Join Meloncard: A way to exchange business cards in the future
A designer named Alan Sien Wei Hshieh has developed a new way of exchanging business cards that does not involve any paper. His MelonCard, which is just a concept at this point, is an idea ahead of its time whose time has come.
After all, don’t you think it’s odd in this digital age that we still exchange these little paper rectangles every time we want to do business with someone?
In the age of the MelonCard, everyone would have one of these devices that you see here. This card-size piece of scratch resistant glass would be attached to a thin plastic strip that would have its own flash memory, Bluetooth, and power supply.
If two businesspeople want to exchange information, then they would simply slap two Meloncards together like a high-five. Apparently, two accelerometers onboard automatically exchange digital info, so you can contact your contact later.
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Media Vehicle on display at Digital Contents Expo
This particular chair is on display at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo this week, but since it is on wheels, I am surprised it was not on display last week at the Tokyo Motor Show.
It looks like it would be quite a comfortable chair, doesn’t it? Of course, if you are claustrophobic, you probably don’t want it closing you up. There is a picture of this closed mobile cocoon after the jump.
This is the “Media Vehicle”, a virtual reality chair/capsule created by Iwata-Yano Laboratory at the University of Tsukuba. The purpose of the spherical screen is so that the user can be in a virtual reality environment.
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Two new products based on the Rubik’s Cube
Ah, Rubiks’ Cube, you just won’t die. Ever since your flash in the pan fad heyday in the early eighties, you still have a little glow left even today.
Perhaps this is why some designer made a Rubik’s Lamp. It is made of 26 smaller cube-like pieces that somehow fit together. The end result is some sort of multi-colored lighting experience that will only be un-trippy if you solve the puzzle.
The next Rubik’s Cube is tied into a franchise. I suppose that you could make a Rubik’s Cube out of anything with some stickers, and that is what was done with this special edition Transformers AllSpark.
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Concept toaster solves age-old problem
Some of you might remember a scene from the film Kate and Leopold where Hugh Jackman is complaining that he has to plunge a General Electric toaster one and a half times to make toast. “Pushing the toast down twice produces charcoal, and pushing it once only produces warm bread.”
At this point, Meg Ryan responds: “You know what? No one gives a rat’s @$$ that you have to plunge the toast twice, because everybody has to plunge the toast twice!”
It’s an age old problem, isn’t it? We just can’t get our toast done right. However, this concept toaster uses two panes of glass to toast the bread, so you can see if it is done right.
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The ReNEW Solar Battery Charger
Buying rechargable batteries is always far better than purchasing the disposable ones. However, it’s still not a perfect method. It helps so that you’re throwing away less batteries, but at the same time you’re still plugging something into the wall and using your electricity to charge the batteries. Instead of plugging a battery charger into the wall, this ReNEW would allow for your rechargable batteries to become even more eco-friendly.
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Sony’s 3D display is visible at all angles
Considering the amount of coverage that 3D is getting with most of the big-name companies promising 3D enabled HDTVs, hardly anyone has considered a 3D approach that doesn’t involve silly glasses.
It’s nice to see that Sony is thinking one step ahead of the competition with this new concept 3D display. See that cute little character who appears to be trapped in a lava-less lava lamp? Well, the viewer of this character can walk around this cylinder and see it from every angle, with no funky glasses required.
This 3D prototype is a stereoscopic, 24-bit color image that measures about 96 x 128 pixels. I’m guessing we’ll see this at CES in January of next year, but until then, I am wondering what is the “master plan” behind this.
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Philips “Mirror of Emotions Rationalizer” made for Investors
I don’t work from home as an investor, but I can imagine that the life of constant up and down stocks is enough to drive any man crazy. This is why Philips is working on a device known as the “Rationalizer”, a device that serves as a “mirror for your emotions”.
Here is the concept behind this concept device. The user wears an Emobracelet on their wrist which measures the “arousal component of the user’s emotion through a galvanic skin response sensor”. This EmoBracelet is synced wirelessly with the EmoBowl, a bowl with lighted patterns to show a user’s emotional readout. The range is a soft yellow, orange, or deep red.
When the user sees that the bowl is flashing red, that is like an alert. It signals to the user that they should take a break before making a decision that might be primarily based on intense emotions rather than study.
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Barnes and Noble goes after the Kindle
B&N goes after Amazon Kindle with the PLD
Book retailer Barnes and Noble is going squarely at the Amazon Kindle by announcing an eBook application which will enable readers to enjoy eBooks on everything from the iPhone to the Blackberry, to their own “plastic logic device.”
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