LED swing is straight from a fairy tale

Here at Crave, it makes us very happy when designers write in to tell us about their creative goings-on.

The latest bit of inventor inspiration to hit the Crave in-box: The Swing Lamp by Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto, who together make up the Netherlands-based industrial design duo BCXSY. Their 2-foot-wide LED-lit swing has an ethereal, whimsical feel as it whooshes through the dark like something out of Cirque du Soleil. It's powered by a rechargeable lithium battery.

Cohen and Yamamoto conceived of the illuminated polyethylene swing as part of a collection of products inspired by nostalgic childhood motifs.

"We came up with the idea during a brainstorm--while trying to find solutions for combining toys and furniture/home-accessories," they said.

The dreamy piece is still a prototype, but the designers say they've received hundreds of requests for the product and are looking for the right producer/distributor.

Other items from their "Play!" collection include a See-Saw Bookshelf and Noisy Furniture LE, a modular furniture system whose elements attach to one another via a dual-lock re-closable fastener that makes for all sorts of Lego-like possibilities.

Via Crave CNET

Hey, answer your ski glove, already!

If you're snowboarding and your wrist starts to vibrate, let's hope it's an incoming call on your g.cell glove and not a muscle spasm caused by that run-in with a tree you just had.

Swany's g.cell incorporates a fully integrated Bluetooth-adaptable cell phone in an insulated water-repellent glove for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports.

As mentioned above, incoming calls announce themselves via vibrating wrist action, and you push a button on the back of your hand to answer. A voice-command dial system lets you call out, with a speaker and listening device integrated into the palm and thumb areas of the glove.

Swany says the phone will last for 12 hours on standby, with 4 hours of talk time, making it a potentially useful gadget for those who find themselves stranded in the snow or in need of emergency assistance.

The g.cell is set to show up around the holidays for a suggested retail price of $495. Also suggested (by us at least): not calling your friends while barreling down the mountain.

Source: Newlaunches.com | Via Crave CNET

Transponder watch makes DBS owners feel like James Bond

As if Aston Martin DBS owners don't feel enough like James Bond while driving, Aston Martin and luxury watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre have announced the AMVOX2 DBS transponder watch. The transponder watch will allow wannabe-007s to lock and unlock their DBS coupe by pressing the open and close positions, respectively, on the watch's glass.

The wristwatch features a prominent DBS logo, as well as bezel and dial details designed to reflect the gauges of the DBS. Aston Martin says the transponder module only adds a few grams to the weight of the watch and that the electronics inside have been shrunk to half the size of the same system in the DBS key.

For security and safety purposes, the transponder system can only be paired to the DBS at the dealership.
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Energizer de-energizes Lithium batteries

Disposable Lithium batteries--a market seemingly cornered by Energizer's Ultimate Lithium batteries--are great if you need enduring power. They're not great for the environment and they're too slow to use in a camera flash, but they last much longer than alkalines and significantly longer than rechargeables. At US$3 apiece (based on the street price of a four-pack), they're also somewhat sticker shocking. So we shouldn't be surprised that Energizer has decided to sell the Energizer Advanced Lithium version with a kindler, gentler price of about US$2 each.

The company only cites the performance of the Advanced batteries to that of alkalines (Energizer Max)--claiming 4x the life in a digital camera compared with 8x for the Ultimates. So unless you can find the Advanced cells for less than half the price of the Ultimates, the Ultimates should remain the better buy on a per-shot basis.

Via Crave CNET

Pavlovian iPosture is no slouch

Thanks to nanosensor technology, your mother doesn't need to tell you to stand up straight anymore. A new gadget called iPosture will do that job for her.

The battery-operated device contains a microchip that monitors the angle of the wearer's upper chest several times per second, vibrating briefly when it senses a deviation greater than three degrees from the programmed ideal stance. Specialized software filters spurious movements, which allows the iPosture to adapt to various body types and activities--presumably stopping it from zapping you in the middle of sit-ups, for example. It's an inch in diameter and can be clipped to a shirt or bra, worn as a pendant, or attached to the skin with special adhesive patches.
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