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It’s Guitar Learnin’ Time with Dr. Roboto

Designer Eugene Cheong brings you “Maestro,” laser and mp3 guitar learning aid. You put mp3s into the device via SD card, the songs are converted into guitar tablature, and the tablature is projected, with laser lights, onto the guitar fretboard as you play. No longer will there be a barrier between you and the great and powerful rock and roll god!

It is a rock and roll (laser show) fantasy!

Designer: Eugene Cheong

As Simple or Complex as You Want it to be

Fingerprint recognition to activate biometric profile. Blank surface when not in use. 3-D interface with artificial intelligence that automatically rearranges your options and thangs based on usage and preference. Touchscreen with growing buttons (really, 3D, up in your face.) How many “smart” phones does it take to screw together the world community?

I got the hookup! Or should I say C. Ferraz do?

Designer: Cristina Ferraz

Brush Can, Cleans A Fine Toothed Comb

You won’t catch me on my hands and knees sweeping with an old fashioned duster. No sir I prefer to use the power of a little wonder called the Roomba but sometimes getting manual is the only way to go and the Brush Can makes it a tad easier to keep up cleaning chores. The densely packed bristles can magically clean themselves if you pull them thru combed teeth. Also a perfect way to hold the brush in place. Brills.

Designer: Hye-Min Jung

Difference Between Life And Death Is A Light

As if the tragedy of losing a dear one to an accident is not enough, the reason of poor street lighting just doesn’t justify the situation. A simple jog in the twilight, walking your pooch at dusk, do these circumstances warrant an accident due poor lighting or visibility? Better safe than sorry…. get visible dear! NR4 Illuminated Running Apparel is attire that integrates luminescence into the outfit, making it safer for you to take that evening run.

Designer: Jeffrey S. Engelhardt

Backyard Science: The Solar Tree

We all know that we are screwing the environment with the enormous carbon footprint that we leave behind, so its time we take charge and come up with practical solutions to tidy up the mess. On the sustainable side we have been harnessing Solar Power for a while, but existing solar panels on roofs have their own set worries like professional installation and structural issues. The Solar Tree offers a realistic solution to structural woes and more.

Designer: Gurdeep Sandhu

Sculpted Phone No Different From Hosta

More often than not, designers take inspiration from the natural environment to come up with something spectacular in technology. If it weren’t for the dragonflies we wouldn’t have helicopter now, would we? The project we see here is a simple home phone taking inspiration from the Hosta Plant. For those with a serious lack of green-thumb-knowledge let me tell you that it’s a foliage plant that is not fussy and comes in a broad range of solid colors.

Designer: Anton Webb

New ACT Fire Extinguisher Release Party

Have you ever run from a fire extinguisher? I haven’t. They don’t scare me. But they scare you.

They seem so important, so untouchable. Why is that? Get above the fright! Make it cool to extinguish fires. That’s what designer Sigrun Vik is all about. Keep deadly fire unfashionable with Vik’s “ACT” fire extinguisher.

Designer: Sigrun Vik

Flashback Fridays: Apple Computer

In 1991 the Apple we know so well today was totally different. Steve Jobs had not yet returned to the company. Apple’s new focus was to diversify its core technologies beyond the scope of computers and CEO John Sculley was not shy about sharing the company’s secrets unlike the iron curtain Apple hangs today. Let’s take a step back and check out some of these concepts from yesteryear.

Credit: Zacislost

Pump-up Your Ride

Ah…the pleasure of a skateboard! A teen’s companion and a worrying mother’s bane, this piece of board has transformed form a plane plank to a glitzy glam doll with finesse. Right now lets take a look at another kind that markets itself as a Pumpboard. Rolling up like a licorice wheel, this board can be pumped up with compressed air to make it a taut steady ride.

Designer: Maciej Puzon

It’s A Key Thing

Keys here, keys there, keys everywhere, and then just when you need them, keys disappear. Funny how the universe works huh? The #8 KeyThing circumvents that fact of life by giving you one place to keep all your keys. The lady bug looking contraption is a simple piece of rubber with grippy port holes. As long as you remember where you mounted it, losing your keys should be a thing of the past.

Designers: Thomas Brinch-Møller & Jacob M. Lund

Best of January 2009

Every month we take a look around and select some of the most interesting designs that was showcased here. Below you’ll find the most popular designs we’ve tracked over the last 30 days – an overview of designs you shouldn’t have missed in January 2009.

Ink Me Up In Comfort

Tattoo chairs are pretty bare bones and minimal so the Ink Chair by Bjorn Fink makes total sense. The sand cast aluminum frame turns, pivots, and adjusts in every which way to keep the tattooee comfy while making it easier for the tattooer to do his/her job. There are no motorized parts and the entire frame can be made with just one mold. I don’t see any reason why this wouldn’t be a hit in tattoo parlors across the world if the price were right.

Designer: Bjorn Fink

I Would Buy This Blender

I’m no Paula Deen or Betty Crocker but I do like to cook and on occasion that calls for a blender. The UMIX Cordless Blender may be the ticket since it combines advantages of handheld and tabletop blenders. Rechargeable cordless? Check. Powerful motor? Check. Programmable blend cycles? Check. Squishy silicon sack? Check, check, check. I love this feature. They even act as storage containers. Haven’t seen that on the market.

Designer: Andrew Bezzina