Of course, this isn’t the first time Terrafugia has waved around a flying car, having first done so way back in late 2006 with the Transition, a work-in-progress that was said to function as both a car and a personal air vehicle. Not surprisingly, the Transition isn’t zipping around our skies, but that hasn’t stopped the company from unveiling its latest ambitions, the TF-X.

The TF-X is said to be a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) vehicle with four-seats and a plug-in hybrid system under the hood. According to the announcement, Terrafugia has already discussed the vehicle with the FAA, which it says is agreeable to the technology. It also goes on to say that the Transition is “nearing” production, with the TF-X concept eventually going a step farther.

Said Terrafugia’s CEO Car Dietrich: “This is the right time for us to begin thinking about the future of the company beyond Transition® development. We are passionate about continuing to lead the creation of a flying car industry and are dedicating resources to lay the foundations for our vision of personal transportation.”

[via Terra Fugia]

What you’re actually looking at here is more of a concept for a future set of possibilities. Patents such as this don’t always have to make it to the market with a fully operational product – you probably wont see an oval-shaped iPhone in the near future. But what we can be excited about is the fact that we’re well on our way to this sort of technology making its way to the public in products that are slightly less wacky – as just part of the full show.

There’s a set of examples that Apple gives with diagrams showing angles at which this transforming display might be implemented. If you’ve got a couple of caps on each end, any number of candybar-shaped modules might be created. As Engadget notes, one of these describes how the caps of each one of these cellphone-like devices could be connected to one another, creating a long snake of devices – or perhaps one massive display.

As for the rest of the mobile universe, we’ve already seen some flexible AMOLED concepts out there in the wild. Samsung in particular has been bringing some odd heat here and there – still not inside a market-ready device, but getting closer every day!

Who do you think will reach the market first, folks? And better yet: do you think there’s really a need for a product with a bendy screen in our modern age?

[via AppleInsider]

Qualcomm Processor

Along with the one ZTE device we’ve seen in Barcelona this past month, this device will – if these tipped specifications hold true – be amongst the first to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor. This is a step above the Snapdragon 600 processor you’ll be seeing in the HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S 4, mind you.

What’s odd here is that this device’s tipped specifications also include a display that’s not quite as impressive as those attached to the HTC One and GALAXY S 4. This would only make sense if Google wanted to show the power of the newest version of Android (whatever that may be) or the power of the Snapdragon chipset – but developing for higher definition displays should, by all means, be more important than those bits.

Massive 4000mAh battery

Inside it’s said that you’ll be seeing a battery that’ll bust up the rest of the market, 4000mAh large so you’ll be working all day and night long without need for a charge. That’s rather similar to what we’ve seen in several of the most recent Motorola smartphone releases, and right on top of the device we brought to Mobile World Congress 2013 for its excellent battery capacity and long-lasting life: the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD.

Android 4.2

Wait a second – wasn’t this device supposed to be a Nexus phone? Wasn’t the rumor that this Motorola release was supposed to be the first vanilla Google phone, complete with the next-generation operating system build? Perhaps here we see how the Motorola smartphone at hand is not going to be all it’s cracked up to be tipped.

Or we see another massive flaw in the tipster. Between this device running with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, nothing newer, and the fact that they’ve reported just 768 x 1280 as the resolution of the display, it’s going to be really difficult to convince anyone that this tipster is one to be trusted.

IP57 certified with Gorilla Glass III

Back in the much more realistic realm of specifications comes a tip that this device will be water resistant up to a meter and will be somewhat damage resistant in a variety of other ways. Up front it’s said that the third generation of Gorilla Glass, made great enough to resist even the toughest of scratches.

Unique New Industrial Design

With the rendering you’re seeing above, you’ll notice that this device looks quite different from the rest of the Motorola smartphones we’ve seen released over the past several years. It looks a lot more like an Xperia phone, when it comes down to it. Whether you’re all about this new design or you’d rather stick with the RAZR family, it’s nice to see Motorola change things up a bit – if, in fact, they really are making this device.

Today’s wave of unconfirmed leaked information comes from Bloomberg where they’ve suggested that the development team has gone so far as to list some specifications and features as the device approaches release later this year. This wrist-bound device is supposed to be able to make and receive calls – like a phone or with an attached headset, check GPS location on maps, and work as a pedometer. This device would also be able to connect with Bluetooth to your iPhone or iPad, of course.

Image via Patently Apple-discovered patent application for an Apple-made wristwatch band.

But it’s not a Pebble that Apple will be aiming for. The company has seen the success – or perceived mad interest – that devices like the Pebble have had over the past year. They’ve also seen countless wristwatch modifications and straps for the iPad nano before this year. Then with the birth of the Lightning connector and the iPhone 5, Apple edged away from the square shape and once again made a more rectangular design.

So the square is back up for grabs and the wristwatch design language can be used for Apple in a future release. Why else would a perfectly good little square be kicked back up to a taller machine in the iPod nano?

The device I’d like to suggest Apple is making here I’d also like to code-name iCompanion. With this device you’ll be able to connect to a wrist strap if you’d like, but it’ll be marketed more as a go-anywhere display that attaches to you rather than just riding in your pocket as the iPhone does. When you’ve got a smartphone, you either purchase a special case to attach it to your belt, or you keep it in your pocket or purse.

With iCompanion, you’ll have your handset much more readily available at any given time as it’s on you at all times, not just with you. You’ll find this device working with the iPhone and the iPad, but it won’t be marketed as a little helper. It’ll be its own little beast, capable of processing power hearty enough to handle everyday tasks on its own, without assistance from the phone or tablet.

In the release of the iPhone 5, we saw a re-dedication to the fine art of timepiece design for Apple. If it wasn’t clear enough with the iPhone 4, the two iterations of the 5 showed Apple’s team of industrial designers to keep the faith with fine metals and attention to fine detail. We can expect this and a whole lot more in this next-generation iCompanion, complete with the knowledge and understanding that, more than ever, people will be getting up close and personal with the hardware and the software alike.

