The pen has four parts. It’s got the Nib, the Central Unit, the End Part, and the Expandable Units.

The Nib is the writing part. it can be changed to a ballpoint, pen, fountian-pen, mechanical pencil, or digital pen. The Central Unit has, get this, the LED light – important!, a music player, charger input, memory card, and battery. The End Part has a bluetooth connection to whatever headphones you choose to use in collaboration with the mp3s youve put in the Central Unit. Expandable Units! Camera, microphone, laser pointer, chop, corrector, usb connetion, WLAN reciever to connect to computer, internet.

BONUS: pen-dock to connect to computer, charge, and work with the mic.

Designer: Peter Vardai

The earbuds reside on a 20″ long cord with a built-in mic. Wearing it in front or wrapped behind your ear (sport is what they call it) is personal preference. The cord is rubberized and pretty thick so there’s no need to worry about accidentally tearing it apart. Like any bluetooth headset, pairing it with your phone or computer depends on the receiving device but to activate pairing mode on the earbuds, just press and hold the mic button on the cord until a you see an alternating red/green light.

They’re smart enough to know when to turn off and last over a day with full use which surprised me because the battery cell must be TINY. They’re hidden inside the earbuds and to charge them, you flip open the right bud’s cover. Inside is SE’s standard 2-pin charging port. Charging takes several hours tho which is the crappy part but I guess if you do it overnight, it’s not as bothersome.

In use they sound fantastic. Music was loud and clear. Phone calls seamlessly switch without a hiccup and the caller could not detect any unusual audio artifacts. These earbuds are excellent. The buds come with silicone caps to fit different shape ears too.

Why would anyone want these over the large selection of bluetooth headsets currently on the market? First off these guys are stereo and they fulfill two duties – handling phone calls and play music the way they were intended to be heard. $140 may seem pricey but when you consider those two factors, you’re actually getting a bargain. There are plenty of worthy headsets for phone calls only but all the wireless earbuds for music are terrible. These are by far the best ones on the market.

Now a note of caution. These are not fully compatible with the iPhone or iPod Touch. They pair just fine, calls come in, music plays but there’s no volume control. The touch-based volume buttons on the iPhone and Touch never appear leaving you stuck in volume limbo. It’s only a matter of a simple software update on Apple’s end but that has yet to happen and I can’t say when it will. It’s not anyone’s fault really – just a case of software oddities. I still firmly believe these are the best stereo bluetooth earbuds on the market.

What we loved:

• Great design, compact case
• Solid metal and plastic construction
• Long battery life
• Easy pairing
• Noise canceling technology
• Awesome sound, crystal clear
• Snug fit good enough for exercise

What could be improved:

• More color options
• Battery charge time
• Seamless switching between music and phone calls

Designer: Sony Ericsson ( Buy it here )

The Lyra offers visual feedback and provides users with tempo, dynamics and articulation information via discrete, moving patterns represented as OLED illumination that peek the peripheral vision during the playing. So basically this means that the info relayed to a musician practicing his piece, is through visual notations that are picked up by the corner of the eye.

To stay true to his explanation, I’m gonna reproduce the exact text that Yiran sent in:

Through visual feedback, Lyra offers musicians the ability to monitor his/her own musical performance in the process of skill acquisition. It will also help music students in keeping up their motivation and enthusiasm during the practice.

When there is no conductor available, group of people practice with a metronome often have difficulty following the beat. The sound of metronome is either too loud or too quiet to be heard. Headphones are used in most of times for recording soundtrack of films.

First major function of Lyra is to display tempo information. The simplest one is sequential mode, most suitable for soloing, like piano. It clearly identifies the beats inside each phrase of the music. Common 2, 3, 4, 5, beats can be selected. A very demanding functions, which is instant change of tempo is achieved by a pedal. Player can simply press the pedal to toggle between 2 pre-set tempi, rather than mess around with his or her metronomes during the performance.

Designed for ensemble or chamber music scenario, conductor mode imitates the movement of the conductor’s white baton. This mode fully exploits the peripheral vision so that the player can feel the movement at any position as long as the display is within eyesight. The bottom of the display panel is the same as the invisible plane for a baton movement. Pedal still functions here to change the tempo instantly. These movements are for conductor’s practice, mirrored versions are available to provide a view from the musicians and audience.

In Dynamics Mode, Lyra analyze incoming sound signal and provides objective dynamics information of the music being produced by the player, or from other sources. Though visual feedback, players can practice, compare or try to imitate master’s performance with more ease.

With complex Fourier transform it is able to track strong rhythmatic beat. This will be useful for certain types of instrument such as drum. The player can directly visualize the rhythm he is performing, or compare to a tempo display together to improve the skills.

