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Educational institutes stifle creativity cells for some, but it certainly did not for Stuart Calvey, a 22-year-old industrial design student at the University of NSW. Still in its conceptual stage, the Snap+Send digital postcard looks set to kick the butts of its ancestors, if the idea ever takes off in spite of its sticker price.

Combining a 2-megapixel lens and a 10cm screen onto a postcard-sized cardboard shell, the Snap+Send digital postcard is small enough to be sent like what you'd usually do for your snail mail. The whole package is expected to cost US$25, though we're not sure how many pictures you can take on its internal memory and how long the camera-cum-postcard will last on its battery.

The inventor positions his concept as an alternative to mobile phone cameras and targets primarily tourists and backpackers. End receivers need only complete a three-step ritual to enjoy a slideshow of pictures: Tearing open the perforations; folding a little kick stand on the reverse; and pressing a button to playback images.

Oh, stamps sold separately.

Don't throw away your postcards yet.

SharePlayer

Ready or not, here's another MP3 player. This one from Xmultiple is really an extension of its FlashPoint thumbdrives. So don't go expecting any iPod-inspired design here. What it focuses on is portable convenience, utlizing its Sharing-On-The-Go (SOTG) firmware which lets you connect, download and share files directly from another USB MP3 player sans PC. Simply attach devices and hit a button. Works, too, for downloading photos or data from a USB-ready digicam or phone.

Get the big picture here

Price: US$169.99 (1GB) to US$259.99 (4GB)
Availability: See sharedrives site
Device: MP3 player
Basic specs: Sharing-On-The-Go technology patent pending, MP3 player-to-MP3 player direct connections, combo MP3 player, MP3 SharePlayer and Flash Drive device, 75g

When pod and Zen collide

Should the Cupertino cabel crash headlong into the Jurong East juggernaut, you bet sparks are going to fly. Bluesun must have been hoping for a supernova sales spike when it decided to cobble an iPod-like Click Wheel with the Zen moniker. It's large, bereft of a screen, comes with an SD card slot, runs off an AAA battery, and sports a one-way ticket to libel hell. More info here
[Via dapreview]

Sparkling Sony Ruby

The Ruby earned its pet name from the amazingly high 15,000:1 contrast ratio which it put out utilizing the latest Silicon X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) technology. This is matched with an ultra-HD-resolution panel, making the projector an ideal companion for Sony's upcoming Blu-ray players and PlayStation 3 gaming console.

Dazzling figures aside, this 19kg mammoth is also a stunner, thanks to a unique, unobtrusive white-and-silver shell reminiscent of Apple's wildly popular iPod. This gem would have been perfect if not for its heavenly S$14,999 retail price, but hey, that’s the kind of tab to pay for premium stuff.
More info here

Egg Babies

This looks freakily lifelike, if not for the fact that we know these Egg Babies to be made of resin. Hand sculpted in clay and cured to a hard porcelain-like finish, the little nubbin's mop is topped with fine strand English Mohair. Just too bad artist Camille Allen's stopped taking custom orders. Otherwise it's easy to see this becoming a bestseller with parents, much like those baby hand and feet cast impression molds.

See Shell Babies | Egg Babies | Lifesize Babies | Super Miniature Babies | Miniature Babies

Price: From US$200 to US$2,000
Availability: See Web site
Device: Collectible
Basic specs: N.A.

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