In recent weeks, a video sponsored by the Japanese bike sharing company Cogoo has gone viral, spreading all across the web, and driving music-loving cyclists crazy. The idea is simple – every kid has tried at least once to make as much noise as possible with their bikes. Some Japanese techno-geeks have transformed that dream into reality, with some surprising results.

They have come up with a kit which will turn your bike wheels into a turntable, your handlebars into cross faders and your brakes into samplers. When you connect everything up wirelessly to a computer where the Traktor mixing software is installed, you’re ready to rock! The next step is to jump onto your souped-up BMX – every time you pedal, or jump, or do a trick you’ll be creating a scratch, a beat, or a sampled sound.

The system was developed with the help of ace rider Kotaro Tanaka and DJ Baku together with the interactive artist Toshiyuki Sugai who have also created live performances and recorded an album available on iTunes.

Ready to go for it? Time for you to make some genuine “street music”!

Sure, the art world is all that … but much more besides! A lot of artists have shown that you can create masterpieces on a shoestring budget. The main thing is to have the right idea and know the best way to communicate it.

How? Here’s what two American artistes, Tae Kitakata and Brittany Powell, the founders of “Low-Commitment Projects” have come up with. Young, bright and funny, with a generous dollop of creativity and an often empty wallet, they looked around and decided that anything – and we mean anything! – could become a masterpiece. Just a few simple steps, and a very ordinary tree, a wall that needs decorating, a mid-day snack or even your dust-laden car can turn into museum pieces…

Had you ever thought of that? All it takes is a stencil and that dull gray powder takes on new life with zany drawings and fine decorations. Got any ink? Freeze it, and you’ll get sparkling drops that look like jewels. And what about lunch? Make some tasty sandwiches that reproduce famous paintings with pieces of cheese, cold meats and sauces, and bring art right onto the table!

Sometimes that’s all it takes … So what are you waiting for? Become a Low Commitment Artist today!

Perhaps the younger ones among you have no idea what we’re talking about, but for anyone who was a kid in the 80s this is one of the most coveted items ever … At least until now!

Mattel, in fact, have announced plans to design and market the legendary flying skateboard used by Michael J. Fox in the “Back to the Future” trilogy, particularly in the second episode set in 2015.
The board is already all the rage among hardcore fans, but the American toy company has said that the toy will actually roll off the production line (and, therefore, be on sale) only if the number of pre-orders warrants it.

So Mattel are joining in what seems to have become the fashion of “vintage from the future” – just a few months ago, Nike started manufacturing the amazing self-lacing shoes worn by Michael J. Fox in the same episode of the trilogy. These Nike Mags were a limited edition of 1500 pairs and were auctioned on Ebay, where they sold like hot cakes for several thousand dollars each.

Image credits: Gabetumblr

Talking of the hoverboard, Mattel make it clear that rather than flying it will just “glide over every surface”, except for water. But anyone who has dreamt of being Marty McFly even just for a moment, that is definitely more than enough. It’s like saying the future is now, but only if lots of us pre-order!

To satisfy the desire for cupcakes, even the most uncontrollable emergency, a cupcake ATM has been created, a veritable cake vending machine. In effect, it’s a “cashpoint” churning out cakes instead of money.
The original idea to install a cupcake machine in the wall of the shop came to the owners of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the cupcake bakery established in 2005,  Beverly Hills, and soon become the in-place for bun-loving VIPs (and not-so-VIPs).
The distributor is open 24 hours a day, and a touch menu lets you choose from over 25 flavors a day created by the pastry shop, with a range that changes on a daily basis, providing a total of 600 individually packaged cakes per day. And for animal lovers there is also a special recipe for dogs, with no sugar.

Image credits: Sprinkles.com

If you are in the vicinity of Beverly Hills, all you have to do is start queueing up for your favorite cupcake. For everyone else, the chances are it’s just a matter of time: who’s willing to bet against the Cupcake ATM soon becoming a global trend?

