Tag Archives: Trend Round-up

From Volkswagen Beetle to the Black Panther, these bikes have the most intriguing origin stories!

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Every superhero/ supervillain has an origin story, so do these bikes! Origin stories are the emotional bonding that ground us and while we make tons of memories with our bike over the years, it always helps to have that one more factor to help you connect with each design better. Be it your favorite vintage automobile or even the design brand you always look up to, the bike designs here are guaranteed to awe you!

Brent Walter, who describes himself as the “maker and builder of a variety of things”, created the VW Mini Bike, or what he fondly calls the ‘Volkspod’. Much like its name, the automotive is a little pod-shaped two-wheeler. The Volkswagen Beetle Type 1 or the ‘Bug’ has gained iconic status since it’s release. Its adorable bulbous structure had won almost everyone’s heart in the mid to late ’90s, with production lasting until 2003. Paying homage to the Bug, Walter used the fenders from each corner of the car to build the mini motorbike. The four vintage fenders merge together to form the head and tail-light system of the Volkspod. Power-packed with a 79cc engine, the Volkspod promises to be as or even more dynamic than the Beetle Type 1.

If it were up to King T’Challa, the MIMIC e-bike would be fitted with vibranium tech, but we’re going to stick to an electric power-train for now. This crouching-jungle-cat of a bike is a concept designed by Roman Dolzhenko. Outfitted with what looks less like a body and more like armor, the MIMIC e-bike comes with a rounded, Tron Light Cycle-inspired form with rounded elements and just an overall absence of straight lines or sharp edges. The e-bike has a dual-lamp headlight fitted on the front, looking almost like a menacing pair of eyes, and a dashboard that lays flush against the e-bike’s curved panther-esque body. Wakanda Forever!

It’s been almost 10 years since James Dyson’s consumer electronics company first introduced its bladeless fan! Known as the Dyson Air Multiplier, it shook up the tech world with its unusual characteristic: it did not have any visible blades. The impact felt by this innovation is being felt even today, as seen in Saharudin Busri’s Dyson Inspired Concept Motorcycle. Though it is still a concept, it did incite a tangible excitement when we first got a glimpse of the design! Mimicking Dyson’s bladeless fan, Busri decided to remove the spokes of the wheel from his bike, leaving the center of the wheel completely hollow. An added homage to Dyson would be the fact that the engine is also inspired by the aesthetics of the motor we see in most of their vacuum cleaners such as the latest V11 model.

Switch Motorcycles is a new electric bike company and they have just unveiled the eScrambler which is their very first product and we have to say, it’s quite impressive! To share some context, we expect nothing short of this from custom motorcycle veteran Matthew Waddick who teamed up with designer Michel Riis (former Yamaha Japan Advanced Labs Industrial Designer and past Danish Flat Track champion!) The first thing you’ll notice is that it has a sturdy, angular build, almost like the flat trackers and classic bikes of the ’70s or even the Tesla Cybertruck, making it stand apart from the usual slimmer electric bikes. To complete its big-guy aesthetic, it has 18-inch wheels wrapped in chunky tires, KTM forks, and a central mono-shock. Being a vehicle in 2020, it has all the tech you’d want in a bike – a digital display, cruise control, a battery level indicator, integrated GPS tracking, three power modes, and in-built Wi-Fi which truly sets it apart. However, we don’t encourage being on the ‘gram or making Tik Toks while you ride!

A combination of aerodynamics and futurism, with an overwhelming amount of chrome-finishing, the EVE LUX by Bandit9 is a bike that’s better enjoyed as a spectator than as a rider. Probably one of the most visually memorable bikes of the decade, especially when viewed from the side, the EVE LUX was designed exclusively for Hong Kong-based luxury house, Lane Crawford. Channeling futuristic, feminine energy with its elegant sideways-teardrop design that seamlessly goes from tank to tail, the bike comes with a 125cc 4-speed semi-automatic engine with a top speed of 68mph (110km/h).