Have a peek at the timeline below to get a cross-section of ideas and concepts that have lead up to this moment in what very well be Apple’s imminent future. Let us know if you’re pumped up at the idea of a wearable device from Apple, too!

First up is the FT-86 Open, which, according to the announcement, is a “possible future development” of the GT-86 coupe, award-winner and all-around awesome sportscar. Toyota will be using the Geneva Motor Show to see how the viewing public reacts to the concept, although it is already performing tests on a prototype version.

Next up is the i-ROAD is a personal car concept specifically designed for urban environments. It has two seats in tandem, is emissions-free, and is supposed to be “quick and efficient.” The only shot available shows the concept from the top, with its covered back wheels and thin, jutting front wheels. Toyota didn’t have much to say about the i-ROAD.

Also announced in the press release is plans to reveal the Auris Touring Sports at the Geneva Motor Show. The Auris is production ready, and has already made an appearance (estate version) at the Paris Motor Show in 2012. The details will be given at Geneva, including the car’s performance data, dimensions, and its complete spec list. The car will be available for purchase later on in 2013.

[via Car and Driver]

Another interesting choice by KIA here is the treatment of the photo – or concept drawing, shall we say. Here we’ve got a set of extremely simple yet stark colors that push against one another to create an illustrated look. In fact what is happening is that this Urban Vehicle is being masked as much as possible without losing the interest of the viewer – and the interest is what we’ve got!

This machine will likely be revealed within the next few weeks at least in part while the details this week stay in the “non-existent” category. The KIA Cross GT is shown here with emphasis placed on the “cool” factor while the forward-facing appeal. This Cross GT is being tipped as coming in at a larger size than the Sorento crossover revealed previously, this being suggested by Motor Authority to leave room for three rows of seating – we shall see!

Have a peek in the timeline below for several entries in our massive Car hub, each of them blasting forth from KIA itself. We’ve had several test drives of future vehicle releases very recently with our man Cory Gunther taking the wheel down in Arizona with the new 2014 KIA Forte as well as the 2014 KIA Sorento – have a peek! Jump in our Car Hub for looks at the automotive universe from all directions!

While the resolution here isn’t as sharp as the iPhone 5 (or 4 or 4S), you’ll find that it’s quite a bit sharper than the iPad mini and the original iPad (and iPad 2). The original iPad worked with a 132 PPI resolution, the iPad mini has 163 PPI to its name, and the iPhone 5 (and 4/4S) work with 326 PPI. It would therefor make sense that the iPhone Math would represent the same seemingly odd move that the iPad mini made with its resolution less of that of the iPad 3 (and 4), the current iPad coming out to 264 PPI across its own highest-end display.

The image you see first in this post shows what Arment notes is the iPhone 5, iPhone Plus, iPad mini, and iPad 4. This device would, mind you, have a larger display than the Samsung Galaxy S III (taller, but thinner), and would still come in smaller than the current hero Galaxy Note (that being the Samsung Galaxy Note II). Another bit of logic Arment offered this week was the math that John Gruber inflicted on the public back before the iPad mini was released, essentially predicting that because displays are made on a large sheet and cut down to size.

Because of that fact, the iPad mini was predicted to use the same sheet the iPhone 3GS used, this allowing the same amount of pixels to fit on the display of a full-sized iPad display on a smaller sheet cut to size for the iPad mini. The iPhone 3GS was 3.5-inchs and 480 × 320 pixels, while the iPad mini did end up being 7.9-inches and 1024 × 768 pixels (a .05 difference in inches from what was predicted.) The math still works if you take the sheet of display used for the Retina iPad models (3 and 4) and kept the iPhone 5 display size ratio, sizing it up to 640 × 1136 pixel resolution, this across 4.94-inches of display.

With this device you’ll once again have a display size that allows developers to not have to re-size their apps as its the same aspect ratio as the iPhone 5, made with the same sheet of display technology the iPad uses now, this keeping costs down and production swift. Sound like a deal to you? Now we’ve just got to reconcile the fact that the original iPhone display which was “perfect” for the human hand and one-handed use will be dashed once more – the humanity of it all!

This system in one case decides how much you’ve used the shoes based on the movement of a “body bar.” This bar works with a coupling mechanism attached to a detector that senses movement of the bar when they’re active. This way you’ve got a sensor that only activates when enough weight is placed in the shoes, then only when you’re pressing down on the soles (not while you’ve got your feet dangling). Another suggestion from the patent includes notes of how you’d be able to use this system for more than just knowledge of wear.

If you’d have sensors such as this showing the pressure along the sole of your shoe, you’d also have the ability to track your movements in an advanced way. If you’re seeing how well a person is walking, how much and with how much pressure they’re moving, you’ve got an advanced physical activity system in the making. These systems are being suggested to be paired with wireless connectivity (wi-fi or Bluetooth), LED displays, speakers, and more.

While we’ve never seen Apple create a shoe on their own in the past, we’ve seen collaborations between them and Nike more than once. This patent application is likely set for a bit of footwear that could potentially exist in the future, but there’s no real sign at the moment (other than the patent itself) that any such footwear is currently in the works. What do you think, readers – is it time for Apple to create their own brand of clothing and shoes?

[via CNET]

The lights move forth and faster as the car accelerates, this creating a more “swarm” fabulous effect as you reach top speed. Instead of hitting the turn bar in your car, the swarm moves forth to the left or the right according to where your wheels are aiming – in other words, if you’re leaning toward turning to the right, there’ll be more lovely lights on the right side of the back of your vehicle. If you’re veering left, there wont be any lights on the right.

At the moment, as AutoBlog.GR mentions, this tech has been assuredly NOT been prepped for any vehicles that are going to be market ready any time soon. It’s not that we’ll never ever see such a bit of tech in the future no matter what, but we’re not going to need to be worrying about tuning our eyes for swarming lights next year, certainly. Not on the road, anyway.

