Technology startup Edison Junior Design Laboratory has created a doorbell that allows users to see who's at their door remotely on their smartphone or tablet.

The doorbell incorporates a camera that transmits live video and audio through an app, making it possible to communicate directly with whoever is outside.

"The biggest difference with DoorBot from any other doorbell system is that you will be able to see and talk to anyone who is at your front door from anywhere in the world," August Cziment, director of operations at Edison Junior Design Laboratory in Santa Monica, California, told Dezeen.

By notifying users when the doorbell rings and immediately streaming live video, they have the option of whether to respond or to ignore the visitor.

DoorBot can also combine with an automatic door lock called Lockitron to enable the door to be unlocked remotely if someone trusted needs access.

Cziment says DoorBot is designed "to be bulletproof against hacking, but even if something crazy happened and it was hacked, the reality is the only thing a hacker could see is the area in front of your house."

The project was launched on crowd funding website Christie Street and has surpassed its funding target of $250,000, raising $395,660 so far. The first units will be distributed in late July.

San Francisco designer Yves Behar has also recently designed a door lock operated by a smartphone app that unlocks the door when the phone is nearby, or grants access remotely through the app.

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Here's a detailed description of the project:

DoorBot

Your home is your most valuable asset, and now with DoorBot, you’re more connected to it than ever. DoorBot is a simple, yet powerful wireless doorbell that streams live video and audio of your front door directly to your smartphone or tablet. Simply install DoorBot, download the free app and you’re ready to go. Now, anytime you have a visitor you’ll not only be able to see them, but you’ll be able to talk with them as well. DoorBot is the perfect device because of the peace of mind you get while away from home, and the convenience you get while in it. DoorBot brings your front door to you – wherever you may be.

“Recent research shows that 91% of people keep their phone within 3 feet, 24 hours a Day,” (Morgan Stanley) making it the perfect device for monitoring your front door.

DoorBot is perfect for when you’re away…

Communicate with delivery people as though you were right there. Let them know it’s okay to leave the package at the front door. Or, tell the food delivery person to hold tight – you’ll be home in a minute.

Never miss another visitor. Whether it’s a neighbor stopping by to drop something off, or a friend who happened be in the area –– you’ll always know. Give the illusion you’re home; you might decide it’s best that an unknown visitor doesn’t realize that your home is vacant. Never again worry about who may, or may not be there. Leave your home with the peace of mind that your doorstep is right by your side.

And DoorBot is equally amazing for when you are home…

Never interrupt what you’re doing to find out who is at the door. Whether you’re lounging around or in the middle of something important, you don’t have to worry about dropping everything to answer the door.

See someone you don’t want to talk to? You don’t have to answer. With DoorBot you can check out the video stream before answering – if it’s someone you don’t want to deal with, simply ignore the notification. They’ll never even realize you were home. Lounging by the pool? Working in the garage? Playing with the kids in the backyard? DoorBot brings your front door to you –– wherever you may be.

Beautiful design. Easy to use.

DoorBot’s perforated brushed aluminum faceplate looks great on any front door. And it’s not just good looking; the internal and external components are carefully designed to endure the elements. DoorBot’s powerful camera captures amazing video in the daylight, and at nighttime. The adjustable camera lens allows you to position your DoorBot to your exact preference, so it always captures exactly what you need it to. DoorBot’s highly efficient Wi-Fi technology allows the device to run for a full year under normal use before needing to replace its 4 AA batteries.

Installing DoorBot couldn’t be easier. You can choose between mounting it using nothing more than 4 screws, or with our included bracket. Regardless, installation can be completed in a matter of minutes. Once the device is mounted simply download the free app, sync it to the DoorBot and you’re ready to go! You’ll never miss a visitor again. Think of it like having an extra set of eyes and ears.

Additional Features

Theft Prevention - We are looking at ways to improve the mounting bracket to prevent thieves from being able to take the device, or batteries. In addition, we’re guaranteeing that if your DoorBot is stolen, we’ll replace it – free of charge.

Legacy Doorbell Compatibility - We've gotten a lot of feedback around integrating DoorBot with your current doorbell. Well, we have worked with the engineers and we will be able to ding your doorbell if you currently have one in place. Now when a visitor rings the DoorBot not only will your smartphone and tablet be notified, but your home’s doorbell will chime as well. Also we are looking into being able to alternatively power DoorBot off of the doorbell wires, but as of right now we can not guarantee that.

DoorBot + Lockitron: The Perfect Marriage

Not only see who is at the door, but also let them in. Lockitron is an amazing wireless automatic door lock. Like Doorbot it is super easy to install. The team at Lockitron built their lock with an open design and because of that, we are going to add the Lockitron controls to the DoorBot app. Just enter your Lockitron credentials and you will see the door lock controls on the screen. So buy the Doorbot/Lockitron bundle and you will be able to see who’s at your front door and decide whether or not you want to grant them access – from anywhere, all from the palm of your hand.

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Edison Junior Design Laboratory appeared first on Dezeen.

