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DVICE ARCHIVE FOR May 2008
Over the years we've seen plenty of ultra cool rides that manage to combine green living with high performance by going electric. The problem is that America's love of the open road doesn't jibe well with the 200-250 mile...
POSTED Saturday, May 31, 2008
The biggest news of the week was from us, as it turned out. Yesterday we welcomed the newest member of the SCI FI network — our gaming blog, Fidgit! From casual online gaming to the extreme details of Grand...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
It'd be interesting to try out this "Hand Tool" wrench — see if it works just as well as a regular one, though the fingers in the grip look a little too accurately sculpted to really twist some bolts....
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
We're not sure the Chessmobile would actually work, but here's the idea driving it: the cabin rests atop a platform that can move it around in the event of a crash, keeping the passengers out of the deformation zone...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
With the teacher heading right for him, walking between monochrome desk/blocks sitting atop a poorly textured floor, little Billy had to think fast about why he didn't have today's assignment: "Sorry teach, someone hacked my homework." Silicon Valley's San Jose...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
Since a lot of our dietary choices consist of foods you’d find at a baseball stadium, you can understand why we’re excited about this Hot Dog Rotisserie by junk cookery purveyor Giles & Posner. It doesn’t have the multi-dog...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
This Rotating Alarm Clock was designed specifically for the iPod Touch and iPhone, accommodating their ambidextrous screen orientation with a versatile clock on board. The iH41 charges up the player and booms out its audio just like all the...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("targetDivID","videoplayer_1212508383000"); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("companionContainerID","companiondiv_1212508383000"); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("clipPlaylist","258458"); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("height",305); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("width",407); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("configID","19000"); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("videoControls","controls/controls_scifi.swf"); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("useImageOnly",true); embeddedPlayerManager.setAttribute("imageAction","embedPlay"); embeddedPlayerManager.embedVideoPlayer(); We all know that Legos are awesome. That's a given, something innate, which isn't worth noting, even if someone does something way cool like building a Colonial Viper out...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
Time. We're always fighting against it, trying to squeeze more stuff into not enough minutes, and it causes a lot of stress. But at the end of the day, you can't stop time's never-ending forward march. How depressing! Why not...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
While I find your standard desk and office chair combo to be plenty comfortable for my daily computer time, I guess I shouldn't assume that's the case with everybody. Perhaps you find sitting upright with a flat surface in front...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
While this six-legged vehicle may look like some kind of alien life form, it's actually a prototype vehicle for moving felled trees. The legs allow it to move through more unstable and varied terrain than wheeled or tracked vehicles,...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
We all know about Night View systems that help drivers see in the dark, but here's one with a cool new twist: pedestrian recognition. Similar to face detection in cameras, the system alerts a driver if there's anyone on...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
Part of Japan's ability to grab the technology spotlight so often is the country's ability to showcase new breakthroughs in interesting ways. The latest Japanese milestone via gimmick comes from professor Masayuki Nakao of the University of Tokyo who recently...
POSTED Friday, May 30, 2008
Choosing your music format is like being back in high school — either you’re in, or you’re out. If Apple has its way, you’ll be in, inexorably. Once you’ve committed to the iPod way of life, you’re in for...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
Call me crazy, but didn't pocket watches fall out of style about 70 years ago? I mean, I'm no historian, but I don't remember the last time I saw somebody bust a pocket watch out of their vest pocket. But...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
We're pretty excited here at DVICE today. No, it's not because of that hot nixie clock (though it's pretty sexy) — today's the day we welcome a new member to the SCI FI blogging family, Fidgit. What's Fidgit? It's...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Ubicycle public bicycle service system by design firm Continuum (who worked on the Hundred Dollar Laptop project) will give commuters a new way to get around town. The unmanned bike rental kiosks are topped with solar panels for...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
One of these days, we’re going to get us a trusty intern here at DVICE. But we’re going to make it easy for that pup to get us some fresh hot java with this Coffee Carrier, transporting multiple doses...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
We carry around so much crap with us these days, having stuffed pockets is a common problem. What's one to do when they need to carry around an MP3 player, a phone, their keys, their chapstick, their wallets, and any...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
We're not shy about our love of all things Nixie Clock related here at Dvice, which is why we couldn't help but share with you this lovely example of the tech. The Wooden Nixie Clock combines the old-school gadgetry of...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
There you are, sitting pretty, all confident and relaxed about that stack of documents you shredded last week. Nobody’s ever going to see that stuff! Think again. Now everyone can do what spies and Iranian carpet weavers have been...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
The stainless steel Astrodea Celestial Watch is the perfect gift for anyone with an interest in astronomy or for the captain of a starship. Designed by Hideo Uehara for watchmakers (among other things) Citizen Japan, the Celestial Watch's blue...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
We have discovered the Holy Grail for programmers and desktop gamers with a snacking fetish and it's called the USB Mouse Vacuum. Now, after spending 72 hours cemented to your chair parsing through code, instead of straightening up your desk,...
