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Posts with tag design

Students Create Entire PlayStation 3 Game Level in 24 Hours



Over the weekend, while you slept away your work week, only to wake for the occasional bowl of Frosted Flakes, students at New York City's Parsons School of Design slaved away for 24 continuous hours with the upcoming PlayStation3 game, 'LittleBigPlanet.' The challenge -- put to them by Sony's marketing department -- was to create a level from scratch, using the game's extensive object and level creation tools. The students came in to the competition with generally no experience with the game, which comes out on October 21st.

Prizes were given to many of the creators, but a level by Team Sportsmanship -- dubbed 'The Shadow of the LittleBigColossus' – seemed to win more hearts and minds than any other. The level is essentially an homage to the classic 'Shadow of the Colossus,' a game released for PlayStation 2 by Sony's International Production Studio 1, the same development team responsible for the phenomenal 'Ico.' The results are beautiful (despite the rough video quality), and should serve as an indication as to just how much creative potential the game should provide.

"We're not a bunch of gamers here," a faculty member of the Parsons New School told the audience (by way of PS3 Fanboy's coverage of the event). "A project like this means much more to us than working with a new game. What we're interested in is collaboration, learning in new tools, in testing possibilities with environments and products we haven't worked with before. The experience we had with LittleBigPlanet this weekend is more than that."

For detailed coverage of the event, including pictures and the above video, go to PS3 Fanboy.
Engadget

Pea Speaker Concept Makes Multi-Room Wireless Audio Easy


Look, we never said we meant multi-channel, multi-room audio, nor did we imply that these were the real deal, but the Pea Speaker concept would make it mighty easy to fill up to seven (tiny) rooms with audio sans wires. In theory, Lu Le's peas-in-a-pod-like creation would enable each speaker to play back audio that was streamed over Bluetooth, though just one would posses a global volume control. Oh, and unless these spheres are much heavier than they look, we can imagine your kids having an absolute field day. [From: Yanko Design via CyberTheater]
Engadget

Eco-Friendly Dubai Pyramid Concept Could House 1.1 Million


As we learned from 'Wall-E,' people with half a mind for themselves probably won't be kosher with living with 1.1 million or so other inhabitants within a pyramid. That being said, there's always the brainwash approach to getting 'em in there, and if hordes of people were ever filed into the conceptual Ziggurat, Mother Earth would surely appreciate it.

The 2.3-square kilometer building would be able to house over 1 million people and be "almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise." By tapping into the planet's renewable resources, designers assert that it could practically be carbon-neutral, and given that transport within the machine would be connected by an "integrated 360-degree network," fuel-burning cars would be pointless. As with most things in Dubai, this one seems larger than life, but if the Burj Al Arab is any indication, there's at least a minuscule chance this thing comes to fruition. [From: World Architecture News via Inhabitat]


Engadget

Jeans Analyzed to Track Cell Phone Development


Just as wallets leave impressions in rear pockets, cellphones can do the same for pockets in the front. One Aram Bartholl has decided to start a collection of battle-tested jeans that "show traces of mobile tech development in society." We've no idea if he's planning to tackle the whole thing on his own, but we'd suggest buying up old pants from around the globe in order to amass a sizable collection before death sooner. The image you see above shows what happens if you walk around for three solid years pocketing an original Nokia 6600. Anyone got any impressions (SFW, please) they'd like to share in comments below? [From: textually]
Engadget

Giro Sponge Toothbrush Has No Bristles



For those out there who've already doused their grille in platinum, Fabio Dabori's sponge-loaded toothbrush could double as the ultimate wax machine. For everyone else still rockin' the pearly off-whites, surely this thing is more comfortable than those stiff bristles found on the vast majority of brushes today. The Giro Sponge concept is an electric teeth cleaner that features a soft, round head that's particularly kind to babies and grown-ups with sensitive gums. Word has it that Mr. Dabori has patents on the idea and is hoping to get it on store shelves soon, and we can already see that those cutesy replaceable heads will be a huge hit with the kiddos. [From CrunchGear]
Engadget

Dual-Display Laptop Is Part Nintendo Wii, Part Keyboard


Perhaps it's just that nostalgia for the ThinkPad 701 but there's something about this dual-display reference design that's causing optical interrupts all over our editorial staff. It's certainly not as elegant as some other dual-display laptops we've seen, but what it gives up in looks, the Electronic Keyboards, Inc. design makes up for in practicality.

The company is currently pitching it to OEMs and will gladly sell you the related US patents if interested. Though given our choice, we'd be more interested in patents related to an elongated trackpad which doubles as a secondary glass display or e-Ink informational widget. Hey, a boy can dream can't he? [From: Electronic Keyboards via The Raw Feed]
Engadget

Conceptual Baton Phone Does the Twist


The tried-and-true Hamburger phone is still our fav (what, there a problem with that?), but Marc Schömann's baton-styled concept phone is very worthy of a look. Laden with LEDs and ready to be turned, users can dial up friends and family in painstakingly long procedures that involve all sorts of inefficient rotating maneuvers. Still, we can't help but adore the hat tip to yesteryear's rotary phones, though we have no doubts that this will never, ever see a retail shelf. Please, someone, prove us wrong.

[Via PhoneMag]
Engadget

V12 Designs' Dual-Screen Laptop Coming in Two Years?


No, not that dual-screen, silly. Or that one. Or that one! The dual-screen lappie we're talking about actually has two LCD panels, one of which takes the place of a traditional keyboard / trackpad. Reportedly, V12 Designs -- which takes credit for dreaming up the design some four years ago -- is working with an undisclosed US firm in order to bring said concept to market.

We're told that the keyboard display will likely support haptic feedback so users can feel when a keystroke is registered, and of course, voice recognition will also play a large role. It's not that we don't think these are coming, but V12's Valerio Cometti is suggesting that they'll be ready for consumption in a mere 16 months. Don't hate us for being skeptical, but... we're skeptical. [Source: Laptop Mag]

Crazy Alarm Clock Dials Your Friends If You Don't Wake Up

We've seen alarm clocks institute some fairly unorthodox methods of waking users up, but this is exceptionally high on the list of "oh, no they didn'ts." Alice Wang's Tyrant, which we can only assume is a concept, actually dials a random number in one's mobile contact list for every three minutes that the sleeper doesn't address the obnoxiously loud ringing. In other words, unless you pick yourself up out of bed within ten minutes of the alarm going off, you'll have three angry friends wondering why they're getting phone calls from you
everyday
at O-five-hundred hours.

Brilliant. Pure, sadistic, barbarous brilliance. [Source: Alice Wang Via Coolest-Gadgets]

Kazuharu Sakura's Leather Keyboard: Only Touch Typists Need Apply


Alright, so we suppose a labeled version could be created upon request, but the beauty of Kazuharu Sakura's handmade leather keyboard is really in its simplicity. Just imagine: Your delicate fingertips frolicking endlessly on the soft, supple skin covering the abnormally large Enter / atypically small Space bar, not to mention every key in between. Our knees get weak just thinking about it. [Source: Akihabara News]

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