47941951
submission
fangmcgee writes:
We doubt if a phone call to PETA would result in a protest response to a new “fur” coat made entirely from millions of male chest hairs (yes, it’s true and no, men were not injured in the making of this product). UK dairy company Arla commissioned the coat for a series of parody advertisements in support of a new chocolate milk drink aimed at men for the brand Wing-Co. The “Man-fur Coat” is said to be “a wake-up call for the nation’s gents. A way to encourage them to readopt the values of assured ‘men’s men’ from yesteryear who would laugh nonchalantly in the face of adversity and be proud of their abundant manliness”.
47935519
submission
fangmcgee writes:
No power socket? No problem. That mass of incandescent gas in the sky has you covered. But unless you want to feel like a walking gadget, harnessing the power of the sun requires more than slapping photovoltaic panels onto your person. Wearable Solar, a nascent clothing line founded by Gelderland Valoriseer's Christiaan Holland, fashion designer Pauline van Dongen, and solar-panel specialist Gertjan Jongerden, seeks to merge functionality and aesthetics in a manner that's as appealing to behold as it is to use. The team's prototypes—a coat and a dress—feature a series of solar-powered flaps that unfurl in the sunlight. Alternatively, the sections fold away "invisibly" when not in use.
47856709
submission
fangmcgee writes:
Japanese scientists have genetically engineered silkworms to produce fluorescent fibers in shades of red, orange, and green for a series of glow-in-the-dark wedding gowns.
46540895
submission
fangmcgee writes:
After remarks emerged that Abercrombie & Fitch would rather destroy its clothes than see them on poor people, Greg Karber decided to take action. The L.A. writer-filmmaker has started a campaign to distribute the store’s garments to the homeless. In a YouTube video released on Monday, Karber is seen scouring the “douchebag section” of his local Goodwill for Abercrombie-branded merchandise. He then heads to Skid Row in East Los Angeles, home to one of the largest populations of homeless people in the United States, to hand them out.
46011933
submission
fangmcgee writes:
Extruded plastic baubles not your thing? Rapid-prototype firm Hot Pop Factory just unveiled the world’s first three-dimensionally printed wooden necklaces. Named after the northern forest, the limited-edition “Boreal” collection, uses recycled cherrywood filaments instead of the typical powdered nylon. Mixed with a binding polymer, the material emanates the “slightest scent of charred wood” during the 42-minute printing process, according to founders Matt Compeau and Bi-Ying Miao, who use a Makerbot Replicator for their fabrications. The resulting curvature and heat-induced striations, much like fingerprints or the rings of a tree, are unique to each individual piece.
45811563
submission
fangmcgee writes:
An eight-story facility that housed several garment factories and shops collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing at least 96 people, injuring more than 800, and trapping a yet-unknown number under the mass of concrete rubble, according to officials. Firefighters and emergency personnel dug through the ruins of the Rana Plaza building in Savar, a suburb of the South Asian nation's capital of Dhaka, just five months after a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory killed at least 112 garment workers in the worst industrial disaster the country had ever seen. The latest accident comes at time when questions are being raised about the safety issues that plague Bangladesh's booming garment industry, which is second only to China's in terms of exports.
45568245
submission
fangmcgee writes:
When Gap told the world to "be true to your hue," it probably didn't have Indonesia's waterways in mind. Yet the retail giant, which also owns the Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, and Athleta labels, is among a raft of brands that have turned the Citarum River in West Java into an unnaturally florid chemical cocktail, according to Greenpeace. Published on Wednesday, Toxic Threads: Polluting Paradise details how the company's business relations with P.T. Gistex, who runs the polluting facility, has transformed a once-pristine watershed into a sewer of toxic, hormone-disrupting, and highly persistant substances.
45548303
submission
Damien1972 writes:
Popularization of the world's strangest coffee may be imperiling a a suite of small mammals in Indonesia, according to a new study in Small Carnivore Conservation. The coffee, known as kopi luwak (kopi for coffee and luwak for the civet), is made from whole coffee beans that have passed through the gut of the animal. The coffee is apparently noted for its distinct taste, though some have argued it is little more than novelty. Now, this burgeoning kopi luwak industry is creating "civet farms," whereby civets are captured from the wild and kept in cages to eat and crap out coffee beans.
44629369
submission
fangmcgee writes:
You thought the smartphone wars were bad? Just wait till the battle heats up over the smartwatch. As Samsung goes public with its plans for a wristwatch-style computer, and rumors of an Apple “iWatch” hits fever pitch, the giants of the tech world have just begun to fight. Not that companies aren’t already competing for real estate on your arm, of course. Sony released an Android-powered model last April. The Pebble watch, which raised a record-smashing $10 million on Kickstarter, began shipping in January. And let’s not even mention the plethora of fitness bracelets—Fitbit, Jawbone Up, Nike Fuelband—that are vying for a slice of an increasingly saturated market.
44403165
submission
jones_supa writes:
Many of Slashdotters are probably aware of the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System platformer classic DuckTales, designed around the Disney cartoon series. Capcom announced today at their PAX East panel that they are resurrecting the beloved game. Developed by Wayforward and Capcom, DuckTales: Remastered is something of a remake based on the original version. The embedded video shows some solid back-to-basics platformer action. The game will be out this summer for Xbox Live, PSN, and Wii U.
44401169
submission
fangmcgee writes:
Sweatshop isn’t your average online cow-clicker. As its name implies, the game places you on the floor of an offshore factory that cranks out merchandise for high-street retailers in the West. Your job as manager: to hire workers to assemble hats, shoes, bags, and shirts at various speeds according to their skill level (or lack thereof in the case of the child laborers you also employ), all while keeping your corporate masters happy by raking in the big profits. Although it's a work of satire designed to raise awareness of labor inequities, Apple doesn't approve. The tech juggernaut removed the iPad version of the game from its App Store because it was “uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop.”
44400571
submission
adeelarshad82 writes:
Over the past few months we've seen Google publicly badmouth its subsidiary Motorola, shut down both online and print content production at Frommer's, and kill the long-time cult hit Google Reader with little guidance for existing users. One by one, Google is killing its darlings, and it's one industry analyst's view that they are going too far.
