Author Archive | Dave

Most ambitious cell phone concept ever?

Editor Michael Hines, who is quite obviously a  fantastic judge of design quality, wrote the above headline in his April 4 2011 post on TrendHunter. If you’ve never visited TrendHunter, I recommend them highly. They are by far the the world’s largest, and most popular trend community, with 40,000,000 monthly views. Not too shabby.

The article by Michael Hines reads as follows:

SchultzeWORKS designstudio has created what may go down as the most ambitious cell phone concept ever in the form of the Triple Flip concept phone. The Triple Flip is designed to revolutionize the smartphone scene with its solar-powered battery, touch and slider keyboard and 21-button interface.

Apple fanboys and girls aren’t going to like this, but the Triple Flip concept phone was actually designed to be an improved version of the current Windows smartphone. This phone is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. All three pieces fold up and down to create great gaming views or a stand for the phone to rest on. The keyboard can be used via touchscreen to type short messages or slid out for typing longer ones. A solar battery comes standard and to top it all off, the phone can act as its own case. If you’re left dazed and amazed by all this information, I suggest watching the video to see a demo of the Triple Flip’s features.

25,000 YouTube views in one week

Check out the video now!Exactly one week after uploading to YouTube, the Triple Flip video has passed 25,000 views. To thank those who have watched our most recent conceptual design project, we’ve decided to mail out free slices of delicious cake. Unfortunately, as all viewers are completely anonymous, we now have a warehouse full of cake slices that will shortly spoil. While we decide what to do with several tons of cake, a TRIPLE-FLIP THANK YOU will have to suffice.

While digging around in the YouTube settings, some pretty detailed statistics were uncovered. We already mentioned that there are no names or addresses, but YouTube does have some pretty interesting demographics. This particular chart tells us that men have good taste in animated product videos and women would rather be doing almost anything else imaginable.

Featured on YankoDesign

The Triple Flip project has made the front page of Yanko Design, one of the top blogs for concept art and design on the web. The post contains both the video and numerous images, as well as a very nice write-up by staffer Radhika Seth.

Besides the awesome coverage (my traffic is up a few thousand percent!) my favorite part of Yanko is the wide variety of comments and opinions.

Is Apple Making Robots?

Click to view on YouTubeRecently, several robot blogs posted this fuzzy spy video of what some were speculating was a robot made by Apple. This leaked video only shows a portion of the robot and is of such low quality that it’s really hard to tell what is going on. I’d love to jump in and speculate as well, but instead I will wait until April 18th to reveal everything that I know. That way we can deal entirely with facts.

High Quality Coverage

I had never heard of The Next Web before today, but how can you argue with this kind of high quality reporting? They had me at the attention-grabbing headline “The Triple Flip WP7  concept is the best phone idea ever.”

Before you assume I love flattery, which I do, I must also point out that the vast majority of blogs that ran the story either copied-and-pasted my press release word-for-word, or someone else’s copy. News flash : there’s a lot of recycled content on the web, and I look forward to reading this sentence on a link farm in Peru.

And now, back to some flattering and recycled text from an internet blog:

The current crop of Windows Phone 7 handsets are capable, but a bit dull. There is no ‘hit’ WP7 phone that stands out, as the entire hardware lineup toes the minimum specifications line that Microsoft drew in the sand.

The Windows Phone 7 ecosystem could truly use a ‘halo’ handset, a phone that is so neat, so innovative, that it casts a positive light onto the rest of the mobile line. P

Happily, today, the SchultzeWORKS designstudio have put their heads together and designed what could be a future WP7 phone that is so excellent, that if Microsoft does not jump on it we shall be saddened indeed.

Out of the 7 (natch) elements of the phone, the form factor itself was the biggest hit for us. The way that the phone’s design opens up such a wide variety of options and input methods is excellent.

Problems? This phone would be expensive. And it doesn’t exist anywhere but in the video. But if this phone was ever made, it would certainly put WP7 on the map as a phone line that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible with technology.

Alex Wilhelm, thanks for the sweet, sweet post. You are one of the reasons I spent a few hundred hours on this crazy phone design.

The Triple Flip Has Landed

The Triple Flip concept cell phone project was finally publicly released. The full press release can be seen on the SchultzeWORKS website.

The first day coverage was highlighted by Paul Thurrott‘s posting of the project on his front page. Paul is one of the most talented and entertaining technology pundits working today. His reporting of the Windows Phone 7 platform, via his Windows Weekly podcast with Leo LaPorte, was a primary source of research and inspiration for the project.

Triple Flip: Coming Very Soon

The Triple Flip Cell Phone will be released to the public the week of March 28th. The design is the latest SchultzeWORKS Design Research Project  and is also the first concept cell phone design featuring Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.  The Triple Flip has seven unique innovations never seen before, and is presented in a two-minute video. For any more news, you’re just going to have to wait.

 

LG Design Competition is Complete!

LG’s “Design the Future Competition“, their 3rd annual cell phone design competition, has been closed to new entries as of Monday, April  26th, and the judges are now reviewing the 508 design submissions. First place winner in 2008, the latest SchultzeWORKS design submission is also included. Winners will be notified in one week, on Monday, May 3rd.

The objectives of the competition were stated as:

Predict what’s next. What do you think the next generation of mobile phones should work or look like for the U.S. market in the next 2 to 3 years? We are asking for your help. We’re NOT looking for a long list of specs or phone ideas that already exist. We’re looking for a cool new concept or “big idea” supported by usage scenario and user experience illustrations.

Awards of $80,000 total are unusually generous for a competition of this type, so kudos to LG and their organizers, crowdspring. The public announcement of the results will be posted at www.crowdspring.com/lg-winners

  • First place: $20,000 Cash Award + 1 Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet (ARV of $349) + Autodesk industrial design software (ARV of $500)
  • Second place: $10,000 Cash Award + Autodesk SketchBook Pro software (ARV of $100)
  • Third place: $5,000 Cash Award + Autodesk SketchBook Pro software (ARV of $100)
  • 37 Honorable Mentions: $1,000 Cash Award

Worldwide Release of Rhino Course at Lynda.com

lynda-setDave Schultze of SchultzeWORKS designstudio (www.schultzeworks.com) is proud to announce the immediate worldwide release of Rhino 4.0 Essential Training, the first ever Rhinoceros software course for Lynda.com, the industry leader in online digital education.

The course is comprised of sixty separate videos organized into twelve chapters, with a total running time of six hours. As an incentive to potential lynda.com subscribers, 10% of the course videos are available free of charge. Monthly rates start at $21 and the free sample videos can be seen at the lynda.com course page. More details in the official press release.

Lynda.com deal is signed

lynda-logo-02Lynda.com and SchultzeWORKS have agreed to terms for a new online series of training for 3D design software Rhinoceros.  Dave Schultze, product designer, educator and 3D geek, is honored to be partnering with  Lynda.com, one of the oldest, largest and most well-respected provider of online digital education.

The course is currently undergoing final editing and publishing preparation at the Lynda.com facility in Ventura, CA. The projected release date is April 15th and Lynda.com has announced that 10% of the materials will be available free of charge as an incentive to new customers. Stay tuned for more updates as the date nears!

web:design by SchultzeWORKS webstudio