Simplicity is hip

"Philips has created a buzz with the anouncement of some exciting new smart concept products and ideas that target the hip lifestyle consumer, which means you. The products include: THE CHAMELEON, a lamp shade that changes to match any color you 'show' it. MOMENTO stores the most cherished moments, recorded as short movie clips, and replays them as floating magical fragments in a glass ball. HERBARIUM, an intelligent greenhouse designed to provide the best climate for growing health-giving herbs from smart seed pads. LED Bulbs can be (re) adjusted by twisting for the color and atmosphere right at the source." from the cool hunter


(left to right: Chameleon, Momento, Herbarium, LED Bulbs)

Note: Now that Blogger has an easy interface for del.icio.us tags, we'll be adding them to posts. The biggest advantage will be that the first tag will either be concept or product to help differentiate between things on sale and ideas still in R&D.

del.icio.us Tags: concept ambient philips devices led color

The Contact Board

we make money not art: The Contact Board: "Contact Coard is an accessory for landline phones to help users manage their contacts."

There are 3 areas on the board: one to make the calls, another to edit the number and the third one to listen to messages. The user can call one of their contacts or listen to a message from that person by putting the magnets on a specific area.

Nabaztag the WiFi Bunny

With a title to a post like that, it's real tempting just to leave there.

Nabaztag is a bunny equipped with Wifi and responds to inform you of Internet information (stocks, traffic, your email). It's 95 euros from Violet, the French company that brought us Dal, the color-changing WiFi lamp.

(via Slashdot, visit especially if you want to read a lot of rants about bunnies)

The crocodile and the toothbrush

The toothbrush uses a colored end to help inform children if they are brushing with the right pressure (green=good, red=too much), then turns blue when you have brushed long enough (two minutes).

Even more interesting from a social condiditioning perspective, the toothbrush interacts (via RF) with a silicone crocodile that will remind them to brush if they forget. The crocodile maintains a steady lifelike breathing motion, but if the child forgets to brush it will slow down until it eventually stops. The only way to re-animate it is for the child to brush their teeth correctly. (from We Make Money Not Art)

RFID in Japan: E-Paper RFID Tag

Epson produced an RFID e-ink display with no power necessary. At the Auto-ID Expo that recently took place in Tokyo, Epson unveiled a passive RFID tag (13.56MHz; ISO 15693) that has a display. The display component is implemented by using E-ink's EP Sheet and uses electrophoretics to not require batteries.

Public Air Quality Indicator

The aim of the Public Air Quality Indicator project is to make existing information on air quality and pollution levels accessible. The indicator gives information specific to the location in which it is placed in the city and is updated 4 times a day.

A similar system controls a window opener on the city hall. Depending on the current pollution level, the window will close (warning) or open (pollution below average) enabling the public to read the indicator from the street.

The SUCK LED Mirror - with RSS feed!

Much like the Philips Homelab Mirror TV, except it's $300 not $2000, and it displays LEDs that can be programmed to web data (like say an RSS feed, or even more image-based ambient-like interfaces). There is also a programmable LED clock. On the market, cool.