Innovation Inbox #2

Great product design brings together the perfect marriage of form and function.

In this issue, we highlight cutting-edge products and technologies, for an inside look at how and why they were developed.

Enjoy!

Alltel's new Celltop

Company: InformationWeek

What is it: Allow customers a new way to organize content on their phone

Bona Fide: Puts interactive, changeable windows or "cells" on your phone's display. The idea is to let you scan through such information without having to press several buttons.

RFID Audiobar

Company: Mogens Jacobsen

What is it: A physical bar-like social environment that enable visitors to interact with sounds via RFID tagged bottles

Bona Fide: Each bottle is labeled with different keywords, by moving the bottles around, visitors can play sounds that match the keywords

QR Codes…The Next Big Thing From Japan?

Company: Various Japanese Companies

What is it: A new type of bar code that can hold more information than in the past, like alphanumeric characters and even Japanese text

Bona Fide: Can be used to direct mobile phone users to special websites to download brand ads, ringtones, character logos, viral videos, branded flash games and more.

Billboards with Face Recognition

Company: Microsoft

What is it: a prototype advertising system that uses a small video camera and facial-recognition so ftware to try to determine a viewer's gender and select an appropriate ad to display

Bona Fide: May be the future of the advertising industry, allowing agencies to provide targeted messaging in a real world environment such as Amazon and Google do with search

The Olive Martini Glass

Company: Beth Fuller

What is it: Redesign of the martini glass

Bona Fide: Designed to be held comfortably in the palm of the hand, while there is a hole in the lip of the glass to accommodate olives on a toothpick

Innovation Inbox #1

What if things weren't what they seemed or if natural was cool. These are some things that I like today.


Photo Printing on Leaves


















Company: Grand Illusions

What is it: Print lasting portraits on leaves in a process similar to printing real photos

Bona Fide: Imagine leaves reigning down on you with moving images on them of a football player throwing a touchdown or a liquor bottle swigging from side to side with a link to the URL. Effective, bio-degradable and unique

Converse Russia

Company: Converse

What is it: A fun and worthwhile journey of Converse Russia’s new website

Bona Fide: Great imagery and fun to explore

What If Google and Yahoo Switched Designers?

Company: GoogleWatch

What is it: What the ultra clean Google user interface might look like if they did things the Yahoo way

Bona Fide: Gives you an idea of how Google really is a "portal," and how well all its apps fit together into a more work-oriented Yahoo start page.

Self-Cleaning Sportswear

Company: Technovelgy

What is it: Self-cleaning fabric

Bona Fide: The same technology, created by scientists working for the U.S. Air Force, has already been used to create t-shirts and underwear that can be worn hygenically for weeks without washing

Music in the Rain - DAP Umbrella

Company: DAP umbrella

What is it: an umbrella with embedded speakers

Bona Fide: Another example of a trend towards presenting ways to listen to personal music that aren’t too intrusive, without having to plug in headphones