innovations of sorts

January 7, 2007 9:06 PM

Some new gadgets, things and inventions: solar bikini that charges your ipod, paper soft wall, waterproof laptop, million dollar fishing lure, Obvio hybrid micro-car, needle-free injection, hi-tech dummies that can speak, breathe, bleed, react to drugs & die, dragon bag. Interactive sight, sound and physical objects from the student artists of the NYU Interactive telecommunications biannual showcase [video], including Animalia Chordata and Botanicalls, building telecommunications between people and their plants.
posted by nickyskye (22 comments total)

(Some of my favorite ITP student projects here.)
posted by adamgreenfield at 9:13 PM on January 7, 2007

All that great high-tech stuff, and I keep thinking about that silly dragon bag.
posted by BillyElmore at 9:19 PM on January 7, 2007

Ok, I laughed at the dragon bag at first, but then I thought how cool it would look strapped to my back as I roll down the highway on my motorcycle.
posted by Eideteker at 10:02 PM on January 7, 2007

Hope it breathes fire at purse snatchers. Or bites them.
posted by Cranberry at 10:05 PM on January 7, 2007

Come to think of it, It would be doubly cool breathing fire on Eideteker's bike.
posted by Cranberry at 10:07 PM on January 7, 2007

breathing fire on Eideteker's bike.

Might want to avoid breathing fire ON to a bike. A motorcycle on fire is very amusing, but for a much shorter period of time than one that's not.
posted by flaterik at 10:22 PM on January 7, 2007

I'm curious as to what the advantage of the needle-free injection device is - does it make the lives of doctors and nurses easier? As someone who is very needle-phobic, the idea of having something not only poke into me but actually stay under my skin seems, if anything, more horrifying and traumatic. I'm also a wimp.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 10:23 PM on January 7, 2007

This dragon bag is too black-leather-gay for my taste. I'd prefer purple-sequin-gay, myself. I like shiny, scaly, pretty dragons much better.
posted by Goofyy at 11:09 PM on January 7, 2007

That solar bikini can't be very comfortable. And you can't get it wet. And of course making a one-piece version with a lot more photovoltaic cells would mean your iPod would charge a lot quicker, but I guess one-piece suits are just not worn by hip, iPod totin' youngsters these days. I think an iPod charger hat might be a better idea: easy to put on and take off when you wanna go for a splash.

Now, the dummy that dies, there's something to write home about! DIE, DUMMY, DIE!!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:15 AM on January 8, 2007

Just watched the video of the bikini designer student, who informs that the one piece would be too expensive. OK, fair enough. Hat would still be better.

One thing I found sort of interesting: the guy says he originally signed up for the class (on energy sustainability, I believe) solely because he thought it'd be an easy 2 credits. His words to his classmates at the beginning of the course: "I'm not really interested in sustainability". Not really interested? How can anyone with a lick of sense and alive on this beleaguered planet today not be interested in sustainability? But lo and behold! A college education is good for something, 'cause he started getting interested in sustainability!

Still oughtta be a hat. Dumb college students.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:53 AM on January 8, 2007

Overlapping Elvis, the demo was badly made IMHO. It shows what looks like the tip of a conventional needle being deposited under the skin. That slim metal like thingy was meant to represent the drug that had been delivered by the needle-less mechanism, which then is absorbed into the tissues, pushed one imagines by some force like high=pressured air....?
posted by Wilder at 5:31 AM on January 8, 2007

That paper soft wall is pretty badass. I want one.
posted by vronsky at 6:30 AM on January 8, 2007

solar bikini that charges your ipod

What are words for, when no one listens anymore?
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:56 AM on January 8, 2007

(Link MNSFW, but it was on MTV a few times. YMMV.)
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:00 AM on January 8, 2007

Woooo-eee! Thass one heck uvva music video, there, mister Smart Dalek! I tell yew whut, buddy, she kin charge my iPod with that there solar swimmin' suit ennytime she want to, know whut-I-mean?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:14 AM on January 8, 2007

When the nimrods finally deliver my Personal Jet-Pack I'll start thinking about solar undies, etc...
posted by Dizzy at 7:37 AM on January 8, 2007

I was gonna say DRAGON BAG!!!

But that was before I looked at the OBVIO!!!!
posted by OmieWise at 7:45 AM on January 8, 2007

I blogged the ITP show here, with photos and video clips.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:40 AM on January 8, 2007

iPod Movie will require a DD cup.
posted by CynicalKnight at 11:53 AM on January 8, 2007

The Obvio page is a little odd - the pictures are all stock marketing images of components made by other companies. The only two images of the car itself that aren't CG are of the dashboard only, looking like they were taken by a visitor to someone elses' car show.
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:05 PM on January 8, 2007

Absolutely. I won't be sending them any money, but I love the look of the cgi's.
posted by OmieWise at 12:19 PM on January 8, 2007

I've seen the dragon bag creator's work before. He has a LiveJournal account, and his work is amazing.

Here's two pages with pics of a Cthulhu "doll" he made. I can't find the pic anywhere, but there's one with a child sitting next to the L'il Abomination for reference, and it seemed 4 feet tall-ish. Great stuff.
posted by dozo at 8:38 PM on January 8, 2007