One of the more interesting products I've purchased lately has been an Ambient Orb made by Ambient Devices, which appears to be a spin-off of a MIT Media Lab project called Ambient Fixtures.

Ambient's concept is that there is a certain type of information that should be continuously accessible, but is not quite worthy of interruption (push) or spending a lot of time finding (pull). They call this ambient information, and give examples of a clock or barometer, always there and simple to discover, but never demanding of attention. The Orb shows information by glowing, and changing color. My Orb is currently at work displaying the weather at home (given the Bay Area's many micro-climates, it's rare that they are the same). There are a few quicktime movies with a funny home-made feel on Ambient's site explaining some of their other concepts.   09/28/03   Comments [2]

Dan Hill has linked to some interviews with architects at the BBC. Some of them are quite interesting, including Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe talking about the creation of the Bauhaus and open plan architecture.
This Gropius clip about human beings as the starting point of design is probably the best one, much more "user-centered" than later modernism would make you suspect. I only wish the clips were a little longer.   09/03/03   Comments [0]

NEC Design has created a set of concept products it calls Resonantware. It consists of the ubiquitous concept objects: bracelet, pens, mobile computer, pda. None of the ideas are particularly groundbreaking, but they are nice visualizations of some future products.
I do have to say that the duo-pc concept is quite stunning, at least aesthetically. The naming is a bit odd though, considering that the first notebook computer was called the Duo.
It appears that the projected keyboard for the P-ISM concept is a result of a partnership with Canesta, which claims that their keyboards could be in products by Christmas.   09/02/03   Comments [1]