POSTED Thursday, May 29, 2008
Last week I explained how to turn a PC into a home theater monster. But who wants a PC in the living room? A better idea would be something smaller and simpler — a specialized machine whose only job...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Brain-machine interface technology just went bananas. Researchers successfully trained two macaque monkey test subjects, equipped with small sensor grids the size of a freckle in their noggins, to manipulate robotic limbs. The monkeys use the arms to reach for...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Rickshaws are a standard fixture in big cities. We have carts pulled by bikes here in New York City, London has similar vehicles, and places such as Bangkok, Thailand have zippy little carts powered by noisy motors. For the...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
More a statement of loneliness and misogyny than a real product, the “Perfect Woman” publicity stunt is in full swing, claiming a planned release of its first model on June 11. Said to be able to go shopping, clean...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
What do you get when you combine a train and a bus? You get the DMV (Dual-Mode Vehicle, not Department of Motor Vehicles) from Toyota. Essentially, it's a bus with train wheels that can be lowered to a set of...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
There was so much coolness at the Museum of Modern Art’s Elastic Mind exhibit, it was hard to absorb it all in one shot, but look what else was there: It’s a Pong table, updated to incorporate the physical...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Long Chair, created by Schemata Architecture in Tokyo, is devilishly simple: take a single tube of stainless steel and bend it into a chair profile over and over. Stack enough of these chair outlines side by side, and...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sometimes, you need access to a water gun and you don't have time to mess around rooting through a closet for one. You need it ready at your fingertips just in case anyone busts through your door wielding a Super...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Last night, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer unveiled Windows 7, the next version of the operating system, for the first time. It doesn't look like it takes too many big leaps visually, instead changing the way people interact with...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Maybe it's just me, but whenever I'm running to catch a plane, my wheeled suitcase keeps stumbling as I change direction, slowing me down. I usually just pick the sucker up, but if it was too heavy I'd much...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
We're not sure if this is a twisted marketing move or just bad timing, but Docomo has unveiled 19 new cell phone models and none of them are the eagerly anticipated iPhone. Rumors have been swirling recently that Korea and...
POSTED Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Put on this outfit, and your whole body turns into a musical instrument. That’s the promise of the Pacer Suit, a design concept that measures electrical impulses of your muscles and turns them into music or sound effects. Akin...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Cats, largely supposed to be deeply evil creatures, are deigning to allow researchers to study them for mysteriously altruistic reasons: to work on technology that may give the gift of vision back to the terminally blind. Advancements at the...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
German industrial designer Luigi Colani has been rethinking the future since the '40s, and over the course of those many decades he has applied a rounded, streamlined look to cars and trucks, kitchens, spacecraft, furniture, and whatever else he...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
In a somewhat surprising move, Apple has patented a new device-coating solar film that could be used as an alternate method for charging gadgets such as iPhones and iPods. If implemented, it could allow one to lay their phone out...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Good news for fans of eyesores and obnoxious advertisements: the world's biggest LED billboard is currently being constructed in Times Square in New York, and it's going to sell you stuff or punch you in the face with lights trying....
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
We were thinking we might have shown you the fanciest Foosball table ever made until we saw the Teckell Collection 2008, exquisite creations made of sparkling crystal, and populated with shiny aluminum players. Take your pick of regulation sized...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Smartchair Biofeedback Computer Chair looks like an ejection seat, but this ergonomic design concept keeps track of your muscle tension and adjusts itself for maximum comfort. It has dozens of embedded sensors, raising and lowering springs built into...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Avcen Jetpod T-100 is a proposed flying taxi, a VQSTOL (Very Quiet Short Take-Off and Landing) vehicle that, if you believe the company that wants to produce it, could be airborne by 2010. It would be used as a...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
If you've been waiting for emoticons to fall out of favor and be dismissed as a fad, it's time for a reality check. They've become a permanent fixture of online communication, so you may as well surrender and embrace...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
As technologies like Google Earth and the experimental iPhone Earth application change the way we view our reality, it's time for a ground breaking device to match all the data at our disposal. Japanese concept designer Mac Funamizu has come...
POSTED Tuesday, May 27, 2008
While we’re lusting after this 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) just announced by Samsung, it's a frustrating piece of news. Why? Because the main piece of info, the price, is a secret. Adding to the want-fest is the blazing speed...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
Here's an impressive science fair project: 16-year-old Waterloo, Ontario high school junior Daniel Burd wanted to try to figure out if there was a way to get plastic bags to decompose faster. As it stands, it takes thousands of years...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
Boats, just like their vehicular cousins on highways everywhere, tend to guzzle a lot of gasoline. And with the well-documented price increases of gasoline making getting behind the wheel of anything with an engine feel like getting punched in the...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
Here's some great news from NASA: the Phoenix Mars Lander made a perfect touchdown on the northern arctic plains of Mars, performing better than it even did in simulations. It's already sent back the first shots of the frigid landscape...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
Those iPod wires never seem to be the right length, getting in the way and cramping your style. Until we can do away with wires altogether, this Wire Button is a design concept that would be a welcome mediator...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
Clever dudes Pierre Dragicevic and Gonzalo Ramos have figured out a way to let you browse video clips by manipulating moving objects directly on the screen rather than moving sliders. Take a look at the video and you’ll see...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
What else can you do with a guitar and amplifier, besides playing "The Star Spangled Banner" in honor of Memorial Day? Hey, let’s make a PC out of that git-box, and flank it with a tiny replica of an...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
In case you haven't heard, rectangular buildings are totally last century. This century? Crazy buildings with lots of points and angles, hopefully inspired by something random from nature. Ah, here's a perfect example: the Iceberg Housing Project. Set to go...
