Arty’s Watch is Captivating

For once familiarity doesn’t breed contempt! I’m talking about very familiar Art Lebedev Studio and their amazing concepts seen here on Yanko Design! This time around we have for you the Integralus Digital Watch. It features a double body closure and two display segments (one for hour and one for minutes) that snap together for a secure lock. The body is made of milled aluminium and the elastic bands come in three sizes. Overall I think this is one cool watch.

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BMW Clever Center Console

Essence, by Renzo Menegon, is a multi-task device designed specifically for the BMW MINI Countryman Car and its unique center rail. The design was inspired by a flower, and features 2 articulated “leaves” that can be adjusted manually between positions. In these different positions Essence can act as an arm rest, bottle holder, or even as a compact table perfect for your wine glass (so long as you’re not driving of course). Attractive and useful, this is a great space-management solution.

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Rugiada - Lawn Watering Unit

The Rugiada waterer is an all-in-one irrigation solution that lets the common user garden like the pros. After inserting into the ground, the user selects the vegetable’s typology and the garden’s dimensions. Internal components including a humidity sensor and photocell for radiation detection automatically regulate the time and kind of irrigation (atomization, sprinkle, or droplets).
Designer: ddpstudio

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Bamboo Lamp and Swan Lamp

Gotta love these minimal LED desk lamps by Duck Image. The Bamboo Lamp combines natural wood and aluminum into one angular, cohesive unit while the Swan Lamp boasts an elegant curved, aluminum arm. With intuitive touch-sensors, both are as simple as they are easy to use. The housing of the lamps is designed to hide components like screws and wiring for a clean, seamless finish. 
Designer: Duck Image

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Sponge Lamp

It may not be flashy, shiny, dazzling, or obvious, but that’s exactly what’s so great about the Sponge lamp. Inspired by the sea sponge, these hand made clay pottery pieces provide a warm and inviting glow through a porous surface. Perfect for the beach home as a subtle maritime accent or any natural setting as a uniquely textured lighting element.
Designer: Miguel Ángel

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iPhone 4S jailbreak so close, yet so far?

The iPhone 4S has been available for about two months, yet it has no jailbreak. The iPad 2 has been available for the better part of a year and it can only be jailbroken on an ancient version of iOS 4 (4.3.3). It’s dark times for the jailbreak community, but there may be hope. The hacker who may have the best chances of cracking the iPhone 4S’s defenses says he is making progress.
The A5 processor is Apple’s best yet defense against jailbreaking. It was cracked once, but only briefly. Apple was quick to patch the exploit and it has since been impenetrable. Making matters worse, the maestro behind the only jailbreak, Comex, is now working for Apple.
The jailbreak community’s best hope against the A5 fortress is a hacker named pod2g. He has an untethered jailbreak for A4 devices in the works, but he may also have something up his sleeve for the A5; the hacker says that progress has been made on the iPhone 4S, but obstacles remain.
pod2g says he is close to an untethered iPhone 4S jailbreak, but he is being thrown off by processor cache issues. It has something to with the Cortex A9 cache management system. He says it may be sorted quickly, or it may not. pod2g promises an update on his progress by tomorrow.

Once an essential way of doubling the capabilities of the iPhone, jailbreaking has been thwarted over the last year. Apple has waged a soft war on the hacking community with a three-fold strategy: implementing the best jailbreak features, hiring away the best talent, and making its processors as hack-proof as possible. It’s been a successful strategy that has left the most popular tablet almost hack-proof for nearly a year, and the latest iPhone completely hack-proof for two months.
One thing we have learned about the cat-and-mouse game is that the jailbreak community is a hacking Hydra; when one head is cut off, another grows to take its place. If pod2g can successfully hack the 4S (and iPad 2?), the mouse will, once again, have the upper hand over the cat. It’s only a matter of time.

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IBM Says We’ll Have Mind-Reading Computers Within Five Years

Keyboards and mice may seem like clunky artifacts of the past within the next five years, pushed aside in favor of the ultimate user interface: the human mind.
That’s according to IBM, which just published its “5 in 5″ forecast: a prediction about five innovations that will fundamentally change our world within the next five years. The most head-turning prediction: we’ll be able to use the power of our minds to operate machines.
This isn’t telepathy, so those hoping to get a real-time stream of thoughts from an individual had best look to shows like Heroes or Bablylon 5. What IBM envisions is using a simple brain-machine interface (BMI) that can detect different kinds of brainwaves and tell a computer to respond a certain way.

Extremely simple versions of the technology already exist in products like the Star Wars Force Trainer, which includes a headset that’s based on electroencephalography (EEG). More advanced versions of the technology have been beneficial to the disabled at operating computers.
Now IBM wants to take the tech mainstream. Big Blue says it’s working on technology for people to use their brains to interface with their everyday devices, like phones and PCs. “Just think about calling someone, and it happens,” IBM promises in this video:
Rounding out the other four technologies that IBM sees exploding in five years: passwords become replaced by multiple biometric scans, people will help power their homes simply by moving around, the digital divide will be eliminated by the wide accessibility of mobile technology, and spam will actually evolve into something useful.
The thrust behind IBM’s predictions isn’t just to pick the technologies that are the most promising, but also to find the ones that have the potential to reach the mass market.

