Hasta La Gadget!

How do you get laypeople excited about LED lighting? Make it pretty, of course — that’s what Panasonic Electric Works is doing this week at Salone del Mobile 2011, in Milan. Working with designer Ferruccio Laviani, the firm has built an interactive installation out of upcoming products and prototypes, inviting visitors to explore “new dimensions of spatial lighting with LED and OLED.” The gimmicks aren’t bad; guests can peek through transparent OLED panels, interact with a spacial sensor controlled light wall, and learn about the products that make up the exhibit in a special “technical zone.” Featuring a theme dubbed “piano-forte,” the exhibit seeks to associate dynamic lighting with 18th century musical sensibilities, promising to make everyone a “virtuoso” of lighting — it’s a bit heavy handed, but the results sure are easy on the eyes. Don’t fancy a trip to Italy just to soak in artsy LED beauty? No worries, just hit the concept video at the break.

[Image courtesy of designboom]

Continue reading Panasonic gussies up LED prototypes, invites you to play (video)

Panasonic gussies up LED prototypes, invites you to play (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Being that doomsday and the robot apocalypse are nearing quickly, now seems an appropriate time to gaze into the future of laptop design, right? Well, maybe those anomalies aren’t actually around the corner, but you know us — we always fancy a warm cup of concept tea. Designer Park Hyun Jin over at Yanko recently posted some renders of the Fujitsu Lifebook X2, a laptop-like invention of his fervent imagination that allows for two orientations thanks to its four folds. The design features a full QWERTY keyboard that can be used when the notebook is folded out in full, as well as a half-folded option with an onscreen keyboard, pictured above. Naturally, we’d love for this concept design to become a reality, but we can’t wrap our brains around the seam between the two screens. Well actually, we could probably get used to it.

Continue reading Conceptual ‘Fujitsu Lifebook X2’ folds into quarters, makes regular notebooks look lame

Conceptual ‘Fujitsu Lifebook X2’ folds into quarters, makes regular notebooks look lame originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

As the nuclear crisis at Japan’s Fukushima power plant continues to devastate the region and one reactor sprung a leak releasing tons of radioactive water, this week Inhabitat reported that green algae could play a critical role in cleaning up the spill. We also brought you Japan’s latest radiation-detecting robot, and we took a look at how fallout from the controversial crisis is affecting energy policy around the world — China is cutting plans for future reactors in favor of solar fields while Germany may trade 17 nuclear plants for wind farms.

In other news, green transportation went from the soaring skies to the deep blue sea this week as we looked at NASA’s self-healing “magic skin” that will protect planes from lighting, and Sir Richard Branson unveiled a streamlined eco sub that will explore the ocean’s depths. We also learned that the European Union is set to kick off an electric F1 racing championship just as Tesla took top place in the 5th Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally. Finally, we looked at two innovative technologies for enabling human movement — a robotic exoskeleton that gives paraplegics the ability to walk and a prosthetic suit that lets people swim like mermaids.

This week we also spotted several awesome example of green gadgetry – a colorful Legotron camera made out of everyone’s favorite building bricks and a geek chic binary table constructed entirely from vintage circuit boards. We also spotted a concept for an energy-generating playground that harnesses the literal power of play.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: magic airplane skin, Japan’s nuclear leak, and the circuit board table originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TDK has slowly been rolling out some of its new audio gear since it first showed off the line at CES in January, but it’s now finally officially announced that the whole lot is readily available across the US and Canada. That includes both its two-speaker and three-speaker Boomboxes, its “room-filling” Sound Cube, a set of high-end headphones, and even a belt-drive turntable — those range in price from $249 for the headphones to $499 for the three-speaker boombox. Of course, while TDK is boasting quite a bit about the sound of the gear, it’s also placing a heavy emphasis on their appearance, for which it can thank design firm Ziba. Don’t miss the more coverage links below for a bit of insight into how it crafted the products.

Continue reading TDK’s new line of Boomboxes and audio gear now officially available

TDK’s new line of Boomboxes and audio gear now officially available originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 23:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starbucks opened up a new concept store in the upscale Tokyo fashion district of Omotesando today. Designed by “The Godfather of Harajuku” Japanese designer Hiroshi Fujiwara

The “B-Side” Starbucks looks uniquely different from the ubiquitous designs of its other branches. Situated in his very back yard where Fujiwara came of age and gained inspiration, it is his first shop design project. Stepping inside it immediately feels different from the many other Starbucks shops around the city.

Tying in earthy materials with a long wooden counter the bench and stools add a distinctly metropolitan city feel to the cafe. Upstairs the brown stools and sofas also show off the main theme of the concept cafe, “natural” and “relax”. Combined with the large wrap around glass windows allowing natural lighting and looking out onto the surrounding trees, not always a common sight in concrete Tokyo, the store has a cosy atmosphere.

The upstairs is nicely designed although the seating doesn’t lend itself exactly to group relaxation, possibly to deter the would be university kids who take up residents nursing a single small coffee all day.

The most noticeable difference is the actual B-Side area of the shop which has a large sliding door and some stylishly designed furniture, a lot more in keeping with the “relax” theme.

The store has also incorporated some playful neon tube lighting signs that play on the mug wording and a selection of design and fashion books on shelves for customers to browse while sipping.

In the future the store plans on selling mugs and limited goods only available at the B-Side concept Starbucks and will host a number of live events.