If you needed any more proof that the age of dead-tree books is over take a look at these alarming style changes at Ikea: the furniture manufacturer’s iconic BILLY bookcase – the bookcase that everyone put together when they got their first apartment and, inevitably, pounded the nails wrong into – is becoming deeper and more of a curio cabinet. Why? Because Ikea is noticing that customers no longer buy them for books.

This isn’t quite the canary in the coal mine – think of it as a slight tickle in the mine foreman’s throat – but all signs are pointing to the end of the physical book. There are plenty of analogs to this situation. When’s the last time you saw a casette tape rack sold outside of Odd Lots? What about the formal “stereo cabinet” with plenty of room for records? What about Virgin Megastores?

As much as it pains me to say this and as horrible as it sounds, the book is leaving us.

The Economist writes:

Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of its ubiquitous “BILLY” bookcase. The flat-pack furniture giant is already promoting glass doors for its bookshelves. The firm reckons customers will increasingly use them for ornaments, tchotchkes and the odd coffee-table tome—anything, that is, except books that are actually read.

Will bookstores disappear? I think so. With the rise of popular fiction appearing on ereaders, I think the paperback will be the first to go and all that will be left is the “curio” hardback. Then I look forward to a half decade of the publishing industry scrambling to stem piracy and flail wildly at consumers, then hardware manufacturers, then finally settle into the long-fall doldrums the music industry is now facing.

I’m a writer. I love books. I love/hate the publishing industry. But when Ikea is against your product, it might be time to curtail the long agent lunches before it’s too late.

via SplatF

[Image: Sergej Razvodovskij/Shutterstock]

I don’t about you, but in-store fireworks sounds like a grand idea to me. Anything to make the bimonthly Ikea trip a bit more lively, amirite?

Having an adjustable mic stand is essential for home recording or podcasting. Those mics are so sensitive that you really have to place them in the right position. Unfortunately, decent articulating mic stands can be expensive. But, if you’re close enough to an IKEA store to buy an IKEA TERTIAL lamp, then you can make your own. It’s as easy as removing the bulb and head of the lamp and attaching a microphone to the end with a microphone mount.

Head over to IKEA Hackers for the how to.

[via Lifehacker]

If you’re a parent, you know that kids love them some wooden tracks. I’m serious. Kids could would totally spend hours whining about tracks and then, when they get them, refuse to play with them. That’s why I love Ikea’s wooden train set which costs like $10 and can make a few nice configurations.

But how many configurations can you make? According to this dude you can make nine permutations, shown above. In fact, with four extra curved pieces you could create 130 permutations which is quite a treat.

Here are the instructions for building each version. Amazing stuff.

These instructions contain 15 characters C (clockwise curve), A (anticlockwise curve), S (straight piece) and B (the entire bridge). Here are the building instructions for all the shapes in the picture above:

AAAACCAAAASSAAB
CCCCCCSSAAAAAAB
CAAAAACASSAAAAB
CAAAAASCASAAAAB
CAAAAASSCAAAAAB
AAACAACAAASSAAB
ACAAAASACSAAAAB
ACAAAASSACAAAAB
AACAAASSAACAAAB

It’s pretty simple; take an Ivar shelving side unit, a piece of plywood, some rollerblade wheels, assorted nuts and bolts, some skateboard grip tape, and you are rolling (no pun intended). Assembly is pretty self explanatory from the pictures, and the end result is a smooth rolling camera dolly that’s light, easy to transport, and cheap. Check out some sample video from the builder, and then go build one yourself.

[Via Make]

I’m a sucker for clever desks and organization objects.  Sometimes you don’t need a massive Pottery Barn desk to email your parents pics of the kids. All you need is a place to sit and two little shelves from Ikea. (and some handyman skills)

There are two parts to this creation. First, the iMac shelf is the Ludvig Router/ Modem wall cabinet. This gives you a little storage spot and a place to hid extra cables nonsense. Then the keyboard and mouse tray is the Ludvig Laptop shelf/ charging station. Add the two together and you get this wonderfully simple and elegant computer workstation.

An enterprising young man studying abroad in Russia has turned a run-of-the-mill strainer from Ikea into a Wi-Fi super antenna using little more than the aforementioned strainer, a marker, and SKOTCH tape.

How’d he do it? It actually looks ridiculously simple:

Parabolic kitchenware is well known to some as not only kitchenware, but also do-it-yourself directional dish antennae with which you can augment weak signals with the use of a receiver of some sort. Equipped with my new Swedish strainer, I used some scotch tape (all tape here, by the way, is simply referred to as “SKOTCH” in Russian) and one of my Prismacolor markers that I don’t like to mount my USB wifi receiver as close to the apex of the parabola of the metallic mesh as I could possibly eye-ball…

After fiddling around with the positioning of his finished creation, he went from being able to see three Wi-Fi networks to being able to see a whole bunch of them. The only problem now is that he has to hold the dish juuust right in order to keep connected, a problem he says he might attempt to solve by attaching the apparatus to an adjustable lamp arm. Well played.