Let us know if you’re hoping for such a technology in your vehicle in the future – or perhaps if you’d like to see this lighting working in a video game before we see it in the real world. Can you imagine playing Asphalt 2016: Swarm Lights by next year? Gameloft, that’s your cue! Make our eyes bleed by the time we’re ready to see it all happen in real life!

Also note that we’ve got a giant archive of materials we saw up close and personal at CES 2013 and you can catch more car action than your mind can handle in our Car hub now as well. Audi is there along with many other super-excellent car brands as well!

The patent we’re seeing today looks at first to be rather similar to what we’ve seen in the 2012 version of Total Recall – but this phone isn’t embedded into our hand, it’s projected unto it. Here we’re being shown a phone number dial pad as projected to a human hand as well as a series of numbers projected to a human arm. Of course the imagery is vague enough that it could be any sort of projection-friendly glasses that are making this all possible, but really, this would be a perfect fit for Glass.

The patent includes the ability to work with such a system physically, this meaning you’ll be able to use your second hand to tap numbers on your first, the system recognizing the interruption in the projected light and reacting accordingly. The above patent was found by Unwired View this week while in the months that’ve lead up to this have shown several other means of control for Google’s futuristic pair of goggles.

One of these instances shows a set of six patents for the near-final shape of Project Glass as well as Kinect-style motion control using rings or temporary tattoos. Another instance included a set of tap controls on the sides of the glasses as well as through virtual means with swipes across the space in front of the person wearing said unit.

You’ll do well to have a peek at our archive of Google Project Glass articles while we head into our first up close and personal experience with the developer-ready unit at the start of February. Expect more action from Google at Mobile World Congress 2013 as well!

The man himself, Esslinger, worked with Sony in the mid 1970s with their trinitron and wega ranges, moving up to Apple in the early 1980s. If you’ll remember from earlier this year when many early Apple designs were revealed during their legendary court case with Samsung, the idea that they’d replicate Sony designs was spoken of more than once. As it appears here, Esslinger had a problem with these requests for a Sony look for desktop computers, too. Esslinger stayed with Apple until 1990, where soon after Steve Jobs was cut from Apple, he broke his own contract and followed Jobs to NeXT.

Above you’ll see an early “Apple Snow White 2 macbook” from 1982 – not that every single image in this post comes courtesy of Esslinger and is via Designboom. The first image in this post goes by the name “Apple Snow White 1 Lisa Workstation” and is from 1982 as well – not the converting angle of the display and the lovely integration of the Apple logo rainbow colors in the side of the machine. Below this paragraph you’ll see the Apple “Baby Mac” from 1985 – rather sleek, isn’t it?

Above you’ll see a rather drab (by today’s standards) looking machine tagged with the name “Apple Snow White 1 Sony Style” from 1982. Of this design Esslinger writes, “Concept 1 was defined by ‘what sony would do if it built computers’. I didn’t like this idea, as it could create conflicts with Sony, but Steve insisted. He felt that sony’s simple cool design language should be a good benchmark, and Sony was the current pacesetter in making high-tech consumer products smarter, smaller and more portable.”

Below you’ll find two early masterpieces – one of them a tablet, the other a phone. Imagine that, the earliest iPad and the earliest iPhone, together under one roof. The first goes by the name “Apple Snow White 1 Tablet Mac” and is from 1982, the second is the “Apple Snow White 3 Macphone” from 1984. This was the same year that Apple burst forth with Macintosh and changed their destiny forever – imagine if they’d simply released a phone with a massive display instead?

The book Design Forward is available for sale in physical form right this minute all the way over in certain parts of Europe right this minute for right around 30 Euros. We’re crossing our fingers for the digital edition to make its way to the USA sooner than later – can’t wait! Hit the gallery below to see the cover of the book as well as larger versions of the photos you’re seeing above – hot stuff!

This device will likely work with the rumored 19-pin dock port at its bottom that up until now has been a much more massive 30-pin port. This device will have volume buttons and a screen lock up on the left, a camera with a single LED flash on the back, and it’ll have a very similar aesthetic overall compared to the iPhone 4/4S.

The cases we’re seeing here have kickstands, they’ve got hardcore backs and sides, and they’re certainly very nice looking in and of themselves. They do show a larger space for computing – that’s what’s important here. The display for the next-generation iPhone will almost certainly be larger than the one we’ve been working with on every iPhone since the device line’s inception, otherwise we’ve got a very, very similar device to the current generation.

For more information on that dock connector, be sure to check out the column Chris Davies whipped up yesterday entitled “Relax, Apple’s new dock connector is a good thing” and check the most recent iPhone posts in the timeline below to get an idea of what we might be seeing later this year!

What you’ll see is the iPad 2 sitting next to what’s being called the original iPad prototype. This device was shown in a story earlier this week which had none other than Apple’s Jonathan Ive confirming the existence of said prototype and that the images matched up to what he remembered from the early 2000s as the prototype in question. This original iPad – made well before such a name existed – had a 12 in display and was nearly an inch thick.

This device has not yet been shown running any software at all, but due to the distinctive lack of any kind of buttons or switches at all, we must assume that it was meant to be a touch-screen unit. The back of the device has an Apple logo in portrait configuration, and the whole back of the device is white plastic. This design places the device right in line with the original white MacBook lineup, rounded corners and everything.

One rather large difference is the area around the front glass panel – it appears to have a space for airflow, this unit perhaps even containing a cooling fan inside!

Have a glance at how different the original is from the most modern of iPad units, and thank your lucky iStars that Apple found a way to make things much, much smaller in the decade between the two. Head to our iPad timeline below as well for additional recent bits on the future of the iPad.

