The Bariseur 2.0 wakes you up each morning with a fresh cup of coffee and a charged phone

Posted on 03/07/2020 by Sarang Sheth

Aside from having a puppy lick my face, the Bariseur 2.0 gives me everything I need to begin my day the right way!

The Bariseur really made waves when the first edition debuted back in 2016. A great design experience always aims at being a multisensory one. We love motorbikes not just because they get us from A to B, they’re a thrill. Whether it’s the wind in your hair, the purr of the motor, or just the way the motorbike looks, it’s the overall multisensory experience that makes riding a bike so goddamn amazing. I’d say that the Bariseur does the same thing with waking up. Nobody really likes being jolted awake by a neurotic noise-making box, right? Bariseur’s ability to cross over into the multisensory realm makes waking up an absolute treat, because not only does it wake you up with sound, it tantalizes your nostrils with the smell of fresh coffee, getting you out of bed with something to look forward to, and probably a sunnier disposition too.

It’s 2020, the world is practically on fire, but the Bariseur 2.0 does a pretty good job of making mornings a little more pleasurable than they would have been. In its second edition, the beverage-brewing alarm clock comes with an updated design featuring a better brewing system using a one-of-a-kind immersion brewer that works equally well with tea or coffee. Rather than brewing your drink right into the cup, the immersion brewer keeps your beverage contained in a chamber, allowing you to pour yourself a cuppa whenever you need it. The smell, however, wafts out pretty effortlessly, allowing you to wake up to the aroma of coffee beans or aromatic tea. The Bariseur 2.0 even features a redesigned shower-head and smart induction heater that allows water to be scattered across your coffee grounds or tea leaves evenly, and at a precise temperature of 94° C – ideal for brewing.

Along with its subtle-but-effective improvements, the Bariseur even comes with a mini-fridge to keep a small glass of milk refrigerated for you to pour into your coffee or tea, and if you want to use the apparatus without the alarm feature, the immersion brewer is detachable, so you can brew multiple cups in a day. The Bariseur 2.0 even features an added wireless charging mat that helps replenish your phone, giving you just the sheer joy of beginning your day with a fresh hot cup of chai/coffee and a fresh 100% charged smartphone. It’s the little pleasures, really!

Designer: Joy Resolve (Joshua Renouf)

General Motors’ transparent 1939 Pontiac blends history with automotive design

Posted on 22/06/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

There is no way you cannot look at this transparent 1939 Pontiac by General Motors that invites you inside the mechanical marvel that will leave even non-automotive folk as I enthused. The Pontiac earned the nickname ‘Ghost’ because of the exposed insides, it was the first fully transparent car in America created by the famous industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes who was dubbed as the man who designed the future.

It was showcased at a New York exhibition about innovative transportation systems that offered a look into the future of automotive inventions. “Created to show the rigid interior bracing and other features complete with windows that can be raised and lowered, doors that can be opened and closed. The only material lacking being the insulation normally applied to the inner surface working with new material, a synthetic crystal-clear plastic,” stated the original press release in 1939. General Motors built it in partnership with Rohm & Hass, the company that made plexiglass, for a production cost of $25,000. The plexiglass created an exact replica that replaced the outer sheet metal and made the car transparent. The structural metal underneath featured a copper wash and all the hardware was chrome plated to give it a nicer visual aesthetic since all of it is visible. To complement the copper and chrome finish, the tires and the rubber moldings were all made in white to give it an overall clean look.

The 1939 Pontiac was loaned to the Smithsonian Museum during WWII and then auctioned in 2011 for a staggering $308,000 considering the original construction cost. “It shows at a glance the hidden value built into Pontiac cars,” said the car’s motor division in another press release. It is a beautiful look into the past that was actually trying to show us the future only to realize how different things are now (even without taking 2020 into account). We may not have adopted the transparent car trend but we are moving to electric cars, however, the vintage Pontiac was a marvel that taught so many about the intricate details of automotive design and working.

Designer: General Motors

This WWII fighter jet-looking electric bike blends futuristic design with Japanese details

Posted on 07/05/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

Electric bikes usually have a futuristic aesthetic and its very rare that an e-bike evokes a sense of nostalgia while fitting within modern times. That is what makes the Katalis EV.500 electric motorcycle special, it is inspired by a WWII fighter aircraft that brings power without pollution. A dear friend described this design as ‘steampunk without the steam’ and we couldn’t agree more.

A Jakarta-based design and branding studio that has expertise in the field of mobility has designed this fighter jet-like electric bike in the middle of a pandemic. In fact, the pandemic influenced the people of Indonesia to be more mindful of their health and make changes in their lifestyle that made the environment around them cleaner – in terms of germs as well as pollutants. There were 3 core variables – 1) freedom in access to mobility 2) happiness 3) pollution-free vehicle. The Katalis is a custom build of a Selis Garuda electric motorcycle injected with the adrenaline of a wartime pilot. The aesthetics are unlike those of a traditional electric bike – the design team got rid of the existing frame and replaced it entirely with a new body made of series 6061 aluminum which gives it the military visual appeal highlighted with Japanese design details while being kind to the planet.

