Concept notebook wants to recharge battery by swimming

Although we highly doubt there will be a real life application of such a device any time soon as usual, the Plantbook is definitely taking a step outside the box of traditional notebook concepts and designs. Designed by Seunggi Baek & Hyerim Kim, the Plantbook is inspired from the water-soaking abilities of a bamboo plant.

This device itself looks like a bamboo stick in which the ‘screen' can be rolled in and out, splitting into two to become a virtual keyboard and a screen. As if the whole portability factor of the Plantbook wasn't cool enough, it charges itself using water! Much like a real plant, the Plantbook concept utilizes an external water tank and the process of electrolysis to produce electricity to charge the device.

We all know that water and computer hardware aren't exactly the friendliest of combinations, but the Plantbook definitely defies all logic in that regard. It may sound completely ridiculous, but the designers seem to have it all figured out:

"The system uses an external water tank, hence the Plantbook continuously absorbs water when soaking it in water and generates electrolysis using power stored in a solar heat plate installed on the top. In this process, it is operated using hydrogen as energy source and discharges oxygen. If you put it into a water bottle while you don't use the laptop, it automatically charges a battery and discharges oxygen. A leaf-shaped strap hanging on the top is made with silicon. It plays a role of a hand ring and a green LED indicates when the battery is charged. Using this LED, users can check how much spare capacity the batter has."

Unfortunately it is just a concept, so don't expect to be carrying your laptop in a water bottle any time soon
source: 2DayBlog.com

Asus PadFone Is Both a Tablet and a Phone: Neat Concept, but Still Vapor

At the end of the Asus press conference at Computex 2011, Chairman Jonney Shih waited until the very last minute to unveil the best product of the night: The Asus PadFone, a convergent device that docks a smartphone into the back of a slate so that they can be used together as a single device. Problem is, the entire demonstration was based on a few concept videos and a prototype that was clearly unfinished. Still, it's a usage model that we were really excited about when the Motorola Atrix made its debut and an incredibly neat approach to mobile computing—if and when Asus decides to make it available to the public.

The PadFone is essentially a symbiotic relationship between smartphone and slate, whereas the Atrix's screen and keyboard dock are intended to replace your netbook or laptop. It's a concept that owners of both Apple iPhone and iPad wish were possible: To dock the former into the latter and quit having to use two separate devices.

From the demonstration, the PadFone is inserted into the back of the dock like a cassette tape, hidden by a panel that fits flush with the back of the tablet. With the Atrix, the Smartphone sits several inches behind the screen, which simply isn't as clean-looking.

If the PadFone is anything like the Atrix, the tablet portion won't have a processor, memory, or local storage; it'll be a shell so that the two can share things like data, webcam, and 3G internet access. What makes the PadFone fundamentally different than the Atrix, however, is that it also shares the same operating system (The Atrix, when docked, runs on an alternative Linux OS). According to Asus, it's not doing any kind of upscaling or upconversion; it's using its own technology to adjust the smartphone screen layout. If you ask me, it almost sounds like it's using an internal HDMI connector.

Here's what we know for sure: The Smartphone will have the latest version of Android at the time of launch, which means so will the tablet dock. The screen size of the tablet is 10.1-inches, while the Smartphone has a 4.3-inch one. The tablet dock also has a built-in battery that will extend the life of the one in the Smartphone.

The usage scenarios are evident with such a solution: Say you're surfing the Web on the smartphone and find that the screen is too small for certain websites. You can stop what you're doing, dock the phone, and pick up where you left on the tablet. This also applies to composing email, video conferencing, and playing media. Right now, the details are so limited that it sounds like this game-changing device is still a while away. But if it does come to fruition, it could be the future of tablet computing.

PCmag