Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation

We’re not really sure which is worse, that the future has already reached Japan, or that Japan has already out-designed everyone. Apparently yesterday there was a “spacewear fashion show” at the University of Tokyo’s Hongo campus. A joint venture between Rocketplane Kistler, an American space tour company, and a group of Japanese fashion designers came together to create the “Hyper Space Couture Design Contest.” The clothes selected will be used for Rocketplane’s flights, which are slated to begin in 2008. While we don’t exactly know what “spacewear” means, apparently one of the requirements is to be able to pack form and function into a zero-g outfit, “such as ruffles that expand under weightless conditions or small air-jet propulsions systems in the sleeves to help you change direction while floating.” We still think that any of these outfits could be improved with a little Engadget logo stitched somewhere on there, but hey, we’ll still take some small air-jet propulsion systems on our terrestrial outfits.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Others, GSM

Sorry, fellas, this one's for the ladies. Philips has officially launched its 588 model in Taiwan this week, a featherweight (78g) clamshell targeted at the fairer sex. Available only in purple and white, the feminine 588 sports triband GSM, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and -- as you may have guessed from the external controls -- a music player feeding off a little over 100MB of internal storage with no expansion slot. No word on pricing for the Asia-only flip, but with its lack of Bluetooth and external display, we're guessing the 588 is designed to be a fashion phone for the masses. At least the female masses, that is.

[Via Slashphone]

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Filed under: Handsets, LG, GSM, GPRS

LG is really running with the checkerboard keypad theme these days as details are beginning to emerge on the KG99, a candybar with fairly obvious Chocolate roots. No word on whether the phone falls into LG’s Black Label category, but at 95 x 52 x 9.9mm, it seems chic enough for the task. Specs are unconfirmed at this point, but the phone is reported to sport triband GSM (sorry yanks, no 850), a 220 x 176 display, microSD slot, Bluetooth, and an FM radio. Now granted, as a fashion phone, we may not be the KG99′s target demographic, but the specs still feel a bit weak to us — we’re going to wait a few weeks and see what else is in the checkerboard pipeline.

[Via Slashphone]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Portable Video

It looks like the design department at Samsung has been working some overtime lately. Barely a week after they busted out that sexy line of Ultra Edition phonage, they’re adding a new “NV” line of functional yet fashionable digital cameras to their portfolio. The three cameras, the NV3, NV7 and NV10 are looking sharp, sporting black aluminum and 2.5-inch LCDs, but there’s plenty going on under the hood. The real headliner is the NV7 (pictured), with optical image stabilisation and a 7x optical zoom, yet measuring a mere 0.8-inches thick. We’re guessing they didn’t include the lens in the measurement, but it’s slim all the same. Both the NV7 and NV10 have an interesting “touch pad” row of buttons along the sides of the LCD to provide quicker access to menu options. All three cameras feature Samsung’s Advanced Shake Reduction feature, but the NV7 is the only one to augment that with optical. The NV10 takes the megapixel cake, at a cool 10, and it’s tied with the NV3 for slimness at 0.7-inches, but its 5x optical zoom is a bit more mundane. For sheer pocketability and versatility, the NV3 features a 7 megapixel CCD, 3x zoom and PMP functions, much like its Digimax i6 predecessor. Sadly, Samsung isn’t slashing prices with all those designers to feed, and the NV line retails at some fairly steep prices. The NV7 for $450, NV10 for $400 and the NV3 $350. All three should be available this Fall. Keep reading for pics of the NV3 and NV10.

Read – Samsung NV3
Read – Samsung NV7
Read – Samsung NV10

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

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