Blog Those Butts Off. Literally. The Walkstation; Computer +Treadmill

Being a blogger, or any job that keeps one 'tied to the computer', is a very sedentary lifestyle for the most part. Big butts, hemorrhoids and a lack of a social life can be some of the side effects. But now, with the advent of the Walkstation, a collaboration between The Mayo Clinic's Dr. James Levine and respected office furniture manufacturer, Steelcase, bloggers and computer geeks can actually get a work out while typing away.


Above: Dr. James Levine with his Walkstation

The Walkstation is the fully integrated combination of an electric height-adjustable worksurface with an exclusively engineered, low speed commercial grade treadmill. And it’s the first product in the entirely new FitWork™ category of products from Details designed to bring healthy habits to sedentary workers while they are actually working

Five years ago, Details, a subsidiary of the office-furniture manufacturer Steelcase, introduced a height-adjustable desk that allows people to stand while they work. Taking the concept a step further, the company recently unveiled the Walkstation, a height-adjustable desk connected to a treadmill. Office employees can now conduct meetings or peck away on their keyboards while using a specially designed treadmill that tops out at 2 miles per hour. The goal, says Details president Bud Klipa, is not to replace a trip to the gym, but to promote movement in the sedentary office environment, in turn creating a healthier workforce.The company developed the product in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic’s Dr. James Levine, who studies energy expended during routine daily activities. The curved desk comes in five different sizes, with a height-adjustment range of 241¼4'' to 52''. Priced at about $4,000, it is only available commercially.



The treadmill plugs in to a standard 110-volt outlet and features a noise-reducing belt, a high-torque motor designed for low speeds over long durations, a safety key, and a console that displays pace, time, distance, and calories burned. Klipa says first-time users are often surprised they can work while walking. “People tend to look at it and scratch their heads at first,” he says. “There really isn’t anything else like it on the market.”


Treadmill

Display console shows speed, calories burned, time and distance. Console may be visible or stored

2.0 mph maximum motor

High torque motor to withstand the rigors of slow speeds and possible higher weights for long periods of time

Whisper quiet for the office environment

Uses 3-8 amps depending on walking speed

Series 7 Height-AdjusTable Worksurface

• Height adjustment on the treadmill key pad
• Worksurface proportioned for limited reach
• Urethane High Profile edge spans entire front edge

Details, A Steelcase Company, Grand Rapids, Mich

Learn all about it here.

Anke Weiss' Working Sterling Silver Security Tags

Extra ID jewellery by Dutch designer Anke Weiss imitates the security tags attached to items of clothing in shops to prevent them from being stolen. The pieces are made from sterling silver and include actual security alarm parts.



Source: Dezeen

Designer Anke Weiss also makes one of my favorite rugs, the snow-angel rug. Made of sheepskin, it has a snow angel shaved within it:


To see more of Dutch Designer Anke Weiss' work, visit his site.

Hip, Luxurious & Really Remote: Posada de Mike Rapu Is Now Open

Located on mythical Easter Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, explora en Rapa Nui –Posada de Mike Rapu– is now open.




Around for only a few months, it's already one of the hottest and hippest destinations. A luxury hotel in a remote and beautiful location that offers guests some very interesting tours; choose between 5 or more different explorations that are selected according to climatic conditions, guests’ preferences, length and difficulty.





The group size maximum is 8 people, along with a bilingual guide who brings along all necessary equipment.

Important facts:
•All rooms have air conditioning.
•The nearest hospital is 5 hours away in Santiago.
•They do not offer horseback riding or scuba diving.

the climate:
With an excellent climate year-round, the average temperature is 21ºC (69.8ºF), with temperatures of 28ºC (82.4 ºF) during summer (January—February) and 14ºC (57.2 ºF) to 22ºC (71.6 ºF) in winter (June—August).




According to a nice in-depth review on hotelchatter.com:

"The hotel is set high up on a mound towards the south side of the island, a few kilometers away from the town. It's built to blend in, with spacious, rounded architecture, large stone walls and pillars of volcanic rock, wooden roofs and a covered bar and breakfast area. Rough and ready yet still reeking style, from its unpainted wooden furniture and bumpy walls to its unkempt grassy surroundings and stepping-stone paths.

There are only 30 rooms, all comfortable, complete and gorgeous. Huge, full-length windows from which you can watch the sun rise over the ocean. Waterfall showers and baths the size of swimming pools.

