Tag: Concept

Product designer Ádám Török, from Sopron, Hungary, came up with the idea for this truly unique scooter. He made it for a school graduation project. His thinking is that in the future, most vehicles will be portable.

Firaxis Games is the developer behind Sid Meier’s Civilization III up to its most recent release, Civilization Beyond Earth. For the latter’s launch party, the studio asked employee Andy Clarke to create LEGO replicas of the game’s Worker unit.

Whiteboards and blackboards are great for group discussions. But they also take attention away from the speaker, especially for participants who insist on writing down everything that’s on the board. That’s where the WriteBoard concept comes in.

Unlike most artforms or professions, writing needs the most basic of tools. Even if you’d rather work with a word processor instead of pen and paper, you can just get a cheap laptop and be all set.

Even if you use the Internet only casually – thanks for spending time here! – chances are several companies have gathered a bit of data about you, or at least your online habits. These trawlers range from big fish such as Facebook, Google or your government to obscure advertising companies and perhaps even hackers.

You may be familiar with the term ragdoll physics, which is a type of animation sometimes used in video games to create dynamic – albeit unrealistic– animations for characters. Ragdoll physics is a form of physics-based animation.

A few years ago we saw a custom fabricated material with embedded actuators and magnets, which enable it to autonomously fold into a predetermined shape when subjected to electricity. MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab is working on creating carbon fiber, wood, textiles and other materials that can also change their shape on their own, but without any electromechanical parts involved. These so-called programmable materials change their structure in reaction to various stimuli.

Here’s an app that adds another meaning to Ghost in the machine. Currently in development, VRClay lets you create 3D shapes in virtual reality with the help of the Oculus Rift and the Razer Hydra controllers. Oh, my love… I think it would be much better if it used a motion sensor like the Leap so you could use your hands directly.

Like any tool, 3D printers can’t magically produce the thing you want on its own. You have to provide detailed instructions to the machine in the form of a 3D model, which of course requires training and studying to master.

We’ve seen a couple of video game-themed waffles before. If you want to make your own edible pixel art, keep an eye out for the Pixel waffle iron. It lets you create blocky patterns on your waffle. Made by Quirky member Chunder, Pixel has a silicone mold with a 9×9 grid of squares.

Last year MIT’s Tangible Media Group went viral because of its real time shape-copying machine. But one of its latest efforts blows that machine out of the water. Called THAW, it’s a software system that allows smartphones and personal computers to communicate graphically through their respective displays.

Like ink printers, the size of a 3D printer limits the size of the objects it can print. Until now. Researchers from two different labs in Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) worked together to create 3&DBot, a 3D printer on wheels.

If you think that Google Glass’ and smartwatch displays are too small for you, keep an eye on the Cicret Bracelet. French company Cicret claims its gadget can project your mobile device’s display on your skin.

Like Amazon, it appears Google has been mulling the use of drones to deliver goods. The company recently unveiled its Project Wing, a system that uses drones with the goal of delivering goods within two minutes after an order is placed.

Brazilian artist Billy Butcher has created some really good looking superhero beer design concepts. The project is titled The Comic Book Super Drunk Hangout. This collection is all about a certain type of hero. Antiheroes, or not heroes at all.

Until now, touchscreen device makers still have not properly addressed their products’ lack of tactile feedback. If Microsoft senior researcher Hong Tan her way, in the future touchscreen-equipped devices will let us feel clicks and more.