Designed as a collaborative effort between Heather Sable & Samuel Jerichow, the V-BL47 watch is supposedly based on “Blutonian technology” from a vessel which crash-landed on Earth back in 1947. Left behind in the crash was a device determined to be a Blutonian timepiece – the inspiration for this watch. Heck, Heather even says she’s half Blutonian, and her given name is Hea’thër. Sam, on the other hand, is from Germany. Whether you buy the story or just like cool watches, you’ll want to read further.

As conceived, the V-BL47 watch would use a combination of LCD and LED technology to tell time. The glowing TRON-like display would use an always-on LCD to block out the appropriate areas of the display, while the LEDs would illuminate the display from behind. Additional LEDs would provide the glowing fiber-optic-like lines on its soft black silicone strap. I wonder if some sort of electroluminescent display would better provide the brightness shown in the concept drawings though.

At first glance, you may think this is another one of those difficult to read timepieces, but it really isn’t. Check it out. Each of the four quadrants on the face of the watch simply display a digit. The digits are distorted onto polar coordinates to fill a quarter-circle, but can be easily read once you understand what they each look like.

Simply read the display in a clockwise fashion, starting on the bottom, and you can easily read the time. Your friends, on the other hand, will be completely befuddled.

The same paradigm can be used to display day and date, and a tiny dot in the middle of the display indicates when the time is PM. Now look at the watches below and see how easy it is to read them?

I’m sure if you wore one, you’d get used to it enough where you could tell time at a glance.

Again, the V-BL47 is still just a concept – but a very good one in my opinion. If you’d like to see the V-BL47 watch actually get produced, head on over to the Tokyoflash Design Blog now and cast your vote. I already did.

This modern coffee maker was designed by HJC Design, a Yorkshire-based consultancy firm for Peel UK. The ultramodern countertop appliance was inspired by the drip and flow of coffee, which is simulated by the rippled stainless steel hot plate in the base. It’s encircled by a glowing ring of soft blue LEDs when it’s brewing coffee.

All those lights should using a coffee maker in the dark easier. I don’t know how well the coffee from this machine will taste, but it will certainly look good brewing it.

There’s no word yet on when or where you’ll be able to buy one.

[via core77]

But what would you think if I told you that you could possibly be using a multitouch, tempered glass keyboard and mouse by April of next year? Well, you really would, if you made a pledge of $350 or more (to get both), $250 or more (to get the keyboard), or $150 or more (to get the mouse) on this Kickstarter project by Jason Giddings.

These next-generation computer mice and keyboards are made from special, curved tempered glass and have cameras at the base to detect your fingers’ movements using infrared light. Both devices are still unnamed, but Jason is giving anyone who pledges $10 and $25 a chance to name his babies (these babies, and not his real ones, if ever he has any.)

Jason’s goal was to raise $50,000 and it looks like the project is well on its way, as the current pledges already amount to over $48k. Way to go!

[via Oh Gizmo!]

The Runco WindowWall is a customizable video wall system, allowing you to seamlessly integrate video into the walls of your home or office.

A typical WindowWall system come in a 3×3 display configuration, pushing out a native 4098 x 2304 resolution onto a 10.1 foot wide screen, and can tile video from 1080p, 720p and other video sources. Other standard configurations include 1×2, 2×1, 2×2, 2×3, 3×1, 3×2, and 5×4 grids to fit into whatever wall space you have to work with. You can even arrange the displays onto curved surfaces. Runco also offers custom configurations to suit your every giant-video-wall whim.

Each LCD “tile” in the grid measures just 46″ diagonally, 4.5″ thick, weighs 48 lbs, and is separated by a small gap between tiles that’s 0.28″ wide, so while the image has some seams, they’re pretty unobtrusive. Each panel is set into a special “Tile Align” mounting system which ensures the displays are properly aligned on your wall.

No word on pricing for these panels, but I suppose if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.