...the WiFi's dodgy and there's no tv, the rates are high but this price includes all food, drink, tours and transfers: 3 nights in a double room costs US$1,794 or US$2,334 per person, depending on room. From July 2008, rates rise to US$2,097 or US$2,730."

The hotel is located on a hill in the Te Miro Oone sector, on 9.6 hectares of land that faces the sea. The hotel is situated in the southwestern zone of the island, 5.6 km from Hanga Roa – the only town on the island – and it acts as a base for exploring this attractive and mysterious island, home to a culture whose origins and evolution remain unexplained.



Volcanic rock, native to the island and always used by the island’s inhabitants in construction, and wood from the mainland are the principal materials.



The hotel has 30 guestrooms that spread out from central areas that house reception, living areas, a bar, kitchen and services. Next to the common areas is the Casa de Baños Hare Vai, with a pool, massage salon and open-air Jacuzzis.





How do you get there? Fly to Santiago via an international flight. From Santiago, travelers must take a 5-hour flight to Easter Island. You can also arrive to Easter Island flying from Tahiti (Papeete). The flight takes 5 hours. explora staff will greet and transfer guests to explora en Rapa Nui.

Go here for booking, rates and more information.

It's A Pantone Party! More Pantone Inspired Products

A ways back I showed you some of the fun products that are either made by Pantone or inspired by the Pantone Matching System (PMS colors, the universal numerical system for matching color inks).

After scouring the net, there are a few more new products from Pantone Universe as well as some unusual piece of art, shoes and more inspired by pantone. Check these out.

Brand new!! Pantone eyewear!




With several new collections that include optical metal, optical semi-rimless, sun metal, sun acetate, and sun sport all are customizable with ArmOne (removable pantone color temple arms).


Arm One lets you pick your own color arms for the glasses!






See all the eyewear collections here.

Pantone paints for home office and more:

Need to find the perfect shade of paint for your design project or home? Simply scroll through Pantone's virtual palette and immerse yourself in over 3,000 designer paint colors to select the one you desire. Whether searching by PANTONE® number or by color family, you can fins a sahde to match anything and everything you want.


Pantone Matched Carpeting: Now that your paint is perfect, then how about carpet?
The Mohawk Group has partnered with Pantone to provide quality carpet in pantone shades:

Dowload a pdf about Mohawk Carpets here.

Pantone Stationery products:

Pantone notebooks, card cases and more. Available here.

The Pantone Flight Stool:
The amazing British design team, Barber Osgerby, pays tribute to Pantone by producing a multi-dimensional chip!

These birch stools from Isokon Plus are available in a range of colors from the warmer end of the spectrum--Yellow, Pink, Red and Orange.

Above: The Stools at a London exhibit

Lawrence Herbert, founder and innovator of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® will sign 20 of this limited edition... 50 total!
Get them while they’re still available!

Above: From Sakai designs comes the Yoko single sofa. Initially designed for Tokyo nightclubs and cafes, it is now available in six limited edition pantone colors.
Buy it here.

Pantone Sheepskin Rugs!

The patagonian sheep skin rugs dyed in 3 pantone shades come in cool blues (pantone Rug I) and warm reds and yellows (pantone Rug II). Made in Argentina by the Gerscovich Brothers, produced by Sundayland and are available for purchase here.

Colorcalm™ “Skies,” the first in a series of unique, color DVD’s produced by Atmos in association with Pantone, Inc. enhances your surroundings and improves your well-being.

It is a continuous display of clouds with 28 color backgrounds and audio variations. It is designed to soothe your senses.

jetBlue Airways will have a Colorcalm channel on their fleets with DVD capaibilities. From the first of the year through the end of March, you can control your environment, even in the air! See and Buy Colorcalm here.

Pantone Flash drives:
Express your personality and store your creations in style. These durable, aluminum design thumb drives allow you to store your digital photos, music files, business documents, and more on an ultra-small Hi-speed USB flash drive.

Available in 14 PANTONE Colors, these compact and portable external drives are Mac and PC compatible and feature a lifetime warranty and downloadable security software.
For corporate orders requiring company logo engraving, please call us at 888-PANTONE (726-8663) Get them here.

Pantone Toys:
The japanese toy company, Medicom, produced a series of Pantone Kubricks in various colors and styles...if you can find them:



See what's available here at Yellow Spiral.
Or Rotofugi.
Or the Medicom store.

