Tag Archives: concept

“Touchable Holography;” the future is coming

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Researchers from the Shinoda Lab at The University of Tokyo have transformed the way holograms will be defined for years to come.  Gizmodo explains what’s going on here best in layman’s terms: researchers have essentially combined motion tracking, like you see in the Wii, with holograms, like you see on CNN, with ultrasonic waves.”  Just watch the video above as it explains it all visually with the truly amazing technology itself.  People, the holodeck concept is moving from fiction to reality, slowly but surely.

[Via Gizmodo]

The Hybrid2 bike concept

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chiyu chen, bike, biking, kinetic energy, transportation, green design, sustainable design, hybrid2 system

The technology behind this bike goes way beyond the meaning of “hybrid.”  Here is how it works:  You rent one of these bikes from a city kiosk and use it to transport yourself around.  When you use your strength to pedal and move forward, you are charging the bike up with kinetic energy.  When you are done using the bike, you return it to the city kiosk.  Once returned, the stored kinetic energy in the bike is contained in the kiosk where it combines with the kinetic energy from the other parked bikes.  The combined kinetic energy then feeds energy to the city’s “smart grid” where it helps recharge and power the city’s fleet of hybrid electric buses.  The more energy you contribute to the smart grid, the more credit you receive towards your next bus pass.  How cool?  The magic behind this concept, created by Chiyu Chen, is the regenerative braking system he calls “”hybrake,”  which allows riders to generate and store energy from braking and normal biking in an ultracapacitor.”  Chen has imagined that “the more energy a bicyclist generates, the more monetary credit they are given to use on public transportation.”  In addition, Chen has proposed an idea for personal ID cards that will store the credit gained from generating the energy for the bus system and a solar-powered bike stand with RFID unlock-lock capabilities.  Here’s to a future of people creating kinetic energy with their bikes to generate power for a city filled with electric buses leaving us with less conjested, traffic-free cities around the nation!  Look after the break for a video of Chen explaining how it all works in his own words.

[Via Inhabitat; Engadget]

Continue reading The Hybrid2 bike concept →

Concept: Open Smoking Booth

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opensmokingbooth_02

I will allow the source to speak for itself:

“Design to encourage a bad habit? Go figure! FRESH is an open smoking booth designed for airport terminals. This “bubble” of self contained smoke air is filtered and fresh air is released. It’s modern and sleek with a circular arm stand on the base embedded into the floor. A cylindrical glass ash bin with a metal top stands in the middle.  When this system starts, the smoke is filtered by the arm top  where low-pressure air is generated. The “air wall” (a transition between low air pressure and high air pressure) keeps the smoke within it. Then the purified fresh air is sent out to the center of the booth from the lower part of the arm. The smoking space is therefore created by this invisible spherical “air wall” through which the travelers can walk conveniently in and out of.”

Although this is only a concept idea, I can see something like this creation by D.K. Wei become a reality in the near future.  With all of the new smoking laws being heavily enforced (yes!), there needs to be a way for those who continue to smoke to do so in a manner that does not affect the people around them.  Check out more images of the design after the break (click “…more”).

[Via Yanko Design] Continue reading Concept: Open Smoking Booth →