Can’t get enough of more inspirational bike designs? Check out more curated designs here!

From Amazon to Samsung, the products designed by these famous brands will define the 2020 technology trends!

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Fiction writers dealing with futuristic and sci-fi novels explore multiple universes, but none of them feature a future where tech has no role in our life. The tech giants and reality are not quite far behind! The quarantine has sped up human seclusion and remote working took a leap like never before – going from Zoom calls to digital payments and even robotic delivery! Here are some of the latest innovations by the brands of our era that aim to revolutionize technology as we know it!

I’m not entirely sure whether the resemblance to the Harman Kardon Aura Studio is intentional or not, but it definitely gives the Amazon Humidifier a certain visual appeal. The humidifier is powered by ultrasonic tech that helps create a uniformly distributed mist of vapor in the air. An auto-sensing mechanism allows it to switch on when the air gets exceptionally dry, and turn off after a while.

The 0° Clean concept offers a new way to make sure your face-mask is fresh, dry, and sanitized between uses. Created by Jungkwang Hwang as a fan-made concept for Samsung, the 0° Clean is a nifty flat-bed UV-C sanitizer that uses a combination of ultraviolet light and dry air to cleanse and blow-dry your mask. It comes with a detachable cylindrical battery-unit (with a built-in display) that you can easily snap onto the sanitizing flat-bed to power it.

LG “leaked” a video of their upcoming smartphone in action. Codenamed the Wing (as opposed to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold), this smartphone reinvented the candybar mobile format with a swiveling screen layout. Designed to behave a lot like the LG VX9400 smartphone that Tony Stark used in the 2008 Iron Man, the Wing featured a front screen that rotated 90° and slid up to reveal a second screen underneath. While LG’s leaked video wasn’t much of an aesthetic reveal, it definitely did a lot to show what the company had in store for the future of phones – a future that promised multitasking without horrible hinges, delicate folding screens, and awkwardly thick phones.

The Snap Goggles come with tinted eyeglasses, but unlike in the original Snap Spectacles, these glasses don’t have the dual-camera lenses cutting into the eyepieces. Instead, the tinted circular eyepieces exist independently, with the two camera lenses resting on the end of the temple-stems. The result is a pair of spectacles that look funky yet contemporary, with the camera lenses being placed slightly further apart, but in a manner that makes much more sense visually.

Traditional laundry machine cycles can potentially damage clothes (how many of us even know the right settings for our loads?) and ever since the pandemic took over our lives we are doing laundry more often to stay safe – this is bound to wear them out 5x faster than usual. The Samsung AirDresser is here to save the day! Its sleek build is similar to a tall, thin fridge and can seamlessly blend in any room. The AirDresser uses a combination of steaming and heat-pump powered drying, and you won’t even have to plumb it in says Samsung. “That’s because, rather than a water connection like a traditional washer would require, the AirDresser relies on a refillable water tank at the bottom of the cabinet. It means it can be installed pretty much anywhere with a regular 120V outlet,” explains the team.

Here’s some bonus content! Meet the winner of a competition hosted by autonomous network transit (ANT) company Dromos, this self-driving pod designed by PriestmanGoode is capable of safely carrying humans as well as acting as a logistical truck to deliver consignments. Envisioned to cater to the demands of the 21st century, the pod needed to be safe, reliable, and affordable, focusing on modularity, sustainability, and flexibility of use. The pod boasts of a minimalist design with a skateboard-style electric platform on top of which rests the pod’s body. With a schematic that closely resembles MUJI x Sensible 4’s Gacha bus, the pod is built to comfortably seat two people spaced apart, or store cargo, based on its use.

Speaking of tech, these Apple-inspired gadget designs are a must-have to upgrade your desk setup!

From Sony to NASA, the product designs by these famous brands will define the 2020 technology trends!