“We think it is quite rare to have an electric motorcycle design that has a metal body or shield,” says Julian Palapa, principal designer at Katalis company. “Furthermore, the rider of this electric motorcycle will also be spoiled by various retro-style yet functional instrument panels — from an analog voltmeter to the light switch.” Katalis hopes that building a custom electric bike while being in lockdown inspires more young designers to channel their energy into boosting their creativity.

Designer: Katalis Company

Panasonic’s VR glasses are living proof that virtual reality headsets can look ‘spectacular’

Posted on 10/01/2020 by Sarang Sheth

Now here’s a pair of VR glasses that don’t look like a toaster mounted on your face. Styled to resemble a wonderful pair of steampunk-style aviators, Panasonic has done for the VR headset industry what the Snap spectacles did for Google Glass (remember that?)

With an undeniably better form factor, and better image quality too, Panasonic’s VR glasses are classier and well, ‘glassier’ (as opposed to the massive ski-goggles that most VR headsets look like). Fitted with micro-OLED panels on the inside, the VR glasses can afford to be made smaller and have much better clarity too. In fact, unlike most VR headsets, you almost don’t notice the pixels in Panasonic’s product, allowing your VR world to be much more immersive because of its higher resolution. Panasonic also claims that they’re the first-ever VR glasses to support HDR, or a high dynamic range, allowing colors, saturation, brightness and contrast to all be incredibly lifelike. The glasses (they’re obviously not headsets) also come fitted with Panasonic’s own audio technology, using Technics drivers in those tiny earbuds to provide crystal clear audio.

As amazing as they look, Panasonic doesn’t plan on selling these to consumers (sad-face). They’re hoping that these glasses will see mostly commercial applications like VR sports and travel, but only once 5G networks are rolled out to be able to support high data-transfer speeds, especially given how high-resolution the video on these glasses are. I hope Panasonic changes their mind though. I’d definitely see myself lining up to own a pair of these beauts.

Designer: Panasonic

From your iPod to Vinyl, this cast iron speaker plays it all!

Posted on 25/10/2019 by Srishti Mitra

Bluetooth speakers, portable speakers, outdoor speakers, or mini speakers, you name it and the audio industry has come up with practically every kind of speaker! However, Oswalds Mill Audio’s (OMA) latest ‘Ironic’ speaker is probably one of the most unconventional and unique speakers I have ever come across! This Steampunk inspired piece of art is an open baffle type (wherein a loudspeaker is mounted on a flat board or a ‘baffle’), cast from a special kind of iron known as ‘hypo-eutectic iron’. This breed of iron is usually reserved for high-tech applications such as in a photolithography machine for the production of silicon chips, wherein resonance and vibration must be reduced to an absolute minimum. This implies that the Ironic speaker will not give out a resonating noise, and the output will be pure.

Designer: Oswalds Mill Audio (OMA)

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The striking speakers are created using 3D printed molds, however, the process is so intrinsic and complex, that the mold is destroyed while releasing the casting within. Hence for each loudspeaker, a new mold must be produced! The end result is a booming 132cm high and 89cm wide structure.

The Ironic has been power-packed with a special combination of transducers- a 15″ electrodynamic or field coil woofer harvested from Juke Boxes used in the 1930s (of which they have obtained ONLY 20 restored samples) and a bleeding-edge custom ribbon tweeter (a small speaker that produces treble), which helps the speaker produce the highest range frequency. These come together to bless the Ironic with a pure and authentic sound of unprecedented efficiency, producing at least 104 dB of output across the majority of its range. Balancing the old with the new, Ironic can play from iPods, smartphones as well as vinyl!

With only 20 restored woofers, it’s no surprise that the Ironic is available as a limited edition of ten pairs only. Resembling a cacophony of metallic bubbles, and boasting an all cast iron body, the Ironic resonates a crystal clear sound. Though the bubbles are present only for aesthetic value, they do impart an overwhelming aura, giving us the sensation that the music is coming in from all directions! With the ability to bathe us in a shower of crisp sound, the Ironic is surely at the top of my list of speaker must-haves!

VR turns bumper cars into retro-futuristic steampunk tanks

Posted on 29/04/2019 by Engadget RSS Feed

We've seen VR headsets used on rollercoasters and in car-based Mario Kart games, but now Steampunk VR Scooter has brought VR headsets to the world of bumper cars. From the outside, players appear to be sitting in your standard bumper cars and wearing...

The EXOvault Mouse is pure steampunk heaven!

