This week's edition of Flotspotting is a slick e-bike concept by Stefan Reichert, a German industrial design student who is six short months from completing his degree at the University of Wuppertal. Reichert recently worked with his classmates Sven Schulte-Tillmann and Arina Nechaeva on "E-Motion," a concept bike for German fitness & leisure company Kettler.

Developed to create a new way to make electric bikes more appealing and usable for younger people and getting rid of the stigma that an e-bike is made for old or handicapped, the e-motion electric bike concept was designed in an cooperation project with the German bike brand KETTLER at the University of Wuppertal.

You'll have to click through to his portfolio to read the text in the full-size images, but notable features include:
- Motor is integrated into bottom bracket shell
- Removable battery pack, which attaches discreetly along the downtube.
- Controls built into handlebars
- 8-speed internally geared hub
- Integrated front & rear lights

The Interwebosphere has been abuzz with news about the very device that may be spell—or rather, print—its unmaking: earlier this week, London-based design consultancy Berg unveiled their latest innovation, the Little Printer. The desktop device is roughly the size of a cube of Post-It notes, configured to produce a receipt-sized analogue for a newspaper featuring personalized content culled from the otherwise never-ending newsfeeds that all but define the Information Age.

Little Printer lives in your front room and scours the Web on your behalf, assembling the content you care about into designed deliveries a couple of times a day. You configure Little Printer from your phone, and there's some great content to choose from—it's what Little Printer delivers that makes it really special.

In other words, Berg has taken the burgeoning, buzzword-y, possibly made-up notion of 'content curation' to the next level with the Little Printer, which produces a personalized physical document—at once one-of-a-kind and patently disposable—on a twice-daily publishing schedule. The excellent video is set to hit a million views (with your help) within a week of going live:

Of course, the real—in every sense of the word—appeal of the Little Printer lies in the tactility of its output, which transmogrifies two-finger scrolling into a good old-fashioned scroll, of sorts, an escrow in the original sense. It's not so much that we've been desensitized by touchscreens; rather, we're accustomed to them, and the effect of seeing content that is commonly presented under glass (literally) writ small is charming, if not altogether refreshing. Hence, Berg's characterization of the Little Printer as "more like a family member or a colleague than a tool."

Before you ask, it's scheduled to launch in 2012; more on the tech and an exclusive Q&A with Berg Principal Matt Webb after the jump...

As we noted earlier, this year's Autodesk University had an exciting new emphasis on making things just for the sake of making them, as evidenced in their choice of presenters—we've got an interview coming up with speaker Saul Griffith of Otherlab—as well as in their new products. As the DIY and Maker movements continue to take firm root, Autodesk has noticed and is addressing the market.

This is perfectly encapsulated in their freaking awesome 123D Sculpt app for iPad (which you should download right now, as it's free for a limited time). Rather than being a mere time-killer app where you fling birds or solve puzzles, this one actually lets you create things. It provides you with a series of stock forms in various genres--humans, geometric shapes, sneakers, clothing, et cetera—that you can then sculpt and paint into whatever you envision.

You may have seen the original video demo of the product (shown at the bottom of this entry). We went a step further and got the guy who did that video, industrial designer Kyle Runciman—remember his Alias and SketchBook demos from last year?—to walk us through the program and explain the steps, below. (Automotive designers in particular will want to check out the footage starting at 5:50.)

(Hit the jump for the original demo video.)

Per the "Curly Cable" Kickstarter page: "This project is dedicated to all the very intense iPad & iPhone users."

...and by "very intense," Dev Design 2.0 means those users who like to be AC-powered and somewhat mobile at the same time. Tech mavens need look no further than the "Curly Cable," an extendable coil USB 2.0 cable for iDevices, which stretches from 8” (20cm) to 70” (180cm). (For reference, stock cables are about 40” (100cm) long.)

It ain't rocket science—just a straightforward (so to speak) solution to a common problem—and the designers aren't rocket scientists. Rather, Luca Mainini, Manuel Marino and Davide di Malta are a trio of Italians in New York City who are looking to launch their product design company with their ultra-practical iAccessory, which is available on Kickstarter for a pledge of $15.

Unfortunately, the "Curly Cable" won't be shipping until February 2012: even though they've already raised over 2.5× the $1,500 that they'd been seeking, there's still nearly two months to go in the campaign...

Every year at the Autodesk University Exhibit Hall we see at least one piece of technology that blows us away. This year's socks-knocker-offer was Perceptive Pixel's 82" Multi-Touch Display, which was frequently mobbed and saw company founder Jeff Han endlessly being forced to provide demo after demo to enthusiastic crowds. (There were 8,000 attendees, so you do the math.) The display, by the way, is so large that we swear the tireless Han started getting a tan by the third day.

