Self Healing Paint for cell phones

Self-Healing Paint Headed to Japanese Cell Phones

Nissan recently licensed its Scratch Shield paint, which is scratch resistant and even repairs fine scratches, to Japanese cell phone company NTT DoCoMo. The paint has been used on select Nissan and Infiniti cars worldwide since 1995, but this is the first time it will be used outside of the vehicle market. Unlike the vehicle paint, cell-phone scratch-proof paint will only be available in Japan for now. But considering the wear and tear that most cell phones see, demand for the product will almost certainly expand to a worldwide market.
Scratch Shield

Scratch Shield: is a clearcoat that is more scratch resistant compared with conventional clearcoats, helping a vehicle maintain its new look for a longer period of time. The paint also repairs fine scratches, restoring a vehicle's surface close to its original state. Nissan will continue to expand the adoption of Scratch Shield globally


To read more click: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/INTRODUCTION/DETAILS/SCRATCH/

Fold your cardboard speakers

The Foldable Speaker
Taking an entertainment center on the road can be a pain, as even the smallest portable speakers weigh a pound or two and take up valuable space. Chicago-based OrigAudio has come up with an ingenious solution: self-powered, 1-watt speakers made of heavy-duty recycled paper. Assembly is easy: simply fold the paper into a 3-in. (7.6 cm) cube. For travel, unfold it and slip the flat sheet into your laptop sleeve. Sold through the company's website, Origaudio.com, and at select retailers, the speakers ($16 a pair) can be hooked up to any audio device with a headphone jack. Part of the proceeds supports the nonprofit Music National Service, which brings music to public schools and low-income communities. Origami has never sounded so good.

Check out the speakers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQdLV6EB5RY&feature=player_embedded
Read more: http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/10/16/foldable-cardboard-speakers-from-origaudio/

Buy your customized newspaper

Billed as Europe's first "personalised paper", "niiu", a newspaper tailored to readers' individual wishes and delivered to their door before 08:00 am, made its first appearance in Berlin on Monday.
Customers of the paper choose what topics they want to read about -- be it sport, politics, fashion or any from a wide choice -- and receive news only on their chosen subject collated together and delivered like any other paper.

Articles are pulled together from major German papers such as Handelsblatt, Bild and Tagesspiegel, foreign titles such as the International Herald Tribune or the New York Times, as well as major blogs and Internet news sources.

For the right to print their news, "niiu" pays a licence to these papers, which in turn reach a younger audience, as "niiu" is aimed mainly at students, who pay 1.20 euros (1.79 dollars) to get their news fix. Non students are expected to stump up 1.80 euros.

The two German entrepreneurs who came up with the idea were delighted with their first day in business, having launched the concept in mid-October. More than 1,000 people have already signed up on the Internet to receive the "niiu", said Wanja Oberhof, 23, one of the founders. "That has exceeded all our expectations," he told AFP. "It's not just students, the interest is much wider," he added. The pair hopes to be printing 5,000 copies in the next six months, first in Berlin before rolling it out nationwide.

At a time when newspapers globally are struggling with competition from Internet news sources, the founders acknowledge that "niiu" is a risky venture. However, they said that young people were tired of trawling the web for news and would pay for the tailored service their paper offers. Eventually, clients will be able to choose the length of the paper delivered -- for example, eight pages on a busy Monday morning but 60 pages on a Friday when there might be more time to read. Initially, however, the paper consists of 16 pages.

Read more at: http://forum4editors.com/2009/10/a-brand-niuu-day-for-the-printed-newspapers-is-coming/
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4899459,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

Solar panel which looks like roof tile

Not your average solar panel: The SRS solar roof tile
Thanks to a system created by SRS Energy and offered exclusively as an upgrade option to customers of US Tile (the largest manufacturer of clay tile in the United States), those wishing to benefit from rooftop solar energy will no longer have to worry about any panels being stuck on the side of the roof and spoiling the aesthetics. The Solé Power Tile system is the first building-integrated photovoltaic roofing product designed to blend in with curved roof tiles commonly found in the Pacific West and Southwest of the United States.

According to SRS Energy: "triple-junction amorphous silicon thin-film technology incorporated within the Solé Power Tile" is manufactured by United Solar Ovonic and "allows the system to produce an estimated 8-20% more energy than incumbent crystalline silicon panels of the same rated power."

Any power generated by the system which is not used by the building (or stored in batteries if that option is chosen) is fed into the grid. Utility companies then give a credit for the amount of energy generated meaning financial benefits can be enjoyed from day one. Each system is monitored to provide feedback so that checks can be made against any credits made.

Details and installation photographs can be viewed on both SRS's website and US Tile's website.