[via Unplggd]

No detail was spared in the construction of this neo-futuristic PC, which Henk built using a custom metal frame, wood, acrylic and polystyrene panels. Henk (with the help of his devoted wife) put together this amazing PC which even features sliding side panels, cool yellow backlighting and a hidden computer display inside. System specs for the pyramid PC include a mini-ITX mobo, an Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7200 CPU, a low-profile GeForce 9400GT graphics card, and compact storage on a 2.5″ hard drive and CF card. Somehow Henk even managed to cram a DVD-RW drive in cramped quarters of the pyramid, since this is a media center PC after all.

Check out the gallery below to see more angles and some of the build while it was in progress.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can check out the full build log and more pics over at bit-tech.net.

The developers revealed, before the game’s release in Japan, that a great deal of effort and money went into polishing Fragile, so it isn’t altogether surprising the title is being given a chance to recoup more of that expense. But whatever the reason, gamers outside of Japan are the ones who’ll benefit here.

There are even rumors of a Japanese language track in addition to full English voice acting, a much-desired yet rare option for many games. But even without the original voice acting, Fragile will be a game to watch (and, uh, play).

[via ThatVideoGameBlog]

Then I realized that it wasn’t real, and only a graphic rendering by artist John ‘Jazz’ Vernon. Damn you and your photo-realistic rendering skills! My only hope is that since John’s company RodVisions does conceptual renderings of vehicles before owners invest tons of money painstakingly restoring them, maybe, just maybe, somebody is actually getting ready to make a real version of this car.

I’d be more than happy to do donuts on your lawn with this bitchin’ Camaro.

[via Steampunk Workshop]

Aqua Power System is of course a Japanese company. They call their leaktastic invention NoPoPo, short for No Policeman don’t arrest me I’m Powering my batteries. Actually it’s Non-Pollution Power. Both sound stupid but mine is funnier. Inside each NoPoPo battery is a combination of magnesium and carbon that generate electricity when mixed with certain fluids. The batteries come with a pipette so you can inject fluids into the battery.

According to James Sherwood of Register Hardware, the life span of an AA alkaline battery falls between 1700 and 3000 mAh (milliamp-hours), while an AA NoPoPo battery lasts only up to 500 mAh. But Sherwood also says that existing zinc-carbon batteries have the same life span as the NoPoPos, so we’re not looking at some blue sky technology here. I do hope they refine and extend the technology so that it can power larger devices such as phones and PMPs. Would you buy an iPee?

Ready to whiz in your batteries? You can grab a pair over at HimeyaShop for $15 (USD).

The Kyokusen watch features another challenging display, that might have you scratching your head if you don’t read the instructions. Actually, this is one of the “easier” to read TokyoFlash watches, with the hours displayed on the large L-shaped bar graph, 5 minute increments on the circle, and single minutes on the cluster of small dots in the middle. Still, strangers won’t be able to look over you shoulder and figure out the time without asking you.

The watch comes in several different color displays, as well as black or silver finishes. The new digital LED tube display technology is said to be brighter and easier off-angle viewing than other LEDs. It’s water resistant to 3-atmospheres (appx. 99 feet), although I personally wouldn’t go deep-sea diving with this on. The Kyokusen watch ¥13,900 (appx. $120 USD) and available for order here.

[via GeekAlerts]

The concept works by using a tiny mirror, about 1/2-millimeter across, suspended by carbon fibers. The fibers then amplify vibrations of a piezoelectric motor, which in turn moves the mirror. Then a laser is focused on the mirror, and the mirror moves the laser beam very rapidly back and forth. Currently, the prototype only can move the beam horizontally, but future enhancements will allow for vertical movements as well. Then, add red, green and blue lasers and you have a teensy projector. This approach would “paint” an image in a similar way to a CRT.

DLP, one of today’s leading projection technologies, uses similar a concept. Texas Instruments’ DLP chips move an array of millions of tiny mirrors to create a picture. Now this research breakthrough could mean that the concept could get a whole lot smaller. The Cornell invention is said to be able scan over a very wide range and at a high scanning speed using a very small mirror.

According to the researchers, they have achieved mirror vibration frequencies of 35,000 cycles per second. Theoretically, this would be sufficient to produce a 720p image at 60fps, although there is some concern about flicker at this early stage.

A prototype projector should be ready within a year, with commercial products, to be developed by the researchers’ startup business, Mesmeriz, likely within three to five years.

[via Technology Review via Digg]