Concept Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

AT&T concept store uses iPads, iPhones for checkout

by Michael Grothaus (Nov 17th, 2011)

An AT&T concept store opening this weekend in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights aims to "differentiate the AT&T experience," according to AT&T retail president Paul Roth. Roth told AllThingsD that AT&T needs to do more to lure the shopper into its stores now that most ...

Apple's Knowledge Navigator, Siri and the iPhone 4S

by Kelly Hodgkins (Oct 5th, 2011)

Back in 1987, Apple produced a concept video describing a product known as Knowledge Navigator. Knowledge Navigator is a computer app with bow-tied personal assistant that would let you interact with your device using your voice and natural language. You can check messages, find ...

This iPad Smart Cover-inspired iPhone keyboard looks like a winner

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Sep 2nd, 2011)

The idea behind this is so brilliant that it's a wonder it wasn't developed sooner: Jing Yang of eico Motion Lab in China has created the Smart Keyboard, what he bills as the world's thinnest keyboard for the iPhone. It's based on the concept behind the iPad 2 Smart Covers. Roll the keyboard ...

iOS 5 speech recognition concept showcased in video

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 16th, 2011)

Recent rumors and a patent application suggest an upcoming version of iOS will include some form of speech recognition. Inspired by these revelations, graphic designer Jan-Michael Cart created a short video that shows how Apple could add this speech-to-text functionality to iOS 5. His ...

iPhone becomes an instant photo printer in this concept design

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 4th, 2011)

Freelance designer Mac Funamizu worked his creative magic and developed a concept iPhone dock that merges the best of the iPhone with the technology of yore. Funamizu conceptualized a classic iPhone dock that lets iPhone owners print instant pictures Land Camera-style. The Polaroid-inspired ...

Designer pitches concept for usable iOS notifications in video

by Dana Franklin (May 3rd, 2011)

Like many of us here in the TUAW compound, designer Andreas Hellqvist is dissatisfied with the intrusive and often downright annoying notifications system iOS 4 offers today. Like me, he expresses his distaste for iOS's notifications by turning them off in almost every app on his device. After ...

Darts from the iPhone to the iPad

by Mike Schramm (Jul 7th, 2010)

This is probably the coolest bit of iOS connectivity I've seen so far. KL Dartboard is an iPad app (for US$3.99) that serves as a virtual board for darts thrown by an app called KL Darts ... for the iPhone. So, the idea is that you buy the iPad app and set it up on the wall, and then you download ...

The MacView: An incredibly well-done concept tablet

by Steven Sande (Jan 24th, 2010)

Here at TUAW, we've been treated to so many concept drawings and fake photoshopped tablets over the past several months that we've become somewhat jaded about them. However, Polish designer Patrycjucz Brzezinski's concept for an Apple tablet, named the MacView, is so well done that it deserves ...

Off the screen and onto your desk: Mac OS X Calculator app done in atoms, not bits

by Josh Carr (Nov 12th, 2009)

The creative minds at Mintpass have taken applications we're all pretty familiar with and brought us ideas that make the TUAW bloggers drool. Recently, they created Mint Calculator #4; a concept that pulls the calculators from both the Mac OS and Windows out of the screen and places them on your ...

How to make an iPhone game

by Mike Schramm (Feb 11th, 2009)

The folks at Gogogic asked Twitter if they wanted to see how the company's iPhone games were made, and since the answer was in the affirmative, we all get the benefit of looking into just how one iPhone developer put their game together. It starts with a wiki; the company keeps a collaborative site ...

Flickr Find: Unusual Apple designs from the early 90s

by Steven Sande (Jan 28th, 2009)

TUAW reader Mike turned us on to a Flickr photo set and a related post on Aussie Mac site MacTalk. MacTalk forum regular Donnie Darko was visiting a used book store in the Sydney suburb of Newtown when he came upon a rare find -- a 1991 copy of a Japanese design magazine called Axis featuring ...

Found Footage: A fanboy's Mac mini concept

by Steven Sande (Dec 15th, 2008)

The Mac mini has an amazing following. It's a great machine for switchers who want to use their existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor, there are companies devoted to using them as small colocated servers, and the mini is the machine to use for all sorts of cool hacks. TUAW reader, designer, and Mac ...

Buy an ad here