Wednesday LG Electronics revealed plans to showcase its new LSM-100 hybrid at the IFA 2011 tradeshow in Berlin which begins September 1. The device is a combination of a mouse and a handheld scanner, allowing the user to simply hold the Smart Scan button on the left side of the mouse, and then swipe over any material (artwork, document etc) on a flat surface. The resulting scanned image can then be saved as PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PDF, XLS and DOC, or dragged and dropped into the desired application.

“The LSM-100 is also equipped with LG’s Optical Character Recognition technology, which converts scanned text into a Microsoft Word document that can then be edited and manipulated as the user sees fit,” the company said. “By eliminating the need to retype text from print media onto the screen, Optical Character Reader saves users a great deal of time.”

LG said that the scanner aspect can take in sizes up to A3 (11.7 x 16.5-inches) which is larger than most conventional portable scanners. The LSM-100′s scanning technology has also reportedly been upgraded to handle faster pass-over rates, meaning that scanning an A3 sheet won’t take forever – it can actually be done “smoothly and quickly.”

Read more…

Designer Min Seong Kim envisions a rather interesting world where Hyundai, alongside its automobiles and heavy equipment, also builds motorcycles.

The structure of the bike is, in true conceptual fashion, made of a material that can tighten or relax, which the designer believes would aid in steering similar to the way our muscles aid in… well, pretty much everything we do. There’s a cage around the rider, apparently to aid in protection, but we wonder how easy that would be to see around. The six-cylinder powerplant sports bold HYUNDAI lettering across the valve covers, and probably comes with a great warranty as well.

We do have a problem with the rider, however, who is clearly rooting for a different motorcycle manufacturer. There’s nothing wrong with Suzuki bikes, but if you’re going to be shilling for a futuristic manufacturer, you should also be wearing their branded leathers. Regardless, the concept is interesting from all angles, and you can check it out for yourself in the gallery.

Active aerodynamics are beginning to make their way into production vehicles, but adaptive winglets and electro-hydraulic flaps can’t hold a candle to Da Feng’s Flake concept.

Partially inspired by the lateral movement of the Cars characters, the ash from his cigarettes and concepts like BMW’s Gina, Feng’s vehicle started nearly three years ago as his final project at Conventry University.

What you see here is the third iteration of the Flake, which uses 250 active body panels controlled by mini solenoids pulling on carbon nano-tube wires. The result is a body that can lay flat to decrease drag, hinge upward to slow the vehicle and collect solar power or open fully to aid cornering and increase downforce.

Just as trick are the “D-Wheels” which are made up of 12 individual legs that extend upwards and contract downwards to fit the driving surface. Both the wheels and the body structure act as part of the suspension, allowing the Flake to corner hard and even go off road. Theoretically.

If it all sounds like science fiction, it is (and props to Feng for the shout-out to Snowcrash), but the budding designer did speak with an ex-Williams Formula 1 engineer who said the idea and execution is sound – with a few more tweaks.

Read more…

Designed by Jung Dae Hoon, the Dial Phone is a futuristic cell phone concept that takes the traditional dial technology from old school phones and adds a high-tech futuristic twist. The Dial Phone utilizes a minimalistic design that allows it to be easily disguised as a fashionable bracelet accessory. Whenever users want to make a phone call, they have to detach the phone from their wrist, and place it on top of a flat surface. The phone will then project numbers for the user to ‘dial’ using the phones integrated sensors.

Although the design features unconventional functionality, Hoon’s concept is a refreshingly minimal look at the possible future of cell phones. In a world filled with smartphone designs that focus on having the most features and the best hardware specs, it’s nice to see a design that sets itself apart from the crowd in different ways.

SOURCE via Tuvie

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced plans to build the world’s tallest building in Jeddah less than two years after the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai at a height that many thought wouldn’t be surpassed for years.

The planned tower will soar to 3,281 feet (1,000 meters) and will include a hotel, luxury condominiums and offices. It would dwarf the Burj Khalifa, which is 2,717 feet (828 meters), and would also be the world’s tallest man-made structure.