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Because Cameras Should be Simpler

Everything about the AXIO camera logical and efficient – save for a few design flourishes. There are no tactile buttons, just a simple on/off switch. The touchscreen lets you navigate the menus but for the most part, the experience is quintessential point & shoot. Questionably, the lens is surrounded by a blue LED meant to indicate when it’s on but one can assume, the lens might pick up unwanted flare. And of course, charging is all done via mat along with the usually wireless accoutrements. Nice, but not remarkable.
Designer: Christos Ragias

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E-Paper

The mobile concept by designer Amid Moradganjeh aims to redefine the mobile experience through technology that is more sensitive to the human experience. Inspired by print posters, Rimino can be bent to switch between different modes of operation. Along with a simple and easy user interface Rimino also introduces new tools and behaviors to approach and communicate in a more human-human way.

1. Natural input and navigation: The limited size of mobile devices and the circumstances in which they are used have defined the constrictive nature of the user experience (particularly for input, capture and navigation). By using the whole device and by exploring new physical properties, users will be free to interact with their mobile devices in a more natural and intuitive way.

2. Human-like communication: Inspired by face to face communication, Rimino offers new methods beyond call and notification to approach other people. It provides a bigger range of resolution for communication and expands the user experience beyond, before, and after the communication session.

3. Lively device: Rimino implements a new set of behaviors that make the user feel that it is truly aware of them. Another feature that makes Rimino alive is the “Lively pad” at the back of the device. Lively pad enables certain interactions using temperature, haptic feedback, light, airflow, olfactory feedback and moisture.

4. Goal based UI: There is no need for apps on Rimino and tasks can be accomplished by following a path that is closer to the human’s mental model. By capturing elements (time, location, voice,image, temperature, objects, people, etc.) first, the user is able to choose and initiate a task.

5. One experience – multiple devices: Rimino is an experience which is independent of the device itself. The tasks (and not the programs) with which the user is involved are constantly move between Rimino and other devices. In addition, the accessible hardware and devices become a part of a bigger connected system. The Rimino mobile device is able to detect devices nearby and behave accordingly.

6. Right resolution for right interaction:The desirable interaction resolution on a mobile device very much depends on the context and the task. Rimino offers both rich and basic versions of the same interface when needed. The interface is switched to the basic mode by bending the device. Basic interface represents the essentials and needs less engagement to interact with. The bent device can be used in a stationary state, creating new application.

Designer: Amid Moradganjeh


Rimino - A Human Touch on Mobile Experience from Amid Moradganjeh on Vimeo.

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Re-Q, an eco-friendly soap maker

Re-Q is an eco-friendly soap maker that recycles domestic wastewater and the last wedges of used soap to make you a brand new soap bar! Essentially it is a brilliant idea! In a three-step process, the machine purifies greywater, mixes it with soap bits and then processes the mixture into new soap cakes! How radical is that!
Designers: Jung Hwan Song & Kim Jong Won

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BMW, GM to collaborate on fuel cells

The Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell.

(Credit: GM)

The two automotive manufacturers will sign a cooperation agreement that gives BMW access to GM's existing fuel cell technology in exchange for research funding supplied by the German auto maker, according to reports in German weekly business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
Both manufacturers have been developing and testing hydrogen-powered vehicles for more than two decades. After clocking more than 2 million miles during Project Driveway, GM is fleet and consumer testing its Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles in Hawaii. Last year BMW unveiled a 1-series hybrid fuel cell prototype that improves upon the 7-series fuel cell vehicle it tested globally.
GM has disclosed that it spent more than $1.6 billion developing its fuel cell technology so far. But rather than continue down the expensive commercialization path on its own, a partnership seems to be a good way to standardize technology while reducing costs for the entire industry. Several manufacturers, such as Hyundai, Honda, and Toyota, have pledged to bring hydrogen-fueled vehicles to the mass market by 2015, which is fast approaching. Toyota has predicted that the cost of hydrogen fuel cell technology will plunge in 2015. Perhaps these automotive collaborations are one way to ensure that happens.
BMW confirmed that it was in discussions with GM, but did not disclose details of its new technology agreement, according to Automotive News. This is the second arrangement that BMW has recently entered that pools resources to speed development of next-generation technology. Earlier this month, the luxury car builder partnered with Toyota on the development of lithium-ion batteries.

The BMW 1-Series fuel cell hybrid vehicle.

(Credit: BMW)

 (Source: Wirtschaftswoche via Automotive News)

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Versatile Task Flashlight

A winner of this year’s red dot: design concept award, the Adjustable Radiation Flashlight is a small, powerful, handheld task light that makes it possible to easily change the beam from concentrated spot-light to wide flood-light by use of its a flexible plastic plate which contains nearly 40 individual lights. Simply twist the tactile back cap to create whatever light is necessary.
Designer: Ezat Dayani

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