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| Thu 04 Dec 2008 |
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Tag: Books
These items have all been tagged with the tag "Books", You can see other tags in the Tag Cloud| The World's Coolest Houses - Book No.2 |
| 2008-07-09 09:41:02 |
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We are on a hunt for supremely cool houses, from beach homes, country homes and city pads to holiday houses and ski retreats, we want to know where the coolest houses are for our upcoming book. We are looking for the most unique houses from Sao Paulo to Sydney. Slightly cool, standard-issue luxury won’t do it. The houses we want must think like Zaha Hadid who said “I like architecture to have someraw, vital, earthy quality.” So, if you are an architect of such a house, please submit your project for consideration or if you a photographer who has photographed such a house, please get in touch - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
| The Cool Hunter Book Publishing Series (our first book) |
| 2008-06-06 14:51:55 |
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The World's Coolest Hotel Rooms - the first in a series of the cool hunter-branded books has just been published by Harper Collins Publishers (US). Next in the line will be The World's Coolest Houses, The World's Most Creative Work Environments, The World's Most Innovate Retail Stores and a few other special book projects. |
| World's Coolest Houses - Architects/Photographers, submit your designs |
| 2008-02-19 18:03:16 |
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The World’s Coolest Houses Our first book, the World’s Coolest Hotel Rooms, will come out June 1. Published by Harper Collins Publishers (US) and designed by the Sydney based War Design, the inaugural Cool Hunter book will soon be followed by the next volume, the World’s Coolest Houses. To make that happen, we are on a furious hunt for supremely cool projects from beach homes, country homes and city pads to holiday houses and ski retreats, we want to know where the coolest houses are. We are looking for the most unique houses from Sao Paulo to Sydney. Slightly cool, standard-issue luxury won’t do it. The houses we want must think like Zaha Hadid who said “I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthy quality.” So, if you are an architect of such a house, please submit your project for consideration or if you're a photographer who has photographed such a house, please get in contact - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
| A Book Store Made in Heaven |
| 2007-12-05 09:16:29 |
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Whoever said that reading was a religious experience was right, especially when taking a visit to Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, Netherlands. Having just won the Lensvelt de Architect Interior Prize 2007, this newest addition to the Selexyz book chain is well worth the visit to this medieval city if you are ever in the area. Erected inside a former 800 year old Dominican church, this bookstore is said to hold the largest stock of books in English in Maastricht, one of the oldest cities in the country. It was always going to be a challenging task for Amsterdam based architects Merkx + Girod who designed the space, to stay true to the original character and charm of the church, whilst also achieving a desirable amount of commercial space (there was only an available floor area of 750 m2, with a proposed retail space of 1200 m2). Taking advantage of the massive ceiling, both have been achieved through the construction of a multi-storey steel structure which houses the majority of the books. This is one giant bookshelf, with stairs and elevators taking shoppers and visitors alike, up to the heavens (mind the pun), to roof of the church. To maintain a sense of symmetrical balance in the space, lower tables of best sellers and latest releases have been added to either side, and of course a small cafe at the back for readers to relax and enjoy a hot drink. Overall a great example of how with clever thinking, spatial solutions can both achieve a suitable retail presence, whilst still respecting and remaining true to the original structure. By Brendan Mc Knight See also Pontificial Lateral University Library LIBRARIES - CANDIDA-HOFFER Kids Republic Bookstore |
| 50 Great e-Businesses and the Minds Behind Them |
| 2007-09-27 07:49:13 |
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Welcome to the Wild Wild Web, a modern-day gold rush that has created a new economy where, in theory, anybody with a computer and an internet connection can make their fortune. And just like the Californian and Australian gold rushes, it’s a time for heroes, villains, geeks, geniuses, charlatans, visionaries . . . and suckers. In the Wild Wild Web, some fortunes are made, some are lost and the pace of change is lightning-fast. There is always a new kid in town and there is always a new plague to watch out for, though this time it’s not cholera or typhoid, but spam and spyware. There is always some new tool to help make that fortune faster and a landscape paved with golden opportunities: email, broadband, blogs, the people power of Web 2.0, maps, video-sharing, Skype and virtual worlds, to name just a few. Fortunes have been made at a rate never seen before. Google made its first $1 billion in less than six years. It took McDonald’s 24 years to do that. eBay partner Jeff Skoll’s fortune arrived so quickly he was still living in a share house when the company listed in 1998 and suddenly made him worth $4.8 billion. No wonder every man and his dog wants to start a successful internet company (or even just a blog). As of June 2007, there were an estimated 1.1 billion internet users around the world and some 110 million active websites*, including 70 million blogs. Out of all of this chaos, 50 Great e-Businesses and the Minds Behind Them is a collection of case studies of some of the most inspiring people behind many of the Web’s success stories.The oldest company we feature in the book, Amazon, started in mid-1995. Astrology.com, created by Australians David and Kelli Fox, started soon afterwards, in December 1995. The newest companies we feature, NYCgarages and Twitter, were started in 2006. As well as the big guns such as YouTube, Google, eBay and Amazon, we have looked at a variety of other sites, some chosen for their rapid success, some for their popularity, and others for their ingenuity: their ability to cleverly harness aspects of the Web and create new ways of making money. Many started from scratch: from lounge room to global brand (aussieBum), basement to multi-million-dollar buyout (CollegeHumor), sideline experiment to A$38.9-million sale (RSVP).Gary Vaynerchuk launched a video site called WineLibrary.com with a camera and a desk in the back of his father’s liquor store in New Jersey. Finishing college is not a prerequisite for internet success: several of the founders profiled here dropped out of Harvard, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. While not quite in the same league as the YouTubes and Amazons, Australia has its share of wildly profitable Web successes, including Seek, Wotif and RealEstate.com.au. All three started from nothing and outfoxed giant corporations who were sceptical about the Web’s potential. Much of this success has to come down to the brilliant DNA of the companies: Seek’s cohesive, highly compatible executive directors Paul and Andrew Bassat (the brains), Matthew Rockman (the sales genius) and Irvin Rockman (the paternal backer and chairman); and Wotif founder Graeme Wood’s focused, tenacious, competitive, no-bullshit nature. These mavericks are not afraid to take on the big boys and take some of their market share, that’s for sure. In 1995 there were an estimated 18 million users of the internet. Growth in internet usage was increasing at 2300 per cent per year (despite the frustration of dial-up services). The well-documented dotcom bubble began. A big idea and a cute domain name could inspire investors to pour millions into a project. The ill-fated Boo.com fashion venture burnt through $160 million in cash before the company was liquidated in May 2000.Walt Disney’s Go.com ended up writing off $790 million in losses. Pets.com raised $82.5 million in an IPO in February 2000. It closed months later. Ouch. It was a time when businesses with the turnover of a few country shops were being valued at more than $1 billion. In 2000, the leading technology index, NASDAQ, lost 87 per cent of its value. Many of the companies featured in 50 Great e-Businesses and the Minds Behind Them were created as the technology bubble burst in that year, proof that the NASDAQ collapse could not harm a solid business with genuine products and services that consumers were prepared to pay for, or that advertisers were prepared to fund. Net-a-Porter and PayPal went live in the volatile time of the dotcom bust in March 2000 and have gone on to flourish. Many e-businesses passed through this time relatively easily. Some may have had to hold off on going public, and others did not enjoy big venture-capital cash injections – but for many start-ups this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as they minimised costs and grew without the pressure of outside investors looking for quick profits. A co-founder of travel search engine Kayak, Paul English, cautions start-ups not to go out and raise too much money. ‘It is easy when you have a lot of money to think you are doing well – you become delusioned and the product might not be working,’ he says. For Carsales.com.au co-founder Greg Roebuck, the boom and bust did not change the value of the internet. ‘The value that the internet’s always provided is still there and still growing,’ he says. Venture capital was never going to factor in the business plans of many of the entrepreneurs we have profiled.The only capital they could find was through their credit cards. There is an exception to that.The founders of Australian site Arts Hub used to borrow money from a man they called ‘Mr X’ when their cashflow was really bad.The cash would be transferred to a bank account and they would pay it back with 10 per cent interest within six months. The 2000 crash has long gone and investment is flowing into the new economy again. In 2006, venture capitalists in the US invested $25.5 billion in 3416 companies, and investors spent $26 billion in 5000 companies. Yet, as Microsoft’s director of business development Don Dodge points out in his blog (dondodge.typepad.com), for every brilliant investment in a company such as Google, there are 100 flops, so investors need to kiss a lot of frogs. In the Wild Wild Web there is space for the common man, like eBay PowerSeller Phil Leahy, who started his eBay business Entertainment House by selling some old records from his collection. He has come back from bankruptcy to be one of Australia’s most successful online sellers. However, the Wild Wild Web is not a place for everyone. Just as there is a tendency to romanticise the Wild West, the history of the World Wide Web has been glossed over so that creating a successful webbusiness seems – well, easy. For anyone who starts to think creating a viable, profitable start-up is simple, think again. People talk about the ‘magic of the internet’, says the open software pioneer and creator of hot start-up Lulu, Bob Young. ‘But it is not easy stuff,’ he says. That is why these 50 e-businesses, we hope, make for inspiring reading. By Emily Ross & angus Holland. Exlusive online extract from the new book released this week, 50 Great e-Businesses and the Minds Behind Them. |
| Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Mega Beasts |
| 2007-06-14 09:13:21 |
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Do you remember pop-up books? Those cumbersome hardbacks filled with leaping tigers, squawking birds and various other fantastical images? Well, Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart have taken it upon themselves to transform this childish novelty into something close to art. Their trilogy of pop-up books, known as ‘Encylopedia Prehistorica’, can easily claim to be among some of the most sophisticated books ever made. Ornate depictions of sharks and dinosaurs are painstakingly constructed from scratch to create and mimic the movements of the animals in their natural habitats. The books, although designed principally for children, have found a huge adult audience, achieving cult status alongside other pop-ups such as ‘The Pop-Up Book of Sex’ by Melcher Media. The third and final book in Sabuda’s and Reinhart’s collection, ‘Mega Beasts’, tackles the furry titans of the ancient world. Sabre-toothed cats, bears taller than basketball hoops and the elephant’s hirsute cousin the woolly mammoth, are all beautifully crafted to leap out at you over 35 pages. As well as joint projects, the two have been working on their own individual books. Reinhart has recently completed ‘Star Wars’, and Sabuda is currently working on his version of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. ‘Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Mega Beasts’ by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart is published by Walker Books in the UK. By Matt Hussey. |
| Can I Freeze It? Susie Theodorou |
| 2007-02-27 20:13:38 |
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After a hard days work, the last thing most of us feel like doing is having to say hi to your neighbor over the fence or cook dinner. The first can be avoided by building a bigger fence or telling your neighbor you can't stand them. The second can be achieved by cooking on days when you can be bothered and freezing the meals for a time that you can't be stuffed. Can I freeze It? is a collection of innovative recipes which are easy to make and totally freezable for future consumption. Imagine how you will thank yourself when you get home exhausted and simply defrost and re heat a delicious meal you made from the book three weeks ago. From Marsala Beef Stew through to Lemon Roasted Chicken and back , this book has it all. Can I Freeze It, has chapters which look at cooking for a crowd, and how to 'eat now and save for later'. Written by acclaimed New York based food writer and stylist, Susie Theodorou, this remarkable book is filled with luscious color photographs which will make your mouth water. Can I Freeze it, is the perfect book for the busy gal or the guy on the go. By Lisa Evans |
| LIBRARIES - CANDIDA HOFFER |
| 2006-09-15 23:42:39 |
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The newest offering from Thames and Hudson has an unexpected literary edge. The book is a photographic portfolio of the world's most magnificent libraries. Before you start snoring, we're not just talking about your school library, we're talking about true cathedrals of knowledge housed in some of the globe's most stunning period buildings, absolute architectural landmarks in their own rights. Libraries featured include the British Library in London, the Escorial in Spain, the Whitney Museum and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris, the villa Medici in Rome and the Hamburg University Library, among others. by Billy T Also, check out Kids Republic |
| SHEPARD FAIREY - SUPPLY & DEMAND |
| 2006-08-03 05:15:12 |
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Two years in the making, Supply and Demand represents the sum body of work for the artist Shepard Fairey and his close to two decade long sociological experiment into the semiotics of consumer society. Forget most of those other graphic art fools from his generation - this guy is the real deal. From clothing to posters to "viral propaganda", Shepard Fairey has long been one of the biggest names in the street art scene. The book documents the evolution of Fairey's art from its underground punk rock inspired beginnings through to his adaptations of revolutionary imagery and use of propaganda from the all powerful communist state. 'Supply and Demand' is a fascinating look into this artist's worldview as seen in symbolsù and, most importantly, the context they exist in. Art critics Carlo McCormick, Steven Heller and Roger Gastman (as well as Fairey himself) help examine and illuminate the meaning behind the posters, flyers, silkscreens and stickers which invite (or command) the viewer to deconstruct images that want us to OBEY‚. In the book we witness Fairey's adventures from gallery showings to arrests for vandalism and the spread of his iconic work throughout the world. Fairey's work is stunningly catalogued in this layout and binding, and exists not just as the art itself, but includes photography of the art in its intended surroundings. For both Shepard's fans and just street art admirers, Supply and Demand makes a great addition to anyones collection. No way will you be disappointed - it's big, colorful, and encapsulates the artist's amazing contributions to history. by Mark C |
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