EMC, old phone made new

I'm probably old enough (and dating myself) to remember a time when we used those black bakelite telephones with rotary dial to make calls at home. Today, these antiques are considered vintage and some collectors even pay good money to get one. Too bad mum tossed ours when we embraced the digital age and modernized to the sterile cordless phones. So there's something nostalgic about seeing the EMC, or easy mobile calling, phone by designer Matthias Pinkert.

It's a groovy clamshell take on ye old telephone, but Pinkert keeps it too simple with only the bare necessities. Besides a built-in speakerphone and lanyard, there's only four keys for one-touch calling—enough naturally for four preset numbers. Surprise, surprise, there's also GPS tracking, which kinda cues us to the target audience this is painting a big bull's eye on. Is this really necessary? Today's babyboomer community of retirees are far more with with it and tech-savvy. Dial M for More?

Via Yanko Design

Charge your iPod with a solar-powered bra

Lingerie maker Triumph International has certainly taken the company's eco-friendly efforts to new heights with its latest product, the Solar Power Bra. Unveiled in Tokyo recently, this green-colored bra is made of high-quality organic cotton and features a detachable solar panel which is worn around the stomach. According to Triumph, the solar panel can generate enough electricity to power a mobile phone or iPod.

Unfortunately, even if you are daring enough to wear the solar bra out on the streets, it is still a concept product for now. A Triumph company spokesperson says there are still problems that need to be resolved such as the bra's lack of water resistance and the fact that "people usually cannot go outside without wearing clothes over it". The company, however, believes the Solar Power Bra does send out a positive message on how lingerie can play a part in saving the planet.

Triumph's earlier green efforts included a bra that can double as a reusable shopping bag and one that is designed to promote the use of reusable chopsticks.

Via Reuters
Picture Credit: Triumph

Talk to the hand via HandTalk

There may come a day when telling someone to "Talk to the hand" won't intimate you're turning a deaf ear to what the other person has to say. Quite the contrary. Designers Bhargav Bhat, Hemant Sikaria and Priya Narasimhan have in hand a prototype gadget called HandTalk, which essentially is a phone for the hearing impaired. This wearable glove device detects the motions and gestures used in sign language, translates these into audio, then plays this back on a cell phone or mobile device.

Recently showcased at the Meeting Of The Minds expo at Carnegie Mellon University Center, the mobile software app can reportedly detect 32 words to date--a mere drop in the ocean of the hearing impaired's vocabulary. But it's a start, and one the team hopes to expand by integrating pressure sensors and accelerometers to augment the flexor strips on the glove's digits. Hopefully, too, this turns out to be more than just vaporware, unlike a certain glove camera.

Via Tech Pin | Photo credit: Carnegie Mellon University Center

Personal rocket copter for your commute

With US$4 gas prices looking like a permanent fact of life, consumer interest in jetpacks and other forms of personal air transport might soon go from whimsy to reality. That seems to be driving the engineers at Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana, whose latest project is the Libelula Rocket Helicopter.

Don't laugh. This may look like something from a 1950s sci-fi movie, but its creators have already produced a Rocket Belt built to custom specifications. The personal chopper could be also be more reliable than its full-size counterparts because, Dvice says, "by using tiny rocket motors at the tips of the rotor blades, the Libelula eliminates the torque which makes a tail rotor necessary in a conventional helicopter".

There are other potential advantages over the jetpacks we've seen, including price. We assume that the Libelula will be at least a tad cheaper than the Rocket Belt, which goes for US$250,000--that's crazy money to pay for anything, let alone something that can fly for only 30 seconds at a time. Then again, the way prices at the pump are going, it might be worth another look.

Via Crave CNET

Transmit data through your skin with Firmo

Science just got weirder. And we're not talking about that mid-1980s flick Weird Science where two teenaged boys use a computer to design the perfect woman; not surprisingly a Frankensteinish sex kitten (Kelly LeBrock in the skin). The buzzword here is "skin" since this one's rooted to your derma. Grown right out of a Japanese petri dish, Firmo is NTT's idea of a device that transforms the human body into its own truly personal area network (PAN), allowing users to communicate with devices just by touching them. The Japanese telco giant, however, prefers to call this HAN or human area network.

The gadget in question is a card-sized transmitter that cloaks the body with a weak AC field so that when this comes into contact with a compatible receiver, it is translated into signals that can be read by the device. The potential applications are far-reaching, from making payments (putting paid to contactless payments?) to activating your music player with a single touch. Frankly, the idea of being constantly charged up raises goose bumps on what this might do to our organs in the long run.

For the cutting-edge snobs, Firmo is not cheap. A set of five transmitters and one receiver goes for 800,000 yen (US$7,620). So much like the placards you see on retail shelves showcasing breakables, it's see but no touch, at least for now.

Via RBB Today | Photo credit: NTT

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