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The future of touch- and gesture-interface technology is moving forward rapidly, but there are still innovations happening in area of traditional hardware interface devices. Hitachi recently unveiled a new kind of television remote control specifically designed to benefit the...
POSTED Wednesday, January 7, 2009
What's white and orange, can get you anywhere in the city in a jiffy and folds up like a Swiss Army Knife? It's the new Capella backpack electric bicycle developed by Vietnamese industrial design student Truong Minh Nhat. The vehicle...
POSTED Monday, January 5, 2009
Attention Star Wars devotees: here's yet another opportunity for you to finance George Lucas's next vacation home. Either that or Etsy seller "YOUgNeek" is in a heap of trouble from unauthorized use of that valuable and ubiquitous Star Wars...
POSTED Friday, January 2, 2009
Happy New Year! Time to turn over a new leaf, folks. Keeping track of what day it is can sometimes be inexplicably daunting, so you'll be needing a 2009 calendar. Who knew there were so many crazy, weird, downright...
POSTED Thursday, January 1, 2009
Hi, I'm Kevin Hall and I'm bad at math. (Boy, does it feel great to finally get that off my chest.) That's why this nifty little solar-powered Credit Card Calculator actually has quite a bit of appeal for me...
POSTED Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Last year, the Times Square Ball got an LED makeover for its 100th anniversary. This year that tradition continues, all 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs of it (and don't forget the 2,668 Waterford crystals). The 12-foot-wide, 11,875-pound ball is...
POSTED Tuesday, December 30, 2008
If you haven't heard of Eazo, a Chinese purveyor of luxury computers, then you probably enjoy keeping your money where it is. That's because a custom, top-of-the-line PC from the company can cost $10,000, and supposedly upwards of $50,000....
POSTED Tuesday, December 30, 2008
As the year draws to a close, it's time to reflect on the 12 months that have sped by with remarkable haste. That's easy for photographer Eirik Solheim, who set up his Canon 400D (a relatively low-cost digital SLR,...
POSTED Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The Big Green Apple will join an ever-growing list of cities with its plan to take advantage of long-lasting LED street lighting — Ann Arbor, Michigan was the first US city to go 100% LED — but NYC is going...
POSTED Monday, December 29, 2008
No, you're not hallucinating. These faucets are modeled after wine bottles, delivering your water from a familiar form factor that looks like Italian techno-plumbing purveyor iB Rubinetterie ran through the Disney cartoon factory. The Batlo faucet by designer Giulio...
POSTED Monday, December 29, 2008
Finally, there's over-the-top, realistic weaponry for fans of (the short list of) shooters for the Nintendo Wii. You always wanted to play Chicken Shoot and the leftovers from the other consoles with a submachine-gun-turned-Wiimote, right? The WeeP5, by Instructables user...
POSTED Monday, December 29, 2008
We like architect Matthew Heywood's entry for "A New Bus For London" just as much as the previous entry we showcased, despite it's odd shape and curves. Sure, it looks quite a bit like the Oscar Meyer wiener truck,...
POSTED Friday, December 26, 2008
So, hey, let's talk finances. I know, I know, it's Christmas Eve and you'd rather not look at your pocket book right now. With a gadget like the Supervision, however, you'd really never have to think too hard about...
POSTED Wednesday, December 24, 2008
We revere Santa Claus as our mysterious giver of gifts, but the rest of the world may reserve that spot for Josh Silver. Professor Joshua Silver, to be specific — a retired physics teacher at Oxford University who has...
POSTED Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Students at the Royal College of Art in London were tasked with dreaming up what shape light, economical cars could take in this day and age. What did they come up with? Vehicles that are quirky and awesome —...
POSTED Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Rumblings of an iPhone nano have been percolating for weeks now, and here are the first pics of the thus-far fantasy phone. It looks to be a 3/4 size iPhone, slimmer but every bit as attractive as its existing...
POSTED Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Meet Eddy, an industrial vehicle designed by Puzon Maciej. This remote-controlled suction excavator is designed to do a big job despite its small form factor — as a suction excavator, it'll suck up all of the dirt and debris...
POSTED Monday, December 22, 2008
Bonfires sure are pretty, but they can be dangerous, too. The Bonfire, by designer Kang Kyung Lee, is an LED lamp that loosely simulates a pile of sticks set ablaze, though the low-heat LEDs won't keep your hands warm....
POSTED Monday, December 22, 2008
In the wake of the White House's Detroit bailout, we needed a reminder of why we should have any good thoughts about American automakers. Well, we got it in the form of these awesome kitchen appliances by Radi Design,...
POSTED Friday, December 19, 2008
Honda is celebrating its 50th anniversary of doing business in the U.S. and the automaker is doing it in a major way: with a 49-foot-tall replica of its famous Asimo robot. The bipedal giant will serve as the company's...
POSTED Friday, December 19, 2008
Although Japan had its Great Recession in the 90s devices like the blingtastic, shiny new USB U-22 Jewelry drives from Magnetic Laboratories prove that the country refuses to acknowledge the current economic tumult. The good news is that the "bling"...
POSTED Friday, December 19, 2008
The idea of being able to carry around a portable, renewable energy source is an attractive one — especially if you're lugging around a laptop, iPod and a cell phone. You've already seen solar-panel-laden backpacks — and I've spotted...
POSTED Thursday, December 18, 2008
Porsche, what the heck are you designing now? A sled? You're whoring out that storied name to clock radios, pocket knives, toasters, pipes, cell phones, and now this aluminum sled? But look at its clean lines, its sparse design,...
POSTED Thursday, December 18, 2008
Coming in just a bit too late for our roundup of the craziest decorations of the year, this Dalek Christmas tree has finally arrived to invade the holidays. Made by Minnesotan Lindsey Testolin, this Dalek probably has more flashing...
