I’m a big fan of conceptual designs. Basically, designers who love to look at things and want to make them prettier will mock up what they think a product should be. One of the hottest properties in the world is Instagram, and it’s a very visually appealing app. One designer decided that he’d like to see it take a giant leap forward, so he put together a concept treatment. → Read More
Now, I’m as tired of steampunk as the next guy (unless the next guy works at BoingBoing), but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pretend something like this Rotary Mechanical concept isn’t cool. Steampunk got cool because of stuff like this, not people gluing brass fittings onto their top hats. → Read More
Tired of keeping around a tiny toothbrush for travel, or leaving nice ones at the hotel by accident? Don’t like to have to keep little 3-oz toothpaste tubes in a drawer in the bathroom? This thing might be fore you. Now, I do like this concept, though there are a few issues that come to mind. → Read More
This clever watch concept by Gennady Martynov & Emre Cetinkoprulu uses a pair of cyclops magnifiers to bring the current time into clear focus. It’s not actually, you know, available but it’s clever nonetheless. My only concern? The big fat hands will make it hard to see the numbers. → Read More
I’m mad at Zion Eyez, the company that makes, or rather has theorized, these sunglasses-with-1080p-camera-in. Not because they’re late to the party (Lady Gaga presented a similar concept at CES and other companies have tried this), but because their site autoplays a video with “epic music,” and when you turn the sound off, it doesn’t turn the sound off. Flash-based websites have always been a pain… → Read More
I can’t tell whether this is a good idea or not. On one hand, it seems perfectly logical: adding a “share” key to normal keyboards that would automatically send whatever page or image you’re on to your sharing service of choice. On the other hand, isn’t it easy enough to do this already? → Read More
I’ve seen this NoteSlate thing in a few places today, and while the idea is compelling to me, I’m not convinced that this thing is actually real. I mean, the pictures are all renders, the spec sheet is a fantasy, and a quick search turns up no patents or trademarks.
Is this thing just a concept masquerading as a real product? It says it’s shipping in June, so shouldn’t there at least be a video… → Read More
I’m not quite sure I buy the physics behind these speakers entirely. The idea is that instead of simply vibrating a driver at the correct frequencies and projecting those vibrations out into the room, you use ultrasonic waves to vibrate only the air molecules along a path, and things outside of that path won’t hear the sound. → Read More
This isn’t the first turntable we’ve seen that’s been stripped down to its bare parts, but it has the distinction of being more a deconstruction than a compacting of function. The Crosley Revolution and others like it take the whole turntable idea and crush it into a single slab, but this concept from R.D. Silva seems to keep the structure of the classic record player but remove anything… → Read More
This is probably one of the more baffling concepts I’ve seen. It’s a 10-inch tablet with a projector mounted as a sort of rotating hat. There are two obvious applications: projecting an image on the wall behind the tablet (putting the image on a table results, as you can see, in a distorted image) and projecting a virtual keyboard. Of course, it can’t actually do the virtual keyboard thing, it’s… → Read More
You might remember the HoodieBuddie, a hoodie with integrated earbuds, so you could pop your mp3 player into the pocket, plug it in, and boom. This Zip jacket concept from Jennifer Darmour is a little more evolved, though I wonder if it’s taking the concept too far.
