The idea behind this tablet/pda device is not to lure the elderly into gaming with a cute device full of pretty icons.(though I’m sure that would work) It’s to track every movement the elderly make. Not because we fear them…they’re old. It’s because Nokia believes this is the best way to keep them around longer.

By monitoring what they consume via RFID tags; from expired foods, medicine, possible allergens and nutritional info. It could probably even tell you if they have been putting toys in their mouths while watching Matlock, like babies do. It’s easy to read and use and that’s the key. This pad hopes to be a vital tool for the upcoming explosion of elderly Baby Boomers.(Which is bound to be a mess. Baby Boomers explode with twice the power of your typical spontaneous combustion.)

When we think of tech we picture a cold metal or plastic in silver or black usually. It’s the material that can be cold and impersonal. Some users would like a more organic natural alternative. Maybe something from nature. Something so simple can affect your mood dramatically, like having a well meaning but cold friend to dinner. The Chute Smartphone is natural, organic, and moody all in one.

The Chute is like any other Smartphone inside, but it’s the shell, designed with bamboo, that makes all the difference. Bamboo is actually lighter and stronger than plastic. Better yet, it’s completely biodegradable and far more eco friendly than plastics and metals.

I have to admit that I mostly like this concept just because it looks cool. Those neatly stacked-together containers would be interesting whether this was a conceptual array of hard drives or recycle bins. In this case they are recycle bins but with some nifty added technology to keep things seperated.

The Barcode Trashcan concept uses the little barcode on your recyclable containers to identify which bin the item goes in. Swiping it across the top will open just the correct bin. This keeps your items seperated appropriately by plastic, glass and metals for those with the combination of being geeky and green. I guess if it doesn’t match or the bar code is worn off it goes in the other bin?

Here’s a pretty cool conceptual idea for a cell phone powered by kinetic energy. The Atlas Kiinetic Cell Phone has a mechanism in the center behind some glass that you can actually see work. As you move the phone around, a weighted piece rotates around to wind up a spring which powers the phone.

According to the designer, only a few times of turning the phone upside down and back will power it up. This same kinetic type of mechanism works great to power watches and is actually not that uncommon. The only difference is that watches for the most part need very little power to run compared to a phone.

LG Electronics showed off their Watch Phone concept during the Mobile World Congress 2008. Apparently, they want us all to communicate Get Smart style in the future.

Not much is known about these at the moment, except that it supports voice recognition function by using Bluetooth, enabling users to make calls or send text messages without using a keypad. Check out the video after the jump. These are nice looking watches as far as the face goes and since they are from LG, I’m sure the quality would be better then others on the market. Unfortunately, these will likely never come to market. At least, not as they are. But we can hope.

This fan-made PSP concept is an awesome slider, with a look that beats the hell out of the old one and then spits on it for good measure. It’s got an amazing large screen and an iPhone style home button in front.

Just slide it open and it’s ready for gaming, revealing the D-Pad, two analog nubs, and the face buttons. This is one hell of a nice concept, considering I’m not much of a PSP fan and it’s got me wanting one yesterday. We can only hope that the next PSP looks something like this.

Despite the fact that this thing reminds me of the old Nintendo power glove, it’s pretty neat looking, mannequin hands and all. Designer Du Tran Nguyen sees the Verva Vie Sports Glove as the ultimate piece of sporting equipment for the 21st century. How so? The Vie would allow the use of GPS to develop workouts, map routes, and even send out distress beacons(Perish the thought). It has an interface that can be controlled with one hand via strain gauges in the fingers. These interact with an E-ink screen.

It could also be used in sports to communicate plays or share information with other athletes via a handshake. Otherwise known as cheating. On the safety front, it could be used to share health information with a training partner. If there’s danger, a distress signal could be sent to other gloves, or even directly to the police or hospital.(Oh hell, my gloves are tingling, my partner’s in trouble. This sounds like a job for…me! Gloveman!)

