We love glass and chrome, but now it’s spring, and time for something a little warmer.

These wooden clocks from Neiman Marcus caught our eye for their antique, tropical flavor. Setting off the chestnut finish with brass, the overall effect is decidedly low-tech—which may be just right for a wall clock. It looks as if it could be fashioned by hand, which has an appeal all its own. The only drawback is that the more handy design-heads may decide they’d like to try.

DIYers aside, the low-tech look may be growing into its own as a style. With flatscreen TVs, stainless steel kitchens and synthetic tile becoming increasingly common as unintentional design statements, we may need something to balance things out.

Neiman Marcus [via Best Bets]

As we know all too well, it can be hard to get attention on the internet. But tacking a James Bond fan fiction in front of everything you write is the blogging equivalent of driving a snowmobile down a mountain with one hand while using the other hand to shoot the bad guys who are chasing you in faster snowmobiles until you drive off a cliff and unfurl your Union Jack parachute while they all crash and explode on the rocks below.

In other words, it’s risky.

Onlyknives.com was recently graced with a post on a do-it-yourself knife wallet, introduced by a 400 word vignette starring Mr. Bond himself. The funniest part is how much it reminds us of actual ad copy. Didn’t we see this on an Amiga poster somewhere?

Named “A Quantum of Mini-Tools,” the story chronicles Bond’s love for his Slimline Wallet and the raw sensual magnetism of said wallet. We would have preferred “The Wallet Who Loved Me” or “The Man with the Golden Wallet,” but nobody’s perfect.

The manuscript in full»

We’ve gotten pretty jaded to gadgets over the years, but every once in a while we come across something so cool we have no choice but to completely geek out over it.

This is one of those times.

It’s called a Red Scarlet, and we doubt anyone’s getting ready to drop ten grand on it just to videotape their kid’s birthday parties, but anyone who wanted to make a movie in their backyard just got quite a boost. Even three years ago, a camera like this would have cost twenty times as much, and as more Scarlets reach more places, a lot more ideas are going to see the light of day. Don’t be surprised if the next decade’s multiplex fare looks a little more homemade.