[via Buzzfeed]

When Tuncer designed this device and submitted it to Yanko Design, it appears that with this 17.5 cm x 5.5cm wedge of a smartphone he wanted to make his intentions clear. The form of this device makes it clear immediately that Facebook, of all companies, wont be bringing your everyday average smartphone. This phone is tall, has a display that would certainly need to have great viewing angles, and has next to no edge around the left and right of the screen.

Users will be able to hit “like” wherever they want and will have a few more buttons that bring them to different functions – or perhaps full apps – inside the device. On the upper right-hand side of the device you’ve got an Instagram button, on the upper left there’s a Spotify button next to some volume buttons, and up top you’ve got a notification light.

This notification light is also a button that brings you straight to your messaging inside your Facebook account. You’ve also got a headphone jack up top with some small speaker holes, and the designer has made it clear that there are no microphones on the front of the device. Instead, if you’d like to make a call, you’ll be holding the device with the display away from your face as both the ear speaker and the one mic hole are on the “back.”

Also on the back is another Instagram-branded element, the single-LED flash-toting camera. This device has no front-facing camera, oddly enough, and at the moment it appears to be running whatever operating system the designer deems worthy of the hardware. You can see a version of Facebook working in the main rendering, but its formatting is wholly unique.

In addition, there could be a manual control that would operate the umbrella, and the possibility of a motion sensor that would detect when users have left the safety of the umbrella and automatically close it a few minutes later. The construction otherwise looks to be fairly simple, although we can’t help but wonder how repairable the rig would be if the umbrella becomes damaged.

Still, it’s a neat concept that wouldn’t be terribly difficult to implement, and it could come in handy in urban areas. There are a few more illustrations over here, so make sure to click through and check them out.

[via Tree Hugger]

This video shows how this Sony FutureScapes project works with four different concepts: Wandular, The Internet of Things Academy (IOTA), Hyper Village, and The Shift. With innovation at the center of this futuristic adventure, Sony hopes that many will join in and make it as great as it can be in the now. Have a peek at the presentation video here:

Sony FutureScapes has been syphoned down to these four projects and will be pushing forward with them in mind from here on out:

Wandular – A device which fits in the palm of your hand and never goes out of date due to cloud downloads and plug-and-play hardware upgrades.

The Internet of Things Academy – A place where everyone can get educated on software, data, and complex hardware, and how these things work with the things they use and/or need on a day to day basis.

Hyper Village – A place where “high-tech” and “high-nature” blend in a rural community setting. Both high-tech methods and natural perfection are used to create one fabulous future.

The Shift – Not an invention, but a philosophy. Here you’ll be working with your relationship to technology and seeing how it’ll help better meet all of our needs, not just the ones that are met here in the present. “How might technology itself change to boost creativity, productivity, or even our relationship with nature?”

Check out the video above and stay tuned as Sony and Forum for the Future continue to innovate!

Renault say the all that power is sent to the back wheels using a sequential gearbox with six stages, similar to an F1 racer. The car uses a flappy-paddle gearbox as opposed to a traditional stick shift. A limited slip-differential is also onboard, but the car doesn’t feature an Advanced Brake System or Electronic Stability Program. The car is 170-inches long, 48-inches tall, and 77-inches wide, and weighs around 1,940 lbs.

The concept car was designed as a celebration of the Alpine A110’s 50th birthday. That doesn’t necessarily the sports car of yesterday will make an appearance, with a spokesperson for Renault saying that it wouldn’t really be financially justifiable unless it was sold in the United States and China. Still, the company is still mulling things over, and a final decision to bring back the Alpine brand will be made towards the end of this year.

[via Left Lane]

“It’s not a project with Apple. It’s a private project that began with Steve Jobs and that has been taken over by his wife,” said a spokesperson for Starck, confirming that the project is for a yacht that Jobs had been working on. This yacht will reportedly have an Apple-store-like aesthetic that’s sleek and minimalist along with 40-foot long glass walls.

Rumors about a Starck designed Apple product ignited last week after the designer was interviewed by a French radio station. Starck revealed that he has been visiting Jobs once a month over the past seven years and continues to visit Jobs’ widow to work on a “revolutionary” project that will come out in eight months.

[via WSJ]

The project Jobs and Starck were working on at one point, as revealed by Alex Heath from Cult of Mac, was a yacht. This yacht was meant to have many Apple-store-like qualities, including being “sleek and minimalist, with 40-foot-long glass walls.” Watch out for elderly ladies, they might smack right into it!

Starck also mentioned this week that he was still visiting Jobs’ widow to continue designing the project he spoke of from time to time. It’s not out of the question that this could mean he’s still making the Jobs’ family yacht a reality, this project not actually affiliated with Apple in the end. Perhaps only a problem with the translations that occurred today between news reports and the original radio interview that happened in France.

That said, can’t wait to see a yacht with some fabulous glass exteriors on it! Wouldn’t want to miss a massive creature created in part by Jobs and Starck in any way! Image above via Yanko Design.

First we’re going to have you take a look at a video which has Starck speaking about his collaboration with Lacie for a couple of external harddrives. These drives were released in 2008, this putting them well in line with lines of thought that could have made their way into the Apple design process as he did this project at once. He makes an infamous comment here, that these drives are like “brain with motorcycle helmet”, calling on the protection the drive offers the information it contains. Have a peek here:

These drives are extremely simple, work with Apple products of course, and have many of the “timeless” qualities touted by Apple products inside the last few years (for starters). These drives also have touch abilities without a whole lot of direction on the surface. Apple has pushed some boundaries of Gesture technology with their latest updates to Mac OS X as well as their mobile line iOS for iPhone and iPad. Will intuitive gesture technology make its way into the Starck Apple project this year? Count on it.

Starck is currently under exclusive contract with SLS Hotels for architecture, this contract spanning until 2022. Don’t expect that Apple will be building any gigantic structures with Starck therefor, of course. Starck has worked on automotive projects – oddly enticing designs, indeed, as well as home and office furnishings. Could Apple be getting into the furniture business this year? Not likely.

