TechPin

There were so many new technology devices and design ideas winning Red Dot Awards this year, that we didn’t find enough time to cover them all. Four of them will be described in this article, which includes a smart cooking system, a special thermometer designed for the wine, and two unique novelty lamps.

First let’s take a look at the i-cooking system that received a Red Dot Award in the Product Design 2008 category. It was designed by Marcel Puts at his studio and manufactured by i-cooking from Netherlands.



It has received also Gold at iF Product Design Awards this year because of its practical design, providing a personal cooking system that you can assemble by yourself using the eight burners installed directly in the work surface. You can choose from three types of burners: 1.8 kW, 2.8 kW and the wok burner featuring 0.18 - 5.7 kW.
That’s all we know about i-cooking, one of the coolest new kitchen gadgets.



The Wine Thermometer is another product that won the Red Dot Award in the same category. It was developed by Menu, a company from Denmark, and designed by Jakob Wagner, as a useful gadget that attaches to the wine bottle like a belt and displays its temperature on the large digital display, visible from a large distance.
It is shock resistant and almost indestructible, while you can clean it easily with a cloth and store it in your drawer, a bowl or on the kitchen shelf to have it closer to you.



LED Omnio 1 from Gesellschaft für Lichttechnik, a company located in Germany, was created by Paul Heinrich Neuhorst as a cool wall light featuring sparkling iron-grey steel sheet and innovative LED Omnio light cubes. It can be shaped in rectangular, prism or cylindrical and provides lighting personalization based on the flexible light cubes, which can be combined together for an impressive effect.
LED Omnio 1 also won the Red Dot Product Design Award for 2008.



The Kristall Chandelier received a honorable mention for the elegant way in which it represents a classic form of illumination. Made of acrylic rods and spreading a soft light around, the Kristall Chandelier looks like a corona sculpture. It was designed by Jonas Wannfors for LYX Furniture, a Swedish company headquartered in Stockholm.

Elderly people have now a great solution for feeling safe in their homes while having a permanently connection with their doctors, thanks to a new device introduced by Intel. The Intel Health Guide PHS6000 allows doctors to monitor their patients with chronic conditions via an online interface enabled in their homes, accessible remotely through the Intel Health Care Management Suite.

In present, Advanced Warning Systems is prepared to use the Intel solution for connecting to retired athletes and post-war veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, who are prone to cardiovascular related illnesses.
The range of applications doctors can access includes vital sign collection, patient reminders, surveys, multimedia educational content, video conferencing and alerts.

From what we read on Intel’s website, we learned that the new device, which is available only to healthcare professionals at the moment, comes with large fonts, touch-sensitive interface, audio-video elements meant to enhance the human interface, a calendar designed in such a way to allow patients to personalize with their details, video calling, and a library of treatment plans among others.
Intel did not display the price for its Health Guide PHS6000, but you can ask more information on the official website.

"The Health Guide is a step forward in offering more personalized and effective management of chronic health conditions in the home," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of the Intel Digital Health Group. "Intel has spent years researching the needs of both caregivers and patients, and we are now moving to launch a series of products that will help extend care from the hospital to the home. Our products will help address the challenges of an aging population and rising rates of chronic disease."

By the end of 2008 you’ll have the chance to see the LG Prada 2 in stores in Italy, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Netherlands at a starting price of 600 Euros.
LG teamed up with the Prada brand again to release the second edition of this popular cell phone placed somewhere between high-end smartphones and the luxury cell phones level.

The result of this collaboration is defined by the introduction of a side-sliding QWERTY keypad in addition to the full touch-sensitive display, which added only 5 mm to the thickness of this slim and stylish cell phone, keeping the same width.
Its overall look is identical to the previous model already available in stores worldwide, and the new ergonomic keypad enables fast texting on the go for users who enjoy chatting over the Internet. This new function makes the Prada KF900 luxury cell phones more practical for both business users and those who just like to keep up with the fashion trends.

Other new features introduced by the new model include the high-speed 3G connectivity with video calling, up to 7.2Mbps transfer speeds thanks to the HSDPA support, full HTML browser, Wi-Fi, and a built-in 5MP digital camera with high-quality Schneider-Kreuznach lens.

The quad-band luxury cell phones are defined by a large 3-inch TFT display of 256K colors, accelerometer sensor for the landscape mode, multimedia player, up to 8GB memory support, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP profile, email, Instant messaging, FM radio, and the secondary camera for video calls.

WeAreTheSuperLativeConspiracy, in short WeSC, is a street fashion brand promoting lots of cool clothes for both men and women and some eye-catching headphone models, one of which is the ALP Horn.
This model comes in two colors and has a unique design, unusual for headphones, which sport large and rounded parts covering the user’s ears so that, while you listen to music soundtracks, the sounds are only for your ears.

We don’t know how ergonomic these nice headphones are and if they are easy to wear and use, but we can assume that the band keeps them fixed on the head, without the size differences to matter. The headphones cover the ears allowing the skin to breathe normally, unlike those big and rounded models that just can’t be used in the summer, or the earbuds that need to be cleaned frequently.

WeSC ALP Horn look stylish and compact, featuring 57-mm drivers, 60-Ohm impedance, while the frequency ranges between 20 and 20,001Hz.
You can find them at around $80 in select stores.

Philips is a company providing many award-winning products featuring audio visual innovations. One of its latest gadgets is the goLITE BLU, a device working based on some of the principles used by the famous Laxman Innertainment System, which induces a state of profound relaxation via the wearable eye goggles, through which it surrounds the user with special audio and visual effects.

Philips’ goLITE BLU uses blue light therapy to reduce and eliminate symptoms of the winter blues, such as lethargy, low moods, sleeping problems, weight gain, headaches and carbohydrate cravings.
In order to recover the energy required for daily activities, the gadget regulates the circadian rhythms.
Dan Adams, research manager at Philips Home Healthcare Solutions, explains: “The body clock is stimulated by blue light like the blue found in the summer sky. In the winter we get less of this light and so many people suffer from the winter blues.“

According to Philips, the first results produced by the Bluewave technology can be felt in the first days of using the device, if you are willing to spend around 15 minutes every day.
How is this working? –It sounds simple. Philips explained that people don’t need intense white light for getting over winter blues, but blue light, which proved to be two times more efficient than the white light, even if the while light is 50 times more intense.

goLITE BLU can be setup via the touch-sensitive controls with backlight, which are easy to use, while the entire gadget measures 5.3 x 5.5 inches at 12 ounces, so it can be placed on any desk, featuring the built-in clock and timer.
It uses a rechargeable battery and comes with a transport case, so you can benefit from the blue light therapy while you travel around the globe, for $279.