Actually Buffalo’s solution is quite similar to a product we saw about 2 years ago, the Flipper USB. But while the Flipper improved the USB connector attached to devices, Buffalo did the work on the port end.

The BSH4U17PK 4-port USB hub is set to go on sale in Japan for ¥1280 (~$16 USD). No word when it’ll be released worldwide, but if computer manufacturers are smart and merciful this should become the standard going forward. *Update Geekstuff4U now has the USB hub in stock, albeit with a very significant price hike – it’s being sold for about $50 (USD).*

[via Fark via OhGizmo!]

The idea behind Alex Jantschke’s concept called Megacity Aviation is that in crowded cities, the flying machine could fly around and reduce the congestion on the roads. The personal aircraft would be made from reinforced bio-plastic and have a hollow frame like a bird’s bones.

The dual coaxial rotors would be hydraulically operated. The designer figures the real deal would be about the size of a Mini Cooper and get you to your destination about twice as fast. Sign me up. I want one.

[via YankoDesign]

I have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies myself, and if you can combine the two to save space, then why not? Thus comes Ken Lo’s CalenClock concept – not a very creative name as it’s just the two objects put together, but a creative concept that’s been a long time coming.

It’s pretty obvious what the CalenClock is, from the name itself. It’s also pretty self-explanatory once you see images of it.

The hour and minute hands of the clock are positioned over split-page days of the calendar, which you’re supposed to tear off with each passing day. It’s a neat idea and I’d definitely run out and buy one (or two) if it does go into production.

[via Yanko Design]

The idea behind Green Footprint is simple. When a fire is detected, a special ceiling fixture releases a glowing flourescent liquid into hallways and offices. As people move around the room, the dye leaves a trail of glowing footprints wherever they walked. In theory, this would lead firefighters to see exactly where people made their exit or if they were trapped along the way.

If you’re wondering how the stuff would glow – the fixture would actually have lights inside of it, charging up the glow-in-the-dark goo all day long until a fire comes along and triggers a temperature sensor.

I know there are already fancy infrared cameras which let firefighters see the heat signatures of humans (and flames), but this seems like a nice low-tech solution which could definitely save lives – assuming that you can actually see the glowy footprints through the smoke.

Green Footprint was an entrant (and winner) of a Red Dot design concept award, and was conceptualized by Chen Hongyu, Tang Ruoqing, Wang Sheng, Zhu Baixuan and Bian Jing.

Ministar guitars were created by after extensive research by guitar builder Bob Wiley. He came to the conclusion that the body of an electric guitar can be removed without dramatically affecting the sound of the guitar. Hence, Ministar guitars only have a neck and head. Take a listen, and you be the judge:

In addition to the guitar, each one comes with portable, battery-powered headphone amp so you can practice on the road. They also offer a bass version of the Ministar, if that’s your instrument of choice. Most of the guitars are around 31 inches long, and weigh three pounds, while the basses average 41 inches long, and weigh five pounds. That’ll certainly shave off a bit of weight if you tend to travel a lot with your guitar.

Ministar Guitars sell for between $280 and $350 (USD), and the basses run $300 to $360.

[via designboom]

I even tried honey that was still pretty fresh from the hive when I visited a bee farm a couple of years ago. But imagine being able to get the freshest honey ever with your very own beehive that you can mount, right in your very own kitchen.

The Urban Beehive is a design by Clive van Heerden and Jack Mama. It’s part of a new project by Philips called the “Microbial Home.” Through the project, Philips envisions a future where the waste from one household might become fuel for another.

Philips also says that there are more benefits to the Urban Beehive than meets the eye. Aside from providing people with fresh honey, the Urban Beehive can also boost pollination and provide some sort of therapeutic value to the owners by just watching the bees hard at work.

But my only question now is: what’s in it for the bees?

[via Daily Mail]

What I like about Joseph’s concept design is that it doesn’t seem so outlandish that it wouldn’t be possible. The Prestige would come in a case that inherits the clean black styling of the current Xbox 360 Slim, but curves out the edges, and puts it into a smaller package, with new and improved hardware under the hood.

As proposed, the Xbox Prestige would have no DVD or Blu-ray drive, instead, storing all content to the console’s ample 2TB hard drive, downloading it from the “cloud.” The Prestige would also connect wirelessly to your TV. In addition, the console would have a new device called KinectIN built into it, which would provide for gesture control of menus, as well as a scanner which can read your own personal “Xbox Card” to purchase games, manage profiles, etc.

The KinectIN wouldn’t be used for gameplay though – there would still be an external device simply called Kinect2, which would offer significantly higher image and motion sensitivity than the original Kinect, and would even capture video in Full HD 3D.

Joseph doesn’t really say anything about the other hardware improvements in his concept designs, though Yanko Design reports that it would have an 8-core CPU, “20x faster performance,” and support technologies including 3D, 4K2K, multiTV (DPConnect), and even have a GPS built into it, so you could know the location of other users on the Xbox Live network.

