Inesa Malafej and Arunas Sukarevicius from Lithuania must love music and have a great body. The designers must love their musk so much that they can’t stop listening to music while running or working out. They have lunched the cool Dancepants Kinetic Music Player which generates electricity when you run which is in turn used by the mp3 player.

So long as you are running, you will have the mp3 player playing. If you stop running you may end up not being able to listen to music. It is an amazing idea I must say. When you are in the park, you could jog for many minutes and listen to your favourite music all along. Just make sure you hear if someone is calling out your name from behind. The MP3 player can be easily kept in your pockets.

The kinetic energy is converted from your feet when you are running and that electricity helps you to listen to music. I somehow don’t get the idea of this product as the music would stop once you stop running. What if you had to stop for a minute to catch breath and would not like to the music to stop playing? I guess you need to carry an iPod as well. So much for going green!

Via: Design Boom

Design Boom organized the Green Life Competition in Incheon, Korea in collaboration with 3709 designers from 96 different countries. While there were several cool designs in the competition list, one that caught our fancy and also the one that received about 1171 votes was the “Shelf” designed by Leon Zhu from China.

The Shelf is a device that can be attached to the back of the car and when your car is parked or when there is a lot of sunlight, you could cover your car and protect it from harsh sunlight. Moreover, the Shelf converts the solar energy into usable electricity that can be used to power the Air Conditioner in your car. It can also be used as a rear wing so that you get a lot of stability while driving at breakneck speeds.

It can also provide energy for other devices such as tail light and electronic equipment. I would have loved to get it for myself, but unfortunately it might not be available in the markets as it is not released to the retail market. Thanks to the solar cell board, it is one of the greenest devices around. Just keep your eyes open for a device like this.

via: Design boom

LED is much appreciated, be it in eco-friendly electronics or on your clothes. It doesn’t matter, we just love to see it everywhere! LED clothing really isn’t anything new for we have seen the likes of glow fur coats, LED tops and brassieres. But so far, these clothes were seen to be the forte of techie geeks alone. However, thing will change now. The London based designer duo CuteCircuit has taken matter in their hands to create a spectacular Galaxy Dress.

It took the winners of the Best Inventions of 2006 Award by Time Magazine for their Hug shirt close to 24,000 full color LEDs to design their new trend. Already being claimed as the largest wearable display in the world, the Galaxy Dress is quite a sight. It has been made from silk and then embedded with full-color LEDs. But this has been done without letting go og the comfy feel of the dress. The LEDs are like flat paper and measure only 2 by 2 mm.

CuteCircuit designers, Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz say that they have kept the circuits extra-think and flexible. These have been hand embroidered on the layer of silk such that it lets the LED fabric to stretch while behaving like normal fabric in lightness and fluidity. Several iPod batteries power this dress. These have enough charge to keep you glowing for a good 30 minutes.

Via wired

Ju Young Kim has designed a cellphone that apparently purifies air. In fact this could be the world’s first air purifying cellphone that also protects the users from air pollution and viruses. The Mobile Airload also emits a very pleasing aroma that makes the user’s environment smell good regardless of the person using a perfume or not.

The Mobile Airload also detects the air quality and warns you if something is going wrong in the vicinity of your location. There is no information about the cellphone’s price or availability. There is also no word on what kind of technical specifications the phone comes with. I would say, go ahead and get yourself a cool cellphone and carry some air fresheners with you, if you cannot lay your hands on this cellphone.

In my opinion, concepts like this rarely make it to the market because of the technical difficulties in mass manufacturing them. Nevertheless, it is an interesting concept and deserves a lot of praise. Who knows, in the future this might become a reality too! So let us just wait till we hear some good news.

Via: Trend Hunter

When it is summer it is common to see people using a lot of ACs in order to keep themselves cool. While doing so, they may realize that they are running up huge bills of electricity and also leaving a huge carbon print behind them.

Thus, the Briz Solar powered Air-Conditioner uses water as a coolant and the water mist is used to humidify and cool the room in an easy and natural method. However, unfortunately for designers Nari Kim and Pullip Lim, the water based air conditioners are used widely in New Delhi already. Most people who cannot afford to use electrical air conditioners get a water based air conditioner.

