Posts Tagged ‘Abnormaltech’

Floppy ceramic tiles

Unless you are a major geek along with the missus, we’re pretty sure she won’t approve of these ceramic tiles that bear the shape of classic 3.5″ floppies thanks to Australian design firm ENESS. Each of these tiles do not represent an actual floppy disk’s size, since it measures 5.25″ which should be of the softer variety. Cool idea though, although it might not really be the bestseller that ENESS thought it would be when you pull practicality into the picture.

Source: MAKE

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Incredible New York City Skyline Chairs

Incredible New York City Skyline Chairs

Check out this incredible set of chairs called The Manhattan Collection from Frank Peter Siciliano. It is composed of 10 six foot tall chairs displaying 40 landmark buildings from the New York City skyline. The chairs are made of Cherry wood and they were built sometime around 1987 (based on the buildings represented). I don’t know if I’d want this set in my living room but they’re super cool nonetheless.

The chairs are arranged in regional groupings so buildings located near each other in real life are on the same chairs. Based on my extensive local knowledge (really! finally it’s come in handy) I’ll attempt to identify many of the buildings for you, feel free to fill in the blanks or correct me in the comments.

Above you can see the Citicorp building (with it’s wedge shaped top), Chrysler Building, Lipstick Building, Grand Central Terminal.

UN Building, Solow Building

GE Building (Rockefeller Center), St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Woolworth Building, Trump Tower

Met Life Building (Pan Am Building), Helmsley Hotel, Sony Tower (AT&T Building)

World Trade Center (Twin Towers)

Empire State Building and Flatiron Building.

Microsoft’s Innovative Skinput Gadget

Microsoft latest gadget still in developing is capable of turning a human arm into a touch screen display. This is done without needing to implant anything onto the human. Chris Harrison and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collaborating with Dan Morris and Desney Tan at Microsoft’s research lab in Redmond, Washington, assembled an acoustic bio-sensor to detect sound patterns created when tapping a forearm or palm. Each part has a specific acoustic signature that can be associated with functions like dialing a phone or playing Tetris. Pinching and flicking gestures can also be used for commands.

According to researches, a tiny system beams a keyboard or menu onto the user’s forearm and hand from a projector housed in an armband. Tapping the “buttons” causes ripples to run through your skin and bones. An acoustic detector, also in the armband, then calculates which part of the display is to be activated.

Already there are twenty volunteers who have examined the gadget said they found it easy to navigate. The system could use wireless technology like Bluetooth to convey commands to many types of device — including phones, iPods and even PCs. According to the researchers we will begin to see such interfaces emerge within the next five years.

via ebrandz

USB Air Conditioned Shirt by Kuchofuku

USB Air Conditioned Shirt

Blowing cold air into the shirt is seen a lot in DIY related blog, finally this idea has caught the eye of a Japanese company. They have since produced it and is on sale in Japan now. This shirt is powered solely by your powered USB drive and is great for any hot office or room, or even for portable action with a laptop or other device. This is something worth to add to your wardrobe.

via japantrendshop

NoPoPo Eco Water-powered AA Batteries

Nopopo Eco Water Battery

Nopopo mean No pollution Power battery. This is another move by Japan to promote an Eco-friendly environment. This battery is amazing, it can be recharge by almost all kind of water. For example water, beer , cola and the inventor also mention human urine!! Once the battery is fully charge it is capable of powering up a LED flashlight. If the battery is flat, simply use a syringe to suck your liquid of choice up and then squeeze it into the battery. That it. very simple.

Specifications

• Two sets of two batteries (4 AA batteries in total)
• Proprietary NoPoPo hydro-electric battery from Aqua Power Japan
• Holds charge up to ten years
• Also charges with beer, sake, cola, or even urine
• Size: 9.65×2.75cm (3.75×1.08 inches)
• Current: 60mA-300mA
• Capacity: 1.6Ah-0.6Ah
• Voltage: 2.1V
• Can be charged up to five times
• Manual: Japanese

via japantrendshop