USB Flash Drive Collector Hub

People often have three or four USB flash drives that they don’t frequently use buried in a drawer or some other place. This is a waste of resources. The Outdated USB Collector was designed by Lee Seungmin and Jin Juhyun in response. The Outdated USB Collector is a physical case that has multiple input slots where you can plug in a multitude of flash drives. The device aggregates the storage space of all the flash drives connected to it. It can be considered an external hard disk of variable storage capacity; the final memory depends on the storage space of each pen drive connected to it and the amount of flash drives connected. The front display shows the individual space of the flash drives and the sum of all the connected thumb drives.

The Outdated USB Collector is a green device; apart from its body being made of eco-friendly plastic, the device also helps you recycle your old flash drives that are not in use. Instead of letting them rot in some corner of your desk, they can become active components of storage. High-capacity 512GB USB flash drives were recently released. One might expect that in the foreseeable future, the value of high-capacity USB flash drives will drop to that of today’s low-capacity 1GB and 2GB ones. Thus, the Outdated USB Collector could be of unlimited use. [via]

Multi-functional Space-maximizing Desk Lamp

Elixir is a space-maximizing, high-quality OLED desk lamp designed by Hwang Nari of San Francisco, CA. Often, the desks of busy people (be they at work, studio, or school) are messy. This is especially true for people in the field of architecture and design, as well as offices that do a lot of paper work. When a desk is a mess with project materials, it might feel that a desk lamp with a traditional base or clamp is also in the way.

In response, the fold-able desk lamp Elixir was designed. When not in use, this straight-edged lamp can be folded down along the edge of a desk in order to maximize workspace. As Elixir can be folded three ways (down, up, and over), it can be installed on any side of the desk using the clamp. The arm can rotate up and down, right and left, and back and forth by 120 degrees.

In the past, to charge your laptop or cell phone, you might have had to bend over to get under the desk in order to find an inconveniently located outlet low on the wall. Now, Elixir allows you to use an outlet on the backside of the arm of the lamp to charge any electronic device when you are working at the desk. In addition, the arm of the lamp features a touch-activated mood-light strip. [via]

The Ultimate Paper Cutting Tool

Paper sniper is an innovative paper cutting tool designed by Anurag Sarda. Paper sniper has a unique curve edge blade with 4 times higher usability and effectiveness. To use all 4 corner edges, the blade is flipped and turned up side down. The usual blade uses only a micro point to cut the paper, where as the curved blade uses its entire edge, thus offering a better cutting experience. Paper sniper has an ergonomic grip which gives thumb a stable support and as the form is symmetric, both the hands can use it. [via]

Digital Tape Measure for Non-flat Surfaces

The Touch Tape Measure is an ‘electronic’ tape for accurate assessment of dimensions designed by Yang Ming-Chin and Chen Hsin-I from the National Taipei University of Technology. Comprising of a circular form with an OLED panel, this tape design totally eschews those unwieldy plastic or steel calibrated strips. In fact, the device takes advantage of its digital bearing to integrate a fully flexible thread without minuscule calibrations. This adjustable thread can even be easily wound around irregular or circular objects, with the correct measurement being displayed (in mm) by the OLED panel.

The advantages of the Touch Tape however doesn’t stop at being only able to measure dimensions of asymmetrical items. The illuminated OLED panel also allows us to conduct our measuring operations in the dark. Moreover, the degree of functionality is improved through various small features of the tape. One of these attributes is the small suction cup fixed at one end of the thread, which attaches the flexible string with the object. Therefore, Touch Tape Measure can be used with a single hand. [via]

Concept of Keyboard with Customizable Layout

Designers Maxim Mezentsev and Aleksander Suhih sought to improve upon the concept of customizable layout keyboard, and designed the the E-inkey concept keyboard. E-inkey is a keyboard with screens embedded in each button. Each key is a stand-alone display that shows the function currently assigned to it. This wireless keyboard lets you easily switch what appears on the individual key caps to suit what you’re doing, thanks to an integrated e-paper display embedded into each key.

Maxim and Aleksander went with e-paper for its energy efficiency. E-paper doesn’t require constant power to preserve what it shows on the keys; instead, it only draws power when the display gets refreshed. Coupled with the slim design, this looks like a great keyboard if you use Photoshop, Microsoft office, games, or any apps that feature lots of keyboard shortcuts. It might be a good choice if you want to learn a different keyboard layout such as Colemak or Dvorak, too. You could even create your own shortcuts to display on the keyboard. [via]