concept

When serious BLT fans like myself look back over the technological accomplishments of the past century, it seems a bit unfair that we've traveled to the moon and connected the world by sending magic signals through the air, yet still burn a disconcerting proportion of our toast.

At last, a Polish designer has brought the underappreciated art of gently crisping bread into the 21st century. Mateusz Glowka created the Roastie, a wheel-shaped toasting device that's bound to haunt your hamster's nightmares.… Read more

From Paris to New York, automakers showed off their latest concept cars over the last seven months. These design and technology explorations were intended to incite buzz among auto show goers and demonstrate the future direction of their creators.

Many concepts, such as the Kia Pop, are odd-looking vehicles that will never see production. Then there are concepts such as the Jaguar C-X75 that we dream about night after night, despite the fact that Jaguar doesn't plan to build it.

The Ford Vertrek concept, and others like it, represent a future design idea for a specific model. Then there'… Read more

Suzuki's Kizashi is a solidly performing midsize sedan. It produces a reasonable amount of power. It's not terribly efficient, but also not particularly inefficient. There's not much to complain about when it comes to the Kizashi, but not much room for praise either. At the 2011 New York auto show, Suzuki pushed its lovably meh sedan in two very different directions with two very different Kizashi concepts.

The Kizashi EcoCharge concept aims to increase fuel efficiency by as much as 25 percent over the standard Kizashi Sport. It starts by reducing its gasoline engine displacement from 2.… Read more

The 2011 New York International Auto Show starts tomorrow, but Infiniti is already looking forward to the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, where it will be unveiling the 2013 Infiniti JX, a larger sibling to its EX and FX crossovers.

Until the concept is unveiled, all we have is the sketch above and a few tidbits teased by the automaker. The large crossover slots in just below the full-size Infiniti QX and will have three rows of seats with room for seven passengers. Externally, the design language that featured prominently on the Infiniti Essence concept car should be stretched … Read more

Lexus gave us a peak at the headlights and taillamps of its upcoming LF-Gh concept last week. The automaker must not have been satisfied with the underwhelmed response from the public and automotive press, because this week it has released more photos showing off the rest of the concept hybrid sedan.

Between the A and C pillars, the LF-Gh isn't packing any surprises for anyone who's familiar with Lexus' current LS and GS offerings. However, at the front and rear ends things start to get interesting.

Out back, we can see how the wrap-around taillamps work out on … Read more

In this shot we get a peek at Chevy's new MyLink infotainment interface, the aesthetic of the dashboard, and--if you look closely at the blurry background--the bi-gauge instrument cluster that seems to mimic the instrumentation of the Chevrolet Camaro. Button labels appear to feature a very Buick-like cool blue glow, and an odd, large physical switch below the touch screen has us scratching our heads.

A second shot, revealed last week, shows that the instruments aren't the only part of the next Malibu that will be capitalizing on the Camaro's design language. The tail lamps feature a … Read more

Smartphones have been around for at least several years now, but they still have certain limitations. Despite having a plethora of wireless technologies built-in--Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, etc.--there's no simple way to transfer "clippings" of data from one device to another. But a new research project at MIT called Sparsh is aiming to fix that oversight.

Sparsh (the Hindi word for "touch") isn't an app, at least not in the way we generally use the word. It's a tool that's supposed to be part of a mobile operating system, like "undo" or "select all," running within apps at all times. It creates a virtual cloud-based clipboard where any data, like a phone number or photograph, can temporarily live until it's "pasted" to another device.

For it to work, at least two devices need to be Sparsh-enabled. A user wanting to share data becomes, in concept, an avatar for a copy-and-paste-like function. The person touches data on a device, such as a photo or text, and Sparsh sends it to the cloud. The same person then touches another device, and presto! The relevant information is pasted in as if it had been copied from the same machine.

Sparsh isn't the only tool for transferring small amounts of device-to-device data on the scene. Indeed, a popular iPhone app called Bump allows people to trade photos, apps, contact info, and even music from one phone to another simply by bumping the devices together.

Bump is very cool, but it requires both the sender and recipient to be running the app. In addition, it's not open with what it can send or where it can send it--it only works from phone to phone, and while there are many options for things it can send, there are more things it simply can't. Sparsh aims to live in the devices we use at the operating-system level, meaning it would seem intuitive to use and be available within any app for almost any type of data. … Read more

Even in its current state of transition, Nokia's never been shy about attempting extreme cell phone design. We've seen everything form round keypads to square handsets, so it's not surprising that the company puts out an occasional list of concept devices.

Its latest batch isn't very ambitious as concept phones go, but they show the various directions our favorite gadgets take in the not-so-distant future. One is eco-friendly, another folds like a paper airplane, and another uses kinetic energy, but all would stand out in a crowd. Of course, we don't know if they'd … Read more

Ahead of the New York auto show, automakers are showing a little skin, just a tease before the complete unveiling. Such is the case with Lexus and the LF-Gh, an already rumored concept for which Lexus released taillight and headlight shots.

Not to be confused with the Lexus LF-A supercar, the LF-Gh will be a hybrid grand touring sedan, Lexus says. The letters stand for Lexus Future Grand Touring Hybrid.

Lexus says this concept will show the evolution of its L-finesse styling, especially with a new look for the grille. The taillight shot shows a somewhat conventional sedan trunk lip, but a lens that trails across the rear of the car.

The front shot reveals an angular design and an aggressive-looking intake in the air dam. The grille seems to extend down the front of the car, across the bumper. LEDs make up the headlight array, with an LED parking-light strip across the lower edge.

The Lexus LF-Gh will be unveiled at the 2011 New York auto show on April 20. … Read more