Finger Touching Mobile

Let your fingers do the talking with this winning entry to 2007's list of iF Design Awards winners. Up under the Consumer Electronics/Telecommunications category is contender Sunman Kwon of Korea's Hong-ik University with the Finger Touching Wearable Mobile Phone concept. For the record, there've been a number of attempts by others to utilize the hand as an interface, from NTT DoCoMo's FingerWhisper handset to the Ring Phone. This one joins the league of extraordinary "hand" phones, with the idea of a wearable mobile glove that slips onto your hand, then like a Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard, projects a 3 x 4 mobile keypad onto your fingers. Each joint makes up a button. Of course, this totally negates any possibility of handsfree yakking or picking your nose with your phone hand.

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Via Tech Digest

Price: N.A.
Availability: Concept, more info at iF Design
Device: Phone
Specs: N.A.

FLAPcam

We've got swivelly, flipping screens on a camera. So why not one that folds up like a clamshell phone? You could say this little origami gem was a flash of inspiration from designer Matthias Lange for his first term at the UK's Central Saint Martins, with the aim to create a camera design that would offer a new twist in more ways than one. Given that lens zoom mechanisms have undergone some incredible technological work, folding an optical one into the FLAPcam should be a snap? Oh, and love the Sony Ericsson Walkman colors.

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Via Yanko Design

Price: N.A.
Availability: Concept
Device: Digicam
Specs: N.A.

Footloose

What a heel. And we don't mean cad. Here's an idea that can only be dreamed up by a woman who's suffered at the tyrannical heels of vanity. Take a pair of shoes and give them the versatility to transform into either low or high heels with an easy switch for the Cinderellas out there who have to vamp it up after hours. For her deliciously simple solution, Marte de Hollander scored a Best Graduate 2006 recognition at the Faculty of Industry Design for her aptly name project Footloose. The design secret, she says, lies in the heel shape which has separate tips for both positions. "While being used in one position, the other heel tip is kept out of sight in and opening in the sole. The shoe is being transformed with a simple and quick movement: One just pulls the heel downwards to release it, after which it can be folded in or out as preferred". What can we gals say? One heel of a job, Marte!

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Via Core 77 Design Blog

Price: N.A.
Availability: Patented, but not in commercial production yet
Device: High heel shoes
Specs: N.A.

VEGE

Here's a seed of an idea one hopes will take root commercially. The concept, cultivated by Thai student Teeravit Hanharutaivan, lets you have your organic greens and eat it. All thanks to a fridge-like appliance which turns you into Farmer Brown, without the hassle, right within your kitchen. The VEGE can hold up to 40 plants, growing them hydroponically, while a digital display lets even green-thumb cretins know how many days are needed to achieve full growth for each row of plants. A brill idea for space-starved flat dwellers who desire a healthier diet. Electrolux, are you listening? More competition entries at the Electrolux Design Lab here.

Zoom in for full fridge | close up

Price: N.A.
Availability: Concept
Device: Vegetable grower
Specs: N.A.

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