We’ll admit, when we first started watching this World by Light concept video by Matthias Menzel, Lena Edman and Klaus Wasiak of the Umea Institute of Design we thought it was going to detail a prototype e-magazine or tablet UI. That assumption rapidly fell away as the video progresses: the three-person team doesn’t just have the iPad UX in their sights, but airports and even the basics of travel as we know them now.
Video demo after the cut
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We're not going to labor the old "sometimes the simplest solutions..." point because, well, if the were so straightforward then why wouldn't someone have commercialized on them already, but design students Marcella Maltese and Lin Wei's "Gravity Ruler" luggage scales really do have us kicking ourselves. Intended to avoid unexpected shocks at check-in, the simple handle takes advantage of some stretchy bungee cord to give an at-a-glance guesstimate of whether you're over an airline's limit.
If you’ve travelled by plane in recent months then you’ll likely have seen the crazy rush to stuff bags into overhead compartments as people desperately avoid checked-luggage fees. It could be worse, though; it could be you trying to fit into an overhead cubby. Some sadist designer has come up with a new way to stuff more passengers into each flight, using what basically amounts to stacked or bunk-bed seating.
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Lithium-ion batteries could soon be unwelcome in plane cargo holds, if the world's largest pilots union has its way; in the wake of several explosions where bulk amounts of the batteries have caused fires, the organization is calling for a ban on their transport by plane. However the ban would not affect individual passengers bringing devices powered by lithium-ion batteries - such as laptops and cellphones - onto planes, though there may be some confusion with checked luggage should li-ion batteries be left inside.
Let’s be blunt: iLuv’s portable USB adapters aren’t the first we’ve seen, and nor are they the handsomest, but they are at least relatively cheap. The iLuv iAD116 – which has one USB port – and the iLuv iAD117 – which has three – each have folding mains pins and come in at under $20 each.
Virgin America announced today that their airline is the first to offer Wi-Fi on every single one of its flights. That’s pretty impressive and will make traveling a much more productive period for most people.
If the Piaggio MP3 leaning-scooter has taken your fancy, but you’d prefer something with a bit more grunt, Nick Schotter should be your first port of call. He’s spent the past 20 years working on the 4MC (4-wheeled motorcycle concept), a bike capable of leaning 40-degrees to each side for super-speedy cornering.
Video demo of the trike after the cut
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.
If you’re in the market for a Windows Mobile device that does GPS really, really well, the newly introduced Pharos Traveler 137 looks like it won’t lead you astray – literally. If it does, it’s just not doing its job.
Just as we thought that every possible form of luggage has been created we are taken by surprise by something new and exciting. The newest gizmo that happened to float our way is the Climbing UP suitcase designed by Woo Moonhyung.
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