We’re told that water and electronics don’t mix, but word obviously hasn’t made it to iHouse. The company has been demonstrating their SmartFaucet, a touchscreen-enabled tap that also includes a camera for face-recognition. If you’ve ever wanted to check your email and calendar from your bathroom sink, here’s the faucet for you.
Video demo after the cut
In an ideal world, this would be a jet-propelled butt-cradle. However it’s not, it’s actually a combination chair and music system by designer Gianni Pedone, part of the Morfonauta collection going on show at Milan Design Week 2009.
Segway and GM have partnered to develop the P.U.M.A., a self-balancing individual vehicle in which the two riders have some degree of weather protection. The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (P.U.M.A.) Project can travel up to 35mph, run 35 miles from one charge, and uses vehicle-to-vehicle communications to avoid collisions.
Sony Japan have just unleashed a new range of crocodile skin VAIO C-series laptops. Available in pink, red and brown, no multicolored crocodiles were harmed in the texturing of these notebooks: instead, Sony mold the plastic to resemble their scaly hides.
As awesome, insane, time-consuming LEGO projects go, building a 65,000-brick replica of the space shuttle complete with flashing lights, sound effects and frantic minifig technicians takes some beating. That’s just what was constructed for the Nasu Highland Park amusement park in Japan: the Nasu Space Center.
“Simulated launch” video after the cut
If you’ve ever had to hold chilled spoons to your eyes just to get them uncrossed after an epic Nintendo DS session, this Health Control Game Timer may be the gadget to save your sight. Plugging into the handheld console, the HCGT can be set to automatically shut the DS down after a preset length of time.
Working for LEGO has obvious benefits. Being near colored plastic blocks all day, probably getting a discount in the company store, all the plastic interchangeable hairstyles you could ever want, the list is almost endless. Now we can add “getting the best business cards in the world” to that list: your contact details printed on custom LEGO minifigs.
Expect to see this viral video from LGenius – the “innovation” arm of LG – springing up all around over the next few days. Intended to demonstrate three potential next-gen TV features aimed at making our home entertainment less profanity-filled, less depressing and more family-friendly, it includes what every geek wants to see on their 60-inch plasma: a basket full of kittens.
Watch the video after the cut
The Antec Skeleton PC case isn’t exactly a shy and retiring design in itself, which is why entrants to the company’s modding competition have had to reach a little further in order to come up with something eye-catching. Designs range from repaints, through bizarre furry wings, to doubling-up the case like this spaceship-like concept here; there’s also a very convincing All-In-Antec machine.
Gallery after the cut
A Nokia-sponsored Bluetooth headset design competition has prompted some interesting entries, ranging from the Daft Punk inspired to devices modeled on Michael Jackson and R Kelly. Entrants were asked to create a stereo Bluetooth headset with a design prompted by their favorite piece of music; around 8,000 entries were received in just three months.
More finalists shown after the cut
SlashGear Japan
