Red

Red, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Globe Lamp, by Verner Panton.

Collage Sketches

Collage Sketches, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

That's an interesting way of concepting, courtesy of Poul Henningsen.

Woodwork

Woodwork, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Ended up spending most of an afternoon at the Danish Museum of Art and Design, and was duly impressed. Good collection, including the special ones with wood artisans skills on display.

Got Roof?

Got Roof?, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

The Opera definately has enough cover for bad weather. Pretty cool.

Movers

Movers, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Narrow staircases seem to be the norm, as the mover got this kind of equipment at hand. Furniture design's outgrown the old spaces, perhaps?

Second Breakfast

Second Breakfast, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

@Emmerys

Copenhagen

Copenhagen, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Got back from one of the kingdoms around here in the afternoon. Four night city break did us good.

Next Stop CPH

Next Stop CPH, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

As SAS/Blue1 were practically offering a ticket (as long as the points were used this year), off we go to the land of Smørrebrød and classic design furniture. I won't bother to take the computer there, so pictures will come once we're back on new year's eve.

History Lesson

History Lesson, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Mainly focusing on Scandinavia, covering the last 4000 years or so, with some help from Wikipedia. All started from the innocent question why people on Åland speak so exclusively Swedish, even they politically are part of Finland. The two upper squiggles are supposed to represent migration patterns between Sweden and Finland, in the middle we have a timeline and below that a grander Scandinavia-Russia-perspective squiggle.

Options

Options, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Locating a station after meeting out in Espoo.

Frustration-Free

Frustrtion-Free, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

The first Kindle had a screen issue, and is now on it's way back to meet it's maker. Good work from Amazon with sending a replacement in just two full workdays. The return procedure could have been a bit smoother, though, as I now had to jump back and forth between helpful Customer Service e-mails and the returns page in my Amazon account. Clash of automated and (surprisingly) human returns and warranty systems, perhaps.

Live on the Interweb

Live on the Interweb, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Fjord published my presentation on how Apple's doing in the Japanese mobile ecosystem! Big thank you's go to Christian, Iñaki, Maija and the whole Helsinki office crew!

Semvisio! 2010

Semvisio! 2010, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Presentations of the MIND Innovation class groups, last Tuesday. Lot's of good ideas, and naturally some not so good. The venue itself was nicely experimental, and we might adapt some tricks for future events we organize at LINK.

Ni Hao Tongji

Ni Hao Tongji, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Last Tuesday afternoon hanging around in Design Factory waiting for things to start happening. The direct 24/7 video link to the Aalto-Tongji Design Factory in Shanghai they have set up in the cafeteria is pretty neat. Some people were taking pictures of us from there too.

Snowed In

Snowed In, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Electronic Neighborhood

Electronic Neighborhood, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

The home 'hood, in glorious circuitry.

Electronic City

Electronic City, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Clever Helsinki map spotted in Sanomatalo. Made entirely out of old circuit boards and electronic components. Could perhaps have found something more plastic and artificial for the sea as well, but good even so.

Merging

Merging, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Give it a few more days of this weather, and it'll be impossible to tell where this pier ends and the sea begins.

Applauding the Effort

Applauding the Effort, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

The local dentist office had done their best to entertain nervous patients. Pretty impressive in thought, if not so much in execution. They said some regular customers had been asked for a screen running movies instead, which makes one wonder how much time people tend to spend in the chair.

Don't Google It

Don't Google It, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Spotted in a clothing store downtown.

Safety Lighting

Safety Lighting, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

That's what it says, or perhaps Emergency Lighting would be more correct. Some objects turn cool as they age, some can be perceived as dangerous.

Design-Led Innovation Seminar

Design-Led Innovation Seminar, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Heard some good talks by Nick Leon (Design London), Rama Gheerawo (RCA) and Onny Eikhaug (Norwegian Design Council) today at the Design-Led Innovation seminar. The subjects revolved around the theme of user-centered (or universal) design, which is pretty much the standard fare for us at work; no big revelations, but very interesting case studies with cool results and methods. What they forgot to mention, though, was that users always are good at complaining about features in interviews, but rarely good at envisioning solutions. You've got to read between the lines to get to the good stuff.

Life With Kindle

Life With Kindle, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Having spent some quality time with the Kindle these last weeks, here are some notes:

-Spontaneous reading has increased, it's easy to pick up, read a few pages and put down again in any situation. The downside is that some texts require a bit of time and thought from time to time, and reading can become fragmented with the Kindle.

-Notes and bookmarks are great. Dead simple to use, and all underlines quotes are saved to a separate folder in the main menu. Easy to pick fitting ones to presentations and such.

-The browser is kind of clunky, but I didn't really expect to use the Kindle for surfing the web anyway. Still, even gmail is a bit of a pain to use.

-Most people who have held the Kindle try to make some sweep gesture on the screen...

Old and New PEN

Old and New PEN, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

DigiExpo was if possible even more lame than SkiExpo when it came to the exhibitors. I mainly go there for the cameras anyway, but this year Nikon had scaled down and Canon was totally absent. Not much to see at Oly either, though they had dug out some old PENs to sit in with the newer ones.

Makia Stage

Makia Stage, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Luckily SkiExpo had something more than just a few planks on display. The Makia stage had some decent acts, and the snowboard kids trying the small rail nextdoor were entertaining too. And of course always nice to meet old friends who get to ski way more than I do.

