Samsung might not give off the immediate impression of a warm, fuzzy company, as it really comes off more like a faceless device-manufacturing juggernaut, but that doesn’t stop it trying to get a handle on what people are feeling. According to a recent patent application, the company is putting together a method of recognizing the emotions of an individual based on action units (AUs). And what exactly are those? They’re components of a facial action coding system: something designed to reference the contractions of facial muscles. With a total of 30 units, several AUs combine to form a string (shown above) that’s then detected by some unmentioned Samsung tech and matched to an emotion label that best fits the string. Hardware-wise, it’s relatively vague — par for the course with patent applications — but would require a processor and memory, with no mention of a camera sensor to capture all that facial gurning. Samsung’s keeping up its patent armor up for now, but you can flirt with an outline of its thoughts at the source below.

SOURCE via USPTO

Designed by Jaewan Jeong, the Almighty Board is the ultimate kitchen aid all of us culinary-challenged folk have been waiting for. This digitalized, “smart-board” is essentially your cutting board, recipe book, scale and personal assistant all rolled up into a convenient tablet-like package. With step-by-step instructions guiding your every move, the Almighty Board ensures your success in the kitchen.

After you are done preparing the ultimate meal, the board will even tell you whether or not you did a good enough job cleaning it. After it is washed, it detects whether or not the user cleaned it well enough to avoid any contamination or food poisoning. Although this concept sounds like a dream come too, the technology certainly exists for a real life Almighty Board.

Seeing as how it is essentially a waterproof, sturdy tablet with kitchen-friendly software, we wouldn’t be too surprised to see an Almighty Board-like product sometime in the near future.

SOURCE via Yanko Design

Designing a luxury automobile is easily as much about the cabin space as it is about the exterior styling. Mercedes-Benz knows that very well, and as if to showcase what its design department can do outside the confines of a modern automobile, the German automaker is gearing up to launch a collection of furniture at the upcoming Milan Furniture Fair.

A collaboration between the Mercedes-Benz Style division and furniture manufacturer Formitalia, the collection includes items as varied as sofas, dining tables, home theater systems and beds. The pieces are all crafted out of familiar automotive materials like aluminum, glass and wood, with styling details borrowed from automotive design.

Suffice it to say, the items would look right at home in our ever-growing fantasy living room.

Residents of Mumbai are in for a unique treat as real estate firm Wadhwa Group sets out to construct one of the greatest residential towers we’ve ever seen. The company is set to begin construction on two exclusive residential towers in the Borivali district of Mumbai, designed by architect James Law. Aside from its state of the art features and stunning modern design, each residence will have its own jaw dropping private pool balcony.

Dubbed the Aquaria Grande residential towers, each tower will be 37 stories high and equipped with an appropriately large car park with plenty of parking space. In total, each tower will be home to 200 apartments complete with state of the art features and amenities. In addition to the apartments’ private pools, a larger public pool will be available along with a fully equipped clubhouse, gym and sauna.

No word on when construction will be finished or how much each apartment is expected to cost, but we’re pretty sure these luxurious towers won’t be for just anybody. For more information on the project and a look at a few more renders, head on over to the source article over at Designbuzz.

Obayashi unveiled a project, which envisions a huge elevator that will be moved by cables to a terminal station located at an altitude of 36,000 km or 22,370 miles. The company says it would use carbon nanotubes to manufacture the cables and stabilize them in air and space using a massive counterweight at 96,000 kilometers (59,650 miles) above the surface of earth.

The elevator is expected to be able to carry up to 30 people at a time, but don’t expect to be able to hop on it spontaneously. Obayashi said that the elevator may be traveling at a speed of 200 km/h (124 MPH), which means that the a one-way trip will take about 180 hours or 7.5 days. However, once at the destination, passengers can enjoy plenty of room for laboratories and living space, Obayashi said. The facility will also be connected to huge solar panels that generate enough power for the space station and transmit excess power down to the surface.

So, how expensive is it to manufacture and deploy almost 120,000 miles of carbon nanotube cables in space, build a space station and develop an elevator that travels at 124 MPH? Obayashi said it has no idea, but they now have a project in place and “try” to make progress to make sure a space elevator “won’t end just up as simply a dream.”

As part of a project involving a new concept Smart vehicle, chemical company giant BASF teamed up with Philips to create an interesting vehicle interior lighting concept using a transparent roof. They may just look like hexagonal pieces of glass, but this car’s roof is filled with OLED lights and solar cells. In the day time the OLED sun roof is transparent, letting you see outside the vehicle while collecting solar energy to power its interior lighting system at night.

At night or when the OLEDs are switched on, the roof becomes a honeycomb of glowing OLEDs that provide light which can only be seen from the interior of the vehicle, minimizing distractions to other drivers. Although the technology is still only in its prototype stages, we can definitely expect to see more from this partnership in the future. Could you imagine a piece of glass that turns into an OLED television?

Japan-based Eco Marine Power believes that any ship could be powered by wind and solar energy in the future. The company unveiled a concept design that applies to virtually any type of ship, including monstrous ferries, survey boats, cruise ships, and oil tankers that could be equipped with gigantic sails of solar panels to reduce fuel consumption and even integrate an electric propulsion system in the future.

Called the “Aquarius Eco Ship”, a full-scale model would also feature an “optimized hull design and waste heat recovery technologies,” Eco Marine Power said. The company believes that the concept ship is capable of carrying at least a 1MWp solar system and enough energy storage modules “so that the ship would not need to use auxiliary diesel generators whilst in port.” The entire concept would enable a ship to reduce its fuel consumption by up to 40 percent.

The company said that it is looking for a shipbuilder to develop the concept in to an actually functional ship. Tests of the technology are expected to occur later this year.

SOURCE via Eco Marine Power