Designers Jeonghwa Seo and Hanna Chung's Design Academy Eindhoven grad project is the Ripple Effect Tea Table, surfaced with actual water. The idea is to emphasize the concept that Easterners are generally aware that their actions have ramifications on the larger society as a whole; thus lifting or interacting with your floating saucer here will clearly demonstrate the ripple effect.
I think the concept is beautiful, even as I lament the fact that it wouldn't go over in most Western cultures, or at least in America; and I'm not talking about the impracticality of the water top vis-a-vis our need to have the Blackberry constantly on hand, I'm talking about the passive-aggressive miniature tidal battles that would occur if this thing was in, say, my own household.
via design boom