We’ll be following the Starck connection to Apple as closely as possible over the next few months – more details as they present themselves!

Faliszek and Wolpaw spoke on how taking out GLaDOS was only a momentary possibility, with play-testers essentially having a heart attack over the idea that their beloved love-to-hate robot was not present in the game. As it turns out, it was the developers of the game that wanted GLaDOS out, simply because working with that same tone of voice for years on end has a negative effect on the brain of whoever’s working with her. For the players though, it’s a must have for short-time use.

The character Chell is renowned for her uncommon not over the top sexualization as well as her unique not talking at all in the game situation. She is who you are, you being the first person protagonist in the game, and as the storyline goes now in Portal 2, you’ve got a very similar situation going on compared to what you had in the first Portal game, where an early iteration of Portal 2 had a completely different human female with a different colored jumpsuit than in the first game and with long hair – clearly not the same character. Her code name was Mel, and play testers apparently enjoyed being her until GLaDOS showed up and didn’t know who she was.

Next there’s a mythical “F-Stop system” that for a period of time replaced the portal gun entirely. Valve did not go into detail on this system, but we’ve done a bit of research on what the system could be and have had some strange discussions with Valve fans galore on the reality of the technology in the wild. What F-Stop appears most likely to be is a reflection of what an f-stop is on a camera, that being the focal length of a lens divided by the aperture diameter. In practice here in the game, it’s a change in size through portals – two different sized portals, moving an object through makes the object smaller.

Another interesting idea comes from SteamPowered forum member WilliumBobCole who notes:

“I believe it would involve some kind of photography gameplay, where changing the f-stop (aperture opening), it would alter the world in some way, for example, darkening the scene to eliminate a bright obstacle, or changing the DOF so that you can pass through an obstacle in some way.

Valve have said little about it as they might incorporate it into a future game, and I’d be more than happy for it to be a prequel to portal without portals, and tbh, if they don’t do it, they should at least release a tech demo they made playtesters try, so we can see what it was all about and what we’re missing out on…” – WilliumBobCole

One of several alternating story lines revealed in this talk was a Cave Johnson reality in which the protagonist, known as Cave Johnson – the founder of Aperture Scienc of course, explores the environment of a pre-1980′s world before Aperture’s destruction in the first Portal game. This Version of the game would have GLaDOS, but would only be a bit of storyline with fancy “small print” statements adding bits like, as Wolpaw said, “show[ing] you puppies while talking about rectal bleeding.” That’s a 1980s we’ll leave to the past.

Another version had the robot orb Wheatley being dropped down a flight of stairs with GLaDOS essentially busting everyone’s favorite robot to show her evil. There’s a sequence out there with not just Wheatley being busted up, but with a random Valve employee speaking his lines in place of the voice actor that was eventually chosen, Stephen Merchant. This sequence and that voice will never be released by Valve, so says Valve.

Another robot made for the game but never released was one known internally as Morgan Freeman Sphere. This bot was one of many whose fate it was to sit eternally in a 20 x 20 room, contemplating the room and learning all there was to know about it. When you entered the room, the bot would answer any question you had about it, regaling all the excellence there was in the room, but freaking out at the idea of even peeking outside the room. There’s a disease named after that.

Endings to the game were a big bit of the discussions before the final version of the game existed, one of them being the epic moon death sequence. Perhaps you’ve heard of your portal gun being able to shoot through a crack in the wall, hitting the moon with one side of a portal, your other end leading you there for a quick and painful suffocation?

One of the bits that eventually made it nearly in-tact to the final build of the game in the same manner in which it was first tested was the two-robot cooperative mode. Another iteration of pure madness had GLaDOS battling these two robots against one another for all eternity only to realize that without human observers, all the collected research she would do would be meaningless.

GLaDOS decided to send her robot minions out into the world in this iteration of the game to collect artifacts from the human world to learn how to be more human. In this world, one of the robots returned a strange iteration of a Garfield comic, drawn by Nedroid, and a plot was built around changing the comic. In sort of a mini plot line, none of the robots can find any humor in the comic and GLaDOS makes modifications which include having each of the characters in the comic strip murdered.

Then there’s the fabled competitive multiplayer mode – this was a reality at one point, said the Valve duo, but it just never panned out. As Wolpaw called it, multiplayer competitive mode in Portal 2 was:

“A cross between Speedball 2 and Portal, except with none of the good parts of either.” – Wolpaw

Unfortunate for lovers of strange unused bits of pre-release versions of games, Valve’s Faliszek noted that the final version of the game is all they’ll ever be releasing for Portal 2. They’ve put the best versions of everything into the game, and none of the older versions will be popping up anywhere in any kind of finished product, these stepping stones leading to only one place: the Portal 2 we already know and love.

[via Rock Paper Shotgun]

In the interview there was of course lots of chatter on games and the future of the Valve system itself and how it functions, but in a question regarding “inputs or outputs that you’re experimenting with,” Newell bore fruit. The wearable computer solutions Newell speaks of are “look like the old wearable computing solutions, the difference being that they’re way higher resolution, way lighter weight, [and] much better battery life.” Interestingly enough, he notes that biofeedback and biometrics are the main subject of these devices, whatever they may end up being, while virtual reality in the sense that you’re fully immersed visually did not specifically come up.

Perhaps is the fact that we’re outside of the game, no matter how much of it we’re experiencing, that keeps us interested in playing. As Gabe notes, it’s not even a matter of creating something that’s missing in the industry today:

“It’s not a question of whether or not this is going to be useful for customers, whether or not it’s going to be useful for content developers, you know, it’s figuring out the best way we can get these into people’s hands.” – Newell

Will we see glasses comparable to what we’ve seen as recently as CES 2012? Perhaps body suits that bring pressure to the chest, smells to the nose, and Avatar-like abilities to the game? Or maybe gigantic screens is all we’re speaking about instead:

“Well it’s exciting when you, you know, some of the prototypes that I’ve seen are basically the equivalent of a hundred inch display with considerably lower power requirements than a typical smartphone display, so if you just look at it straight up as a presentation technology that’s pretty interesting. It seems like some of the hard engineering problems are getting solved and a hundred inch display is way better than a ten inch display. The other thing that’s interesting is that a lot of these systems tend to allow you to overlap on a per-pixel basis the sort of real world with the virtual world.” – Newell

We’ll stick with Newell over the next few months to see if he’s really on to something here. With Valve doing more business than ever before, we can’t wait to see what turns up in their labs, even if they only play a small part in the manufacturing of hardware.