What's different about this new version of Perceptive Pixel's display is that it combines Multi-Touch with stylus-reading capacity, making this an industrial designer's dream come true. Check it out:

Stay tuned for coverage of Perceptive Pixel's desktop unit.

Art collective FriendsWithYou (FWY) presented "Inner Space, the Secrets of the Unknown!" in their poker dot covered gallery/store located in the Miami Design District. Suspended in the buildings atrium is The Phantom, a huge inflatable sculpture spanning 15 feet in diameter greeting visitors with it's Pingu-like stare.

The latest work includes a number of sculptures and mirror-finished objects exploring the theme of self-reflection, both literally and metaphorically. It's hard not to smile when you enter their artfully crafted adult playground which sucks you in, and happily distracts you from the pressures of the outside world for a moment. A secret door leads to a second gallery with large prints and a small retail outlet with goods for those who can't afford the collectors prices.

In traditional industrial design we've got manufacturing realities we need to stay in front of; but what limitations are faced by a concept designer dreaming up vehicles for science fiction movies? Daniel Simon explains here in Part 3 of our video chat with him, shot at Autodesk University. We also pose our favorite question: Any advice for design students who hope to one day do what he's doing?

» Part 1: From Bugatti to Hollywood
» Part 2: Working on Tron and Captain America

A gem of a classic car turned up in the forums a few days ago, picking up on a Jalopnik news item about designer Raymond Loewy's drool-worthy personal Studebaker Avanti hitting the market at the Los Angeles Modern Auctions' "Important Modern Art & Design" auction on December 11. Uninspired though the auction title may be, Loewy's ride most certainly fits the bill; according to the catalog:

In 1961 in a small modernist house in Palm Springs, California, industrial designer Raymond Loewy assembled a four-man design team to construct a clay model of what would become the Studebaker Avanti sports car. In March, Sherwood Egbert, the president of Studebaker, phoned Loewy from South Bend, Indiana and asked him to design a car. Loewy insisted on working in Palm Springs with his own team, far from the prying eyes of Detroit stylists. With a short window of time to complete the mock-up, Loewy's team was managed by Johnny Ebstein, "an excellent designer and organizer," according to Loewy. They conserved every minute, and fifteen days later, Loewy flew to South Bend to begin work on the full-scale mock-up.

Remembering this whirlwind process, Loewy writes, "It was developed so efficiently; a lightning-like shoe-string operation compared to the hundreds of thousands of man hours and millions of dollars Detroit expends on an average new body design to achieve a 'committee' look." When the car was unveiled at the New York Automobile Show, it became an instant classic, so popular that South Bend couldn't manufacture fiberglass quickly enough to keep up with the orders.

The Avanti's advanced luxury styling was unlike anything seen on American streets. New design details included the asymmetrical power bulge on the front hood, a fin-less sculptured body with virtually no chrome trim and no visible front grill, and a long hood and short trunk, which set the tone for the next wave of sports coupes. Constructed of 183 separate panels of molded fiberglass, the Avanti also featured advanced interior designs such as a concealed vanity tray and a fully padded safety dash. The unusual "coke bottle" body styling was purportedly inspired by the four designers' interest in the bikini-clad girls seen at nearby Palm Springs resorts.

At the time the fastest American car, the Avanti set twenty-four speed and endurance records for a stock American production car with the help of its V-8 Jet-Thrust engine, a super-fast four-barrel carburetor, and high-speed cam.

The Avanti at hand is a "unique 1963 model, personally ordered by Loewy and handmade with custom detailing," not to mention the R2 supercharged engine. Its provenance is the 1986 McCormick's Exotic Car Auction in Palm Springs, where the car was sold upon Loewy's death.

Thom Fougere is a Winnipeg-based designer who recently unveiled a pair of new table designs that will be be debuting at IDS12 in Toronto next month. The "Tyndall Table," in particular, caught my eye: it's a low-profile coffee table that takes its name from its material, "locally-quarried Manitoba Tyndall stone." Fougere notes that it's "not found anywhere else in the world—except 20 km from my studio," and that "Tyndall stone is commonplace amongst the Canadian prairies, and is an historic building material embodying a certain vernacular of prairie architecture and building practices."

According to Wikipedia, the distinct lacing of the stone is actually evidence of where marine creatures burrowed into the lighter-gray limestone; the darker mottling is composed of dolomite. The contrast is quite beautiful indeed, though I must admit that I was immediately struck not by the geological phenomenon itself (revealed through further research) but by its resemblance to Nike's iconic "cement" pattern.

For his part, Fougere is concerned with the 'memory' of a surface as it develops a patina during its lifetime:

Taking cues from the topography of Canadian prairies, the top is planed relatively smooth allowing the stone to retain its unique character. Left unfinished, substances and casual wear will slowly degrade the stone top, exposing fossil fragments and revealing layers of stories embedded within the material. Over time the accumulation of puddled water marks, a splash of wine and scribbles of past dreams will meld into the material's already varied past—creating a nostalgic condition.