POSTED Thursday, December 18, 2008
When Philippe Starck designs anything — even a lowly iPod and iPhone dock — we take notice. Zikmu is another winner, a pair of wireless speakers the famed industrial designer created for Parrot. The 2.5-footers radiate sound from 360...
POSTED Thursday, December 18, 2008
Designer Frederic Sofia put together his 35H Relaxation Armchair with cast aluminum, adding high-tech pneumatic springs to coordinate the seat, back and headrest for ultimate comfort. Somehow, all these fine adjustments are controlled from the arms. Choose leather or...
POSTED Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Tima Watch, by French designer Julien Bergignat, is just another example of why more things should be made utilizing e-paper. It's a simple, sleek watch that tells you what you need to know about the date and time...
POSTED Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The design teams taking part in the LA Auto Show's Design Challenge: Motorsports 2025 weren't just creating cool looking future cars, they also cranked out some pretty great science fiction. Take the Honda Great Racer we showed you, for...
POSTED Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The LED-embedded sidewalk of the future is here. These steel Catwalk modules have sparkling arrays of LEDs lighting your path, giving your sidewalk that glamorous look that might remind you of a disco floor. The panels come in three...
POSTED Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Artist Reuben Margolin just installed his Magic Wave at the Swiss Center of Technorama near Zurich. The sculpture is made of 450 aluminum rods hung by 256 wires connected to 3,000 pulleys and sliding bars. The whole thing is controlled...
POSTED Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Never mind that this baton-on-a-stick is a clock. Just think of Chronochrome as an odd and colorful object that only looks exactly the same twice a day. But if you want to go to the trouble of deciphering its...
POSTED Monday, December 15, 2008
The other day Charlie White offered up some car technologies that could save Detroit, and on that list was "build a tiny car like the Smart." Well, I've got a provision to that motion: make those tiny cars look...
POSTED Friday, December 12, 2008
If the only thing keeping you from getting a tried-and-true skateboard is portability, and if scooters are too nerdy, then the Pumpboard may appeal to you. A concept by designer Maciej Puzon, the Pumpboard can deflate down into a...
POSTED Friday, December 12, 2008
Those iconic double-decker Routemaster busses are disappearing from London streets, now running on only a few "heritage routes" in the city. Industrial Designer Hugh Frost wants to bring back a similar bus with this radical idea he calls Freight*BUS,...
POSTED Friday, December 12, 2008
What's the problem with floor lamps? Right, exactly — they're made so that "one size fits all." Not so much if you're over six feet, and you end up staring into the white-hot bulb every time you stand up....
POSTED Friday, December 12, 2008
Finally, a fair speed bump. Its smart sensors flatten it when a car driving slowly approaches, but stays tall and obnoxious if a car's flying along at more than around 19mph. This could be a suspension saver for those...
POSTED Thursday, December 11, 2008
Flickr user Kickinthehead says that these artful Japanese-style bento boxes are "cute lunches made for me by my girlfriend!" Cute they are, but if I opened up my lunch to find such an arrangement inside, I'd be torn between...
POSTED Thursday, December 11, 2008
Here's an idea: instead of throwing away a product's packaging, make it suitable for re-use as another product of even greater beauty and usefulness. That's the idea behind this Cava wine bottle packaging by Spanish design firm Ciclus. After...
POSTED Wednesday, December 10, 2008
As someone who uses multiple screens when I'm working (or playing games) the idea of having a laptop with some extra screen space as portable as the unit itself is really exciting. Sure, that extra space would come in...
POSTED Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Even those of us who don't have pools can appreciate the Ecolight, the pool light that's a microcosm of a hydroelectric plant. This design concept is super-easy to use — mount it on the water jet from the filter...
POSTED Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Artist Antoinette J. Citizen has put together a room making me wish I could be a kid all over again. Called "Landscape," it's a pretty faithful recreation of what a level from Nintendo's iconic Mario series of video games...
POSTED Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Clock radios don't get any greener than this. Minute Glass is a clock radio powered by magnetic induction so there's no need for batteries or electricity at all. It wakes you up in the morning with music, and its...
POSTED Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Embed a high-efficiency LED underneath a coathook, and you have "Alone," shedding light on the darkest areas of your home. Available in red, black or white, the hooks have a cool white "illuminated circular outline" underneath, and are powered...
POSTED Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Do you ever get bored with the way your lights look? The ZiPP Light Shade, by designers Arash and Kelly, have a simple polypropylene covering that you can adjust depending on how you feel. All zipped up, the covering...
POSTED Monday, December 8, 2008
The motorcycle nuts at ICON Motorsports make an interesting observation about their Warthog bike, inspired by the USAF's A-10 ground-attack fighter that shares the same nickname: "Obviously the first thing that grabs one's attention is the 800-watt MTX audio...
POSTED Friday, December 5, 2008
The British are known for pushing the boundaries of underground art, but somehow they always manage to offer new surprises. The latest is a troop of pole dancing robots (yes, as in stripper) equipped with CCTV heads. The full-motion robots...
POSTED Friday, December 5, 2008
Finn Stone's Phone Booth Lamp should appeal to any Anglophile out there as it's fashioned after the classic red metal phone box, the kind which are found all over London. Finn Stone's booth is made from fiberglass and, while it'll...
POSTED Thursday, December 4, 2008
Probably now more than ever with the global economy the way it is, designer E. Kevin Schöpfer's "Oculus" yacht is the stuff of dreams. Yet dreamy it is. At 250 feet long and featuring 12-foot ceilings, it's one roomy...
POSTED Thursday, December 4, 2008
Marcus Tremento is has an original lighting idea here. He's created LD Sconces, intriguing lighting fixtures that conjure up uncanny 3D effects with glowing wire. Bending neon-like pieces of cool-running electroluminescent wire into familiar shapes and then combining them...