POSTED Monday, May 26, 2008
Any one who has ever used a laptop the way its name suggests, knows that these things get pretty hot after a while, so having some kind of support that keeps the computer and your body separated and cool...
POSTED Sunday, May 25, 2008
Blockbuster hinted at a set-top box, but Netflix beat it to the punch this week, announcing an inexpensive little box that operates seamlessly with your pre-existing Netflix account. It's manufactured by Roku and costs $99. Any Netflix subscription over...
POSTED Sunday, May 25, 2008
I like designs that are so simple and clever, that they make you slap your head in one of those V-8 moments. This sofa design from South Africa's XYZ Design is a perfect example. By simply rotating the center...
POSTED Saturday, May 24, 2008
Late in the week news hit us from both above and below. The Telectroscope project, which showcases the idea of building an underground telescope between London and New York City, was unveiled yesterday, just before we got wind of...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
You don’t want your lamps to look like everyone else’s, do you? That’s why you might feel like folding your own with this Fold Your Lamp design concept by Thomas Hick. It’s made of a thin sheet of stainless...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
We liked these light orbs, but have less positive feelings towards the conceptually-similar outdoor lamps above— instead of being ethereal and round, they're shaped like the sort of tree that sometimes lines paths or a road. The lamp's name...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
Got a spare rec room you're not using? And over $250,000 to burn through? Awesome, maybe you could pay someone to set you up an entertainment center as nice as the LED Home Theater. In a stunning display of...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
If only all home theater projectors were made this way! This SIM2 Grand Cinema HT3000 projector nails the 1080p with the best and brightest tech, and lets you hook up more sources than you can shake a stick at,...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
Every year, the big car companies roll out a select few models designed for one thing: speed. Long before that happens, however, they show off a jaw-dropping show car to get everyone pumped up. Building ultra-performance machines may seem...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
How would you tell time if you were blind? I mean, aside from implanting cybernetic eyes so you could look at a clock. Right, exactly — you'd get yourself a Braille watch. Conceived by David Chavez, the Haptica Braille...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
Lockheed's Multiple Kill Vehicle-L space superiority platform promises to be the final word in the event of an intercontinental ballistic missile attack. Part of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System, the MKV-L is designed to deal with the multitudinous...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
Here's something you don't see every day: a Xentex dual 13.3-inch screen laptop. Yes, dual screens. They're side by side and can be rotated or folded down independently for some crazy reason. And now it can be yours on eBay!...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
This elegant desk hides a fully-functioning computer inside, saving space and allowing you to keep the space on or under it free and clear. It also has a monitor built in and attached at the back, meaning the only space...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
In a contemporary tale of two cities, it all began with 19th century English inventor Alexander Stanhope St. George's obsession with the marvelous. Surrounded by the wonders of his age, such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Eastern, he set...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
The brains at NTT Docomo's research lab have been hard at work trying to figure out yet another way to tie Japanese salarymen closer to work, and their latest invention just might do the trick. The system, ominously called Firmo,...
POSTED Friday, May 23, 2008
My friend Seiji compared his initial reaction to his iPhone to having a new girlfriend — he couldn't keep his hands off of it. But in the first flush of any rose-colored relationship, we tend to overlook our paramour's...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
Lineup at the Apple store on 5th Avenue? What's up with that? That's exactly what we thought earlier today when we saw this story on Engadget. A few nanoseconds later we remembered DVICE's world headquarters is mere blocks away...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
Got a custom vinyl doll you love? Ed Lewis, also know as Fungus Amungus over at Instructables, certainly does. Here's where your love and his love are probably different: he melted its face off and put a speaker there....
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
Personally, when choosing a pair of speakers for my home theater setup, I'd probably put the emphasis on how they sound. But hey, different strokes for different folks, right? Some people might be more interested in looks for whatever reason,...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
We all know the benefits to carrying around a boom box: blasting your music so all others must listen, intimidating others, being generally an obnoxious person. But what about the drawbacks? They include shoulder fatigue, arm fatigue, and being generally...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
Look, if you want to get to work faster, you should drive a car. I know you ride your bike to help save the environment and exercise and all those noble reasons, but let's be honest: adding jet propulsion to...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
If you're an aspiring photographer, once you get a digital SLR (DSLR), you start wanting to fiddle with lighting. You’ll probably end up with an external flash unit that mounts on top of the camera, but it’s not perfect....
