I’m a big fan of Quirky, and like that it gives amateur inventors the real opportunity to bring their creations to life. But at the same time it can be really frustrating to stumble across an innovative new product you really like, only to discover it’s a Quirky project still waiting for enough commitments to become a reality. Such is the case with the Ventu. It’s a combination serving/straining bowl that uses a unique pivoting armature to seal up a built-in colander once you’ve drained foods like freshly cooked pasta.
Made from brushed stainless steel with acacia wood handles the Ventu also looks as good as it functions, and the pivoting part can be removed for easy cleaning. At the moment it’s even on pre-sale for just $49.99, but unfortunately it’s only received 55 of the 1800 commitments needed for it to move into production, which could mean it’s going to be a long time before this sees the light of day.
My continued love of LEGO has me desperately hoping this Construction Toy concept by Wouter Scheublin becomes a reality some day, for the simple fact that it lets you build things you can actually ride on! Like with LEGO, the idea is to create a kit that provides enough modular pieces to build a myriad of pedal-powered creations from bicycles to go-karts. Obviously the use of nuts, bolts, gears and chains will probably ensure the kit isn’t particularly kid-friendly, but it’s not like having to learn to use tools to put it together is a bad thing either.
Researchers at Osaka and Shinshu Universities in Japan have created a special sensor-equipped glove that lets users enter text on a computer, or eventually any kind of electronic device, by making gestures or shapes with their hands and fingers. The tip of each glove features a small magnet and as you change the shape of your hand it in turn changes the shape of the magnetic field around the glove. These changes are then measured using magnetic sensors, and the unique shapes of the field are converted into text based on a pre-determined data set.
Accuracy is currently pegged at around 90% if you make your own data set, which basically means if you teach it to read your own gestures, but that percentage only drops a little if you use a pre-existing one created by someone else. The Fingual glove also features an infrared sensor so that you need to hold your other hand near the glove, or place it near your body, to put it into gesture recognition mode. Otherwise every little hand action you’d make would be detected as text input. The obvious application for this technology would be to allow people who use sign language to also use it as a form of text entry, but the last time I checked they were still able to use keyboards and keypads. But as an alternative means of text entry when it’s rude or dangerous to use a keypad, I think it has potential.
Even though ‘unused power bar’ is an oxymoron in my home, I still like this design concept from Dave Hakkens which gives everyday devices a book-like form factor. So instead of tossing them in a drawer or in a Rubbermaid container when not in use, you can keep them out on display where they add to the aesthetic of a room, and are also easily accessible and easy to find. And while the Stekkerboek does look a bit bulky as power bars go, the extra space houses a generous, and useful, 8 feet of extension cord. Just make a version for North American style plugs and I’ll take 10!
This isn’t the first slick iPhone concept we’ve brought you from Les Editions Volumique, a Paris-based publishing house that focuses on using the paper book as a unique computer platform. Their (i)Pawn concept let you use the iPhone as a game board, complete with physical playing pieces. But this time around it’s the iPhone that serves as the playing piece, interacting with a physical game board.
(i)Pirates has you taking a pirate ship around a fairly large fold-out game board (it looks like you’ll need an entire kitchen table to play it) by placing your iPhone onto different sections of the board which are then displayed on screen, complete with your ship and various other animated elements. I’m assuming the iPhone’s camera is used to detect what section of the board it’s actually been placed on, and while their website is pretty vague on how you actually go about playing the game, or interact with other players, the concept does appear to have some unique potential.
Saving a bit of money by dropping your pocket change into a piggy bank is a rather passive way to go about it. However this piggy bank concept, designed by Wang Chao, Maggie Kuo and Jordi Parra, takes a completely opposite approach. It’s kind of like one of those Tamagotchi virtual pets that were all the rage many years ago, except that instead of just pushing a few buttons to give it some virtual attention, you need to feed it a small bit of money by inserting your credit card.
The concept mockup uses an iPhone hidden behind a laser cut wood pattern facade for the animated eyes and expressions, which is also connected to an Arduino BT to detect when a credit card is inserted into the slot. The general idea is that the ‘piggy bank’ can detect the presence of people, or when it’s been moved, and demands financial attention when it gets sad. The money taken from the credit card is deposited into a separate savings account (which makes me think using a debit card would be smarter) so over time you end up saving a bit of money while trying to keep it appeased.
I’m just going to come right out and burst everyone’s bubble before you all get too excited. This clever and amusing take on the traditional round keyring which adds the ghostly outline of a key so it blends in with the rest of your collection, is nothing more than just a concept designed by Giha Woo. It’s not available for sale, it probably doesn’t exist outside of a 3ds Max wireframe and given it dates back to 2009, there’s probably no chance it will ever become a reality. Even though I’m sure millions of people (myself included) would happily trade a dollar, if not more, for one.
Mr. Beam (Mo Assem & Ruben van Esterik) is a small company based out of the Netherlands that specializes in giant lighting installations that use powerful video projectors to map graphics and animations over large buildings. But they’ve recently taken their expertise indoors with their fun Living Room concept.
Using only 2 projectors and some extremely careful planning and mapping, they’re able to project an entire 360° decor onto a living room filled with white furniture. This includes projected wallpaper and even carpeting. The concept, which is not unlike Michel Gondry’s Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground video for The White Stripes (RIP) could make it really easy for interior decorators to try out an infinite number of pattern and color combinations before committing to a new decor in a room. That is if Mr. Beam ever decides to commercialize it.
Unless you’re afraid of heights, I’m pretty sure that everyone has dreamed of being able to fly at some point in their lives. But I mean more like soaring above the clouds like an airplane, not skimming a couple of feet above an asphalt road like you do in this StreetFlyer contraption.
Created by Dr. Carsten Mehring, the StreetFlyer lets a harnessed rider transition between walking along with the ‘bike’ and a prone, lying-on-your-stomach position where you pedal the single rear wheel with your feet and steer the front pair with your arms. I doubt it provides the same flying thrill as say hang gliding or skydiving, but the worst case scenario here is a little road rash, which is a bit less daunting. Well that and peculiar looks from everyone you pass, honks from cars since it appears to take up a lot more room than a traditional bike and random taunts and mockery from people like me. At the moment the StreetFlyer only exists as prototypes, but apparently a more marketable and ‘practical’ version is being designed that you could end up seeing on the streets some day.
Related Tags: Concepts, Cooking, Design
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