Lamp Sticker

Submitted By Brian Kerr | 20 Comments 20 Comments

I'm sure we are all familiar with the illuminated piece of fruit on the back of our favorite aluminum laptop. But what if we customized this great design feature with a sticker that adds a little humor to our workflow.

The two images I included are of a simple table lamp design. I think there are still many different images that could be distilled out of this concept like old lanterns, retro lamps and maybe even funny character designs based on light.

I look forward to your comments, thanks!

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Flat Folding Pen Holder

Submitted By Brian Kerr | 29 Comments 29 Comments

This pen, pencil, and or marker holder folds flat, requires no glue or screws for assembly, and is very portable. Its unique and simple design allows the contents to actually hold-up the overall structure. This product could be used by maybe an artist on the go or perhaps as an organizational solution for a cluttered desk.

I think the design can still be pushed like adding a splash of color and patterning on its die-cut, cardboard form . I look forward to your comments, thank you!

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Mix Tape iPhone App

Submitted By Stephen Stewart | 61 Comments 61 Comments

This product is an iPhone / iPod Touch application, that allows you to create mix tapes, play them back just like old fashioned cassettes, and share them with friends just like in the good old days!

The app will have (1) a super-user-friendly retro interface, based on an analogue audio cassette and (2) the ability to create and "send" mix tapes to friends with iPhones / iPods, that your friends can listen to using the same application.

There are already web (and maybe phone?) apps that allow you to create playlists for friends. But nothing like this that I can see. If it looks and feels right, then it could be a big hit. And there’s gotta be a Quirky iPhone App soon – lets do it!

(p.s. the Quirky guys have pre-approved me submitting an iPhone app idea.)

Here’s the details!

INTERFACE

When in use the app will show an analogue cassette in motion – as if the screen is a window on an old walkman! See the attached rough mock-up for an idea of what I mean.

Touching the screen will bring up the usual audio controls. The idea is that the app replicates an old tape player (well, the good bits anyway). For example, when the forward and rewind seek function is used, a sped up version of the song playing could be heard. Also the playlist could be shown as a cassette sleeve – see attached for a mock-up.

Of course the above will all be customizable through the settings window – which could also allow you to choose different color cassettes or animations (e.g. instead of a cassette an old reel to reel player – again mock ups attached).

MUSIC LIBRARY MIX TAPES

The app will allow you to access the songs on your iPhone / iPod (the new 3.0 SDK allows this) so you can create mix tapes based on the songs in your library. When the app is closed, the "tape" should automatically pause, just like a regular tape.

You will be able to name the mix tape (the name will appear on a label on the “cassette” – see the attached mock-up). You will also be able to save it.

Alone the above will be quite cool. However there is already an App on the market showing a cassette tape. While that app currently doesn’t access the audio library – safe to assume that future versions of it will.

So as described above this would be a neat little app, but it is the sharing function below that will make it KILLER!

SHARING MIX TAPES WITH FRIENDS

This is the killer function, but also the trickiest to implement! Basically, for this app to be brilliant you need to be able to share mix tapes created on it with friends. After all this is when making (and listening to) mix tapes really becomes fun.

But how do they get the music on their iPods? They won't necessarily have the songs on their device after all. I’m going to have to seek Quirky community input on this one. The realistic options seem to be:

(1) You give your friend the songs on a CD. Problem: this kind of negates the value – the ideal approach is that your friend simply receives notification telling them they’ve received a mix tape – then can just open up the app and play it.

(2) Some kind of link to the iTunes store where you or your friend buy the songs. Problem: expensive.

(3) Some form of internet radio type streaming. (In this case the user could pay a small fee per mix tape shared.)

Streaming really seems like the option with most potential. Perhaps it could be done by using a third party API (i.e. someone like Pandora/Spotify…). I’m going to pass over to you guys and the Quirky team for thoughts on that though.

If this could be implemented well then it would be a really cool little app – which people would pay for (though as with many apps we may not need to charge much to make a good return).

Lets make the first Quirky iPhone app!

Discuss!!

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p.s. I am not going to have net access for some of the time these product submissions are open. So, attached is a pdf with a mind dump of ideas as to how a streaming approach could be made to work… maybe…

Attached File: sharing.pdf

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Best mobile phone case ever!

Submitted By Florian Hoeper | 41 Comments 41 Comments

As most of you know is mobile phone radiation a serious health risk. It can cause cancer (especially testicular cancer if the mobile phone is carried in the pants pocket which can also lead to loss of sperm count) and serious brain damage (loss of memory, tumor risk increases) if certain areas of the human body are directly exposed too much to mobile phone radiation .
Most scientists an experts say that not exposing certain body parts to the radiation of mobile phones can minimize the risk of long-term health-risks.
Even though this has been known for a long time (I know this matter is still being researched on but nobody is denying that there are risks except for the phone companies, of course) I hardly know anybody who has really listened to this and everybody just accepts the risk day by day not even being afraid of getting cancer at the age of 35 or losing memory or getting a tumor, everybody just thinks “it won´t happen to me” or “everyone else isn´t worried, why should I be worried then”. I have been thinking about this problem for a while and have been wondering why most people are not really worried. Most people I have talked to know about these risks but don´t know how to solve the problem, yes women can just carry their phone in a purse but what about all men, they either carry it in their pants pocket right next to their testicles or in their shirt pocket where other important and damageable organs are directly exposed to the radiation. Or, of course its right by the ear...

Here is my solution:
What we need to develop is a mobile phone case that can be worn on a leg or arm! This way the mobile phone can be carried around easily without the radiation being directly exposed to the inner organs.
It can be designed similar to those sports ipod cases with an adjustable and flexible velcro strap so it can be put on/taken off fast and easily. It can come in three or four different sizes to fit different phones. Some people might say it is hard to reach, since one has to pull up his pants or sleeve to reach the phone, but why always reach there? The people who would buy this case want to protect themselves from harmful radiation, wanting to do that they already use a bluetooth headset to not have the phone on their ear, so there is no need to reach down when calling someone or accepting a call, thanks to the bluetooth headset and voice dial. And additionally there can be a small velcro lid on the case for easy access to the phone without having to take off the whole case, that way it´s not at all hard to get the phone when it´s needed for things that can´t be accomplish by the headset such as internet, messaging and e-mail.

If you are one of the people who don´t or don´t want to believe that mobile phone radiation is harmful, please still give this product a chance. You know that there are many, MANY health conscious-people out there who would all buy this product. Even if you wouldn´t buy it yourself, I know you´ld like to get a percentage of the money many people are going to happily spend on this product! I am looking forward to your comments...

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