POSTED Thursday, December 4, 2008
In a city full of steel and glass, a green tower like the 54-story skyscraper proposed by architect Daniel Libeskind — who won a bid to be the overseeing architect for the World Trade Center reconstruction — would certainly...
POSTED Wednesday, December 3, 2008
When we first saw this picture of three Microsoft Arc Mice all painted up like so much oriental pottery and interspersed with same, we thought someone had smashed an expensive bowlful of ginger roots. Not so. It's a beautiful...
POSTED Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Simple and useful — the CI Rack epitomizes what we like about good design. Folded up, the rack is merely a piece of wood with leather patches oddly placed on its surface. But unfold it and the leather's purpose...
POSTED Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The cellphone industry's obsession with ever-thinner handsets has been a boon for gadget packrats, but has mostly failed to keep delivering "fun" designs. Taiwanese industrial designer Joseph Liang offers hope for the future of interesting phone design with his...
POSTED Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Young London artists looking for cheap studio space in an expensive city are turning their eyes toward subway cars — though those eyes would be looking up, not down. That's because these retired subway cars are actually on top...
POSTED Monday, December 1, 2008
A skilled portrait photographer can capture the inner soul of their subject via the camera lens, but nothing can show your true inner workings quite like an actual image of your own DNA. A small company called DNA11 will...
POSTED Friday, November 28, 2008
Always wanted to do a do-it-yourself tech project? This holiday weekend is the perfect time. Besides, 60 Minutes recently weighed in on e-waste, so now it's official: where and how we recycle our used and useless gadgets has hit...
POSTED Thursday, November 27, 2008
We like the idea of fancy light switches, the cheapest, easiest way to modernize a room with eye-catching tech. Now here's a design concept that takes light switches into the next dimension, giving you trackpad-like control in a touch-sensitive...
POSTED Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Putting your money in a bank isn't looking like the best idea these days, at least not a real one. What other kinds are there? Well, there's the pig-shaped variety, though that's probably a little too obvious. This Bunker...
POSTED Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Everyone knows that food eaten over the sink has less calories. Now you can bring that slimming phenomenon to the table with this Sink Plate. Its depth and shape is just like a plate, but what's that? There's a...
POSTED Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Check out these kooky replicas of HAL 9000, that malevolent computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Can't you just seem him dancing in slow motion to his rousing rendition of "Daisy"? The little critter is so intricately detailed, his...
POSTED Monday, November 24, 2008
Why are traffic lights round? Because they're products of their time — when they were invented a spherical bulb was the only thing that would light the glass evenly. Now that there are a host of lighting technologies (like...
POSTED Monday, November 24, 2008
Gone is the dark and sultry seduction of the catwalk, and in its place are bright pastels, clouds, and clothes fashioned after LEGO playsets. Fashion designer Jean Charles de Castelbajac tossed hats made from LEGO bricks onto models who...
POSTED Friday, November 21, 2008
We all have a lot of stuff cluttering our homes. You know, stuff that serves a purpose but doesn't look too nice doing so. Like your router. It's essentially a little plastic box with blinking lights. Sure, it's very useful...
POSTED Friday, November 21, 2008
We've seen so many innovative radiator designs lately, there must be a space heater renaissance underway. This Radiafleur starts out shaped like a piece of pie, and as you spread its seven ceramic petals, you get more heat. There's...
POSTED Friday, November 21, 2008
The ROMP, or Remotely Operated Mobile Platform, is a remote-controlled unit designed to be cheap and versatile. Designer Chris Rogers built it to be able to carry out reconnaissance, bomb investigation and remote detonation, and combat missions — and...
POSTED Friday, November 21, 2008
Are you looking for that perfect gift for the smoker in your life? Something that says, "hey, your shortsightedness is going to come to a point sooner or later." Or, "hey, in the future, you'll die slowly thanks to your...
POSTED Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Because watching cool models perform robot dances in giant Japanese vending machines while giving away free underwear never gets old, we revisit the Uniqlo promotion we told you about last week. This time we have actual images of the fashion...
POSTED Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A buildup of snow can be dangerous for large, flat-roofed structures like super markets and office buildings. All of that snow is usually removed by freezing hands and snow shovels, but, if designer Michal Glogowski's dreams ever come true,...
POSTED Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Most of us have a pretty boring daily routine, so designer Andy Kurovets decided to make fun of that fact with a watch that leads us through the six stages of an average person's day. Starting with Wake Up!,...
POSTED Saturday, November 15, 2008
We already know that there are new killing machines on the way from Terminator Salvation's trailers, and it looks like one has just surfaced: the Moto-Terminator. Red eyes? Check. Guns? Check — and they're mini-guns at that. Fan-boyish excitement?...
POSTED Thursday, November 13, 2008
From holes in rooftops to flickering torches to glowing light bulbs — the world of household lighting has come a long way. Nowadays artists and designers alike are stretching the boundaries of form and function when it comes to...
POSTED Tuesday, November 11, 2008
You may not mind buying a clock from a place called "Suck UK" — we don't, especially when it's as well-designed as this $39 Solar Clock. Save your batteries, because this baby's internal battery is charged by the sun,...
POSTED Tuesday, November 11, 2008
LA-based artisan Giancarlo De Astis turns all kinds of aircraft parts from retired planes into industrial, retro-chic furniture. He gets the aeronautical leftovers from junkyards and plane graveyards in Arizona, and fashions tables, chairs, lamps and other furnishings out...
POSTED Monday, November 10, 2008
Instead of dipping a dainty toe into your bath to see if it's too hot or too cold like some kind of bathwater Goldilocks, just check out what color it is. At least, that's what we'd all be doing...
POSTED Friday, November 7, 2008
Whale song and the odd noises other underwater creatures make are alluring and interesting, but how about a fish-controlled MP3 player? Submerged Songs is a sound installation by Vivian Caccuri, with the help of Alex Tyson and André Perrotta....
