concept

Toyota showed off a new concept, the Hybrid X, at the 2007 Geneva auto show, which looks like a new incarnation of the Prius. Toyota isn't even suggesting that Hybrid X is the design direction for Prius, but the company says the new concept "proposes creative solutions that will themselves potentially become the signature points of a specific hybrid identity." The Prius is also uniquely a hybrid, with no conventional engined counterpart.

The Hybrid X shows off a few fun concept technologies, such as rear suicide doors that open electronically, as well as LED headlights that mount … Read more

We initially blew right past the "Origami TV Remote Control" headline at Trendhunter because we'd rather waste our UMPC's pathetic battery life on something more vital than controlling our TV. But a closer look revealed that this remote control had nothing to do with the Origami Project and everything to do with actual origami--as in, folded paper.

On display at the Design Interactions Work in Progress Show in London, the paper remote control looks like the "fortune teller" you no doubt encountered in middle school. But rather than inaccurately predicting the name of your … Read more

Coolest-Gadgets was kind enough to point out that the top ten winners of the 2007 Peugeot Design Contest have been announced.

The theme was "PLEASE" an acronym for the slogan "Pleasurable to drive, Lively, Efficient, Accessible and Simple and Ecological."

The winning car will be made in full-scale and featured at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show.

But more interesting to our readers may be the fact that Microsoft is planning to feature the winning concept as a drivable car in an Xbox 360 video game.

Here are my personal picks from among the 10 finalists, but … Read more

First, Ford went back in time to redesign its Mustang. Now, the company travels back to the 1960s yet again to design the Ford Airstream concept. Ford took Airstream along on the trip to build this new crossover car, although to me it looks more like a minivan. Designers of the concept were influenced by 2001: A Space Oddyssey for the interior, which includes organically shaped podlike seats. The most notable element of the interior is the 360-degree video screen, which can show movies, video games, or ambient displays, such as a lava lamp. Did I mention this car is … Read more

Bad pun, I know, but "Chevy charges forward" would be worse, because the concept Volt is an electric car. Chevy grabbed the front of its new Camaro and grafted on a small sports coupe made of lightweight composite materials developed by GE. GM has been using its Chevrolet brand to push its most futuristic alternative energy ideas, such as the previously announced Fuel Cell Equinox. The Volt seems especially designed to counteract the bashing GM got in the movie Who Killed the Electric Car?, as the Volt builds on the technology GM used in its original electric car, … Read more

In a concept car set to debut at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show (see our coverage beginning on January 7), Jaguar shows off its new concept, the C-XF. This car represents Jaguar's continuing process of reinventing itself, which started with the launch of its beautiful XK last year. The C-XF concept is a substantial departure from Jaguar's current lineup, although the car's designers claim to have been influenced by models from the 1950s. Given the concept's name, it might provide a clue to the look of Jaguar's all new XF, which launches next fall and … Read more

Earlier this week we checked out Buddy Shopping, a collaborative Web browsing tool for shoppers. And today we got word of Yugma, a more general-purpose screen-sharing product. Best of all, it's free and cross-platform. Yugma runs in Java and acts almost like an app outside of the browser.

In Yugma, drivers and passengers can trade place at will--you can swap which desktop is in view. There also are some basic drawing tools, so you can doodle on the screen. (But for serious design review work, you might want a specialized tool like ConceptShare)

Like other screen-sharing and presentation products, … Read more

Laptops aren't the most serious of energy hogs. (Oink, oink.) But LG Electronics, the Korean company that's made everything from the Chocolate phone to the Swarovski-studded fridge, is hoping to make them even more power-efficient. Treehugger posted recently about the e-Book, which is powered by a biofuel cell and uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) instead of an LCD screen. Oh, and it's pretty enough that it was nominated for a Red Dot Award this year.

But if this thing ever hits the market, I bet it'll have one biohazard of a price tag.

We fully admit to having precious little information about this item, but the photo alone is simply too good to resist. According to a blog called Big Marketing for Small Business, "A revolutionary new miniature computer is being worked on in Japan that comes in the shape of a pen that you can slip in to your pocket." It's especially interesting given that the whole concept of "pen computing" became something of a laughingstock years ago, at least until the PDA stylus came along.

This pen-sized device supposedly projects a virtual keyboard and screen, recogizing … Read more