Yamaha Trumpet...Cellphone?
Yamaha and KDDI put together a group of concept cellphones with musical themes, including a trumpet, guitar, DJ scratch pad, and drums. [MobileMentalism and AkihabaraNews]
The difference between what I would like to look at and what I would like to use makes for a a gap wider than the Grand Canyon, in this case. One button, no tactile feedback and no screen make this VOIP phone prototype little more than an electronic lollipop. But my desire to lick one increases with every glance. [e-Nova via Yanko and BBG]
Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology has created this prototype physical 3D display that works a little differently than the other 3D tech out there. Those bright spots aren't LEDs, but a complex array of lenses arranged on top of LCDs, forming the sides of a cube. By a kind of optical parallax trick, and something called "integral photography," it makes it look like there's an object in the box. Best of all, gCubik is a naked-eye tech and can be viewed simultaneously by a group of people. The team's working on making it wireless and higher-res, and even hopes to commercialize it within three years for use in design, education or games devices. You can see it in person at the SIGGRAPH show in August. [Fareastgizmos]
If you ever drunkenly stumble into one of these prototype Blockbuster stores in Dallas, you'll wonder why Best Buy has stocked up on so many movies and ditched the inkjet printers. These proto stores, or storetotypes, lay out little kiosks in the middle and test interesting concepts that have a tenuous relationship to renting movies such as:
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