POSTED Thursday, November 6, 2008
Do those modern plasma TVs look too clinical and sterile for your old-fashioned taste? Check out the M21 flat TV console from Wilkerson Furniture. The company's craftsmen have built an elegant and retro cabinet around a 42-inch plasma HDTV...
POSTED Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Mazda "KAAN" is an electric race car for the futuristic tracks of 2025, and part of the LA Auto Show's Motorsports 2025 Design Challenge. Like all of the crazy submissions, the KAAN has its own little back story:...
POSTED Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Gadzooks! A steampunk keyboard with modern sensibility? That's a whole fistful of Splenda in my Darjeeling tea. Dubbed as the Ergo, a mysterious fellow known as Datamancer cobbled this clacking wonder together from an old IBM M-15 ergonomic split...
POSTED Wednesday, November 5, 2008
It's hard to write about a ton of different hobby robots and not want one yourself. The biggest barriers to those interested in hobby robots are usually price and complexity. The MSR-H01, pictured above, is both of those things,...
POSTED Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Core77's timely voting-booth-themed 1 Hour Design Challenge (where, as you may have guessed, folks have an hour to toss together their ideas) set its designers on the quest for the perfect voting machine. Apparently, that means portable. The collapsible voting...
POSTED Tuesday, November 4, 2008
In what might be seen as one of the boldest moves a cell phone company has ever made, Softbank has decided to release its diamond-studded Tiffany phone in the middle of the worst global financial meltdown in history. Retailing for...
POSTED Monday, November 3, 2008
It's easy to scare kids, but when you're older it's hard to think of a Halloween gag that could actually give you chills. Well, it was. This pumpkin is making the scariest face imaginable this Halloween: one that displays...
POSTED Thursday, October 30, 2008
In a rush to build the maximum number of gigantic and magnificent skyscrapers before the oil runs out, Dubai is at it again. Just look at this 2150-foot monster, the Anara Tower, scheduled to be built next year. The...
POSTED Thursday, October 30, 2008
In this day and age when dogs and cats regularly eat and dress better than many humans, yet another new device has been designed to serve our furry masters. Freelance industrial designer Andrew Au offers the Maitre D'og concept device...
POSTED Thursday, October 30, 2008
Curiously dubbed "YO," this attractive iPod and MP3 stereo speaker dock is a concept by American-born designer Victor Vetterlein. The speakers are detachable and wireless (as well as waterproof), and charge at the dock just like an MP3 player...
POSTED Wednesday, October 29, 2008
HauntedProps.com's Vortex Tunnel is designed to jazz up a hallway in a haunted house, but really you could just use it as a wacky walkway in any abode. If you don't mind shelling out quite a bit, that is....
POSTED Wednesday, October 29, 2008
As the icecaps melt, polar bears are having problems. They've now got to swim further than they ever have to hunt for food, which can tire out the suckers long before they find an ice sheet to rest on....
POSTED Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Hawaii resident Won Park's origami first got our attention with his One Dollar Camera. Then we started browsing through his work online, and we discovered a treasure trove of pictures of his origami projects, including paper versions of the...
POSTED Monday, October 27, 2008
The Lancer (modeled above by Epic Games' Gears of War 2 design lead Cliff "Don't Call Me Cliffy B" Bleszinski) is a Cog soldier's most trusted weapon when fighting off swarms of the brutal Locust troopers. Now it can...
POSTED Friday, October 24, 2008
Dyson makes a mighty fine vacuum, but an even finer defender of humanity. The amateur (but by no means unskilled) artists contributing to Worth1000.com's "Rejected Transformers 6" contest have cobbled together Transformer-like creations out of unlikely bits, including shopping...
POSTED Friday, October 24, 2008
When you set designers loose with a theme like "the world of motorsport in the year 2025" you're bound to get some absolutely insane designs. Looking at the sleek, versatile Honda Great Racer, that's exactly what came out of...
POSTED Thursday, October 23, 2008
Motorola is going upscale. Check out Aura, a $2000 jewel of a cell phone aimed at the luxury market. It's the first to have a circular display. Notice how that 1.55-inch sapphire crystal-protected screen is positioned as the hub...
POSTED Wednesday, October 22, 2008
There's nothing quite like a beautiful sunrise or sunset. It completely changes the way the world looks, if but for a few minutes, and is one of those things that just makes you take pause and appreciate everything around you....
POSTED Tuesday, October 21, 2008
It might take a few years (or decades) for this iBangle design concept to end up on your wrist, but for the time being, we can stare in astonishment at its ambitious design. You see that blue inner band?...
POSTED Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The conceptual City Rack by designers Ilya Tkach and Nikita Gutsalenko has a lock built-in so your can secure your bike — rather than having to chain it up to whatever fence or post you find. It looks like...
POSTED Friday, October 17, 2008
Leave it to an awesome country such as Japan to celebrate robots, and Robo Japan 2008 is the place to do it. That's where this robotic spider chair — or is it more like a horse? — was spotted,...
POSTED Thursday, October 16, 2008
Here's how you know you've done pretty well for yourself in life: you can afford to hire famed industrial designer Ross Lovegrove to design you a futuristic capsule bed. That you then place on top of your private mountain in...
POSTED Thursday, October 16, 2008
Is it us, or isn't it a bit ironic that the same week Sony's newest Playstation Portable (PSP-3000) becomes available, a fantastic design for a future model bursts on the scene? While the PSP-3000 has scant few innovations, this...
POSTED Thursday, October 16, 2008
It wouldn't be a convention without people in costumes, most of which are some variation of cleavage and bare midriffs. Here's a video of some of the contestants for the BlizzCon 2008 Costume Contest, and below is the winner,...
