Recent computer games are amazingly photorealistic, as demonstrated by these screenshots from the new Crysis engine. The HDR technology developed by Valve also looks promising. Of course, the hardest part will always be representing characters and avoiding the uncanny valley.

Apparently, flatscreen TVs consume four times as much electricity as regular TVs, which could have serious repercussions for the environment. Britain is dealing seriously with these issues, most recently by aiming to outlaw stand-by buttons. More on vampire devices, which account for as much as 10% of domestic electricity consumption.

Usability issues with the standard stove. If you like this article, you should definitely read The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.

Alternate designs for the World Cup logo. I like 5, 9 and 11.

The Watercone is a brilliantly simple and low-cost solution to purify water. For more great examples of design for the third world, check out Concrete Canvas and the Lifestraw.

Fantastic music video for Gnarles Barkley’s Crazy.

This post by Jason Kottke on how he blogs pretty much describes how I feel about blogging as well. Jason’s blog is a fantastic site, I highly recommend it.

A fun picture of London in the late 1940s.

Can an ordinary crate be a design object? Find out with this slideshow about the crate controversy.

For a Honda showroom, Dutch artist Paul Veroude disassembled and suspended an F1 car. The Design Weblog gives us some prior art for this idea. Speaking of Honda, here is a video of the making of the Cog commercial I posted about a while back.