Using stereoscopic cameras and advanced computer-vision software, Justin can track a flying ball through the air then position his hands to within 2 centimeters of the ball’s landing zone in as little as 5 milliseconds thanks to his speedy and stable arm and gripper mechanisms. His wheeled base doesn’t hurt his 80%+ catch rate either. This means Justin is probably as accurate as you or I when it comes to nabbing balls thrown in the air. See Justin in action in the video below. After he’s done playing catch, you’ll get to see him fix a perfect cup of coffee.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I wonder how fast Justin could catch a scorching hot cup of coffee thrown at him?

[via Hizook via PlasticPals]

In addition to the tactile feedback, the user can also press the dots and plan.b will provide spoken information about the corresponding area. Of all the features of plan.b I think this is the most helpful one, but also the most difficult to implement. As you can see in the images below, the device would be fairly small, but for practical reasons the map is zoomed in, i.e. it shows the user’s immediate surroundings. This means that there has to be a lot of specific information encoded into the device, like mentioning the names of specific buildings or even geographic features, as opposed to just mentioning streets or landmarks. That’s a lot of work that’s way beyond the device itself.

Richter designed it with the help of two blind people, but even he himself admits that even if plan.b was made into a real device it still wouldn’t replace walking sticks or the heightened hearing that blind people often acquire. But overall I think plan.b is a great idea, simple and straightforward. What do you think?

[via Design made in Germany via Notcot]

Touted as a “breakfast cutting board,” the MyBrett is a laser-engraved piece of wood, that will look good whether you eat a sandwich on it or hang it on the wall. MyBrett literally is German for ‘my cutting board’. The MyBrett interface includes such exciting breakfast applications as “Sausage,” “Egg,” “Tea,” and “Cheese.” Not sure what the deal is with the pills though. Maybe they’re vitamins?

They’re currently available for pre-order for €15 (appx. $20 USD). Expected delivery is at the end of September, though I’m not sure that they deliver worldwide. Send them an email to find out.

[via Leet Lady]

Designed by Biegert & Funk, the QLOCKTWO displays text that describes the current time using statements like “IT IS NINE O’CLOCK” or “IT IS FIVE PAST TWO”. Individual minutes are conveyed through the tiny white dots in the corners of the clock. A flip of the switch, and the seconds appear as a giant dot-matrix display behind the letters. And if you’d prefer your time in a language other than English, you’ve got a choice of German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, or French versions too.

The handmade German clock features a painted acrylic or stainless steel face, which tops a sturdy wood box that houses an array of LED backlighting and circuitry required to tell the time. This sophisticated timepiece uses an atomic-synchronized time-signal reciever and automatically adjusts its brightness based on the ambient light around it.

Here’s a demo of the QLOCKTWO in action (in German):

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As much as I love the design, the QLOCKTWO isn’t cheap. It retails for €1099.99 (appx. $1565 USD), and interchangeable color faceplates are available starting at €95 (appx. $136 USD) each over at the Biegert & Funk store.

Now for the good news. If you happen to own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can now grab a nifty little program over on the App Store that simulates the QCLOCKTWO’s functionality on your wonderdevice for just 99 cents. That’s definitely within my budget.

[QLOCKTWO via Design Milk]

German Designers Catarina von Matérn + Lisa Lindström created theses clever floor lamps for Elmar Flötotto which store their power cord around a central axle when not in use. A 16-meter (52-foot) long red cable rolls around the middle of the lamp, letting you move it far, far away from the wall if need be.

The lamps are made of durable white transluscent Polyethylene, and measure about 18-inches in diameter. And thanks to plenty of flat surface area, I don’t see any reason you couldn’t lay the lamp on its side to serve as an illuminated side table.

You can get your fingers wrapped around on the YoYo lamp over at Questo Design for €232.80 (appx. $367 USD). If that’s too much money for you, maybe you should just stick with one of these.

Besides the colored series, a single color white version is available too. All the pieces are available in 71, 102 and 139.5cm heights (about 28″, 40″ and 55″). See more of the collection and find a dealer near you on chameledeon’s website.

[via puremodern]

MBL’s 101 X-treme speaker system cranks out sound using a set of four custom built towers. Two of the towers feature pairs of the company’s proprietary omni-directional drivers (like the ones in their smaller 101E speakers), while the other two will rattle your bones with a stack of four 12-inch subwoofers.

Handcrafted from quality materials such as carbon fiber, aluminum, steel and wood, these mammoth speakers truly live up to their “extreme” name tag. The whole system is built-to-order and requires about a month to construct from start to finish.

[via Audio Junkies (thanks, Lukas!)]

Handcrafted in Germany by Thalbach Design, each wooden USB flash drive is made from quality hardwoods and delicately sanded to a smooth finish.

The memory sticks come in a variety of hardwoods including 150-year old burled wood, ebony, ash, maple and several colored stain finishes as well. Prices range from €45 ($69 USD) to €95 ($135 USD), depending on style and memory size.

[via Designspotter]

The Abacus series of watches has no hands at all. Instead, there’s just a single steel sphere that rolls around inside the watch as you move your wrist around. But as soon as you level out to a horizontal position, a magnet behind the dial stops the ball at the current time. Since there’s no second hand, you won’t be able to tell exactly what time it is, but who cares. You’ll look so cool wearing this watch, that nobody will care if you’re a few minutes late.