POSTED Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A gas-powered bike? We've got those. They're called motorcycles. Start slapping combustion engines onto your average pedal bicycle and you're taking one step backward for nature, and one giant backflip for mankind. It can reportedly hit speeds of up...
POSTED Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Straight out of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand prop-and-costumer Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson depends on, comes a steampunk rifle so well crafted and awesome that we can't help but wonder if a steampunk movie isn't in...
POSTED Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Take a glimpse into the future: This is the World Trade Center's transportation hub, revealed a few days ago after numerous redesigns. Created by one of our favorite architects, Santiago Calatrava, the soaring organic architecture features a glass and...
POSTED Monday, October 13, 2008
Here's a PC case mod that's worthy of the name Battlestar Galactica. This liquid-cooled work of art has a numerous video screens, a side window hidden by a servo-controlled door, and a slot-loading DVD drive that lets you see...
POSTED Monday, October 13, 2008
Alabama-based designer Peter Azzouni has a futuristic truck concept called the Atropos that will certainly make a few long-haul truckers feel better: the front seat spreads out flat like a bed. It's got plenty of room to unfurl thanks...
POSTED Friday, October 10, 2008
That battery you're throwing away may not have enough energy left to power your gadgetry, but it does have enough juice to light up a low-energy LED. That's the driving idea behind South Korean designer Sung Woo Park's conceptual...
POSTED Friday, October 10, 2008
Either Aussie singer/guitarist Josh Pyke shrunk to a tenth his size, or somebody built a scaled-up replica of his Maton acoustic guitar. Indie rocker Pyke takes a ride on the seaworthy mega-guitar in an upcoming music video of his...
POSTED Friday, October 10, 2008
Industrial designers Christopher Bauder and Christian Perstl have designed a kinetic façade called FLARE that dynamically controls how much light a building lets in — and how much heat. Architects frequently design their buildings around these principles, but suffer...
POSTED Thursday, October 9, 2008
Would you want to live in a house with no privacy whatsoever? Because this stack of window-walled blocks is exactly that. Its designers over at Julien De Smedt Architects worked with a guiding concept that would give George Orwell...
POSTED Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Here's a DIY project for you this Halloween — a pumpkin with glowing LED eyes that will light up automatically when it gets dark. The idea of rigging some circuit board inside of a pumpkin may be a little...
POSTED Wednesday, October 8, 2008
When those Russians have a bathroom design contest, they hold nothing back. This toilet, affectionately named "Mrs. Hudson" for some reason, was one of the big winners. This must be what Sarah Palin was talking about when she said...
POSTED Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Now that you've seen that $10 million dollar train set that looks like the real deal, think of this: What if it was invaded by zombies? LEGO zombies? That's what the Zombie Apocafest 2008 in Seattle, Washington was all...
POSTED Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Now you can wander around the house in the middle of the night with confidence, assisted by Two Lamps. This creation by design firm LifeGoods serves as a bedside lamp in its stationary mode, and then you can pluck...
POSTED Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Just looking at pictures of the Miniatur Wunderland — a $10 million, 9,600-square-foot train set in Hamburg, Germany — you may mistake it for a living, breathing place. Several places, in fact, including its native Hamburg, and America (complete...
POSTED Tuesday, October 7, 2008
See something funny? Yeah, that's a 2,000-pound armored vehicle and, yep, it's pink — but laugh at it for too long and you're going to get a hot dog upside the head. Say hello to Vin Marshall's pedal-powered panzer...
POSTED Monday, October 6, 2008
Sometimes, it seems like high fashion is all about putting something silly on your head — take designer Giles Deacon's Spring/Summer 2009 collection, for instance. He's got his models wearing Pacman-inspired headgear. There's the iconic yellow Mr. Pacman helmet,...
POSTED Friday, October 3, 2008
Meet RoboVox, a giant robot with a giant voice. Standing over 25 feet tall, RoboVox will take messages you text it from your cell phone and say them aloud (this all seems ready for Anchorman-style train wrecks, doesn't it?)....
POSTED Thursday, October 2, 2008
When Dell commissioned a design contest for green computers, Mexican industrial designer Luis Luna took the term "green" literally. He created O Project, a design concept featuring a couple of round PCs that take Dell's bamboo-clad Studio Hybrid idea...
POSTED Thursday, October 2, 2008
Looks like if Baywatch ever airs again, it'll be filled with less rippling bodies and more autonomous underwater rescue vehicles — AUVs that would look pretty darn scary circling around you in the water. The Mantra is a concept...
POSTED Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The X Sting Wish: stupid name, drool-worthy design. UK-based designer Adam Scott bills this monster as an extinguisher of fires, but we'd readily believe it as an exterminator of aliens in an action-packed sci-fi flick. Scott designed the X...
POSTED Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Egads. It's bulky. It's inefficient. In today's modern world, it would be a colossal hassle. I love it. This steampunk phone is a conceptual prototype by Londoner Arthur Schmitt, and it tickles all the right spots from a design...
POSTED Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Whether you have a full head of hair or you're an indie sci-fi movie maker who can't afford to build his own set, this Israeli barber shop is definitely a place you should visit. It's got a steamlined interior...
POSTED Tuesday, September 30, 2008
A lot of our readers like the idea of easing the process of scarfing down beaucoups de hors doeuvres, quaff liquor and socialize at the same time. They reacted favorably to those FingerFood plates that you wear like a...
POSTED Tuesday, September 30, 2008
What's that red streak zipping across the waves at 110mph? It's the R8,8 Biocat Catamaran, and its Ferrari-like looks are complimented by a super-green biodiesel engine. Don't let its treehugging name fool you, though — it's a fire-breathing 29-footer...