Read more at: http://www.gizmag.com/srs-curved-solar-roof-tiles/12584/

Credit card sized inhaler

An inhaler as thin as a credit card

A 22-year-old student has invented an asthma inhaler which is small enough to fit into a wallet or purse.
Mild asthma sufferer Adam Bates, from Witney, Oxfordshire, created the 6mm- thick Thinhaler as an alternative to the inhalers most sufferers carry. "I wanted the inhaler to fit in with the lifestyle of someone who has asthma," said the design student. The inhaler is the same shape as a credit card and contains between 50 and 100 doses of dry powder medication. The final year student at Brunel University said: "A friend of mine told me how when she went to the pub or to clubs she didn't want to take her inhaler. "She always had a credit card with her, though, so I thought if I built an inhaler as small as that she could fit it in her pocket or purse."

Bates says the Thinhaler will not be any more expensive than those already on the market, and could cost as little as £2-3. It uses dry-powder medication, which is used by some inhalers currently on the market, and lasts for 50 to 100 doses. Most inhalers on the market can be used for 100 to 200 doses but Bates says he has had feedback that the smaller doses of the Thinhaler are outweighed by its other benefits. The Thinhaler concept won a prestigious D&AD Yellow Pencil Student Award last year.

About 5.1 million people in the UK have asthma, which equates to about one in 13 adults. There are four types of commonly-used inhaler at present: the metered dose device, turbohaler, spacer, and accuhaler.

Frame shift: From expiry date to "ready-to-use" date on food packets

Made-in-Transit Packaging
Most fresh food comes with a "best before" date, but Amsterdam-based Canadian designer Agata Jaworska thinks it should be marked "ready by." Her concept: packaging in which food can keep growing during shipping to the supermarket so that it arrives ready to be harvested, in a state of optimum freshness.
'Made in Transit' is a supply chain concept in which the production of fresh perishable food happens on the way to the supermarket, shifting the paradigm of packaging from preserving freshness to enabling growth, a shift from 'best before' to 'ready by'.

Transportation is essential in connecting distant factories, and in bringing the goods to the market, but it only serves to relocate the goods, and not to transform them in any productive way. The industry takes for granted that transportation and packaging can only locate and protect and not create or transform.
Transportation and packaging are viewed as essential yet expensive and wasteful.
But if one was to take a total chain perspective from the outset and skip steps, merge steps, or reverse the order of events, maybe transportation can be factored in as a productive creator of value.
Made in Transit is a holistic reconsideration of the product supply chain in which a synthesis of production with distribution creates a new mode of production.
Currently, 'production' equals 'transformation', 'packaging' equals 'protection' and 'distribution' equals 're-location'.
If we can turn the package into a growth condition, then the chain becomes: 1) packaging, 2) on the way growth and 3) consumption.
The packaging and distribution functions would be transformed into production. The consequences of merging production with distribution could lead to the end of the factory since distribution space simultaneously becomes production space thereby eliminating or drastically reducing the need for a land-based production facility. On-demand production could also become more of a reality. If the product can be created on the way to the market, then it does not have to be made until the order comes in. This prevents overproduction and consequent waste.

Read in more detail: http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Supply-Chain/Made-in-Transit-The-end-of-the-factory
Watch a two minute animation: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oWcOgzNNHlE
A five minute presentation by Agata: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Oras6CRRWzQ

Furit Packaging which feels and looks like the fruit!

Fruit Juice Packaging by Naoto Fukasawa: PACKET WHICH LOOKS LIKE THE FRUIT

Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa has created a series of creative fruit juice packages that have the look and feel of the fruit they contain.
“I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin.”
Alongside banana, strawberry and kiwi fruit “juice skins” Naoto Fukasawa also offers a wild card “silken tofu skin” for a carton of soya milk.

For more images see: http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/03/29/juice-skin-packaging-by-naoto-fukasawa/

Recycling bins: how effective are these variations?

Recycling Bins From Around the World

Check out this slideshow: http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/03/recycling-bins-from-around-the-world.php?page=1

With recycling gaining momentum across the globe, the slideshow brings to us the efforts in 19 different places from Portugal, to Japan to Dubai.

How effective are each of these really? Find out for yourself..

Go Green with Concert tickets

The O2 ticketing system is a wonderful little system for those with a green thumb (or for those who wish they had one) to remind themselves of all the little things nature does for us terrible human concertgoers. While a normal ticket to an event only stands to get lost, this one reminds the user of their upcoming joy every day! This living ticketing system saves the environment, one treehuggin’ concertgoer at a time!

Unique ticketing isn’t a field that’s been explored to a real giant degree, mostly because tickets are generally made in large quantities and past the point of purchase. But what if the ticket were enticing enough to buy on its own? Neat.
As the designer, Gil Cocker puts it: “This is a two part ticketing system - a couple of weeks before the festival, privileged ticket buyers receive a bag in the post with all the ingredients to grow grass, which in turn will replace the O2 exerted at the big event. Requiring attention on a daily basis, it helps to remind the individual that the big day is growing closer every day.”

Check this out: http://www.sansgil.com/Downloads/o2ticketgrowinfo.pdf

BEDROOM IN A BOX!

BEDROOM IN A BOX!
Everything is more convenient when delivered in an all-inclusive box. the Bento Box, the Happy Meal by McDonalds, the iPhone, and now a bedroom!

