I am speechless. No, not really because I am about to go on. Take a look at the upcoming Fujifilm FinePix x100 digital camera (expected release: early 2011). Wow. Did the designers get this right? Yes. They did. Even down to the screw hole in the trigger button that accepts an old school cable release! Amazing.

My second thought after “WOW!” was that of of disappointment in that it has a fixed 23mm (135 equivalent: 35mm) f2 prime lens meaning that you can’t zoom or change the lens. I am over that disappointment remembering that sometimes the limitations of some things is what makes them great. Everything else that they thought of will make up for that (and the lens sounds super anyway). Like a large CMOS sensor. Solid metal top controls. A hybrid viewfinder and a small built-in flash as well as a full TTL hot shoe. Fuji GETS IT.

I just bought a new Olympus Pen E-P2 and I really like it despite it is missing a couple of features that I am baffled that they left off (built-in flash and built-in viewfinder). I do love that I can use my Voigtlander lenses on it though. HOWEVER, if the fine people at Fuji would like me to be a tester for what I think could be the camera to watch in 2011, hey, it is the least I could do. SEND ME ONE! Pretty please? Seriously, anyone know anyone at Fuji? Anyone?

*tap tap* This thing on…?

This is a pretty neat project by Christien Meindertsma. She spent three years researching all the products made from a single pig. Pig 05049 to be exact. Some of those products include ammunition, medicine, photo paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, cigarettes, conditioner and even bio diesel. The results were put into book form with pictures of all of the items from that single pig shown at 1:1 scale. Pretty freakin’ cool.

You can buy it here.

This project also won an INDEX award.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How could you not love this Threadless Tee by Thomas De Santis?

I have always been asked, “Why ‘Big Plastic Head’?” And I’m all, “I don’t know. It just sounds badass and is easy to remember.” And then they are all, “Pft. Whatever.” And then they never ask about it again. Nor return to the site. (Unless ‘they’ are my wife and brother-in-law. They are like groupies. Seriously. Can’t shake ‘em.)

I guess next time I’ll use the “Name My Design Company Machine” from Breadline. It does a pretty good job except there are too many animals and not enough body parts. (One time it came up Green Banana Designs. Not bad, actually…)

(Via Draplin)

Lots of inspiration to be found over at The Book Cover Archive. Looks pretty new with only about 800 covers at the time of this writing. It actually should be called the MODERN Book Cover Archive as there are no books before 1981. Hardly an archive but still pretty good.

Pitchfork has dug up the crappiest album covers of 2008. I don’t know. I must admit that here are some really lazy/awful designs this year but I think the one above could be one of the BEST ALBUM COVERS OF ALL TIME!!1! OMG!!.

Here is yet another way to ruin your day’s productivity, durn it. Ted Staunton’s 78 RPM Record Labels. There are labels going all the way back to the early 1900′s and proceed up to the ’60′s. I myself would show you all the ones I like but I am trying to get some work done if that is OK with you. Sheesh.

OK. Here’s one:

Via OmieWise at Metafilter.

All bike racks are not created equal and this one in Colorado is one of my favorites. I bet the designer is a big Claus Oldenburg fan but without the budget. In my house the tool above is not a potato masher but a guacamole masher. We eat a lot of Mexican food. Seriously

Via Copenhagenzine

Yes! Wolfdog over at Metafilter just added a great post on two transistor radio collections. Then, in the comments, Slack-a-gogo sweetened the pot with two more links. This can definitely be a time waster. Someone tell me how it turns out ’cause I gots work to do, durn it. Click at your own risk:

Radio Walla transistor radio collection
Sarah’s Transistor Radios
Transistor Radio’s Flickr stream
More Fifties Radios