POSTED Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Remember that six-PCs-in-one-sweet-glowing-box setup we showed you? Well, designer Fredrik Perman isn't all about raw processing power. He also has a softer, sweeter-smelling side: flower-shaped USB fragrance oil warmers. The units are designed to burn all kinds of fragrant...
POSTED Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Fans of the Icon A5 personal aircraft will be excited to know that the future of personal flight will likely include vehicles like the Igarashi single-person helicopter. The concept vehicle, designed by Japan's Yutaka Igarashi, looks like a cross between...
POSTED Tuesday, September 30, 2008
This awesome sculpture was created by Korean artist Jean Shin. Dubbed the "Sound Wave," it's made from a large number of melted vinyl records. It was created to show "the inevitable waves of technology that render each successive generation of...
POSTED Monday, September 29, 2008
Rejecting the old notion which says that children should be seen but not heard, British designer Alex Underwood's Speaker Buddies turn your hi-fi into a vision of child like innocence. While they lack the soft feminine curves of Ross...
POSTED Saturday, September 27, 2008
You won't have your grandparents over to your posh, colorful apartment in Tokyo while living at the Reversible Destiny Lofts. Designed by NY-based architects Arakawa & Gins (who, between you and me, need to pick some different colors for...
POSTED Friday, September 26, 2008
It's about time the whole restaurant menu/payment ritual was streamlined. To the rescue comes EPOS-lite, a design concept for a tablet that serves as both a menu and wireless payment device. It even wirelessly recharges itself as you place...
POSTED Friday, September 26, 2008
Although this chair looks like it's made from LEGO, designer Matthew Plummer Fernandez actually used a much more geeky material in building it: sound waves. The Sound/Chair has contours that precisely match sound waves mapped on a 3D graph...
POSTED Friday, September 26, 2008
The first thing I did when I saw this setup was look at my own wall and see where I could fit one, too. Then I grabbed a napkin to clean up all the drool. Up above is exactly...
POSTED Friday, September 26, 2008
The man to the right may look like he's just leisurely waiting around (with an umbrella attached to his back), but he's actually taking advantage of artist Jamie O'Shea's Vertical Bed to have himself a power nap in the middle...
POSTED Thursday, September 25, 2008
We're big fans of the designers at Art.Lebedev studios. For their next trick, the creators of that hyper-ambitious keyboard with a video screen behind every key are trying their hands at a touchscreen cell phone. Its simple yet functional...
POSTED Thursday, September 25, 2008
Take one look at this idea and you know it's a good one. You've been there: you're at a cocktail party, hungry enough to eat a horse, but you don't have enough hands to hold your drink, a heaping...
POSTED Thursday, September 25, 2008
Having a few Smart Coasters to jazz up your tabletop is sure to get the conversation going when you have folks over. That's because the coaster can sense whether the drink on top of it is hot or cold,...
POSTED Thursday, September 25, 2008
If Rick Deckard had a versatile 18-wheeler to hunt down replicants with, his life probably would have been a lot easier. At least, that's what the Blade Runner, a bus concept by British firm Silvertip Design, promises to be....
POSTED Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I'm no expert, but as I understand it most jewelry such as necklaces are designed to be pretty, sparkling things, usually made from fancy, expensive materials like gold and diamonds. That's why they're so expensive. But I guess that's not...
POSTED Monday, September 22, 2008
LED wizard Moritz Waldemeyer has snapped some lights onto a bike that illuminates the spokes with a smiling face, the universal sign for happiness. Each wheel only uses one LED that's set to strobe, with a microchip built into...
POSTED Friday, September 19, 2008
Some industrial designers create products that people must adapt to, but we think they have it all wrong. These two entries in the 100% Design show in London, billed as the UK's leading contemporary interiors event, are onto something....
POSTED Friday, September 19, 2008
Well, it's about time somebody redesigned the lowly coat hanger. This Swan coat hanger prototype was dreamed up by industrial design student Asaf Yogev, who created a deceptively simple pattern that's a whole lot more versatile than those old-fashioned...
POSTED Thursday, September 18, 2008
Despite being named after an amazingly lethal fish, industrial designer Matt Bassett's H1 "Fugu" rescue helicopter is designed to save lives, and do it better than the 'copters that came before. He's worked it out so that the Fugu...
POSTED Thursday, September 18, 2008
The task of being Big Brother has become increasingly difficult, what with all those huddled masses peering up at your ever watchful CCTV eyes. To lighten the load and offer the overseers a bit more cover a Japanese firm called...
POSTED Thursday, September 18, 2008
Do you know someone who is constantly worrying about what other people are doing? Someone whose main purpose in life seems to be trying to be as normal and mainstream as possible? The Average Day Watch was made for...
POSTED Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The "Growing Jewelry" collection by Icelandic designer Hafsteinn Júlíusson features beds of real Icelandic moss fixed to rings. There's also a pair of knuckle dusters in case you want to add some lettuce to your knuckle sandwich. Be forewarned,...
POSTED Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Famed vacuum-cleaner maker Electrolux shows it doesn't suck as much as you think by putting on a design competition every year. This year's nine Design Lab '08 finalists have outdone those from the past, with students inventing and designing...
POSTED Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The genius of these iPhone cupcakes cannot be overestimated. Nor can their tastiness, I suspect. The set of 12 cupcakes, each decorated to look like a familiar iPhone app, is so geekilicious that we're torn between admiring the artwork...
POSTED Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Saving money is cool, but puzzle solving — hey, that's where the real fun begins. If only there were some way to combine the two… oh, hold on, what's this? The Kässeli Piggy Bank is sold disassembled, so you...
POSTED Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The line between the grown up and kiddie tables blur with Netherlands-based designer Tineke Beunders' Marbelous. It has grooves cut into the tabletop, legs and supports that'll have marbles rolling all the way down to the floor. The best...
