Hasta La Gadget!

If you think the housing market is bad, or the rental market in a city like New York is ruthless, maybe all you really need is The Bufalino, a three-wheeled concept vehicle designed for transportation and shelter. When you need to get to the office, simply fold up the driver’s seat and hit the gas. When you’ve left work for the day and you find a nice place to park your ride for the night, you can fold the seat back down into a bed and settle in for a good night’s sleep.

The Bufalino, a mini-RV concept car from designer Corneliu Comanns, features a stove, a basin that works like a sink, and a connected water tank so you have running water, a small fridge, and both walls have slots for storing your clothes and personal possessions. There’s even space for a desk and a workbench so you can get some work done if you feel like “working from home.” Admittedly the Bufalino will likely never make it into mass production, which is just as well since there doesn’t seem to be a toilet or a shower anywhere in the vehicle.

[via Dvice]

Oh, don’t get us wrong, we rather enjoyed our time with Nikon’s S1100pj projector camera, but this here Pico concept design is on a whole other level. We’re talking both in terms of cuteness and inventiveness. You might have recognized by now that one of the Pico’s “eyes” is the camera lens while the other is the projector, but what of the “smile?” Why, that’s your microphone’s sound intake port. And its little feet — acting as a stabilizing stand when in projector mode — also double up as covers for the external connection jacks. Masterful. Look for it to appear in your dreams some time very soon.

Pico projector camera concept is, as usual, better than the real thing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Yanko Design  | Email this | Comments

It’s unlikely the Nokia Kinetic will actually ever make it to widespread production, but the idea of a phone that rests flat on a surface when not in use but stands to display the screen to you when you get an incoming call is an interesting one. The Kinetic is actually a concept from Jeremy Innes-Hopkins, a design student who wanted to create a truly unique looking telephone. What makes the Kinetic special however is the rounded bottom that controls the way the phone rests, and how it stands up when you get a phone call or tap the screen to make it stand up.  

The device looks like just about any other smartphone at first glance, with a nice large screen and buttons at the bottom of the face. It even has spots on the side for camera capture and mini-USB for charging and data, and a camera on the back. The idea of a phone that can stand on its own both to alert you to calls and to make it easier to watch movies is a fun one, even if it’s unlikely to ever appear on store shelves.

[via Gajitz]

Anyone who travels often knows that sometimes the right pillow can make all the difference between a good night’s sleep and long hours spent tossing and turning. Any mattress or bedding store will tell you that it’s important to get a pillow that’s right for the way you sleep, but The Dream Machine wants to take things a step further and actually manufacture custom pillows to your specifications on demand. The machine includes a built-in sewing machine, a tall container full of down and stuffing, and 280-thread count cotton pillow sleeves.

The Dream Machine also allows you to select whether you sleep on your stomach, back, or side, and will create a pillow to match the way you sleep. It also creates smaller travel pillows for you if you’re planning on taking a trip and want something to rest your head on while in-flight or on a long train ride. You can even ask The Dream Machine to scent your pillow with lavender. The company behind The Dream Machine is targeting the device at mattress and bed/bath stores, and expects the custom pillows (and the experience of having one made just for you) to retail between $129 and $149 per pillow.

[via UberGizmo]

The intersection of video games and real life is a fantastic place to play, as evidenced by Roombas, Halo and the occasional six-string guitar, but all you really need to blur reality is a webcam, an R/C car and a studio filled with cardboard. That’s what Malte Jehmlich and company used to create this rendition of Wipeout, which moves practically as fast as the PlayStation original due to the blinding scale speed of its 1/28 model cars. It’s all controlled by an arcade racing cabinet complete with steering wheel and on-screen display wirelessly connected to an Arduino board. Originally a two-month hobby project, the designers are presently working towards an advanced version with force feedback and powerups (including boost!) using sensors built right into the track — and hopefully a forklift to lug all that corrugated wood pulp around. See it in action after the break.

Continue reading German designer brings Wipeout racing game to life, burns up cardboard tracks with an R/C car (video)

German designer brings Wipeout racing game to life, burns up cardboard tracks with an R/C car (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 09:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Engadget German  |  Racer  | Email this | Comments