Augmented reality TagCandy creates a virtual taste explosion (video)

The majority of augmented reality applications these days may be visual ones, but that’s hardly the only type of augmented reality possible, as fully evidenced by this so-called TagCandy device built by Yasuaki Kakehi of Keio University. As you can see above, it consists of a rather large base that accommodates a regular lollipop, which not only makes it easy to hold the candy, but uses bone-conduction technology to produce different sounds ranging from fizzy soda to fireworks. Of course, it is just a concept, and still something of a work in progress — future possibilities apparently include the ability to detect biting in addition to sucking, and the ability to buy and share different “sensations” on the internet. Head on past the break to check it out on video.

Continue reading Augmented reality TagCandy creates a virtual taste explosion (video)

Augmented reality TagCandy creates a virtual taste explosion (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DVICE  |  sourceDigInfo  | Email this | Comments

BMW Designworks USA flexes its eco muscle with Siemens Inspiro subway concept

BMW Group’s Designworks USA — where have we heard about those folks before? Ah, yes, that’s the crew that’s responsible for Thermaltake’s Level 10 PC case, and we’re desperately hoping that this concept has an equal (or greater) level of success in the open market. The subway car you see above is purportedly 97.5 percent recyclable, with an aluminum chassis, vivacious hues and a ridiculously spacious interior. It’s being labeled the Siemens Inspiro, and it’s on track to show up in Warsaw’s Metro Warszawskie just over a year from now. No word on where to sign up for conductor dutie, though.

BMW Designworks USA flexes its eco muscle with Siemens Inspiro subway concept originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DVICE, Inhabitat  |  sourceFastcodesign  | Email this | Comments

Over the counter, spray-on stem cell treatment could heal burns on the go

Research at the University of Utah could lead to burn treatment on the go that makes use of your body’s own cells. Surgeons Amit Patel and Amalia Cochran are researching the use of stem cells in conjunction with several chemicals as a spray-on jelly which has, in early testing, shown to accelerate the healing process of burns. While the team is starting with small burns, its goal is to be able to provide fast and effective, actual regeneration of a patient’s own cells to be grafted onto large area burns. Video of the project is after the break.

Continue reading Over the counter, spray-on stem cell treatment could heal burns on the go

Over the counter, spray-on stem cell treatment could heal burns on the go originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gearlog  |  sourceKSL  | Email this | Comments

Icon Notebook: textual communication avenue for the Microsoft Word averse

It looks like a document. It’s chock-full of documents. But not Microsoft Word documents. Only documents that could dream of one day being scanned in and converted to a Word document. It’s the Icon Notebook, brought to you by the brilliant minds at Brigada Creativa, and it’s on sale now for €6.95 ($9.34) direct from Spain. Which is a whole lot cheaper than a Word license, no matter the font you’re talking in.

Icon Notebook: textual communication avenue for the Microsoft Word averse originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Like Cool  |  sourceBrigada Creativa, Etsy  | Email this | Comments

Foki vacuum footwear concept lets you walk in Roomba’s shoes

They may not be the first vacuum shoes to emerge in concept form, but these so-called Foki shoes from designer Adika Titut Triyugo are certainly the most stylish — at least in an ASIMO chic sort of way. They also boast a few new tricks not seen before, including an LED display on top that indicates how much dirt you’ve picked up, and a unique deign that allows them to be completely folded up when not in use. Of course, “concept” is the key word here, but we’ve got to guess there’s an untapped market out there for wearable appliances. Dust Buster gloves, anyone?

Foki vacuum footwear concept lets you walk in Roomba’s shoes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Crave  |  sourceCoroflot  | Email this | Comments

BlackBerry Empathy design concept feels bad that you’re stuck using a BlackBerry

Rest easy, folks: we know it’s pointy at the bottom, but we’ve been assured this isn’t the BlackBerry 7100’s true successor. Instead, the so-called Empathy is the bizarre outcome of of a RIM-sponsored design project at the Art Center College of Design that touts its ability to detect the emotions of its user and his or her contacts. It’s not exactly clear how it’d do that, but one crucial element is the biometric feedback ring that communicates your frustration at the phone’s inability to properly sync IMAP accounts in real time. All of this anger and joy is displayed on a social map — colored rings indicate your contacts’ previous and current emotional states — which is presented on a full touchscreen that can become transparent when the phone’s not in use. Prefer the Bold to the Storm, do you? Turn the phone around, and boom, you’ve got one of the scariest looking portrait QWERTY keyboards the world has ever seen. We don’t really anticipate seeing this chiseled slab of bleeding-heart technology in RIM’s lineup any time soon… but we can definitely see the benefit to knowing when your BBM contacts are ready to put a fist through a wall. Follow the break for video.

