Fantasy Rolls Royce

Rolls-Royce Apparition concept by Jeremy Westerlund – Click above for high-res image gallery

To say that we see a lot of student car designs here at Autoblog would be a gross understatement. We see hundreds of 'em. Some are more interesting than others, but every once in a while, a design comes across our desks that takes our impression of what a car can look like and completely turns it on its head. This is one such example.

Dreamt up by one Jeremy Westerlund while studying at the Art Center school of design, the Rolls-Royce Apparition is a rolling trompe-l'œil that at once both reaches back into the automaker's history and extends into the future.

The design is based around the old motor carriages that had a chauffeur sitting up front, exposed to the elements, with the passengers coddled inside. Like most contemporary Rolls models, the front is utterly dominated by the prominent grille and hood ornament. It features unique touches like real mahogany inserts in the wheels, and the imposing overall shape is long and low: the designer took his cues from sailing yachts, and even though the model is built to 1:4 scale, it's still nearly six feet long. If such an extreme example of fantasy ever became reality, it would measure 279 inches overall – that's over 23 feet, or about four feet longer than the Phantom.

THE HUMAN CAR – OH YEAH!

Fling Game Controller for iPad

TDK – Life on Record

Exquisitely simple and sleek, and meant for a vinyl aficionado (not a turntablist), TDK's Life on Record line shows audiophiles that the classic sound company is neither down nor out. We practically froze when we saw the touch-enabled belt-drive table, an incredibly sleek and simplistic piece of design gold. Though the internal RPM monitoring system is lovely, the price ($299 for the turntable, $399 for the USB turntable) sent chills down our vinyl-loving spines.

iROBOT - Scooba 230 Hands On

Our friends at iRobot have shrunken its hardwood cleaning child -- not Roomba, the other one -- to about half the diameter of its predecessors (6.5 inches). The Scooba 230 is maintains the same 3.5-inch height and, more importantly, is just as programmable as every other model (in an unfortunate twist of irony, it's now thinner than a Kinect sensor). Speaking of Roomba, the company's also unveiling the new 700 series with a number of cleaning and detection improvements. All autonomous cleaning discs will be available in the Sprint from iRobot's online store with the prices ranging from a penny under $300 for Scooba 230 and $450 / $500 / $550 for the Roomba 760, 770, and 780.

TRANSFORMING MOTORCYCLE – UNO III

Shape-Shifting Uno III Defies Scooter Stereotypes

by Warren Riddle on January 5, 2011 at 03:30 PM

Segways and scooters definitely look fun to ride, but the vehicles -- despite all manner of possible modifications -- invariably carry a heavy nerd stigma. Benjamin Gulak and his BPG Motors company may challenge that stereotype, however, with the sleek and impressive Uno III. The adaptable vehicle actually morphs from an upright "Segway-like" mode into a horizontal, street-cycle position. Even better: it can apparently execute the conversion while in motion.

Inspired by the overcrowded and polluted streets of China, Gulak actually embarked on the Uno project as a high school student. Now, his collapsible baby can effectively fit in an elevator, and -- according to CNET -- will eventually boast a top speed of "about 35 miles per hour and have a range of about 30 miles." BPG intends to release the scooter-bike on a limited basis "in about a year," so, if you want to look really awesome in a 'Fast and Furious' nerd sort of way, you'll still have to wait a little while.