POSTED Monday, September 15, 2008
56 Leonard Street is a new skyscraper going up in New York City designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. Situated in posh Tribeca, the tower cuts an odd silhouette with its jagged edges and apartments that...
POSTED Monday, September 15, 2008
Since we have plenty of solid, watch-wearing Republicans trolling DVICE, we figured we'd make them scratch their heads, nonplussed by this phantasmagoric Crystal Clear watch created by obviously left-wing designer Philippe Starck. Since everyone's for change, this watch should...
POSTED Friday, September 12, 2008
How would you turn a thermometer into a timepiece? For designer Davide Tonizzo, it meant turning the "tube" part into a series of LEDs — 12 of them, in fact — to represent the hour. Then, for the bulb...
POSTED Friday, September 12, 2008
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Webstar! Actually, none of those are far from the truth. It's a Superstar. A floating, self-powered, self-regulated, self-contained metropolis. Think that sounds nuts? Even when Beijing-based MAD designs something grounded in...
POSTED Friday, September 12, 2008
Interested in spicing up your home with a piece of quality art? No? How about a piece of insane and sort of creepy art? Yes? Great! Have I got the item for you. This sculpture by Steve Bishop is called...
POSTED Thursday, September 11, 2008
Porsche Design apparently wants to get its talented fingers into everything. Next is a line of yachts it's designing for high-end Singaporean yacht builder Royal Falcon Fleet, starting with this model RFF135, for which Porsche will create the exterior...
POSTED Thursday, September 11, 2008
We attended the opening of Chicago-based artist Dzine's new show at the Deitch gallery in Long Island City, New York on Sunday night to see some of the sparkliest vehicles in town. Dzine's new sculptures include a bright orange...
POSTED Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Di-Cycle, by GBO Design, bills itself as an amphibious bike for the city of Helmond in the Netherlands, as the city has as many watery channels as it does roads. Riders would be able to skim over the...
POSTED Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Pipe smokers have thus far missed out on much of the techno-fun, but now designer Hakan Bogazpinar comes to their rescue with Eolos. Never mind that it looks like some kind of sophisticated weapon — it has a built-in...
POSTED Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A concept like the Touch-Hear is something we're probably a while off from realizing, but it represents a very attractive technology: putting a world of knowledge at your fingertips. The advent of the Internet, especially in its current form,...
POSTED Monday, September 8, 2008
Now you can really freak out your guests by whipping out this Wine Carafe with Glass. Wait until they've had quite a few drinks and then reveal this work of art by Claudio Colucci, and we'd suggest carefully filling...
POSTED Monday, September 8, 2008
Having a panel of nozzles blasting you against the shower door isn't enough. No, you need wacky designs as a backdrop for your showertime hijinks, and these Colacril Linea Shower Creativity panels are here to help. Take your pick...
POSTED Monday, September 8, 2008
I guess we'll have scrunching or modular cars in the year 2030. It wasn't too long ago that we showed you this French car concept for the year 2030, and now here's Mihai Stamati of Chisinau, Moldova with a...
POSTED Friday, September 5, 2008
Here's a design concept that shows some unusual thinking on the part of its creator, Chris Natt: What if you fitted a smart lamp with petals that open and close like a flower? The result is Stimuli 3.0, a...
POSTED Thursday, September 4, 2008
Find someone isn't agreeing with you? Or saying yes when they should say no? Grab a Yes No Wrench and adjust the offending head accordingly. Gently, now — DVICE doesn't take any responsibility for twisted necks. The Yes No...
POSTED Thursday, September 4, 2008
What you're cringing looking at is a piece of jewelry for your eyeball. Aptly titled "The Eye Jewellery Project," artist Eric Klarenbeek threaded some medical wire through some crystals and attached it to a contact lens. I don't know...
POSTED Thursday, September 4, 2008
Never mind renting a tent with faux Palladian-style arched windows for that chic outdoor soirée — make your guests think a UFO has landed in your yard with the solar-powered Art Rainbow. Providing shade and psychedelic colors akin to...
POSTED Thursday, September 4, 2008
Designer Ashley Payne decided to add some colorful lighting to the Zune scene with a Zune-branded, MP3-playing nightlight. The Zune Bug works in any outlet and will stream music from your Zune over your home's network when it detects...
POSTED Thursday, September 4, 2008
Leave it to those sophisticated creators at legendary firm Frog Design to re-invent the light bulb. The same masters who designed some of the first Apple computers, Sony TVs, and lots of other neat stuff tackled the LED bulb,...
POSTED Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Peugeot design competition has yielded a lot of clever designs, from cars that can shape-shift, to one-seater personal transports, and cars with spheres for wheels. Now here's the Peugeot Stylight by Ognyan Bozhilov of Bulgaria: a three-seater hybrid,...
POSTED Tuesday, September 2, 2008
"Un Sui" is a heavily stylized home in Yamato Kanagawa, Japan built by architect Norisada Maeda and his studio N Maeda Atelier. "Un Sui" translates into "mass of soil," though on the inside it looks a lot more like...
POSTED Monday, September 1, 2008
We all do it. We pick up random objects and pretend that they're phones: shoes, stuffed animals, cutlery, bananas. Well, when you pick up this teddy, it'll actually be a phone. Debuting at the 2008 Good Design Expo, cellular...
POSTED Monday, September 1, 2008
Finally, one man will be able to rock a "My Other Car is A Landspeeder" bumper sticker and mean it. Daniel Deutsch spent six weeks building a replica of Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder featured in Star Wars: A New Hope,...
POSTED Monday, September 1, 2008
In São Paulo, Brazil, there's an office building called Harmonia 57 that has a façade covered by plants. They got there because of pores built into the concrete, where foliage can be planted and grow out until it covers...
POSTED Monday, September 1, 2008
The Experience Recorder is a high tech glove that will actively and passively archive everything about your day. On its automatic setting, it'll record sounds around you, touch sensations and even take pictures of things that may interest you...
