Do your headphone cords curl up into a big mess that not even a rubber band or twist tie can maintain? Then you are in need of a ninja bunny. It’s a cable manager that adds a hint of geekiness and style to that jumbled mess of strings dangling from your ears. Well, unless you’re in Korea, you won’t find these bunnies around here. Think of it as Murphy’s Law. Hit the jump to take a peek at the various colors they’re made in.
Dong Han Kim and his team at the Seoul National University of Technology in South Korea have designed a robot that can jump up stairs using two empty plastic soda bottles. In spite of all the amazing crap robots can do, they often have trouble navigating steps. Kim’s ScoutRobot solves this problem with an aluminum cylinder that blasts compressed air from two 20 oz. plastic soda bottles. There have been lots of awesome things made out of empty bottles, but this air-powered robot is definitely the best of the bunch. ScoutRobot also has sensors that spot upcoming obstacles and estimate how much height is needed to jump them. Sadly for me and all of my fellow honkies, modern science still hasn’t come up with a solution to get us hops. Read on for a video of the bottle-bot getting airborne.
A civic group called School Beautiful Movement, together with the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion and SK Telecom has launched a program to teach the young proper cellphone use, in preparedness of protecting them from the harsh recesses of mobile addiction. Twelve Korean elementary, middle and high schools were selected for the pilot program and for the next two months.
These students will gather in a group to talk about their cellphone use (not to mention the hardships texted to them from the loves of their lives), and the symptoms they feel when they are without their cellphone. The students will voluntarily not use their cellphones in school to test their reactions. Riot police are on call. — Andrew Dobrow
Sharp’s first dual-mode transmitter, the VA3B5EZ915, is capable of tuning in on both T-DMB and DVB-H terrestrial digital broadcasts. Sharp claims this device to be the first of its kind. With the launch of One-Seg in Japan, other similar services have started popping up in other areas in the Eastern Hemisphere, including DVB-H for some areas of Europe, and T-DMB for Korea.
The device is made to be implanted in mobile devices, and as can be seen from the image, its size (8 x 8 x 1.25 mm) is definitely compact enough to please many manufacturers, as the demand for smaller tuners continues to grow. — Andrew Dobrow
Despite its appearance, the Samsung YA-DS200 is not a cellphone. In fact, it’s a mobile speaker system. Compact and sleek, the 800mW speaker to go has the same design scheme a the Samsung YP-K3 MP3 player and would make an excellent addition to your portable media sound system.
Its LCD screen displays levels of the audio output as you listen. The YA-DS200 Speakers will be available soon in Korea, and than everywhere else soon after. Hopefully. — Andrew Dobrow
We don’t know who came out with the concept, but the idea of a miniature wooden speak does sound cool. And having it so small that it’s almost comparable to a dice (19×26x39mm). Korean company Funshop kr has started selling this I.dear Wood Speaker that is so small that it can be used as an accessory (charm) for your cellphone. It feeds music via standard 3.5mm jack, the internal recharagable (via USB) Li-Polymer battery is good for 5 hours of music at 1.5W, which is comparable to some cheaper portable speakers. While we have no idea how will this match up with our super loud SonyEricsson phones, the 25USD price-tag surely looks attractive. –Sam Chan
I.dear Wood Speaker [Funshop Korea]
Samsung presents its newest card phone, the SPH-B6700 to the Korean mobile market. The B6700 comes with many features of the previous card phone, such as mobile printing, mp3 playback, and a camcorder, but adds some multimedia functionality with some added features.
T-DMB access, a 2 MP camera, and Bluetooth connectivity are among the new media features of the B6700, along with a 330,000 word dictionary and “my pet” file viewer. It’s dimensions measure a tiny 8.7 (w) x 5.4 (h)cm at a weight of 79g.
The B6700 comes encased in a strong aluminum body so the little fellow won’t get crushed in the folds of your pocket. We’d still recommend to use a belt clip though. For now its only available in Korea. (more…)
The reason a lot of us have never really got into the whole “cellphone gaming” thing is because of the lack of a decent navigation control option. How can you truly control a game with one hand and no mouse. Which is why this concept of a Pop-Up Joystick is such an interesting idea.
Some people might think it’s just another part to be easily broken, resulting in more trips to the customer service department of your service provider. And that would be a good point. But for those who are interested in mixing their digital mobile life with their gaming alter ego, you would surely find a need for a joystick to enjoy a full gaming experience.
There are no details about releases or if this thing will EVER be released, since it is only a concept, but odds are that if it were to show its face, it would most likely appear in Japan or Korea. Of course, this is only personal speculation, but come on, where else could something like this possibly be available for the first time? — Andrew Dobrow
Compact Analog Thumbstick [IndustrialDesign, via Core77]
Pantech has announced it’s IM-S150, which seems to be geared towards the hipsters of Korea. Despite it’s resemblance in design to a slab of pavement from any typical American road, Pantech says that since design has become such an imporant focus of the mobile community, that this is there answer to the trendy line of designs being released. On the technical side, the IM-S150 features an advanced quality screen using dual TFT LCD displays which can display 260,000 colors, or slightly less then the amount of shades Michael Jackson has been over the years. The phone will be released this week in Korea, branded with the SKY logo, Pantech’s number one line of phones. Enjoy your slab of concrete! — Andrew Dobrow
Pantech IM-S150 Phone [AVING USA]
We’ve all seen the LG Shine (LG-SV420), it’s the full silver metal-brushed slider that has caught so much attention that Samsung decided to copy it. Supposedly, the LG Shine design will be used on GSM phones in 2007, LG hopes to repeat the Chololate sensation. This week LG announced a limited Designer’s Edition to the Shiney slider, with beautiful Korean Hangul Calligraphy engraved at the back. See? You can make something look good without copying the RAZR. Take a look at a video we dug up, showing you the Shine in action.
