In my way to kigali (4th time)

Here I am again on board of a plain typing in the little iPhone keyboard. I am in Nairobi. Now the plain is goin to take off to Kigali (Rwanda) where I will go to the hotel, which will be suprise surprise because every hotel was full due to a confernce that it’s taking place now. The one I booked for the 8 of us costs only $29 compared with the $300 of the Serena. I found it in tripadvisor and reviews are ok. I will report later on that but I thin it has no Internet.
I met one of the 8 traveling in Geneva. He has been traveling with me today.
It is goin to be a hard and long day because we arrieve to Kigali at 8:30am and we start working.
On Monday morning before going to the airport I went to the office to have a meeting with an NGO who can help us writing the DTIS. I felt terrible (stomach ache) so wnt home. Then when going to the airport it was going worse and worse. Nuria was in bed all day. She went to the hospital to Have analyses for the A flue. I started withe sam symptoms but after entering in the plane in amsterdam I slept from min one sweting like a pig.
Now I’m feeling better I will have breakfast as I haven’t eat in the last 24 h.
Serving food now. Ciao.

Do it Yourself? 14 Silly (and Scary) Vehicle Modifications

We’ve all seen the car driving down the street with a garbage bag duct taped over a broken window. As dangerous (and hilarious) as that may be, it is by no means the limit of amateur automotive engineering ingenuity. These pictures, from the always-hilarious thereifixedit.com, show just how creative people can be when it comes to making changes to their vehicles. From the hilariously haphazard to the creatively upcycled, these insane vehicle mods are perfect examples of do-it-yourself gone wild.

When you’re moving and you just can’t spare the $29.95 for a U-Haul, what can you do? Maybe…shove way more into the car than the car can possibly handle, and then duct tape a bunch of boxes onto the top? Yep, that sounds good.

For many car buyers, choosing between a sedan and a pickup can be a difficult decision. But this car owner decided to take matters into his own hands by combining a Volvo, a pickup bed, and some mad woodworking skills. Note the nice, even, sturdy-looking construction.

This truck owner, however, doesn’t seem to have the same level of car mod talent. This wooden truck bed leaves so many questions unanswered: where did the truck’s real bed go? Who thought constructing a new one out of wood was a good idea? Is it supposed to be an environmental statement? Is that even street legal?

When you really, really love your car, it can be hard to admit that it’s at the end of its life. But when it’s held together with trash bags, duct tape, bungee cords and what appears to a flannel shirt, it might be time to let it go to that great parking lot in the sky.

Apparently the load was a little heavy on the back end of this van, and maybe the bumper started scraping the pavement. Rather than, say, fix whatever is wrong with the frame that’s making the back end sag, this resourceful car owner decided to put some teeny-tiny wheels under the bumper. Problem solved!

Spare tires are expensive. But with some ingenuity and a few of the odds and ends that everyone has lying around their garage, there’s no obstacle that can’t be overcome. Hopefully the guy riding in the back of the hatchback is wearing his bungee-cord seat belt.

We may kid about these modifications and temporary solutions, but some of them actually serve a purpose, albeit a funny one. This shopping cart bike was concocted by Ryan McFarland and can solve the irritating problem of where to put your groceries when you go to the supermarket on your bike. If you’re itching to make one yourself, there are instructions here.

If you’ve got access to the equipment necessary to weld a whole new side panel onto your minivan, why not? It’s cheaper than buying a new van, and it’s not like it’s completely unsafe or anything, right?

Appliance delivery, like spare tires, is not cheap. You can accomplish basically the same thing with a car, a dolly, and a friend or two willing to ride in the trunk all the way home.

Who said you can’t put a trailer hitch on the inside of a hatchback? This insightful car owner knows that you can haul anything if you just put your mind to it.

At first this looked like a wood-burning stove in the back of a van. But on closer inspection, it appears to be some sort of creative vehicle recycling. We don’t know what it’s supposed to be, but kudos to the creator for using existing materials that might have otherwise gone to the junkyard.

