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Winner of Silver at International Design Excellence Awards 2008, this device that mounts on the ceiling is the most innovative and maybe the best room air conditioner on the market, for both the design and functionality. It can be used in homes as well as public places and offices, where each person breathing in the same room feels the cold and warm air flows differently.

Free Wind can be set to satisfy all the people in the room because it features 6 pans operated by a smart control system, which control the wind zones, and so, when you set your preferred temperature it tries to adapt to your need by controlling the direction, degree and strength of a combination of winds coming from the 6 holes. You can see the temperatures for each area by looking at the lights indicators, and control them remotely.



The idea comes from Hyun Jin Yoon and Eun Hak Lee, collaborating with Samsung Art and Design Institute from South Korea, same designers that created the Maple Phone wood phones concept that you can read about on CameraPhonesPlaza.com.
Free Wind air conditioner’s 6 fans move up and down and left to right, each of the fans having 3 wings for horizontal move and 8 wings for vertical movements.
The amazing remote control in the picture is a glossy oval device which you have to just drag with the finger up and down, to change the temperatures.



IDEA was formerly knows as the Industrial Design Excellence Awards, name that was changed in 2007 to reflect its international target, and it has been honoring design innovations since 1980, becoming the most prestigious competition awarding products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts submitted from allover the world, by both students and companies.

The Bath Safeguard product concept was designed for Lite-On Technology, the same company headquartered in Taiwan that has received a Red Dot Design Award in 2007 for another cool gadget we wrote about in a previous article you enjoyed so much, called It’s not a Standard Mouse the Moldable Mouse. The company is known worldwide as a top producer of imaging products, enclosures, power supplies and LEDs, for both global and domestic market sectors.
This time i want to show you a useful device with which you could measure the bath water temperature without needing to insert your hand in it and risk to burn your skin if it’s hot.

Designed by Kai Yi Chen, Bath Safeguard is conceived as a waterproof device with heatproof silicon plug, and an electrostatic induction charger, featuring a thermal sensor and LED lights with a color reference chart to indicate the water temperature surrounding it. When the hot water temperature is detected, it colors in red, while blue indicates a cold water temperature, and green means it’s somewhere in the middle.



From the product brochure we find out that it recognizes temperatures ranging between 81 degrees F and 113 degrees F, and it turns blue when the water is below 91 degrees F, which means you will have to wait for a while because the water is cold. It becomes green if there are 91-102 degree F and you can take a bath, and is the water temperature gets over 108 degrees F the color becomes red, telling you it was detected a dangerous level. It displays the temperature in Fahrenheit as well as in Celsius degrees.

The device replaces your standard plug and stays in the water until you take it of after you finished taking the bath. Its design is very stylish and besides the useful functionality, it also changes the look of the room completely, spreading a cool light through the water.



Bath Safeguard won at IDEA 2008 in the Medical & Scientific Concepts section.

What lst-steplighting has special, is the gentle light it spreads in dark rooms via the LED technology. This light is calm and doesn’t bother your eyes when you wake up to go to the bathroom.
It is a small device integrating a sensor that detects the light intensity in the environment, and turns on and off automatically, according to the light level.



Another home lighting design from IDEA is Bell-a-Notte, created by Lunar Design. Making us think of the Italian “bella notte” that translates to “beautiful night”, this device matches the bedroom decor and provides a warm light before you fall asleep. It is not just a lamp, but it functions as an alarm clock as well, featuring an intuitive interaction while hanging from the ceiling. If you place it over your bed, you could use its clapper by pulling it out a bit to tell the lamp the amount of time after which you need the light to fade away like magic.



The frog Light Bulb here received the Gold at IDEA for using a high-output LED light source. It’s a prototype uses half the power of fluorescent light, lasting 10 times longer, and in addition, the innovation consists of an unbreakable plastic material, solid-state elements and no mercury.
This eco-friendly home lighting design has 6 versions featuring different light reflections.

"The LED light bulb is a compelling and iconic concept,” said Jane Savage, IDSA, Director of Category Integration, Nike. “You can easily envision replacing any incandescent bulbs or mercury-laden CFL's in your home with this LED. Promoting the use of LEDs as a warmer, energy efficient and long lasting light source in a familiar package is a concept with longevity."

Created by frog design, this new type of light bulb is characterized by high-output LEDs, high durability, conductive base, and 30 years of life. It fits any socket for classic incandescent bulbs.



For your office here is Brazo desk lamp from Pablo Designs, a model winning Gold at IDEA 2008. You’ve seen unique novelty lamps before in a previous article on Techpin, but unlike the others that were designed for room decoration, this one is intended for work productivity. It features LED light of high performance, adjustable via a precision-machined aluminum body. You can set it to vary the light beam and to provide focused directional light, as well as rotate it’s arm at 360 degrees or the heat at 90 degrees. The height ranges between 14 and 21 inches.
Besides the high adjustability, Brazo has also a high-degree of eco-friendliness, being made 97% of recyclable materials.

"I was fascinated with this product's refined sophistication and precision technical detail,” said Andrew Hartman, IDSA, Creative Dir., New Business, Philips. “This design allows precise control and positioning of light through the clever and appropriate use of LED technology."

Tokyo Flash has recently launched yet another cool watch. Although it’s the latest model in the Nekura series, the design does not feature any cryptic time telling systems. The watch sticks to a somewhat classic look, unlike what we’ve seen from Tokyo Flash in the past months.

The new model is dubbed Nekura Twilight features a black face with a circular dial highlighted in bold tones of orange and blue, for added contrast. The watch also features a sleek silver casing with rounded corners and a custom engraved, self-adjustable wristband made of stainless steel. The face is covered by a curved glass lens and features simple white numerals which represent hours. A rotating disc points to the hour numerals, while minutes are presented on the inner dial. Tokyo Flash chose to display digits only at cardinal points on the face in order to provide a clear appearance.

Finished with a neatly designed clasp and available with a black or clear strap, Twilight is a strong unisex design with uplifting character. The watch also features authentic Japanese movement mechanisms and weighs only 60 grams.

You can buy this watch, as well as all the other enticing models from the Tokyo Flash site. The Nekura Twilight watch is now available for around $90.

A concept digital camera for the visually impaired, like Touch Sight, would allow users to record a 3-second sound description for each picture they take. This feature activates when the shutter button is press, so that, at a later, time, users can easily manage pictures.
The ideas comes from Samsung Design China and received Gold at International Design Excellence Awards 2008.
Besides having an ergonomic design and a very appealing modern look, the digital camera doesn’t have an LCD display type but a Braille screen with 3D images created from the surface. The user knows how to handle it by touching these shaped images and listening to the audio reviews.

"The concept was immediately compelling by raising the potential of greater communication between the visually impaired and family and friends,” said Thomas Garvey, Associate Professor, School of Industrial Design, Carleton University from Canada. “The number of well considered details, the visual approach and the very comprehensive presentation materials lifted this concept easily into the top category."

Users having the same digital camera model would be able to share images with each other by uploading and downloading these probably wirelessly.

This concept remembers us of the Siafu PC, a sleek computer design featuring a technology that might be the one used in the Touch Sight. Siafu can be controlled by visually impaired people based on the magneclay concept material, which can morph upward into any shape, displaying landscapes in 3D reliefs. Theoretically, the magneclay can be developed from an oil-based synthetic agent with morphic capabilities. It responds to electric and magnetic charges rearranging itself in any shape.
Researchers have managed to develop a material with similar proprieties but it changes the shape only according to the light conditions and temperatures, like plants bending towards the sun.