Having a smart coffee mug in the morning would certainly make life a whole lot sweeter. Imagine a mug that could have your stock quotes scrolling across it’s surface, or display a newscast right before your eyes as you pour your coffee in. It seems like Science Fiction, even now, but the day may not be that far off. This concept of a Yuno coffee mug PC boldly steers your morning ritual in that direction.

Computer chips are getting smaller and smaller, it’s not a quantum leap to envision a mug equipped with a touch-screen that would let you wake up away from the PC. It would let you display your own images as a screensaver or play a slide show while you’re taking your coffee break. The idea would be to have a complete PC on the mug.

I’m not sure what designer Fred De Garilhe was thinking when he designed this Chanel Choco phone concept, but I know sexy and shiny when I see it. The thin slider collapses into a square piece of shiny glass, with the lines making it look like a chocolate bar, all lit up with fiber optics. On the side it boasts 4 function keys, and when the screen slides up, the numbers can be seen through the reflective surface.

We’ve covered a bunch of concept phones recently, but this has got to be one of the prettiest. We might have to wait awhile for the technology to catch up, before we see the perfume maker give the OK for this one, but at least we can feast our eyes on it right now.

This concept phone by Nokia is being called the Scentsory and it’s a fascinating device. It uses the human senses of sight, sound, touch and even smell for a multi-sensory experience. If this concept ever sees the light of day, it could revolutionize remote communication and interfacing. The dual-screen mobile has an LED touchpad, speakers, a camera and temperature sensors.

It has the basic audiovisual features, but Scentsory could also detect, transmit and emit smells, as well as radiate colors, lighting, and temperature from the caller’s environment. It has a sort of electronic nose that works with highly sophisticated sensors. The nose samples the odor of the caller’s environment and transmits this to the recipient electronically. Apparently this works due to distinct genetic patterns that are associated with every odor, and it’s simply a matter of matching electrical harmonics with gene activity. The perception of a smell by electrical stimulation could be technologically induced.

If you’ve been longing to turn your iPhone into a more useful gadget, and using it for something other than just making calls, this is for you. Current State software, will allow your iPhone to monitor the power usage and energy waste of your entire house.

It allows your iPhone to turn power plugs on and off, activate timers and keep track of everything. All you need to do is to install plug-ends on power sockets and sync to your iPhone. The application will show you a map of all the power wastage hot spots, so you can make changes and save more power. It sounds great, but unfortunately it is a concept at the moment, but now that the idea has been presented, someone will make it come true.

If you’re sick and tired of resetting your watch to a different time zone each time you board a flight, TicketTime is here to help. TicketTime is a boarding card with an actual attached watch that’s preset to the time zone of your destination by the airline company.

All you have to do is tear off the watch and wear it around your wrist before getting on the plane. This concept was designed to eliminate one of the headaches of frequent flyers who often end up wearing the wrong time on their wrists. The watch doubles as your return flight ticket and is returned to the airline during check-in.

This is the most convenient way to see how much “juice” remains in a device. Juice being battery life and in this case battery life being displayed with liquid. We don’t have many details, but this flask phone from NEC looks like it is liquid-powered and touch-screened. This one is so far out there that it must be a prototype.

According to NEC, it’s going to be released sometime in 2008, if you can believe that. It doesn’t get much cooler then being able to watch the liquid inside drain as you’re using the phone, so you can see how much power you have left. (Okay, that’s a lame hobby. But the concept is awesome.) Hopefully it will be available here in the U.S. The colors are obviously very woman friendly.

P-Per was awarded for the Red Dot Concept Design. It’s designed by Chocolate Design Agency and is a simple mobile phone concept with features that were supposed to be incompatible: simple, advanced, green and unique.

Modeled after the E-Paper slap bracelet, it’s made of only 4 layers of sustainable materials, the “1 function, 1 part, 1 material” rule makes it easy to disassemble the materials for recycling. Too good to be true? Maybe not. This might be the best phone ever. It has a transparent display for camera mode and a browser that spans the entire surface of the display. Check out a video here and be thoroughly impressed.