Inventions Beyond: May 2008

Monday, May 26, 2008

Sustainable Flash Memory Card Holder

We all know there are way too many flash memory card formats out there. At last I count I believe there are at least 9 of them. Normally I try to stick with SD or Micro SD cards but sometimes that’s not possible so what’s one to do when transporting all those easily lost cards? Get a memory card holder.

Designer Tom Kenworthy envisages a sustainable 3 tier sliding holder made from recycled vending cups. It only takes 7 plastic cups to make one holder. It’s lightweight, small, and can be colored to your heart’s desire. You might not need to carry your memory cards everywhere but at the very least this is a great way to keep them all in one place.

Designer: Tom Kenworthy

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Live 22 Lets You Call Objects Too

Currently mobile phones only enable you to call people but what if you could call objects too? What if you could call a place and fill every device in that place with your messages?

The Live 22 concept has 3 modes. Call mode operates like a regular mobile phone - call 1 or conference with multiple people. The Contextual Text Mode allows you to send text messages to every device in an environment, be it a computer or TV. Think of it as a massive twitter-like messaging board. The third mode called Glance lets you remotely observe the environment - see who’s there and what’s going on.

The device itself is a touchscreen based pad you can take anywhere. The ability to send message to not only people, but objects creates virtual spacial environments that compliment real locations.

Designer: Krishna Prasad

Friday, May 16, 2008

Treo meets iPhone

There is soon to be a flood of new mobile phones to hit the street using Google’s new open source Android OS platform. RKS design consultants of southern California have just introduced their entry into this soon-to-be-ubiquitous mobile platform with this “Mimique” design. Touting its ability to be easily customizable, and looking very much like a Treo with an iPhone touch surface, this phone concept deserves some attention, but I can’t help feel that they really failed to find a unique aspect. What do you think?

Designer: RKS Design

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tablet PC Made Of Wood

Since notebooks tend to go for sleek and shiny, here’s an alternative for all you traditionalists out there. The S-series notebook concept is made of wood. Yes that’s right, WOOD. Nevermind the weight and horrible heat insulation characteristics of the material, it’s supposed to look refined and sexy, at which it does.

The notebook sports one of those ultra-thin 4mm thick LCD screens, and at 17″ wide, there’s plenty of viewing room. The screen itself is backed by black acrylic, you know, to compliment that wood base. Catering to business users, the S-series is a tablet PC powered by Windows Vista.

Designer: Simon Enever

Purity Notebook But A Litte Like A Mac

Right now the in thing with notebook computers are clean lines, and minimal design features. The Purity Notebook takes that to the extreme but manages to throw in a few of its own unique touches like the high lacquer finish. Nevermind the very Macbook Pro-like keyboard, it’s for the Windows crowd.

Designer: Lim Sze Tat

Apple MacBook Air

MacBook Air is ultrathin, ultraportable, and ultra unlike anything else. But you don’t lose inches and pounds overnight. It’s the result of rethinking conventions. Of multiple wireless innovations. And of breakthrough design. With MacBook Air, mobile computing suddenly has a new standard. Priced at $1799 USD and ships in two weeks. You can pre-order online here.

Designer: Apple

The thinness of MacBook Air is stirring. But perhaps more impressive, there’s a full-size notebook encased in the 0.16 to 0.76 inch of sleek, sturdy anodized aluminum. And at just 3.0 pounds,1 MacBook Air is more than portable — it’s with you everywhere you go.

The glossy 13.3-inch, widescreen LED backlit MacBook Air display is the same viewable size as the screen on MacBook. The 1280-by-800 resolution gives you vibrant images and rich colors at full brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. So you get full-screen performance with all the benefits of a slim design.

The keyboard is full-size with crisp keys just like the ones on MacBook. But MacBook Air goes further by adding backlit key illumination, making it easy to work in low-light settings such as airplanes and conference halls. A built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts keyboard and display brightness for optimal visibility. And with the oversize multi-touch trackpad, it just keeps getting better for fingers.