Each Abacus watch features a stainless steel case, with a leather strap and either mineral or sapphire glass face. They’re also water resistant to about 100 feet. You can find a wide variety of Abacus magnetic watches from QuestoDesign, ranging from about $150 to $230 depending on the style.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

By combining a standard Wii shell with a see-through XCM Hot Rock case, he was able to preserve the main design features of the Wii, while adding a cutout Wii logo and a color-cycling disc slot loading mechanism.

[via MaxConsole]

Their 101 E Radialstrahler Reference speakers offer a striking sculptural design that makes them look more like something you’d see at a power plant than something that would crank out world-class audio. Apparently, the unique design of these speakers radiates sound waves in all directions, creating an amazing level of depth and realism.

Each one has four separate speaker elements, including a conventional 12-inch subwoofer as well as MBL’s special radial woofer, midrange and tweeter. Frequency response goes from a booming 24Hz all the way up to an inaudible 40,000 Hz. They can handle continous power up to 500-watts, and peak up to a massive 2200-watts per channel. However, since the SPL of these speakers tops out at a wimpy 82dB, you’ll need to drive them with a ton of wattage if you want to experience the best sound they can offer.

All this style and substance will set you back a pretty penny though. A pair of 101 E Radiostrahler Reference speakers retails for about $50,000.

[via NOTCOT]

The Sonoro Cubo is a compact, all-in-one sound system, complete with FM radio, CD player and auxiliary input for your portable media player. Each one is encased in a wooden enclosure with either a colored lacquer or natural wood finish. They come in a variety of colors, and make a dramatic statement on any bookshelf.

The one thing that I don’t care for is the fact that there’s only a single speaker in the Cubo. While it’s got a bass-reflex design to enhance the low-end, don’t expect there to be any sort of meaningful sound field coming out of it.

Cubo sound systems retail for about €255 (around $349 USD.) They currently only come with a European power supply, so you’ll need a converter if you want to use on in the US or Japan.

[via Domokyo]

The makers of the B-Speech Twiddle claim their unique tubular shafts ensure optimum sound delivery wherever you aim the speakers. It looks to me like the funky ported enclosure might help with bass reproduction too.

The Twiddle is designed to work with most mobile devices using a wireless Bluetooth connection. They run off of rechargeable AAA batteries so they’re designed for portability. No price or release date is currently available.

[via AVING]

To me it looks sort of like some kind of vacuum cleaner or other household appliance, but the Grundig PSW5000 is actually an outdoor wireless sound system. Just plug in your MP3 player or other audio source into the base station, and carry the battery-operated speaker up to 300 feet away. The unique speaker design claims to produce an enveloping surround effect, and is backed by 20-watts of amplification.

The speaker’s case is made out of plastic and designed to resist damage from water, making it perfect for the beach or by the poolside. The speaker retails can be found for about €110 (appx. $148 USD) but you’ll probably need to have one shipped from Europe if you want one.

[via Smidigt]

While it might look like a radio from the 60′s or 70′s, the Becker Mexico has a plethora of tricks up its sleeve. The only clue of the beast that lurks within is the modern 13-color OLED screen, giving you an inkling that there’s more than meets the eye with this radio.

For starters, the Mexico has full voice-based GPS navigation capabilities in eight languages. It can play digital music files from CF, MMC, Microdrive and SD-Card formats or an iPod through an optional kit. Heck, it even has a built in voice-dial GSM-based mobile phone hands-free calling via Bluetooth. Oh yeah, it does still have an FM radio for you purists out there.

All those bells and whistles do have a hefty price tag however. The Becker Mexico retails for about €1500 (about $2000 USD) and is currently available only in European markets.

[via Smidigt]

Cut from leather, laser-embellished, then hand-assembled to look like wristwatches, realfakewatches will set you up with a timepiece that says, “who cares what time it is?” Each one displays a randomly selected time, handpicked, according to the artist, by their “randomizer robot.”

Well at least they get the time right two times a day.

[via Reluct]

Designed for German housewares company Konstantin Slawinski, the Charge Box SL12 was designed to conceal the most unwieldy and unattractive part of today’s gadgets. Your portable electronics sit on top of a bright red felt pad, and the cords gracefully drape inside to a hidden outlet strip. Made from coated steel, it’s not cheap looking like some of those plastic cord management solutions out there.

Pricing information was not immediately available, but I’ll be one of the first in line for one of these if they’re not too expensive.

[via Moco Loco]

The new Mercedes S600 Guard has factory-integrated preventive measures such as military-grade armor which can resist small arms projectiles, shrapnel and explosive charges as well as bulletproof glass. A self-sealing fuel system and fire-extinguishing technology help automatically contain any vehicle fires. Even the tires are designed to run flat in an emergency. An emergency fresh air system can even be equipped to counter any noxious gas substances and provide clean air to the passenger compartment.

Beyond the security features, the S600 Guard is no slouch in the performance department, featuring a 517 horsepower V12 bi-turbo engine under the hood. The car also includes a wide variety of high-tech features which are standard on the Mercedes S-class, including radar-assisted braking, a preemptive airbag system that can detect an impending crash before it occurs, and infrared headlights which provide night vision on an in-dash video screen.

[via MotorAuthority viaTechEBlog]