Wednesday, January 23, 2008

New Smokers' Etiquette

Designed by Fiona Carswell for the polite smoker, the jacket comes with a valve near the collar to allow smoke to be exhaled into rather than into someone else's face. The design intuitively directs the smoke into a pair of visible plastic 'lungs' pockets on the chest, which would actually show the smoking stains over time. That's one way to educate.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

150-inch Plasma TV anyone?

Unveiled recently at the CES in January 2008 by Matsushita, this behemoth shall be available in 2009. So does size matter to you?

Bionic Eyes!

This technological breakthrough fusing electronics onto a flexible contact lens offers a large screen display in the face of ever miniaturization of consumer electronics. Of course, this is just the tip of its potential. Imagine GPS, zoom vision, self bio-monitoring, etc. The researchers at the University of Washington has Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Babak Parviz at the helm of this project. Read more about the article here.

Optimus Tactus Keyboard





Imagine a flat keyboard surface that can be programmable with any keys of any shapes & sizes, and even able to display images. The Optimus Tactus Keyboard is created by the Moscow-based Art. Lebedev Studio.

Spray-on Condom!


Plan for launch sometime this year by the German Institute for Condom Consultancy. One actually inserts the penis into the cylinder, from which latex is sprayed from all sides. Designed for 20 applications each, the spray-on condom is expected to reach the market at USD$27.

Computing with brain signals

Unveiled in mid-2007, the Neural Impulse Actuator reads brain signals instead of keyboard strokes. Read the article to discover other developments in this field.

Watch out for the new frontier of the merging of computers and biology. Seriously, this is not a sci-fi movie.

The Information Ring by Hideaki Matsui

Imagine information transfers done remotely when two wearers of the information ring come into close proximity (such as through a handshake). After the tiring event in which you'd met at least dozens of people, you could retrieve info about everyone you'd met at your own pace. The ring is simply placed into an electrhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifonic business card, which would read the info and display the various profiles.

Definitely a great concept by designer Hideaki Matsui, especially since most of us do not possess a photographic memory. The key is to have everyone wearing the rings. Looking forward to this concept being developed towards that stage.

The Amazing Expandable Fletcher Capstan Tables

This marvelous design by DB Fletcher has to be seen to fully comprehend the ingenuity of the mechanics involved. The inspiration was a similar type of table, though the expanded parts were stored separately from the main table. This earlier design was patented by Robert Jupe in 1835.

The radically improved design (based on a totally new geometry) in the Fletcher Capstan tables are even available with a power-operated mechanism, in case the 30 degrees movement is too much for some. Apart from fine wood, they even offer marble as an option. Bear in mind though, that the average price is at least USD$50,000!

iPod accessory: OhMiBod (Adult) Vibrator


This actually vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music being played on your iPod or other mp3 players. And the company even offers other products to pair with your handphone!

Feel the music...

Monday, January 21, 2008

FOG SCREENA projection screen made up of fog and cool to the touch. The FogScreen is a most interesting multimedia element for exploration.