I know I can't be the only one thinking that this device, dubbed Sense, would be used in combination with some not-so-safe-for-work websites, but it's absolutely brilliant even if you skip those applications.

Basically the device would recreate temperature, roughness, softness, hardness, and pressure in order to let you "touch" whatever's on your screen, while a special "smell and flavor-ink micro-printer" would print out lil' wax strips which melt on your tongue for a flavor and scent-filled finish.

I don't think I could see myself using this thing on a regular basis, if it ever gets made, but there would definitely be some potential for a few hours of amusement and virtual boob-squeezing. And maybe something less productive, too. [Design Blog]

Using this interactive app, you can virtually explore the sleigh and learn more about the gadgetry GE has built-in. They have thought of everything—including a wireless medical sensor that keeps tabs on the old man's breathing and heartrate. I mean he is like 200 years old. You never know when he will have a heart attack, fall from the sleigh and crash land in some kids living room. Haha...traumatic. [GE]

Designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects for T. Bailey, these offices will integrate giant steel pipes, the type used for wind turbines. The pipes aren't just for looks though, because they'll also serve to control how air flows through the building, reducing cooling costs in the process.

I rather like this design and its post-Apocalyptic-looking mock ups, because it'll fit perfectly with the industrial surroundings of the factory. Let's just hope it really gets built. [Dezeen]

The books move loosely through the 20th century—though they also contain some objects that were devised in the 19th century, and others that a certain Mr. Ive and Mr. Jobs cooked up since the year 2000. We skipped over all the Apple stuff, and much of the classic Braun and Bang & Olufsen objets de tech that you commonly encounter in gadget retrospectives. We looked deeper into the list, to find unexpectedly wondrous objects of great design. (We also skipped about a million different chairs—according to these books, designers spend more time thinking about where to park their keisters than any other dilemma in human history.)

Needless to say, the books are unbelievably gorgeous and informative, and the juxtaposition of so many varied products gives you new insight into what designers think about.

All three books are published this year by Phaidon as a series. They list for $40 each, but thankfully Amazon is selling them for a lot less (see below). While it makes sense to maybe buy just one, it's tough to pick just one, and not just because the products are numbered from 1 to 999, with each volume covering one third. To simplify things perhaps too much, Pioneers covers archetypal designs we now take for granted, Mass Production includes all of the smartly conceived products we grew up with, and New Technologies brings design up to date with contributions from the consumer electronics and computer businesses. As much as the third volume best fits our readership, it's almost more exciting to see how the legacies of the earlier product design movements informed the new tech.

• Pioneers on Amazon for $26.37

• Mass Production on Amazon for $26.37

• New Technologies on Amazon for $29.16

The paper walker is inspired by Theo Jansen's "Strandbeest" series, which comprises several giant wind-powered sculptures. It's given a helping hand in this video, but apparently can also walk without an actuator. But not too far or too fast or in a threatening manner, or it's headed straight for the shredder. [MAKE via BoingBoing]

Measuring 8 x 8 foot, three words are always lit up on the board, symbolizing the hour, minute and second. I've still got no idea how it works exactly, but it's like a big, arty version of a Tokyo Flash watch, isn't it. [Miss Moun via Moco Loco]

My personal choice for the deadliest staircase has to go to the Samlot. It can kill or maim you in two ways: either you fall off it completely or you over-step and catch your leg in the open gap between each stair. But, again, that is just my opinion. Check out the rest of the list to determine which design you think best sacrifices safety for aesthetics. I also humbly submit lucky number 13th your consideration. [Oddee via Fark]

Created by the team at 5.5 designers for Hennessey cognac, the Eternal Ice Drop is basically a spherical piece of glass with frozen water inside. The spherical shape takes up less surface area, the ice doesn't melt into the drink, and it chills at a rate that will give you plenty of time before severe cold masks the flavor. I'm not sure how this will do a better job than other artificial ice cube designs, but I am sure the Ice Drop will be far more expensive when it is released this April. [5.5 Designers via Designboom]

From the looks of this video, sweatshop laborers aren't stitching their fingers to your child's Christmas gift. Shidonni is just a small operation with a really good idea, actualizing a child's design into something they can hold.

