ADR Studio

Here's an example of life imitating art imitating life.

And -- like the vinyl records masquerading as a digital sound file that we wrote about not long ago -- another example of the sort of real-world-meets-digital-realm mashup our culture seems so fascinated by as we all veer back and forth from the physical to the virtual.

An outfit named ADR Studio has come up with an Instamatic-like camera modeled on the icon for the Instagram app (an icon that was itself modeled on real-world Polaroid cameras and their attendant colorful branding).

The "Instagram Socialmatic Camera" is a concept rather than an actual product, but it's fun all the same. ADR imagines the gadget as something that would let users share photos on Facebook (Instagram's new owner) using the "powerful InstaOs."

And users could also print their shots directly from the camera, a la Poloroid, but using the camera's built-in ink-jet printer and paper tray. The printed photos would feature a QR code that would allow other Socialmatic users to follow the photographer simply by pointing their gadgets at the code. The photos would also sport a Post-It-like adhesive strip that would let people plaster them about the brick-and-mortar world.

Would this fly? Who knows? The cost of consumables seems like a deterrent, but the gizmo certainly looks cool, and it would probably be a hit at real-world social gatherings -- even though the photos wouldn't magically fade up in the way Poloroid shots do (or did).

And maybe you could store your real-world shots in a real-world album designed to look like iOS' sunflowery photo gallery icon.

ADR Studio

ADR Studio

(Via Quiet Lunch Magazine)