It might also work with other instrument types, while more intelligent algorithm needs to be employed to get a good result.

Control of Lyra will be actualized by an upgradable software interface on touch-screen such as iPhone/iPod and devices like MID, offering quick and ease control for different functions.

The working prototype mainly shows the display panel of Lyra, it comprise 3 times 13, totally 39 units. In order to present the best result possible, 39 large bright LEDs are used for the working prototype. 2 layers high-quality diffuser are used to make the light property closer to OLED

The prototype system consists of a computer with microphone, a control box (consists of Arduino Mega board and other minor electronics), a Pedal and the Display panel. The MAX/MSP program will take control and Arduino act as a hardware interface between the software and the lighting. Two 25-way cables are used for connection between the display and the control box

The display panel uses cutting-edge glass type OLED panels; it has a resolution of 13 X 3, totally 39 white illumination sources in a single glass panel. Color and shape for each-unit is irrelevant since movement pattern is the essence of the peripheral vision

13 horizontal resolution is perfect to display 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7-beat time signatures sequentially in an even spacing, while 3 vertical resolution are used for more spatial display for dynamics and conductor-movement

Unlike LED which is directional, OLED is diffuse, subtle and soft, sometimes described as a ‘light cloud’, ideal for generate ambiance and in this case, peripheral vision With ultra-thin layer which is less than 1.8 mm and no heat emission.

At vertical mode, the front structure of Lyra is designed to be able to hang on most the music boards belongs to either music stands or grand pianos, up to a maximum thickness of 1 inch (2.54 cm). When the base is sitting on the edge of the music board, the lower structure push itself against the back of the board thanks to the horizontal gravity component resulted from the weight of the arm and display.

The software itself, along with the firmware inside Lyra, can both be upgraded to provide improvements and new functions. Lyra can be connected to a computer via mini-USB cable, or the USB-adapter for power source. The pedal will be connected to the adaptor; a wireless version could also be available.

Designer: Yiran Feng

Designers: Sheraz Arif, Andy Brand, Menno Kroezen & Katrien Ploegmakers

Designer: Dimo Trifonov for Studio Nufabric

Walko Audio Player by Dimo Trifonov of Studio Nufabric from Takashi Yamada on Vimeo.

Designer: Qian Jiang

Here is a sustainable phone that promises to last you till infinity. Going by the storyboard that designer Will Orrock has presented, his idea doesn’t seem too far fetched to perceive.

Two big points to ponder: Layers and Upgrade.

Layers:

The phone follows the 4-layer concept and comprises of battery, OLED screen wrap, high-strength polymer housing and printed circuit board. These four layers are the core of the phone and can be tackled individually.

Organic Radical Battery is the choice for powering Infinite. This is to take advantage of the eco-friendly form that doesn’t use natural heavy metals found in conventional batteries. Using ORB also makes the form-factor of the phone slim plus the added bonus of faster charge time (expected to be between 30 seconds to 2 minutes) makes it attractive.

Orrock says that the OLED layer needs to be backed by a tungsten layer in order to operate. The screen also covers most of the phone, hence it blends into the environment and hopefully future generations will still find it kewl!

The Polymer Housing cavity is thus fashioned that you can easily access the PCB and the battery.

All the layers of this phone can be either broken down to replace upgrade or recycle individually.

Upgrade:

Both the hardware and the software of the phone are envisioned on the fact that they can be easily upgraded to match the current market trends. Naturally the discarded parts will go to the recycle bin.

Other Cool Stuff:

- 360-degree screen
- Magnetic Dock Connection
- Haptic Touch Screen
- Bluetooth Headphones
- Sync and Charge Functions
- 8.1-megapixel camera
- 32GB memory

Designer: Will Orrock

Designer: Hanyoung Lee

Innovative products that will help make our lives better and provide us with sense and simplicity.

The Kitten Scanner

If as adults we can get nervous as hell for simple procedures like CAT or CT scan, can you imagine the amount of anxiety a child will go through if he were to undergo one? The Kitten Scanner is an attempt by Philips to reduce this tension that children can undergo during such stressful times. Interactive role-playing and story-telling format incorporated into the machine, teaches them about what to expect during a scan. It helps them to understand the process much better by making them comfortable with the technology and therefore reducing fear.

The Temparin for DenTek

Dentists are the necessary evils of life. I say this not because I despise them, but because I am petrified of their drilling machine. ANYTHING to keep me away from it, for example this Temparin line of tooth repair solutions for DenTek. I am definitely going to turn to them for a temporary relief for lost fillings, inlays or crowns. It’s user-friendly and comes with custom applicators and individual doses.

Stereo Bluetooth In-ear Headphones SBH 7110

A gorgeous looking in-ear piece that features a touch interface! Transition between calls and music is not an issue with it. Simple and efficient, the technology matches its looks.

