Sony Cybershot Snap Is Leathery

 These excellent renders are just a concept Sony Cybershot camera dubbed ‘Snap’. Inspired by a man’s wallet, the surface is covered in leather. Like other ultra compact Cybershot cameras, you slide the cover to activate, only it pivots from a corner for easy one handed operation. Outside of that, it’s just another run-of-the-mill Cybershot. What do you think.......?

Sony’s Apple Remote Control

Is there any place for innovation when it comes to the design of remote controls? Apparently, there is. This Sony’s”apple” allows users to perform basic functions like changing channels, volume etc. with simple motion gestures. Once “apples” are placed on the bowl, the remote control is being recharged. 

Tabs Have Never Seemed so High-tech!

Making sure to flex its concepting muscles, KDDI au just announced their PLY mobile phone concept inspired by sandwiched plywood. Each section is tabbed to core functions like a dialpad, keyboard, gamepad, touchscreen, pico project, and printer! Will it ever see the light of day? Hard to say. Miniaturizing some of those proposed functions seems beyond what science and technology can achieve now but never underestimate kooky designers and crafty engineers

INTEL ATOM PROCESSOR......CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!

Really, why would I want this MID (Mobile Internet Device) over the current iPhone I use? Lord! I know you’re up to your neck with Apple banging, so for a change let’s compare it to an LG Arena, Samsung I7500 or evenBlackBerry Storm 2. Where does this MID score over the rest of these Internet efficient phones? Two places: Prime Real Estate i.e. a three screen setup that opens to 210 x 210 mm and an Integrated Stand.

On the flip side, this MID is merely a concept, but is pompous enough to include a clip-like anti-theft mechanism! I’m not going to get into the tech-specs, coz any dandy designer can pump out just about anything they like these days. So my focus stays on the screen.

How important is the screen of a mobile phone anyways. Plenty! Those who chanced on the LG Arena etc. will have to admit, that when you are using a device that small for net browsing, you wished for that moment the screen was a bit larger. Unfortunately I do need to quote Apple here, but damn; the panning in and out on the iPhone, sure compensates for not having a large computer screen handy. So yeah, a mobile device with a three tier screen layout giving easy keyboard access to fat fingers really scores, even if it’s a concept!

NasdaqQ3 Home Trading Terminal Keeps It Simple

Designed for overworked Wallstreet traders, Allen Liu designed this home trading terminal to ease the infusion of work into home life. While an admirable effort, if you’re working, you’re working regardless of where you are and I don’t see this interface holding up well against an information-packed, 4 screen terminal. If that’s not enough, Allen completely failed to put in a “Private Browsing” button for those lonely, late-night trading sessions that last for hours

The future of books

With everything turning towards technology, we have adapted the out with the old, in with the new mentality. Designer Kyle Bean has created a design that illustrates the issues with “technology and the Internet, and the effect it is having on the way we source information”. We are becoming a society that is more virtual. We download music rather than purchase CD’s, we research on the net, rather than going to the library and reading books. According to Kyle, “Books also have personality – they have textures and smells which the internet can’t offer”. Kyle wanted to illustrate this issue by using a book turned into a laptop. The object is made from a book purchased at a discount bookstore for only £1.50, as well as a few electrical components to illuminate the screen.

The book/laptop, has a CD-Rom drive complete with CD, a keyboard that can be removed so as to access the battery, and a switch that turns off the screen light once the book is closed. The book when closed, looks just like a regular book until opened. The words, “The Future of Books” is inscribed on the spine. I think Kyle did a wonderful job expressing the changes the world is facing regarding technology.

Do we need an ilight?

I’m going to start this post with an IMHO because it’s a great example of how simplicity in design means complication in function – which ironically is the opposite of what Apple stands for. Designer Miyoshimasato envisages the iLight, an Apple designed flashlight.

Step 1: Make it look like an Apple product. Put a check here because it really does look like an Apple product. You’ve got the slim slick body devoid of any switches and buttons.

Step 2: Give it an Apple logo and “i” meme. Put another check here because this concept fulfills both prerequisites.

Step 3: Integrate current Apple technologies so the user interface feels familiar. This deserves a big ‘x’ because adding a touch interface with multiple inputs does little to make the product better. In this case, a single touch turns on the light. Tap it again and the light turns off. To increase the luminance, flick your finger forwards and conversely flick is backwards to decrease luminance. To prevent it from turning on accidentally, double tap to lock it. The glowing Apple logo indicates battery status and a single tap on that turns on the emergency light flashes for ‘HELP’ in morse code.

Step 4: No user replaceable battery. It recharges via USB. Put a check here because that’s something Apple would definitely do.

Needlessly complicated? You decide.