Parans Products is developing a fiber optic lighting solution, which can distribute natural sun light throughout a building via fiber optics.

Here’s an innovative robotic application! (link to video)

first upgrade in over 100 years – a simple innovation to help reduce the number (500,000 people / year) who drown, but sometimes there’s brilliance in the most simple of solutions.

Designer Christina Tapp has designed this speculative concept phone. Her portfolio is here.  Source link [ubergizmo].

Designer James Zhang has designed a transforming mobile phone that morphs its form to fit various applications, including mobile phone, wrist watch, mobile computing, and multimedia player functions. [thanks, Yanko design]

TechCruch has profiled Taigate, a London-based company developing e-commerce functional banner ads (link here).

Tailgate link here.

This is an intriguing concept. Imagine if the banners offered really compelling e-commerce offerings – not simply in terms of serving product offerings that can target segmented users, but also through innovative, engaging ecommerce methods such as a reverse auction, or a countdown clock with a deal so good, it’s only available for 45 seconds, and then a different product selection is served, and the countdown starts again.

In addition, think of the implications of this idea in the emerging Widget economies - if widgets develop fully functional ecommerce solutions, which offer one click shopping, without leaving the host platform, that could be incredibly powerful.

Defense Research and Engineering has announced a public competition to develop wearable batteries for soldiers, which are 1/2 the current weight of batteries that are currently used to power electronic gear, including GPS, night vision gear, and radios. In addition to weighing significantly less, the batteries must also be able to withstand rigorous use for up to 96 hours. [DoD press release]

Fun video about a man with no formal higher education in China whose passion is creating robots that simulate lifelike motion with rubbish from the scrap heap.