Presented at the Royal College of Art graduate show in London this week, the portable Plug + Play kit includes sensors that clip onto instruments or microphone stands, controlling sound and lighting according to the performer's movements and gestures.

One senses the proximity of the performer to the microphone, for example, while another is activated by twisting the microphone stand.

"It's about having control over things you wouldn't normally have control of as a performer," says Merry, who thinks the kit could bring more engaging performances to electronic music in particular: "With electronic music you can be stuck behind a laptop so you lose that interaction, whereas this lets you control the electronic sounds in a more physical way."

He explains that while shows at a big venue might come with a sound desk and a lighting display, "this is a kit for intimate gigs on a small stage - it's something one person can take with them."

All the components clip together on the back of the lamp for easy transportation. Right now the sensors feed into a control box that relays changes to the speakers and a light, but Merry hopes to make the system wireless so it would be easier to set up.

Neil Merry is graduating from Platform 17 of the Design Products course at the Royal College of Art, where the show opens to the public from 20–30 June.

Other work on display includes a mask that lets you tune your senses like a TV and wooden shoes based on furniture structures.

Other musical projects on Dezeen include a record-playing bicycle, an amplifier that only works when people link hands or touch noses and a combined glassblowing pipe and trumpet.

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Here's some more information from Neil Merry:

PLUG + PLAY

Plug + Play is a portable toolkit for the performance of electronic or computer-based music. Traditionally, electronic music requires the performer to hunch behind a laptop or synthesiser pushing buttons and twiddling knobs, as a consequence this can the lack live visual performance and on-stage energy of a more traditional band. Using a collection of sensors and lights, Plug + Play provides a means for a more dynamic performance of electronic music by translating gestures and actions into sound and lighting effects.

Each sensor works according to a different method of interaction (Movement, Intimacy, Twist & Slam) and can be worn on the body or attached to an existing instrument. As such, a microphone stand can become a 3D music controller, a maraca a heavy bass line or a raised hand a pulsating synth wave.

My design fits within the existing architecture of a live performance and interfaces with the huge range of sounds provided through modern music software (a sort of advanced, digital equivalent of the guitar pedal). With the increased accessibility of music creation programs on laptops and tablet devices, it has never been easier to produce your own music, however there are currently very few options when it comes to performing this music live. Plug + Play can integrate electronic sounds into a live band, orchestral performance, or simply give electronic artists new ways to create sounds and music. The whole kit can be packed up and easily carried and would be particularly suitable for performance in small music venues, as well as easily integrating into a larger stage set-up, suiting both bedroom producers and more established musicians.

As vocals are a common element in many electronic tracks, I used the microphone stand as my main point of focus for this project. Already featuring as a tool for expression by many performers, each Plug and Play sensor enables this expression and physical interaction to become a central part of the music creation. The result is to turn the simple microphone stand into an instrument in its own right and offer a more tactile and emotive interaction with electronic and digital sounds.

Neil Merry is a recent graduate of Design Products course at the RCA, studying on Platform 17 which focuses on the broad world of consumer electronics and is tutored by Martin Postler and Ian Ferguson. Within my work I look to find meaningful applications of technology that bridge gaps between the physical and digital and provide new spaces for interaction and expression.

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Neil Merry appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Apple has revealed the design of iOS 7 - the highly anticipated first major user interface redesign since industrial designer Jonathan Ive was put in charge of both hardware and software design across the company.

As expected, the new operating system unveiled today at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco features uncluttered interfaces and marks a distinct shift away from imitating physical materials like leather and wood, bringing the brand's software more in line with the pure and minimal style that Ive famously developed for its hardware. "We see iOS 7 as defining a important new direction, and in a way a new beginning," said Ive in a movie shown at the launch.

"I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency," he continued. "True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation; it's about bringing order to complexity."

Distinct translucent layers of content are meant to help users maintain a sense of context while moving through the interface and a new "multitasking" feature means users can scroll between application windows without going back to the home screen.

"These planes combined with new approaches to animation and motion create a sense of depth and vitality," says Ive, adding that just changing the desktop picture affects the look and feel across the entire system.

The team has redesigned all the icons, refined and pared back the typography, and implemented a new colour palette. "In many ways we tried to create an interface that is unobtrusive and deferential, one where the design recedes and in doing so actually elevates your content," Ive concluded.

Anticipation over the visual overhaul has been mounting since Ive was appointed head of the new Human Interface team at Apple in October, and experts have been predicting a move towards cleaner edges and flat surfaces over the textures and faux materials that came to characterise Apple's software design.

In recent years Apple has been ridiculed for its skeuomorphic approach to software design - where digital applications are made to mimic real-world objects such as leather-effect diaries and timber-style bookshelves - and at Dezeen Live last September designer Yves Behar discussed the gulf between Apple's hardware and software design.

"Obviously they didn’t go there with the hardware so why did they go there with the software? It’s a really good question," he said. "There's now many companies looking at it in a way that's quite interesting and Apple actually is a little bit behind in that area."

