The shiny, flashy nature of the Surviva Jak – due to the fact it is made of aluminium covered PET – raised a few eyebrows among festival goers at this year’s Rockness Festival, where the BBC took the Jak. The fashion conscious were a little wary of the jacket’s cyber-feel, but ultimately warmed to the product’s heat keeping qualities.

Anyone who’s ever found themselves lost or caught short without enough warm layers, is likely to see how beneficial this item might be. If you missed the Roadtests, you can watch it at bbc.co.uk/dragonsden.

Products such as this are what make Applied Product Design tick; we love to see a new item that addresses a very real problem. In many instances products combine both visual appeal and functionality – the Surviva Jak may not tick everyone’s boxes on the visual count, but it certainly is highly effective at warming up a cold body. If you believe you have the next game changing piece of product design, get in touch with Applied Product design today, and discover how we can help make it a reality.

Despite the economic challenges that face all business people, the Dragons know that the best way to keep ahead of the competition is to continually find new ideas that help to address specific problems –and make lots of money along the way. For any developed nation, it is of course paramount that it’s resident are as inventive as possible – and the new Dragon’s Den series looks set to demonstrate just how inventive the UK still is.

Last year Applied Product Design was lucky enough to help develop the Dry Ice product with Karen Coombes and Karen O’Neil. The invention aims to replicate the experience of ice skating – on dry land. The pair won £100,000 of funding from Theo Paphitis – who loved the concept. APD were involved with everything from the screws and fittings to protecting the intellectual property.

The success of the Dry Ice Blades demonstrates Applied Product Design’s consummate approach to design – as well as our long standing experience in developing ideas that people want to buy. Our strong connections with manufacturing facilities in China also mean we are able to help with long-term mass production, when ideas really take off.

If you have an innovative idea you think has the potential to fill a gap in the market, get in touch with us today, and see how we can bring your concept to life.

Apple’s latest invention went on sale recently in the United Kingdom and just like the iPod and iPhone before it, customers queued up for hours before on the streets outside the shops in order to get their hands on one of these devices. The tablet, which basically presents users with a scaled up version of the iPhone, allows the consumer to browse internet pages and construct emails in near A4 size perfection.

Although the product doesn’t feature a physical keyboard, an external USB keyboard can be plugged in to assist with the construction of emails or when entering website addresses. Alternatively there is an electronic touch screen version of a keyboard on the product that is extremely easy to utilise.

Apple has certainly become world renowned for their innovative product development and design and if the iPad goes on to be the commercial success that everyone assumes that it will be, then there will be a number of their competitors anxiously looking over their shoulders at the brand as it continues to advance on its journey towards market domination.

You can now purchase handheld camcorders, some that are even as small as mobile phones that can amazingly record and store HD video on HD/SD cards for upwards of £100. It is staggering at the rate of electronic product design and it doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon. You have to wonder how long it will be before these companies start developing cameras that can record images that can later be projected as 3D images on our screens.

Apple has always been class leading at innovative design and with their latest version of the Apple iPod Nano they have scored another huge success, with the massively powerful video camera, which allows people to store tiny snippets of video. What makes it so amazing is the fact that they have been able to fit any sort of camera into the Nano. The device is so small that it seems impossible that you could fit a camera all the wiring and everything required into the case.

Who knows where technology will be in ten years time, maybe we will all be shooting video footage in HD and 3D on cameras the size of iPod Nano’s. Whatever it is, it is bound to be beyond our wildest imaginations.

It certainly looks as though this could be a potentially successful avenue for the car manufacturer after looking at the initial product design briefs that have been set out. The only thing I could possibly link it to would be the futuristic boat from the film the Island starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It is sleek and styled and unlike any boat you are likely to see on the water at the moment.

Mercedes Benz has a reputation for being innovators within the car market, but it is nice to see that they are also carrying that design brief across to the their potential new markets. Obviously Mercedes Benz don’t have the skills at present to perform all of the aspects of designing and building these boats or helicopters at present, but that in itself is the exciting part of working on a new product design project. It is all about information sharing and utilising the best ideas from the joint resource.

Will we see one of these Mercedes Benz boats on the water at some stage over the next few years? Who knows, but as a design concept it is truly stunning.

600cc in capacity, all the motorbikes will be running specially manufactured Honda engines and will have electronic control units to manage the amount of rider aids that the riders can use. It really should be back down to racing at it purist, when it is the team that has made the best use of their product design opportunities to design and construct the perfect chassis and the rider, who muscles the motorcycle around the tight and twisty tracks.

