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Considering products like the Cozy Room (an isolation room) exist, it’s tempting to think the world is becoming increasingly hectic, enough so to warrant physical separation from your surroundings. And perhaps it is, so we won’t pass judgement on the Nutshell. It’s a simple… tent that unfolds around the upper portion of your body and allows you so block out the outside world. The visual part, anyway. With it, you can read a book even in a crowded hallway while pretending to be alone. You can take a break from having to interact with people, and you know, socialize. We sound critical, but we’re really not; it’s just a difficult need for us to wrap our heads around, but we acknowledge and respect the fact some may legitimately want this. Sadly, it doesn’t look like you can actually buy Nutshell. It’s the project of New York’s School of Visual Arts design student Eden Lew, and isn’t being commercialized.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ LikeCool ]

The post Nutshell Lets You Take A Break From The World appeared first on OhGizmo!.

Some of the biggest websites around, reddit, imgur and Twitch, have teamed up for a project called ‘DERP’. And, turns out it’s about science and not memes and cat pictures.

Reddit and Imgur are already staples of the Inteernet, while Twitch is quickly becoming so. These websites of undeniable reach have decided to put some of that reach to a good use, that is, science research for the good of humanity. Along with several other partners, they are launching an initiative meant to help researchers perform studies and share the information they gather on social networks and many other topics. This alliance has decided to call the initiative the Digital Ecologies Research Partnership, abbreviated as “DERP”. Yes, of course it’s called DERP, what else?

Other sites involved in the initiative include Fark, and Stack Exchange, niche sites that are way more focused than the ones mentioned above, and aimed at a more core audience. In the end, it’s a mixed bag of social sites of all kinds and sizes, with some of the most active web communities. The point, though, is ensuring that any research conducted through DERP will see the light of day, and be shared in an open and public manner.

DERP aims to hook up researchers with relevant, publicly available data. As a unified initiative, the idea is to get information for researchers without them having to view and contact sites individually. There are reports of teams at Stanford, Columbia, MIT, and several other universities already benefiting from it.

Via The Guardian