Posts tagged with design

Miniature City On A Power Strip

Posted on March 13, 2010 6:19 AM

This power strip that was sighted at a graduate show at the Kyoto University of Art and Design certainly looks detailed and eye catching. The only downside is that it doesn’t do anything special. It would have be a whole lot cooler, albeit a waste of electricity, if the power strip were to light up mini lights in the miniature city, but you can’t win ‘em all, right? Would you want a power strip like this in your living room, or do you think that it’s a complete waste of space?

HTC Patents New Cell Phone Form Factor

Posted on February 5, 2010 7:58 PM

We’re fairly sure you’ve seen slider phones as well as clamshell phones; after all, they are rather popular form factors for cell phones. Now it seems that HTC is considering another type of form factor, thanks to a patent filed by the company to the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). This design basically uses magnets to hold down the spring-loaded hinge. So all you have to do is slide the top layer down by a few millimeters, and the phone should spring open. Sounds pretty cool, though you would obviously worry about the durability of the hinges, since it’s going to spring open quite often. Perhaps we’ll be seeing an Android-powered phone sporting this form factor soon?

Shape Shifting Cell Phone Prototype Interacts With You

Posted on February 1, 2010 8:15 AM

We’ve all gotten used to the current cell phone designs that are in the market nowadays, but don’t you think that cell phones should interact with us a little more? Designer researcher, Fabian Hemmert, was showing off three rather cool prototype phones at TEDxBerlin.

First off you’ve got a design where the weight of the phone can be shifted, making it heavier on the top, bottom, left or right. This could be used to let you know that you’ve got to make a left turn, or that there might be more content in one direction (if you’re browsing a map for instance).

Next there is a shape-changing design, where the thickness of the phone might change. It could grow thicker, or part of the phone could become thicker, allowing it to stand on its side, becoming an alarm clock or digital photo frame.

The last is a rather weird “living” phone, where the phone can express its emotional state, and even have a “heartbeat” of sorts.

You probably won’t see these in mobile phones anytime soon, but who knows, right? It’s certainly cool enough to warrant more research into it.

Pentax Optio H90

Posted on January 25, 2010 2:02 PM

[PMA] Pentax Pentax put some serious effort in the design of their new product line, and the H90 is one of the best example with the Optio I-10. The colors, the materials and the proportions are reminiscent of the sixties avant-garde, and it is well done. The clear idea behind this vintage move is to differentiate the brand from the regular look and feel offered by the competition: bright, shiny with a lack of personality. On the contrary, Pentax came up with a matte texture and a hint of color, conveying an elegant and unique look. On the features side, the camera provide what is expected from a mid-range point-and-shoot : 5X wide angle (28-140 mm equivalent) optical zoom, 12.1 megapixels, 2.7 inch LCD, 720p video capture at 30 fps, Face Detection, Smile Capture, Blink Detection, Pixel Track Shake Reduction, auto picture mode, compatible with Eye-Fi.It will be available in February 2010 for $179.95.

Old Apple Tablet Prototype Design Appears

Posted on January 24, 2010 5:02 AM

It doesn’t seem like anybody has pictures of the upcoming Apple tablet (which should be announced on the 27th of Jan), but folks have managed to dig up and ancient prototype design of an Apple tablet (or laptop) back in the 1980’s. You can be very sure that the upcoming tablet won’t look anything like this, but it’s still cool to see that Apple was thinking of cool devices since way back then. This old design has input devices such as a floppy drive and stylus, things that you certainly wouldn’t see (and wouldn’t want to see) on the Apple tablet. Just another few more days to the event, so hopefully the wait will be ended soon!

Jelfin Gel Covered Mouse

Posted on December 13, 2009 7:30 AM

Are you bored of your normal hard and solid mouse? Well, if that’ the case, then check out the Jelfin mouse, which is a gel-covered mouse, and it’s available in a variety of color options too. Supposedly the shape will also contribute to the comfort level of the mouse, but we’d still suggest you try one out before dropping your $35 for this mouse.

