Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging

Keep your eyes peeled for a new option at checkout the next time you make a purchase at Amazon.com. This holiday season the online retailer is offering Frustration-Free Packaging on select toys and consumer electronics, with plans to eventually offer the packaging option on everything they sell.

Amazon is working with manufacturers to create the packaging, so there is no waste created by repackaging products. The simplified boxes eliminate hard-to-open plastic clamshells, wire ties, and extra materials designed for brick and mortar stores, in favor of efficient, recyclable paper packaging and plastic bags. In addition to being more consumer-friendly, the packaging is better for the environment, as it requires less energy and raw materials to produce, and smaller packages use less fuel to ship. Let’s hope more online retailers follow Amazon’s example.

Check out the tumbler. Sweet.

Check out the efficiency.

Your hands (and the environment) will thank you.

Thanks to TheDieline.com for bringing this to our attention!

Read More......

Herman Miller Embody

This past week, Herman Miller unveiled it’s latest office chair, called Embody. Though the Mirra and Celle chairs before it could also be considered successors to the famous Aeron chair, Embody is the first to come from the Aeron’s designer, the late Bill Stumpf.

sweet.

The chair, which is said to have been inspired by a comfortable pair of shoes, supports the body with multiple layers of suspension systems, while a mesh fabric cover allows air circulation. The really cool stuff, though, is in the back. Designed to mimic the shape of the human spine, the backrest maintains proper posture at all times, while an array of H-shaped supports eliminates pressure points. The narrow top of the backrest allows for a better range of motion than wide-backed chairs.

Chris C. Hill, senior project engineer. nice.

All this technology equates to a healthier chair, which anyone who has spent considerable time in an Aeron chair (or one of its many respectable competitors) will tell you is well worth the money. It also gives the chair a high-tech look that is sure to be more polarizing than the somewhat understated, by comparision, Aeron. By only showing Embody in bright colors like orange, lime green, and light blue, it seems Herman Miller is trying to encourage people to be a bit more adventurous in their office decor. There will be 13 fabrics and 3 finishes to choose from when it goes on sale in early 2009.

Of course, the chair befits Herman Miller’s commitment to sustainability by being 96% recyclable. Furthermore, it will be manufactured in green facilities in Michigan, China, and the UK to minimize shipping distances.

I, for one, can’t wait to take Embody for a test-sit as soon as it hits showrooms later this month. With a list-price of $1,595 and a perfectly good Mirra chair waiting for me at home, hopefully I won’t fall in love.

sources:
CNN Money
Luxist
Gizmodo
MLive
Apartment Therapy Chicago
SlashGear


Read More......