Pantone Russian Nesting Dolls:
Still looking for a manufacturer are designer Yar Rassadin's totally cool Pantone Matryoshka (the russian nesting dolls):



Pantone tea mugs, coffee mugs, espresso cups and dinnerware:

Choose from ten different mug colors here.

Buy the dinnerware and mugs here.




Buy the 4 pantone espresso cups or 4 tea mugs here.


Suck UK's My Cuppa has been a popular product in the UK and is catching on here in the US. Available in tea or coffee styles, the clever cup has pantone chips representing different degrees of brews:


Buy them here.


UNIQLO's pantone Cashmere Sweaters and T-shirts:


the PANTONE Cashmere Collection, is offered in 20 official PANTONE Colors and comes in three styles, including a crewneck, Henley-neck and v-neck.

Last fall, in conjunction with the UNIQLO London store opening in November, UNIQLO has teamed up with Pantone, world-renowned authority on color, for the second time, for a special collection of PANTONE-inspired cashmere. The PANTONE Color Collection of 100% cashmere sweaters offers two styles for men including a crewneck and a cardigan, and for women there is a deep v-neck. All styles are offered in a palette of 20 official PANTONE Colors. The PANTONE Cashmere Collection sweaters will retail at the affordable price of $129.50 and will be sold exclusively at the UNIQLO New York Flagship, the UT store, and UNIQLO Japan. UNIQLO’s first collaboration with Pantone was the launch of a line of PANTONE T-shirts earlier this year.


Even better, get 20% off your sweater here!

Above: The pantone T-shirts and their fun packaging

Knit Caps:
Pantone Universe and CA4LA in Japan present some of the hottest caps in the most trend worthy colors. Available at CA4LA stores in Japan

soon available here!

Nike's Pantone Dunks:
Need some kicks to match your sweater and Tees? Nike quietly release a series of Dunks inspired by Pantone color chips. The colors released include this Paradise Aqua, Flamingo Pink, a University Blue, a Pine Green and a Red version. These are amazing with the color-blocking, cool pantone chips insole and the gum outsole:



Buy them here.

The Gopher is an innovative golf accessory designed to provide a single convenient location for your golf ball, divot repair tool, ball marker and two tees. The compact body is made of durable plastic and can be molded in any pantone color!

Order it here.

Softbank's Pantone Phones in japan:

Company most commonly known as Vodafone (but Softbank in Japan) has released a line of Technicolor mobile phones. Offered: are the SoftBank 812SH Sharp: in different shades, based on the Pantone color chart.

see them here.

Mango and Pantone, the PANTONE bag:




This fabulous bag comes in 12 tones for 7 days a week: sand, yellow, chewing gum, chocolate, emerald, pink, green, magenta, peach, azure, steel, jeans.
Buy your Mango pantone bag here!

Pantone Art:
Daniel Eatock's Pantone Pen prints:

Daniel Eatock sets his latest pen print experiment in the second ALSO* commission of The Aram Gallery.

Curator Daniel Charny describes the work:

Eatock’s predictive construct removes the artist’s hand from the pen, reverses the role of the paper, and allows its characteristics and positioning to become the most influential aspect of the work. Balanced on their nibs each of a set of 288 felt tip pens releases ink that expands into the layers of a ream of paper, making each layer of this multi-print different. This predicted variety is translated into a gambling tension for the consumer that chooses to purchase an unknown result on an unseen layer.

Dimensions: SRA1 640 x 900mm Edition Size: 73 original prints

The artist's site.

Appleblueseagreen's Pantone Chips on Canvas:


from AppleBlueSeaGreen.

Associate Art Director Jamie Prokell for Blueprint, the shelter magazine that tried to bring the Martha Stewart lifestyle to a younger market( and ceased regular publication with its January/February 2008 issue) created this fabulous pantone wrapping paper for a baby shower:

I wish it were available for purchase!

A Pantone Manet masterpiece:
Tim Fraser Brown created a reproduction of Édouard Manet's 'Bar at the Folies Bergere' made entirely of old Pantone chips.
Over 5,000 unused chips were painstakingly colour matched and and stuck down over four long nights, and acted as centre piece for a boozey party in their design studio.





The best kept secret?
The previous collection of pantone bags, backpacks, passport holders, travel kits and more (see below) are all on clearance now!






In addition to all this fun stuff, Pantone has many books, tools and even a social network.
Check them out at the following links:
Pantone
Pantone Colorstrology
Pantone Universe

UPDATE: More new collaborations available here.
And the Gap Pantone Pop Up Shop here.