Design posts

What happens when you take your ordinary floor and turn it into a jumbo-sized multi-touch trackpad? Awesome happens. A few students at Hasso Plattner Institute have come up something that could have significant impacts in the future with regards to how we interact with applications and games. And they call it Multitoe. It works by tracking a user’s shoes in relation to the floor. It also detects the location and pressure applied from these shoes to allow a great amount of control over the interactions with the floor displays. Interactions like tapping your toe or leaning on your heel can be detected….

If there is one issue that the iPad has in the eyes of the artist, it is that the device lacks a stylus. Sure, there have been attempts to create a stylus using homemade materials that supposedly works well, but people want something a little more robust and fashionable to go with their sexy iPad device. Ten One Design was already ahead of the game, because their stylus works with Macbook trackpads, iPod Touches, and, low and behold, the mighty iPad! The Pogo Sketch was initially created for trackpads and the iPod Touch, enabling users to be more creative with the limited input space they were provided…

There isn’t much that could be said about the traditional clock: it tells time. Some have tried to make claims that certain watches look better or that a thousand-dollar price tag somehow makes a watch better — it’s all the same. All it does is tell time, for crying out loud. However, this clock is truly something unique. It is actually cool and innovative, but, yes, it still actually tells the time. Sander Mulder created Continue Time, a clock that looks nothing like any other clock you have ever seen. It is a completely open design that displays the three pointers in a unique way. Each pointer rotates…

Alright, I’ll be honest – last time I wrote about the GM EN-V vehicle, I ridiculed it for its rather, um, ‘unique’ look . And I stand by that. It looks… odd. But now that we get to see a video of a prototype in action – and hear one of its designers extol its benefits – it’s hard not to be impressed by the overall concept (if not the design). The vehicle is meant to carry a single person and uses a series of sensors and GPS technology to move itself around. What the designer in the clip envisions is entire areas that are car-free, and instead use these vehicles to create a futuristic, environmentally friendly…

Even though 2002 wasn’t that long ago, when Minority Report launched then, the futuristic interfaces it showed seemed decades off. But it seems like they’ll be here much sooner than we think. Case in point: this video of the prototype Bonfire uses a system of cameras, lasers and mirrors to create to basically turn the space on your desk next to your laptop into a usable interface. What makes the Bonfire project so interesting is that, rather than being a standalone interface like a touchscreen, it’s instead meant to augment your existing keyboard and mouse. The system projects images onto your…

It’s possible that, as you sit and read this in your office cubicle, you long ago gave up your dreams of being a rock star. Maybe you still pull out the axe sometimes, to just goof around and remember… So how about some furniture that reminds you of your failed dreams? Okay, so that’s a little depressing – but this collection of music-inspired furniture is anything but. Created by Italy’s Rocket Design, the pieces are designed to evoke the heyday of rock n’ roll and its gritty, lo-fi aesthetic, whether a shot-tray shaped like a guitar or a wine rack that looks like the inputs of a recording equipment….

Steampunk is a movement that is getting some attention from tech junkies. It is inspired by science fiction and speculative fiction, such as Jules Verne, and the Victorian era when steam power was often used. Steampunk artists rework some of the greatest gadgets of today and art to create a Victorian era vibe to technology. People have given such devices as USB drives, computer mice, monitors, keyboard, laptops and even entire PC’s a new look. Victorian styled computer chest. Jake von Slatt gives a LCD monitor and computer keyboard a Victorian makeover. He made the frame for the monitor out…

Japan’s Sharp Corp has announced that the company will begin offering 3D-capable LCD televisions later this summer in Japan. Sharp Corp. has high hopes for the new design and it is expected to be the industry’s next biggest thing. Popular rivals such as Samsung and Sony Corp have already seen large success with their 3D TV models and Sharp Corp hopes to see the same interest in their 3D-capable LCD. The new design features the world’s first 3D TV which uses four-primary-color-technology and offers brighter and more vivid images. “We are now one step closer to such things as 3D displays with the world’s…

Adobe this morning announced their Creative Suite 5 software, with hundreds of new features and updates, ranging from full 64bit support for Mac users to better stroke control in Illustrator. We’re rounding up the new features and assessing the main apps to help you figure out if this is a must-have upgrade, or a snooze-inducing point-oh release. Photohop CS5 Photoshop is the app that started it all, and while Adobe has grown and evolved, Photoshop is still very much a flagship product. Content-Aware Fill is the big one – if real world usage even comes close to Adobe’s promotional videos it’s going…

It’s shocking that it’s taken this long for someone to think of this, but here it is – obnoxious LED advertising has arrived, and it surely won’t be long before the shelves of every store has glinting and flashing messages begging you to purchase them. Mercifully, the tiny batteries in these devices currently max out at around 40 hours, so it may be some time before this is commercially viable for every single product in every single store. Realistically, this “innovation” will most likely be used to add a personalized message to the bottle to be given as a gift. The practical implications of this…