This Italian-designed beauty takes a piece of conventional agricultural machinery and turns it into an envy-worthy work of automotive design. You may not see it on the race track anytime soon, but something about its appearance makes you want to take this wonder for a spin even at slow speeds.

“It is a tractor with brand new styling that expresses the strength and durability of Zetor machines in a way that also communicates emotion and passion,” said Pininfarina’s design chief Fabio Filippini. Pininfarina launched this tractor with a sloped front end and other aesthetic features but also a durable body and easily-removeable side panels for protection but also regular maintenance access. Cooling vents add to the look but also keep the heavy machine from overheating. Dark components are more functional while red highlights areas of design.

“Pininfarina’s new design shifts Zetor to a more intense, emotional experience that is highly sensual, dynamic and modern,” said Zetor in a statement. “The idea behind the Zetor by Pininfarina concept is the embodiment of a perfect combination of power, dynamics and emotion while preserving the use and practicality of field machinery, which tractors certainly are.”

The post Ferrari for Farmers: Sleek Sports Car-Style Tractor Design first appeared on Gajitz.

A new twist on an ancient technique, this subterranean refrigerator takes advantage of cooler subsurface temperatures to let you store fruits, vegetables, cheese, wine and other goods right in (or rather: below) your own backyard.

Floris Schoonderbeek of Dutch design company Weltevree crated the Ground Fridge to showcase at Milan Design Week, illustrating the power of simple insulation to store foods self-sufficiently at a stable temperature year round (around 50 degrees F).

The rounded volume is placed under excavated soil, about three feet deep, with an above-ground entry for access. Needing no plumbing or electricity, the structure is generally exempt from building permit requirements so anyone can install one with relative ease. The catch: there are still many things that will spoil in this setup, so you may need to be selective about what you keep in this system, or simply try to eliminate things from your simplified lifestyle that won’t work within it.

“The Groundfridge is an innovative take on the traditional root cellar. It meets the requirements of people with their own vegetable garden, who choose to live in a modern and self-sustaining way. Floris Schoonderbeek (founder of Weltevree) is continuously discovering and exploring new angles, chances and materials that he puts to good use in improving and enriching our habitat. With the Groundfridge, he presents a means for new world citizens who want to handle their food in an autonomous, independent way.”

The post Power-Free Fridge: Underground Geothermal Food Cooling first appeared on Gajitz.

Plenty of DIY projects can help you pass some time and enhance your tinkering skills, but this one can actually help fulfill your geeky dream of being a little more like Batman. A super-inventive MIT student put together a fire extinguisher, some pipes and hoses and a Nerf gun to make a sweet grappling hook gun that kind of makes us want to run out to Home Depot right now.

The video displays just how much power this cool little hook shooter is packing. The guy behind the project says it’s not at all hard to build, which is easy to say for someone who got into MIT – but as long as you know how to solder and have basic building skills you should be able to throw together one of your own thanks to the awesome Instructables he put together. Just don’t shoot your eye out, Batman.

The post Hook Line + ‘Stinguisher: Awesome DIY Grappling Hook Gun first appeared on Gajitz.

Finding a razor in your wallet sounds rather horrifying, but the Carzor manages to make it look pretty cool. Carzor is a credit card-sized razor/mirror combination that slips right into your billfold to keep a shave close at hand no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

The Carzor (card + razor, get it?) features a small, lightweight razor with detachable blades and a tiny mirror on the reverse side of the blade storage space. When you find yourself stubbly before a big meeting, you only have to rotate the head of the razor, attach a blade and scrape those pesky chin hairs into oblivion.

We can’t imagine that this is the best-performing razor ever or that it would be something you’d want to use very often, but when you’re pressed for time and can’t get home to freshen up, this novel idea could be a life-saver. The company behind the Carzor really should consider a female version, too – ladies get caught out with stubbly legs at the most inopportune times, you know.

The post Close Shave? Wallet Razor Takes Man-Grooming on the Go first appeared on Gajitz.

Just when we think that nothing new can be done with clocks, someone else makes a wicked cool new one that makes us stand up and pay attention. This awesome bamboo soil clock comes to us from Dutch designer Marieke Staps, and all it asks for from you is two potted plants and some moisture. The designer says that the biological processes in the soil produce enough bacteria to power the clock. We have to wonder if it’s the plants providing these processes, or the dirt itself. Because we can think of some people who would kill those plants within days, but watering pots of dirt would probably be possible. Regardless, Inhabitat (which sells the clock in their store) says that you can use any two plants to provide electricity for this super-cool clock.

The clock itself, excluding the electrodes and wires, is made of bamboo, which is an extremely renewable, sustainable material. And unlike some science-project-type timepieces (we’re looking at you, potato clock), this one is actually quite attractive. You just push the zinc and copper electrodes down into the dirt of your two potted plants and make sure to keep those plants watered. Just don’t use vegetables or herbs: the zinc electrode degrades into the dirt in time and you don’t want that coming up in your tarragon. You can make your potted plants finally pull their own weight in your house for less than $40.

The post Soil-Powered Alarm Clock Gets Your Bambooty Out of Bed first appeared on Gajitz.