Monthly Archives: February 2014

Portals

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I’ve been watching the above GIF for the past half hour and it’s mesmerizing.

Supposedly, it’s a door, but I don’t think you can call it just a “door”. Austrian designer Klemens Torggler has been creating these dynamic sculptures since 1997, and no two are exactly alike. They operate in different ways, but each operates on the principal of counterbalanced weights which are bound at strategic points to create a smooth and seamless opening and closing movement. The GIF above shows his “double-rod system”, which is the most intuitive of the designs. The two sheets of metal are superimposed over each other, and slide easily into place.

A more intriguing design is the “triangle system”, which again is two superimposed plates, this time divided along diagonal lines, creating four triangles connected and mounted on a track. When in motion, the track pulls the triangles out of position, and when at rest the weight of the sheets pulls them back into position.

Torggler also tends to use multiple materials and unexpected shapes within his doors, such as these asymmetrical glass and metal creations.

What Sparks Our Fire: Redefining doors.

Would you, like me, replace all your doors with these sculptures if you could?

Droning On and On

Concept cars are all about the future, an idea of what could be and what we want to be. Most of the time, car companies reach just a little beyond what is immediately possible, such as improved electronics, supercharged engines, extra cupholders…you get the idea.

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This new concept car from European car developer Renault, dubbed the Kwid, has strong, heavy lines, a highly funky color scheme, and a drone in the roof. This car is what every New Jersey-ite needs to get past the mess in the bridge and tunnel these days. The quadrocopter drone is meant to be controlled from the console and will warn the driver of traffic situations ahead. As well, the interior is as futuristic as the robot in the ceiling, with a center console steering wheel which isn’t a full circle. It’s like being in Star Trek.

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The Kwid is Renault’s first concept car they are marketing outside of Europe, and judging by the response it’s getting in the blogs, the idea is a hit.

What Sparks Our Fire: An original concept utilizing a current technology in an unexpected way.

Would you want a drone car?

How Shapely

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Just let that sink in for a minute. That’s a real, edible Penta-orange. It’s an “iyokan,” also known as a “Japanese Summer Orange”, which are mandarins crossbred with oranges from the Ehime prefecture. The interesting shape is a result of the oranges being grown in pentagon-shaped boxes, so the country that brought you canned bread and robotic girlfriends won’t have messed with the genetics of your weirdly-shaped fruit.

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As of right now, there are only 300 of these odd little fruits available, but there are plans to make many more. These have the possibility to inspire entirely new dishes and creations based around geometric shapes and it’s possible that other fruits and vegetables may see themselves in new shapes in the near future.

What Sparks Our Fire: Low-tech ways of messing with food are somehow a little more fun than genetic pentagons.

How would you eat this penta-orange?

The Most Frustrating Thing In The World

The most frustrating thing in the world is not your mother-in-law, or job searching, or tuition debt. No, the most frustrating thing in the world is getting ketchup out of a glass bottle. Seriously, it ruins my week every time. Thank god we have MIT to fix this, or I’d need to be committed.

The bottle in the video above has been coated with an almost frictionless substance called LiquiGlide, that prevents even the tiniest bit of ketchup from remaining in the bottle. PhD candidate Dave Smith states that a million of pounds of food waste could be saved if every bottle or container was coated with this substance, meaning you could get every little last bit of mayonnaise out of the bottle.

The biggest challenge they faced was keeping the product FDA approved, which they could only do with a limited amount of materials, which they have patented the heck out of. But they’ve already seen results: recently LiquiGlide came in second place in MIT’s $100k Entrepreneurship Competition. Not bad for a ketchup bottle.

What Sparks Our Fire: Solving that ketchup bottle problem and saving my sanity.

Do you think bottles and containers coated with this substance will make life easier?

My Phone is Judging Me

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I really don’t want Apple to know how unhealthy I am, mostly because I don’t want to know. Also, bacon-wrapped filet mignon and I have been friends for far too long to ever stop seeing each other. However, according to recent reports, the iPhone of the future will be able to tell heart rate, blood pressure and glucose levels, all on the new iOS 8, nicknamed Okemo.

iWatch Concept

This news is on the tail of rumors of the iWatch, the wearable tech rumored to support Apple technology in a way akin to other fitness-based wrist pieces like Nike+ Fuelband SE and the Fitbit Force. It is rumored to sync with iPhone app, Healthbook, a new development in fitness bands, which has not yet made the leap to smartphones.

The 5S won’t have the ability to measure most of these vitals, but new software and hardware will roll out in the coming year that will show you just where those extra double quarter-pounders are going.

What Sparks Our Fire: First the mp3 player, then the cell phone. Apple may well be on its way to revolutionizing the health wristband as well.

Would you wear an iWatch?