Designed by product development start-up Bucket, the Portland Press is a new French press device retrofitted with a simple Mason jar. It’s made out of glass, wool, steel and wood sourced from the USA and manufactured in Oregon.

The typical French press is made out of plastic and delicate glass, and can be frustrating for consumers as they tend to break easily. However, the Portland Press solves that issue, by allowing owners to replace the Mason jar with their own if it ever breaks giving the product a lifetime guarantee and keeping the owners happy by providing endless cups of coffee.

The project is currently being funded through Crowd Supply and is expected to be available online in December 2013.

Portland Press

Test drives are critical when shopping around for a new car, but sometimes you just can’t make it to the showroom. Audi, the luxury brand from Volkswagen, has launched a new app that allows consumers to check under the hood of a car without actually being near the car.

Audi Vision is an augmented reality application that allows users to point their smartphones (Android and iOS) at the manufacturer’s 2013 price and specification guide to access a full range of information on their products. Taking a picture of a page in the guide will unlock a flurry of content – you can hear the sound of the engine, look at the engine, see the car on the road from the driver’s point-of-view – all while staying indoors.

Mobile marketing agency Somo, built the platform for Audi. Once it is enabled, the features are accessible even without a data connection. Company’s global innovation director, Maani Safa said about the project:

Audi is leading the way in the AR sector, embracing mobile-first and placing it at the heart of its digital strategy. We are proud and excited to be helping them pioneer the next generation of digital marketing.

Augmented reality in the automobile world hasn’t been used as much as it could be, and Audi Vision demonstrates its potential. The application is the first in what could be a whole new way to view and interact with cars. Hugh Fletcher, national digital manager for Audi UK, said:

Audi Vision is the most innovative digital project we’ve undertaken to date and most importantly it supports a key developing trend in marketing; the overlap between digital and CRM. Applying Audi Vision to our brochures is just the beginning. Throughout the coming years we’ll be using the Vision platform across a broad spectrum of marketing channels, augmenting printed materials, digital content and in-Centre collateral to allow Audi fans to really get under the skin of our cars.

Audi

Zaha Hadid has won a competition to design the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) metro station in Saudi Arabia. Her winning proposal consists of six platforms over four public floors and two levels of underground car parking.

The station will be integrated within the urban context of the financial district and the design will emphasis the building’s importance as a multi-functional public space. It will feature a three-dimensional lattice with sculpted curves. These sine-waves were generated from the repetition and frequency variation of the station’s daily traffic flows.

The station is at the center of a network of pathways, skybridges and metro lines. Connectivity diagrams and traffic has been structured to delineate the pedestrian routes within the building, in order to optimize internal circulation and avoid congestion. Click through to see images of the station design:

Zaha Hadid