Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

I enjoy a slick looking concept car as much as the next guy, even though most concept vehicles are nothing but over-designed eye candy that I really couldn’t see myself driving. But leave it to Volkswagen to come up with a concept that’s more utilitarian than easy on the eyes. Unveiled at the recreational and commercial vehicle show in Düsseldorf, Germany, the VW Caddy Topos Sail concept features an actual wooden boat deck built in to the roof. The Topos Sail is based on the smallest model in the VW commercial van fleet, and besides the real wooden decking it also features aluminum safety rails running along the sides of the roof, flip-up panels that serve as back rests and a matching wood and aluminum ladder built in to the tailgate. Perfect for those days when the local beach or park is too crowded to find a place to have a picnic or just lounge about.

[ Autoblog - Lounge on deck of VW Caddy Topos Sail Concept ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I wonder if historians in the future will look back on these times as the renaissance for alarm clocks? It seems almost every day there’s a different model popping up that uses some clever trick to get you out of bed in the morning. Today we have the Osim Nioi alarm clock concept which was designed by Alfie Lake. Instead of using a loud buzzing or beeping sound to basically shock you out of a comfortable sleep in the morning (usually putting you in a bad mood) the Osim Nioi releases pleasurable scents, like the smell of freshly baked bread, to wake you up.

In fact the Osim Nioi goes one step further and allows for up to 3 different scent cartridges that can actually be used to give you a more relaxing sleep. For example, in addition to your 7:30am fresh bread wake up call, you can also set the clock to release a lavender scent at midnight, which supposedly calms the body and increases the amount of time you spend restfully sleeping. While I like the idea, I know that the smell of fresh bread isn’t enough to bring me out of my dormant coma in the morning. However, I imagine something that smelled a bit more unpleasant might actually do the trick.

[ Osim Nioi Alarm Clock ] VIA [ The Design Blog ]

By Luke Anderson

I hate getting my keyboard greasy from typing on it while eating. My simple solution is to not type while I’m eating, or at the very least, to wipe my hands off before typing. However, if this concept piece comes to fruition, then you won’t have anything to worry about when eating and using your laptop at the same time.

These Keyboard Napkins are napkings that…wait for it…sit on the keyboard of your laptop. Thye even feature the outline of your keys so you can keep typing away. Then when you’re done eating, you can wipe your hands off and continue working. Or you could just wipe your hands off before typing and avoid these fancy (concept) napkins.

[ Der Alleinwohner ] VIA [ UberReview ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I know the Amish are anti-technology and all, but I can only assume there has to be a handful of teenagers in every village who would be willing to bend the rules for a cellphone. And while the Maple Phone really wasn’t created to be Amish-friendly, I think the fact that it looks like a block of wood when not in use would help someone who’s not suppose to have a phone keep it a secret. In reality the Maple Phone concept was designed by Hyun Jin Yoon and Eun Hak Lee to not only look stylish, but also be potentially cheaper to mass produce. The phone features a sliding mechanism that keeps the screen hidden when not in use, and the touch sensitive keypad uses a backlight that’s visible right through the wood finish. Best of all you can customize the phone’s appearance with nothing but a switch-blade, a rocking chair and an afternoon of whittlin’.

[ Camera Phones Plaza - Maple Phone ] VIA [ TOYS and GADGETs ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m sure we’ve all seen those long-exposure photos where someone is writing or drawing in the air with an LED which produces cool looking streaks of light in the final shot. Well that’s basically the same idea behind the Flowlight concept, except that it happens in real time without the need for a camera. The base of the unit tracks the tip of a special pen as it moves through the air, and by focusing a laser beam 100 times a second where that tip is located, the Flowlight creates small plasma points that appear to hang and glow in mid-air. As the pen moves, the laser creates a series of plasma points which are close enough together to look like glowing streaks. While the d-Vision Design website suggests the technology could be used in various applications from medicine to architecture, I don’t think it will be replacing the traditional whiteboard for sketching out ideas anytime soon. (Sadly.)

[ d-Vision Design Flowlight ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Luke Anderson

When I was younger, I always wondered what wine tasted like. Once I even snuck a sip of a bottle in my parents’ house, only to find it was one of the most awful things I’d ever tasted. When I was of age, one of my uncles, who has an appreciation for fine wine (unlike my parents who bought only the cheap stuff) let me taste a few of his favorite bottles. As it turns out, the “better” a wine is, the worse it tastes. For those of you that actually enjoy the taste of wine, could you ever picture yourself drinking it out of a can?

There’s just something about the mental image of a rich socialite holding a can of wine, drinking it with pinky stuck out that makes me laugh a bit. A pair of Swedish designers created a concept recyclable wine cans that no one seems to want to put their wine in. Perhaps it’s that people like to have a resealable bottle, or that they enjoy sniffing their wine out of a large glass. Or maybe it’s the fact that it’ll seem too much like drinking a beer that makes no one want it.

[ Wine-Can ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Since I occasionally rely on my ability to hear for earning a paycheck, I try to keep my eardrums in good working condition. That usually means keeping my headphones at a reasonable level, avoiding monster truck rallies (it was a one-time thing, I swear) and generally avoiding concerts. And while I don’t carry a set of earplugs with me for emergencies, I might be more inclined to if they fit in my wallet like these RNID plugs from designer Shing Lo. With a design that would make IKEA proud, the flat-pack earplugs even come with a set of rubber gaskets to ensure a tight seal when placed in your ears. They can also be returned to the card for storage allowing them to be used again and again, though if they ever make it to the market at a reasonable price, I’m sure they’ll be more popular as a disposable item.

[ Plug and Play ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

(Click here for a hi-res version of the above image.) There were definitely some mixed opinions about last year’s Transformers movie (worst movie of 2007!) but so far Christopher Nolan and crew seem to be doing a pretty good job of breathing life back into the Batman franchise. Of course Batman is nothing without his toys, and the Tumbler Batmobile is almost as much a star of the latest films as Christian Bale is. So I have to wonder why it’s taken so long for a fanboy to imagine what it would be like if the Batman and Transformers worlds merged.

Thankfully the fanboy responsible for this concept also appears to be an extremely talented 3D artist, and his Tumber Autobot Edition almost makes you wish the Tumbler became Batman’s sidekick instead of Robin. The concept image was originally posted to the Don Murphy Message Board by ‘JesterJJZ’, and the amount of detail that’s gone into the robot mode is quite astonishing. Now let’s just hope we eventually get an actual animation of this thing transforming.

[ Jester Pictures - Batman Tumbler Robot Concept ] VIA [ Autoblog ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Since nearly every single portable gadget or electronic device from MP3 players to video games includes a clock of some sort, the only real reason someone would wear a watch these days is for style. And because of that, design student Nicolas Lehotzky believes that the watch market will soon be moving away from traditional designs towards models that focus on creativity over function. So in an effort to get things moving in that direction he created a small collection of unique watch prototypes including this Caterpillar design that caught my eye.

The watch takes the concept of the tank tread used on heavy Caterpillar construction machinery and incorporates it into both the watch band design and how the time is actually displayed. Instead of a traditional face, the watch features a fabric belt that is continually fed through the strap in a loop. The number that’s featured most prominently on the raised platform roughly indicates the current hour. In theory the belt could also feature a more complex number scheme to indicate half and quarter hours making it more accurate, but the simplicity of the current design is most definitely part of its appeal.

[ Nicolas Lehotzky Caterpillar Watch VIA Gizmag ]