Categories

Smartbooks Are The Next Step

Yes. Is the start of my last jam. This project is right on. I’ve been thinking about, suggesting, pushing the idea that these tiny internet machines (ipod, blackberry, etc) need to be just a little bit bigger, but not quite as big as a laptop. Students at the Savannah College of Art & Design have mocked up a messa concepts for this very purpose. With the help of Freescale chip manufacturers, they’re bustin up the streets with a nice list here!

Designer: Students at SCAD

MacBook Touch? Maybe, Just Maybe…

Designer Tommaso Gecchelin isn’t oblivious to all the rumors surrounding a netbook or tablet-like PC made by our favorite fruit manufacturer. We try not to indulge in rumors here at YD but sometimes they do provide fuel for inspiration, such is the case with this MacBook Touch.

Designer: Tommaso Gecchelin

Apple Mac Folder

Is it next MacBook? no, but everyone likes to put their 2 cents in. It’s called the Mac Folder - not all that different from any other laptop but this could be the netbook everyone wants/expects Apple to make. The UI has been reworked to work more like the interfaces seen on the iPod Touch and iPhone and of course it has a multi-touch screen and OF COURSE it’s as thin as Kate Moss if not more. Want one?

Designer: Tryi Yeh

Open Debate: What Should This Mac Book Mini Hold?

Everybody has an opinion and at YD we encourage it. However this time around I want to do things differently. I came across these renders for a Mac Book Mini by Isamu Sanada (he is a devoted Apple freak). Prod as I did, he didn’t have any suggestions or ideas on what exactly this book should hold. Except for the fact that it has a very convenient sliding track pad, the design gives away nothing. Heck we are a design site so lets get some ideas from you erudite guys.

Designer: Isamu Sanada

NasdaqQ3 Home Trading Terminal Keeps It Simple

Designed for overworked Wallstreet traders, Allen Liu designed this home trading terminal to ease the infusion of work into home life. While an admirable effort, if you’re working, you’re working regardless of where you are and I don’t see this interface holding up well against an information-packed, 4 screen terminal. If that’s not enough, Allen completely failed to put in a “Private Browsing” button for those lonely, late-night trading sessions that last for hours.

Designer: Allen C. Liu

Chronicle Your Travelogues The Digital Way

Unless you are doing it for Discovery or National Geographic, nobody expects you to diary your travel experiences. Even your odd post on Trip Advisor really has no weight till it’s corroborated with a video or pictures. The question is, do you like jotting your travelogues? If yes, then something like the Backpacker’s Diary could be functional for you.

Designer: Eric Zhang

Paranoid About Privacy? Put a Lid on it

Nicolas Lehotzky notice a niche trend among Mac users with built-in webcams Many cover it with post-it notes out of privacy concerns even tho there’s no way to turn it on without actively doing so. He created a little “lid” accessory if you will, that slides across the top of the screen bezel. If ever you feel like you’re being watched, just slide the cover over that tiny webcam lens and rest assured, even the best hackers aren’t going to be able to see what you do home alone.

Designer: Nicolas Lehotzky

Hard Drives as Easy to Install as Ink Cartridges

You love plug-and-play, yes? You also enjoy modifying your computer, right? Too much effort? Vas Obeyesekere of Point Innovation says: no way! The Evolve Modular CPU takes the soldering out of CPU enhancement, and makes it green in the process! You love green.

Designer: Vas Obeyesekere of Point Innovation

iPhone Laptop? Wait WHAAAT???

OLO Computer updated their site with a mysterious laptop with what looks like an iPhone as the trackpad and OS X on the screen. Now I’m only thinking out loud but the iPhone, tho powerful, isn’t powerful enough to run a full blown version of OS X. Does OLO know something we don’t know or are they just reaching for pie in the sky? Care to ruminate?

Designer: OLO

Laptop/Desktop Hybrid

Wow, I have seen parsecs worth of concept computer designs during my visit here on Earth, but nothing like this “B-membrane” design by Korean designer Won-Seok Lee. He has taken the need for a bulky monitors right out of the equation and opted for beaming your YouTubing onto any surface you can point the omni-directional projector at.

Designer: Won-Seok Lee

Cup of Java Script

Technology and scaled down computers are finding their ways into more and more ubiquitous items in our lives. From RFID clothing tags and eBooks (Kindle) to running monitors (Nike/iPod) and even cars that respond to your voice (Ford Sync). Why not get a daily does of information stimulation while you have your morning brew? That’s what the designers of “The Cup” have in mind.

Designer: Hyuh-Jin Lee

Pimp my QWERTY

With the tech blogs getting all hot and bothered over Art Lebedev’s Optimus Maximus keyboard and it’s customizable OLED keys, we thought we would show off a slightly more analog version of the same concept. At no where near the Optimus Maximus price of nearly $2,000 USDs, this $30 version called “Keyboard Shortcut Skins” by Photojojo serves essentially the exact same function.