Motorcycle seats can be very uncomfortable. So what’s a biker with a bad back to do? This looks like a pretty great compromise between car and motorcycle.

Motorcycles have another small problem for those who enjoy hauling things: very little storage space. There are, of course, trailers made just for motorcycles, but where’s the fun in that? This crazy modification turns the motorcycle into a tricycle, and the car hood into the awesomest trailer ever.

(from weburbanist)

Den of Daydreams: 8 Fantastical Make-Believe Makeovers

While many of us go for a functionalist, pick’n’mix approach to home decor (”I need curtains: oh, that will do” etc.), let us be upstanding for the financially brave, creatively passionate and unashamedly geeky souls who transform their homes into miniature versions of their favorite corners of modern culture, as these 8 thoroughly unique examples illustrate.

(Images via: Hack N Mod via Geeky Gadgets)

If you wish that the Steam Age was still with us and have a thing for overengineered pipes and rocket-firing dirigibles, you would feel thoroughly at home in this Extraordinary Gentleman’s house in New Zealand. The house is designed to look like a beached  Twenty Thousand Leagues-style submarine, complete with rust, encroaching greenery and a working periscope! Feeling similarly inspired? Prepare to have your savings torpedoed – this beast cost $100,000 to build.

(Image via: Gizmodo)

Everyone wants a treehouse. (Even adults want a treehouse.) But is it going too far to build a treehouse in your bedroom?

(Image via: Gizmodo)

The Kidtropolis Magic Indoor Treehouse Bedroom is kitted out with everything a treehouse-hugger could wish for. As well as the bed (only accessible via ladder), the room contains trapdoor storage facilites and a table that folds down from the ‘fence’ running round the room.

(Images via: Illusion 360 and Sellsius)

Staying with wood, what happens when you want a plushly-paneled basement study and your budget won’t stretch? For Lexington (Kentucky) lawyer Charlie Fratzer, the answer was simple: pull out a pen and draw it. With nothing but a $10 Sharpie and a fertile imagination, Fratzer has decorated his basement with staircases, furniture, members of his family and historical & fictional characters including Winston Churchill, Sherlock Holmes and Bullwinkle & Rocky.

(Image via: Gizmodo)

Now for the work of truly dedicated parents. This is a kid’s bedroom (please let it be a kid’s bedroom) in a house currently up for sale…

(Image via: Gizmodo)

…and the centerpiece (if you can call something entirely filling a room a ‘centerpiece’) is a reconstruction of a Star Wars Y-Wing. If you are wondering where the bed is, it’s laid along the wing. All you need is a droid alarm clock and the illusion is complete. (”R2, that duvet’s broken loose again, see if you can’t tuck it in”).

(Images via: SlipperyBrick)

Or perhaps your scifi tastes lean more towards the other largest franchise in the known Universe – in which case this NCC-1701D (that’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation’s USS Enterprise” to us terrestrial folk) home theatre should push all the right buttons. Check out other 14 similarly creative / mad-as-a-fish examples over at SlipperyBrick.

(Image via: The Telegraph)

But for sheer unadulterated Trek-lurve, the prize goes to interior designer Tony Alleyne. After his marriage faltered, Alleyne decided to turn his flat into the ultimate geek bachelor pad – by modeling it on the set of Star Trek: Voyager.

(Images via: The Telegraph and The Mirror)

Press the doorbell and a voice says “welcome to the 24th century” – and from there it’s a Trekkie’s paradise, complete with a “fully-working transporter” (a what?), touch-panel lighting, command consoles and a replica of Voyager’s warp core that propels the ship between the stars. (It’s in the spot where the fridge used to be).  The price of all this geeky luxury? Fourteen maxed-out credit cards,  $160,000 in debt…and bankruptcy. Alleyne remains philosophical: “I’m still proud of what I created, but it’s been a financial disaster”.

