Q Ruler: One-Hand Ruler to Rule Them All

It’s annoying when you have to measure something and can’t find a long-enough rule or measuring tape in sight. For example, I was buying shoes online recently and wanted to check their sizing versus the current size I wear. I only had a 6-inch ruler so I improvised and used a piece of ribbon to measure my shoe’s sole. I then used the ruler to measure the mark I had made on the piece of ribbon.

I ordered the shoes and even with that much effort, the measurements were still off.

Q Rulermagnify

Carrying a foot-long ruler or measuring tape in my bag at all times is out of the question, because the former will end up sticking out of my bag while the latter is pretty heavy.

One solution? The Q Ruler, which is as handy as rulers and measuring tapes can get. With conventional measuring devices, you’ll often need at least two hands to ensure that you get a good measurement. But with Q, you only need one. It’s essentially a digital ruler of sorts which you’re supposed to roll along the length of whatever it is you want to measure. The measurement is then displayed on the Q Ruler’s digital display. Pretty neat, huh?

It was designed by Sangun Lee and is, unfortunately, just a concept design for now. In the mean time, you can find similar devices which are designed primarily for measuring maps, but could probably be used in much the same way.

[via Yanko Design]

An Interactive Ruler Shows How OLEDs Will Make Mundane Objects Smarter

We’ve heard a lot about how OLEDs are poised to change everything from televisions to smartphones. But a group of researchers at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group are applying OLEDs too more mundane objects, too—like plain old rulers. And the results are surprisingly cool.

Read more…

    

Adobe Introduces Bluetooth Smart Stylus, Ruler Projects

Adobe seems to be making some serious moves today as they announced they’ll be moving their products beyond physical boxes and instead will allow its customers to purchase them online through subscriptions. But that isn’t the only bit of news the company is announcing as they’re also looking to create two pieces of hardware known as the Project Mighty stylus and Napoleon ruler.

Both the stylus and ruler use low-energy Bluetooth to communicate with an iPad or iPhone and will work in collaboration with their new Creative Cloud software. The stylus features a button on it that when press, pulls up a menu within its software which allows the user to access a number of design options and content. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google Improves Gmail Mobile Web To Adopt Gmail 2.0 for iOS UI, Top 10 CES Gadgets,

    

For Those Incapable of Drawing a Straight Line or a Circle, Help Is on the Way [Wish You Were Here]

Drawing a perfect circle is maybe the hardest thing one can do with a pen in hand. A straight line, while much easier to accomplish, is still a chore for some. With that in mind, designer Sunghoon Jung has dreamed up a concept for a tape measure that not only has a line guide in the middle of the tape, but also a series of dots you can anchor your writing instrument to so that you can scrawl a geometrically perfect circle. It doesn’t hurt that the thing is easy on the eyes as well. [Yanko Design] More »