Cruschgear Online

Bamboo Fashioned Trike!

2010-02-17T10:35:54Z

BamTrike is a three-wheeler that goes with the fancy tag of being a Personal Mobility Vehicle. Besides sporting a really unique form, the most intriguing part of this concept is the usage of Bamboo as a building material. The choice stems from the fact that structurally, bamboo compares to fiberglass, in woven form. The rider of the vehicle gets to sit in a comfy reclined position and the side storage pockets are sufficient to carry your personals. As a recreational vehicle, it really looks neat!

BamTrike is a part of an ongoing research by Monash student Alexander Vittouris, so we can expect frequent updates to this project.

Here is an excerpt:

The parts required for construction of the recumbent chassis have been reduced to encompass the outer framework of the vehicle. By using large molding sections of bamboo fiber, combined with Polylactide resin, the overall assembly complexities are reduced. The philosophy behind this innovative approach is to motivate the consumer in active production of the outcome and enhance the feeling of ownership via positive contribution. The challenge of successive concepts is to find additional ways of making the raw material of bamboo benefit the intention of naturally derived personal mobility.

Designer: Alexander Vittouris

Piece of Cake credit card system calculator

2009-12-15T01:54:40Z

Ever found yourself in a situation where you want to split the restaurant bill with your buddies, and all want pay by Credit Card. Like you want to get the calculations down to the last penny, or sip of Apple juice? Fret Not, if the Piece of Cake ever comes into existence, it’ll give going Dutch with friends a whole new meaning. By using this device each one can pay for just what they ate using their CC. The screen displays the total items consumed and you select your share to be automatically calculated.

I don’t know whether I should be happy for the “Math” factor taken care of, or sad about the new notion of going Dutch. My time, we just split the bill evenly no matter who ate what!.

Designers: Jung You Chul, Her Miran, Lee Chang Ho, Lee Kiho & Shin Youngmi

2 in 1 Pen lamp

2009-12-15T01:59:08Z

Let the record first show that this pen has a lamp on it. Potentially. The most important thing about this pen might not be the lamp (yeah right!) but I’m gonna go ahead and say that I know it is. This pen is crazy. First of all (wait are we still on first?) I gotta tell you that the name of this pen is “Pendragon” and it’s a construct-your-own pen. It’s name is Pendragon. What else you do you need to know!? Pendragon.

The pen has four parts. It’s got the Nib, the Central Unit, the End Part, and the Expandable Units.

The Nib is the writing part. it can be changed to a ballpoint, pen, fountian-pen, mechanical pencil, or digital pen. The Central Unit has, get this, the LED light – important!, a music player, charger input, memory card, and battery. The End Part has a bluetooth connection to whatever headphones you choose to use in collaboration with the mp3s youve put in the Central Unit. Expandable Units! Camera, microphone, laser pointer, chop, corrector, usb connetion, WLAN reciever to connect to computer, internet.

BONUS: pen-dock to connect to computer, charge, and work with the mic.

Designer: Peter Vardai

Three Little Pigs

2009-12-15T02:23:41Z

They’re not pigs at all. They’re a mobile, wireless projector and speaker set called Polpettek. Say that 10x fast. The anthropomorphic flavor is supposed to be more inviting and blend in better as objects of design rather than electronic equipment. The little speakers have magnetized feet so if you wanted to stack them into one large multichannel speaker – you can. There’s no info regarding specs but the designer’s last name is Alessi (no relation). Uncanny tho. It would fit right in their product line.

Designer: Eduardo Alessi

HTC Hero vs. iPhone 3GS

2009-12-15T01:21:43Z

A lot of people have been asking how the HTC Hero compares with the Apple iPhone 3GS. We shot both smartphones for a side by side comparison.

We’re pitting an iPhone 3GS 16GB with an HTC Hero and a 16GB microSD card. I borrowed the 3GS from @tjmanotoc for the photo comparison here (forgive the worn out Invisible Shield on the 3GS).

Now that we got that out of the way, the price of a prepaid 16GB iPhone 3GS is Php38,850 with Globe and the HTC Hero with 16GB microSD card is Php37,799 (Php33,999 + Php3,800).

The 3GS has a bigger screen at 3.5″ compared to the Hero’s 3.2 although both have the same resolution of 320×480 pixels. The 3GS has a faster processor — ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz vs. Qualcomm MSM 7200A 528 MHz for the Hero. Both have WiFi b/g, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G/HSDPA with the same speed rating but the Hero also supports HSUPA 2.0 Mbps.

The Hero has some edge over the 3GS — a 5MP camera vs. 3.15MP; 288MB RAM vs. 256MB; and the Hero also has 512MB ROM. While both the Hero and iPhone 3GS weigh the same at 135 grams, the former is a bit thicker 14.4mm compared to the iPhone at 12.3mm.

Of course, the 1350 mAh Li-Ion battery of the Hero is removable and user-replaceable unlike that of the iPhone. And did I mention the Hero can do multi-tasking while the iPhone cannot?

The Hero also comes in a variety of colors — Black, White (with Teflon coating), Brown, Graphite and Pink. The iPhone only has Black and White.

It’s really a close fight between the two with features and functionalities almost dead even. That includes a huge collection of apps for both the iTunes Store and the Android Marketplace.

Optimus Move

2009-12-15T01:35:39Z

Well, not really. It’s real name is the XO Move. But it looks like a transformer and almost acts like one. The concept is that when parked it transforms and locks up for security. It is adaptable to user needs, can carry one or two persons and sports a variable wheel base to make it more stable on the roads. Possibly it can take on Megatron too. who knows?

Designer: Camile Baron, Damien Grossemy, Josson Thomas & Kevin Lecoutre