(Images via: Wired)

If you constantly have the Mario theme-tune running through your head (like the creators of this little masterpiece), why not turn your home into a shrine to your favorite Italian plumber? That is what Antoinette J. Citizen has done, as reported by Wired. The walls are painted in jolly Mario colors and are studded with bricks that play the original sound effects when poked and pushed (and maybe even when jumped on). How many shiny gold coins did this cost?

(Image via: Daily Mail)

And finally, for all young girls pining to live the Cinderella dream (the glamorous ending, not the sitting-in-cinders part) then that dream can be a reality – if daddy is a premiership footballer with $80,000 to kick around, that is.

(Image via: Daily Mail)

The individually-tailored work of Mark Wilkinson Furniture, these luxury items of furniture include ornate murals and hand-crafted carriage beds. Some footballers have even come up with their own designs – leading the British media to label these creations the latest demonstrations of footballers having more money than sense. Would you like your darling treasures to grow up expecting to be treated like fairy-tale royalty?

(from weburbanist)

Creating Websites with Google

10 Clever Architectural Creations Using Cargo Containers: Shipping Container Homes and Offices

(Check out our complete collection of 70 Works of Recycled Art and Design.)

With the green theme growing in popularity across every stretch of the world, more and more people are turning to cargo container homes for green alternatives for office, and even new home, construction. There are countless numbers of empty, unused shipping containers around the world just sitting on the shipping docks and taking up space. The reason for this is that it’s too expensive for a country to ship empty containers back to the their origin in most cases, it’s just cheaper to buy new containers from Asia. The result is an extremely high surplus of empty shipping containers that are just waiting to become someone’s home or office. Design, buy or build your shipping container home today!

There are plenty of benefits of to the so-called shipping container architecture model. A few of these advantages include: they are plentiful, they are easily transported, they’re stackable, relatively inexpensive (as little as $900 for a used container), they can be prefabricated, and they’re extremely durable. Residential applications are also becoming a popular topic of conversation among green supporters. The first official 2-story shipping container home in the US was designed by Southern California architect Peter DeMaria in 2006. The only big obstacle that he encountered during construction of his shipping container pad was making sure that the house passed all of the strict guidelines of the Uniform Building Code (UBC).

In other parts of the world, places like Odessa, Ukraine already have the the biggest shopping mall in all of Europe which uses stacked shipping containers to form alleys throughout the 170 acre site. In Asia, the Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan is almost entirely composed of empty shipping containers stacked two high and chock-full of inexpensive trinkets and toys. So, in other words, shipping container architecture is nothing new, but it is new when it comes to residential and office applications.

This great example of shipping container architecture was created by architects Pieter Peelings and Silvia Mertens of Sculp(IT). They live and work in these shipping containers which are stacked four high. The entire space is 2.4 meters wide by 5.5 meters deep by 12 meters high. The bottom floor is used for work, dining room is located on the second floor, relaxation room on the third, and spectacular rooftop views from the fourth – including a relaxing spa.

This award-winning office design by Clive Wilkinson is made out of stacked shipping containers is the home office of Palotta TeamWorks, a US charity event company. The 47,000 square foot warehouse is filled with shipping containers that have been transformed into modern office spaces. This design layout saved the company a ton ofmoney on construction costs, and it allowed the entire space to be more open and airy.

The world’s first hotel built from recycled shipping containers has popped-up in Uxbridge, West London. Each prefabricated container comes fully-equipped with fixtures, furniture, and windows from a factory in China. The company, called Travelodge, says that constructing a hotel this way is 25% faster and 10% cheaper than the more traditional construction methods. Also, construction is much quicker, because all that has to be done is to fit each container together like it was a giant Lego set. Rooms at this London hotel start at about ï¿¡19 per night. The London area may see more these ‘portable hotels’ pop-up around the city as the 2012 Olympics approaches.