POSTED Friday, August 29, 2008
At the NVIDIA’s NVISION '08 event, Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage demonstrated the difference between the graphical power of a CPU-based unit and a dedicated graphics processing unit, which NVIDIA makes. The GPU stole the show, of course,...
POSTED Friday, August 29, 2008
We’re nuts about the open-wheel design of this GYM electric car, but might be too lazy to get it to go anywhere. That’s because inside this far-fetched design concept of a rowdy-looking roadster is also a gym full of...
POSTED Friday, August 29, 2008
Designer Vivien Muller's Solar Cell Tree Charger takes a page from nature, using solar panels as leaves that'll allow it to soak up energy from the sun. Leave it by your window and you have a renewable solution for...
POSTED Friday, August 29, 2008
We like our sinks weird, spooky and magic, and now here’s a faucet to match. High-end plumber Graff designed this gorgeous work of art it calls Luna, appearing to be more ski jump than faucet. Its hot and cold...
POSTED Friday, August 29, 2008
The Seat Brisa is a sports car, but not the kind that'll burn rubber down the road with a gas-guzzling roar. Instead, its hood is covered with photo-voltaic cells that power an electric engine tied to the rear motor....
POSTED Thursday, August 28, 2008
Christened the Signterior by its creator, Shanghai-based architect Nobuhiro Nakamura of A-Asterisk, the name is a blend of the words "signage" and "interior." All of the floors, walls and ceilings on every level within the Chinese structure are painted...
POSTED Wednesday, August 27, 2008
What happened to the drain on this sink from Italian company Axolute? The water either magically disappears, or it slips away via patented “Horizontal Integrated Siphon” technology. You decide. Okay, all you party poopers, if you lean forward and...
POSTED Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Now that broadband Internet access is almost ubiquitous in most top tier nations, the race is on to offer the perfect VOIP phone for those ultra-cheap international Skype sessions. The latest entry into the race is the award winning Tatung...
POSTED Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Shooter is a conceptual fire extinguisher thought up by designers Eunjung Kim, Yangwoo Kim and Junyi Heo. It makes putting out a fire as easy as aiming and pulling the trigger, which will send a cannon round full...
POSTED Tuesday, August 26, 2008
When you buy a Falter 2D Pen, don't expect to start writing with it immediately. That flat sheet of iron you see pictured above is what you'll start with. The pen under it is the goal. You'll have to...
POSTED Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Peugeot 888 is billed as the "personal vehicle for the future Metropolis." For designer Oskar Johansen from Norway, that means a car with space for two with room for luggage, as well as a nifty shape-shifting body. On...
POSTED Tuesday, August 26, 2008
This paper AK-47 has good intentions. According to the item description at the A+R Store, its raison d'être is to remove the gun's function by making it completely nonlethal. Since it's made of just $42 of construction paper, the...
POSTED Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Pyramids and ziggurats represent an oddly survivable form of architecture. Built by civilizations such as the Egyptians, Mayans and Babylonians, several of these testaments to ancient ingenuity are still standing after thousands of years. Timelinks, a design firm based...
POSTED Monday, August 25, 2008
We have to applaud the ambitious Art. Lebedev Studio. The forward-thinking designers of those futuristic Optimus keyboards with a video screen on each key have created Folderix Drives, simple flash storage devices that look like cute little folders. Pick...
POSTED Monday, August 25, 2008
Internet game company NHN Japan thought of an absurd way to get people to talk about HanGame, its mobile phone gaming website: Place half-submerged statues of video game characters all over Shibuya, Tokyo. The statues, such as the wrestler...
POSTED Monday, August 25, 2008
Never mind strapping a flashlight to your head like an old miner, or around your ear like a Borg — this fiber optic light glove brings the light literally to your fingertips. Powered by a battery pack embedded in...
POSTED Monday, August 25, 2008
As we say goodbye to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, let's take a look back at the glories of Olympic architecture from the past, and look forward to even more innovation to come. The competition for the honor of...
POSTED Monday, August 25, 2008
Samsung gave Olympic fans an alternative way to see the games in Beijing: with their very own monitor, enclosed in a periscope-like apparatus. Details are scarce, but the picture says enough. If you saw one of these weird fixtures,...
POSTED Friday, August 22, 2008
When superdesigner Philippe Starck creates a household object like a lamp, he doesn’t mess around. His Miss K table lamp, designed for fancy-schmancy Italian lighting company Flos, plays peekaboo with the diffuser that only shows up when the light...
POSTED Friday, August 22, 2008
Designer John Paul Rishea has a gallery of wild and outlandish clothing, if you've got the balls to wear them. He's created futuristic-looking collars, sets of wings and robotic gauntlets that would make robo-rockers Daft Punk drool, all sold...
POSTED Thursday, August 21, 2008
Next time you're gone, your friends may end up replacing you with a robot. At least, that's what happened to Steve Ganz. The Ganzbot may not look like much, but it's the most expressive block of cardboard you're likely...
POSTED Thursday, August 21, 2008
Want to make Sunday morning chores fun? Or fool your kids into thinking mowing the lawn is a game? If a mower like the Muwi existed, you'd find your yard trimmings transformed from garbage-bag-filler into different, usable shapes such...
POSTED Thursday, August 21, 2008
Looking at the Sonance Kayak speaker, my first thought isn't "personal watercraft" but "museum pedestal from 2567." But that could be just me. Whatever you think the speaker looks like (the comment field awaits), here's what it does: stereo...
POSTED Wednesday, August 20, 2008
You can’t be too rich, too thin or have too many USB ports, so this positively architectural USB hub is bound to be a welcome site on any desk. The Boynq Swing suspends four USB receptacles underneath its graceful...
POSTED Wednesday, August 20, 2008