Turns out, he was pulling a different kind of all-nighter, at the an Internet cafe located near the school, that is. I don’t think the Laundry Arcade Concept is targeted only to people who are like him, but I’m sure he’d be ecstatic with this design by Lee Wei Chen.

Basically, the Laundry Arcade works like this: you put your dirty stuff into the washing machine, insert some coins, and start playing. As long as you’re still alive in the game, your laundry will keep tumbling. When you run out of lives, you need to put it more coins to resume the game (and resume doing your laundry.)

I don’t think this will be a hit for those who are in a hurry to do their laundry, but it is a fun way to get the younger ones to do their laundry.

[via Design Week via Dvice ]

It had rhythm and verve. It was playing with gusto, like something Asian was about to go down, a major martial arts tournament or cook-off or something. Unfortunately, Sina117′s language is NSFW, so we don’t recommend sharing the magical machine’s mad skills with your kids.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

That makes two awesome washing machine videos in a week – three more and we’ll officially have a trend.

[via likecool]

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Oh, the humanity! Oh, that’s right, it’s still an inanimate object.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

One brick made the machine smoke and vibrate a lot. Once the second brick was added all hell breaks loose and some innocent flowers are killed in the process. This is much better than the Will it Blend stuff.

[via Laughing Squid]

That’s the wall-mounted version right there, which from the looks of it has a maximum load of two boxers and a thong. Or maybe its body is supposed to be tucked inside the wall, in which case its butt will be exposed outside of your house, like an air conditioner. I don’t know.

And there’s the free-standing version, which is a lot more sensible to me. The orange light on the lid of the machines serves as the timer, while according to Electrolux Industrial Design Manager Calum Armstrong “the small display above the door has a smaller selection of programs, depending on the type of garments that need to be washed.” Uh, which small display? But we shouldn’t be so hard on Electrolux – these are just concepts after all, and as far as being sleek and modern goes these designs are successful, if (yet again) impractical.

[via Electrolux Design Lab via dornob]

The idea is that you place your dirty clothes in the Swirl, which can be push or pulled via its detachable handle or even better, kicked along to where you get water. Once you’ve added water and detergent to the Swirl, you can now go home, knowing that your clothes are being washed as you roll or kick the ball home.

Makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? Of course the efficacy and efficiency of the Swirl as a tool for washing clothes is debatable; the swirling patterns on the ball are supposed to help with that.

I think the Swirl – or something like it – could work as an actual product, but they should remove the toy aspect in the final product. Can you imagine how hard it would be for a kid to kick or roll around a durable plastic or steel ball that’s filled with clothes and water?

[via designboom via Design Launches]

Aside from the significant water savings, the revolutionary cleaning system also uses 30% less energy; the efficiency of the nylon beads also translates to less detergent used. Clothes that are washed in this manner will dry faster because of the small amount of water used in cleaning them. It gets even better: the first Xeros washing machines are set to be on sale next year. They’ll be sold to commercial establishments at first, but hopefully us residential peeps will be able to own one soon after.

Check out Xeros’ website for more details, including a video demonstration.

[via GreenBang via Inventor Spot]

Ryan Rose apparently thinks (correctly so, in my case) that the rest of us are similarly forgetful, and thus put together a helpful video showing what the modifications to his washing machine took.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via MAKE]