Suzuka-based Topia Corp. presented an electric car during the 19th Design Engineering & Manufacturing Solutions Expo in Tokyo, which weighs just 150kg (330lb). The so-called Huvo is the prototype of a single seat mini car. The Huvo is made of steel, aluminum, carbon fiber reinforced plastic and ABS resin. Topia says the prototype was completely produced in-house. According to the CEO, other… → Read More
Oh me, oh my — here’s a new one. I purchased this a few years back as a project but it just ended up sitting in my closet. This is a rare Xentex Dual Screen Laptop. Each screen is 13.3″ and one pivots so that one can be facing you and the other one facing the person sitting on the other side of the laptop. This was a prototype and is missing some parts but does turn on so I have… → Read More
You know that game with the guy who runs around and does stuff, Prototype? (Neither did I.) Yeah, well, they’re making a comic book out of it. They being DC Comics and Sierra Entertainment. Does two instances a trend make? I mean, they’re turning Deadspace into a comic book, too and all. Speaking of comic books, Peter and I plan to hit the New York Comic-Con this weekend. I don’t… → Read More
Here’s something that excites me greatly. It’s a prototype of a tiny projector that fits inside of a cell phone. Jim Hallas of Texas Instruments’ DLP group gave me a brief overview of the chipset and here’s some brief information along with my thoughts; The chipset is ready to go. It’s up to device manufacturers to integrate it into their products. I’d think… → Read More
I suppose ultra portable devices are not a dying fad just because I don’t use one. This here is the VIA-based MTube running Linux. The tiny titan touts a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen with a 1GHz VIA CPU with 8GB of storage and a four-hour battery life. The WiMAX enabled MTube weighs a mere 150g and measures in at 8.5×8.5x2cm. But don’t expect this to hit the production line anytime soon, we… → Read More
Unveiled earlier today in Japan was the world’s thinnest and lightest LCD TV from Sharp. That’s all well and good, but the prototype 20mm thick 52-inch LCD won’t go into production until 2010. The specs are rather impressive, though. The prototype boasts a contrast ratio of 100,000 to 1 and weighs just over 55-pounds. Me thinks I’ll be waiting for those fancy OLED TVs… → Read More
Right off the bat, what does this prototype laptop—the Purity Notebook—remind you of? To me, it looks like any number of PCs trying, really trying, to emulate the MacBook. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Being a PC, it runs Windows Vista, insofar as prototypes runs anything, I suppose. → Read More
A crazy looking Palm device has showed up on the interwebs. Absolutely nothing is known about it, other than the obvious logos and interface. We can make out a Vodafone and Palm logo, as well as Windows Mobile on the display. What makes this device interesting is the all-white paint-job it features and its brushed aluminum buttons. It’s pretty fugly looking, so let’s hope this is just… → Read More
Any gamer who is a big enough dork to comb over Wikipedia for some video game history should know that the original Sony Playstation isn’t exactly the gray, overheating 32-bit console we all love so dearly. Originally, Nintendo has hired Sony to help develop its Super Famicom (SNES) console. This model had a CD drive and was essentially a predecessor to Sony’s Playstation. A few… → Read More
Here’s an exotic prototype CD player in the shape of a phonograph. (This was actually created and not merely a render.) The designer, Yong Jieyu, dissembled a CD player and put the necessary components back together in the shape of a phonograph. Complete and utter madness, I know. The laser pickup is where the needle would be on a standard phono. Generally this is OK, but the oddball… → Read More
Sony today unveiled a new screen that will forever change the future of electronic devices. This new 2.5-inch OLED screen is made of a glass substrate that allows you to casually bend the screen. Since the display is wafer-thin, you one day might see these inside magazines as advertisements or perhaps on the back of a cellphone for viewing movies. It uses organic TFT technology to keep clarity… → Read More
A new Sony-Ericsson model has appeared on a Polish auction site and the phone is looking quite handsome. The seller lists the phone as a “Sony X123i”, which sounds to us like a prototype model or a completely made up name. Apparently, the phone is set to be the successor to the W850 and we like what we see. Specs on this orangey-red slider include a 16.7 million color LCD, 3G… → Read More
I finally found the Polymer Vision Readius nestled quite close to the press room. This is the rollable display everyone has been talking about and it’s actually quite cool. The device is about as big as a flashlight and has a 5-inch greyscale, 16 “color” screen that updates in about a second. This is more like the Sony Reader than anything else and it doesn’t appear to be… → Read More
We always discuss handy gadgets that fit in your pockets; cellphones, digital cameras, game systems. But, like many of you, we got our love of all things gadgety via a lovely line of toys from the early-to-mid ’80s: Transformers. That’s why we find it exceedingly fitting that the script for the new Michael Bay Transformers film, opening July 4th, calls for a handful of gadgets that… → Read More
I live in what could be classified as “a big city,” and every day my journey to work is different. Sometimes I’m early and I get off the El early and walk casually down Michigan Ave. Sometimes, I’m extremely late so I have to walk briskly (because running is so lame) to make it on time. However I get to work, I’ve got my MP3 player firmly planted in my ears. This can… → Read More
In a few years, your PDA might be the size of a typical soda straw. That’s apparently the idea behind this nifty working roll-up LCD that some smartypants at Cambridge have come up with. At less than 1mm thick, and flexible, it rolls up to about the same diameter as the cardboard from a roll of paper towels. It’s still an early prototype, and is currently only capable of displaying… → Read More
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