No more dry, empty bowls on your radiators. Here is a container that holds water and senses when the water is gone.
Enter the concrete humidifier. Maybe an alert when the humidifier is empty is next. via yanko design
Designer: Sang Jang Lee
Braun launched the 17th edition of the BraunPrize. This internationally recognised design competition is open to young industrial designers who are still studying or who have graduated within the last two years.
International Competition to Promote Young Designers
When it was established in 1968, the Braun- Prize was Germany’s first international competition to promote the work of young designers. Braun’s commitment to this cause has been highly regarded by the design world and the design-aware public ever since. (more…)
An election wrap up: more creative generated in presidential election 2008. Passion trumps strategy — the bulk unsolicited, unapproved by either candidate. (more…)
I am reminded that this book is supposed to go on sale October 2008 but have done nothing yet to see if true…
Design student, Erin Weartz, alerted her typography class and me to this movie. Fun!
The french artist is Marion Bataille. The French ABC pop-up book won’t be available until October 2008. (more…)
Value item: Here is an innovative, quirkly little product that may make a big (lemon) splash. The UTILO, Lemon Squeezer designed by Nicole Schaffert. Just insert spout into your lemon and squeeze for quick and easy seed-free juice. Made of stainless steel.
Producer: Blomus was established in 2001 to innovatively manufacture stainless steel items utilizing modern design. Blomus offers a great selection of kitchen accessories, fireplace accessories, bathroom accessories, office accessories and waste bins. Inspired by premiere European designers and created by German craftsmen, each and every Blomus product, whether a contemporary stainless steel mirror, kitchen accessories, bathroom hardware, bar and wine tools or a modern styled set of candle holders, Blomus offers only the finest quality of stainless steel kitchen accessories today.
Seen at allmodern.com
With cold weather just around the corner, tea anyone?
Gems Teastick
The Teastick GEMS bring new light to your cup of tea. Now with two brilliant colors so sparkling clear you can see the steeping tea bloom.
With classic “scoop it, slide it, steep it” functionality The Teastick GEMS are as useful as they are beautiful in your cup. With The Teastick GEMS, a fine stainless mesh enables the steeping of herbal teas that often have smaller particles than traditional teas—all while continuing to be convenient and easy for one-cup brewing. Constructed of the highest standard FDA-approved polycarbonate. Designed for use in a 10-14 oz cup.
The Original Teastick
The ultimate infuser for tea enthusiasts features intuitive “scoop-slide-steep” functionality while it reflects the aesthetic of traditional loose tea service.
Durable enough for industrial use, it has no breakable mechanisms and is constructed entirely of 304L stainless steel with holes small enough to infuse the finest of teas. The innovative design provides optimum flow for perfect steeping and incorporates a fill-line.
The Teastick fits nicely into glasses and mugs and is ideal for a 10-14 oz perfect cup of tea.
via Gamila Company
This cool coffee maker offers up a smart industrial design which cleanly integrates a ceramic mug in place of a carafe.
The WMF1 Coffee Pad takes a single portioned coffee filter and can brew up a fresh cup of Java in about 1 minute. The compact coffee maker features a clean white design, with a choice of four accent colors: kiwi (green), mango (yellow), berry (red) and stone (dark grey). And yes, it includes the perfectly-fitted ceramic mug. The brilliantly minimal design even won a 2007 red dot award for its creators.
At this point, the Coffee Pad is only available in a European 220-volt configuration, so you’ll need a power converter to use it here in the States.
Product: WMF 1
Producer: WMF
Designer:
via technabob
Have been sitting on this post awhile getting into the mood for collapsable concepts and product. Though the “Jackknife” was created in 2006 it was worth posting as the styling and design was noteworthy.
The concept was designed by Philippe Holthuizen and Rodrigo Clavel for a contest sponsored by Cannondale Europe. Both are graduate students of transportation design at the Elisava Design School
in Barcelona.
The pair’s design for an urban bike called the Jackknife was so named because of the way that it folds for easy handling in elevators and on public transportation. Another feature that makes this bike practical for commuting and riding around town is the hydraulic drive system, which stays clean and requires very little maintenance. The design incorporates several features that characterize the Cannondale brand such as oversized tubing, HeadShok front suspension, and a “lefty” monoblade fork.
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A year later the above photo from Bicycle Design with words from the author. “Just recently, I ran across this picture of the Jackknife prototype from the 2006 Fiets Rai show in Holland. Can anyone who attended the show let me know what was being said about this concept bike? I assume that Cannondale Europe is just using it as a show bike to generate attention, but I am curious if they are actively developing any elements from it. If any of you have heard anything, let me know.”
The following pics are from the Cannondale site with a historical development story inspired by the Jackknife concept…
Heritage: Cannondale Raven II with Lefty fork (1999)
Raven III Urban Concept (2004)
Jan 2006 – ID Dept. starts The Quantum Leap Project Goal: A ridable and fully functional bike inspired by the Jackknife
Frame, Righty Fork, and Case Closed Technology
Sweet looking final Product.
via bicycle design cannondale
Google offers up a new vision of computing and it isn’t about desktops or laptops. It’s mobile. The Google phone has arrived. The phone shots are T-Mobile’s G1. But this is a design resource and the phone is not our focus. It is the software named Android.
What is Android if you already haven’t heard?
On November 5th, 2007 leading technology and wireless companies came together to announce the future development of a truly open platform for all kinds of mobile devices – Android. Leading this development are Google Inc, T-Mobile, Intel, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola along with many other companies under the umbrella of the Open Handset Alliance – a global alliance between technology and mobile industry leaders.
The Open Handset Alliance’s common goal is to foster and develop a new breed of innovation for mobile devices allowing a far better user experience than today’s current mobile platforms. The OHA will provide a far greater degree of openess that will enable developers to work and collaborate in ways never before seen, Android will greatly improve and speed up the process in which new and innovative mobile services are development and made available to the end user.
The following screenshots will demonstrate the value – added of open source development and the first batch of applications.
BioWallet: Not all of the innovative apps are map based. BioWallet uses your phone’s camera as an iris scanner to lock down sensitive information like account numbers and passwords on your phone, or even the phone itself. Handwriting-based IDs can also be implemented, all processed on external servers and sent back to your phone with a pass/fail reading.
CompareEverywhere and GoCart: Both capture photos of product UPC codes to then tie into online databases for comparison pricing, product availability, and shopping list compilation.
Cab4me: Takes your current location and feeds it into a database of nation-wide cab companies, allowing you to order a cab pickup instantly with your current locations. Google Maps overlays also show areas of cities where you’re likely to hail a cab off the street.
So Google has followed Apple’s lead by introducing a completely innovative look to the mobile phone. We knew someone would. Apple and Google, you have our attention.
via gizmodo talkandroid google/android