Continue reading BlackBerry Empathy design concept feels bad that you’re stuck using a BlackBerry

BlackBerry Empathy design concept feels bad that you’re stuck using a BlackBerry originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceYanko Design  | Email this | Comments

Lenovo teases S800 phone with translucent color display, won’t let anyone touch it

Step aside, Sony Ericsson, your Xperia Pureness has been beaten at its own game by an enigmatic new handset that Lenovo has been showing off over in China. The above images come from a Beijing fashion event, where Lenovo chose to debut its S800 featurephone with a color translucent display. It looks to still be at the concept stage, one that not many of these luxury items seem to ever exit, but lest you think it’s not for real, the models showing it off at the show were photographed backstage using the lustworthy piece of glass to do whatever it is that models do with their phones. Check out the links below for more.

Lenovo teases S800 phone with translucent color display, won’t let anyone touch it originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Cloned In China  |  sourceChina News  | Email this | Comments

BendDesk: the curved multitouch workspace of the future (video)

The Media Computing Group — otherwise known as the dudes and dudettes responsible for making multitouch hip again — is back, and some might say better than ever. The BendDesk is an outlandish new concept workspace for the future, relying heavily on a curved multitouch display to bring the wow. The desk is the Group’s vision of merging multitouch with a common physical area, and it’s probably the best implementation we’ve seen yet. A full ten touch points are supported, but the lower portion is also designed to be used as a standard desk, holding your laptop, paperwork and ink pen collection if you so choose. Shockingly enough, the whole thing looks exceptionally ergonomic, too. Head on past the break for a glimpse of it being used, but don’t hold your breath waiting for a ship date and price — something tells us it’ll be awhile before either of those are published.

Continue reading BendDesk: the curved multitouch workspace of the future (video)

BendDesk: the curved multitouch workspace of the future (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThe Media Computing Group  | Email this | Comments

Acer reveals Iconia dual-screen laptop / tablet, Clear.fi cloud-based media sharing system

Here in New York at Acer’s Global press event, the company’s talking touch. Lots and lots of touch. It’ll be introducing a veritable smorgasbord of equipment as the minutes roll on, but it’s kicking things off with its Windows 7-based Iconia dual-screen laptop / tablet, a device we’ve seen before. For all intents and purposes, this is Acer’s version of the Toshiba Libretto W105 (or that far-flung ASUS concept we saw at CeBIT 2009), boasting a pair of glossy touchscreens and no hard specifications to speak of. Naturally, you won’t find a keyboard here — rather, a virtual one will emerge from the secondary panel. There’s also a fairly slick media management system that’s obviously gesture based — some real potential there. We’ll be digging for details surrounding a price point and release date, but for now, have a gander at the image above and just imagine how it could revolutionize your life.

In related news, the company also teased its new Clear.fi media sharing system. As the story goes, it’s a cloud-based system that’s designed to play multi-format content over multi-platform devices, enabling any number of gadgets to talk to one another in order to make content visible and shareable with any other device. So far, it looks as if that could apply to movies, games, photos and music, but it’s a single-house affair for now. So long as there’s a router and a WiFi connection nearby, any Clear.fi-enabled device should be able to share, search and consume.

Update: The full PR is now after the break, and we’ve gone hands-on with the device right here! We’ve also scored the specifications — she’s running Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and is equipped with an Intel Core i5-480M / 560M / 580M CPU, up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, a pair of 14-inch multitouch displays (1366×768 resolution), integrated Intel HD graphics (128MB RAM), VGA / HDMI outputs, an inbuilt microphone and a S/PDIF interface. There’s also a 320/500/640/750GB hard drive, Acer’s CrystalEye webcam (1280×1024 resolution), 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, integrated 3G WWAN, gigabit Ethernet, a four-cell battery and a total weight of 6.18 pounds. Closing things out, there are a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a single USB 3.0 jack and a one-year warranty.

Continue reading Acer reveals Iconia dual-screen laptop / tablet, Clear.fi cloud-based media sharing system

Acer reveals Iconia dual-screen laptop / tablet, Clear.fi cloud-based media sharing system originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nikon concept cameras surface, spark rumor mill

Is the future of photography painted in Kubrick white? It is if you believe Nikon and Canon. We’ve seen the latter’s concept in much more detail, and now a handful of pics from the Nikon Sapporo Showroom have surfaced, showcasing at least one similarly unpigmented design. The other two models, snapped and found via burner-images, look like more run-of-the-mill DSLRs, but the one that’s causing a stir online is the all-white model that originated from DCHome forums. The original poster chimes in to say it might be the EVIL camera, but we’re not exactly convinced. For starters, the body doesn’t look much smaller or different than the rest of its lineup — not exactly what we’d expect for a “new market” product, as the company reportedly wants its mirrorless shooter to be. Additionally, as noted by a number of Nikon Rumors commenters, that apparently 18-55mm lens implies it’s rocking an APS-C sensor. Of course, if we saw the other side, we could see whether or not it had a viewfinder, which does narrow down the possibilities. So in conclusion, we still don’t know what it is, or if we ever will with any certainty, but we’re making an educated guess as to what it isn’t. Got that? Good.

Nikon concept cameras surface, spark rumor mill originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Nikon Rumors  |  sourceburner-images, DCHome  | Email this | Comments