design

Trulia is a real estate search and information service. Users can search for real estate by zip code, or by filling in various search parameters like size, cost, and building type. Trulia also integrates several social features like a way to track buying trends, and a real-estate focused question and answer service.

Today, they've teamed up with Stamen Design, the same folks who do the eye candy for Digg Labs, to create a really neat way to look at housing trends called HindSight. Their new tool is a mix between historical real estate data, and a heat map to … Read more

Thursday morning was a good day for CNET Car Tech editors--we got to drive the 2008 Scion xB and 2008 Scion xD. Even since Scion was born (some say fully-formed, bursting out of Toyota's head), the xB has been a polarizing car: some hate it, some love it. Whatever your opinion, you have to admit that the car is unique. But the xB has been around for three years, and Scion needs to keep it fresh. The new xB has a smoother body and more powerful engine. It's also about a foot longer, with plenty of rear seat … Read more

CORONADO, Calif.--The car of the future will apparently have more in common with a kitchen appliance than a lawn mower.

"The future is going to be an automobile that looks like a two-ton Cuisinart," said Josh Wolfe, managing partner of Lux Capital, at the Future in Review conference Wednesday. Wolfe was part of a panel discussion entitled "The Future of Energy on the Nanoscale," in which panelists focused mostly on battery technologies and how those will evolve for cars and other devices.

The night before, researcher J. Craig Venter suggested that fuels derived from algae … Read more

I'm a sucker for data visualizations. I waxed poetic about Swivel, the site that's attempting to make data charts accessible and useful, and the things that are coming out of Digg's labs from Stamen Design continue to innovate and change the way users can interact with social sites.

This afternoon I've been glued to "Diggspose" , a mashup made in Adobe Flash that combines Snap.com's preview shots of Web pages with popular and upcoming stories on Digg.com. The result is a moving picture show of story thumbnails you can click on and … Read more

Just like Yankees jerseys, this is the sort of thing you should keep out of Boston. It's called the SLD, or Suspicious Looking Device, and it's manufactured by Junkfunnel Labs. It has all kinds of fun features, like a character display, buzzer, plenty of LEDs, and touch and distance sensors. Table of Malcontents explains that it's actually Ghostbusters-inspired. (Side note: Why has no one made a video mashup of Ghostbusters and the Great Mooninite Bomb Scare of 2007?)

According to the Junkfunnel Labs product page, "the only function of the Suspicious Looking device is to appear … Read more

The 'C' in ICFF stands for 'contemporary,' and indeed, you're not going to see any Chippendales or mahogany armoires on the show floor. So it was a tad bizarre to see an old-school Adirondack outdoor chair among all the experimental pieces. As it turns out, however, this chair by Douglas Homer for Loll Designs isn't your average piece of patio furniture. That's because it glows in the dark.

This line of furniture is appropriately titled "AfterGlow," and in addition to the Adirondack, Loll has also designed an ottoman and an armless double seat. These could … Read more

One of my favorite pieces on the show floor at ICFF, which is headquartered at NYC's Jacob Javits Convention Center through Tuesday (and on Tuesday it's open to the public) was this piece, which is actually a project made by Philadelphia University sophomore Gary Bugno as part of the school's industrial design program. It holds three remote controls. That's what it does. And it tells you what it does, too. It might not be quite as ingenious as Sheriff John "Wayne" Falcone's holster-like display of five remotes at once, but it's quite … Read more

Do you want to be the next John Lasseter? Is Hayao Miyazaki your hero? iClone Studio Edition 2.0 updates the feature-heavy, template-based 3D animation studio aimed at the amateur animator. It's a must-see app if you're trying to break into the camera side of movies and animation, or if you just want to play around with 3D animation without having to draw everything from scratch.

The installation is a bit of a drag, with a mandatory registration that also scans your computer's hardware. If your machine is tall enough for the ride, you can get access to an extended trial version with a few more templates than the regular trial. Once you're in, though, iClone really gets down to business.… Read more

Danish usability consultant Jakob Nielsen earned his unofficial title of "Web usability guru" as an early promoter of standardized Web design. You can thank him, in part, for blue links. He prompted a lasting, vocal debate by distinguishing between print and online approaches to eye appeal, readability and writing style. (For example, see "History of print standards.")

Unafraid of controversy, he continues to tout astonishing concepts such as "Why you only need to test with five users" and is known for his strong--some would say "extreme"--opinions on minimalism and uniformity.

BBC News on Monday published an article detailing Nielsen's new call … Read more