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 »

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 »

Following the many recent e-paper gadgets popping up is a design from Serina Sung. If flipping the pages of your music score at a concert isn’t your thing, than the EMS (E-Paper Music Score) is just for you.

The EMS gets its notes from a computer via bluetooth and then gloriously displays them on the flexible e-paper surface that can be unrolled from its neat carrying position. There is also an included bluetooth foot pedal which wirelessly turns the pages without any need to take one hand away from the instrument.

This is a great concept, but until e-paper becomes common and cheap it’ll have to stay as just that. We’d rather fork out $5 for a metal stand at the local music store for now.