10/1/11

The Innovative Concepts and Futuristic Designs of Igor Chak

We’ve all seen some of the beautifully designed cars out there. The Lamborghini Murcielago, the Ferrari Spider, of those gorgeous muscle cars from the 60s and 70s. However, there’s a lot of conceptual work the general public is never sold or gets to see on the streets. Welcome to the work of Igor Chak.

izh 1

Innovative and futuristic, the concepts of Igor Chak dazzle the eyes. Take the Donkey Kong wall, for example. This imaginative wall display is the perfect match for any crazed fan of one of the original Nintendo classics. Made of carbon fiber and held up by steel rods, they are meant to imitate the eccentric steel beams from the Donkey Kong games. What’s great about them is the pink ‘pixelated’ lines running between either plank of each segment; they make it look just like an old Super Nintendo video game!

igor chak 2

Check out the watches he’s been designing, too. Sleek and lustrous, they’d certainly turn some heads. With an electronic screen that displays the time on a dial instead of in numbers, Version 1 of the watch is unique in that it shares elements of the technology from the past and from the present. Version 2 is even more interesting. Boasting a display of two times zones simultaneously in the same ‘future/present’ manner, you’ll have hard luck finding anything else like it!

igor chak 3

By far the coolest thing Igor Chak has designed is the Izh Hybrid Concept. Not yet built in real life, the Izh is so new-looking that it even bears similarities to some of the flying vehicles from Star Wars! A great mixture of sharp edges and smooth surfaces, this concept combines the muscular features of big choppers and the more grace of moderns motorcycles.

motorcycle 2

If you liked the concepts of Igor Chak, you should also check out the Dinosaur Skeleton Motorcycle and the Donkey Kong Castset!

Via: The Igor Chak webpage

Taxi Green Mumbai Provides Green Solution For The Inner City

In the center of Mumbai, India, gas-driven Rickshaws are prohibited because of their noise and their pollution. By combining an electric drivetrain, which is supposed to be funded by the government, with a network of solar filling stations, Taxi Green Mumbai provides a clean and green solution for the inner city. It reaches up to 300km on a single fill, which makes it useable for one day of driving at a top speed of 30km/h. The design takes its clues from old Rickshaws and their history in the last century. To make it as simple as possible, the whole electronic system is limited to the front part of the vehicle. The battery is located beneath the passengers, as well as a small luggage compartment, which can be locked from inside the cabin only. As there is a lot of rain in Mumbai, the cabin can be partially closed on the sides by pulling out a canvas cover. When there is good weather, the roof of the vehicle can be opened to enjoy the drive.

Designer : Michael Scherger, Nina Thöming, and Henrik Mucha

Taxi Green Mumbai

Taxi Green Mumbai

Taxi Green Mumbai

Taxi Green Mumbai

Taxi Green Mumbai

Taxi Green Mumbai


Giấy điện tử màu đầu tiên trên thế giới

Wisereader E920 là thiết bị đọc sách sử dụng giấy điện tử màu, thiết bị do Hanvon sản xuất. Khác biệt với của sản phẩm này là Wisereader E920 cho phép người dùng chủ động chọn chế độ màu hoặc đen trắng.

Chất lượng màu sắc do Wisereader E920 đem lại có thể chưa làm hài lòng những người dùng khó tính bởi nó thể rực rỡ như các màn hình LCD. Tuy nhiên, với các cuốn truyện tranh thì Wisereader E920 thực sự phù hợp để lựa chọn.

Wisereader E920 có màn hình cảm ứng rộng 9,7 inch độ phân giải 1200x1600pixel, mật độ điểm ảnh lên tới 200dpi. Thiết bị có thể cắm thêm thẻ nhớ để mở rộng dung lượng lưu trữ. Ngoài ra, thời gian chờ của pin lên tới 15 ngày hoặc tương đương với lật 10 nghìn trang giấy. Sản phẩm dự kiến ra mắt vào tháng 6 năm nay và có giá khoảng 500 USD.

Hanvon là nhà thiết kế và sản xuất các sách điện tử chiếm tới 95% thị phần sách điện tử tại Trung Quốc. Hãng này cũng là một trong những nhà sản xuất đi đầu trong việc tích hợp khả năng nhận dạng chữ viết trên giấy điện tử.

Theo Lao động

The New Flip Phone

Here’s a flip phone that could put the “cool” back into clamshells. When you receive an incoming call, the corner dog-ears up and if need be, opens up (book-style) using actuators like artificial muscles in its elastomeric cover. Awesome! Motorola StarTAC 2.o maybe?


Softness for Child Sitting

Here’s a project consisting of three different bits of children’s furniture, each of them able to not only accommodate the child’s sitting, playing, and laying, it can also contain a whole batch of toys inside! Each of these bits of furniture is made of light foam so that the kids cannot hurt themselves whilst playing, and leatherette which is eco friendly false leather. Each of the furniture bits can be cleaned easily, and the color schemes are what the designers call “sober.” I must agree.

Each of these soft creatures, part of the “Soft Gang,” has a complete lack of facial features, no ears, no hair, none of that – allowing then the child’s imagination to run wild. One of the designers, Luiza Kwiatkowska, suggests they might be seen as a rabbit, a horse, and a fish! All are lovely.

Designer: Creature Industry


CES 2011 Part 3

Just three days into CES, the buffet foods, complimentary candies, sleepless nights, coffee and energy drinks are taking their toll on everyone, everyone but me because I came prepared. I’m dressed to the nines, rocking my freshly knitted tabi boots, constantly sucking on my Water Bobble, here to bring you part 3 of our coverage.

Exhibition: CES 2011 Part 3

While everyone is drooling over the super thin LED TVs, InnVision Lab’s HoloAd Diamond has my full attention. It’s kind of odd looking but the tech is proof in the pudding. Not exactly sure how, but the system is able to convert 2D video into some kind of sudo-holographic 3D image. That puffer fish was almost as real as those seashells.

Samsung showed off its latest wares in super thin, flexible displays. The 4.5″ AMOLED prototype carries a 840 x 480 resolution. Barely 0.3 mm thick, it’s quite “bendy” but the image never distorts. It’s incredibly sharp and other than cost, I can’t see why we shouldn’t see it mass produced soon.

The Motorola Xoom is by far the best in show in the tablet category. Android 3.0 Honeycomb, 10″ display, HD resolution, dual-core processors, front and rear facing cameras, 10 hour battery, and it’s its own mobile hotspot providing Wi-Fi access up to five other devices. The hardware is beautifully designed – basic and utilitarian.

The X100 is Fujifilm’s entry into the pro-sumer camera market. All of the tech inside makes it comparable to other compact SLRs so they’ve opted to go retro in industrial design. I’m not usually partial to retro styling but this thing was damn fun to use. The new Fujinon 23mm f/2.0 pancake lens produced some awesome pictures on the 3.0 screen. Expect it in March.

WheeMe is a palm-size robot that gently massages and caresses as it moves slowly across your body. Embodying a unique tilt sensor technology, it automatically and silently steers itself over your body without falling off or losing its grip. It’s no Swedish massage but I was tickled. Yea.. I’m getting one.

Our best buddy Bluelounge had a booth at CES to unveil the Nest iPad stand and StudioDesk XL. As usual they’ve come up with the simplest, smartest solutions for everyday problems. The Nest props the iPad up multiple ways and has a built-in caddy to store tchotchkes. The StudioDesk XL is a gorgeous mahogany table designed to hide all those unsightly cables. Totally drooling for one. Both are available this Spring if not sooner.

And yea… I’m the one wearing knitted tabis. Hey, a unicorn herding ninja has got to stay warm somehow.