I believe the cost is $85, and if you were interested in the gift for Christmas, you'd need to order by tomorrow, December 15th. No word on whether or not Shidonni will sew you one of the deadly tanks firing exploding ice cream cones that I drew as a kid. [Shiddoni]

For coolness factor, I'd put this tandem unicycle somewhere between Bi-Cycle tandem bike and the Face-to-Face, while for pure crazy it's just shy of the Uno bike in single-wheel formation. Unfortunately, Corbin forgot to save his "great post about the construction details," so you're on your own for now building a tandem unicycle for you and your sweetheart. I'm pretty sure that step one was "lose all rational sense of physical limitations," so feel free to get a head start on that until the full instruction list is up.

UPDATE: Full instructions, if you've got sufficient wild abandon, can be found here. [Corbin's Treehouse via LikeCool via OhGizmo!]

Indeed, designers Yoonsang Kim and Eunsung Park designed this keyboard with true paranoia in mind. They even slapped a "None Bacteria Project" label on there so there's no confusion about the design's true purpose. Bring this Japanese fan of a keyboard around with you, and never have to touch a filthy public terminal ever again. Or something. [Yanko Design via DVICE]

If the device "senses" contact with a virtual boundary, it reacts accordingly. For example, If you're drawing on a virtual surface, the pen pulls in the opposite direction to represent friction.

The idea is to use the device in museum applications and such, but let's face it. This thing was built as a Light Cycle control device. All other uses are secondary. [Tachi Lab via Designboom]

Massa-Bidal sells some of his designs on his online store, but these terrific book covers aren't available just yet. Perhaps if we all pester him enough he'll put them up? The Tumblr, Twitter and Flickr ones would look great on my wall. [Retrofuturs via Flickr via SuperPunch via Gearfuse]

It's kind of like that fiber optic pavement you might have seen at an amusement park in the past, only on a larger scale. The whole system can be programmed to change colors and patterns in sequence. [Arch Daily via notcot Images via Duccio Malagamba]

The speaker uses highly efficient Class D amplification to deliver 60W of sound and includes hidden mid/high end speakers that produce 360-degrees of clean audio. Of course, they won't come cheap, but you already knew that. Available for $1600. [Q-speakers via BLTD via Unplggd]

Moronnoz works with materials ranging from laser-cut steel ("Interferences") to modular Y-shaped timber ("Y"). His designs are just exhibits for now, but hopefully they'll inspire us to abandon our staid park benches and bus stops. It's not like those are any more comfortable anyway.

[Core77]

We interviewed creature designers Wayne Barlowe and Neville Page, plus concept artists James Clyne, Ryan Church and Daphne Yap, about creating a whole new universe from scratch. Plus we've got some stunning concept art, from the new book The Art Of Avatar. In a year that's seen some amazing books of movie concept art, The Art Of Avatar features 106 pages of lush full-color paintings, interspersed with the industry's greatest design minds geeking out about every little aspect of Avatar's creation.

So here are a few things you didn't know about the design of James Cameron's Avatar:

Avatar Started As A Four-Month, Late-Night Jam Session At James Cameron's House

"[We'd be] working late at Jim's house, and having him come back after a three week spell of being down at the freaking Titanic, and having him tell us a story [about being on the ocean floor]." Read the rest of the story.

Pandora's creatures were partly based on cars

Early on in the process, James Cameron "mentioned the core idea" of having Pandora's creatures be "superslick and aerodynamic, and be like a race car with racing stripes," says creature designer Neville Page. Read the rest of the story.

