Mike Vetter and his Florida-based company, 'The Car Factory' have come up with this rather strange and alien like customized car called the Extra-Terrestrial Vehicle or EVT. It looks like it's right off the set of a sci-fi movie. Under this futuristic looking car, there lies the heart of a normal little Chevrolet Aveo. However, if you don't want an Aveo, you can also opt for a Porsche Boxster donor car. I don't want to think that anyone would want to strip down their Porsche to make it look like it's from Star Trek, but people have weird ideas. The EVT is perfect for geeks who can afford it. It's available on eBay at the moment for $86,000 and mind you, this is with the Aveo.

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Remember in the olden days they used to use these wooden ladders? However week it looked, it was really effective. Now that concept was used by Belgian designer Casimir Meubelen who presented the new series of storage furniture Ladder N1. It is like a movable stairway cum an immovable shelving unit. It is the combination of two saving space and money. It comes in various shapes and sizes and will give you that rugged theme that you might be crazy about.

[2Modern]

This is a fun table. It uses the mechanics of wood and steel. When you first see it, it is any normal round table. Then, you can pull from two sides to extend it further into a 3.7m long elliptical table. The physics is pretty simple. If you don’t want an ellipse, then you can remove the table leaves from top and rearrange it to form an oval shape. You can even have different patterns using your imagination and the table leaves. It uses Douglas fir, steel, and wheels.

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‘Room Room’ is an ingenious creation which has been conceived and developed by encore heureux + G studio. This project was created for the recent Crossing: dialogues for emergency architecture exhibition held at NAMOC (national art museum of china). The exhibition marked the first anniversary of the Wenchaun earthquake and was held to raise awareness of disaster affected areas, disaster prevention and mitigation. The Room Room was the most unique project at this exhibition which was organized by the United Nations development program and the Ministry of culture of China. This concept vehicle is designed for disaster prone areas and emergency situations. It is a multipurpose vehicle like a carriage that has storage space which can be used as a home as well. The Room Room is definitely useful in emergency situations like natural disasters where many are left without a roof over their head. The portability factor also is an added advantage of the Room Room.

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Even brooms and dustpans can look very appealing if they are colored and shaped interestingly. Thus is the message proven here. This is Torel, a stylish broom and dustpan set. On one side is the long brush and on the other side it’s just a cone shaped furnishing. No one would know what it is until they make the effort to turn it around. The broom moves at a 180 degree angle that helps in easy sweeping. The other cool thing about this set is that, alongside its normal bristle broom end, it also comes with a detachable rubber end. Cool no?

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This is a cool design. The designer, Alejandro Gonzalez Novoa, came up with the idea of these speakers that look like wash basins to convey the message of water conservation. He says don’t waste even a drop. There is a tap on top of each speaker and the sound that comes out is dedicated to the type of water wastage. One side, the sound is like that of gushing water and on the other side it is the sound of endless drops falling on a sink or pavement or surface. This is for people to realize how each can be a bad thing if it remains continuous and through this installation he is probably planning to instill that irritation whereby if ever they hear such sounds, they can stop it by shutting it tight. It’s a smart idea and green too.

[Ready2Beat]

I think all of us underestimate the calculator. We just use it and forget about it. But the latest calculator model known as 8125 designed by Josh Owen Studios for the calculator company Monroe is sure to make a lasting impression. The 8125 is an update to an established technology and is meant to be considered as a modern heirloom. The new 8125 has a reduced desktop footprint of 30% with improved usability and is inspired by the concept of throwaway calculators. The bag packaging the 8125 is reusable, and Monroe even asks every buyer to pack their old calculator in the new calculator's box and return it to them for proper disposal.

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Innovative and stylish pieces to place your rear end are always welcome. Here is a very trendy and contemporary bench that is called Hai Speed. It's designed by Phillip Grass and to explain the name, hai means shark in German. Shark and speed are the visual qualities intended to show in the design. The materials used here are wood, bamboo fiber and epoxy resin. The blue looks brilliant. This bench will be at home in a trendy environment.