BTW the three featured have the honor of picking up an IF this year.

Design: Philips

The 2ners were a direct outgrowth of my involvement in the bicycle industry and addressed the issue of people riding with ear buds or headphones. There were numerous consumer requests for something that would allow the rider to experience their music that was safe and comfortable. In the case of cycling, this was a serious drawback in that you were isolated from the environment and could not hear approaching autos or safety vehicles. The other problem was that all of the existing units used wires to a remote player/radio making for a problem when removing a helmet or during spirited activity. The few existing headphone type radios were far too bulky for use in active sports even though many did in running and jogging, but their size and mass made them uncomfortable for use as well as isolating.  The reason was that music is compelling and even with a bad form factor its better than nothing.

The 2ners development as an intergraded headphone type radio does hinge on the question of power requirements and therefore the battery size. Providing enough power to give good volume and sound quality over a reasonable amount of time between battery charges, or replacements, is the key issue. Other systems use AA or AAA batteries and full coverage head phones to achieve the goal but that was obviously not acceptable for this application.  They were far larger than desired. The state of microelectronics and speakers however did show that it might be possible. In addition, the solution turned out by utilizing all the available energy, both mechanical as well as electronic, I could keep the size down.

The 2ner used a couple of innovative methods to provide excellent sound quality with minimal energy requirements.  These ultimately lead to the ability to package the system small enough for active sports. The product and was a total ground up design entailing electronics, acoustics, packaging, biomechanics and aesthetics.

The primary method was utilizing the body of the unit and its circuit board to make a tuned cavity to enhance bass response with bone conductance to enhance bass. The additional bass response was achieved by turning the speaker around so the voice coil enclosure rested on the persons cheek allowed for a much smaller speaker size being used, lowering the amplifier size and limiting the systems power consumption.

The other key element was the use of directed speaker ports that aimed the high frequency parts of the sound into a zone of the ear.  This naturally funneled those frequencies into the inner ear. The shape of the unit provided a windshield effect reducing the effect of wind noise.  It also fitted well with bicycle helmets. The elimination of extraneous features, such as a display for station and time, was integral to keeping the unit’s size compact.

After 8 months of development, what resulted was a very sleek unit that utilized magazine re-chargeable type battery packs, digital scan tuning and digital volume. The form was fully ½ the size of the other headphone radios and was smaller than many headphones.

The full feature FM 88-108 MHz with PLL tuning allowed for its use with available small FM transmitters providing a wireless link from a Discman or MP3 player so the user could listen to their own music not just broadcast radio.

I had planned on an evolution of the product with a built in MP3 flash memory chip contained in the right hand side battery box. This would have given us a lead on many of the majors for ultra small MP3 players and eliminated the need for the transmitter. This follow on product was to be in place after 9 months of sales of the first unit and followed normal product evolutionary product pathways.

The original business model was to sell or license the technology to an operating firm and after doing show and tell to the likes of Nike, Schwinn, and Vetta. In general, selling new products to existing companies revolved around the ability to show consumer acceptance and was the core of the sales resistance from the large firms. We did not expose the product to the large consumer products companies as we were disruptive technology and access to the C level management had always been a challenge.

I have had some experience with consumer direct response sales via TV (infomercial companies) and knew that they sometimes were willing to do joint ventures on products where they would assist in the startup production of a new item. They would also handle the marketing of the product and fulfillment of the product.  We decided to pursue this matter and over the course of five meetings, a very lucrative contract was entered into with the infomercial giant Guthy-Renker for joint venture and exclusive distribution.

The contact negotiations took months and were a minefield of details concerning minimum annual royalty payments, territories, internet sales, price, cost, and delivery.

During this time, I contacted two manufacturing companies in Hong Kong for the production of the product and worked with their engineers to bring it into a mass producible state. This requited the creation of all packaging, instruction manuals, graphics and logo for the product.

During the normal startup process time of eight months, some key decisions at Guthy-Renker were made and they had decided to stick exclusively with consumable products. This change presented me with two options– I could force them into court to “cure” us as per the contract or proceed to market myself and leave the relationship intact.

I then decided that sales via online web site and viral marketing would work. I generated a website for the marketing and sales of the product, and it was selling quite well until the majority partner in the project decided that he would prefer to transfer the technology to a major company.

In 2004 (three years after the 2ner introduction), Oakley introduced a sunglass system with a built in MP3 player approximating the size of the 2ner but at a much higher price point.

Koss audio and Panasonic both produced a line of headphones using aimed tuned ports to enhance audio experience as was pioneered in the 2ner. Patents were filed and granted on the core technologies and were granted but infringers have not been dealt with do to issues of cost versus reward.

Contributor: Zippy Flounder