[via Penny Arcade]

What we’ve got here is a list of five posts with a bit of a roundup of other runners-up below. The first two posts are strange, but if you’re part of the thousands and thousands of viewers that took a look at either of them earlier in the year, you’ll know exactly why they hit the top – they’re awesome! So very strange are these top two posts that you’ll find them absolutely irresistible.

Massive networks of stripes appear in Chinese Desert

As it turns out, people freak out when they see things in the desert. Especially if they’re in China, and extra especially if they think that they’re there for alien spacecraft. What these stripes ended up being was something to the effect of satellite alignment markings, but the conjecture beforehand (and some afterward, just for the heck of it) lead us to one gigantic comment festival and shares galore. Kim died as the year passed by, but the internet seemed to care less. [visit this post]

Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera has us seeing spherical potential

There’s something about projects that are awesome and don’t yet have a backer to make them a reality that really touches the viewer. Users found this panoramic ball camera not only a great idea, but one that lead to many other ideas along the same lines. Tossing a ball up into the air, snapping one gigantic photo, and catching said ball: that’s all it is. That’s all it has to be though, because that’s awesome. We’re currently still in contact with the developers behind the project and will be reporting on its eventual release as well. [visit this post]

iPad 2 vs iPad 1 [Original]

The one thing more important than the release of a monster product as made by Apple is the comparison that gets made to its previous generation product with the same name. When the iPad 2 was announced, we jammed out a comparison article complete with images faster than anybody else. Thusly there were quite a few interested parties, if you know what I mean. That and users across the web used the photos from the post to do their own articles of similar nature, linking back in turn. [visit this post]

iPhone 4S Review

The iPhone 4S was one of two of Apple’s biggest releases of the year, and even though it wasn’t technically a brand new iPhone in its entirety, so many people had their 2-year contracts ending right at the same time that the iPhone 4S was being released, there was a mad torrential downpour of onlookers for the review. That and because the iPhone is one of the few cornerstones Apple builds its mobile world around, our review was massive, and certainly worth sharing. [visit this post]

iPad 2 Review

Because most of the people in the world who wanted to upgrade to a new iPad didn’t have a contract to worry about like the iPhone users did, everyone on earth was interested in the iPad 2. That and the iPad 2 is fun for everyone, and again, we had it so early it made everyone’s nose bleed. Everyone loves a good tablet review, and this being the mother of all of them to the point where people think the name for tablet is “iPad”, it was viewing time from all around the world. [visit this post]

Runners Up

Of course this being an explosive year for Android, we weren’t without our share of Android blockbuster posts like the Samsung Galaxy S II review, the comparison post between the HTC Sensation and the SGSII, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Pictured Clear as Day post from quite recently. Our reviews have essentially commanded the top spots in post views, this being quite obviously because they retain their value long after the day they’re posted – not to mention our reviews are pretty cool.

There was one more comparison inside the top 10 posts, this being the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer vs Acer Iconia Tab A500, then the two biggest guns near the end were made by Samsung and Apple once again. Our Galaxy Nexus Review and the post “iPhone 5″ leak by Cincinnati Bell were hit up rather well. Did you check these posts out when they were first posted, all those weeks or months ago?

Were you surprised any of these posts made it into the top 5 or top 10? Let us know!

The proposed redesign features a very abstract and modern logo, where the rounded parts of the HP letters are removed, leaving behind simple slanted lines. These angled lines clearly remind us of the traditional HP logo while creating a new vibe of forward movement, adding an overall cool factor. However, such a major redesign like this one isn’t likely in the horizon for now as HP is still struggling to find its direction after a confusing year.

HP has experienced some major changes this year, struggling unsuccessfully to launch a new WebOS ecosystem and hardware that ultimately got dumped abruptly and attempting to stabilize its leadership transitions with the replacement of Leo Apotheker by Meg Whitman as CEO. Whitman has already made some major decisions for the company, including not spinning off its personal systems group and making WebOS open source.

[via TechCrunch]

The EV-STER concept vehicle is certainly attractive, featuring an open top and a small footprint with an aerodynamic wedge-shaped body made from carbon fiber for reduced weight. The drivers side is on the right and features two joysticks instead of a steering wheel.

It’s a two-seater similar to the Tesla Roadster, but unfortunately with a lot less power and speed. Although Honda didn’t get too specific, they did mention that the EV-STER takes about 5 seconds to go from 0 to 60km/hr (37mph) and maxes out at about 99mph.

The vehicle is powered by a 10-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery that Honda claims can store enough charge to take you a distance of 100 miles. Recharging the vehicle would take under three hours at 200 volts.

[via Wired]

Without the relatively recent invention of the smartphone, none of this would have been possible – and indeed without the invention of several components that aren’t yet a reality, neither will this concept turn into something we can actually use. As you’ll quickly come to understand, the actual working nature of this device takes a back seat to what’s perhaps possible in the future should things like completely transparent computer chips and wires. What we DO have here though is something I’d certainly love to try out if and when it does come to fruition in the future for the invisible photographer in all of us.

The forefinger module senses whether your finger is straight, bent, or bent with the rest of your fingers. If you bend only the one finger, the other piece of the puzzle takes a photo. If you bend several fingers, you’ll begin to take a video. The thumb module has only a camera lens and an on/off button visible and is responsible for both collecting the media and transporting the resulting files to your smartphone. From there you can do whatever you want with the files as they sit on your smartphone while the Air Clicker remains free and clear.

