Blow-up Mouse

Blow-up Mouse

The Jelly Click takes mouse portability to the extreme. All the electronic circuity lives on a small flexible board. The body itself is just soft plastic. Whenever you need a mouse, blow up the Jelly Click, attach the USB cable and you’re good to go. As a bonus, it’s a total floaty for you swimming challenged people.

Designer: Bongkun Shin, Heungkyo Seo, Jiwoong Hwang & Wooteik Lim

more information:http: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/01/30/blow-up-mouse/

Compose Music All High Tech Like

Have you ever caught yourself whistling a made up tune and thought to yourself, “hey this could be a hit song!” Those moments of inspiration are fleeting but with the Compose concept, you can compose anywhere.

The pen acts as a mic you sing into. When docked into the digital paper tablet, your vocal harmonies are automatically transcribed into a score. For the old schooler, you can write directly on the display. It also contains libraries for an entire orchestra so once your composition is finished, just sit back and enjoy.
Designer: Ouyang Xi, He Binbin, Zeng Li & Li Bo


more information: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/08/18/compose-music-all-high-tech-like/

Puffy Bookmark

The ABRACADABRA bookmark aims to make finding where you left off and opening to that page easier. I didn’t know it was an issue but now I hate my ordinary paper bookmark. The ABRACADABRA contains an air-filled chamber, half of which is flattened by the weight of a book. Squeezing the exposed side inflates the concealed side lift the page just enough for your finger to slip in.
And just for fun and giggles, old ABRACADABRAS can be arranged on a paper pot. Yea, a paper tree, a paper pot, and graphics that look like something else.

Designer: Jung-Hyun Lee, Won-Sik Chae & Rhea Jeong

more information: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/03/17/puffy-bookmark/

The Future of Books

With everything turning towards technology, we have adapted the out with the old, in with the new mentality. Designer Kyle Bean has created a design that illustrates the issues with “technology and the Internet, and the effect it is having on the way we source information”. We are becoming a society that is more virtual. We download music rather than purchase CD’s, we research on the net, rather than going to the library and reading books. According to Kyle, “Books also have personality – they have textures and smells which the internet can’t offer”. Kyle wanted to illustrate this issue by using a book turned into a laptop. The object is made from a book purchased at a discount bookstore for only £1.50, as well as a few electrical components to illuminate the screen.

The book/laptop, has a CD-Rom drive complete with CD, a keyboard that can be removed so as to access the battery, and a switch that turns off the screen light once the book is closed. The book when closed, looks just like a regular book until opened. The words, “The Future of Books” is inscribed on the spine. I think Kyle did a wonderful job expressing the changes the world is facing regarding technology.

 
more information: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/04/21/the-future-of-books/

High Tech Napkins

We saw several napkin idea concepts last year but this is the first to utilize e-ink and RF technology. The Napkin PC is designed for group collaborations. Each pen transmits your doodles to the base station which is a PC in disguise. That information gets processed and displayed on the napkin like e-ink paper. Cool idea but someone better make sure nobody decides to wipe their dirty lunch stains with one.
Designer: Avery Holleman

 
 

 
 
more information: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/01/04/high-tech-napkins/

Metamophing Computer Interfaces

Siafu is a PC designed to give people with vision loss or impairment a more intuitive computer experience. It lays flat like a tablet and allows the user to fully interact with it by way of touch. The surface utilizes a conceptual material called magneclay or magnetized liquid. This material has the ability to morph upward into any shape via a controlled electromagnetic field enabling the device to create a braille surface for reading and even pictures in 3D relief.

The technology behind Siafu – Magneclay, is an oil based synthetic agent that possesses limitless morphing capabilities. It has a loose molecular structure but can be infinitely rearranged when acted upon by electrical and magnetic charges. As long as the charges acting upon it remain stable, the magneclay will hold its structural rigidity, allowing it to be touched without deformation.

As for why the device is named after an aggressive African ant? Beats me.


Designer: Jonathan Lucas


more information: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/02/27/metamophing-computer-interfaces/

Negroponte takes OLPC to Colombia

TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia's Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. (And you too can get involved.)

more information: http://www.olpcnews.com/use_cases/community/my_xo_for_all_oddessey_with_ol.html