The barrage of black/metallic laptops is starting to wane somewhat. Who says laptop users want their computing equipment housed in a boringly bog-standard chassis'. It doesn't say anything about you, does it - other than that you are perhaps a bit boring yourself. What about injecting some pizaz into your laptops outer shell? That was design Nikita Buyanov's thoughts exactly when she designed this bunch of covetable concept laptops for HP. Not only are they innovative, but they are drop dead gorgeous designs that'd make any laptop owner feel like an individual with their own style.

Lenovo got web dwellers hot under the collar recently by letting a few images of its concept netbook - the Pocket Yoga - slip onto its Flickr photo stream. I don't quite know what to make of the moniker 'Pocket Yoga'. Is it spirituality and tranquillity in your pocket? I don't get it. Oh, it's because the double jointed hinge in the middle fold all the way around, to hide the keyboard underneath the touch sensitive display and just use it as a tablet.

It turns out it doesn't matter anyway - it's been revealed the Pocket Yoga is a two year old concept and we should have in fact copped eyes on its diminutive beauty in 2006/7. Sadly, all that's real about this netbook are the pictures.

Sunglasses with stereo Bluetooth headphones packed in aren't exactly a new concept... however, one's with a stylish twist that fall into the fashionable/geek chic bracket totally are. This fabulous pair you're looking at, dubbed The Mood is only a concept at the moment, but they've been created by someone who clearly knows a little bit about style, so let's hope his vision to amalgamate style and gadgetry gets the applause it deserves. It's a fashionista's/audiophile's dream.

Once paired with another device, an LED light on the glasses lights up to clear up any confusion about its on/off status. As well as the LED indicator, there are dedicated track and volume navigation buttons to make your music listening experience as conveniently pleasurable as possible.

The future of gadgets is here and it involves being in command of your gadgetry with your facial movements. This includes smiling, winking, sticking your finger in your ear, poking your tongue out, maybe even picking your nose? So the guy sitting opposite you may think you're making a move by playfully poking out your tongue, but in actual fact you're just changing tracks on the new Prodigy album and couldn't care less about what he thinks. Well actually, by the time the technology makes a public appearance (which is being tipped at two to three years) it'll be the old Prodigy album - but that'll all be irrelevant when you're flaunting your new movement based tech to your green-eyed pals.

What may look like a pair of music emitting ear buds are in actual fact magical devices a pair of infrared sensors with the power to measure the movements inside your ears, generated by different facial movements. The inventor of the Mimi Switch has very high, if not far-fetched objectives for his creation. And if he pulls it off, it'll be just like performing your very own magic tricks.

Facebook may currently be hailed as the primary source of lurv for web 2.0 children, but it seems that meeting a mate may now be possible in person. And I don't mean awkward conversation regarding your job description in a noisy bar, no, there's now a geeky way to decide whether the hot blonde at the bar is compatible with you.

2008 saw a proliferation of e-cigarettes, the likes of which have never been known before. We're talking portable nicotine filled devices that exhale realistic looking smoke (water vapour), and can be legally smoked indoors and on lanes if need be. We were welcomed to the Gamucci, and Super Smoker, and also had a sneak peek at the American brand NJOY, now in the UK. Well there's another brand on the scene called Desonic, but how do they stand out from the similarly identical products on the market?

Well, for one thing you can get one in pink, but the real selling point to me is that you can charge this device in its mini cigarette style packaging.

Remember the days when you and your siblings would attempt to concoct your very own catapult by snapping a branch off a tree? The day when you discovered when coupled with elastic bands and sellotape, it turned out to be a half decent catapult? Or perhaps I'm not the only one who's attempted to send their toast hurtling across the room from the toaster directly onto your plate. In retrospect, I can accept that the rules of physics just won't allow it, but that didn't stop me from wearing out the springs of my parent's toaster. Now you can fulfil your toast catapulting desires and relive those formative years with this modern twist on the catapulting trebuchet - the Toaster Trebuchet.

Now, unless you're a master of velocity and accuracy, it might take you a while to develop a certain deftness that'll get the toast directly on your plate. So luckily, you can set the angle and force of ejection to hone those catapulting skills.

People love taking pics. One of my favourite things is going on a night out and taking images of all my friends being embarrassing. Up till now the visually impaired haven't been able to get in on the action, but that could all change with the Braille Polaroid camera. It allows the visually impaired to take images of their surroundings, on a camera that functions like a Polaroid but prints out though a Braille printer. Now they can have a better idea of their surroundings, their friends silly faces and have a nice memento of their evening out.

One of the rituals of being a student undoubtedly has to be furtively stealing food from your flatmates (a situation I believe the producers of Hollyoaks are dealing with at the moment). Whether it's eggs, chocolate digestives, a tin of bake beans or even a pot of half eaten hoisin source - it just can't be helped (I never understood how someone can have a hot sauce addiction and never buy hot sauce!!). The politics of a shared fridge 99 percent of the time ends in arguments, intentional sabotage, bitchy comments and before you know it you've all fallen out, post-its are being used and you don't trust them enough to keep open food in the communal kitchen.

Could the Electrolux Flatshare Fridge solve the problem? I doubt it. In fact the only way to solve it would be to move out and take your pod with you - which you can totally do by the way.

This device is still in prototype form so I'm free to be as disparaging as I want. Intrinsically it's not a terrible idea, as a home stethoscope might be a nice way for expectant parents to get closer to their unborn child.

It would be an interesting way to test out all those theories on whether playing Bach or heavy metal really affects his spirits as you could place the stethoscope against the stomach and exclaim, 'wow, Junior's kicking in time to the beat'.