A month later Apple brought its hardware and software design teams closer together under the leadership of British designer Jonathan Ive - who was already responsible for the minimal engineering of its product design - as part of a management shakeup that also saw the departure of Scott Forstall, the senior vice president of iOS software and a strong proponent of skeuomorphism.

Apple was named best design studio and best brand of the past 50 years by D&AD last year and is due to move to a new Foster + Partners-designed campus in 2016, though the project was recently reported to be $2 billion over budget.

Dezeen also briefly featured in the demo today, and last year Dezeen featured in the launch of the iPhone 5 and the new MacBook Pro.

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designed by Jonathan Ive appeared first on Dezeen.

Industrial designer Yves Behar of Fuseproject has unveiled a television set-top box that includes a remote control with no buttons (+ slideshow).

Designed by Fuseproject for American company Fanhattan, The Fan TV system allows users to search live cable TV channels as well as recorded shows and streaming services through one interface, so they can easily find something they'd like to watch regardless of whether it's on cable or the internet.

The two parts are styled like pebbles and automatically align when stacked thanks to concealed magnets.

The Bluetooth remote control has a smooth touchpad with 200 sensors so users can navigate menus, change channels and control volume settings, without looking down, through a series of swipes and taps.

It's deliberately not possible to just punch in channel numbers, but there is an on-screen keyboard for search.

The user interface design departs from the usual grids and time slots of TV menus, instead offering users a way to explore by scrolling through genres, actors, channels, what's trending or what friends have recommended on social media.

A search for a specific show might bring up options for the latest episode being broadcast now, episodes from this series that have been saved to the cloud-based storage and episodes from past series available to stream, plus reviews and soundtracks.

Fanhattan already has an app for search and discovery of TV shows for streaming and this week made public a web service. The Fan TV device, however, will rely on partnerships with cable TV companies that have not yet been announced, though the device is scheduled to become available later this year.

"Everything about Fan TV is about cohesiveness between hardware and user interface," says Fuseproject. "While others still look at these elements separately, Fanhattan and Fuseproject partnered at every step of the creative process to build the ultimate entertainment experience."

At Dezeen Live last September, Yves Behar spoke about designing hardware and software as a cohesive whole, explaining how he's set up a user interface group bringing together UI and industrial design at his San Francisco studio and adding that "Apple is actually a little bit behind in that area."

Apple, meanwhile, is rumoured to be working on a TV remote control that's worn as a ring on one finger for the highly anticipated Apple television, set to launch later this year.

The Fan TV has been two years in the making and was unveiled at D: All Things Digital conference in California this week, where Behar also launched new brand August with a lock that's controlled via a smartphone rather than keys.

This isn't Behar's first foray television interface design: in 2011 Fuseproject launched a product that allows users to control their TV via their smartphone, called Peel Fruit, with hardware to relay the signal to the television set that was shaped like a pear, orange or apple. In 2008 the studio developed Le Cube, a TV receiver, remote control and graphic interface for French broadcaster CANAL +.

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Here's some more information from Fuseproject:

Television and movies have been stuck by hardware and interfaces that are frustrating un-designed experiences. Fan TV has crafted the deepest and most magical experience, an easy and cinematic way to discover and watch all content.

At fuseproject, we have worked incessantly for the last two years to build a cohesive physical experience as well, a set top box and remote that change the game. The remote has no buttons and a touch surface, fits in the hand and is small in size. The cable box and the remote look like two pebbles, they physically connect through magnetic touch points that magically re-align both parts.

At its core, Fan TV is about you – about fans getting the most out of their entertainment. Instead of a clunky cable box or DVR system hidden in the cabinet, Fan TV is designed for display. The small remote responds to the subtlest touch, simply tap or swipe to navigate your movies and shows.

Mimicking nestled stones, the box and remote fit together with the use of magnets, ensuring the remote has a place where it can be found again.

Our branding work and our industrial design is influenced by the simplicity of the offering, a zen-like experience that stimulates discovery through a cinematic looking database of all the world's movies and shows. The magical touch interface on the remote, the simplicity of the packaging, and the way all of these elements come together. Whether it is your favorite new TV show or old movie, Fan TV strips away any complications and just lets you watch.

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Fuseproject appeared first on Dezeen.

Clemens Auer designed the steel grooming aid to mimic the "O" shape created when the index finger and thumb of one hand are brought together in a pinching gesture.

"It is a poetic and intuitive translation of an image that feels natural into a simple product," he told us.

Apart from the two ends that curve out to create the plucking implement, the metal band almost forms a complete circle

Galvanisation with various alloys can be used to achieve different coloured finishes.

More grooming tools on Dezeen include a stainless steel shaving set akin to industrial tools and shaving brushes with long locks of hair instead of short bristles.

A credit card-sized pack of USB sticks and a tap that uses half as much water as a normal faucet are other useful items we've featured lately.

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Clemens Auer appeared first on Dezeen.