Designed as a humane mousetrap, the Onedown looks like an elegant vase. It rests horizontally, however, with bait inside. Once a mouse crawls in, a metal insert and the mouse's weight cause the vase-like trap to swing vertically, trapping the mouse but not killing it.
Created by Fuego, a company that specializes in kitchen and outdoor cooking appliances that merge practicality and sleek design, the Element Grill is an aesthete’s gas grill. It has dual cooking zones, four interchangeable cooking top options (pizza stone, griddle, barbeque, and grilling), stainless steel tool handles and a swing-out wood prep tray. Gas tank storage is built into the metal frame.
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LaCie is known for data storage—external hard drives and Blu-ray drives. But with its new trio of key-shaped USB ports, it has ventured into the virtual accessory market. The IamaKey, Cookey and WhizKey drives have a clever and functional design that incorporates up to 32GB of storage with water- and scratch-resistant connectors.
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With a quadruple glazed, anti-fingerprint, full glass door that opens sideways, Whirlpool’s Glamour oven looks as much like a design element as it does an appliance. It also features a 3.5-inch touch screen control panel, five cooking levels, and a new convection and air flow distribution that saves energy.
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Created by Brazilian design firm Nodesign, the Easylock handle is a simple solution to the fragile and inelegant version that is found on most sliding doors. It also offers greater convenience, as a user can close and lock the door with a single hand.
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Speech therapists have used a slew of imperfect techniques to try to distinguish tongue movements for years in patients with speech impediments. CompleteSpeech, a corporation that manufactures speech-therapy tools, and Rocketship, a design firm, created a solution called the Palatometer—a biofeedback tool that allows a user to see tongue and palette interactions projected onto a computer screen. As CompleteSpeech describes it, it’s ”an orthodontic retainer with the addition of 124 gold-plated contacts” which communicate with a microprocessor that a patient wears around his/her neck.
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Resembling a flat-panel TV more than a personal computer, Gateway’s One offers the bare minimum of visual clutter in a desktop. The Gateway One, a design collaboration between the computer company and renowned design firm Teague, has a wireless keyboard, a single rear wire, invisible speakers, and a 19-inch widescreen LCD monitor.
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An energy-efficient fridge is one thing—a fridge-sized kitchen garden is an entirely different level of eco-consciousness. The Nano garden, designed by Hyundai Engineering & Construction in South Korea, is a garden that makes it possible to grow vegetables using hydroponics and artificial light sources, eliminating the need for pesticides or sunlight. The amount of light, water and nutrients can be monitored and controlled to determine the speed of plant growth. It also works as a natural air purifier.
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Mike & Maaike, an industrial design studio based in San Francisco, created the autonomobile (shorthand: ATNMBL). A 2040 concept car, ATNMBL lacks a steering wheel, brake pedal and driver’s seat. Instead, “drivers” get into the car and tell the car where to go. It also runs on a combination of electric and solar power and has seating space for seven.
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The fastest electric sportbike in production—that can reach a topspeed of 150 mph—was created by Mission Motors. The Mission One can venture 150 miles on a single charge. It also comes with a data acquisition system and wireless capability so that riders can adjust ride settings, tune the regenerative brakes (which recoup some energy that is lost when stopping) and adjust throttle maps from a laptop computer.
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Created by Richard Choi of RicharDesign in the U.K., the Firebug lamp creates light from two plastic bottles of the same size. The “lamp” can be used to connect the two water bottles, one of which should be filled with clean water. When the filled bottle is placed vertically on top of the other bottle, allowing water to filter down as if in an hourglass, the Firebug illuminates. A single two-liter bottle can produce nearly 15 minutes of light before it needs to be “flipped.”
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The Ville bike is the perfect solution for urban commuters who value flexibility over performance. It features a folding design, so it can be stored in small spaces, as well as serve double duty as a cart. It also ensures that the rider can keep the bike close to avoid the threat of theft or damage on urban streets.
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