Opened in 1998, the Simon’s Town High School Hostel is constructed almost entirely of used shipping containers. This amazing place is constructed out of 40 large shipping containers to be exact, and it’s big enough to accommodate up to 120 boarders. The hostel manager gets his own 2 bedroom flat, while the other staff share 2 separate flatlets. Area residents were concerned that the project would prove to be an eyesore to the community since it was made from grungy old shipping containers, but the final result proved otherwise with a modern-looking structure that is incredibly durable and aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

This shipping container home from the so-called Zigloo Domestique project in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is a residential home created by Keith Dewey. The home is built out of old shipping containers, and the owner chose to paint them with an industrial strength minty-green enamel, commonly found on shipping containers today, in order to maintain the container’s roots in the shipping business. While the exterior of the home may look a little rugged, due to the protruding containers, the 2,000 square foot interior of the house is quite comfortable and modern. The project cost about $150 per square foot, compared to a similar quality traditional construction project that can cost about $250 per square foot.

This stunning home is almost like a piece of art that you can live in. Constructed using 12 recycled shipping containers, the 12 container home home has all of the modern conveniences of a traditionally built home but with a unique element of style as well. A modern kitchen, huge wide-open floor plan, and gigantic windows that bring in tons of natural lighting are just a few of the great features of this home – plus, construction costs were relatively inexpensive when compared to traditional construction.

This 2,000 square foot home, built in 2001, is actually built around a smaller cottage-style house that has stood in that location for decades. The cottage house almost looks like a gigantic version of a dollhouse inside of the huge storage shed that forms the exterior of this innovative house. The 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home is also made from 5 large shipping containers – 3 on the bottom, and 2 stacked on top of those. This place also contains all of the modern features of a ‘normal’ home, but it’s supposedly built to last much longer. The creator of this innovative home is Adam Kalkin, and he’s actually selling these homes for as little as $76,000, or less than $100 per square foot – not a bad deal considering traditional construction of a new home averages about double that amount.

This 3,000 square foot L.A. home features multiple storage containers in its design – each with its own purpose. There’s a storage container for the entertainment area, library, dining room/office space, master bedroom, and bathroom/laundry room. This place has plenty of large windows which provide plenty of natural lighting as well as awesome views of the garden and koi pond outside. Aside from using recycled storage containers, this home also uses recycled steel scraps in its construction which further adds to the green vibe that this home resonates – not to mention saved a ton of money on construction costs.

(from weburbanist)

Spotify competitor Deezer debuts desktop client, premium offering

[France] Paris-based Deezer is not waiting for Spotify to expand into new territories and is moving forward with its own plans pretty quickly. The French startup recently raised $9.5 million (€6.5 million), bringing the total invested into the company to nearly $20 million, and today the company’s launching its previously rumored premium offering and a couple of new products.

Basically, the Deezer website, where users can listen to streaming music and create playlists, will remain free of charge while users who would like better sound quality (up to 320 kb/s) and no more advertisements can opt to pay €4.99 per month for Deezer HQ. The Premium offering (€9.99 / month) is the most interesting though, since it gives users the opportunity to download a full-fledged Adobe AIR desktop application and lets them gain access to their accounts through a wide range of mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPod Touch and multiple Android-run and Blackberry devices.

The company commissioned a study that showed more than 80% of its user base was keen on getting mobile access, while 40% was interested in better sound quality. But the Premium offering in my opinion is interesting because it’s basically a way for users to have seamless access to their account and playlists whether they’re opening Deezer up in their browsers, start the cross-platform desktop client or listen to their favorite music on the go. It’s the type of convergence I keep wishing every online music service would offer.

That said, I’ve been playing around with the desktop application for a couple of hours and ran into some bugs that need to be ironed out before it’s good enough for daily usage. I also tested the iPhone application on my iPhone 3GS and that one didn’t have any noticeable flaws. The Premium offering comes with a 7-day free trial by the way, so I suggest you try it out and see if it suits your needs.

Deezer’s catalog is currently about 4.5 million tracks strong and also boasts a good number of web radio stations in a variety of genres. And since it has signed licensing agreement with all the majors (Sony BMG, EMI, Warner and Universal, among others) there’s no immediate risk of the service shutting down because of legal disputes, something we’ve seen happen far too often to date.