[Designspotter]

Alternative energy is more in trend now than Paris Hilton’s wardrobe. After all the solar power grabbing, now inventors are turning towards the air. Yeah, there is this Air Pod vehicle that will run with air-powered engine. What happens is the air car can be plugged into a wall allowing an on-board compressor to pressurize the car’s air tank to 4,500 pounds per square inch. Then after four hours, this pressure can be used by slowly releasing it to power the pistons. In that time, the car’s 5.5-kilowatt compressor would eat up 22 kilowatt-hours of electricity to travel 20 miles. Doesn’t it sound oddly like a certain system in the human body? Basic biology! Anyway, so the car is really cool as it only gives out fresh air from the almost frozen exhaust pipe. But you cant have it all, the speed is quite low up to only 35 miles per hour.

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Nobody wants to be cramped in like sardines in a tin, but usually that's how office buildings are packed in business districts. However, if you are from Spain's architecture firm Selgascano, you get to design and work in the most awesome office I've ever seen. It's called 'Office in the Woods' and it is designed by Jose Selgas and Lucia Cano of the company. It's an amazing and innovative design that is a one long, tunnel-like office covered by a curved transparent acrylic window that's 20 millimeters thick.

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The biggest problem I usually face when it comes to serving appetizers is that by the end of the first round all the items on the plate tend to get mixed. And the organized plate ends up looking like one big mess. But the W-plate seems like the perfect solution to my problems. Designed by Alessandro Loschiavo for Aliantedizioni, this stainless steel serving plate makes sure that guests pick up what they need without ruining or touching the other items on the plate. The unique structure of the plate of a succession of inclined planes, allows one to select a partly upward-projecting tartine, without touching the other ones. This helps avoid mixing of different foods and also saves you the hassle of constantly re-arranging the appetizers. Definitely a useful creation, the satin colored W-plate is a must buy for all.

[DesignSpotter]

I personally love it when designers create products out of recycled materials. Not only does it show their concern for the planet it also displays their talent and skill. And that is why I have fallen in love with the useful and extremely amazing ‘El compadr’ beach chairs designed by Hector Galvan of Mexico based studio Omelette. Made from recycled, dehydrated wood and epoxy paint, these unique chairs are definitely a class apart. Just fix these unique Backrests into the sand and you are all set to enjoy a relaxing day at the beach. These unique chairs weigh just 2kg and come in pairs. Definitely the most minimal line of furniture to be ever designed, these simple chairs have redefined the term ‘portable’.

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Yay! The furnishing topic again. This one is actually really cool. It is the Croco series of tile collection. As the name goes it is the crocodile hide styles tile collection designed by MaTouche for Hastings Tile and Bath. Not just crocodiles, also ostriches, elephants and other animals are used for inspiration for this design. The color combinations are also pretty attractive and are available in ivory, brown, black and gold. You can have like an Amazon theme or a forest and earthen effect if you are one of those filthy rich types and have a lot of money to monkey around with. Really nice.

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These are speakers. Interesting concept. They look like the ear pieces of the ear phones. White in color and the speaker part is like one of those examples of blotched ink that psychiatrists use. But more clearly, they look like uneven polka dots. This was designed by 24-year old industrial designer Bruno Marques who lives in Portugal. It also makes a nice and funky piece of furniture.

[Coroflot]

The 'Moby' is a concept by WooJin Chung which is an electricity powered vehicle. It is based on the idea to decrease the volume of the vehicle so that it is convenient in small alleys and for storage. The innovative part about this is that it separates into two to make it even more smaller. It displaces its back part with a docking system, which can be altered by different types of optional parts like a high capacity battery or another passenger seat. If you compare it to standard four wheelers, it takes up half their size in parking lots. It feels more like riding a motorcycle than driving a car however. It has big circular entrances that allow more convenient and flexible use of the seating area rather than doors. The name Moby is because the vehicle resemble Moby Dick, the whale.

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