Panasonic’s EZ Touch multitouch remote control concept
Panasonic is looking to reinvent the remote control with its EZ Touch Remote prototype that it is showing off here at CEATEC. Rather than rely on a touch-screen interface that forces one to look down at a remote (and away from the object of one’s entertainment), the concept puts the visual feedback where it belongs: on the screen. The remote can sense left- or right-handed users and adjust the interface appropriately, moving important triggers around based on where one’s thumb may (or may not) be. Dual touch pads allow for multitouch data entry and zoom manipulation, while gestures allow for quick scrolls, making this one of the most intuitive and drool-worthy remote controls we’ve seen in a while.
Courtesy of engadget; more images here
Designer of the Week
Yves Behar
Born to an East German mother and a Jewish-Turkish father in Lausanne, Switzerland. Studied Industrial design in the United States and Europe, with a B.S in ID from Art Center in Pasadena, California.
He started his career at frogdesign and lunar design in Silicon valley. He founded fuseproject, which combines three aspects important to him. Firstly, he wants to be a futurist, optimistic about the possibilities of new technology. Secondly, he’s a humanist, in that his designs seek to put the human experience first. And, finally, he’s a committed naturalist, promoting sustainable ways of living and consuming.
He works in the world of fashion, lifestyle, sports and technology, for clients such as Birkenstock, BMW’s MINI, haasprojekt, Herman Miller, HBF, Hewlett Packard, Hussein Chalayan, Microsoft, Nike, OLPC, Philou, PUIG and Toshiba.
His latest known projects are
In 2005, a massive chandelier sculpted by Behar for Swarovski was installed at JFK airport. The piece is a loose tangle of organic curves with 55,000 crystals, and includes a motion detector triggering 2,000 blue light-emitting diodes that react to the movement of passengers [4].
He is the chief industrial designer of OLPC’s XO laptop, signing on with the project in 2005 [3] and has been with the team since March of 2006 [5].
He designed and holds a stake in the highly acclaimed Bluetooth headset, Jawbone, which he calls a facial accessory [6].
Quotes from Behar:
- After winning the INDEX award for the OLPC laptop: “Great design is a way to tell people that you value them.”
- On his parents: “One is functional and modernist and the other, expressive and poetic. I always try to marry the two in my projects.”
- On his San Francisco home: “I think I can think here.”
- On the future of design: “I believe design’s purpose is not only to show us the future, but to bring us the future.”
- On advertising: “Advertising is the price you pay for being unoriginal.“
最完美的手表手机 The most perfect watch style mobile phone
Sorry..it doesn’t have English version…
Wrist phones
Wrist phones might become the next trend in the mobile phone industry. Here are some concepts:
Hyundai
Samsung
TagHeuer
My Mobile Watch
what were people searching on google in 2007?
Google released the traditional list of popular queries from the year that is about to end. As usually, Google doesn’t list the top queries because they’re pretty boring and don’t change to much (e.g.: weather), but instead it includes the queries that had an impressive evolution and really represent the zeitgeist (spirit of the time).
The fastest rising query in 2007 was iPhone (trend), the mobile device from Apple that a had a big impact this year. Social networks and online video sites were very popular this year: the most notable new entry is Badoo (trend), “a multi-lingual London based, social networking website, offering its users the ability to connect with people at a local and global level, to share photos and videos with friends, to create reportages of their lives, and to promote themselves and their work.” Facebook (trend) is another winner, as it managed to launch a successful platform for applications and find a way to monetize its service. Webkinz toys (trend) were also popular this year, the same as virtual worlds: Second Life for adults and Club Penguin for kids (trends).
It’s clear that the all these queries have something to do with communicating and sharing (by phone, instant messaging, by sharing videos, interacting with your friends or creating a virtual world).
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/12/fastest-rising-google-queries-in-2007.html
USA : car as cellphone as car
Nissan’s advertisting agency TBWA make an interesting connection between the clamshell phone and the their new Altima model in the US.
Do cars have a soul, too? Tokyo
Presented on the Tokyo Moto Show 2007 this new Honda PUYO was a very refreshing approach to automotive Design. The coating of the whole car is a layer of soft, thick gel, able to change the color depending on the car’s mood (not the drivers). The meaning of moods for cars would than be, happiness for no problem, annoyance for being out of gas and stress for having engine problems.
I personally also love the subcutaneous lights and door opener.
Another proposal of round, friendly Design is the Pivo 2 from Nissan. The blobby Design comes with a great parking feature; you can turn the wheels 90 degree and the whole car has a 360 degree turning cabin.
I am sure people on the streets here in Shanghai would love this.
The main attraction of Pivo2 though is a small robot in the car, answering your questions, measuring and analysing your face movement and jumping in with questions just in time when you get tired.
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