MindDrive Social Car

Image: lostateminor.com

Fueled by tweets and likes, MindDrive is the world’s first social media powered electric car. The vehicle was created by a group of fifteen Kansas students who converted the vintage 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia into an electric car that is jolted into life with every tweet, like and social media share. MindDrive is a non-profit organisation that aims to encourage experimental learning through recruiting students to take on innovative projects. We’re still a little fuzzy about exactly how social media activities are transformed into watts to drive the car, but the vehicle seems to be working. Nevertheless if you ever find yourself behind the wheel of a MindDrive, it might be helpful to have some electrical tools on hand in case the car comes to a halt.
 
 

Audiowood Barky Turntable

Image: audiowood.com

Image: audiowood.com

Turntables are often black and boxy, lending them an air of design predictability. Audiowood has challenged this notion with the Barky turntable. The music device is made from glass and a solid ash wooden platform with brass fitted to the spiked feet at the bottom of the machine. With a rustic feel, the vinyl player can easily be adapted to any home. The elegant contraption also features a high-quality Rega parts kit and comes in 115V or 230V versions. Audiowood creates 10 to 15 of these pieces every year, making Barky an exclusive purchase.
 
 

Projecto: Projector for Instagram Photos

Image: mocoloco.com

Image: mocoloco.com

Image: mocoloco.com

Instagram has cultivated an era of ‘selfies’ and the return of vintage, retro inspired photography. While users can tap into Instagram’s filters to edit their images into aged photographs, many people view their creations through the modern technology of cellphones, Facebook, Twitter, tablet devices, and so on. Projecto brings the retro feel to life. The nifty device is a matchbox-sized projector that projects your Instagram images. Connect your Instagram account to the Projecto website, and the Projecto whizzes will develop your photographs onto a 35mm film. The film will then be passed through a wheel that fits into the tiny projector. Both the projector and the film will be mailed to you, so you an share your images in a retro environment.
 
 

MINI Bathroom Airbags

autoguide.com

MINI Mexico has targeted women drivers in an ad campaign that warns the fairer sex of the dangers of applying makeup while driving. The automotive company began their awareness project by placing large airbags inside female restrooms in Mexico. Soap dispensers were rigged to carry the airbags, and when women stood next to them, the dispensers would burst open into an airbag, alarming the women. The airbags were printed with the MINI logo and a caption that read: ‘There’s a place for everything. Makeup or drive’. According to the company’s statistics, over 1 200 women are killed each year as a result of the way in which they multitask driving and beautifying. While the initiative draws attention to an undermined source of road accidents, many women have voiced concern over MINI’s gender-based approach in the making of the ad.
 
 

BOXED furniture

Boxed from Tyrone Stoddart on Vimeo.

Image: designtaxi.com

Image: designtaxi.com

People live their lives on the move, and there is nothing more handy than being able to whip out a work station when the need arises. BOXED is a concept developed by Tyler Stoddard. The designer created a briefcase that can be transformed into multifunctional furniture. From one little box case, four different types of furniture can be created. The wooden briefcase can easily form a desk, a coffee table, two stools, and a lamp, providing the perfect workspace utilities. Each piece can then be disassembled and fit back neatly into the briefcase. BOXED also comes with a small pouch of ash tree seeds so that its new owner can replant and replenish the materials used to make the furniture. The project is designed to provide functional furniture and to educate people about the ash dieback — a disease that has been killing ash trees.
 
 

Caramalised Sugar Solarium Greenhouse

William Lamson – Solarium from Storm King Art Center on Vimeo.

Image: thisiscolossal.com

Image: thisiscolossal.com

Image: thisiscolossal.com

Solarium is a fully operational greenhouse featuring 162 windows made from caramalised sugar. Designer Wiliam Lamson built the colourful construction at the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York. The space functions as both an experimental greenhouse and a meditative environment. Lamson spent weeks formulating a method to construct the windows, finally ensuring that each of the 162 sugar panels are cooked to different temperatures and then sealed between two panes of window glass. Durng the hot summer months one of the panels opens, allowing vistors to enter and exit from various points.
 
 

W/Me Wellness Tracker

Image: kickstarter.com

Image: kickstarter.com

Mood rings were one of the rages of the 90s, entrancing wearers to believe that colour-changing rings could reflect their mood. While the rings had little scientific value or accuracy, Phyode has created a wristband that reads the mood of its owner. The W/Me bracelet is embedded with medical-grade sensors that work together with smartphones to keep people aware of their mental and physical states. Wearable gadgets are becoming increasingly popular as fashion becomes more tech-savvy and tech becomes more fashionable. Phyode aim to create wearable devices that can provide a better quality of life. W/Me is a wellness tracker that can monitor your body’s autonomic nervous system, which acts as a subconscious control system for your body. The device then uses this physical data to categorise your mood as either passive, excitable, pessimistic or anxious.
 
 

Images: lostateminor.com, audiowood.com,designtaxi.com, autoguide.com, mocoloco.com, thisiscolossal.com, kickstarter.com