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When Florentijn Hofman decided to build a 10-meter tall pillowing-clutching bear in Slotervaart neighborhood in Amsterdam, he also chose to film its construction. Additionally, the bear is named "Steelman" despite its ursine persuasion. Some things just don't need explaining. More »
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Kerry of the Netherlands built this prize-winning, three-person steampunk tricycle for the "12 Inch Race." He raced along with 500 other contestants — be sure to check out video and photos of this two-meter-tall wheeled warrior in action. More »
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In streets of the Dutch city of Utrecht, cybernetic ravens and seagulls keep their ever-vigilant electronic eyes on citizens. Has Big Brother begun dabbling in fringe science? No, it's just a mutant street art project by the artist duo Helden. More »
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What do you do when you have a barn-sized pile of nuclear waste materials that you have to store for 100 years while it loses its toxicity? In the Netherlands, the answer was to stick it inside a giant art project: specifically, this orange building called the Habog Facility, covered in physics formulas by Einstein and Planck. Every twenty years, the building will be repainted in a lighter color to symbolize the slowly decaying radiation in the waste. More »
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Previously, I showed you an intensely overdone futuristic office space from Japan that made privacy almost nonexistent. Now, we have an uber-minimalist office idea from Dutch interior designer Jack Brandsma. He created SpareSpace, a portable desk that folds into a table or refolds into a bar, complete with sink. It's perfect for rootless tech workers whose jobs take them to offices all over the world. Now, they can bring their desks (and bars) along with their Mac Airs. More »
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The Dutch have built a robot that looks a little Terminator, but is just there to help pump gas while you wait. invented at a cost of $111,100, Tankpitstop is a robotic arm with sensors that figure out what kind of car you drive, and therefore what sort of fuel cap you have and what type of gas you need. Then it opens the flap, unscrews the cap, and pretty much does everything you would do if you were pumping, minus the beef jerky and Red Bull. Tankpitstop should be dispatched to gas stations in the Netherlands by the end of the year. But how long before we see a malicious gas-siphoning variant? Image from deOndernemer. Gas-pumping robot: what could go wrong? [Reuters] More »
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