Category: Hardware

With a printer we can’t just put ink on paper, but also make a physical object out of plastic. This video shows how it works. The technique has been available for a while, but priced at $5,000 it is now available for consumers (nn). And so the virtual world enters the physical world. Anything we see in the virtual world we will be able to copy in a plastic 3D model. Even a movie star on TV. Or a friend’s funny face (or a different body part) on the web cam. Or a model from you future house you would like to see in 3D. It will be possible in just a few steps. Meanwhile, the world keeps turning. Generating a 3D model based on a couple of normal photographs will be completely normal. So if we have a vase we really like at home, we take a couple of pictures of it and a while later we have an exact copy of it. A child can do it. The sky is the limit..

This mirror shows incoming text messages as soon as somebody approaches it (tip christian). This way we get more and more interactive displays in our lives, through which we can enter the virtual world. Now we receive text messages, later we will see all possible text, audio and video messages. And we’ll be able to react directly. Through speech. And our brand agents will appear in the mirror like they have always been here. This is a small step in that direction.

Fashion brand Levi’s introduces its own mobile phone (mc, Dutch). Brands with a symbolic function (all brands carried on the body) will introduce brand extensions with products having a comparable function in the lives of consumers. For consumers who are satisfied with the standard functions of today’s mobile phone, this is a great opportunity to express themselves. Levi’s understands this. In the future, they will probably bring many more design products with relatively new technologies, like ear phones, rings, and watches.

The new Nokia E90 can read 2 dimensional, QR (Quick Recognition) bar codes. In this video clip the code on a business card is photographed, and the contact details are stored directly in the phone (mc, Dutch). In the future, every product will have a code with a URL which directly leads to the web site of the brand. Now through QR codes, later through RFID. It all becomes simpler. The product loses its anonymity and becomes the topic of conversation between brand and consumer. This is a small step in that direction.

Logitech introduces a remote control that not only controls appliances, but also reacts to our fingers. The device can operate all our audio and video appliances through a wireless extender, a machine that enables infra red rays to be sent from different rooms. This way we slowly get used to interactive displays in our living room. The next question will be why we can’t select our music collection directly on this display. For lots of people this is still the next step, but it is already available.