If you couldn't make it to their on-campus Information Session/Open House last month, the new MFA Products of Design program at the School of Visual Arts invites you to attend their first-ever Virtual Open House on Monday, December 19th at 7pm.

You will have the chance to meet Department Chair (and Core77 Editor in Chief) Allan Chochinov and select faculty members including Emilie Baltz, Richard Tyson and Helen Walters, get an overview of the MFA Products of Design program, ask questions and have them answered in real time.

An open discussion and Q&A session, the Virtual Open House will feature a brief talk on the philosophy and structure of the program, reflections on the current state of design and design education, and a detailed overview of the curriculum and faculty. We'll also delve into student life, the Visible Futures Lab making space, and career and networking opportunities. No question is too big or too small; we hope that you will join us and learn more about the program as we accept our first round of applications!

SVA MFA Products of Design
Virtual Open House
Monday, December 19 at 7pm

» REGISTER HERE

Also, the department's got a pdf of their printed brochure up online. View it in all it's pixel glory at issuu.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is an affliction characterized by perennial depression, typically during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, when daylight is limited. (The Wikipedia article is particularly illuminating, so to speak: "Although experts were initially skeptical, this condition is now recognized as a common disorder, with its prevalence in the U.S. ranging from 1.4 percent in Florida to 9.7 percent in New Hampshire.")

Enter SEQINETIC, the first Kickstarter project by a Copenhagen-based trio of mechanical engineers who have worked on everything from medical devices to airplane components:

Getting out of bed on a dark winter morning can be tough. Lots of people need a strong cup of coffee or even an energy drink to get going.

We have an innovative alternative. SEQINETIC "sun" glasses are a calorie-free, substance-free way to beat the winter blues. They offer the bright, white daylight you're craving—in a portable design.

The product is essentially a light therapy lamp turned into a pair of speculative spectacles that are designed to deflect artificial sunlight towards the wearer's eyes. "SEQINETIC glasses feature 6 powerful LEDs and a reflector. The reflector bounces soft white 'daylight' around your eyes but not directly into them, improving your mood."

The simple ABS plastic frame features a neoprene nose support for comfort and LEDs that are a "special high-quality type from Japan," which put the Kickstarter price at $55 (over 30% off the projected retail price of $80).

The demonstration at Autodesk University of Perceptive Pixel's Multi-Touch 82-incher has blown your socks off, but some of you are undoubtedly wondering what the tech would look like in a more manageable size. Like, say, a 27-inch desktop monitor that you could comfortably sit and draw on.

Wonder no more, here it is. Check out how the demonstrator starts drawing at 1:40 in the video, enabled by Perceptive Pixel's nifty "palm rejection" technology:

Industrial Design Intern
Continuum
West Newton, Massachusetts

Continuum is currently seeking industrial design interns for Jan-March 2012 for our Boston studio. Interns at the leading design and innovation consultancy have the opportunity to learn from some of the industry's top experts in industrial design, design strategy and brand experience. They're looking for sharp, articulate, thoughtful candidates with drop-dead design skills, who will play an integral role on client-facing design projects for some of the biggest brands in the world.

The internship is fulltime and lasts approximately 3 to 4 months and we're reasonably flexible with the start and finish time to suit your academic schedule. Continuum offers generous hourly compensation and you should be enrolled as a Junior, Senior, or Masters Candidate in a University Industrial Design program.

They are accepting submissions through December 15, 2011.

» view

The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

For my money, NYC-based Resource Furniture distributes some of the best-designed space-saving furniture in the world. Our internet viewership apparently agrees, judging by the 4-million-plus hits on the video we shot with them. They recently put together a new video for the 2011 Architecture & Design Film Festival, this one intersplicing footage of their new products with cool space-saving furniture from the 1950s—some of which I can just about guarantee you've never seen before. Check it out:

2011 has been a hard year. Global Revolution! Natural disasters! Bankruptcy! What's next? We're not hedging bets for 2012 just yet, but in case things don't turn out the way you'd expected, we've got you covered. Core77's Ultimate Gift Guide has everything you need to get through these hard times and survive through the... end times?

Today's pick is from David Auerbach of Dijital Fix, a design & electronics store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and San Francisco.

There are few objects which can cost so little yet affect your life so significantly. The Tweakers Portable rechargeable speaker will make you wonder how you ever put up with the tiny speaker inside your iPhone, and it's very affordable price compared to the Jawbones and FoxLs. A good pair of speakers or headphones makes a world of difference... especially when you realize that your 5.1 home theater system won't fit in your go-bag.