Those crazy color schemes are from the ocean floor — and Art Nouveau

"In the real world, we didn't invent these colors. They exist on animals today. We didn't invent a whole new palette. I think the problem is — the challenge is — you don't often see large creatures with this much color on them." Read the rest of the story.

The human hardware, including those crazy battlesuits, is all based on real stuff

"One thing I worked on big interior for the mech suits, and the whole interior had to have a reason and function for why the suits were lined up the way they were, and how they could work on them like a pit-stop at an F1 race. It had to have that functionality." Read the rest of the story.

Avatar concept art from The Art Of Avatar (Abrams 2009)

[thisblogrules via Core77]

The Wheelie Bin Urinal concept, which I shouldn't have to tell you came from England, came from England, the only country where public micturation is subject to stylistic regulation. It looks like a normal trash can you'd see on any street in the UK, except for a curious, and curiously labeled, little portal. This is for your junk.

As you can see in the video below, given that they were probably planning on peeing in public anyway, people don't seem to reluctant to mount the Wheelie Bin Urinal. But it isn't magic: at da end of da day, you're still stuck with a trash can full of piss. Or, if this is any better, piss and straw. [DesignBoom]

These would be perfect, thank you very much. [Mocoloco]

Othmar Mühlebach's design won second prize at the Berner Design Awards, and certainly would have won first prize if it had a built in a butter and jam printer. It's probably for the best, though. I don't want to have to buy overpriced Smuckers refill cartridges. [Polaine via Core77 via Likecool]

The LaCie cables are more than just looks however. The flat design makes them easier to coil and less likely to get tangled (although it seems like it would be more difficult to twist them on a meandering path from one gadget to another). The only thing missing is a clasp that would allow it to double as a bracelet for tweens. Available in several USB configurations, Firewire and eSATA. [LaCie via Unplggd]

Designed by Thomas Mascall, the Touchtable features a large controller wheel that lets you mix records on the fly or scratch samples over what you're listening to. I especially love that you can link up two of these bad boys wirelessly for the full (well, miniature) DJ experience. Hooked up to a computer, it also functions as a MIDI device. It's just a concept for now, but if it ever gets built this little guy will put you just a smoke machine and glowsticks away from turning your cramped studio into a cramped SuperClub9000. [Yanko Design via Engadget]

It's the first year for Creative Room's annual Gingerbread Competition and Charity Auction, which means that not only can you admire these modernist takes on a holiday standby, you also can purchase them for eating or Godzilla-bashing at your discretion.

[Creative Room via Core 77]

The Yas Hotel in Dubai's sister Emirate, Abu Dhabi, has earned the impressive (though weirdly categorized) title of the world's largest LED project, which, given that it's comprised of about 5,300 steel panels adorned with over 5000 lighting fixtures, I don't doubt it for a second. The lighting grid can change colors and display patterns, and, though it's a stretch, play low-res video.

Underneath this curvilinear shell is a typically extravagant 500-room hotel, which, bizarrely, is divided by a Formula 1 race track, meaning that this egregious phallic symbol is regularly entered and exited by other compensatory phallic symbols, raced in competition to win yet more phallic symbols, which is a bit too much for me to process, now or ever. [Inhabitat via Flavorwire]

A floating speaker that would play theme music when you entered a room, WWE-style. Movie protagonist style.

Imagine, you walk into the office, Every Rose Has Its Thorn deafens a whole room of cubicles. Pumped (and possibly greased), you march through the office in slow motion (or just very slowly, no one can quite tell). And it's all thanks to your little Melody Balloon, a concept that is now 1% less plausible but 10000000% more incredible. I mean, as long as we're making stuff up, it might as well include at least one 80s meme. [Yanko via UberGizmo]

Designing a fake dashboard for an imagined supercomputer or a hovering control panel for a worldwide surveillance system is a different process than creating a genuinely usable UI. Your goal is to imply things: that a machine is powerful; that a villain is formidable; that the software is intuitive, but that the breadth of its powers borders on unknowable. At no point does real-world usability factor in, and nor should it—this is pure fantasy, for an audience raised on Start Buttons, desktop icons and tree menus. Here's a gallery of some of the most famous interfaces; see how many you recognize.