Of note: I wasn’t able to find the strainer on Ikea’s website, so if you’re thinking of doing this maybe you could pick up a strainer wherever strainers are sold. Like Strainer Hut or Strainers-R-Us. Basically anything in the strainer complex, which is located in the strainer district.

INTERNETS! [Worth Dayley via Ikea Hacker]

After hearing Brad Paisley say that a Fender Telecaster “is nothing more than a cutting board, a baseball bat, and strings,” Zachary Custom Guitars decided to put that idea to the test — minus the part about the baseball bat.

The result: a guitar body made from a $25 butcher block from Ikea. The finished guitar costs slightly more, at $2675, but you get a maple neck, bois de rose fretboard, and all the other stuff that makes an electric guitar and electic guitar. Not to mention the fact that it’s made by hand.

The 40mm “SPAR” butcher block is made of solid birch and is 40mm thick — which is, coincidentally, the exact thickness of Leo Fender’s early prototype guitars.

Ikea Butcher Block Tele Guitar [ZacharyGuitars.com via Ikea Hacker]

In case you hadn’t heard, Ikea is on the solar bandwagon. After pumping $75 million into various environmentally-sustainable initiatives, we’re starting to see products trickle out. Aside from solar-powered garden lights — which have actually been availalbe from numerous companies for a while — you can also pick up a $20 solar desk lamp.

Will it replace your traditional desk lamp? Probably not. The thing takes 9 to 12 hours to fully charge and then provides about four hours of moderately bright light — between 300 and 500 lux. But the price isn’t too bad at $20 and you’ve gotta start somewhere, right? These little guys could actually come in handy in spots where you don’t have access to a power outlet — although you’ll need sunlight and if you have sunlight, maybe you don’t need a lamp.

Oh what the hell, at least they’re trying. And look at all the pretty colors!

SUNNAN work lamp, solar cell powered [Ikea via Crave]

What’s that dumb joke, something about “why do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway”? That logic doesn’t really hold up when you’re looking at something like these solar-powered garden lights. They’re IKEA’s first such “solar” products, which means we’re in for a treat in the upcoming months as more and more goodies trickle out.

The concept behind the lights: they sit there during the day, collecting the sun’s brilliant goodness, which charges their rechargeable batteries. Then, when nighttime comes, and you’re having one of those hip, cool parties that I hear so much about, bam! Turn the lights on and you’re good to go. Total monetary cost to you: nothing.

The lights are actually LEDs that consume a whopping 70 percent less energy than traditional bulbs. Even better, these lights last something like four times longer than those dirty, awful regular bulbs.

They’re fairly inexpensive, too. Those dome-looking ones up there are only $7.99.

I guess this qualifies as “green,” right?

Everybody’s favorite gigantic furniture store filled with flat-packed boxes is getting into solar panels. Cheap ones, too. Ikea is apparently getting ready to pump $75 million into "as many as ten companies in five different areas: solar technology, energy conservation, water saving products, alternative lighting, and new product materials,” according to TreeHugger. The goal of Ikea’s solar initiative is to be selling the “cheapest, best” photovoltaic roof panels to its stores within the next four years.

Light tents are great for taking pictures of gadgetry and small pieces of meat. This light tent uses a fniss trash can from Ikea, a halogen lamp, and a camera mount. You shoot through the bottom of the can to get a nice, soft light over entire object. It’s about $50 cheaper than most other light tents and it’s snowy in the Northeast today, so why not do a little DIY?

Project Page

I’ll tinker with my X-Arcade once a week, but certainly not as much as I thought I would. I like playing Golden Tee, but setting it up on my TV is a pain. If only my coffee table had Pac Man readily available. Eric certainly knows what I’m talking about and his Ikea MAME table is fantastic. It plays Ms. Pac Man, but that’s besides the point. It’s even better because it doubles as a dinner table or what have you. Pull the leaves apart and the MAME is revealed. It has a 15-inch LCD and Happ Controls wired to an Ultimate I-Pac. Pretty sweet, huh?

Flickr [via BB]

Unfortunately, you don’t pick these up out in Elizabeth, New Jersey and install them on top of your co-op. Instead, Ikea is selling these custom apartments for about $200,000 in the UK. The homes are almost completely pre-fabricated and each block gets an apple tree — something the whole block can take care of, apparently.

Want one? Enter the UK Ikea lottery. The houses are meant for folks making $30,000 to $60,000 and there’s no word on U.S. availability. Bummer.

Welcome to Ikeatown [Guardian via BoingBoing

Sometimes getting back to basics can be good in the world of design. This simple, yet effective Slabang alarm clock from Swedish home store Ikea has a special yellow rubber shell to protect it from falls, throws, and for when you use it as a bottle opener after 12 beers.

Slabang comes with all the basic alarm clock features plus the ability to record seven seconds of audio via a built-in microphone. Personally, I recorded the chorus of Hilary Duff’s smash hit “Wake up”. It makes me feel all warm inside. Visit an Ikea, plunk down $13, and it’s yours.

Ikea’s Slabang alarm clock [Boing Boing]