“The Accouphene tuxedo is decorated with 13 soft speakers, embroidered in the shape of a coil with highly conductive yarns. By pulsing energy through the coils and running a magnet, embedded in the sleeve of Accouphene, over the coils, sounds are generated. Accouphene creates a 3D sonic environment around the human body that can be activated and modulated through movement of the hands and the twisting and compression of the cloth.”
Accouphene is a project by Vincent Leclerc, Joey Berzowska & the XS Labs Squirrels. (photos by Vincent)
Here’s a slick jacket by IDIOM. Then again, I’m a sucker for products with an “apple affect”. In the design world, the “apple affect” is where the outside is one color, but the insides a burst of another. There are tons of great products with this design element. I’ll list a few:
John Huber has a fascinating method in creating a pretty slick ring from a half-dollar coin using a hammer. The tools are simple, the process is easy, and the end product is plain cool!
The 2005 Solar Decathlon competition has an amazing assortment of incredible designs based on sustainable energy-efficient living. The competition introduces a variety of innovative methods to use solar energy and high-tech materials. If you dig deep into some of the submissions, you’ll be blown away by the student concepts. I recently saw a special on TV about this competition and became hooked. They recently announced the roundup of schools invited to compete in 2007.
Sounds been a hot topic in the past few years. Pictured right are “Glas Platz”, glass speakers, an elegant solution to those large ugly looking speakers. This technology also works by using the 