Coleran's UIs are a mix of proudly retro and boldly new, mingling compact pixel art, wireframes and the solid, militaristic reds, blues and blacks of software from the 80s with touch-free gesture systems and overelaborate visualizations. It's the kind of stuff you take for granted in action and sci-fi films, but rounded up in one place, it's a strangely impressive, almost cohesive view of the future of software, as designed by someone with no constraints. [Mark Coleran via Metafilter]

UPDATE: Mark Coleran weighs in. His main point is a good one: These interfaces are the result of the work of many people, not just one man.

The only way to create something with this sort of complexity is rapid prototyping—and laser sintering, to be exact. The process works by sweeping a laser across a pan of powdered nylon; when the lasers hit the nylon, it fuses ("sinters"). The process repeats in layers, until the final product emerges. Thus, you can create interlocking shapes all at once—for example, a chain whose links are completely closed.

Dror created the lamp for Materialise.MGX, which specialises in producing furniture using laser sintering. The lamp shade itself is designed so that the cubes are densest in the center—thus diffusing the light simply by overlapping.

[FastCompany]

Existing scout vehicles aren't engineered for wild fire burn overs, and have a limited water supply of around 130 gallons. By contrast, the Amatoya's remotely-operated water cannons would access the vehicle's 475 gallon water supply (and 105 gallon auxiliary water tank). It's also designed from the ground up to improve cabin temperatures and survivability:

State of the art clear aerogel laminated insulation in the windows and bodywork, a dedicated auxiliary water supply to operate a highly efficient, intelligent temperature controlled spray down system, military grade sacrificial thermo ceramic intumescent paints, and a mechanically injected large displacement diesel engine specifically engineered for the unique conditions experienced on the fire ground.

The Amatoya is designed by Liam Ferguson, and if built, could not only help save more lives, but would also just flat-out look cool. [PopSci via Yanko Design]

Designed by SeARCH, a Dutch architecture firm, and Christian Müller Architects, the home features an enormous patio with an elliptical opening designed to accentuate the view. The old-looking barn in the distance even features an underground tunnel that serves as an entrance into the home. All in all, the design was so unique that the builders were able to skirt around the notoriously strict building requirements in the area. Absolutely beautiful—which is why you should hit the following link for more images. [Iwan Bann via Arbitare via Fast Company]

Designed by artist Zeger Reyers, the kitchen was put in motion last week at the opening of Eating the Universe at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in Germany. Apparently, it will continue to rotate slowly for the duration. [trendbeheer via today and tomorrow via Likecool]

Dubbed the GreenOpolis, the pavilion was designed by SC M&C Strategy Development, and will cover about 21,527 square feet of space. The 5 levels will include music and cultural performance areas, plus restaurant, terrace, and office facilities.

Seriously, if the 2010 World Expo wasn't in China, I'd head over with the sole purpose of dropping acid or something. The event kicks off on May 1st next year. Oh, and next cab off the rank is South Korea. Here's the first taste at what they've got planned for World Expo 2012. [GreenOpolis via Arch Daily and China.org]

This door, created by Matharoo Associates for a diamond merchant in India, is flat-out crazy. It's 17 feet tall, five and a half feet wide, and is made up of 40 sections of Burmese teak. The door uses a counterweight, 80 ball bearings and 160 pulleys to create the incredible effect of reconfiguring into a sinusoidal curve when you push on any one section. Amazing.

[Architectural Review via FastCompany]

I'm not sure whether or not the sound quality of the Opere Sonore speakers justify such a price tag, but it does bring back priceless memories of reading comic books in the early '90s for some reason. [W3sh via BornRich]