Try not to think too hard about how impossible this is at the moment, instead imagine a world with no bulk and jump around in anticipation!

[via Yanko Design]

The AC-X is the more practical of the two and is a plug-in hybrid designed for both short and long commutes. It can be driven purely on a charge of its onboard battery or can switch to engine mode, allowing it to take on much longer trips than can be achieved on an electric-only vehicle. The Small Sports EV concept, on the other hands, is aimed at “fun” driving and looks to be a two-seater with a convertible top.

Both models have only been revealed in renderings with Honda likely saving the big unveil for the show in Tokyo next month. Honda will also be showcasing a new N Concept series that emphasizes the creation of ample space and will be debuting the first production model from that line called N BOX. Planned production models of various motorcycles such as the NC700S, INTEGRA, and NC700X will also be on hand.

[via AutoBlog]

The Pivo 3 zero-emission three-seater has evolved quite a bit in design from the Pivo 1 and 2, which resembled cartoonish bubbles on wheels. But it still retains many of its quirky features, including the driver’s seat being located at the center position rather than towards the left or right side of the vehicle.

It’s wheels no longer turn completely sideways, but still maintain a large range of rotation, allowing for a tiny two-meter turning radius that makes the vehicle extremely easy to maneuver in tight spaces. Parking the vehicle is further simplified with an Automated Valet Parking system that lets the Pivo 3 park and recharge itself in specially equipped parking slots.

[via Engadget]

In an excerpt from the Jobs biography, Isaacson revealed that the Apple co-founder and visionary felt that he had finally “cracked” the formula to creating a successful TV, believing that a TV needed to be simple, elegant, and fully integrated. This has led many to believe that Apple’s next step will be to be debut an iOS-powered Apple HDTV set that would integrate apps including FaceTime and Siri.

Analysts have long been speculating on an Apple-branded television set. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster has been predicting such a move by Apple as far back as 2009 and now believes that Apple could push such a product out to market by late 2012 or early 2013. Other analysts believe that Apple will start off with smaller TVs sporting 15- to 19-inch touchscreens that target the kitchen and bedroom.

It’s also been recently rumored that Apple’s head of iTunes, Jeff Robbin, has been charged with leading the development for the Apple HDTV. A lack of a major update to the current Apple TV set-top box has further fueled the speculation.

[via 9to5 Mac]

What you get in this hypothetical kit is no less than four self-defense tools, three of which could potentially do some heavy damage to your opponent. I mean, not opponent, your ATTACKER, of course. There’s a brass knuckle, a unit of pepper spray, a whistle, and a pocket knife. And what’s best? The size, of course, each of them shorter than a ball-point pen and fairly thin as well. Pack them in your wallet, if you wish, but keep them in your back pocket for quick access.

Now we’ve just got to wait for this set to reach reality. At the moment it sits in the archives at CreativeSession design studio waiting for some monetary support. And don’t let anyone tell you anything other than the following: if someone designed a product, and the template is just sitting around in their office, all they need is a backer and it WILL be made. Call us up when the first batch comes out!

[via Yanko Design]

This isn’t a completed project, kids, I’m sorry to say, but it is on its way to becoming one. This is what’s known as a conceptual industrial design, one made by the designer without as much regard for the final product as one further down the production line would have. It is through projects like these that the most innovative concepts are brought to life – and of course, to light. Soft enough of an idea for you?

Meanwhile this pillow object has already been making the rounds abroad. The inSoft pillow has won the prestigious Koizumi Lighting Award, this bringing it closer to the production floor once more. Now we’ve all just got to find someone with a load of cash to put under the pillow, as it were, so that we can all have one straight from the store. Light em up!

[via Yanko Design]

The Iris tablet concept was created by a group of designers: Liu Wei, Yao Kai Chi, Hong Ruei Hong, and Cheng Ya Fang. Its transparent screen for augmented reality concept isn’t competely new, in fact, we’ve seen Apple file a patent application for something similar. But, to see the idea brought to life in renderings is a lot more exciting than patent diagrams.

The scanning capabilities also aren’t far fetched, given the recently shown off LG LSM-100 prototype mouse that has very similar scanning capabilities. The mouse can be easily swiped over documents to scan them and it has it’s own neat concept video below. So, the Iris tablet concept is quite plausible for a usable product in the near future.

[via Yanko Design]

The virtual keyboard is shown projected onto a surface by swiping it off the screen. The projected keyboard can then be scaled to a more comfortable size using a pinch-to-zoom gesture directly on the surface of the projection. It appears that sensors are able to detect your key strokes as a combination of light and shadows

But Aatma takes this idea further to show a holographic display. While Apple has filed patents for pico projection systems for their iPhones and iPads, as well as a feature that can read and react to the silhouettes of gestures in front of the projections, the concept shown in the video projects an image in mid-air. It’s a bit less plausible at this time than the keyboard projection, but hey, it’s a concept.

[via 9to5 Mac]

Infiniti JX Concept

First we’ve got Infiniti’s latest luxury crossover, a vehicle set to arrive on the showroom floor inside 2012, the Infiniti JX Concept. This vehicle is a seven-seat, three seat row having, V6 engine running four-wheel or front-wheel drive and a CVT (continuous variable transmission) that’s both fuel-efficient and mimics a stepped transmission for sport-tuned performance. This vehicle has Bose audio, Blind Spot Intervention and Backup Collision Intervention, and a whole heck of a lot more. Check it out in our feature post Infini JX Concept Unveiled to the world at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where you’ll see additional details and photos galore.