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The world has gone digital in this quarantine and the one thing that has continued developing at an unprecedented speed is the technology revolution. The tech world has risen up to tackle today’s problems – everyone from start-ups to brands are coming up with innovative solutions and these are the latest inspiring gadgets that caught our eye which defines the tech trend we can see in the near future. Let us know what your take is on these products!

A portable, wearable, air conditioner is no more a thing of futuristic TV shows. The Reon Pocket by Sony is a smartphone-controlled personal gadget that was designed to be compact and cool. It works using thermoelectric cooling and can cool the user’s body temperature by 13 degrees celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) and raise your temperature by about 8 degrees Celsius (about 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Reon sits on the base of your neck in a special undershirt designed for it. It uses the Peltier effect which means a temperature difference is created by applying a voltage between two electrodes connected to a sample of semiconductor material. The heat is absorbed or emitted when you pass an electrical current across a junction to either lower your temperature or increase it without bulk or noise.

NASA isn’t selling these directly, but Jet Propulsion Laboratory has made the 3D-printed concept available as an open-source project so anyone can make this smart wearable for their own health and safety. It works on a simple mechanism – the necklace has a sensor that detects when the user lifts their hands towards their face and it will vibrate to warn them using power from a common button battery. This vibration is a reminder for the user to not touch their face and soon establishes the muscle memory required to turn this into a new behavioral pattern. All the necessary STL files, the list of the parts you’ll need, and the assembly instructions have been made freely available for anyone to make these. Apart from the 3D printer and having the knowledge of basic electrical DIY skills, all the components are easy to source and if you want to learn then YouTube is always there as a resource.

The world is STILL debating on the latest PS5 so designer Alexandre Touguet took ‘control’ and redesigned it so Sony didn’t have to! Not convinced by the design of the new PS5 like many out there, Alexandre Touguet took it upon himself to take one for the team and do the gamers a quick favor by redesigning the console. “I wanted to bring an organic touch by following the artistic direction initiated by the controller revealed a few months earlier but I wanted to keep the DNA of PlayStation with a much more rational overall shape and directed towards its function,” says Touget.

This award-winning e-scooter was designed keeping in mind the needs of someone commuting daily in a city. Thus it was made portable, lightweight and since it literally folds in half, it is an extremely convenient option. Segway is already a global leader in electric mobility and they are not only upping their tech but also their design game with this scooter. The Ninebot KickScooter Air T15 is seamless, compact, and minimal in its form. The Air T15 team spent over SIX years (nearly 12,500 hours) perfecting its ergonomic design using the lightest yet the most durable material for a sleek and futuristic aesthetic without compromising on reliability and power. With one click you can fold the scooter into half and the 6-axis sensor embedded in the dashboard will detect the operation mode which will help to turn the power off automatically. Once folded, you can drag it smoothly like a suitcase with wheels.

Demonstrated at this year’s virtual SIGGRAPH conference, Facebook Reality Lab’s latest prototype VR wearable is, to mildly put it, ridiculously thin, measuring at just around 9mm. Designed to look like a pair of wayfarers, these glasses actually hold display units inside them, and Facebook’s research in viewing optics technology has helped them condense the headset from something that feels like a toaster strapped to your face, to a pair of frames that look like a pretty slick pair of shades. How did Facebook manage to shrink a state-of-the-art headset into something that’s 9mm thick? Well, FB’s research blog’s been kind enough to release a GIF that shows exactly how the spectacles create the illusion of distance between the eyes and the display. It’s sort of similar to how binoculars work, in which mirrors are used to make a beam of light take a longer path within a small chamber. FB’s prototype headset, however, doesn’t use mirrors, but rather relies on a holographic lens. You see, a VR headset has three main components – a source of light (e.g., LEDs), a display panel that brightens or dims the light to form an image (e.g., an LCD panel), and a viewing optic that focuses the image far enough away so that the viewer’s eyes can see it (e.g., a plastic lens).

Are you an Apple fan? These Apple-inspired gadget designs are a must-have to upgrade your desk setup!