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
Okay, fellow firebugs, here’s the epitome of fireplace tech. Digifire uses continuously-fed ethanol for a clean-burning fireplace, and these babies are so steeped in forward design, they could be right at home on the set of a science fiction...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
The ROBO Builder kit is the perfect toy to give to that geek friend who claims to love robots but has yet to ante up by actually trying to build one. The components are simple enough for the determined newbie...
POSTED Thursday, May 22, 2008
Sure, you can get small, robotic lawnmowing robots that zip along the ground giving your grass the trim it needs, but somehow that just doesn't feel satisfying. For one, it doesn't look like a lawnmower. That adjustment is just...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Every time I move, it seems I need to replace those annoying hooks that you use to hang oven mitts off of, and mine always seem to fall off or end up in really inconvenient places anyway. I could...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Holy colossal marketing tie-ins, Batman! When we heard Six Flags Great Adventure was creating a completely indoor souped-up coaster tied into the coming release of the The Dark Knight movie this summer, we knew we just had to check it out.
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
For its 75th anniversary, sporting goods purveyor Lacoste decided to peek another 75 years into the future, imagining what the face of tennis would look like in 2083. And, what'd'ya know? It's covered by a sweet visor. The envisioned...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Pop quiz: During a mission several hours long, how do fighter pilots find relief? The unfortunate answer: "piddle packs." That's why the Advanced Mission Extender Device, or AMXD, is arriving to sighs of relief for more than just the...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
ESPN is releasing a new remote control for sports-loving couch potatoes, and it's so confident about its creation that it's dubbed it the "Ultimate Remote" and has decided to charge a serious $300 for it. What makes a remote ultimate...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
It's looking increasingly like the incandescent lightbulb is going the way of the dodo, with more and more efficient alternatives to the energy-sucking bulbs appearing daily. The latest new light source are Planilum Light Emitting Glass. These bulbs consist of...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The One Laptop Per Child program — the program that aims to put cheap but functional notebook computers in the hands of children in impoverished countries — has been shipping the distinctively green XO laptop since the end of...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
A technique pioneered at Bristol University in England and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council will allow for aircraft built with fiber-reinforced polymer (or FRP), which most commercial planes use, to automatically repair minor wear and...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
House painting is a chore, and if you don't use disposable brushes, you know that washing the paint out of your brushes can be the worst part of your day. It takes forever, and half the time the color...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Lots of people aren’t thirsty enough to drink a whole can of soda. Ukranian inventor Johan De Broyer figured out a clever way to re-seal those cans, and opens up new possibilities for advertisers at the same time. You...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Those geniuses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have figured out something profound. If you think about it, this makes sense: It takes a tenth of a second for visual information to get from your eyes to your brain, so everyone...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Facebook just announced the launch of a Japanese version of the site to compete with the local social network of choice Mixi. But one Japanese designer (Takumi Yoshida) is already looking to the future of social networks with a concept...
POSTED Wednesday, May 21, 2008
We’ve abandoned cable TV, dumped Netflix and its associated "discs," and turned to other sources for our entertainment. Now in our fourth episode of Video Rebel, I’ll show you the easiest way to enjoy a huge variety of video...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Remember Napster, the totally illegal file-sharing program turned legal music subscription site? Yeah, neither did we (or at least we chose not to), until today, when it it launched a music store with 6 million DRM-free tracks for sale...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The headcrab. Even its very name may make your lip curl in disgust. Yet one look at this little guy, transformed into a hat and sold by Valve, the studio behind Half Life 2 and the alien headcrab, will...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The world is about to leap into the fourth Indiana Jones adventure, opening in theaters on May 22nd. Mere talk of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull gets us wishing we were on the road to...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Electrical outlets are a necessity but they can sure add to that cluttered look on your walls. Now you can clean up that mess with Bocci 22, the minimalist wall outlet with no faceplate at all — it’s all...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Let’s take a quick look around the world of crazy watches, with one a real product and two design concepts that might turn a head or two in a few years. First, above we have the Orbit Watch, a...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Nothing says "people are home" like a window with the flickering light of a TV coming out of it. I mean, if I was a thief I certainly wouldn't try to break into a house that looked like it had...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Touching your music sounds interesting, but sitting on it? That's the idea behind the Lodge Chair, a small, rather uncomfortable-looking chair with an iPod built in. Sounds like kind of an OK concept… until you realize the subwoofer and...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
I'm not sure if having speakers be encased in lovely wooden balls helps their sound quality out at all, but that's probably not the point. These speakers, the Sound e-Motion M100-20 BFs, look downright awesome. And while yes, the shape...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Netflix has teamed up with hardware manufacturer Roku to create its first set-top box, a tiny device that gives you access to over 10,000 movies on your TV with no discs necessary. The little powerhouse will set you back a...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Music purists still shunning the all software instruments currently available to musicians take heart, there is a compromise available. The KORG DS-10 software has been released as software for the Nintendo DS. The original synthesizer keyboard version of this model...
