Illimani ICE – Energy saving Water Cooler / Boiler
Under Counter Technology saving 30-50% on existing options for Instant Boiling and Chilled Drinking Water.
The illimani ICE is on the cutting edge of under counter drinking water. The illimani ICE complements your kitchen or office: contemporary and aesthetically pleasing, the electric faucet with power saving features, dispenses instant boiling water, and chilled filtered water.
Museum of Communications – Telecom Sheep
These Telephone Sheep are the brainchild of Jean-Luc Cornec, and are made completely out of telephones and telephone wires. Displayed at the Museum for Communications in Frankfurt Main, Germany. Proof as ever, that recycling works.
Dr. Andy Stanford-Clark – A Master Inventor at Work – Automating your Home or Office
Dr. Andy Stanford-Clark explains how he solves everyday problems with thinking that focuses on the idea of a smarter planet, often with existing technology. His house Twitters and now, so does the Red Funnel Ferry line that he uses to commute from his home on the Isle of Wight to the IBM Hursley Lab.
Andy’s work with Home Automation is slowly revolutionising the way we interact with objects and devices we own. With the ability to globally remotely control and monitor anything from a light to the temperature or water meter reading in your home, home owners and consumers are able to better control or maintain those things in their lives that are important to them. The implications on an industrial level are staggering, with huge potential for enhanced efficiency and cost reduction.
Google Chrome OS Demo
Google Chrome OS is an open source operating system for people who spend most of their time on the web built around the core tenets of speed, simplicity and security. This is a demo video to give you a feel for the Google Chrome OS user experience. You’ll find a quick overview video below as well.
Morse Code LEDs Transmit Data to Phones
I’m not really sure if this is good or bad news for end consumers, but a couple of Japanese companies have developed a technology that makes it possible to transmit information from blinking LEDs fixed on advertisements to cell phones – using only light. The companies involved in the development include some big names such as Toshiba or NEC.
With this new system, Japanese cell phone users don’t have to scan the ubiquitous QR codes anymore to access more information on a certain product or to get coupons but can obtain the data without being physically close to the ads. If you have an ad measuring 1sqm and place LEDs on it, for example, the target user can stand as far as five meters away (the distance can be longer in the case of larger ads). If the users are interested in what’s being offered, it’s enough to point the cell phone to the ad to instantly view the information on the screen.
The LEDs blink about four million times per second and (obviously) require the use of a light-receiving handset (sorry for the silly picture – there are no official photos of the LED system yet). Advertisers can change the blinking frequency to change the content of the information they send to their potential customers.
The technology is on track to be commercialized by 2013.
Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]
Enterprise UK Free Office Space Competition – Closing Date 30th November!
Grow your business – risk free. 12 months without overhead costs.
If you’re fed up of working from the kitchen table or finding it hard to grow your business from home then take control today by entering our competition to win free office space for a whole year in one of four regional locations; Birmingham, Bristol, London and Manchester.
What does having free serviced office space include?
We are offering one lucky winner 12 months free serviced office space for up to three people to include access to broadband and telephone services, registered address and access to the eOffice networks PLUS a three page website and access to business support workshops, networks and mentors.
For your chance to win, just tell us why you need office space for your small business and how it would help your business grow.
In addition to this great competition, one winner in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and London will also win 12 months of virtual office space worth £5,000 including 40 hours of hot desking per month, four hour meeting rooms per month, a registered address for one year and a dedicated phone service within an eOffice location.
How do I enter?
Complete the online application form and tell us how having office space or virtual office space will help grow your business. It’s that simple.
Read our competition terms and conditions
Don’t delay
The first 100 people to apply for office space in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, London win one year’s free eOffice membership, worth £100 and providing priority access to a worldwide network of exclusive business centres.
Brought to you by Enterprise UK, which aims to increase levels of entrepreneurship in the UK, and eOffice, the serviced office space provider.
Supported by The British Library Business and IP Centre, PATLIB in Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester and Swoopmedia.
30th November 2009 Closing dates for entries
2nd December 2009 Judging panel select national (x1) and regional (x4) winners
11 December 2009 All Winners announced
4 January 2010 Regional winners begin trading at an eOffice Virtual work space
4 January 2010 Office winner begins trading at an eOffice work space
Looking for inspiration?
We have some great advice from a number of entrepreneurs and business experts to help your business grow, including top tips from the wonderful Pier Mucelli, founder of e-Office
Check out Pier’s top tips
Get advice from our partners
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Solar Petal iPod Charger
Drawing inspiration from the personal solar charging device by Fandi Meng, the Sunny Flower, which charges your gadgets on the go, designer Mac Funamizu has come up with a solar charger called “iPetals” to juice up an iPhone. The iPetals apart from harnessing the solar energy to charge your iPhone also doubles as an iPhone stand. The sustainable charger integrates colored petals with different lightness, which spread like a blooming flower to seize sunlight during the daytime and contract to become a docking station for your iPhone.
[ Article Source: the Design Blog ]
Solar Walls for Ambient Workplace Lighting
Revitalizing the conventional confines of the traditional workspace, designer Jenny Redd has come up with an innovative room divider that other than providing privacy, also harnesses solar energy to run the office. The “Solar Wall,” as the designer hails the divider, utilizes a new kind of solar technology, wherein dye-sensitized solar cells are printed onto the glass, to provide electricity to the workspace. Capturing energy in its screen-printed honeycomb pattern, the freestanding room divider stores solar energy in its base, where power outlets are provided to juice up and run the electronics. The up-to-the-minute technology helps you accumulate not only the direct sunlight but also the indirect ambient light to power all the gadgets in the office.
[ Article Source: the Design Blog ]
Architecture for Administration Centers
Second runner-up in the competition to design the new Ljubljana Administration Center, the city municipality design by Slovenian architecture firm OFIS brings several departments, though occupying different buildings, closer to each other. Comprising three new buildings, connected with loops of space in different heights like the cylinders, the new administration center following the mathematical models of intersections and unions presents a public entrance area in the middle of each cylinder, while the offices are positioned around the center. The structure is enclosed with a high performance glazing, with an adaptable external shading device to reduce direct contact with sun. On the other hand, the concrete slab with integrated pipe system not only provides cooling in summers but also allows comfortable radiant heating during winters.
[ Article Source: the Design Blog ]
Student Tool Records Teacher Blackboard
Chinese designer Lu Yin has come up with a rather strange concept to revolutionize the classroom learning. His concept is based on the duster (blackboard eraser) and the blackboard we used back in our school days. With classroom teaching going digital with time, the concept dubbed the LT Brush could find place in the classrooms making things simpler for the students. Using a camera and a recording pen to scan the courseware which the teacher has written on the blackboard, the LT Brush lets the student record the teachers lecture which the student can playback after the class.
[ Article Source: the Design Blog ]