All Aboard! Clever Recycled Train Car Homes, Offices & Hotels

Railroad cars are big, heavy, and cumbersome. They’re notoriously hard to move into new locations off of their tracks, and because of their odd shape most people wouldn’t think of using them for anything else anyway. But in the spirit of recycling, green construction and shipping container homes, some enterprising people are recycling old train cars into homes, offices and even hotels.

(images via: Jag9889, The Manimal, The Greenest Dollar, and Ramon)

With the mortgage industry in trouble and more people making the shift toward green housing, reusing train cars as homes is a logical step. Like shipping containers, it’s relatively easy to do the conversion yourself, provided you have the resources to get the car to its new location. Cabooses seem to be the most popular choice for train car homes, but there are plenty of dining and sleeping cars being converted as well. If you’re able to shell out between $8000 and $45,000 for an old car, another several thousand to transport the car and put it into place on your property, and whatever it takes in material and labor to transform it, you can have a home for much less than a conventional house would cost. And best of all, it will be completely unique and as green as you want it to be.

(images via: kgw.com)

This converted rail car home in Portland, Oregon, is a great example of how beautiful a home a converted railroad car can make. The outside may look plain, but on the inside it’s surprisingly luxurious. The home encompasses an impressive 807 square feet and features 10-foot-high ceilings, DSL, thoroughly new everything, a full electric kitchen, and an incinerator toilet. The siding it’s currently situation on is rented to the current owner for $150 a month, and since it’s not technically real estate there are no property taxes. The home is currently for sale, so if you want the train car home experience without renovating one yourself, now’s your chance.

(images via: HGTV and Roadside America)

If you’ve ever passed by the northern edge of Richardson Bay in Sausalito, California, chances are you’ve seen some pretty unusual houseboats moored there. One of the most unique is this one, made from an old railroad car. The car was once known as #41 on the San Francisco and Northern Pacific Railway in 1889. After it was retired in 1936, it was made into a land-based duplex and stayed put until 1979. At that time it was purchased to be made into this amazing houseboat. The home contains many of the original rail car bits, including the dining seats and some of the interior wood.

(images via: London Underground and Village Underground)

High above the London streets in Shoreditch, a few disused Tube carriages sit proudly, adorned with beautiful graffiti and shining with new life. They’re part of Village Underground, a collection of office and studio spaces that encompass the carriages above as well as a massive Victorian warehouse below. A wide variety of occupants take up the spaces, making a truly diverse and unique urban community encompassing some very distinctive recycled building elements.

(image via: Anne Vauclare)

Not all repurposed train cars are used as dwellings or offices. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of using the available material to solve the problem at hand. Though it’s not clear exactly where this train car bridge is or even how it got there – miles away from a highway or railroad network – it’s an amusing sight.

(images via: The Deptford Project)

In mid-2008, a remarkable project came together in Deptford, South London: a 1960s rail car was transported to the high street to become part of an urban reclamation arts project. The car was stripped and repurposed by designer Morag Myerscough, then turned into a café. The Deptford Project Café is now decorated with beautiful graffiti advertising its existence, and inside you can get a cup of sustainably-harvested coffee or a plate of locally produced treats.

(images via: Redcaboose Getaway B&B)

Some enterprising individuals put the homey feel of converted rail cars to good use as bed and breakfast rooms. The Redcaboose Getaway on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula manages to look both charming and exciting. If you ever wanted to be a train conductor as a kid, this is the place to live out that dream…sort of. The B&B features several cabooses, each of which is a separate guest chamber. There’s also a restored art deco dining car where the staff chef prepares breakfast each morning. The Olympic Peninsula is one of the must-see areas of the US, and this seems like an amazing place to call a temporary home while exploring the area.

(images via: Controversy B&B)

The Controversy B&B in Hoogwoud, Netherlands takes full advantage of the offbeat nature of the discarded train on its grounds. The compartment is 21 meters long and contains some truly wacky features: the sink basin in the bathroom is an old tire, the bed is a boat, and the jacuzzi tub is in the shape of a colorful sombrero. And if trains aren’t your thing, the transportation-themed property also features trams and a UFO.

