Sam Livingston, senior tutor in vehicle design at the Royal College of Art recently stated ‘We are seeing a return to the prominence of aerodynamics, and the aerodynamic look, to both deliver and visually convey efficiency.” This was the initiative behind Aero-Ace, a collaborative design project, just completed with Bentley – the objective being to explore a new aerodynamic design direction for the luxury marque. Second year RCA students were asked to identify a new vehicle direction for Bentley that would appeal to the ecologically conscious consumer.

Aided by specialist EXA evaluation software PowerFlow, their two-dimensional design proposals for a conceptual coupé needed to embrace aerodynamics in order to both reduce energy consumption and form part of a future Bentley design aesthetic. The 11 participating students came up with very different proposals, with aero performance results ranging from CD 0.167 to 0.35. Livingstone notes: ‘There are no two that are thematically similar despite all being large Bentley coupés.’ The degree to which aerodynamics plays a role depends on the marque, although Livingston has noticed a growing trend in considering aero performance at the early stages of design.

The winner will be announced on 4 February and will spend six months working at Bentley.

View the rest of the proposals after the jump Continue reading “Bentley’s Aero-Ace Project” »

(l-r) Dr. Benjamin Chavis – President/CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, David Shay – CPX VP Marketing, Mike Seiman – CPX co-founder and CEO, Russell Simmons – Chairman Rush Communications, Valeshia Butterfield – Executive Director of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Rob Rasko – CPX COO, Carlton Hickman – CPX co-founder and CTO Photo by Jerritt Clark

Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) Founder Russell Simmons and CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis have partnered with several organizations to create the Music 4 Peace Initiative and Tour. HSAN will team with the Music4Peace Foundation, Tribes of the Worlds, SwaggMedia and The Gandhi Tour to promote a global message of peace, using music, artists and global resources. Under the new partnership, Simmons and Chavis will launch an international extension of their Hip-Hop Summits, which have been active in every major city since it’s inception in 2001. A Hip-Hop Summit will take place in South Africa in conjunction with the World Cup and FIFA this June, while another Summit is being planned for India in November. Additionally, HSAN will support The Gandhi Tour’s International day of Peace in Brazil. “Hip-Hop music artists are leaders in the youth movement,” Russell Simmons told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “We’re excited about the potential these diverse organizations have in coming together to harness music as a transformative and unifying power to promote peace throughout the world.”

Balmain collaborates with Oliver Peoples, the Los Angeles-based eyewear design company, to create its first eyewear designs: two (2) Limited Edition sunglass styles to be introduced Spring of 2010.

Known for its progressive yet understated designs and handcrafted quality, Oliver Peoples has over 20 years of experience as a leader in the eyewear industry. “The collaboration with Christophe and his team felt completely natural,” says Oliver Peoples Founder and Creative Director, Larry Leight. “The brands make sense together from a design standpoint in that both maintain an inspirational position and value a premium level of quality. Those who want the best in runway turn to Balmain, and those who want the best in eyewear turn to Oliver Peoples.” Continue reading “Oliver Peoples collaborate with Balmain” »

The Virdi-anne presents Fall/Winter 2010. Built off a strong platform of muted color tones among solid individual pieces, the brand continues its mysterious essence with a line that remains discreet while still captivating with a variety of dark qualities. Continue reading “The Virdi-anne F/W 2010 Collection” »

Always entertaining our foot fetish with his traditional hi-tops, Raf Simons introduces the Astronaut Sneaker for the Spring/Summer season. From the front-side, the shoe’s design is relatively subtle with a high-top style but the back of the heel reveals a large zippered pocket. Available now at oki-ni. Continue reading “Raf Simons S/S 2010 Collection Astronaut Sneakers” »

These two have been in the press alot lately from climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, supporting political figures to now collaborating on songs for our brothers and sisters in Haiti. The two teamed up with Mike Shinoda and Music For Relief for “Resurrection” which is available the Download to Donate for Haiti compilation album. The album was brought together by the United Nations Foundation, Habitat for Humanity & the Dave Matthews Band and can be downloaded for free here. However, if you decide to download it, make sure you donate in effort to help the natives of Haiti.

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Download: Lupe ft. Kenna “Resurrection” – Music For Relief

We hope we don’t get our ass chewed out by Lupe for posting this. Let’s give you some history behind this track: it first leaked on Christmas Eve and Lupe was livid at a particular blog for posting the song without his or his teams permission and sent out a passionate letter about how musicians make their money from music sales and not illegal download and the whole nine yards.

On to the next… produced by the intergalactic Neptunes and presumably the second single off Lupe’s next album Lasers.  The “album’s “first single,” the vitriolic and nerd-dense “Shining Down” and the Enemy of the State mixtape Lupe put out on Thanksgiving.

Lupe has recently hiked up Mt. Kilimanjaro with Kenna and others in effort to raise awareness of the global water crisis… beaming high and bright he is.

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Download: Lupe Fiasco “I’m Beaming”

Diplo’s interest in pairing women’s beautiful voices with bizarre, occasionally abject sounds, though always with punchy rhythm makes our spider senses tingle. Word comes now that he is producing Robyn’s new album, and he’s given us a taste with this remix of “Caesar” by I Blame Coco (aka Coco Sumner, Sting’s daughter), on which the Scandinavian sensation is featured. He goes heavy on the little drummer boy snare, get a little trance-y and a little Santigold-y and it sounds like a banger for any party the Cobra Snake will be photographing.

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Download: I Blame Coco f. Robyn “Caesar (Diplo Remix)”

People have been hitting us on twitter for a while asking if we knew anything about the release of this duo’s album, and of course our purpose if to influence the positive that flows through our global culture of creativity. We present this mp3 with pride and honor off the album Distant Relatives, although there is a rumor that they are changing the name of the album to Sanibel Island. Either way, we’re happy to see this come to fruition.

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Download: Nas and Damian Marley “Strong Will Continue”

You’re damn right anything that has Brooklyn’s name on it and sounds good will get some love from us. Joy Orbison hails all the way from the United Kingdom and he recognizes the awesomeness that the proud borough displays. Micha delivers some of his ‘preppy house’ for BK with this Brooklyn Bridge remix of “Brklyn Clln”. This remix finds a middle ground between the beat-you-over-the-head beat of much British dance and Michna’s outer borough downtempo leanings.

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Download: Joy Orbison “Brklyn Clln (Michna Remix)”