Wheelie Bin Urinal - December 9, 2009

Wheelie Bin Urinal

Porter Potties can sometimes be a lifesaver, especially finding one where you probably shouldn't. This takes things to a whole new level. It's called the Wheelie Bin Urinal, and it's basically a portable public urinal. The design is simplistic enough. It's a regular looking wheeled trash can, except it has a whole for a man to urinate in if he feels the need to do so. This amazing invention came from England, and apparently it gets used quite a bit. In the video you can see plenty of people filling up their share of the bin, though many of them are most likely drunk. As disgusting as it sounds, this is a great idea for something like a college campus, or downtown in a city where it can be extremely difficult to find somewhere that will let you relieve yourself. Maybe they could even take it a step further and allow both genders to use it, but we'll probably not see that happen for a while if at all.

Toast Printer! - December 9, 2009

This is a neat little design by Othmar Mühlebach of a printer for toast. He won second prize at the Berner Design Awards for this re-design, and it's understandable to see why. The printer is capable of taking more than one piece of bread in a stack and doesn't need to be reloaded until after a couple of pieces have been "printed". What could he have possibly lost to you ask? Whatever the hell this ugly green thing is. Maybe he should have added the option to toast a bagel and he would have won.

Paper Batteries - December 9, 2009

Paper Batteries

If you haven't seen or read about this yet then you need to do so now. This video comes from Stanford and shows what is basically called a paper battery. In the video the scientists take a regular piece of paper, and put ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires on it. The ink adheres to the paper and creates a lightweight flexible highly conductive storage device. While they only powered a small light, the possibilities are endless and could provide the breakthrough that we've been looking for in the energy crisis. This could mean lighter, more powerful, and even cheaper batteries than what we have now. They could be used to power everything from a cell phone to a car, given enough power. What's even more exciting is the fact that this technology is not far away, and could be commercialized sooner than we think.

Times Reader 2.0 - December 9, 2009

If this isn't a look into the future of the newspaper then I don't know what is. The New York Times is offering people a one year subscription to Times Reader 2.0 for $179.95. Mind you, this is for a digital copy of the newspaper and a $100 coupon off a Samsung Go Netbook. I've seen a slow transition to online magazines in the past couple years, but this is the first time I've seen a newspaper offer it; and with a subscription fee. I'm not sure how this can possibly differ from their regular website and the news they put on it other than the features that make it easier to use. It uses Adobe Air to allow the reader to set up the pages in an easy to navigate manner, and even do crossword puzzles. There are others out there, but this is very significant because of the popularity of the newspaper. This is a big company making a huge wave in a shrinking pool, they're joining everyone else in the modern times and it will show. Now we'll just have to sit back and wait for the Wall Street Journal to do the same and everyone will jump on board.

Lumino Project - December 9, 2009

Lumino Project

The Lumino Project is still very new and there isn't much known about it, but this tech demo that was just released has revealed some amazing concepts surrounding Microsoft Surface. There were two parts to this tech demo video. The first part was a lego building type of application in which the Surface actually recognized the object that was placed on it in the third dimension. It even recognized objects placed on top of that object based on certain design techniques for the blocks. It showed him creating a bridge between two, and then it showing up on the Surface screen. He also showed this same concept in a game of checkers, with the game prompting the user to king itself, and then recognizing it. The screen would even show the user hints once their hand was placed on the piece. The second section showed of the possibilities with photo manipulation. They had two pieces stacked on each other, with one changing the saturation, and the other changing the color. It's an amazing tech demo and just the beginning of what could be one of the most useful inventions to come out of Microsoft in a while.

Iron Samurai LED Watch - December 9, 2009

Another crazy watch design to add to the list, this one is just a straight up steel watch with red LEDs embedded in between the links. Sure it doesn't have any other features than lighting up and being able to change the time and date, but look at how cool that is! What's even better is the price compared to the rest on the market. Somehow this watch is only selling for $15, compared to a couple hundred dollar watches of the same type. That alone almost makes it worth getting. What I love the most is the simplicity of the design, and how awesome that red lighting up is. Maybe they could have improved upon it by changing the color of the steel to up the contrast between it and the lights, or having the option of different color LEDs. If they did that they couldn't add in this sweet description of it. Check it out, and try not to laugh too hard.

Introducing The Iron Samurai, a lava red Japanese inspired LED watch from an alternative future which gives its wearer cool omnipotence by rewriting the rules of how temporal data (time) should be displayed.

You mean this watch really tells the time? Yes. Even though The Iron Samurai embodies Tokugawan style and Shogunate design with its blood red numerals encased in stark samurai sword steel like the final battle between all the forces of good and evil in the multiverse, this Japanese LED watch does in fact tell the time and does so really efficiently too!

Tap the top button on the right side of the timepiece and watch the screen light up like surfacing lava. Tap the bottom button to make the numbers blink and hence adjust them. In Time mode, the top row represents hour information, while the bottom row represents minutes information. In date mode, top and bottom represent month and day.

In fact, when you start wearing this watch you may find yourself spending all your time challenging strangers to duels. You will probably live by the Bushido code of Rectitude, Courage, Benevolence, Respect, Honesty, Honour, and Loyalty. You'll start reading kanji and reciting Haiku by Basho such as "even a horse / arrests my eyes—on this / snowy morrow." Yes, The Iron Samurai has been known to increase its wearers' strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma by as much as 20 points each! Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal are said to be Iron Samurai owners, as is David Bowie and Brian Eno. In reality, this watch is perfect for Presidential dinner crashers, Facebook celebs with over 1000 fans, Youtube directors with over 2,000,000 views, anyone who can play the entirety of Neil Zaza's I'm Alright on electric guitar, iPhone 3Gs owners, or anybody who is a somebody.

Just google "Japanese LED Watch" to see how much these timepieces sell for online. Notice how they normally retail for close to 10x the price we're selling them for. Even if you don't intend on buying one for yourself, stock your online store with these headturning watches to lock in some amazing profits! Brought to you by the leader in direct from China wholesale electronics - Chinavasion.

Ridiculously awesome.

Guild Wars 2 Concept Art - December 9, 2009

This new art for an upcoming sequel to Guild Wars was released quite a while ago, but I completely forgot about it until I ran into it again today. The original game had beautiful works of concept art, as well as the final products, and many of the artists even won awards for their talent. The art director, Daniel Dociu, was named a Gold Award winner in the fourteenth annual Spectrum competition. That shows the immense amount of talent they have upfront, not to mention what they've had lurking behind the scenes for years. Kekai Kotaki has worked his way up from Texture Artist all the way to Lead Concepts Designer, and his work in that second picture shows why. It seems as though with many of their pieces they're going for an epic feel. Everything seems so grand in scope, and the enemies more threatening than they've ever been. Things also seem to be more dire than ever as well, with most of the pieces showing some sort of destruction or chaos taking place. Really they're just beautiful, all of them, I don't really know how to describe them because I've never really cared much for art but these literally made me go out and buy their concept art book just to read WHY they were made that way. It's the first time I've looked at a piece of art and thought more than "Oh, that's really cool looking", it made me want to learn more about it, which means quite a bit to me. Hopefully it all transitions into a 3d environment wonderfully!