Buzzwords aside, I rather like how simple and clean the designs are. Chances are, Microsoft will go out on its own and do something completely different with its next-gen Xbox, but it’s always fun to see what comes from the imagination of fans too.

[via Yanko Design]

A lot of other people probably share the same sentiments when it comes to these noticeably bulky gadgets. A smart solution? Just hang it up. Your printer, that is.

The I’m Hanging Printer is a concept design by Marc JuHyun Cha. Instead of setting it down on the table, why not hang your printer on some empty space in the wall? It saves space and looks pretty modern and futuristic, so it won’t look too weird or out there on your office wall.

Of course, make sure to never hang the printer in an area where there’s a lot of traffic, because you don’t want people bumping into (or getting hit) by your printer when they walk past your desk. I don’t think it’s recommended for areas that are earthquake-prone though, due to obvious reasons.

The Hanging Printer is an entry in the 2011 iF concept design forum.

[via Yanko Design]

That original glass cube used about 90 panes of glass and had a ton of hardware holding the glass together. The new glass cube uses 15 panes of glass and has much less hardware. The store is opening back up today and the overhaul is complete.

The glass cube looks much more minimal than the original one did. It still has a bunch of little panes up top, but you can hardly see hardware any more. Apple also redid some drains on the flat ground around the cube and fixed some pavers as well, but that’s not nearly as exciting.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Macrumors]

A concept design by Peter Fletcher, the Turbine LED watch would tell the current time using a spinning turbine-like blade, with flashing LEDs on one of the blades. As the blades spin rapidly, the time would be revealed.

When I first saw this idea, I thought that building a motor into a watch to spin the turbine would eat up battery like mad. However, Peter’s concept incorporates a clever mechanical “pull cord” on the side of the watch, which provides its spinning energy instead of a motor.

At this point, the Turbine watch is only a concept, but if it manages to get enough votes over on the TokyoFlash design blog, it might someday become a real watch.

[Thanks for the tip, Peter!]

Most people learn how to write using pencils first before moving on to ink pens. You might have remembered how huge pencil sharpeners used to be with their cranks and tiny, removable drawers filled with pencil shavings that had to be thrown out and cleaned every once in a while. Then came the manual sharpeners that were smaller and definitely a whole lot more convenient to carry around, although you had to sharpen over a trash can so the shavings fall directly into it.

The next sharpener in line is the Twist pencil sharpener.

It’s basically one of those manual sharpeners, except it’s very minimalist, extremely simple, and just cuts everything back to the basics. It’s simply a bent sheet of metal, formed into a cone. A sharp edge shaves the pencil, and a gap at allow shavings to fall out.

It was designed by Tianyu Wu, Yinbin Shuai, Mingya Wei & Zhengyu Lin and is an entry to the International Forum Design in Hannover.

[via Yanko Design]

The chair was designed by Alejandro Cerón and was featured at the Moscow Design Week 2011 as a work of art-slash-piece of furniture that showcased organic architecture. It’s described as representing the “symbiosis between technology and nature,” and all I can say is, I had no idea how messy the relationship is between those two.

From a certain angle, the chair looks like a horse on its hind legs. From another, it’s like a lobster caught up and tangled in a bunch of weeds. And yet from another angle, the Beautiful Mess chair looks like a dinosaur nursing its young. The designer himself describes the work as something that “explores and blurs the boundaries between art and design,” although both seem pretty related to me in the first place.

And the only time the Beautiful Mess chair looks like a chair is when someone’s actually sitting on it. Looks mighty uncomfortable, though I can’t deny that it would make an attractive addition to anyone’s den.

[via Yanko Design]

Yep, you read that right. Crave, a small team based in San Francisco, wanted to make vibrators do more than just what they’re supposed to do. So what did they come up with? The little device called Duet which has had the tech world talking.

Gizmodo calls it a “cute little love toy,” while Wired comments that Duet “doesn’t really look like a sex toy at all.” Good for women who like to do their thing on the sly, right?

The Duet will come in three colors and will be available in 8GB and 16GB drives. On its CKIE page, Crave boasts that the compact and discreet size and shape of the Duet will tickle any woman’s fancy and add to its portability. Two motors in the flash drive-slash-vibrator allows the device to run virtually silent, so no one who happens to be passing outside your room (or office door, if you’re into that type of stuff) will suspect what you might be up to behind the closed door.

The Duet will also allow the user to choose from 4 vibration modes and 5 power levels, so she can “personalize” her experience even more. The pledges on CKIE currently amount to around $58,000 as of now with a lot of time to spare before the project closes on the site.

[via Yanko Design]

This little factoid has already been brought up more than once, but it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw these adult cradles.