The teams have been frantically working away over the winter to perfect their chassis setup and manufacture new aerodynamic fairing casings to assist the rider with obtaining a greater top speed when tucked in during qualifying and the race.

Of course all of this work is good news for the motorcycle industry. In effect all of these teams are performing live testing for the manufacturers like Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki. I’m sure with a little bit of persuasion and a little bit of money, some of the designs that we see competing on the track this year, could be featuring on the roads in 2011 or 2012.

Speed is of the essence in the mobile phone sector, with new products coming off the production line all the time. The Molex facility will support connector concept and antenna design – a crucial element of success in this highly competitive market.

Here at Applied Product Design we are mindful of the fantastic opportunities that are present in China at the moment – particularly in manufacture. We have fostered some strong relationships with facilities and factories out in China, which enables us to provide some exciting manufacturing opportunities for our clients – opportunities that are not present in manufacturing options closer to home.

If you have a concept you think the market will like, why not give us a call and see how we can develop it into a profitable product.

The basis for the new formula is to have a standardised 600cc Honda engine, which will in effect be similar to that of the CBR600RR engine with some slight performance tweaks. Another standard component will be the tyres which will all be Dunlop, as was similar in the 250cc formula which preceded it.

With standard tyres and engines, the only area where teams can gain an advantage is through hiring the correct rider and also by producing the perfect chassis to house the engine. Several team have already spent large sums of money evaluating the benefit of different product design ideas and chassis’ over the winter to bolster their overall position and move them to the front of the pack.

It is obviously a risky strategy to take as no one is quite sure how these new engines will handle in the chassis. At the first official test for the new series it was a former Honda CBR600RR used in World Supersport that managed to lap the circuit at Valencia quickest as opposed to all the new developments. However, that isn’t to suggest that the other teams won’t fight back with more advanced, lighter and more efficient product design ideas that will propel them to the front of the field in 2010.

Whatever happens and whoever is up the front when the season kicks off, one thing is for sure and that is that it is set to be one of the most exciting and entertain seasons for some time. Racing in the 250cc class had become a little stale, as the gap between the front teams and everyone else was so massive. Now with the playing field levelled, rider talent and product design is set to shine through once more.

The other sports tested by sky included boxing, golf, tennis, rugby and cricket. In order to watch the 3D services, customers will need a Sky HD box, a 3D TV and a pair of 3D glasses.

Sky also announced at the recent CES exhibition in Las Vegas that it was working on 3D content. Sky’s director of Product Design and TV Product Development, Brian Lenz, commented: “Our HD customers already have a 3D capable set-top box. By working together with set manufacturers, we want to provide a hassle free way for consumers to enjoy 3D TV.”

The BBC are also planning to broadcast sport in 3D, having recently announced that the 2012 Olympics will be broadcast in 3D.

At Applied Product Design we believe product design developments such as this fire the imagination of the public. We apply the same ambition and ‘can do’ attitude to our product design services. If you have a concept for a piece of product design, why not call us today and see how we can help make your plans a reality.

One very important innovation has been made in the area of the crash or safety helmet. 90% of motorcycle fatalities are a result of injury from the neck up, ThermaHelm technology aims to reduce this.

In the event of a heavy crash where the user suffers a heavy blow to the head the brain can swell which in turn causes an increase in brain temperature. Once the temperature of the brain reaches a certain critical level it becomes unresponsive and shuts down causing the persons heart to flatline.

To stop this from happening a new gel pack has been fitted into the ThermaHelm crash helmet that activates upon receiving a heavy impact, the gel pack then works against the increase in brain temperature to maintain a consistent and managable level of heat, reducing the amount of damage caused to the brain before emergency services can attend.

These crucial minutes after an accident can be vital and anything that can be done to help save lives must be considered a step in the right direction. The law on what you must wear on a motorcycle is very vague at present, the only thing that you are legally forced to wear is a crash helmet, so we are still faced with silly scenes in the summer when people ride motorcycles in shorts and t-shirts. Obviously if you come off the bike in this situation you stand to lose a large portion of skin and it is likely that you could go into shock and die through blood loss.

Maybe we should spend some time improving the laws on acceptable clothing as opposed to the equipment. Although having said that, I’ll be off to purchase one of these helmets as soon as they are released.