Swedes Rule. Why don't they ever stop coming up with cool new stuff? Is there something in the water up there?
Brighthandle is the invention of Alexander Lervik and was launched at this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair. A streamlined handle with an acrylic wand tip, it glows green when unlocked and red when locked. It is powered by wires that run throught the door and can be programmed to glow at any time you want it to. Imagine the possibilities....
We are going to go out on a limb here to not only praise the simple, practical, sexy ingenuity of this deisgn, but also to predict that the combination of simple embedded lighting in furniture will be the hottest thing in town when it hits. If we had a design shop, we'd be throwing all sorts of LED's and shit into chairs, beds, you name it. It is going to happen.
Think about the glowing "sleep" light on the Apple laptops. That concept applied to furniture ("sleeping" chairs in restaurants? Hot.) is going to rock. The only ones doing it right now (that we know of) are Brighthandle and Glide, but no one has pushed it as far as it is going to go..... Okay, we'll stop now. We just really get excited about this. MGR
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Oooh! This is way-cool! Perfect as a built-in nightlight for a kid's bedroom.
I NEED THIS!!! I have a little OCD thing about checking to make sure that the door is locked and my husband has a little forgetfulness thing that only feeds my OCD when I find the door unlocked! This would be GREAT and would help us both!
I don't know if you really want to be advertising the fact that your door is unlocked or not.
Though a very cool idea.
Personally I'm thinking about rfid door locks.
They work sort of like the keys on the new-ish Mercs. The key sits in your pocket and as you approach the door it unlocks once you get within a predetermined range. Some have the option of you needing to touch the door on a certain spot before it will unlock.
The options are near limitless. You can authorize certain people between certain hours, or lock out others all together. You can log entries and exits, you can even lock all your doors via your laptop (great for larger places).
etc etc
Think how fantastic these would be for multi-stall bathrooms. No more ugly "Occupied" wheels, or looking under the stall to see if someone's in it. The New York Times ran a funny article about how fancy restaurants in New York often have the worst designed bathrooms a few weeks ago (too bad they charge to read the article online). Most, you can't even find how to get into, much the less whether someone is actually in the stall. I see a market on the rise...
These are nothing short of fantastic.
I love my keychain LED, but I hate the sleep button on my mac. It's pretty, but I sleep across from it and ended up parking an ottoman in front of it, which kinda defeats the purpose of having pretty electronic things. I already have enough glowing, blinking things in my house. What I want is a remote that turns off all of my electronics that "don't turn off", like my vcr and cable box and router...
me of me, inc.,
I think the glowing portion would only show people inside the dwelling whether the door is locked. I assume the outside portion would not have the light.
This is why the living room is for living , and the bedroom for sleeping (and misbehaving)
You know...if you have a bluetooth phone , you can set your mac to turn on as you enter within range of your mac.
Later when you take your phone and leave the house, you can set the mac to go to sleep as well.
- Jon-B
I don't know about your locks however I think mines are always open from the inside.(thus always being green) Even the front door.
Though I liked the idea about using them in a bathroom
i'm going to pick up some of these for my new apt. as it is being painted red green and silver... it'll be hot.
momi -- I live in a studio. I live, sleep, work, cook, misbehave and scoop cat poop in the same room. The LEDs can't go anywhere else, which is why I want to lock the Apple people in a small glowing hotel room and see how long it takes them to get to sleep...
-Mary
I bet steve job sleeps like a baby every night (on his bed of money)
There are non permanint laminates available (I've mostly seen them used for new cellphones...instead of fugly leather cases)
I'm sure you could get a silver one and place it over the LED. Or possibly a clear one to just defuse the led.
Actually, I've tried putting photography tape over it, but then it glows inside the mesh screen, so feh. I guess the ottoman stays. At least the mac turns off -- the pulsing, glowing thing only happens when it sleeps. Most electronics just don't turn off. The VCR clock blinks all night.
You could plug this electronic stuff into power strips. Then you could turn it all off with the switch on the power strip. However, this could cause them to forget things that it remembers (time, preset stations, etc.) If you set the vcr clock, it should stop blinking.
These knobs could also be the high-tech equivalent to the "If This Van's a Rockin', Don't Come A-Knockin'" bumper sticker.
"If this handle's a-glowing, it means I'm inside..."
Er, um, never mind.
Mary, call up Ron Popeil & order yourself a "Clapper". They still make those, don't they?
Oh I would just love to have one of those. Wouldn't be very practical tough since it would lit up my bedroom at night. But it would sure be pretty.
Perfect for stylish public toilets at companies and such.
Has anyone figured out where in the states you could pick these up?
The Brighthandle will be introduced to the US market in June 2005. Retail price $150.00. Great value! Operates on 2 AA Batteries. Tested at 100 hours before needing replacement and is designed to fit standard door prep.
Now just make one without the need for wires and that's *really* cool!