See the full gift guide HERE.

A special Thank You to this year's Gift Guide sponsor: Felt & Wire Shop offering a selection of curated paper goods direct from designers.

The Architectural Guild of the University of Southern California School of Architecture is honoring Gerard Furbershaw, COO of LUNAR, with their annual distinguished alumnus award. Furbershaw will join a list of celebrated past recipients including Frank Gehry (1985), Thom Mayne (1995), Pierre Koenig (1998), Henry Bumstead (2004) and Boris Dramov (2008). Dean Qingyun Ma framed the honor eloquently saying, "If design can be seen as creative intelligence, transforming ideas into reality with elegance, Gerard demonstrates the best design training that USC can provide."

Congratulations to Furbershaw and the whole LUNAR team!

At Autodesk University's Creative Studio exhibit, we received an awesome video demonstration of 123D Catch, a piece of PC-only software that allows you to turn snapshots into detailed virtual 3D models. Our demonstrator walked around a real model of R2-D2, shot photos from multiple angles, then dropped those images into the computer. Autodesk's server farm in the cloud then crunched the numbers, and a few moments later an insanely detailed 3D model appeared on screen. The whole process, start to finish, was about five minutes of doing and ten minutes of waiting for the cloud-crunching.

Sadly, a technical error rendered our video unusable. But we don't want you to miss out on the software—it's currently in beta and available for free download at the link above—so here's the canned demo video. (You can skip the filler and start watching at 0:35.)

Rapid-prototyping company Proto Labs recently announced the third award-winner in their ongoing "Cool Idea!" program, an open call for designers and entrepreneurs to enter their projects for a chance to win up to $100,000 worth of Firstcut CNC-machined and/or Protomold injection molded parts: Whirlwind Wheelchair's RoughRider.

Whirlwind Wheelchair International is a San Francisco-based non-profit organization that it is "dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities in the developing world while also promoting sustainable local economic development in the process," with a specific focus on providing high-quality wheelchairs to those who need them.

Their flagship product, the RoughRider, is a durable, low-cost, all-purpose wheelchair, which has found an enthusiastic audience of over 25,000 riders in over 40 countries. Now, after over three decades of improving the lives of the less fortunate, they are making the assistive device available in the United States.

In preparation for the release to a mainstream U.S. audience, the RoughRider underwent a redesign with the addition of lightweight side panels to make it better looking and customizable, something U.S. customers will love. As a Cool Idea! Award recipient, Proto Labs provided Whirlwind Wheelchair International with the key side panels needed for an initial U.S. launch.

Existing features of the RoughRider, which was developed for use on "muddy village paths [and] rough pot-holed urban streets" alike, include a long wheelbase for stability, heavy-duty casters in front and mountain bike wheels in back, and five-position rear axle.

Perhaps most importantly, the tires, tubes, hardware and bearings are readily available in nearly every corner of the world—"in bicycle shops, motorcycle shops, and hardware stores wherever you go."

Whirlwind Wheelchair International founder Ralf Hotchkiss believes that it is high time for American riders to have a more rugged option for a wheelchair: "Scores of wheelchair riders in the U.S. have inquired about purchasing the RoughRider specifically for off-pavement adventures that are difficult with U.S. style wheelchairs. Entering the U.S. market at this time will provide Whirlwind with a wealth of critical feedback from well-informed consumers, and may raise enough funds to do much-needed development of the innovations coming in from riders in developing countries. Besides, some U.S. riders who have ridden the Rough Rider had so much fun that they would love to get one for themselves. We will do whatever is necessary to make this happen."

See it in action after the jump:

In case you missed it, Core77 friends and family gathered at New York City's Phaidon Store last night to do some holiday crafting. Resident paper craft expert, Daniel Stillman, led the charge with lessons in candy cane construction, miniature Christmas trees and modular pieces perfect for group building. Thanks to everyone who came out for some holiday cheer and for Phaidon for hosting!

The Brooklyn Night Bazaar is a temporary gathering of local artists, designers, musicians and chefs who are coming together in for three nights at a pop-up space in Williamsburg. They're building on the momentum they picked up with their inaugural event at Dekalb Market in Downtown Brooklyn just a few months ago in October.

Billed as a hub for creative culture that is conspicuously well-timed for the holidays, 149 Kent Avenue will serve as the venue for over 100 local merchants and food vendors, boasting an interior and bespoke furniture by Julien de Smedt architects, art installations and projections by NBNY, live performances by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), the Hold Steady, Titus Andronicus and more.

"Bone" chair by Julien de Smedt Architects

"Stair" urban amphitheater by Julien de Smedt Architects

"Stacked" Shelves by Julien de Smedt Architects

More info on some of the exhibitors we're looking forward to seeing after the jump...