Flexibility and mobility have become key concepts of today’s working world. The “Casulo” by designers Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlhäuser is a neatly packed box with an entire bedroom suite ready to go. The small box unpacks into bed, desk, seating, book shelf and wardrobe. No tools needed and minor assembly required for this IKEA worthy design. The use of styrofoam packing materials has been completely eliminated making this (unofficially) a “Green” product by design.

See how it is made in this 3 min video: http://www.psfk.com/2008/02/bedroom-in-a-box-for-mobile-living.html
Check the pictures: http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/02/11/bedroom-in-a-box/

Wine bottle made legible for the blind

Wine bottle with Braille!

This is Lazarus Wine. Madrid-based Baud decided to incorporate Braille in the package design.
Product labels are an essential part of the whole marketing exercise. Not only do they communicate vital information about the stored item but also help in branding efforts for a company. However, these labels are lost on the blind for obvious reasons.

The bottle itself makes for a brilliant design and the label is made intelligible for the sightless with Braille inscriptions. The whole manufacturing process is highlighted by the engravings. The beauty of the bottle is not lost on the general public either with the usage of bright colors.
Launched for the first time in 2005, Consol Glass teamed up with the Worcester Winelands Association (WWA), Wines of South Africa and the Institute of the Blind to launch a Braille wine bottle, an example of unique packging. The intent: "We want to put Worcester on the map as a serious wine producer," said WWA spokesperson Bridget Zietkiewicz. "Already we supply major stock to labels that are winning top awards. Now we are beginning to brand ourselves and use our produce to gain recognition and demand for our own winemakers.
Check news: http://www.wine.co.za/news/news.aspx?NEWSID=10295

Taste Before you Buy

SAMPLING THROUGH PEEL ‘N’ TASTE STRIPS: a service breakthrough

A young entrepreneur has developed a way to capture flavour and create new avenue for marketing and virtual snacking.
Food and beverage marketers have long known that there's nothing quite like sampling to convince a consumer to try something new, but the high cost and limited reach of traditional sampling campaigns are often prohibitive. Enter First Flavor, which converts flavours into Peel 'n Taste strips that can be mass-distributed in a broad-scale tryvertising campaign.

First Flavor's strips contain no sugar or calories, and all ingredients have been FDA-approved. They're produced in bulk quantities of 100,000 to 10 million or more, and quantity-based pricing ranges from 7 to 40 cents per strip. Possible uses for the strips include not just print advertisements but also direct mail, product-on-product, and in-store coupon dispensing applications. Definitely an impactful move in the packaging industry.

Check out: http://www.firstflavor.com/page.cfm?c=orange
http://www.firstflavor.com/PDF/Canada.com%20Article%20(Move%20Over%20Scratch%20&%20Sniff)%201-3-07.pdf

Keep Vitamins fresh, Don't twist the cap yet!

Taking packaging to the other extreme- here’s how your bottle can keep your vitamins safe!


Putting a "twist" on the standard beverage bottle design, this new airtight cap also serves as a storage device, keeping active ingredients separate from the liquid. Once the cap is twisted, the ingredients are released, creating a fresh, instant, power-packed drink. Activate drinks feature these twist & release caps, which keep vitamins and herbs fresh. Because vitamins and other healthy ingredients can deteriorate in water, Activate promises a fresh, potent beverage, no matter how long it sits on the shelf.

Check out the website: http://www.activatedrinks.com/keptPotent.html

Packaging industry: Carry home laptop!

When you buy a new computer, it always comes wrapped up in a box full of Styrofoam and all sorts of other packing materials, all of which you promptly toss in the garbage. What a waste. In a brilliant move, HP is selling its new Pavilion dv692 laptop in its own beautiful, recycled material laptop bag.

The only packing material in the bag with the laptop are some air bubbles. By ditching the cardboard and Styrofoam, HP has reduced its packing materials by a whopping 97%. This particular system is being sold at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, but we're hoping that HP will start selling more of their laptops like this and other companies take notice.

And since three of these messenger bags can fit in one larger shipping box, HP's shipping supply line sees a wider packaging reduction of more than 60%. Process of disdribution doesn't get much smarter than this.

http://dvice.com/pics/HP-Box-Free-Laptop.jpg
http://gizmodo.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/09/3-Laptops-In-A-Box.jpg
http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/605859-0-0-225-121.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Packaging industry: Pack your cycle

Pack your bags. Pack your food. Pack your bicycle.

You read that right!

Everglide, from Australian designer Frag Woodall, can be folded down into its rear carry-case meaning it can be wheeled, backpacked or cycled. The integrated solution satisfies all kinds of needs for short-distance cyclists and is able to be carried on other forms of public transport such as trams, trains and buses. Everglide represents a holistic and sustainable approach to individual transport, offering the user speed and storage-based mobility into one lightweight unit. The intelligent design of this bike makes it extremely practical, particularly because of its collapsing central bottom bracket.

Check out more: http://www.gizmag.com/shape-shifting-bicycles-future-urban-transport/9265/