Friday Giveaway: Win An Icon iPhone Battery Pack!

Last June we had featured the Icon Battery Pack, right here on Yanko Design! It got people talking about how much they loved the idea and what an awesome design it was. Well the good news is that Essential TPE is giving you a chance to win this Apple-approved iconic pack for your precious iPhone. Yes, this battery pack works with all generations of iPhones! To WIN this pack, all you have to do is tell us which App or phone-function that you use so much, that it causes your biggest battery drain!

Know your Icon Battery

• The battery is able to extend your iPhone talk time up to 3 hours and audio play back up to 18 hours.
• It uses EL film on its front panel to display its power status clearly.
• The Icon has been entitled by the Taiwan Good Design (GD-Mark).
• It is a Work with iPhone licensed and certificated product by Apple.
• It is a Lithium-Ion Polymer Battery.

Contest Closes: 5th December 11:59 pm PST.

For Scenes Above And Below The Sea Level

UNDERABOVE is a dual-lens buoy-style camera that can take pictures of the underwater happenings and above the water happening, at the same time. The idea is to experiment and add more dimensions of picture taking while at sea. The clever design incorporates air in the top-half of the body and water in the lower half, to help it stay afloat. An LCD screen gives you a quick preview of the shots taken, and a timer facilitates self-portraits as well.

The symmetrical camera body is made with polypropylene, which has a lighter weight than seawater and floats easily.

I simply love this idea and wish its made in time for my next Scuba trip! Kudos to the SADI student and it being a Red Dot Winner!

Designer: In Kyung Han

One Component Wind Power

How would you like your very own take-it-home apply-it-yourself wind power generator? How about a whole array of them? This is a design that’s just that, take it home, unpack it, screw it into the wall, connect it to whatever battery you’ve got that can hold generated power, and let it rip! This design is made up of blades, the generator, a telescopic shaft (so that the fan can be extended or “away”, electric power plug, and switch. With an array of 15 of these fans, you can power a household of four people for a month.

Oh my goodness! One of these fans, called “Wind Cubes”, could potentially generate 21.6 kilowatt-hours per month. Times that by fifteen, and you’ve got 324 kw, the same amount the designers of this project note is the amount a family of four uses per month. Seems too perfect!

The way these “cubes” work is to be attached to a wall (outside) with three screws, click the switch to activate, and sit back to enjoy the power your mother earth is providing. Multiple cubes can be connected to not only generate more power, but strengthen their collective structure, and the fans can be pulled out or pushed back and away depending on the weather.

DO WANT, VERY VERY MUCH. Can you imagine it? Free electricity! No wonder this is a Liteon Award winning design this year! Hooray!

Designers: Liao-Hsun Chen and Wen-Chih Chang

Dome of Justice

This is one fabulous looking concept car, that I must say. Every once in a while a concept comes along that is not only fabulous in its plan, but fabulous in its rendering as well. Take a look at the realism in these digital illustrations and tell me you aren’t impressed by their excellence. Then lemme tell you about this car. It’s called the Astrum Meera, and it features several elements which play a role in safety, sustainability, and what the creators call “practical design.”

Practical design! Fa! Who could need such a thing! There are some people (people with lots of money in their pockets) who love practical design, that is, design that isn’t that far away from the real world, who are just ready and raring to go toss money around – practical designers, take a peek.

This car has built-in sensors near the exhaust that track the levels of CO2 and alert the driver should they be exceeding normal range. It’s got wheel rims which work with magnetic levitation, making the car fantastically light and fast. The mirrors on the sides of the car move down inside the vehicle, hiding when in park, rolling back out when the car starts up (my uncle use to have a car with headlights like this – so sweet!) These same mirrors have built-in cameras that display inside the car, allowing the driver sight without turning their head – especially useful in inclement weather.

And on top of all that, this mad maniac of a car looks really radical and totally tubular. It looks spectacular, yet real. I’m sure that was the designers intent. Rippin roaring good time of an auto.

3D and Visualization: Hussain & Ali Almossawi

Designer: John Baltazar

3D Projections for Airplane Learning

Winner of the 2011 Gold Design Award of Germany (aka the country’s highest distinction for design, aka the “Design Oscar”) is the following project: Lufthansa Brand Academy 360degree Tower project. This architectural masterpiece was designed by Dan Pearlman, Berlin brand and experience group, and consists of a 360° projection in the tower of Brand Academy. That’s right, a spacial experience consisting of three hundred and sixty degrees of digital projection magic.

With this project, Lufthansa is able to bring their collective knowledge together and present it to 25,000 employees and executive in a fantastic and engaging way. The subject under examination here is the local and global connections of international air traffic – much better with teeny tiny airplanes flying overhead, yes?

Berlin-based interactive firm WHITEvoid is responsible for the 3D visualization for this gigantic project. With this project, students are able to see real-time 3D visualizations of 16,000 daily flights, the entire system of viewing these flights completely interactive. This project is located in Frankfurt Seheim, the Lufthansa Brand Academy offering its employees a floor area of 1,100 sq meeters in which to train. Gorgeous!

Designers: Dan Pearlman design agency

RB-1200 S Performance Sports Bike Was Inspired By Audi

Gavin Harvey was inspired by Audi when he designed this stylish and sporty RB-1200 S Performance Motorcycle. This bike has been designed with R8 Audi lights to link this design to the car, giving an aggressive look to the front of this conceptual bike. The front brake, colored in Audi red, has the Audi logo engraved in to the metal. The rear of the bike will have a twin exhaust, located under the seat, under the rear lights. For more luxurious impression, the seat will made of leather with Audi four rings logo engraved on it.