Infiniti Etherea

Infiniti’s second work here made its debut back at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, this being its first public North American outing. Its illuminated grille, lovely C-pillar like the JX Concept, and “four-door coupe” styling makes this vehicle a sight to behold. This smaller vehicle still holds the continuously variable transmission like the JX Concept, only in front wheel drive in this case, with a supercharged 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine capable of 250 horsepower. All this is paired with an electric motor for all your modern hybrid needs. This vehicle is still only a future potential production model, but what a unique vision it is already – check out our Infiniti Etherea at PebbleBeach Concours d’Elegance post for more details and additional photos.

IPL G Convertible

The final reveal this week by Infiniti is the IPL G Convertible, an open-topped powerhouse with retractable hardtop roof with a 3.7-liter V6 – all this based on the existing Infiniti G37 Convertible. This vehicle of course contains an IPL-tuned engine, exhaust, and suspension as well as a smooth red interior. This vehicle features 19-inch IPL aluminum-alloy wheels, one of many features the Infiniti group notes will very likely reach the final production model next year. This production version will be shown at the LA Auto Show this November. Check out our full post on the vehicle at this event in IPL G Convertible at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2011 – photos included.

Thank You Infiniti

Lastly we’d like to thank Infiniti for hosting SlashGear at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2011! We had a wonderful time and look forward to the future!

Brought in concept form to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this weekend, the IPL G Convertible shows off its IPL-tuned engine, exhaust and suspension as well as a specially crafted red leather interior. There are also eye-catching 19-inch IPL aluminum-alloy wheels, and Infiniti says the production model will share most of the equipment and styling when it goes on sale next year.

The production version of the Infiniti 2013 IPL G Convertible will go on show at the LA Auto Show this coming November, where the company will announce details like performance and pricing. Given the IPL G Coupe starts at $48,900 and that the convertible version of the G37 carries a roughly $9k premium over its regular Coupe cousin, we’re guessing the IPL G Convertible will fall somewhere in the late $50k region.

Infiniti Hardtop Convertible G37 Test Drive:

I must remind you, as I always try to, that when we’re looking at a concept device like this , especially one with technology that hasn’t been invented or finalized quite yet, that it’s more of an exercise in wild possibilities made for the sake of inspiring future generations of inventors and scientists, not to mention other industrial designers. This iPhone 5 concept is what Ozek says is 23% smaller than the current model iPhone 4. With the current requirements for hardware inside the device as it is, such a reduction is not possible – but imagine if it was! Someday we WILL have the Zoolander phone, I assure you.

Then there’s fingerprint associations – each of your fingerprints can be scanned and assigned to an app, scanning your fingerprint twice revealing a second set of apps like tapping the station button on your car radio. This tech isn’t that far off – remember the Motorola ATRIX 4G has a fingerprint scanner on it in place to unlock your device – no big deal! Then there’s NFC of course, built in and unlocked again by fingerprint so no-one can run around tapping your phone to tills without your knowledge. That little white bar at the bottom of the device is the scanner for all fingerprint actions.

The back of the device has a nearly-invisible ring around the Apple logo, this ring a pinwheel that you can use in a very similar manner to the classic iPod. The squares along the side and top of the device are stealthy buttons for volume (along the side) and gaming if you like – the top button is of course the power/sleep button. The front of the device is flat, the back has a tiny bit of a bump to it, and it appears that the front and back still have cameras.

Seem at all realistic to you? I sure wouldn’t mind the volume buttons as gaming controls.

[via Yanko Design]

Designer Joseph Dumary has conjured up a very futuristic-looking PS4 concept that’s also very eco-friendly—but what design concepts aren’t these days? He imagines the new console to be composed of 60% recyclable materials, to use 0 watts during standby mode, and to have a ECO Restart function that saves games, turns off the console, and can resume exactly where the user left off without a need for a full reboot.

His PS4 concept would also have the console automatically shut off primary power after each 30-minute period of gameplay to draw energy from a rechargeable battery for 5 minutes. The console connects wirelessly to any DPConnect TV and detects the appropriate resolution and audio output.

This concept PS4 features 1.5TB HDD, full 3D 4K2K compatibility, DLNA, HDMI Connect, 3D Blu-Ray, USB 3.0, DPConnect Bravia Sync, Sony Ericsson sync, Qriocity, cloud saving, live TV, and a whole bunch of widgets.

[via Yanko Design]

If you are the sort that needs an alternative means of waking from your clock what you need is the Alternative alarm clock. This is a design concept from designer Ki Hyun Kim. This clock looks like a plain old clock on the front, but has two of those strange looking Euro AC outlets on the top. The outlets allow the clock to act like an extension cord and they will turn on whatever you plug into them when the alarm goes off.

This allows you to wake to whatever it is that gets you going in the morning. You can wake to a lamp, coffee maker, or whatever you want. It’s an interesting design, but I wouldn’t want to have to look at a couple of cords running across my nightstand all the time. I think I will stick to my iPhone.

[via Dezeen]

We used to have fights when I was a kid over who got to use the corncob holders at my house shaped like corncobs. I can’t imagine the fights the Cornobi would have caused. The only downside is that it only puts a handle on one side of the cob. Typically, you need a handle on each side to get a good grip. You will have to eat this thing like an ice cream cone.

The top of the lightsaber has three prongs that stab into the corncob to keep it steady. This might be only marginally useful, but I would so buy it. It would look great in the drawer next to my Star Trek Enterprise pizza cutter. Check out the parody video as bizarre as the Cornobi below.

[via Craziestgadgets]

I can only imagine how annoying having some colored LEDs in the corner of your eye could be. Not to mention the wires that have to run over your eyebrow and behind your ear to power those LEDs. The effect is very odd and reminds me a bit of something Lady Gaga would wear at a concert combined with a dress made out of hot dogs.

The LED eyeshadow concept was dreamed up by designer Lulin Ding and the thing you see hanging behind the woman’s ear in the gallery photos is apparently some of the works for the electronics in the eyeshadow. Ding said, “I sought to translate the attributes of eyeshadow into a digital medium. I made the initial decision to use the light to paint the eyelids when you blink and close your eye.”

[via Ecouterre]