Posted on 12/10/2018 by Sarang Sheth

There’s something about the EXOvault Mouse that just commands your attention, unconventional and simply alluring, the mouse comes with a steampunk aesthetic, featuring a hardwood body and metal buttons, deviating completely from plastics. The metal clickers come with a hinge detail that allows the metal flippers to bend upwards and downwards (an interaction that seems much more pleasing that simple, flexible plastic), and the scroll is made out off metal too. Made originally out of Rosewood and Aluminum, the EXOvault Mouse comes in different variants that experiment with anodized coloring on the metal parts, and even experimentation with Walnut wood that gives it a darker appearance.

The EXOvault Mouse was developed by artist, engineer, designer, and overall maker Jonathan Schipper. Designed as an exercise to visually reinvent something mundane, something we take for granted, the mouse was developed at EXOvault’s facility in Brooklyn, the mouse doesn’t just look great, but feels great too. It has weight, which allows you to command the cursor with confidence, while the clickers and scroll wheels provide a wonderfully smooth tactile feedback. With a PixArt 3000cpi sensor that works on glass and a 500mAh battery, the EXOvault mouse performs well too, giving you superior functionality and aesthetic unconventionality in a singular package that guarantees to make you instantly want to ditch your plastic mouse or trackpad!

Designers: Jonathan Schipper & EXOvault.

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Imagine if you could connect your Spotify to a music box

Posted on 06/06/2018 by Sarang Sheth

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Music players are pretty straightforward. You’ve got pre-recorded music files that are stored either offline or online, and all the music player does is decodes those files and plays the pre-recorded music via a speaker. Barring differences in playback and speaker hardware, one song sounds pretty much the same on each music player… but the Murobox is different. The Murobox, a portmanteau of the words Music Robot Box, literally plays or rather, performs the music for you.

Traditional music boxes have a spring-loaded cylinder with notches that rotate, plucking at a steel comb to create music. You were limited by the size of the cylinder, which was small enough to store just a fraction of a song (like a verse of Happy Birthday, Swan Lake, or more modern versions with the Harry Potter theme). The Murobox has no such limitation. Replacing the cylinder with sever computer-controlled rings, the Murobox can add or remove the notches that pluck against the steel comb, effectively changing with time and playing entire songs rather than just a bar or two. While the Murobox can’t literally translate your mp3 files into playable music (although that would be incredible if you could just connect your music subscription to the Murobox!), the companion app can tap into cloud-based libraries of tunes, while you can even add MIDI files to the Murobox to have it play it back with its signature calming sound… so technically, you can have the Murobox play literally any music you get your hands on. Yes, even Sandstorm by Darude.

Designer: Tevofy Technology

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Images via Engadget

This “Fully-operational” Steampunk Dalek Is Ready to Exterminate Your Bank Account

Posted on 28/01/2018 by Paul Strauss

I always wondered what it might be like if Doctor Who took place in a steampunk alternative universe. I think it would be pretty cool to have a TARDIS filled with gears and giant steam engines, and Cybermen and Daleks made from copper and brass. Well, one very talented Australian artist has created a life-size steampunk Dalek, and it’s pretty epic.

According to artist Vince Austin’s Etsy listing, this awesome Dalek is “fully-operational” – in that it can be driven by a pilot inside, and has a voice modulation circuit that can be used to communicate with the outside world in Dalekese. It’s also been rigged up with cameras and screens inside so its driver can see where it’s going, lest it exterminate the wrong person. Top speed for the Dalek is about 6 km/h (~3.7 mph).

This thing truly is an amazing work of art. However, it’s also as expensive as a really nice Porsche – with a $150,000 asking price. And that’s before the $2000 shipping fee to get it from Australia to the US. It took Austin about 6 months to build it, so it definitely was time consuming to create. As much as I’d love to have this thing in my living room, it would truly exterminate my retirement savings.

These Steampunk Clockwork Goggles Mesmerize with Light

Posted on 05/10/2017 by Paul Strauss

If there’s one bit of kit that’s essential to a proper steampunk outfit, it’s a pair of goggles. Sure, you could just go down to the army surplus shop and buy some old industrial goggles, or you could do what John Park did, and make the kind of goggles that Daft Punk would have had if they were a victorian era act.

John actually made these sweet goggles for his daughter who plans on going with a steampunk look this Halloween, and they look awesome. What makes them so cool is the light up LED rings which animate in a glowing pattern around the lens areas.

He built them using some inexpensive costume goggles, a pair of Adafruit’s NeoPixel LED rings, and controlled them with a Gemma M0, their wearable electronics platform, running a special flavor of Python called CircuitPython – a lightweight programming language which allows for quick and easy programming of inexpensive microcontrollers.

They look pretty awesome in the video and images, but it doesn’t look like you can see out of them. I think if I built a pair, I’d drill some small pinholes in the centers to allow for some vision so they could actually be used.

If you’re interested in building a pair of clockwork goggles for yourself, head over to the project page on the Adafruit website.

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