POSTED Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Few things in life are more decadent than tooling around in a luxury power boat while going nowhere important. Now, however, you can express your concern for global warming as you cruise across the lake. The 18 foot St...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
When you go under the knife, you want the hand holding it to be accurate and steady. Small slip-ups can result in unnecessary scarring, and larger goofs can cause irreparable damage. Paige Nickason, a 21-year-old Canadian woman with an egg-shaped...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
The Tandem Car dreamed up by Volvo's Monitoring & Concept Center (or VMCC) looks like something you'd see in a science fiction movie, yet the team insists that a lot of what they're trying to do is grounded in...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
Most tea bags contain a powdery mix called tea dust that makes for a lousy cuppa, so people who take their tea seriously, prefer to use full leaf loose tea placed in a strainer called a tea ball. The...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
Apple shut down its Mac clone program, which licensed its operating system to other hardware companies, ten years ago, but recently a company called Psystar announced that it would sell inexpensive Mac clones running OS X without Apple's approval....
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
Desk fans are often painfully functional in their appearance — something you regretfully pull out when the weather gets warm, but are all too happy to put away come fall if only to get rid of the eyesore of...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
Someone at famed design firm Frog Design must have been having a bad day when this Digital Escape design was conceived. Don’t like your world? Strap on this “lifestyle product of the future” and transport yourself to a different...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
While most of the world has settled on either a standard mouse or a touchpad, there are still plenty of designers trying to reinvent the wheel. Personally I prefer the old IBM style pointing stick on my laptop over...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
JVC wants to make it as easy as possible to show your video masterpieces to the world, making uploading to video-sharing website YouTube just a button push away with this GZ-MS100 camcorder. This is the first camcorder we’ve seen...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
Starting today, the Wii Fit — the accessory to the Nintendo Wii that purports to turn your game console in a fitness center — is finally available to people in the U.S. Well, people in a very specific part...
POSTED Monday, May 19, 2008
Last year our friends The Sims got a trendy H&M wardrobe upgrade, but let's face it, their home decorating style was still a bit on the generic side. Now you can give it a stylish Ikea makeover thanks to...
POSTED Sunday, May 18, 2008
Coffee snobs will tell you that stored beans won't oxidize and turn bitter as quickly if they're held in a vacuum. The problem is, sucking on the hole in the bag as you roll it up and bend over...
POSTED Saturday, May 17, 2008
One of the coolest stories we got wind of this week was Ryan Wolfe's bionic plants. Generating their own light, they can grow in total darkness. Now they only need to figure out how to water themselves and they'll...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
Daniel Shankland II loves him some giant robots, and his amazing Disaster Relief Robot may just be a model, but, oh, do we ever wish it was real. Part of an independent study during Shankland's senior year at the...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
Sex sells, right? Well maybe it'll sell some razors, too. And not just any razors: Rolling Razors. If you're bald and shave your head often, you may be familiar with the design — it's similar to what a lot...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
Owning a plant or two is a great way to add some life to your apartment and prove to others that you have the capacity to care for the life of another living thing. The problem? You don't. I mean,...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
We don’t usually follow what all the other blogs are doing, but in the case of this Samsung OLED laptop prototype, there’s good reason why everyone’s jaws seem to be dropping. First of all, there’s that 12.1-inch 1280x768 OLED...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
Ever considered broadcasting your life live on the internet? Yeah, me either. But if you did, you'd need a pretty fancy setup to have a camera rolling and transmitting at all times. Well, that's just what the Porta2030 is. The...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
The fine folks who brought us the TASER shock device just dreamed up a new idea: Let’s embed a video camera into the stun gun, recording an entire electronic attack for all posterity. The TASERians figured it was such...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
Summer is quickly approaching, and if you're like me, that means one thing and one thing only: ice cream float season! But what if you have a craving for an ice cream float but are nowhere near your local soda...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
For most non-designers, the first time they work with a page-layout program, the font list is a playground to them, so their documents tend to be loaded with a painfully high number of fonts. We like to think that...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
One day there will be creepy spider robots that crawl all over your body administering a full check-up, but until then you can experience a reasonably weird facsimile with the USB Head Massager. If you decide to add this gadget...
