Archive for July, 2009

Applied Product Design Assists Dry Ice Blade Inventor For Dragons Den

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Karen Coombes had the idea of a Dry Ice Blade when the ice skating show she was working on fell foul of an unusable ice rink. This initial concept lead her to team up with leisure operator and contract manager Karen O’Neil – with the ambition of bringing the invention to a mass market. They formed KCO Ice Skating Ltd.

The two Karens face the Dragons on August 5th, BBC2 9pm

The two Karens face the Dragons on August 5th, BBC2 9pm

The striking design aims to replicate the ice skating experience on dry land, with its unique blade.

The two Karen’s approached Applied Product Design to assist them with protecting the idea, as well as developing it to a level where it could be manufactured. Paul Ponting of APD took on the brief and whilst he went about perfecting the design, Karen Coombes applied to the BBC’s Dragons Den TV show with a view to obtaining further funding.

Kaputt R. Demolition Robot Brings Down the House

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009

kaputt2It might look like something you’d find lurking around some science fiction space ship. But the Kaputt. R. Demolition Robot is a piece of product design that has been dreamt up very recently by a certain Tony Weichselbraun.

This striking yellow-and-black concept looks like a relation of animated creation Wall-e, and much like the rubbish-stacking Disney character, the Kaputt. R. robot also has a very practical function. It has two demolition arms that fold out, counter-balanced by enough weight to ensure they can tear walls down with ease.

Driven by 4 electric caterpillar tracks, this piece of robotic muscle can disperse its weight across a wide area – crucial when the floor beneath might be unstable.

Revolutionary Product Design: Driving the Thunderbird into the Canyon

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Design studio Mike and Maiike are the first to admit they love the muscle cars of the past. But according to these forward-thinking designers  – Dutch and Californian respectively – it’s time to grow up and revolutionise the way we travel.

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The product development they’ve been conducting is sure to shock many of us who like the old fashioned driving experience. An experience, say the designers, that has not changed significantly since the 1960s. They seem to have taken every facet of what we think of as a car, and driven it off a cliff.

The AutoNoMobile, or Atnmbl, seems to be designed to take the entire driving experience away from the car owner altogether. With its spacious interior and windows that cover almost the entire left and right sides – this car looks like the ipod of the personal transport world. A matrix of glowing lights are the answer to traditional rear lights, while the idea of looking out of the front of the vehicle has been completely removed; passengers sit facing each other as the car moves.

Dragons Den Back in Business

Friday, July 10th, 2009

The all new 7th series of Dragons’ Den starts this Wednesday on BBC 2 at 9pm. It is also being broadcast in HD at the same time on the BBC HD channel.

In the first program of the new series the entrepreneurs ask the Dragons for investment in an eco friendly patio heater, a hat that makes wrinkles disappear, a horror based scare attraction and personalised romance novels.

The line up of Dragons remains the same as the previous series, with Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne having been in the show since series 1, Theo Paphitis since series 2, Deborah Meaden since series 3, and James Caan since series 5.

Unlike the online Dragons’ Den show launched earlier in the year, where entrepreneurs can only ask for investments of up to £50,000, in the TV show they can ask for between £50,000 and £250,000.

Google Chrome OS Challenging Microsoft

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Search engine giant Google have a new operating system in production called Google Chrome OS, for use on home PC’s and netbooks. This is a direct challenge to the leading market operating system Microsoft. The new Google Chrome OS will initially be used on small netbooks with the aim of being used on PC’s as well. Sales of the netbooks with Google Chrome OS is said to be on sale in 2010.

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Chrome OS was a direct extension to the Google Chrome browser and was announced to be launched just months before the launch of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7.

So what makes Google Chrome OS stand out from Microsoft Windows? Google’s engineering director Linus Upson states that “We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you on to the web in a few seconds…” He further adds on a blog written by Sundar Pichai that “the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web”, making the new Google Chrome OS a project that attempts to rethink the way operating systems operate.