Prince Alwaleed at a news conference Tuesday said his company, Kingdom Holding Co., had signed a 4.6 billion Saudi riyal ($1.23 billion) deal with Bin Laden Group to build the tower, which is expected to take more than five years to complete. Bin Laden Group is the largest construction firm in Saudi Arabia and is owned by the bin Laden family, which in the 1990s distanced itself from Osama bin Laden.

“Building this tower in Jeddah sends a financial and economic message that should not be ignored,” Prince Alwaleed said. “It has a political depth to it to tell the world that we Saudis invest in our country.”

Prince Alwaleed, one of the Middle East’s wealthiest businessmen, said finances for the tower are in place and construction is expected to start soon, without giving further details. Its designer was a team led by Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

Countries for years have vied for bragging rights to the world’s tallest building. The U.S. held the title for decades with different buildings in New York and Chicago until 1998, when it shifted to Asia with the opening of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

But the world’s tallest buildings also have had reputations for poor financial performance. For years, the Empire State Building in New York was known as the “Empty State Building” because of its slow leasing progress. The Burj Khalifa, a mixed-use property, also opened during a global economic downturn. As the supply of office space has swelled, Dubai’s vacancy rate has risen to 44%, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

“The world’s tallest building has never been about making the maximum financial return,” says Antony Wood, executive director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. “It’s about ego. It’s about attention. It’s about making a statement.”

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding, run by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has signed a $1.23 billion deal with Bin Laden Group to build the world’s tallest tower in Jeddah, which will soar 3,281 feet. Summer Said has details from Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi project is designed to be the showpiece of Kingdom City, a 57-million-square-foot megadevelopment north of Jeddah. Overlooking the Red Sea, it is slated to cost $20 billion.

“This project will provide sustainable profits to Kingdom Holding shareholders,” Prince Alwaleed said. It “has been in discussion since four years because of our emphasis to have it very economically viable.”

Prince Alwaleed, who owns 95% of Kingdom Holding, has focused his investments on banks, hotels and media companies, building sizable stakes in firms such as Citigroup Inc., News Corp., Apple Inc. and Time Warner Inc. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

The prince kept a low profile in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. But more recently, he started seeking investors and acquisitions around the world.

Kingdom Holding said it had signed a shareholder agreement under which Bin Laden Group would take a 16.63% stake in Kingdom’s Jeddah Economic Co. unit, which will build the tower. Kingdom will own 33.35% in Jeddah Economic, while 33.35% will be held by Abrar International Holding Co. and 16.67% by investor Abdurrahman Sharbatly.

Construction costs are a lot lower in the Mideast than in the U.S. For example, the tallest building being developed in the U.S., One World Trade Center in New York, is slated to cost $3.1 billion. It will be 1,776 feet tall.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it has awarded Delft University of Technology a grant to develop a new type of toilet, one that might need you to login in order to pee. They say that this new device would process human waste much differently, especially without the use of water.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President of the Foundation’s Global Development program, said at the AfricaSan3 Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, that the toilet has not been reinvented in centuries and has only reached about 2.6 billion people around the world. The fact that toilets are not available everywhere is causing a monumental sanitary problem that is a catalyst for the development of diseases that are filling half of all hospital beds in developing countries.

Future toilets should not require a significant infrastructure, work without water and recycle human waste to energy sources. For example, waste could be converted into bio fuel, fertilizer and even fresh water. Specifically, Mathews Burwell said that the “Toilet 2.0″ could be an electricity generator, a urine-diverting device that recovers clean water on site and function as a production device for minerals and biological charcoal.

The grant is part of a $41.5 million investment in water, sanitation and hygiene, the Foundation said.

The models have been made. The designs have been scrutinized. The talents have been exhibited, the ballots have been cast, and the prizes have been awarded for the 2011 Ferrari World Design Contest.

The competition attracted entries from 50 design schools and universities around the world, all vying for the eye of decision makers from both Ferrari and Pininfarina. In the end, the top prize went to a team from Korea for their innovative Eternità concept, pictured in the foreground above.

Read more…