There's only so long traditional candybar phones, sliders, clamshells, smartphones et al are going to reign supreme. And if this concept design by Samsung is anything to go on, the aforementioned phones are out and folding phones are in. A folding phone? What's that, how does that work I hear you say? Well as the picture does it no justice at all there's a video after the jump. But first let me try and explain and see if the concept becomes any clearer.

It opens like a book, it looks like a mini ebook, so is potentially going to take people by surprise when it's revealed it's a mobile phone. From the front, it looks like a standard Samsung mobile that's a bit on the chunky side. Then it opens up to reveal a flexible eye popping sized OLED display that would make Youtube viewing and web browsing an absolute pleasure.

This is one patch of grass you'll definitely need to keep off of. Despite what it may look like this isn't a computer/allotment with a real patch of grass sprouting out the top. The idea of the Lawn PC is so seriously far-fetched that it's obviously a concept - a futuristic solar powered concept. It's a completely wireless PC that gets rid of the need for an electrical outlet. This is where that peculiar patch of lawn comes in. As long as it's catching some rays, the grass will collect and store its own power from the solar cells embedded in it. Now the grass isn't the same stuff you'd find in your back garden, it's made form natural cotton fabric (so they're biodegradable) which carries inkjet printed solar cells.

We're used to seeing this kind of thing in cartoons such as the Simpsons (you know the episode where everyone goes security crazy due to the crime pandemic sweeping over Springfield and a security obsessed home owner gets a house with legs that can run away from burglars), but now the moving house has arrived, albeit it's in desperate need of a design overhaul, but it's a reality.

Find out more and watch it on the move in a video after the jump...

Dedicated Apple aficionados are determined not to let the iPod fade away into obscurity and let Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's prophecy come true - you know the one where he predicts the death of the iPod. It's fair to say the iPod hasn't had much of makeover since the very first day it made an appearance, changing the way we see portable music forever, other than slicing a few centimetres off its outer shell and upping the internal memory. The creators of the iBangle clearly had this in mind when brainstorming ideas for this ambitious concept wrist wearing iPod.

One for the big kids methinks. What better way to make your home look like a kids playhouse (or a cheap and tacky abode) than with the LEGO radiator. This is pure genius - it's a radiator in the traditional sense (as in it will heat up your home), but not in the design sense. When was the last time you saw a radiator like this? Unfortunately, it's only a concept at this stage, so you can't all go charging to the shops to get one just yet. Radiators aren't particularly exciting objects, so fingers crossed it makes it into production to give the world of radiators an injection of excitement.

I don't want to spoil the illusion either, but I thought I'd let you know it's not actually made out of LEGO, it consists of component pieces that resemble the brick building stuff.

[via Tech Digest]

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These prototype sandals from NTT are quite possibly the most hideous pair of footwear I've ever seen... ever - and don't even get me started on the socks and sandals debacle. The electricity generating sandals are just a prototype, so there's still time to re-think their social outcast design (all I'm seeing now is a lot of pointing, staring an, jeers and taunts). A pair of shoes or trainers would have been a bit more practical (and attractive), but clearly the creator has a thing for geriatric-style open toe footwear. These are quite literally the epitome of power walking.

Every year, Philips holds an event somewhere in the world to demonstrate all the cool stuff being worked on, which either will or will never see the light of day. One such thing was this Light Blossom concept, which is set to make our over-light cities 100% more attractive. That's if they're ever actually made....

Remember the yo-yo craze back in the 90s? You couldn't walk down the street without tripping over some kids yo-yo (probably mine) doing a botched walk the dog trick or one of the many other hundred gravity defying yo-yo tricks. The yo-yo's been lying low for the past few years, but if this concept gets the go ahead, the yo-yo will be making an impressive and exciting comeback.

So how can a yo-yo charge you iPhone I hear you say? The concept is simple and fun - yo-yo and charge. The Yo-yo Charger has a LI battery cell in it that gets its power from your yo-yoing. Although I imagine boredom kicks in and the novelty wears thin after a while. The concept of a yo-yoing charger gets a little more complicated when you try and work out the probability of a yo-yo actually being able to generate enough power to charge an iPhone. Me and physics don't get along, so I couldn't tell you.

More happy stuff! This is still in the concept stage, but it's so lovely I thought your life would benefit from reading it.

This MP3 player splits in half, creating one for each wearer. When docked, the same music has to be uploaded to each, creating identical playlists. When you're apart, you get to listen to the same version of Lady In Red, I Just Died in your Arms Tonight and Wind Beneath my Wings.

Actually, I've just read that back and I've made myself feel a bit sick. Sorry - we'll go back to being snarky now.

[via Yanko Design]

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Ooh it wasn't like this in my day! Now, you won't be seeing this any time soon, but I was absolutely blown away upon stumbling across this ultra compact bracelet-like design by Tamer Nakisci for the Nokia Benelux Design Awards. A liquid battery powers this revolutionary offering, allowing you to roll it into a pretty flower bracelet, bend or clip it onto your clothes and resume a practical telephone shape when you actually need to take a phone call. Taking it one step further you can also send 'e-motions' to your friends; why not turn your beau's 888 into a heart or send a dancing form as an invite to your party? This modern offering even uses artificial intelligence to recognize your touch and adapts to the shapes and ways you use it most often. On top of this it has voice recognition, GPS, touch screen and a digital wallet. Of course, there's no reason why it shouldn't, since it's a concept. In fact, it's slightly disappointing they didn't stick in a 25 megapixel camera. You can check out a video of the phone in action over the jump.