Gear Patrol

We’re all for clean energy, but sometimes the execution of the pursuit can just get plain annoying. Wind turbines, for example. Ubiquitous and essentially looking like an overgrown P-51 Mustang’s propeller on a stick, they just don’t seem to make any landscape more attractive. This is where the Enessere Hercules Wind Turbine aims to bring…

Sometimes, we get so used to a certain product that no true changes are ever really made for years, decades even. Toilet paper comes to mind. Another is the pneumatic tire. Sure, the modern tire is a wealth of technology and high grade materials such as synthetic rubber, sulfur, carbon, steel, etc. Heck, recent years…

Pico projectors have teased geeks like us for years with the potential of carrying a theater-size screen in our pocket. Tony Stark’s candy land o’ holograms may still be a pipe dream, but European research group Fraunhofer has given us a titillating preview of where display technology is headed with the release of their smartphone…

A culmination of the company’s non-comformist sense of self, yet still embracing their storied history, the Pentax K-01 is unlike any other camera in the mirrorless camera world. Indeed, it embraces its lineup of beautiful K-Mount lenses (both modern and from the film days) allowing users to fasten them with a satisfying click, but what…

We can all agree that the morning commute is broken for many. With no fix in sight, mechanical engineer Chris Hoffman of Ryno Motors has proposed a solution that turns more heads than it does wheels. Meet the Ryno Single Wheeled Electric Scooter. Looking like Segway’s one-legged cousin, this self-balancing electric scooter offers riders even…

There’s a healthy rivalry taking place over the future of the computer educational market, and the only clear winner so far are the students. Intel has put long-term competitor One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) on notice with their recent announcement of the Studybook, a new low-cost tablet loaded with educational software perfect for schools in…

German industrial designer Florian Saul’s furniture concepts are consistent in their merging of simplicity, aesthetic elegance, and functionality. The Servus / r75 rack is a modern take on the suit valet and our favorite of the lot. The minimalistic piece consists of a single strip of polished wood that bends slightly forward at the top…

The roof of the London 2012 Olympic Velodrome was designed to reflect the very events it would house. Its curved and contoured shape is a three-dimensional representation of the geometry of cycling. While Ron Webb remains the go-to designer for Olympic cycling pavilions, the skilled architects at Hopkins were able to deliver 230,000 square feet…

Last year, we shared with you David Reisenberg’s carefully crafted whiskey packaging design. Nearly a year later we bring you another incredibly conceived design in a category near and dear to GP. Cameras. This time around, Reisenberg has taken a deftly designed stab at a product that’s had photographers itching with anticipation, a Canon Mirrorless…

If news of this all-new Bentley EXP 9 F Concept were any fresher, it would get up, hop into the driver’s seat and mash the throttle. And that’s what this world-class SUV has been designed to do, taking the Bentley name and everything that lies behind it–the racing heritage, performance, build quality and exclusivity–to a…

A lamp that utilizes the forces of gravity? Sounds gimmicky. But don’t judge a bud (sorry) by its cover. Instead of using E=MC2 for power, the Snow Peak Tulip Lantern ($150) relies on gravity to determine its method of light distribution. Inspired by the natural shape of a tulip bulb, the operation is deceivingly simple….

In big news for minimalist footwear fans, Nike unveiled its new Flyknit technology at yesterday’s Nike Innovation Summit. Nike’s Flyknit shoes are precisely engineered to be formfitting, featherweight and void of any excess material. The single-layer upper support and tongue weigh an absurdly light 1.2 ounces, and the whole shoe clocks in at a mere…

No matter what the law dictates in your particular state, not wearing a helmet while riding is one of the dumbest things you can do. That doesn’t mean lugging around a bulky dome guard is any fun for commuters. The Overade aims to make riding slightly more convenient and just as safe. Designed in France…

Take a trip down memory lane and look at the unis worn by Bird and Magic, vs. Jordan and Isiah Thomas, vs. Lebron and Kobe, and you’ll see just how much the style of basketball has changed. The same trends have flowed through the college game. Yesterday, Nike unveiled what it expects to be the…

It may look like a mechanical dragonfly but Metin Kaplan’s “Sunrise” is not a Da Vinci helicopter. By harnessing the power of the sun, Kalpan’s project aims to make thermal-powered flight a reality for a wider audience — and if you’re wondering who needs slower, solar-powered aviation just think about its applications in filming, patrolling,…

Who can forget the gorgeous De Tomaso Pantera, the Italian built and American (Ford V8) powered sports car? Feline and ferocious, it bore a certain panache and style that was fresh at its inception into the sports car world in the 1970s. It certainly adorned this author’s wall in poster form in the 80s. But…

Spoons, forks and knives, have admirably served western eaters well for centuries — but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for innovation. Following in the prestigious footsteps of the spork, the product think tank at Quirky has devised a new eating utensil that combines the shoveling benefits of a spoon with the spreading skills of…

Carbon fiber is used everywhere these days. From phone cases to the svelte bodies of supercars. So, why not a yacht? Well, SAY (Sven Akermann Carbon Yachts) has done just that with their custom built boats. From power boats to full yachts, SAY builds these nautical masterpieces from Carbon-Airex epoxy maaterials providing strength, rigidity and…

The living ecological alpine pod, or LEAP, wears its heart right on its name tag and provides all of the benefits of traditional mountain shelters — think trekking basecamps, not lavish homes — but with a significantly smaller environmental footprint. Much of the LEAP’s “green” gains are derived from construction technologies for building planes and…

Only the automotive cognoscenti recognize the Holden name, the car manufacturer out of Australia out of which great engineering and automobiles have emerged. Here’s a good reason to remember the name–the 1969 Holden Hurricane Concept, recently restored to its original glory. The restoration project took a full five years, but it was clearly worth it…

Nope, this isn’t a fictitious building from a hypothetical Gattaca sequel. All 350,000 square feet of the staggering new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts are quite real and opening to the public this Fall. Designed by Moshe Safide with acoustic engineering by Yasuhisa Toyota (of Disney Hall fame), the center began work in 2006…

The 2nd prize winner of the 2011 Ferrari World Design Contest, Turin IED graduate Samir Sadikhov of Azerbaijan has created what might be the penultimate modern-day Ferrari design (subjectively, nothing beats an early model Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet). Designed with “flexible aerodynamics” principles, Sadikhov’s concept proposes a roof mounted rear wing that activates over 125…

Who says canoes can’t stow? The Adhoc Folding Canoe is the creation of designer Ori Levin, which turns an otherwise non-pliable vessel, into a foldable sloop that stashes into a standard sized backpack. Weighing just 9 lbs, the boat is made of a carbon fiber hull wrapped in aramid, a lightweight heat-resistant fabric normally used…

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find this one on the shelves of your local package store, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use a little imagination, right? Created by David Riesenberg (get it?), the sublime package design project features a unique concept: a removable bottle label created through a unique process of drying, pressing…