Toko, a Dutch duo who operate out of Australia, have an absolutely inspiring and stunning body of work.

[Via AisleOne]

SlideScreen is a home screen replacement for mobiles and handsets running on Android. After being pretty used to HTC’s Sense UI on my (still unrooted) HTC Hero, I downloaded SlideScreen just for the fun of it.

I was completely blown away. SlideScreen is beautifully designed, with a restrained aesthetic and succinct information display. In fact, it is one of those rare Android apps that is slick and functional at the same time. No surprise then that the creators, Larva Labs, also make iPhone apps.

SlideScreen is being continually developed and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone with an Android handset. It is a great example of why I think Android can go far with quality developers in an open ecosystem. You will never see a re-imagined interface on something as tightly controlled as the iPhone unless it’s jailbroken.

My only frustration has nothing to do with the app itself: I can’t buy the Pro version (which is reasonably priced at US$7) because paid apps on the Android Market are not available in Singapore yet.

That’s the philosophy behind the manufacture of the toys at Auditorium Toy Company. Simple designs, unerring craftsmanship and the sense of immense pride in their work make these toys quite something. Paraphrasing the Patek Philippe brand advertising tagline, these are not things you own – you merely look after it for the next generation.

[Via swissmiss]

A phosphene is the experience of seeing light without light actually entering the eye. The phosphene video by Benjamin Ducroz will bring lights of beauty and tears of joy to your eyes.

Exquisitely beautiful.

Another great street art project called Inner city snail, from the same guy who brought us the awesome Little People. Speaking of which, I think I will go buy the Little People In The City book soon.

Before the days of calculators and computers, Nomograms (or Nomographs) were often used to approximately calculate values of a function. There are specific nomographs for specific applications and all of them will only give approximate answers (since accuracy is dependent on the precision of the drawing itself). Invented by French mathematicians Massau and M. P. Ocagne in 1889, the precision, geometry and symmetry involved in the graphics of Nomography can produce some beautiful ‘visualizations’ like the Smith Chart above.