(images via: Aurora Express B&B)

Fairbanks, Alaska boasts its own quirky railroad car bed and breakfast. The Aurora Express B&B features four historic railroad cars as sleeping chambers and one dining car. The cars were purchased from the Denali State Park Hotel for $1 each, with the agreement that the Wilson family would pay to transport them to their property. Today, the cars sit on 700 feet of private railroad track overlooking Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley.

(images via: English Russia)

Perhaps the most bizarre train reuse is the Russian trend of converting old train cars into Orthodox Christian churches. They range from the simple repurposing to the elaborate redesign, complete with adding an entirely new facade. The end result is an unusual butinspirational presentation, showing us that these industrial giants don’t need to be discarded when their working lives are over; they simply need someone who cares enough to give them new life.

(from weburbanist)

Hiearchy

Sonos S5

The Sonos ZonePlayer S5 is a high-performance wireless music system with 5 speakers powered by 5 dedicated digital amplifiers. With 2 tweeters, 2 mid-range drivers and 1 subwoofer, the S5 delivers crystal-clear, room-filling sound that rivals much larger, more complicated audio equipment. Plus, the all-digital sound architecture provides precise sound reproduction, just as the artist intended. With the S5 you can quickly add a room of music anywhere you want — simply plug it in and enjoy. And thanks to the S5’s superior wireless range, no room is out of reach.

When it comes to controlling your S5 and the vast array of music on your computer and the Internet, you can simply reach for your iPhone™ or iPod® touch. The free Sonos Controller for iPhone app makes it easy to find and play any song, in any room. The S5 also includes free software for control from your Mac or PC. Or you can get even more control with the dedicated Sonos Controller 200.

Infectious Now Lets You Print Your Own Designs For Custom Wall Decals, iPhone Skins, And More

Infectious, a startup that makes high quality decals and skins that let you customize the look of your iPhone, car, laptop, skateboards, and more, is launching a new feature today: one off prints of your own custom designs. Starting today users will be able to use an integrated Flex app to upload their own images, which they can then have printed out on high quality adhesive stickers (or decks, in the case of skateboards).

The company has expanded to include laptop skins, custom skateboard decks, and wall prints. But up until now, customers could only choose from the Infectious catalog of art work. That offers a pretty good selection, but obviously being able to craft your own design is going to make the service appealing to a much broader customer base. Users who want to put their own artwork on their items will have the chance to do so, and businesses could potentially create their own branded skins (perhaps to give away in promotions).

Prices range from $10 for wall prints to $50 for skateboard skins, with most items costing around $15-$20. TechCrunch readers can get a 25% discount on Infectious products thru Friday by using the discount code “DONUTS”.

Other players in this space include Gelaskins and SkinIt.

Now Anyone Can Host Their Own (Experimental) Google Wave Server

Google promise to let developers improve the code and they did. They promised federation for Wave, meaning that anyone could take the Wave code and run their own private or public wave server. Google took the first step towards the full federation of its real-time communication platform by announcing that the developer sandbox version of Google Wave is open for experimental federation.

Let’s be clear: this is a very early stage test of federating the Google Wave code onto non-Google servers. It only affects the developer sandbox, meaning that the preview version of Wave that most people are using is not a part of this test. However, it is a big step in making it a widespread product, rather than only a tool of early adopters. Businesses and individuals can begin testing their own local copy of Wave. This is just the beginning of Google’s legitimate attempt to upend email as the standard for web correspondence and communication.

If you’re a developer with a sandbox account and want to get started, Google has published some installation instructions for a Java version. Be warned though: there will be a lot of changes occurring over the next few weeks, many of them based on developer feedback.

video search

Would you like to find more cat videos than the ones you find in youtube. If that is possible sure…

Well videosurf is a very smart video search. Give it a try.