POSTED Friday, May 16, 2008
Companies are offering way too many choices, offering dozens of mediocre products where a single good one would suffice. Samsung and Motorola pushing dozens of cellphones, Canon and Casio and Kodak hawking scores of camera choices, and Sony's bewildering...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Grilling Tool Light sells itself as an aid for late night grilling. It's a light, powered by three LEDs, mounted on a powerful magnet that you can easily snap to your metal tools, so you can take those...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
You've seen (and probably drooled over) Microsoft's Surface touchscreen tabletop. Well, some intern over at Microsoft Research accidentally knocked it on its side and — voilà! — the Microsoft TouchWall was born. The new TouchWall features the same multi-touch...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sometimes, when I go to bed, I wish I could wake up somewhere more exciting. You know, wake up as a different person with a more exciting life (not that blogging isn't thrill-a-minute). But alas, every morning I wake up...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
While wind power might seem like a relatively esoteric way to get electricity that's best suited for places with huge expanses of empty land, the US government thinks it has the potential to be so much more. In fact, a...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
If you're out and away from an outlet, chances are that you won't be able to use an electric razor. You know, when you're camping or whatever. But what if your delicate skin doesn't want to touch the cold steel...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
If the innovators at the California High-Speed Rail Authority have their way, you might be able to hop on a bullet train that can zip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just under 2.5 hours by 2030. The...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
Here’s a body mod that might do you some good: A doctor implants this gizmo from EnteroMedics just under the skin, and hooks up its two electrodes that can electrically block the nerve that makes you hungry. The result? A...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
We see our share of crazy ideas 'round these parts. How about a toilet made of meat? Or a lamp fashioned from a duck? This helmet may not be made from poultry, but what it does is still rather...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
What's not to love about a BristleBot, the motor-run toothbrush head recently invented by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories? The tiny invention was such a big hit that the design has caught on all over the world. The latest addition...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
Outside of cool lamps, the idea of light-up furniture sounds pretty lame on paper. But then we saw Stardust, a product from Italian furniture company Meritalia, and got convinced. The glow of the low-voltage LEDs built into these sofas,...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
We think that Daniel Rozen's Wooden Mirror should be classified as Steampunk, but frankly, we're not cool enough to be sure. Rozen is an adjunct professor at NYU, so his creation was on display earlier this week at the...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
How do you get Minority Report-style invasive biometric security ingrained in society? Tie the technology to something millions can't do without—like cigarettes—and you're on your Orwellian way! Japanese company Fujitaka is planning to roll out face recognition cigarette vending machines...
POSTED Thursday, May 15, 2008
Rui Pereira, another NYU ITP student, doesn't think that Guitar Hero gets you close enough to feeling like a rock star. That's why he invented the TUIST (short for Transformable Uber Interface for Stardom), an electronic instrument that you...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Oh, I love me some peanut butter. It's nature's candy, making all foods taste better. Heck, it's even a great snack on its own. A couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter is better than any energy bar you could throw...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
As goofy concepts from Japan go, this solar-powered bra is a pretty good contender for most ridiculous we've seen. Since it means well, though — promoting eco-friendly initiatives — we won't point out how weird it is, as it'll...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
This minuscule hot-shot box from GSSI/Toptronics might make pulling in digital TV signals over the air even easier. The DA-001 is an indoor antenna whose makers say can receive those digital TV broadcasts from 50 miles away. Imagine what it...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Don Grice is a confident man. The chief engineer on IBM's Roadrunner project told Computer World: "We will break the petascale barrier. The only unknown for me will be what day it is." Right now, the petaflop is to...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Houseplants not your thing? You still might want to take a look at the work of Ryan Wolfe, which merges technology and plants in ways that are both thought-provoking and… well, pretty cool-looking. One project, called "Study for Lit...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
As Amazon finally makes more Kindle e-book readers available to those eager to plunk down $400 to toss away old-timey paper-n-cardboard books, competitors are coming out of the woodwork. One of the two choices from Astek is the cheapest one...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Summertime is almost here, and you know what that means: grill season! It's time to celebrate warm weather and longer days by torching hunks of meat in your yard. It's the American way! But what if you don't want to...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Kristin O'Friel, another NYU ITP student, invented the CO2RSET, a corset that tightens or loosens around your body depending on the amount of CO2 in the air around you. She says that she was influenced in part by this...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Apparently, lying down on a regular old bed or in an easy chair isn't enough for real relaxation. You need to pump up the relaxation! Take it to the max! Be too legit to quit your relaxation! You need the...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Maybe you're a spy or you've got schematics for the next hot gadget locked away on your hard drive, but either way you're going to want to lock your files down. That's where the DataLocker Drive Enclosure comes in....
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Good news, space geeks! The new Phoenix Lander is going to be touching down on the Martian Arctic later this month, and it's the most advanced Mars Lander yet. The Phoenix will be looking for signs of past life and...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Previously, we told you about the real-life-meets-science-fiction trend of video messages popping up on gravestones. But a new technological twist from Japan takes paying respects to your loved ones a step further. A company called Ishinokoe has implemented QR technology...
