Designer Stefan Rechsteiner has come up with the Couleur sur l’Objet concept as a modern way of applying “urban art” to walls in hard-to-reach places. Equipped with a can of spray paint, the little tyke would be like a badly-behaved roomba with a vacuum-suction mod to keep it in place. With its accompanying design software, you could presumably use to it create large-scale murals on walls that would previously have required some serious (and conspicuous) ladder-work. Town councils everywhere had better invest in new graffiti-cleaning tech of their own— we suspect this won’t remain a concept for too long. [Yanko Design]
After dismissing the iPhone as “silly” last year (just to see it crushing Windows Mobile’s market share a few days ago,) The Other Steve spilled his thoughts on the iPhone announcement yesterday, all during the Mix’08 keynote with Guy Kawasaki. Ballmer touched on Adobe-Flash-wannabe Silverlight on the iPhone, Apple’s cut on iPhone’s application distribution and Apple’s ActiveSync license. All good, until he reprised his chimptastic “developers, developers, developers” screams, which got caught on (YES!) video:
The purCushion may be a boon for people, like myself, who relax by lounging around on the floor or sofa, and love to chat on the phone: it’s a Bluetooth pillow. Much more comfy than jamming a phone under your head, the 26-inch cotton-velvet pillow has a built-in speaker, microphone and soft buttons for control. Its battery manages 200 hours of standby and eight hours of talking, by which time even I would have got fed up of chattering. Seen at CeBIT this week, it will be available soon for US$500. [Reg Hardware]
Epocrates is working directly with those fruity chaps at Apple, in the hope of bringing an application for medical professionals to the iPhone. The app will support a drug search feature, as well as providing updates with recent, relevant medical information. Epocrates is one of the few companies that is working directly alongside Apple to create software for the newly opened iPhone, and the development is promising because it proves the iPhone has some serious worth in a professional capacity. Expect pharmacists to be made extinct once Epocrates unleashes the drug-searching monster app. Jump for the full PR release.
We thought this was pretty obvious, but after the Pentagon discovered Google Maps’ 360-degree panoramic coverage of Fort Sam Houston Army base in Texas, they have officially banned them from “filming inside and making detailed studies of US military bases.” How the heck the army allowed cars with cameras mounted on them inside their army bases is yet to be known. Next, CIA officially bans Google from snooping into their secret cake recipes database. [BBC News]
The ViDock Gfx is an Express Card/34 card and video box combo that can drive two external monitors. Nothing unusual there, except that the manufacturer claims this one is extremely fast and, quite frankly, seeing it in action in the photo above looked cool enough to be worthy of an entry in the Best Giz Readers’ Computer Rigs contest. The ViDock Gfx will be available in April in 128- and 256-MByte flavors. Full press release after the jump.
Designer Jin Woo Han has created the “Tactile Wand” as a 21st-century conceptual white stick for the blind. The rechargeable gadget uses some sort of distance sensor and communicates by buzzing, letting the user know of upcoming obstacles: the stronger the buzz, the nearer the object. Neat design, Jin, but can it detect doggy doo like the old-fashioned stick could? What happens if the batteries die when you’re mid-street crossing? We reckon it would take some re-education of cops too: pointing a strange looking stick at people in public these days is probably a big no-no. [Coroflot via Gadget lab]
Hot off the heels of yesterday’s press event, PosiMotion is laying claim to the first wireless GPS accessory for the iPhone and iPod touch. I’m sure the built in locater and Google maps program will be just fine for most, but the GPS add-on will actually be compatible with any device with a Wi-Fi connection, but will ship with software to allow for proper iPhone/iPod touch integration. The G-FI is said to be in the final stages of production, and it shall be released in the “next few months,” whatever that means. In the meantime, make do with the rendering of the G-FI unit, which shows it running on the late Cingular network. PosiMotion, it’s back to the Photoshop with ye. [G-FI; Thanks, Tony. M]
Designer Sunman Kwon’s “Mooon+” mobile phone makes the most sense of any concept I have seen in a long time. Simply put, the mouthpiece detaches to become a bluetooth headset. Plus, both the headset and the phone look fantastic. This is definitely something I would like to see integrated into a real-world product. A near ideal solution. Additional pics after the break.
That neighbour of yours thinks he is so badass with his top-of-the-line riding mower. With the Husqvarna’s new autonomous lawn mower, you can sip a beer on your porch and tell your neighbour to suck it while he toils away on his yard. And the best part is that the mower is a solar/electric hybrid — so it will mow your lawn whisper quiet with nearly zero emissions. More »
