Everyone who has the chance must promote concept designs as much as they can, not only because this is how the process of creation is encouraged, but also because customers are curious about the way future gadgets will look like.
Some people love concepts, some people don’t, but one thing’s for sure: they are useful. And talking about such products, let me tell you about the YI Zipper earphones, created from scratch by designer Ji Woong. They look very interesting, as you can easily see for yourselves in the picture above, and I really hope that someone will dare to make it reality.
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If I asked you about wires, I’m sure you will all tell me that you’d be so very pleased to one day wake up and see how all of them disappeared by miracle and you whole life is… wireless. Zippers are used for so many products out there, so why not using them with earphones? If you think about, it’s a smart way to handle the wires when you don’t use the earphones. And, of course, you should zip them open when you want to listen to the music you like.
Not to mention the fact that the zipper earphones are featured with a volume control button and this is also pretty cool. Being a concept for the moment, I can’t give you information about the price and availability, but I’m sure that when a manufacturer will give these earphones a little bit of attention, they will immediately hit the market.
According to Wikipedia, “a gremlin is an English folkloric creature, commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Although their origin is found in myths among airmen, claiming that the gremlins were responsible for sabotaging aircraft, John W. Hazen states that some ‘some people’ derive the name from the old English word gremian, ‘to vex’. Since World War II, different fantastical creatures have been referred to as gremlins, bearing varying degrees of resemblance to the originalsâ€.
Interesting story, I have nothing to say about it, and maybe it’s an even more interesting character for some people, but as far as I’m concerned, the Gremlin is nothing but a scary little monster (or not so little, probably). This is why I wouldn’t buy a gizmo Gremlin to make me tremble all day long, even if I would be begged to.
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Mogwai (‘cause this is how this little fellow is called) is a plush gizmo that was designed to sing to you even if you don’t want to. The only thing you should do is to just shake it for a little bit and he will sing the song of the Mogwai “while slowly rocking back and forthâ€.
This singing creature is an electronic gizmo made of plush with a fabric and plastic construction, is 18 centimeters tall and works with 2AA batteries that are not included in the package. You can buy the gizmo plush from ThinkGeek for $22.99.
When someone tells you about the face recognition technology with an enthusiasm that you cannot explain it makes you want to laugh, because it isn’t something that has just appeared in the market. More than that, I dare to say that has become somehow obsolete, because all sorts of manufacturers made use of it when designing a wide variety of products, from Japanese vending machines to digital cameras.
Maybe you know about the iPhoto, which gives its user the chance to actually sort the pictures taken based on the face detection function.
But what would you say if I told you about a faucet that is designed to recognize your face? I’m not kidding you, even it if sounds absurd. The SmartFaucet is the device that will make you feel sorry for not believing my words. Created by iHouse, the faucet is a mixture between sophistication, stylish design and, of course, ground-breaking technology.
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The SmartFaucet comes with the facial screening application that is being used in order to recognize the user. And why is that? Well, something like this happens so that the same user has the water turned on the temperature and flow he prefers. In addition, there’s a touchscreen placed on the top of the faucet that helps the user to read the emails he/she received while preparing for work, to check the daily tasks, the calendar or, why not, the weather.
As for the integrated LEDs in the tap, they are designed to illuminate in order to give information about the variation of the temperature, turning from blue to red (red is for higher temperatures).
The SmartFaucet is actually smart, but still a concept. A smart concept.
A LED watch with no face must not come as a surprise because we have seen all sorts of other things that we couldn’t imagine in a million years. Whether we like it or not, the evolution of technology can’t be neglected and affects us all in the same manner. We can’t hide from it, we can’t pretend like it’s not there and, more important than this, we just cannot act like we couldn’t care less, because we care.
After all, manufacturers from all over the world have the market in mind when creating their products and the market consists of the customers, real or potential. And guess what? We all are customers.
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And the LED watch, the watch without a face, is a device that we should have expected to show up and that we should welcome and receive with arms wide open. Designed by Hironao Tsuboi, the watch appears to be nothing but a wrist band made of metal. Something like a bracelet, if you like, but a bracelet that is specific to a watch.
But it’s not only a band. The LED watch hides a very deep secret, one that can be discovered only after giving it a chance. You can see the time displayed in the spaces between links only if you want and you need to know what the hour is. If you don’t, you can leave it inactivated.
The device was created back in October 2008 and comes in three color versions: black, silver and Ultra Marine. It’s not available for the moment, but it’s labeled on 100perstore with “coming soonâ€.
Imagine for a moment that you are given the chance to forget about the daily outfit that you have to wear at the office and that, by the way, you don’t love very much. But you don’t have any other choice, so the best you can do is to accept things just like they are. Anyway, imagine that you can go to a place that you have dreamed about for so many years, a beautiful lawn where you can walk on grass in your bare feet. Wouldn’t it be a unique experience? I’d bet it would.
But what would you say if you could do this when having a walk on the sidewalks of the city and not only once a week, but each and every day? The Grass Wheel is a means of conveyance that was designed by a group of students who study at the Dalhousie School of Architecture, called David Gallaugher, Kevin James and Jacob Jebailey.
They came up with a device that was constructed in a very simple manner, consisting of plywood, mesh, fishing line and sod. You can consider the Grass Wheel to be somehow a protest against the lack of green spaces from all over the world.
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Maybe the green is not always greener on the other side, but it sure is in this wheel. Not only it provides a very comfortable eco-transportation, but it also comes as very powerful statement for all of those people who are into the green movement. This is a hamster wheel aimed at people and it’s entirely covered with grass on the inside surface. It will make you feel like having the time of your life on the lawn of your dreams.
