Back in 1990—top—Shanghai looked like a lovely green city. Only twenty years later—bottom—you can film the second part of Blade Runner in it.

Shanghai has always been an important place. Located on the Yangtze river’s mouth, this Chinese city was already a world commerce hub back in the 30s. But it wasn’t until Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms that the city exploded. Only fifteen years later, it became the largest cargo port in the world. Twenty years later, it’s the megalopolis you are seeing in this photo.

“Quintetto is an installation based on the study of the casual movement of fish used as input for the production of sounds. The piece is composed of 5 vertical aquariums holding a fish in each as a video camera records its movements which are then translated into sounds through a computer software. As the fish moves casually up and down through the aquarium, the movements are captured into digital sounds signals. With 5 different instruments the fish become the conductors of a live concert.”

-Ricardo Hernandez

It’s funny how engineeers will see one thing and designers will see another.

One balloon and a couple of evenings after work — Dyson engineers show how inducement and entrainment works on the Air Multiplier™ fan. If you watch closely, the balloon is sucked into the airflow from behind and to the side of the fan; this is inducement and entrainment of the air. Lots of experimentation with different sized balloons and other objects produced this video. And although edited to include their successful attempts, the video is made from completely genuine footage.

Find out more at: http://www.dyson.com/fans

Just read this article – ‘40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them‘ – on mashable.com. Twitter is becoming more and more popular, I’ve been using it for a while now (twitter.com/edshek) but it’s only been the last few months it’s hit the news and, more importantly, everyday folk.

People will find their own use for it, either personal or professional, but it strikes me this is not going to be a flash in the pan, hence brands giving it careful thought in terms of TOV and content sharing.

Why not follow dtail on Twitter?

For those of you who aren’t convinced what Twitter can offer you, have a read of this ‘get started guide’ courtesy of Tom Coombs (twitter.com/tcoombs): http://tinyurl.com/dcev7n or try this movie:

Twitter in plain English:  http://tinyurl.com/384n2f

What do you think? Do you ‘get’ Twitter? Pointless or has a significant point? Please leave your comments…

Some of the coolest new surfboards aren’t being made in Hawaii or even California, they’re being built in London, yes, good ol’ cold and foggy London. Swami’s Surf Co. is set to become the Saville Row tailor of Surfing with their extremely limited bespoke surfboards crafted by some of the greatest shapers who will build the boards (from $1,200) to your specifications. They’ve also teamed up with luxury boardshort outfitter, Orlebar Brown, on a limited edition boardshort collection.

This retro-style design scheme celebrates M&S’s 125 year anniversary. Some of the designs, like the jams and fruit jellies, were taken directly from the archives. Other ranges were inspired by archive designs and vintage M&S logos. Visit their lovely site here.

“The Nation Magazine Cover Archive (NMCA) is a non-commercial ‘hobbysite’ devoted to helping keep inspirational magazine design alive. These are strange days for editorial designers with homogenisation and closure of many well known (and loved) titles and independent publishers emerging to fill the gaps. Just don’t forget to vote with your feet! Support quality magazines. Don’t let them die.” — The Management

Loving this blog, crazy new and retro cameras spotted in Tokyo – more at Tokyo Camera Style

Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.

I found this fascinating to see how a minimalist designer will reflect their minimalist nature through food and recipes. All done with minimal ingredient, minimal process, minimal cooking time and minimal everything. It sounds simple and yummy, check it out at minimal recipes.