September 12, 2017

Pay digitally with a small Dutch device

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 7:41 pm

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Felix Mollinga, student at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, has won the James Dyson Award and 2,250 euro for his Acoin invention, a way to pay digitally and more anonymously using either virtual money from the bank or Bitcoin.

Acoin is a small black device of about 4.5 cm in diameter where virtual money can be stored. A small screen allows users to see how much money it has stored, money that can be transferred digitally to another Acoin, much like the contactless payments we have now for public transport. There’s also a finger sensor so that money isn’t transferred by mistake.

Mollinga explains that at some point all payments will be digital for many reasons, one of which being that it costs governments too much money to print money. This comes on the tail of my recent visit to Sweden where in June many coins have been rendered junk and an article explaining why the country is close to becoming a cashless society and why the future will be sans banknotes. The downside is, the more electronic payments we use, the less anonymous we become and possibly the value of bank notes and coins will be missed, says Mollinga.

Mollinga plans to take part in an international design competition with Acoin, the winners of which will be announced on 26 October. If he wins, he’ll go home with 35,000 euro, which he says he’ll put towards producing the Acoin.

(Links and photo: m.datanews.levif.be, emerce.nl)

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August 28, 2017

Dutch designer creates vest to replace IV pole

Filed under: Design,Science by Orangemaster @ 2:27 pm

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Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Alissa Rees from Amsterdam has designed a trendy-looking vest called the ‘IV-Walk’ that doubles as a mobile IV unit, an alternative to the IV pole patients usually have to walk around with. This innovative design won Rees two Brains Awards this summer, one for Best Innovation and one for Best Overall Idea, prizes that came with 2,000 and 3,000 euro respectively.

“The look and feel are more like a personal wearable item and less like a piece of medical equipment, which helps create a more positive mindset as well”, explains Rees. What’s more, Rees came up with the idea while a patient herself, in hospital at age 19 when she was being treated for acute leukemia from which she has now completely recovered. “When you’re sick and lying in bed, you have a lot of time to think. I saw all kinds of things that could be improved in the sterile environnement.

(Link: tubantia.nl, designacademy.nl, Photo of IV-Walk alissarees.com)

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October 20, 2015

Earphones steer your phone while driving

Filed under: Design,Technology by Orangemaster @ 10:16 am

During Dutch Design Week, designer Pieter Husmann presented ‘Hélo’, a 3D-printed wireless in-earphone, a very classy wearable that helps car drivers answer text messages and calls while hopefully keeping their eyes on the road.

We’ve all been in a car where the driver is so addicted to checking their phone that the passenger has to interfere before the car hits the guard rail. Some drivers are addicted to the point of risking death for next to nothing, which makes you wonder if new technology is the solution or better awareness. New technology should help, but I still believe that leaving your damn phone alone is the safest option.

Husmann’s creation combines technological innovation and hearing aid technology that fits into one’s ears, with which you can answer your phone with your finger. It has four buttons for four different configurable functions from answering your phone to opening an e-mail. These earpieces can also be used for running and I would imagine cycling, skating, etc. That sounds like a useful invention even without the driving.

A while back we told you about satirist Johan Vlemmix who had thought of a free app that sends replies when driving because he admitted being addicted to checking his phone and answering people straight away. However, that was just an idea, and clearly Husmann has a real solution for addicts like Vlemmix.

(Link: www.bright.nl, Photo by Hello Turkey Toe, some rights reserved)

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January 5, 2015

Design graduate creates long-lasting bioluminescent lamp

Filed under: Design,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 12:50 pm

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In the video below, recent graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven, Teresa van Dongen presents her graduation project called ‘Ambio’, an ambient lamp using a glass tube filled with bioluminescent bacteria, usually found on octopuses, in a saltwater solution. Once pushed the Ambio will swing for 20 minutes and emit light as long as it moves. The bacteria can survive for about two days, but Van Dongen has managed to push that to three weeks so far. The goal is to develop a way for the bacteria to survive for longer and find actual practical applications for such ambient lighting.

Before turning to design Van Dongen studied biology, which explains her interest in using bioluminescent substances. She’ll also explain why waves such as the one in the picture above emits light the way it does.

(Link: www.dezeen.com, Photo of Bioluminescent wave by slworking2, some rights reserved)

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November 3, 2013

Dave Hakkens partners with Motorola for Phonebloks

Filed under: Design,Sustainability,Technology by Branko Collin @ 12:01 am

Mobile phone manufacturer Motorola has announced it will be working with Dave Hakkens on his modular phone project Phonebloks.

More precisely, Motorola has been working on its own modular system in the past year called Project Ara, which is designed to be “a free, open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. We want to do for hardware what the Android platform has done for software: create a vibrant third-party developer ecosystem, lower the barriers to entry, increase the pace of innovation, and substantially compress development timelines.”

The manufacturer will now be “engaging with the Phonebloks community throughout [Project Ara’s] development process.” The idea behind Phonebloks is to create a modular phone to combat electronic waste—instead of throwing out an entire phone because a component is broken, you swap out the broken component instead. Phonebloks is looking for manufacturers who want to work in their ecosystem.

Motorola was once a major player on the mobile phone market. It was recently acquired by Google. Dave Hakkens is a 2013 graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven.

(Via The Verge)

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October 9, 2009

Rain barrel with built-in watering can

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 11:40 am

Like the top glass in a pyramid of champagne glasses, the watering can at the top of Bas van der Veer’s A Drop of Water is always filled the first, so that a gardener has ready access to rain water for their plants.

Excess water simply flows into the barrel, from where it can be released by a simple tap.

The 24-year-old, 2009 Design Academy Eindhoven graduate will display this project and his Bioplastic Planter at the Dutch Design Week, which starts October 17. According to Bright.nl (Dutch), the young inventor has not yet approached companies to take his designs into production, but he hopes to get a lot of attention during the exhibition where he will be all week.

(Source photo: Bas van der Veer.)

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December 19, 2008

Giant threads for knitting furniture

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 8:50 am

Bauke Knottnerus came up with these colorful, arm-thick threads for creating “interior products,” “knitted or not,” and calls ’em Phat Knits. Cory Doctorow loves this stuff and says it’s “like being miniaturized and set loose on a chunky sweater.”

Knottnerus is one of the 2008 graduates of the Design Academy Eindhoven, a prolific bunch (see here and here and here for instance).

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November 3, 2008

Soft bathtub like sinking into a sofa

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 10:32 am
Tender Tub

Dutch designer Maren Hartveld presented a soft bathtub called the Tender Tub at the Design Academy Eindhoven graduate show in the Netherlands earlier this month. “Bringing a new meaning to sinking into one’s tub,” says Hartveld. “A free-standing soft bathtub made from polyurethene coated foam rubber; not cold and hard like the average bathtub, but soft and warm, and comfortable like a sofa”.

At first glance, the corners are scary, many people commented, and give the impression that you could poke an eye out. It also looks difficult to clean, others said. And seeing the thing in use would be a good idea. It does look cool.

(Link: dezeen.com)

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