Tag: Concept

There are lightsaber chopsticks and even lightsaber spoons. Now there’s a new hope holder for corn-loving Star Wars fans: the Cornobi corn holder. I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of eating a lightsaber, even if it’s a rare yellow one.

The MoonWatch is a cool concept that was designed by Adrián Castro, originally conceived in 2004. Apparently, the designer updated that watch for 2011 with new materials and technology. The new design is pretty cool looking, and I can see the resemblance to the moon.

No, this isn’t a new toy for your feline friend, it’s a concept charger for your phone and/or other devices. While it makes sense to have something that’s longer than standards cords, I wonder if cats everywhere will rejoice upon seeing this charger that’s designed to look like a ball of yarn.

I would bet anyone that has an iPhone has tried at one point or another to shoot photos with the built-in camera. The iPhone 4 has a flash built-in, but that flash is not very powerful meaning you end up with dark photos if the subject is too far away.

We’ve featured a backpack with solar panels for charging gadgets, perfect for people on the go and those who enjoy the outdoors. This handbag from Danish design company Diffus is perfect for everyday use. It may not be much at first glance, until you realize that it not only does it have solar panels, the panels are the centerpiece of the bag’s design, yet the bag doesn’t look like a science experiment or a prototype.

This weekend, ASUS unveiled the Padfone, a smartphone-tablet hybrid, during this year’s Computex. This new hybrid device will allow users to easily keep data and apps in sync between their mobile devices and switching between then when the need arises.

We’ve featured a clock that won’t shut off its alarm until you deposit some money into it. This concept on the other hand, is the unholy opposite – once the alarm kicks in, it will start shredding money and will obviously keep going until you turn the alarm off.

I’m totally dating myself, but back in the day, I owned an Atari 520ST computer. Under the hood of this powerhouse of its time was the same processor you’d find in the more expensive early Macintosh computers, along with the unique ability to control musical instruments via MIDI, and advanced full color graphics.

There are many things to like about Apple’s iPad, but its rear-facing speaker isn’t one of them. I’m not talking about how they’re weak and tinny since most mobile devices have below average speakers anyway. It’s that the sound is directed away from the user’s ears.

It’s true that most tablets do need to get charged up regularly, so it would be nice to come up with a way to reduce the need for recharging. The Ecopad concept was given a special award in Fujitsu and designboom’s ‘A Life with Future Computing‘ design competition for its innovative approach to juicing up.

We’ve featured several entries from this year’s Fujitsu Design Award competition organized by designboom, but all of them focused on modularizing a computer or making it more portable. It’s not a surprising focus, what with the growing popularity of portable computing.

E ink has some cool tech, and its screens have turned up in everything from eReaders to watches over the years. The cool thing about its screens is that they have tons of contrast and are easy to read in direct sunlight.

Here’s another shortlisted entry into designboom’s 2011 Fujitsu Design Award. It was created by the Korean designer Dae Hoon Jung, and it’s called the Split. It splits up, in an analogue way to the Bento Book concept, offering mobile computing among a host of gadgets.

My son has a Nintendo DSi that he plays frequently. One of his favorite game is Mario Kart on the portable console and he plays some level where you have to blow on the DSi to inflate a balloon.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m far less efficient typing on a touchscreen than I am when using a tactile keyboard. Heck, even today’s relatively flat laptop keyboards are still much faster for typists than touchscreens.

Designed by Da Deng, the Bye-5 is a light switch that’s also meant to cheer the user up. You see, instead of a switch or a button or a string, the Bye-5 looks like a hand, always ready to give – and receive – a high five.