Designed by fellow New Yorker and Brooklyn-based artist William Lamson, this lifehack is probably the easiest way to eliminate a public security camera. First, you’ll need a helium-filled balloon and some string. A weight won’t hurt either. Get the balloon full of static electricity and then raise it up to the camera.

As it sticks, tie the string to the weight and enjoy your new found privacy. I’d imagine that many a shitty graffiti artist will be using this method in weeks to come. Running low on static? Use duct tape.

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Happen to be in the New York City area? Then check out the robots on display at the City Foundry, 365 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. These robot sculptures were created by Gordon Bennett out of a mixture of random objects found which are both old and new. These aren’t robotic bartenders trying to get you drunk so they can take advantage of you. No, they’re more on par with the felt robots, they just sit there and look pretty.

Bennett is even willing to sell some of the robot sculptures, if you give him an offer he can’t refuse. The sculptures are going from anywhere between $750 to $6000. That’s a lot for an old battery tester with legs.

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During the course of their neverending quest to get high, crackheads are often forced to play amateur scientists. They mix chemicals, experiment on their bodies, and make stoves out of common household products. Perhaps the most well-known piece of crack addict lab equipment is the glass pipe. Recently, I noticed a new twist on this infamous piece of drug paraphernalia at a Brooklyn bodega: ”glass ball pens” that are obviously just an excuse to sell pyrex tubes.

Lately law enforcement has been going after places that stock the glass-enclosed cloth roses that crackheads have traditionally used to smoke rock. These innovative new pens are designed to foil the pesky crack pipe bans. I doubt they write at all. Crackheads must be snatching up the pens fast, because when I stopped by today to take a picture of them with a real camera the guy behind the cash register told me they were all sold out.

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Oh IKEA. We all love your cheap prices and great selection of furniture and doo-dads. Really, we do. I think we all just want your products to not fall apart after a few months. I hope it’s not too much to ask, especially with this ridiculous cardboard studio apartment you built in Brooklyn.

This 20′x20′ “apartment” was set up outdoors in Brooklyn to attract people to the new IKEA they just built there. IKEA is being very generous with its marketing. If I can recall, my first studio apartment was like 15′x17′ or something similar. Very small. I could probably fit a bed, a chair and one of those $15 breakable coffee tables in there. I’d imagine IKEA did much better with its living space.

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The crew over at Gothamist have done a fabulous interview with the creator of the Telectroscope, Paul St George. He speaks on a variety of topics ranging from how the device works to future projects. Seems the budding designer wants to dive into tunnels and unfinished inventions. A must read.

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How often do city dwellers get the chance to see a wonder of nature such as the waterfall? Not often enough. I live about 45 minutes from NYC, and I can tell you first hand that the city is magical. It has mostly everything someone could want, and then some. While Central Park provides tourists with a dose of greenery, there is something missing in the water department that can’t be solved by the surrounding Hudson River.

New York’s Public Art Fund has launched a product which will change the landscape of the city from July to October this year. They’ll be installing man-made waterfalls in three locations around the city; lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and on the north shore of Governors Island. These installations will include 90 to 120-feet tall cascading falls and will operate from 7 AM to 10 PM, seven days a week, lit after sunset for an even more impressive and beautiful effect. (more…)