Curved iMac has your back…

Many things come to mind when I imagine new features that might be useful on my Mac; a touch screen, integrated 3G connectivity, pop-out remote control, integrated LCD projector, and maybe even a ninja bear defense radar system… I had an incident, let it go. Designer Nuno Teixeira believes every computer should be two faced and with more curves. I dated that girl for a while and it was a hot nightmare, but his “iView” iteration of an Apple’s iMac definitely has a lot more appeal. Taking a cue from the 1950’s CINERAMA wrap-around movie theatre screens, this iMac iMock-up features a giant curved screen(for better orientation to the natural curvature of the human eye) and a second built in LCD screen on the back(useful for students and graphic designer.) While shooting for the stars, Nuno also included two webcams(front and back). The likelihood this will ever be made? 0%, the likelihood I would really like one of these? 100%

Designer: Nuno Teixeira

Black Diamond Mobile Phone by Jaren Goh

Black Diamond mobile phone for Sony Ericsson, encases the device under a layer of polycarbonate with mirror-finish cladding. The OLED technology makes for vivid illumination under the polycarbonate skin and makes a borderless screen effect possible. The thin profile, clean lines, slight offset, and ultra-glossy finish are all qualities sure to attract both urban tech-junkies and device fashionistas alike.

Designer: Jaren Goh

iPod Mug Speaker by Masato Tokuno

A new interpretation of the desktop coffee cup, this white ceramic mug holds an MP3 player and has a built-in speaker. Simply insert the mini plug into an MP3 player’s earphone jack to serve up quality sound. The MP3 player provides the power source, so no additional batteries are needed. Cannot be used for drinking.

Designer: Masato Tokuno [ Product Page ] [ Via: Apartment Therapy ]

Book Style Remote Control by Chen Hung Ming

Inspired by the easy navigation and use of a book, the book style remote control was created. It was designed to tackle the current problem we face with existing remote controls for the elderly, interface being complicated and several remote needed to operate various machines. Consisting of three pages on the book remote to identify which are DVD, TV and Audio. With these label attached, we eliminate any misunderstanding that may otherwise have occured.

Designer: Chen Hung Ming

Memory Infinite, Like Linking Rubber Bands

Memory Infinite has a USB male connector at one end and a female connector at the other, providing an “add up” concept for USB finger discs. By connecting one Memory Infinite with another to, you can grow the space you need. The user can choose to combine or separate Memory Infinites to share files and if you build a chain long enough, you can wear it. When plugged into a computer, the daisy chain appears as one unified USB drive.

Designer: Vicky Wei

Memory Infinite by Vicky Wei

Flameless Rechargeable USB Lighter

In lieu of lighter fluid and a flint, this lighter uses resistance coils to create heat. It’s the same technology found in car lighters. The small rechargeable battery cell powering the coil can be recharged via USB. On top of that, there’s some flash memory in there to store files. Damn, might as well give it a couple swiss blades and a nose hair trimmer to complete the package. And Kool? Doesn’t anyone still smoke that?

Designer: Nathan Gabriele

Taming Your Multitasking

Multitasking is impossible to escape in today’s world. As humans, we’ve always had the desire to stay connected to the people around us. Now that technology has made this easier than ever, we’ve developed a fear of urgency that any given phone call, email, or text might be really important. Multitasking is necessary but it can be dangerous in some situations. Texting while driving is the number one distraction for new drivers, but it would also be difficult to restrict all phone use in a car. While we’re stuck with this desire to be connected, we think we can tame our multitasking.

Tame is a concept that sets a status message synced with all of your devices and applications. If you’re driving or need some privacy, you can tell Tame to handle auto-responses to your phone, IM, text, Facebook, and more. You can store messages on each face, and when you need to change your status, just rotate the cube to the desired face. Besides a written message, Tame uses a red-yellow-green color coding system to let people know at a glance if they can contact you.

Designer: Michael Roller [ Product Page ]