POSTED Wednesday, May 14, 2008
How could I possibly abandon cable TV? Outside of satellite, isn’t that the only way to get clean HDTV signals into the home? Light bulb over the head! Why not get out an old antenna and see if our...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Daniel Soltis's Moving Parts project was another standout invention from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program show today. Soltis describes his project as a "two-player hybrid physical/video pinball game that uses variations in game rules to elicit different social interactions between...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Kids these days, they have it pretty easy. Say their little stumpy legs get tired and they don't want to walk around anymore. In my day, it'd be tough luck. But today? Why, they can just hop on their Ringbo...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
While we haven't had great experience with ultra-cheap camcorders, we can admire the design and ambition of the Creative Vado (if not the name — seriously, that's the best you could come up with?). The slim, super-simple cam emulates...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Yesterday we attended NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring 2008 show, where graduate students were exhibiting dozens of fascinating and forward-thinking projects. There were far too many new inventions and computer programs to feature them all here, so we'll be...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
If the Jettsons were a little more terrestrial, they might have lived in something that looks like Victor Vetterlein's "Reboot," a conceptual house. The Reboot is designed to be entirely self-sufficient, with energy collecting solar paint, wind turbines and...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
When looked at straight on, this "Mirage Lamp" looks to have the shape of your standard lamp, complete with a shade and a base. But when you look at it from any other angle you realize that it's actually made...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
How do you get 5.1 PC sound into your home theater without breaking a sweat? Creative decided to make it easy, rolling out the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1. The cheap $60 outboard unit plugs into a USB port...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Here’s a design concept for cool-tool vacuum makers to consider: the BakVac. Why drag around all those moving parts when you can wear them on your back like a turtle? Makes sense. Adding to the convenience factor is an...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
As we well know, Tokyoflash watches are known for their high style and higher complexity. Each model has a unique way of displaying the time, usually only decipherable to its owner. The S-Mode Oberon SS is the company's latest,...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Hamburger enthusiast Harry Sperl of Daytona Beach, Florida took a look at his Harley-Davidson and his collection of burger odds and ends — over 1,000 pieces strong — and wondered how he could merge the two. Well, you're looking...
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Fujitsu, in concert with game developer Ongakukan Co., has unveiled the world's first full scale Train Simulation System using high definition video. The system is designed to offer trainees real-time feedback using HD video taken from the Japanese rail system....
POSTED Tuesday, May 13, 2008
While we're not mathematicians enough here to know if the name "Fractal Furniture" really applies to this poly-drawer cube, we are space-craving urbanites enough to desire one. The art project, conceived by Takeshi Miyakawa, turns a big wooden block...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
We've seen plenty of designs for computer mice — from the innovative the ridiculous — but never one so… contoured as the City Mouse (or is that the Village Mouse). Designed by d-Vision, the City Mouse has a shape...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
CrackBerry addicts will be able to get their fix in a major way with Research In Motion's upcoming BlackBerry Bold 9000, and the company knows that the iPhone is the big boy to beat. With that in mind, it's 3G-ready,...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
Apparently, manufacturing metals in space could boost the efficiency of hydrogen engines and aircraft. The European Space Agency is planning to head up to the International Space Station where they'll begin manufacturing lightweight metal compounds in zero-gravity.ESA scientists are currently...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
Surprisingly this isn't a picture of Cobra headquarters in the new G.I. Joe movie — the Veil Solar Shade might one day grace the schoolyards of some Australian elementary schools. A concept from design firm Büro North, the Veil...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
In Tokyo, the PASMO card lets residents pay for train fares quickly using a RFID-embedded card and reader. They simply wave the card as they enter or exit the station and it does all the work. But now PASMO is...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
I don't think staircases get much cooler looking than this Floating Staircase. I mean, look at it! It's magically sprouting from the wall with a minimum of materials! I love it. Then again, it looks horribly dangerous. I mean, ignoring...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
Making your coffee with a pre-measured pod is about the quickest and easiest way to satisfy that caffeine jones, and Tassimo, one of many offering those powerful single-serve bursts of java goodness, teamed up with Bosch for a significantly...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
Check out this new key fob from Delphi, using E Ink and destined for a futuristic auto near you. Using the same E Ink tech in the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader but 40 percent thinner and on a...
POSTED Monday, May 12, 2008
In the arsenal of devices to get rid of pesky mosquitoes and flies, two of the most effective are the electric bug zapper, and the good old fashioned fly swatter. The problem is that the bug zapper relies on...
POSTED Sunday, May 11, 2008
I like devices where it's hard to figure out what they actually do, and the Octocube from French designer Vivien Muller is a fine example. Built entirely from 90 degree copper tubing elbows, the Octocube is actually a radiator...
POSTED Saturday, May 10, 2008
The Wachowski brothers' mind-blowingly colorful remake of the 1967 anime classic, Speed Racer, is rolling through theaters, bringing Speed's Mach 5 to the silver screen. So what would it take to make the Mach 5 a reality? Is it...
