This will surely give people more to look forward to, rather than the ever vulnerable CDs and DVDs that barely lasted long, and needed more attention than every rugged pen-drives. Microsoft have taken a fantastic step to ensure that Windows 7 stands out from the previous versions of the ever-popular Windows operating systems. They’ve come out with a bootable USB installer creator that’s aimed at laptop users. Installation files can be downloaded to the device that acts as a bootable installer. All you need is a USB drive that has sufficient capacity to hold the installation files. A likely name for this installation creator program may be Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (WUDT).

Merry go round the buttons I tell ya! Dang the button area around your starched shirt is tough to crease-out. Some irons do have indents on the side, allowing you to kinda skim around the sweet spot, but it ain’t got a Full U like the “U-Button Iron”. Hit the special button the iron and voilà! The tip retracts to reveal a U that slides under the button to give you a fully ironed shirt.

Designers: Jun-kyo Lee & Jin-young Yoon

The Waterdrop Shower Room brings to life the childhood fantasies of role-playing while taking a bath. Sometimes you’re a beastly pirate and sometimes a brave hero rescuing your ducks. This exciting enclosure comes with a tactile touchscreen that almost envelopes you. Its giant screen happily plays for you soothing melodies of the Chinese Opera to Nemo (although I reckon the big guys will opt for something more seductive!) and transports you to fantasy land!

The enclosure is actually a two-part thing; with the upper section rising up and lower section sliding and rotating to give easy access to the showers. Features include a powerful tactile touch screen that controls the video, music, showers, jet intensities and temperatures.

Designer: Wu Chenghou

Rapid modernization and our greed to stay updated with our technologies often create a wire-mess or redundant gadgets to loiter around our homes. Cost of upgrading all tech-paraphernalia at home, plus repair or replacement of worn-out parts leaves a dent that we don’t like. Solution? The Upgrade Modular Telecommunication System! With this magic modular strip you can customize your home network, combining the single modules to your convenience.

The premise of Upgrade is based on the need to replace a defected or outdated technique standard by replacing only the related module.

Each of the identical constructed modules performs a specific function and differs from its connection ports.

The modules:

• The master module is the main module. It controls the module bow and processes the in and outgoing data.
• The telephone module enables the connection of digital and analog telephones and fax.
• The internet module connects to the internet.
• The network module enables the connection of several network devices.
• The wireless module allows the wireless network connection of computers and other WiFi devices.
• The hard drive module serves as a central file server and offers the home network users to share their digital data.

The module bow can be upgraded with three additional external modules:

The repeater module

The repeater module expands the signal of the wireless module and improves the transfer quality over great distance or even through thicker walls. It can be plugged vertically or horizontally in a socket.

The audio module

The audio module can be connected to a stereo system and streams the music files, which are saved on the hard drive module, over the stereo speaker.

The media module

The media module can be connected to a display device (like a TV). It enables the user to view pictures, videos and music files saved on the hard drive module.

The practical application of Some Shine Solar Energy Storage System is quite simple. You hang up the cool looking Solar Curtain on your window, and keep the battery-pack hooked to the base. It soaks in the solar energy during the daytime, stores it and uses it to replenish your gadgets at night. Hook up your stuff via the USB port and you’re done for the night. Me really , really likes this!

Designer: Ming-Ching Hsueh

Keyboard and Words are my friends and we often play hide-and-seek when I do my posts. They either hide behind Mr. Wrong Spellings or screen behind Ms. Metal Block’s skirt. At such moments I turn to my other pal Mr. Mouse for some help. A right click, scrolling and some serious threatening and pesto they come out of hiding! All this fun is missed when I’m forced to use pen and paper! Wait a minute IDEA tells me they gotta Dictionary Pen for me that’s equally fun…hmmm…interesting!

Spell Check and synonyms are my life on the keyboard, so how does IDEA expect me to use the old fashioned pen and have fun? Sorry did I say old-fashioned, coz they tell me that the Dictionary Pen is new age and contemporary. It comes with a display, navi-buttons, an integrated wordlist and speech recognition. This means I simply speak my word into its mic and it will relay the correct spelling and meaning to the display. Wow fantastic! Now all I need to do is get used to the notion of using a paper and pen!

Designer: IDEA

Ok this is a true story, my aunt who happens to be a doctor managed to detect a pip-sized (malignant) lump in her breast just coz she was a proficient doc who did this kinda stuff on a daily basis. Many of us women are neither that lucky nor skilled enuf to detect lumps of any kind! To help us out is the Luna Breast Care Device, which is a personalized intimate unit that allows us to examine ourselves in the comfort and privacy of our homes.

This handheld unit comes with intelligent biomedical technologies that can “feel for lumps on the human breast as to detect abnormalities under the surface of the skin.”

The two-part unit includes a charging interface with a screen and a soft screening pad interface made of flexible, bio-elastic materials with multiple sensors that process the info. A cumulative record of all the screenings is stored for further reference, which could come handy at the apt moment.

Designers: Agnes XUE Lishan, Wei Hangshuai & Ho Hung Yi

PS: This is a James Dyson Entry, so you may want to vote it up here.

One of the reasons behind developing the Animate project was to motivate the obese-TV-Video Games-addicted-generation to move their butt and get some exercise. I don’t buy that theory. My point is, if Wii Sports couldn’t get me toned and slim, then nothing can! However, besides this Animate is cool gadget that kids on the block would love. It’s got a camera, MP3 player, watch band, communication feature and videogames. When you play the spy-detective kinda game, you get the opportunity to win some cool avatar credits that that motivate you to be active and on your toes!

Designers: Hugo Kretz & Marc Haldemann

PS: This is a James Dyson Award Entry, so you may want to vote it up here.

How would images look if we captured them on a camera that was based on the Human Eye? Taking into consideration our field of vision, optical sensory and the brain’s perception of images, George Milde has developed the Human Eye Camera. This device combines modern technology with digital postproduction. When the light hits the “eye” of the camera, it is spread via a prism onto three arrange-able sensors. And like the digitalized version, this one too offers the RAW format, which is variable in focus and focal length. The outcome of images is like a stitching or overlay of pictures. Like a panorama picture that’s been curved and distorted coz the brain did not flatten the peripheral view.

Designer: Georg Milde

This is a James Dyson Award Entry, You can vote for it here.