If you’ve ever taken a stroll along an oceanside beach, chances are you’ve come across the rather unappealing piles of rotting seaweed. On tourist beaches, the seaweed is usually scooped up periodically and taken to a landfill. There are several problems with this method, though. First, the seaweed takes along a lot of sand and salt water with it, making it extremely heavy and taking up tons of space in the landfills. Secondly, the sand that is removed incidentally along with the seaweed has to be periodically replaced – usually with sand trucked in from somewhere else. And finally, the seaweed is usually way too salty to do anything useful with it.

But researchers at the University of Alicante in Spain have come up with a rather ingenious way to solve the seaweed problem: a machine that cleans the plant matter, leaves the salt water and sand where it is, and then uses the seaweed as a source of power. Their system would reduce the volume of the gathered seaweed by as much as 80 percent by removing everything unnecessary: water, salt and sand.

The concept involves a huge machine that would roll along the beach, being fed rotting seaweed by human workers. In the first chamber the seaweed would tumble around with salt water pumped in from the nearby ocean. The water would drain back into the ocean, taking most of the sand with it. The seaweed would then move to the second chamber, where desalinated sea water would wash most of the salt content off of the seaweed. Finally, the third chamber would dry out the seaweed with solar power-heated air. After that, the seaweed could be compressed into bundles that could be used as biomass fuel in power plants. The brilliant solution would not only help keep the beaches clean; it has the potential to create a tangible positive environmental impact.

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The saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention, but sometimes it’s pure irritation that gives birth to something new and useful. Such was the case when Chris McKleroy was mountain biking one day, using a portable speaker linked to his phone to listen to music.

His phone rang and he couldn’t reach into his pocket to either answer or ignore the call, so he had to listen to the ringtone until it stopped and his music came back on. It wasn’t an emergency or even a major event in his life, but it was annoying and it inspired him to design a different kind of portable speaker.

The Rex from Boombotix is a hexagonal speaker that features Bluetooth connectivity, Siri integration and a noise-canceling microphone, making it easy for someone who is in motion to control their iPhone (or iPod, or tablet, or laptop) without having to actually take it out. Changing tracks or answer, end or deny calls while you’re on the move only requires the push of a couple of buttons on the speaker itself, so your electronic gadget can stay safely put away.

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Working on cars or trying to fix machinery can be a headache when you can’t locate the exact spot of the problem. Listening to how the machine or engine runs is a big help, but it doesn’t always lead you to the exact source of the sound. Enter the SeeSV-S205 sound camera, developed by SM Instrument Company and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

The sound camera is a small hand-held device that, when pointed in the general direction of a troublesome sound, takes an unusual kind of picture. Data from microphones and an optical camera are combined to form an image that looks a little like a color-coded thermograph picture. It’s communicated to a linked computer so that the mechanic or technician can then study the source of the sound.

The SeeSV-S205 isn’t the first “sound camera,” but others are big, heavy contraptions that have to be mounted on tripods. This newer sound camera is smaller because it focuses on a more specific range of frequencies – those most commonly found in industrial products. As long as you use the device in the context for which it was intended, the relatively narrow frequency spectrum should be sufficient.

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An affordable, attractive, infinitely-customizable keyboard has been a dream project for designers for quite a while. The Optimus comes close, but it’s expensive and bulky and the ultra-bright OLED displays on the keys bother some users. The E-Inkey Concept from Maxim Mezentsev and Alexsander Suhih is a trimmer, lighter version of the idea that uses e-ink instead of OLED for the individual key displays.

E-Inkey is wireless and still gives you all of the benefits of a keyboard with keys that you can customize to your specific needs. Whether you’re switching languages, using a complex program like Photoshop or just need certain functions handy for your favorite game, the E-Inkey could switch to your desired layout quickly and easily.

Because the keyboard uses e-ink technology rather than LED or OLED, it saves on power but still lets you specify the function of each and every key. And as an added bonus, it’s actually really, really attractive. So far it’s just a concept, but hopefully the designers will take advantage of the crowdfunding movement to make it into a product that we can actually buy and use.

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The Dutch have sure had some bright ideas lately. Design company Booo, located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, has set out to create sustainable, all-in-one light bulb / lampshades. They have challenged the classic design of the light bulb and work with distinguished designers such as Nacho Carbonell.

Carbonell’s main criterion for the re-design of the essential yet simple LED light bulb is based on one major flaw: it’s made of glass. Light bulbs in general can sustain very little physical trauma without breaking. Throw shipping in the mix and the bulbs are more vulnerable than a bare light diode.

In accordance with Booo Labs, Carbonell created a bulb and lampshade hybrid by surrounding the bulb with a soft plastic dome. Practical and user-friendly, the lampshade can be squeezed and molded. It offers soft diffusion of the LED’s glow. He also created a ladder-like tail that connects to the lampshade and can be used for further décor. They would make perfect additions to art galleries, live music shows or your living room.

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