An air purifier designed by a Taiwanese graduate student to simulate climates ranging from the high Alps to the beach is one of 35 semi-finalists of the Electrolux Design Lab 2014 competition.
The Air Globe by Deng Pei-chih (鄧培志), who is working on a masters’ degree at National Taipei University of Technology, was chosen from among 1,700 submissions from around the world.
The Air Globe is an air-control unit that can simulate the temperature, humidity and even smell of different places, allowing users to enjoy their favorite climate, Deng said.
Photo courtesy of National Taipei University of Technology
The device collects real-time information from across the globe. Users can spin an on-screen virtual globe and use a viewfinder to select the region they want to replicate.
Deng said his work was inspired by a popular tourist souvenir called “Canned Air,” which purports to contain air from specific locations.
The global design competition organized by home-appliance maker Electrolux is now in its 12th year. It is conducted in stages, allowing contestants to develop their concepts over the course of the competition. Six finalists will be chosen by a panel of experts next month and invited to a final event and awards gala in November.
Photo courtesy of National Taipei University of Technology
The first prize will go to the product that the judges decide is the most creative and groundbreaking solution for the future. The winner will receive 5,000 euros (US$6,560) and a six-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design center. The second-place prize is 3,000 euros and third place brings 2,000 euros.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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