February 28, 2005 We've already covered the Homelab Mirror TV, which helps get the kids to brush their teeth, the MYHeart mirror that displays your vital health statistics and Accenture's Intelligent mirror that analyses your behavioural patterns and can show you what you'll look like in five years time. Now ultra-trendy design house SUCK UK has created a mirror with a scrolling LED message board inside. The SUCK Mirror can scroll information such as time and date, or leave messages for other household members, and you can do it wirelessly from your PC - so you can have it play your Gizmag RSS news feed in the morning while you're scrubbing your vizog, and trimming the nose hairs. COOOOL!!!!!
Legend has it that the ultra-trendy design house SUCK UK was established just five years ago on a kitchen table in a bedsit in North London. It's hard to believe that the SUCK brand has grown in stature from conception just five years ago to the point where it has its own section in the upmarket Harrods Department store and is now internationally acknowledged as being at the bleeding edge of design ... but it's true. Specialising in mainly household objects, SUCK has succeeded in the most crowded marketplace in the world.
The name no doubt helps - the irreverent neo-punk connotations of the brand have made it a darling with the FHM, Maxim and Loaded style of mens magazines, but then again, it's currently the darling of the far more upmarket GQ and Esquire mens magazines, not to mention design magazines, womens coffee table magazines, The Times, The independent, The Guardian ... everyone seems to want to rave about how clever their designs are.
Now its our turn. One of the things Suck managaes somehow to do, is make simple everyday objects really useful. Like a mirror that delivers simple information.
We've already covered the Philips Homelab Mirror TV, which we think is very clever, because anyone who has had kids knows how hard it is to get them to brush their teeth.
Then there's Philips future plans to display your health vital statistics to you in interfaces such as a mirror and then if you want to get really way off into the future you can see Accenture's Intelligent mirror that analyses your behavioural patterns and can show you what you'll look like in five years time (we have our doubts whether this is likely to be an appealing prospect for most people).
But all of those products are not here NOW - they'll be here at some point, but SUCK has something that works on similar principles and is available now.
The mirror includes a scrolling LED message board sitting behind the mirror's surface. The SUCK LED Mirror offers all the basic information such as time and date, and you can also leave messages for your partner, other household members, etcetera.
If you don't have a PC, you can do it all with your remote control, but if you have a PC, there's an opportunity to do so much more, all wirelessly - indeed, we haven't played with one but can foresee being able to have it play your Gizmag RSS feed directly to your mirror in the morning while you're scrubbing your vizog, and trimming the nose hairs.
At US$300, it isn't cheap, but it's here now and a lot cheaper than Philips planned Mirror TV will be.
There's also a Suck led clock that offers identical functionality and sits on your desk, again offering the potential to have RSS and other information feeds scrolling - perhaps this could be used as a very cool waiting room doo-dad or something for the tea-room to stimulate the right sort of conversation, or perhaps even a conversation starter at the local Vodka Bar.
Alternatively, you could just sit it on your desk and replicate the functionality of your PC at a cost of UK£200
If you want to know more about SUCK, read this feature from the Ideas factory, and if you'd like to see some of their other offerings, go direct.