It is very simple and quick to win the title of “Plash Reporter”.
You only need to register on Tictac.com, drag the bookmarklet which you find here in the left-hand sidebar on the favorites bar of your browser and share with us the most interesting, innovative and fresh ideas that you find on the web. That’s all: a few clicks to become an active role player in the Tic Tac world!
You could for example bring to our attention the artist Ed Bing Lee and his sculptures of coloured wires: the reproductions of food are so precise that you feel like biting into them!

Image credits: Ed Bing Lee

So, what are you waiting for?
Surf on your favorite websites, ask your friends to advise you on other ones (and of course, invite them too to become a “Plash Reporter”) and track down the most creative and unexpected news.
If you have the makings of the cool hunter for all that is playful & fresh, get yourself at work: «We want you»!

Would you like to have a preview of the most surprising news?
In the original version, the new Despicable Me will have the voice of none other than Al Pacino, at his first experience in the cartoon film world. Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove and Russell Brand have been confirmed instead to lend their voice to the other characters, like for the last edition. So get ready to spend two hours of great fun. Chris Meledandri of Illumination Entertainment, together with the two film directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, are already working to literally astonish the audience with an even more irresistible story.

Waiting for the film, that will be released on 3^rd July, 2013, here is a marvelous trailer for you with the crazy Minions as role players,  while they’re busy with their greatest passion…

Image credits: Griottes

Take a look at her blog Griottes: among food, furniture, food design and other splendid bursts of inspiration, you will also find “Choose your color”, that is the by now  famous “Pantone tarts” created by playing with the colors of ingredients!
Bananas, carrots, fruits of the forest…  choosing a Pantone has never been such a sweet occupation!

And if, while you are tasting the sour-sweet taste of the Pantone 1797 C you would also like to entertain your mind, here is a “nerd” brain teaser of the most stylish kind: Pantone style Rubik cube (aka “The Rubitone“)!
Do you believe you can match all the colors, or are you nothing but a lot of talk and color palette?

Image credits: Ignacio Pilotto

This is shown by her project that has Ickle and Lardee as role players: curious and friendly teeth that are always ready to have fun and entertain with their irresistible adventures. One morning the two inseparable milk brothers showed up at the door of the artist, and on that day she adopted them. Now they have settled in her apartment, living every day the risks and pleasures of being little in a world made for grown-ups. Thanks to their sweetness they have managed to literally become really popular on the web in a short time, and are now two real virtual stars.

Here are some of their most famous adventures, in a video that shows a real backstage of these two little great celebrities:

Image credits: Whudat.de

The work of the artist goes from painted water towers, that look smiling at you, to crumbling buildings with broken windows in the place of the eyes. The concept is to play with space and subjects, letting us inspire by the place. The result is a real birth, or even better an  unexpected and spectacular rebirth, that comes to life in a few hours thanks to the ability and great fantasy of the artist.

In the following video you can admire Nikita Nomerz at work… and of course “Don’t try this at home!”.

Here are two original and eccentric solutions that offer a new view on home design, where creativity, inventiveness and a rediscovered contact with nature are the absolute role players.
It’s up to you to choose the mood which you prefer: sweet and fairy or natural and hi-tech?

Image credits: Fubiz.net

Is it your dream to live in un world made of sweets like in the famous film “The Chocolate Factory”? Welcome in the delicious Lollipop House! A one-family dwelling in Giheung-Gu, Korea.
The architect firm Moon Hoon has created it by imagining a huge candy. In fact, the structure is developed around a spiral staircase, that connects the seven internal living spaces into which the house has been divided, while at the outside it shows an alternate range of pink and white rings, just like the irresistible lollipops that you can see in candy shop windows.

Image credits: Fubiz.net

And here you have EcoPerch, the structure designed by the company Blue Forest, specialized in building tree houses. It is a house that is fully built of wood and that has been designed to optimize the relationship between the inner space and the outside environment, ensuring a maximum harmony between human beings and nature. Do you think it is a complicated project? Difficult to implement in real life? Absolutely not! The innovation lays actually in the construction of the structure that can be shipped and assembled in only 5 days!
And for anybody who likes to live with his head in the clouds without ever putting his feet on the ground, no problem: the house can also be put on tree tops…