The Absolut Quartet has to be one of the coolest toys we’ve played with on the ‘net in a long time. First, let’s dive into what the thing actually is.

The Absolut Quartet is “a multi-instrumental music-making machine combining art and technology to create the equivalent of a classic human quartet. With a twist. It consists of three robotic “musicians” - as an online user you become the fourth musician.”

The first robotic musician is a marimba. 50 robotic cannons shoot rubber balls 6 feet into the air. When the balls land, they hit the marimba keys. The second musician is based on the idea of the “finger on the wine glass.” There are a series of glasses, tuned to different pitches, that are all spinning at the same time. These glasses are “played” by small robotic fingers. Finally, an array of percussive instruments rounds out the robotic trio. Read more »

With pico projectors coming soon, Sony Ericsson has picked a perfect time to file a patent describing self-adjusting mobile phone projectors.

The phone’s camera would analyze the picture coming from the projector and could adjust it for color, brightness, and focus. This would ensure the best possible image coming from your phone every single time.

This is a great idea, and it would work perfectly in cell phones considering that you can move them just about anywhere to project an image. We’re excited to see a system like this in action.

What do you get when you cross an iPhone with an iPod shuffle? An iStick, of course! Designer Alexei Mikhailov has dreamed up this gadget to show what he thinks that hybrid should look like.

The iStick is modeled after a tube of lipstick. However, all four sides have a touchscreen providing for a slick interface.

While the device isn’t for movie or photo viewing, it would be perfect for listening to music. It’s small, light, and has the same great interface as an iPhone. The iStick would also have Coverflow to let you scroll through album covers for an added effect. WiFi is also built in to browse iTunes.

The pictures also show some tiny wireless headphones. We’d really like to see some of those.

The concept is great, but it would be pretty hard to fit all that technology into a device as compact as the iStick. We’re also wondering what the gray end cap is for. Maybe you can twist it around as another way to interact with the gadget. Hopefully we’ll see a similar device from Apple sometime in the future. More pictures after the jump. Read more »

Italian car designer Leonardo Fioravanti (of Pininfarina fame) has developed a prototype car with a windshield that doesn’t need wipers. It can brush away water and dirt all by itself.

The car, dubbed Hidra, uses a special aerodynamic design along with four sophisticated surface treatments to the windshield to keep the driver’s view clear. The first treatment filters the sun and repels water. The second is made of nano-dust which is able to push dirt to the edges of the glass. This dust is activated by the third layer, which senses dirt and activates the second layer as necessary. Finally, it’s all topped off by the fourth layer which is a conductor of electricity to power the whole mechanism.

Fioravanti claims that this technology could go into mass production within 5 years, but it already works and has been installed on the Hidra concept car.

Details are still scant, but we wonder how well this technology would work on today’s cars. Hopefully windshield wipers disappear soon. Personally, I hate those things.

Here is a Google translation of the article.

Remember the Air Car that we wrote about a week ago? It’s beginning production in India soon, but it looks like it might make it Stateside as early as 2009.

Zero Pollution Motors has said that it expects to produce the world’s first compressed air-powered car for the US by late 2009 or early 2010. The company plans to produce 10,000 Air Cars per year.

The first of the models to be produced in the US will have six seats, a top speed of 96 mph, and can travel as far as 1000 miles on one tank of air. It is expected to cost $17,800.

The Air Car concept is very cool, but so far it can’t compete with the 6 and 8 cylinder gas-guzzlers we are all used to driving. It will take some more time before compressed air engines catch on, but we love to see this kind of innovation. More and more technologies are being developed to replace conventional fuel, and this is one that has potential.

San Francisco-based startup Solazyme has developed a way to convert biomass into fuel using algae, and best of all they promise to do it for the same price as petroleum.

Solazyme uses a new, unconventional, way of growing the algae in huge, dark stainless-steel containers. The algae are then fed sugar which the organisms convert into oil. Different strains of algae produce different kinds of oil. The extracted oil can then be processed into diesel and jet fuel as well as other products.

The company has already tested its algae-based fuel in a diesel car. It has also recently announced a development and testing agreement with Chevron.

This new technology has the potential to replace the oil wells we use to get our oil today. As a much greener alternative, it is sure to appeal to consumers, especially if the prices don’t change (although we wouldn’t mind some gasoline cheaper than $3/gallon).

With so many new alternatives to traditional fuel being developed, it looks like we might not be screwed after all. Thanks, Solazyme!

The Woood Smart Phone, envisioned by UK designer Gernot Oberfell, is a notable mention of the 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition. It seeks to provide a greener alternative to today’s mostly-plastic cell phones.

Just like the Chute Smartphone, Woood is made of, well, wood. Actually, it’s a wood composite containing up to 80% natural fibers. Components like the buttons and endcaps are made from biodegradable plastic, to ensure that most of the phone can be recycled.

The phone would be very friendly to touch and feel, just like real wood. It would also age over time, changing its appearance for the better.

With so many cell phones being disposed of every year, Earth-friendly phones would be a welcome addition. Provided its good looks and green nature, the Woood would definitely be a hit. More images after the jump. Read more »

Designer Mac Funamizu has created a gadget showing what he thinks the future holds for mobile devices. The “near” future, he claims. It includes a touch screen, built-in camera, scanner, WiFi, Google Maps and Google search support, and even an image search, all in a tiny and beautiful package.

Although the concept is pretty far out for today’s technology, it might indeed be possible sometime in the future, and it would probably be one of the most useful gadgets we own.

The device would be able to give you all sorts of information about what you are looking at through its screen. Simply touch the thing you want to know about - be it a word in a book, a floor on a building, a car, or even some food - and the definition pops up right next to it on the screen.

We love the idea and can only hope that technology will some day allow it to become a reality. This gadget could be tech equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife, especially if someone can build a cell phone into it as well. More pictures after the jump. Read more »