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, because yes, that is a cradle, and yes, that’s an adult lying down inside it. Looks comfortable, doesn’t it?

The story as to how the design came about isn’t all whimsical and rhymes, however. It was actually one of the results from a study done about children who have rhythmic movement disorder (RMD). This chair here provides a comfortable environment that can calm anyone’s senses and give them some downtime and a much-needed break from work and life, in general.

As an added bonus, environmentalists will be happy to know that all of the materials that went into making this adult cradle was sourced in a way that’s friendly to Mother Earth, including the glue that was used to bind the layers of plywood.

The team of designers behind this cradle are Richard Clarkson, Grace Emmanual, Kalivia Russel, Eamon Moore, Brodie Cambell, Jeremy Brooker and Joya Boerrigter, collectively known as Synergy341.

[via Yanko Design]

The catch with the awesome looking LockCircle is that the thing costs $100 (USD), which seems like a lot for what it does. There were a lot of people out there wondering why the thing is so expensive when it was announced. Now with this video footage of one being made, it’s a lot clearer now why it costs so much. The LockCircle starts off as a round billet aluminum disc strapped to a CNC lathe machine, eventually taking the form shown in the photo above.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It is so cool to see the billet disc start to spin and then the router bits come in and shave metal off to create the product. You really have to watch the video to see how the thing is made. My favorite part is seeing the laser etching machine burn the name onto the product at the end.

[via PetaPixel]

Designers Sang Min Yu and Wong Sang Lee know how you feel, which is why they came up with the SavePaste Toothpaste Tube to help you get all that toothpaste out, minus the trouble.

My mom, who’s ever the recycler, hates seeing toothpaste go to waste, so what she does is cut up the tube in half right down the middle to scrape out the remaining toothpaste. Unfortunately, sometimes she ends up cutting more than just the tube and she’s walked away with a couple of mean cuts.

SavePaste will probably put an end to all of that, I’m sure. But more than that, the materials it makes use of are similar to the one that houses ready-to-drink milk drinks, which is more environmental-friendly compared to the metal-foiled plastic tubes that are in use nowadays.

It’s still a concept design for now, but it’s a pretty unique one at that. It also sets out to solve a pretty common problem that I’m sure a lot of people all over the world encounter at least a few times in their life.

Who knows? Maybe we might be seeing our toothpaste in new packaging soon.

[via Yanko Design]

Its snap handle adds even more practicality. Use it to hang the pouch on your bag, or on yourself if you love your mouse that much. You can order the Mouse Pad Travel Pouch on Smartfish’ online shop for $15 (USD).

But honestly, even if I needed it I’d think long and hard before buying this. On one hand, it’s quite practical, but is it $15 practical? More importantly, I wonder if the mouse pad will stay flat and even over time despite being bent and curled while in pouch mode.

[via Ubergizmo]

If vacuuming isn’t one of your favorite chores, then the Magic Glove might be something you’d like to own.

It doesn’t really help you do magic, but it can certainly take a little bit of the chore out of vacuuming itself. The Magic Glove is a concept design by Christian Sallustro and hopes to cut down your house cleaning time in half. That’s because it would vacuum and dust at the same time, allowing you to hit two birds with one stone in a neat and compact device.

The Magic Glove comes with a wrist strap which secures the device on your arm. It also comes with a rechargeable battery so you don’t have to stop your cleaning when you run out of juice.

I imagine this device would add a little bit of fun to your daily dusting routine. It’s amazing how a device that used to stand at least two feet tall is now something that can be held in your hand or fitted into a single glove.

[via Yanko Design]

The first is when you decide to go with your typical folding chair and separate beach umbrella. The second is if you’ve purchased one of these Super-Brella Chairs and are now laughing at the shmucks who still haven’t gotten one for themselves.

As you can see, this chair has got everything: an umbrella to shield you from the sun or protect you from the rain, comfortable armrests, and a holder where you can put your drinks in. It’s also extremely portable, so you can just fold everything up and carry it around in the shoulder bag that it comes with.

Perfect to take along with you to the beach, to concerts and other outdoor events, to fishing, for lounging around in your backyard, and perhaps any other activity that’s done outdoors. You can get one in Europe from the Pro Idee Concept Store for £49.95 (~$82 USD). In the U.S., for a extra few dollars ($99.99), Hammacher Schlemmer sells a version which includes a foot-rest too.

[via Gadgets Matrix]

But for these folks over at BrickMagic 2011, no such creation is too hard or too complicated.

Fancy a ride on the lime green LEGO bicycle in the photo above? It would be a whole lot cooler if you could actually ride on it, of course, but I doubt something build from LEGO can actually support a fully-grown human’s weight.

The event was held in North Carolina this year and several things you’ll find in abundance over there are LEGO bricks and creativity.

You can check out more LEGO works of art at the BrickMagic 2011 gallery on Flickr.

[via Geeky Gadgets]