This is the Muon by designer Taeho Yoon. Like pretty much every other concept car, it promises to do something crazy — namely, sense how you’re feeling. While the concept is far-fetched, it still makes you wonder: could a car help our moods? You probably play music you like or listen to the radio while driving. Maybe you even have a station that tends to calm you. (Heavy metal always did it for me when I was younger. Go figure.) Yoon wants to take that idea a hundred steps further, with the Muon personalizing almost every aspect of your driving experience to keep you happy and calm. Here’s [...]

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Putting some LEDs on bikes is nothing new, but Japan’s Suns & Moon Laboratory is taking the idea a step further with its Anipov LED system. With the wheel spinning, the setup will be able to display damn near any image you want, and it’s easier than you might think. So easy, in fact, that the system accepts bitmap files and other digital image formats, and then the Anipov software figures out how to translate the corresponding colors to the spoke-mounted LEDs and, in turn, make your bike look crazy. The one big downside is that the whole thing relies on batteries, so it’s [...]

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With unemployment numbers at epic levels, standing out from the crowd is essential, thus a device like the PCB Business Card is all the more important. At first glance the card looks like a normal circuit board, but upon closer inspection one’s contact details can be seen on its surface. And, unlike some superficially techy circuit-business cards we’ve seen before, this card actually works as a 24 kilobyte USB device (just enough to hold a copy of your resume) when you snap off two of its corners. Designed by Spain’s Ramiro Pareja Veredas, the admittedly pricey business cards [...]

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Netherlands-based Paul de Ruiter Architects has designed a building that isn’t supposed to stand the test of time. In fact, this parking structure is only supposed to last 10 years at least, and 20 at most. It’s a concept to get excited about. As for the Dutch parking structure itself, it’s green in both appearance and construction. That filmy canopy would allow for light to enter the structure, for people inside to see out, and would facilitate natural ventilation. It also uses a heat recovery system that will keep the attendants of the structure warm, as well as the ramps from [...]

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Imagine an art museum where you could have your image captured and then automatically artistically rendered and framed on the wall for all to see. That is the amazing feat produced by interactive artist Chris O’Shea and his device titled “A Study For Mirror.” Designed in collaboration with London design firm Random International, the mirror-like mechanism uses a hidden camera to capture your image and then display a light reactive temporary screen print image on glass. Running custom software on a standard PC, despite its tech underpinnings, the effect is quite organic looking. [...]

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Steven Ma’s Ec-O bench looks like it belongs on an alien world, but it’s more than suited to live on ours. And live it does — it collects rainwater that it uses to grow its own garden around it, and that’s not the only trick it knows. The Ec-O bench also collects solar power thanks to a thin photovoltaic film covering parts of it, which would keep some lights on at night and make it a more inviting place to sit. The garden it grows, while a cool idea, may not be entirely self-sustaining as it could need someone to clean it up a bit. After all, a bench covered in vines, flowers [...]

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Marcial Ahsayane’s InterPad remote control sure is pretty, but we find ourselves wondering if anyone will ever be using a remote that looks like this. By the time it gets this advanced we’ll probably all be using our brains to control TVs. So, your usual spread of numbers and arrows has been replaced with just a handful of buttons and a joystick. With the InterPad, you’re supposed to be able to navigate the increasingly complex landscape of TVs, which could include Internet connectivity and more in the near future. Instead of just using your remote control to change channels [...]

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Digital SLR cameras for advanced users cling to the traditional design of pro cameras. But now designers are taking liberties with that staid tradition, and they’ve made it easier to use, angling the bottom away from the user’s face. That’ll keep those greasy nose smudges off the viewscreen. Nice. Designer Abel Verdezoto I. is picking on Sony’s Alpha DSLR in this example, but it could just have easily been one from Canon, Nikon, Olympus or any other manufacturer. There’s no reason why a digital SLR camera has to look like its film-based ancestors. Come on, camera [...]

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Most British take their tea and toast seriously, but Londoner Chris Naylor aims to inject a bit of fun into the tradition with his concept device called the Invader Toaster. The slickly designed toaster takes normal sliced bread and imprints the iconic shape of the Space Invaders character most video game enthusiasts know and love. Of course the best version of such a device would be one in which the iconic shapes were interchangeable, but for now this would serve as a pretty good start to any geek’s day.

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If you hear the words “death mask,” one of the first things you think of is probably the tombs of Ancient Egypt. The idea of creating a mask of a person face after they’re dead has been going strong ever since then, though, and the folks at elistmania have dug up (hehe… get it?) 20 death masks of famous people. We particularly like the one of Nikola Tesla, just because it’s incredibly creepy. If you want to see it in person, it’s on display at the Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

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