But I’m posting it anyway, because the lady in the video made me. → Read More
I believe I saw something like this a year back that looked like it was created by licking normal sugar cubes and sticking them together, forming tetrads. As fun as that sounds, I’d just as soon have my Tetris pieces fully formed right out of the bag. That’s what this concept from Danil Zdorov aims to do. → Read More
British defense company BAE Systems recently unveiled a concept vehicle whose design it says was inspired by the Batmobile (The Tumbler) from “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”. The world’s second largest defense company is thinking about using the so-called “The Raider” design for “a small, highly agile autonomous reconnaissance and attack vehicle which can carry a variety of payloads.” → Read More
While candles are still a big business, there aren’t many of us who would rely on them for light. Mood, or scent, sure — but with the recent invention of electrical light, candles have been less than useful for their original purpose. The Candela is a concept that attempts to make candles useful again to a generation unacquainted with their subtle joys. → Read More
This is still just a concept, but the cruciform Power/Strip surge protector does more than keep your gadgets pious. Oversized adapters and bricks are welcome on its spreading crossbars, and a full 12 outlets means no more arguments among your disciples over who gets to charge first. [via CNET] → Read More
Get it, brilliant? Okay, I’ve had my fun. Down to business. The concepts in this gallery at Inhabitat are designs exploring potential of a certain size of OLED panel. The one above was designed by Emory Krall for Universal Display. The idea of razor-thin, low-heat, easily dimmable lighting like this is exciting to me. Why do I love lamps so much? → Read More
There are, as I have had many opportunities to observe, several approaches to “fitting” a mouse. You’ve got the “universal,” which has a sort of generally pleasing shape, like the SteelSeries Xai. You’ve got the highly-sculpted ones, which have individual grooves for your thumb and a sort of lopsided profile. A good recent example would be the Cyber Snipa Silencer. Then you have the middle road… → Read More
While I applaud the elegant nature of this USB centipede concept, it brings up (as most concepts do) as many questions as it answers. How will power be isolated in one or another device? How much will an integrated USB controller increase the price of each device? What if you need to unplug the one in the middle? And of course, while it’s not nearly as cool of an idea, a good USB hub will do… → Read More
This is pretty cute, and may even be practical. The Floppy Legs drive is a design project by Chambers Judd with little legs that detect moisture and immediately stand the drive up — instead of voiding your warranty, like normal moisture detectors. → Read More
As is the case with so many concepts we see here at CG, the design here hasn’t really caught up to the idea — like that other bike lock I just wrote up. Lock that alerts you via WiFi if it gets tampered with? Good. Lock that looks like you could cut through it with a pair of kiddie scissors? Not so good. → Read More
Just now you were wondering, “how can I get more algae in my day-to-day life?” Well, maybe not then, but you are now. Now. Now. See? So now that you’re wondering it, I have an answer for you. I know! Such a lucky coincidence! Or maybe it was meant to be. You and this algae-powered lamp are a match made in the epipelagic zone. → Read More
We have to give concept designers points for trying, but I don’t think this resizable battery is going to fly. For one thing, the actual core is tiny, and batteries derive their power from packing as many volatile chemicals into their little bodies as possible. Imagine putting six of these, at D size, into a boom box — the thing would die in like 15 minutes. → Read More
Okay, it’s an egg-shaped version of the Moka Express stovetop espresso thing. So far so good. But how do you pick it up? → Read More
Yeah… How much thought do you put into your hard drive purchase? Like, zero seconds? I mean, you check out the specs—capacity, cache, speed, etc.—and then off you go. Do you care what it looks like? I certainly don’t, but then I’m probably not the “demo” for this deal. Then again, it’s not even real, so I don’t even know what’s going on anymore. → Read More
This is a good idea, but… we basically already have it. I reviewed Western Digital’s e-ink display-equipped My Passport Studio a couple weeks ago, and although it only had room for a label and some basic data, it could just as easily be a better, larger, more versatile display. The concept here would be fun, but it ignores some really basic use issues. → Read More
What’s most surprising about this next story is that it took so long to emerge. Presenting… someone’s MacBook 3D mock-up! “See 3D, make 3D.” Yes, that’s very Apple-like indeed. → Read More
You guys, I’m freaking out about how cool these things could be. A recent skyscraper concept competition yielded some really interesting designs, among them this utterly amazing concept, which they inexplicably call a “water-scraper” instead of the decidedly more euphonious “seascraper,” as I have dubbed it. Think of it: a partially self-contained structure floating in calm seas, growing food… → Read More
“Look, honey! There’s a cyborg up on the telephone pole outside. Should we invite it in for some motor oil and finger sandwiches or do you think it’d try to kill us? Whup. Wait. It’s a repair man. Cyborgs don’t have butt cracks. That’s how you can tell. False alarm. Should we invite him in for some coffee and finger sandwiches or do you think he’d try to kill us?” → Read More
If we’re going to be killed by swarming robots, they might as well look good doing it. Scientists at the MIT SENSEable City lab created a 3D display using tiny remote controlled helicopters that float in patterns in the air and light up, thereby creating a volumetric display. → Read More
The bicycle, my friends, has gone through many refinements, but not as many serious changes. Look at an average bike now, and you’ll find it’s much the same as a bike from 50 years ago. More reliable, more efficient, and much lighter to be sure, but it’s built with the same archetype in mind.
Not so much with this crazy thing from Peugeot. → Read More
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