Now if designer Jin Woo Han could just convince some geeks to wear ties, or even shirts with buttons on the front, there would be a place to attach this elegantly designed concept. Maybe you could clip it to your ear. [Yanko Design]

The trick here is to develop a special engine they're calling Scimitar, capable of thrusting the craft to those rocket-like speeds. It will be a rocket engine with a turbo compressor added, without needing liquid oxygen like those used in the boosters that send spacecraft into orbit. Such an engine is also capable of slower flight, allowing the aircraft to fly over land where supersonic speeds aren't permitted because of sonic booms.

The researchers are proposing a big plane, too. Check out the A2's size next to the gigantic Airbus A380 in the graphic above. This A2 hyperliner is big enough for 300 passengers, and the engineers are hoping to make it cost-effective enough for tickets to ride on the huge plane to cost about the same as a normal business class seat does today. [The Register, via Ecotality Life]

Such may be the fate of incandescent bulbs, taking their place alongside other lighting schemes of days gone by such as candles, as soon as LEDs and fluorescent lamps take over the world. [Felix Pass, via Yanko Design]

Designer Cherif Morsi's idea is more akin to a digital time capsule than an ash-carrying urn. The idea is to load up this USB drive with videos, sound clips, photos and any other digital memorabilia inside its hardened shell, showing the dearly departed in happier times. This design concept, not for sale anywhere yet, might appeal to funeral directors, who might be able to capitalize on someone's grieving state, selling them an item that normally might cost $10 for perhaps well over a thousand. [Yanko Design]

First of all, designer Tom Ballhatchet placed wheels on the package itself, making the bulky box easier to roll from store to home. Then he placed the TV set into an expanded polypropylene shell, perfectly molded to its shape. Once you get the package home, the areas that the screen occupied inside this package can be used as shelves for the TV stand, and the wheels pull off the bottom of the box and can be inserted into the stand. The result? The first useful TV set packaging we've seen.

Heck, a lot of buyers who overspent on that TV set are probably already using the box it came in as a TV stand—now it's been prettied up considerably and made more practical. A lot of the TV stands on sale these days are made out of glorified cardboard anyway, so why not just put that packaging to good use? Nice.

[Yanko Design]

There's not much explanation offered with these 3D renderings, but it appears that you attach a different front assembly for each of the three tasks. However, for a lot of the snowfall we see out here in the frozen tundra, that snow blower is not going to be quite tall enough. As a leaf collector, the device is going to need some sort of receptacle, too.

If he takes care of those small details, all Gustav has to do is add solar power, an electric motor with a long-lasting battery and robotic capabilities, and he'll be on to something here.

Lawn Fun From 3-In-One [Yanko Design, via Crib Candy]

The designers say that someday small interchangeable devices will magically appear with on-board AM/FM, various two-way radios, a cellphone and even vision transmission technology. And check out those built-in earphones, snaking their way around the bottom of your ear. Niiiice.

When they were designing this, did anyone consider that it's just extremely dopey looking? Well, looks aren't everything. – Charlie White

Shade Blade [Ideawicket]

Take the jump for a couple of enlarged pics of this weird design that's aimed at iPod users.

It hangs like a shoulder bag, or you can fasten it around your waist like a belt.

Yeah, it has a fresh and updated design, but the device's designer, Dirk Winkle, needs to consider that a ghetto blaster still forces others to listen to music you've chosen, just like it did in the early '80s.

Although if it were draped over the shoulder of the babe in the white pants, we might give her a pass, especially if she had decent musical taste. – Charlie White

Shoulder Bag Ghetto Blaster [Yanko Design]

This in-your-face reminder might be enough to scare you out of the sunshine, protecting you from that leathery look you will get by the time you're 50, while keeping you from getting a nasty sunburn that will make you feel like you've been spanked all over. Oh yeah, and then there's that dying-of-skin-cancer thing.

While those malignancies showing up in various places on that bikini are not exactly attractive, at least they might remind you to use sunscreen. Surely this is more of a performance art piece than a concept for an actual product, because we can't imagine who would actually want to buy and wear one of these. – Charlie White

Designer's Page [Fiona Carswell, via medGadget]

We are a little curious about how it gets its power; surely this is not a battery-operated printer, is it? Could it run on a mini fuel cell? For a perfect plug-in installation, perhaps you could fish a wire through the wall to feed it power from behind. Nevertheless, a design like this could be handy, reminding you that you've printed something by displaying it right there in your face. This is a design concept whose technology is here today. Somebody, please build one of these. – Charlie White

Wall-Mountable Wireless Printer [They Should Do That]

This prototype by designer Chris Dimino isn't available yet to the general public, but if there are enough fans of The Shining and the horror genre in general, it might someday see the light of day. Even though it's a great idea, we're thinking all the yelling and screaming every hour on the hour could get pretty old after about a day. But then maybe we're turning into dull boys because of that "all work and no play" thing. – Charlie White

Design Site [Chris Dimino, via Coolest Gadgets]

Taking home a cool $25,000 for the Chairman's Award is John Leung from Melbourne, Australia with his design you see here, called "MADE in China." The acronym MADE stands for Massively Administered Digital Entities, incorporating a design that has all of its applications and data stored on remote servers. It looks like an Asian dining platter, and its chopstick-like input device, called a CHOPstylus, allows for input on the PC's touchscreen. Take a look at the gallery for the other winners. – Charlie White

Brave New World of Computing [Microsoft]

So far they're a design concept, but we rather like their hand-carved look and ominous Enter the Dragon countenances. If their designer Joakim Axelsson can just make sure they sound good, we're in. – Charlie White

Dragon Speaker [Yanko Design]

To control it, you just touch the aluminum clamp and the light fades up or down. It's a design concept so far, but we hope by the time it ships the designers will add some sort of shade instead of having just a bare light bulb up top. – Charlie White

A fresh approach to bringing light to our lives [idealist]

Just fill it up with your favorite ingredients, and throw that sucker down, not even bothering to ask if the imbibers would like their martinis shaken, not stirred. Tell them they're going to get them yo-yo'd, like it or not. It spins around and returns to you, and after a few of those round trips, that high-octane spirit's ready to quaff.

Who thinks of this stuff? This must have some connection to that sex doll for dogs. Find out after the jump.

Yep, this design concept was created by French designer Clem Eloy, the same guy who dreamed up Hotdoll, that sex doll for dogs that so amused our readers for the past few weeks. The guy has no shortage of creativity, also creating Lucifer, a match holder that automatically lights a match as you extract it from its container.

The guy is brilliant. Now let's see if he can get some enterprising manufacturer to actually build and commercialize some of his wild ideas. – Charlie White

Design Site [Clem Eloy]