Ferrari V4 Superbike

WebUrbanist posts photos of 20 spectacular motorcycle concept designs.

Unfortunately, most of these will probably never actually be built for sale, and all of them are apparently not street legal.

I was busy yesterday writing up an account of the Murder Hollow atrocity for Chronicle of the Horse, when in came an email from your friends and mine at Bang & Olufsen offering me my own personal preview at my nearest B&O showroom of the Danish company’s brand new BeoTime alarm clock.

A B&O alarm clock! thought I. I have got to see that. (So I Googled it.)

And yes, it really was cool looking.

If I actually used an alarm clock (I don’t, being one of those people who come equipped with an internal mental one), or had a bedroom full of B&O equipment, or was not just another currently impoverished inhabitant of Obamistan, I could actually see running right out and paying a mere $375 for an alarm clock this cool.

Edwin at Coolest Gadgets was also appropriately admiring.

(T)his is the first alarm clock I’ve seen that makes me actually want to wake up so that I can admire its beauty, although that novelty ought to wear out in a couple of days.

BeoTime will come with an integrated sleep timer that can turn all Bang & Olufsen equipment in the room to standby mode after a selected time interval of up to two hours, making it the perfect, complementary device to own especially for folks who tend to fall alseep at the couch due to an extremely boring movie or just a bad habit. Functions include an alarm and sleep timer, alongside the ability to perform basic operations for the bedroom television, loudspeakers, or light controls. It does pretty well for itself as a unique desk clock, making it ideal for one’s work or home office.

The BeoTime was also designed to be extremely convenient and a snap to figure out, boasting easy operation that requires just one’s thumb. You get a built-in tilt sensor within that shows information and button functions change orientation in accordance with how BeoTime is position, regardless of whether it is being held, left on the nightstand, or placed in its wall bracket. As with other Bang & Olufsen products, the Beotime won’t come cheap, retailing for $375 when it hits showrooms later this August.

B&O Beotime

The Onion reports Apple’s latest revolutionary user interface design breakthrough: the no keyboard laptop.

2:37 video

This one didn’t make it.

LogoDesignLove interviewed Sol Sender of VSA Partners, lead designer of the 2008 Obama Campaign logo, on the process leading to the now famous result.

It all started with a big zero, appropriately enough.

VSA Partners web-site

VSA Partners’ videos on the design project.

Part 1: 8:21 video

Part 2: 5:17 video

The winning design.

One possible Renovatio design

Motorcycle News reports:

Confederate motorcycles, the US makers of the amazing Hellcat and Wraith, has unveiled its latest prototype — and it looks just as mad as its predecessors.

The Renovatio is still in concept stage but the designs and specs look pretty far down the line considering the firm has had to recover from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, which devastated the factory.

The minimalist design is centred around a GM based v-twin engine and not much else. The engine puts out 150bhp in standard trim but there’s a supercharger option that boosts that to 190bhp.

Confederate describe the concept as “Minimal; using the fewest pieces, moving parts and systems to accomplish her dynamic mission. She is uncompromised, light weight, possesses enormous torque, is capable of extreme performance, yet has maximum real world streetable active safety. She is graceful in motion, yet potentially brutal.”

So essentially you’ll be riding an engine and not much else.

The firm has also continued the use of its massive solid carbon fibre forks which is another thing that makes it look so out of the ordinary.

Confederate Motocycles homepage: What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

My wife is definitely going to think I’m too old.