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Smart Design Roundup: Laptops and Yoga |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Smart Design
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 19 September 2007 |
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I've become something of a sucker for industrial design ever since I split a Brooklyn coldwater flat with Raymond Loewy back in -- well, it was a while ago. Ray was a good guy. Clearly brilliant, but very … meticulous is the polite term, I think. He could not abide an apartment that was anything less than completely spic-and-span at all times. We had an Oscar and Felix thing going. Rumor has it he designed the Leisurama style of prefab housing just to get me out of the apartment. Anyway…
 Scrolling around the usual Internet destinations last night I came
across a few design-related concept items that caught my eye. Such as
the holographic notebook from Sony. The very unofficial Vaio Zoom is
only in the concept phase as of now, but is sleek and zoomy in that
future primitive way we all admire. The display and the keyboard are
both holographic projections. When powered down, the screen is totally
transparent, and the keyboard smooth and opaque. No buttons at all.
This is kind of how I'd always pictured the Ono-Sendai Cyberspace 7 of
Neuromancer fame.
Then there's this little item , if you happen to be into certain Indian
spiritual practices and/or ubiquitous fitness movements. It's a yoga
mat that's also a stereo and -- check this -- streaming video player.
The mat itself is actually an electronic paper screen, so you can pipe
in your yoga video, or even teleconference in others. Like the
holographic notebook, the various technologies here all exist, but this
is just a concept for now. I spent a few years studying yoga and
various related traditions in college. (Like many of you, I suspect, I
like to keep a copy of unabridged Vedic texts around for light reading
in the evenings.) But I must admit the physical practice of yoga as a
form of exercise continues to elude me. Last time I tried it, I
strained muscles the medical community didn't even know existed.
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