to capture a period of time far beyond our own vision is incredible enough, but even more amazing is how simple it is to do. The final camera gives an extreme wide angle of view of 160 degrees."

"The aim of the games we produce from wood pulp board – by adding your logo or brand message – is to keep customer relationships alive the playful way.

As a marketer, you are welcome to put KATZ wood pulp board games to the test. These high-quality punched products that bear your printed messages and logo offer a clear relationship to your company and its image."

"The customer is already almost ‘yours’ once they enter into interaction with you, and the latest technology allows The KATZ Group to add interactive features to your promotional coasters.

Peel-off and scratch areas for prize competitions, QR codes printed on your promotional coasters for address generation and direct marketing activities via smartphones that generate more visits to your website."

"By contrast a Google search of coaster gets 67 million hits; billboard only gets 42 million hits.

And no wonder: coasters and or advertising mats are friendly (75 % of consumers rate them a non-intrusive advertising medium); they are popular (45 % of all visitors to licensed premises take them home with them) and they are convenient to use. After all, billboards are a bit bulky to slip under a glass in a beer garden or save insects from drowning..."

"I'm jealous of high school computer science students these days. I had to tap out my GOTO 10 commands on a crappy CRT monitor; they get a cheap, rugged robot to play with. The Finch, as it's called, costs just $99, so every student in a classroom can have their own. And its design was rigorously based on educational research that uncovered the five key attributes to making the perfect educational toy."

"This blog is serving as my lab journal for a class I’m taking called 19th Century Photographic Processes.

As described by Professor Goins, this class, “combines lecture and lab components in order to explore the materials and technology behind printing and photographic processes of the the 19th century.”

To that end, this blog includes the history, process and outcome of our attempts to recreate these historical processes. Questions and comments are always welcome. Enjoy!"

"The following formula was taken from Bob Schramm's article in Post-Factory Photography. I have tried varying the amounts of each of the three ingredients but have found the basic formula to give the best results. Adding more tartaric acid seemed to increase contrast slightly and move the image color to a more neutral gray but then graininess became a problem. Adding more silver nitrate didn't have much effect, as was the case with more ferric ammonium citrate. I doubled the amount of all the chemicals in the formula in an attempt to make a single coat solution and got excellent contrast with rich blacks but grain was again a problem. A drop or two of 1% gold chloride can be added to the sensitizer just before coating to move the image color towards purplish-brown. My main supplier of chemicals is Artcraft Chemicals (http://www.artcraftchemicals.com/) and I highly recommend them."

Dammit, why did these not exist when I was a kid and my Dad was trying to teach me this stuff??

dodecahedral LED cap

"Faro Measuring System's Laser ScanArm might bring back bad memories of the dentist, but in fact it's another 3D scanning solution--this one mounted to an articulated arm that not only helps you hold it steady, but records the scanner's position in space. Faro's Orlando Perez shoots and captures a mini Lady Liberty:..."

"This is the best and most amazing thing we saw at the conference that wasn't directed by James Cameron: Zebra Imaging boldly proclaims that they "produce the most innovative holographic products and technology in the world," and after an in-person demo, you walk away convinced. Words can't describe what you need to see with your eyes, so check it out (demonstrated by Zebra's Michael Klug):..."

"In gift wrap emergencies when you've got the present but need some wrapping, here's an idea for turning a magazine page into a bow. (There may be better ways to stick this thing together, but I used what I had on hand: staples and adhesive glue dots)"

"One day the technology of electroactive polymers will drastically change the way we percieve products. Products will gain new dimensions ranging from changing tactile surfaces over active membranes to morphing shapes. Products of the future will be "alive". " via Bill Merrill

In case you, reader, cannot see where she is pointing into the corner at her genius: she is pointing at her context, her network, her friends and learning and colleagues and enemies, what she has read and who she has spoken to, what she has done and never noticed, and what she has heard and never noticed and who she has met and never noticed. You are the genius of others.

"Uncork your experimental mind! UM School of Art & Design brings its Animation Station to the Top of the Park for three nights of community movie-making using the techniques of stop-motion animation.

The Animation Station is easy to use and allows you to create your own stop-motion animation without previous experience. Dry-erase markers, a whiteboard and various objects for animating will be your tools. Whether it's political satire, random drawings, personal confession, or viral experimentation - bring your imagination and join the loop. (And, if you want, bring your own materials too.)"

"Let your feet experience some real relief with these truly interlocking, tessellated concrete pavers. Each paver is part of a one piece puzzle.
Make your own with a quality polyurethane mold. No prior experience is necessary. Each mold comes complete with instructions on casting, coloring, curing, and installation."

"My eyes were assaulted by this in a shop in Rochester in Kent. The shop sells "customised" vintage stuff (ie terrible knick-knacks sewn onto things by someone with no design sense) and new stuff by small designers (also equally hideous). The shop was shut when me and my friend were passing, but this beaut was the centrepiece of the window display. I have no idea whether it's new or mutilated 2nd hand, but either way it's terrifying. What do you think, fairy hunting trophy of the ball-sack of some fearsome pastel beastie? The world's campest sporran? Other ingenious theories welcome"

"The PHS300 Personal WiFi Hotspot is a true plug ‘n’ play solution that creates a powerful WiFi network almost anywhere. Connect all your WiFi enabled devices by simply plugging in your activated USB data modem* and turning on the PHS300. It’s that easy! No more searching for a hotspot, you are one!"

"These web pages are about a project I've been working on. Put briefly, it's a WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network) router. In more human terms, it's a compact little box that gets data from cellular towers and re-shares it for multiple computers to use.

To use it all you do is plug it in to the cigarette lighter of a car (or a 12v supply when at home). It automatically boots up and links in to Verizon's "Broadband Access" service, turning itself into an access point. Turn on your laptop, join the network and voila -- you're on the net! It's just like using a hotspot (such as they have at Starbucks and airports), but it goes anywhere you car goes."

A number of very nice theses and whitepapers.