Designer : Gavin Harvey

Click the image for bigger view

Aiport Compass Helps Reducing The Stress Of Finding Departure or Arrival Gate

To some people, traveling by plane can be stressful, especially for the first timer. They find it’s really difficult to find the right gate, even when there are a lot of information boards around. Airport Compass is an airline boarding pass that incorporates a compass to help these passengers find the right gate without any stress. It’s been designed specifically for the elderly people, children, and those who unfamiliar with traveling by plane. Airport can seem to be a complicated place, especially when you are in foreign country, language can be a problem. Airport Compass provide the navigation to find passenger’s way to their departure/arrival gate.

The compass is powered by a solid-state thin film battery, which needs very little energy and is flexible. The arrow is illustrated on e-paper. RFID (radio frequency identification) technology guides the passenger to their gate, having recognized the passenger’s travel route. All the passenger needs to do is follow the arrow. Furthermore, the ticket connects to kiosks within the airport for easy information access about arrival city, such as the weather, transportation, food, etc.

Designer : Kang Eun-Kyung and Park Ji-Eun

Balance Stretcher Prevents Further Injury To The Patient

Balance stretcher is basically a redesigned stretcher with a rope to provide more balance. During emergency situation, often the casualty is placed on the stretcher and move up and down. Modern stretchers include straps to avoid further injury to the patient. Balance stretcher not only prevents further injuryto the patient but also provide more secure feeling knowing that the stretcher won’t fall down even if the rescue worker accidentally gets his hands off the stretcher. This design is simple, yet it can provide better safety for the patient.

Designer : Qiubo Wang

2P : The Future Of Portable Multi-User Restrooms

During outdoor events such as music festival, concerts, fairs, etc I find it’s really hard to find the restroom area. Even when I finally find it, there are like 20 to 30 people waiting in line. Some even can’t wait and do their business on the nearest hidden structure. Just imagine the nasty urine smell. 2P should be our next generation of portable restrooms. It’s been designed specifically to counter the issues arise due to massive people at popular outdoor festivals. 2P allows 2 people using 1 single unit to do their business simultaneously into the same tank. It helps reducing waiting times by redirecting most of the male to the back side of the units where they are able to start and finish much more rapidly than before.

Designer : Kevin Cheng

2P can accommodate more users with fewer units thus reducing the amount of space and cost. The 2P’s curvature design, integrated into both its overall form and into its structural support are reminiscent of water and gentle waves when multiple units are placed side by side. Arranged in these rows, the 2P creates not only a natural private space for male users, but each adjacent unit provides privacy for the individual.

FlooW and more

I’m still slammed with work after a couple weeks out of the office, but I want to quickly pass along a few links of interest.

I don’t have a lot of information about it, but FlooW is a pretty interesting mobility concept. You can read more about this high tech recumbent quadricycle design (in Dutch) onthe website, or better yet, check out the animated videos. I like the headlight integrated into the carbon fiber body. The optional roof is another nice detail.

This climbing bike storage/lock has been making the blog rounds. The DIY collar, made fromConrad parts, features motorized skateboard wheels that allow it to climb to the top of a lamp pole. Stay tuned until the end of the video to see it in action.

I posted David Parrott’s Trimtab 3×3 lean steer recumbent trike in June. Since then he turned in the project (his Master’s thesis) and has been test riding and refining a few details. He hasn’t clocked it at full speed, but claims that it does “19-20mph without pedaling and at less than full throttle.” See a video of it in action here.

We have all seen bamboo bikes (increasingly the last couple years), but this one from Mexican companyBamboo Cycles is a bit different. I like the aesthetic of the curved seat tube with the bamboo top tube, down tube, seat stays and chain stays. I am not sure how it rides, but it is an interesting approach.

Bicycle Design

Hai phiên bản hữu hạn của xe ga Vespa trình làng

Tại triển lãm Melbourne Motorcycle Expo vừa diễn ra vào cuối tuần qua tại Úc, hãng xe Vespa đã công bố hai “tân binh” GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone và GTS 300 Super Sport.

VespaGTS 300 Super Sport

Cả hai mẫu xe GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone và GTS 300 Super Sport đều là phiên bản hữu hạn nên chắc chắn chỉ một số ít khách hàng có cơ hội được sở hữu chúng.

Nếu phiên bản GTS 300 Super Sport được thiết kế theo phong cách thể thao mạnh mẽ thì GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone lại mang trên mình những đường nét có hơi hướng cổ điển trầm lắng.

Phiên bản đặc biệt GTS 300 Super Sport được trang bị động cơ Quasar dung tích 300cc và màu sơn Titanium đầy phong cách. “Với những cải tiến về công suất, phong cách, Super Sport sẽ luôn nổi bật mỗi khi xuất hiện”, đại diện hãng Vespa nhấn mạnh.

Vespa GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone

Trong khi đó, mẫu xe GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone lấy tên theo một con phố thời trang nổi tiếng ở Milan, Italia đã từng lộ diện lần đầu tiên tại triển lãm môtô EICMA diễn ra cuối năm 2009.

GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone sở hữu động cơ Quasar dung tích 300cc, màu sơn Nero, vành chrome màu ánh kim, ghế ngồi bọc da màu ghi và biểu tượng Via Montenapoleone in đậm nổi bật.

Giá bán chính thức dành cho GTV 300 Via Montenapoleone và GTS 300 Super Sport lần lượt rơi vào khoảng 9.990 AUD và 8.890 AUD.

Hai mẫu xe xe phiên bản giới hạn sẽ bắt đầu chính thức được bán ra thị trường Australia từ tuần này.

Theo Autoe/autopro