Dell offers personalized MLB designs

Posted on October 8, 2009 2:25 AM

Dell knows that the Major League Baseball postseason is already underway, and with the World Series fast approaching, fans will go all out to make sure that their favorite teams are being cheered on in any way possible - and Dell helps them by offering a new collection of customized artwork in a collaboration with Major League Baseball Properties, where you can choose from three choices of specially conjured designs (Fans, Classic and Die-hard) for each MLB team. This offer will only be made available to the Inspiron Mini, Inspiron and Studio notebooks from next month onwards. [Press Release]

Like.com, creates a home for indie fashion - call for submissions

Posted on October 2, 2009 5:34 PM

Like.com, Inc. the masterminds behind visual search for shopping and the first visual style personalization tech (Covet.com) are innovating again. As the top online fashion search engine (over 8 million uniques) Like.com has proven itself to be a key player in e-commerce. Now the Silicon Valley company is creating a revolutionary new site where mainstream, indie and vintage fashions will live together. This new site is in total stealth mode. Recent tweets indicate that they are singling out Fall/Holiday '09 collections while previewing lines for Spring 2010. "The task of choosing the best collections is astounding. There's so much great talent out there, especially in the indie design sector," says Marissa Goodman, Director of Fashion at Like.com. "We will showcase a wide range of hot new designers and fashion mainstays in order to meet the diverse style and budget needs of today's online shopper."

Good news! They're still accepting submissions for review. Designers who would like to shine a spotlight on their original collections should send photos or links to marissa at like.com. But beware, if your designs only live on paper, this isn't the showcase for you. All items need to be built and photo shoot ready.

HP Mini 110 by Studio Tord Boontje: Multi-Layered "Tech Lace"!

Posted on September 14, 2009 9:35 PM

HP learned its lesson from the previous "designer" HP Mini created by Vivienne Tam and launched at the NYC Fashion Week: pricing is great this time, you can get it for $399! (vs. The new HP mini designed by Studio Tord Boontje offers an incredible lace effect rendered in multi layers through the casing, thanks to the new three-dimensional surface technology called "HP imprint 3D". The "lace effect" is composed with multiple endangered animals and flowers drawings that unravel onto the palm rest and the touch pad. The specs are the same as the previous HP Mini 110: Intel Atom N270 1.6 Ghz, 160GB Hard Drive, 10.1" LED display, 1024 x 576 resolution, built-in webcam, wifi 802.11b/g. Congratulations to Stacy Wolff, HP Notebook Product Design Director, who presented this "state of the art" new netbook!

RIM fantasizes with new BlackBerry form factors

Posted on August 5, 2009 3:23 AM

Design engineers at RIM have come up with a bunch of deisgns that might or might not make it to the public in the future, and what you see above is but one of a handful of examples. Most of these came about circa 2007 when RIM employees were wondering what will happen when Apple released their iPhone, where some of these handsets range from the smart to some pretty ordinary designs. Selected few maintained the traditional BlackBerry form factor, while others ventured into more adventurous territory including a full or semi-QWERTY slideout keyboard. Which of the designs in our link would you prefer to see make the jump to the real world?

Intel's mobility future depends on 'desirability'

Posted on July 29, 2009 3:13 PM

At the Intel Technology Summit, Intel mentioned that future computers need to be not only affordable and capable, but most importantly desirable. And for that very reason, Intel is learning skills that are usually outside of its core semi-conductor business, like ultra-thin designs and efficient cooling that are usually conflicting goals. To you and us, that simply means: cooler gadgets, soon!

Intel also said that developed countries went from having one phone per house, to one per room, to one per person. The company thinks that this is will also happen for personal devices as well, and that the growth in mobile computers will somewhat mimic the mobile handset growth over the past 10 years. To help make this a reality, Intel is readying its next generation mobile chip code-named PineTrail and just confirmed that the chip be finished on time.

Roxy JBL Reference 430 Headphones Hands-On

Posted on July 2, 2009 9:53 AM

JBL partnered with Roxy to launch these headphones a month ago and I have tested them for a few days. I like the bright and fun design that for sure is appealing to the young generation and might be targeted to the female audience, given the color palette (pink and orange) and the picture on the product page, however there is also a green and blue version, for the boys who do not dare to wear pink. The product comes with a cool looking pouch ornamented with bright colored drawings (see gallery), I like the subtle organic design that "grows" on the headband as well.

Dell Highlights Its Stylish Side

Posted on May 12, 2009 9:13 PM

By Sean Captain

Having grown infamous as the bland-box company, Dell is pushing hard to break out of the old stereotype. This evening in Manhattan, the company held something of a coming-out party to celebrate its new design direction.

The most style shows up in the Dell Studio 15 and Studio 17 laptops, which now offer about 220 cover designs infused into the plastic lid of the PC – both solid colors and fanciful illustrations created by dozens of visual artists.

Under a new Dell Studio program, the company recruits artists four times each year to design notebook finishes that follow a theme. The first 200-odd designs are all meant to reflect the theme "Today."

I must confess that the only way I perceived that theme is that I saw them all "today." Otherwise, the designs are all over the map. Not that it's a bad thing, though. "It was basically each artist bringing their interpretation of the word 'today,' which was pretty great," said Deanne Cheuk, who created a collection of four geometrically psychedelic designs called "Pyramid." She praised the wide latitude that the mandate gave her.