Heads in a Row

Heads in a Row, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

SkiExpo time again. Not much to say about the items on display. While Rocker skis are interesting, and would be nice to try a pair in good powder, they don't really tell you a lot just lined up against a wall in a fair center.

Hello Kindle

Hello Kindle, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

New tool for actually getting some reading done on the train to work every day. Arrived today, so not much to say about the user experience yet, except hooking up to the Kindle Store was a breeze (as it should be, Amazon gets money that way). First up is Design Driven Innovation by Roberto Verganti. Thank's to Valerie about the heads up on that.

Stylish

Stylish, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Stilleben on top of a mailbox downtown.

Airplane View

Airplane View, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Well, if I had cropped it tighter, it might have passed for one.

Street Artist

Street Artist, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Some very good (and legal) graffiti around in Kalasatama, and more being made all the time it seemed.

Urban Garden

Urban Garden, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

One of Dodo's urban gardening experiments down in Kalasatama. Nice effort, but I still don't see what's so new and hype-worthy about growing stuff in the city.

Stuck

Stuck, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

I like trams. However, they do have a weakness in that they don't move without electricity. A large part of the downtown grid was shut down because of today, leaving lot's of helpless hulks stranded on the tracks.

Helsinki Tram Mayhem II

Helsinki Tram Mayhem II, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Most of the city tram lines pass through here. Except tonight they don't. Luckily the snow that was promised for tonight haven't showed up in any significant quantity, at least yet, to further spice things up.

Helsinki Tram Mayhem I

Helsinki Tram Mayhem I, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Some truck had pulled down the overhead tram cables at the beginning of rush hour in the busiest tram crossing intersection downtown. Nobody got electrocuted, apparently, but traffic is a mess.

Seeing Double

Seeing Double, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Someone trying to reinvent the dual core computer, or something. Odd.

Design Following Function

Design Following Function, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Pilot boat docked at Katajanokka. It has a straightforward task of getting people out to sea and aboard a much larger vessel in any weather, year around. Plenty of nice design details around to support that work, and not much unnecessary around. Looks like user driven design to me.

Flag Shadow

Flag Shadow, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Future Fisherman?

Future Fisherman?, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Sizing Up the Customers

Sizing Up the Customers, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

The 14-45 lens performed pretty well today, considering the harsh light and shadows, moving crowds and shooting at arms length. The image stabilisation sure helps. This picture was shot at 1/30 of a second at full zoom, and is still reasonably sharp.

Sales Pitch

Sales Pitch, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Herring Market time. Got us some mustard sauce herring, which will be gone soon, and sweet dark bread. Good it goes on for the week, so there's more to be had.

The Menu

The Menu, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Visual points to Nikka among this bunch.

Whisky Tasting @Punavuoren Ahven, Again

Whisky Tasting @Punavuoren Ahven, Again, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Once more a fine evening accompanied by fine spirits:

-Nikka Black Pure Malt, nice but a bit thin in this company. Might be good alone, though.

-Kilchoman Summer Release 2010, tasted an looked young but has promise for the future, maybe in 5-10 years this new distillery can be great.

-Laphroaig Triple Wood, pretty heavy on the sherry notes, with a long finish

-Bruichladdich Cask 1988/2003, amazingly complex and tasty, too bad this is a restaurant only poison here in Finland. Would get one otherwise.

-Ardbeg Corryvreckan, hard hitting and a bit one sided.

Gorilla in Action

Goilla in Action, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

First impressions on the Gorillapod were pretty good. The legs could be a bit longer for wrapping around some places, but then again that would sacrifice portability. Impressively stable for its small size, and feels bombproof once properly in place. Standing by itself like a classic tripod the thing's a bit flimsy though, even with the GF1 14-45mm combo. A full scale dslr might be a bit too much.

Gorillapod

Gorillapod, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

As the evenings are getting darker (again), I felt it was finally time to get a Gorillapod. As th GF1 isn't the lightest thing around even it is small in size, I decided to go for the dslr model. Let's see when I have time to go out and try it.

Evening

Evening, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

A video where nothing really happens, unless you count the seabirds getting a bit rowdy around the 10 second mark. Sometimes that's all the entertainment needed.

Megapolis 2025

Megapolis 2025, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Sat through part of the talks at the grandiosely named Megapolis 2025 seminar today. The theme, cities and their development and evolution is an interesting and important subject for sure. Adam Greenfield, pictured here, had interesting examples on alternative ways of mapping the urban environment, and Photographer Sami Sillanpää did some pretty eye opening reporting from Chinas urban explosion. These were pretty much the highlights for me, some of the speakers, which shall remain unnamed, clearly didn't have the experience (or perhaps the content) to go on stage and say something important, unfortunately.

Colourful

Colourful, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Drop

Drop, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

That's the kind of imagery they sell canned air fresheners with. When you're out there smelling it for real, you know why.

Don't Eat

Don't Eat, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Having a rain-fresh early autumn forest to visit nearby is a pretty good thing with Helsinki life. Seems the berry and mushroom pickers had been out in force already, since only rotten and poisonous ones were left.

Tracks

Tracks, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Worms have been busy here.

Parma Ham and Rucola

Parma Ham and Rucola, originally uploaded by Rollofunk.

Managed to feed five hungry guests last night.