Moreover, these water based air-conditioners that work on a similar technique do not necessarily work as efficiently as an electric one would. If Briz works better than the ones I have seen in New Delhi, I would say it is a great idea. Otherwise, it is neither a novel concept nor something that is good enough to be used. Of course, the pictures seem to reveal that the Briz would look much better than the ugly and bulky ones that are found in India.

Lamu Industries is turning out to be a name to reckon with for those who seek nothing but pure aesthetic pleasure in their furniture. This company has several hand-crafted solid wood armories, beds, chairs and consoles as well as many types of tables including coffe, library and dining tables to its credit. And these are hand-carved by local craftsmen who live on the East African island of Lamu.

The indigenous ‘mbambakofi’ hardwood (and no veneers) is used to make these spectacular pieces for your home decor. And please note that the cutting down of mbamakofi trees us regulated by the Kenyan Goverment. There is a strict rule that for each tree cut, two new ones are planted on the island.

Since no veneer is used in the furniture sold by Lamu Industries, the units continue to absord elements of its environment. So, in a dry areas, the wood will shrink while in a humid one, it will expans. With the passage of time, some cracks might also appear, but they only add more character to the wood. We are completely blown away by these spectacular works of natural art. Made to order pieces are also available. The retail price range starts at $3,000 and goes as high as $11,000.

Via lamu

A lot has been down to help break down a cycle so much you can fold it into a box. Designs to make them more compact only got more smarter over years. A new folding bike concept by Victor Aleman is one such innovation that adds the smart tag a little more firmly to it.

Optimum use of available urban space, efficiency to stay as compact as possible, were what made the designer work on such a concept.

The bicycle’s wheel has six modules, each with double pivot in their joints. This lets the wheel to get folded and turn smaller. Aleman says the double triangle structure is composed by expandable modules. Each module collapses to a smaller dimension and then these modules align by the rotation of the axis in the joint of the structure. The structure has special parts that fold into the form of an X that aligns all the modules to their position. The bicycle thereby becomes a bundle in the end.

Via: Treehugger

The firms displayed a real size model of the 125 sq ft wide vessel in Ancona, Italy, recently.

Its width is two thirds its length of 190 ft. So it looks like a yacht chipped off on its latter half.

Its back has a 30 metre beach! Naval architect Mauro Sculii feels its strange dimensions give it stability. WHY is built on three decks, has a swimming pool on the bow, and a helipad.

A salon with a cinema, a music room, a library and a dining room that opens on to the sea apart, its owner will have a 200-square-metre suite covering all of third floor and a private terrace. It can house 12 guests in five suites, 20 member crew, has three large sky lights and 300 square metres of windows.

For the eco-conscious, it will also have a low consumption LED lighting system and solar panels on its roof and sides to cut fuel, and an in-built waste management system.

Hermes has previously helped design a luxury helicopter and a collection of smart cars.
Via: Dailymail UK

It can produce eight gallons of water in a region with 65 per cent humidity and 27 degrees Celsius temperature. Its power requirement is 500 W and the machine is electronically controlled.

Such a machine could eventually eliminate the need for all expensive dam projects in the world! But wait, it costs not less than $ 1,500. Wataire is a manufacturer of innovative water treatment systems.
Via: Coolhunting

Beds of all kinds have been seen and slept in but we are quite sure that the one we are going to talk about today is a real novel one. They call it the Soy Bed and it is manufactured by a brand called Spaldin. As it turns out, this Spanish company is shelling out soy mattresses made from biodegradable materials that have been cultivated minus the pesticides and processed without the use of any harmful chemicals.

And that’s not it. You have four types to pick yours from – Aircell-Soy, Biocell-Soy, Sensitex-Soy and Memory-Soy. Quite contrary to popular belief, quality rest and a green peace of state and mind cannot come without a hefty price tag. The Sleepy’s store is selling the Spaldin soy beds with prices ranging between $1,000 and $5,000.

Now, that is indeed pretty expensive for when folks. Though if you liked shelling out $2K every two years for a new latex bed, this deal might not put you off like the rest of us who approve of the soy idea but cannot in the least accept the price tag it bears!

Via spaldin