POSTED Saturday, May 10, 2008
We love high-def video. We love it so much, we hate when it's compressed all to hell. We also hate getting overcharged for it, like when NetFlix decides to charge more for Blu-ray discs. Fed up with getting short-changed,...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
Getting all tangled up in wires when playing games or making a call on Skype is not our idea of fun. Bluetooth headsets can help, but they have an annoying lag that gamers and phone talkers won’t tolerate. That’s...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
New York State is home to some impressive waterfalls, New York City, not so much. The city is planning on changing that this summer with the New York City Waterfalls project. It's a big, expensive undertaking: $9 to $10...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
The military is experimenting with replacing inert metals in munitions with reactive materials to create enhanced "superbombs." By replacing the inert metals in Explosively Formed Penetrators, the resulting explosions is much larger and is more able to get through rock...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
While this almost-clever handbag resembling a pair of riveted blue jeans might look ordinary, inside it’s stuffed with helpful tech. Much better than some of the silly, pseudo-tech handbags we've seen lately, its interior is lit up by LEDs...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
This First Light lamp might looks like some sort of contraption from an alien hair salon, but it's actually an eco-friendly lamp that doesn't need to be plugged into provide a warm glow. Instead, much like a grandfather clock, it...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
What do you want from a lamp? Light, right? Maybe good looks? With Ralf Zoontjes's Luxalive lamp, you've got all that, but also a friend — one that's maybe a little needy. The Luxalive reacts to your position to...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
It's not often you see an innovative twist on an already good idea, but 3M's done it with their transparent Post-It notes. Called Sheer Colors, the see-through notes have a host of uses — from highlighting borrowed books to...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
Volkswagen has plans to produce a 1-liter car by 2010 that'll get a whopping 200 miles per gallon, making it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. It's not going to come without its drawbacks, however, as reaching...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
Poor little Pleo. The innocent and uber-cute robot dinosaur suffered at the hands of your DVICE narrators, sure, but that mild session of humiliation pales by comparison to this ass-whipping Pleo took at Maker Faire last weekend. What could...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
What if you could control everything in your home with a little handheld gadget? That's what this universal remote by David Chacon got us thinking about, with its roomy screen — a nerve center right in your pocket. Called...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
Although Transformers movie mania has long past, the sweet geek pleasure of the mega-hit Iron Man has sharpened our robo-lens. Hiding in plain sight is the ultimate iPod dock that serves as a mini-speaker system as well as a bona...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
Plasma or LCD? There are other kinds of TVs out there, of course, from near-deceased CRT to rear projection, and the new but still tiny OLED format. But if you go to any electronics store today to buy a...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
The University of Toronto in Canada has developed a pair of robotic grippers that can apply as little of 20 nanoNewtons of force on an object, using its three-millimeters-long arms to grab cells 10 micrometers across and transport them....
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
There's certainly no shortage of odd, annoying, beautiful and unusual places to store books, but we’re betting you never thought a bookshelf could also function as a internet-connected, live-updated display. Prepare for enlightenment, because WaSnake has four panels on...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
It's certainly a serious undertaking, but this how-to mod for turning an unused phone jack in your wall into a super-secret hidden data storage compartment is pretty awesome. You'll need to really get your hands dirty and know what you're...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
Last year we told you about Magenn's floating wind turbines— you know, the ones that look like Macy's Thanksgiving balloons. At that point, there were plenty of concept images, but no real life helium-filled Magenn Power Air Rotor System...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
This Multimedia Coffee Table reminds me of that spoof video mocking Microsoft Surface, the table-size PC you can now find at AT&T stores. In that vid, a narrator describes how amazing it would be to look at maps —...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
I think I'd be perfectly happy decorating my apartment solely with objects from my child hood. I'd be even happier if they were all video-game-related objects because, frankly, video games played a pretty serious role in my childhood. That's why...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
Looks like our parent company NBC has brushed aside iTunes for its online iPhone viewing, and gone directly to the people. If you navigate to NBC.com on your iPhone’s Safari browser, you can now watch full episodes of 30...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
Vanessa explores the idea of going "eco-sexy" with some green portables, including a hand-crank charger, a handheld wind turbine and, the emerald aphrodisiac, a backpack with a solar panel.
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
Mother's Day is Sunday, and if you haven't been thinking about it for months, you're probably scrambling for gift ideas now. Fortunately, the Web is full of suggestions for gifts for Mom. Unfortunately, many of them are bad, bad...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
When it comes to the fanciest of fancy cocktails, everything is important, and not just the booze. Sure, you want top-shelf hooch in there, but what about the ice? You're not just going to dump any old crappy ice cubes...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
The Japanese concept design community known as Cuusoo has produced a concept device so practical and tantalizingly well designed that it's a wonder it doesn't already exist. Created by the Japan-based designer known as Marimo-san, the concept illustrates a cell...
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
Last year we reported about Tivoli's plans for a standalone Internet radio device. It never came out. The radio manufacturer ended up redesigning the unit from top to bottom in an attempt to make it easier to use, and...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The original Nintendo Entertainment System is a pretty strange choice for a gadget to redesign, what with it being a couple decades old and everything, but you can't argue with how slick the reNESED concept design is. Featuring wireless controllers...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The iDeal automatic poker dealer gets rid of all your suspicions that the house is trying to cheat you. It uses infrared sensors, looking for bike reflectors mounted on stands, to determine how many players are at a table...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Ever get that feeling that you could fix anything if you just had the right tool? Oh, you do? Bad news, my friend. You're that guy — a blundering handyman just like Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor — and...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Here's some creepy news: scientists have created a robot mouth that can chew food into a mash just like people, paving the way for robots of the future to acquire a taste for human flesh. In reality, the device could...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sony’s already into the digital picture frame biz, but now it busts out one that’s truly useful. The Canvas Online VGF-CP1 leaps into the next level with its Wi-Fi connectivity, opening up way-cool possibilities such as automagically showing your...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Just before the dawn of