An industrial designer has created a portable swing which can be deployed quickly and easily apparently turning any surrounding into a playground.

Kevin Shay from San Francisco says he came up with the idea when trying to think of something which was fun and prompted interaction between an object and the user.

His resulting UpSwing is a canvas and leather swing which can be installed on trees, lampposts or anything you can throw it over.

Shay says the the best place he has used the UpSwing is in the middle of Valencia street during Cinco de Mayo. "Seeing people's faces turn from confused to genuine excitement as they see the swing unfold is truly satisfying," he said.

A student at New York University has created a camera which prints out text descriptions of what it sees rather than photos.

Creator Matt Richardson said he came up with the idea for his 'Descriptive Camera' after thinking about the metadata cameras produce: date, time and camera settings and wishing they could do more.

But because the technology isn't there yet to produce a text description of a scene his gizmo uploads images to the web and they are described by users on Amazon's Mechanical Turk -- where users are paid to complete basic tasks.

Speaking about his Descriptive Camera, Richardson said: "The Descriptive Camera works a lot like a regular camera—point it at subject and press the shutter button to capture the scene.

An extremely rare camera lens which is so wide it's capable of actually seeing behind itself, has sold for a massive £100,000 in London.
 
The lens -- described as the world’s most extreme wide-angle lens -- had been up for sale at Grays of Westminster which specializes in Nikon photography equipment after co-founder Gray Levett found it on a trip overseas.

Weighing a whopping 5.2kg, the Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 is 171mm long has a diameter of 236mm and offers a 220 degree view. It is understood to be one of only a few hundred produced after being revealed at Photokina in 1970
 
Levett said, "The background of this immense lens is that our vintage camera buyer Toni Kowal spent six months tracking it down from overseas, and we were fortunate to be able to find this example in such pristine condition. 

Exercise equipment isn't normally the most attractive of objects, but a design firm aims to change that by reimagining the exercise bike as a piece of art.

The resulting VELA from Lunar Europe in Munich looks like it would be as at home in an art gallery as a gym despite begin a fully functional piece of exercise equipment.

A spokesperson for the design firm said: "Home fitness equipment usually looks as if it belongs in a torture chamber – chunky and heavy, it often leads a shadowy existence in the guest room or basement.

"Our goal was to create highly functional fitness equipment which, besides its sporting uses, will adorn any living room in the same way as an aesthetic sculpture. The objects thus combine ‘life’ and ‘style’ in the best possible sense."

A coffee machine which lets caffeine-addict drivers make an espresso from the comfort of their car has gone on sale. Finally.

The Handpresso Auto is powered by a car's cigarette lighter and takes just two minutes to prepare a high-quality espresso coffee.

Users simply fill the device with water, insert a coffee pod and plug it in. The £125 device then heats the water and after reaching 16 bars of pressure beeps and pours your coffee.

As an added bonus the Handpresso will also make your car smell of coffee… especially if you end up spilling espresso all over your interior.

Ikea have built a full apartment inside a Paris subway station -- and let five Parisians move in for six days.

The unusual marketing stunt in Auber station is intended to show commuters what they could achieve with a bit of Swedish furniture.

Glass walls allows people using the station between Jan 9 and Jan 14 to watch the five housemate who can also be seen in videos on the Ikea Facebook page.

This video shows a time-lapse video shows the construction of the 54m2 apartment and the tenants moving into their unusual accommodation.

These heart-stopping pictures of an office which appears to be floating in thin air have give high-flying business meetings a new meaning.

Designed by Scandinavian architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen, the new headquarters for Copenhagen-based mortgage bank Nykredit has captured people's attention around the world.

That's because the ten-storey glass structure features a large atrium complete with three suspended meeting rooms that are cantilevered off of the third and fifth floors.

Hanging 50ft above the ground floor, the private conference rooms are placed in hanging boxes clad in dark polished wood - meaning high-flying managers at the bank must have a stomach for heights as well as a brain for figures.

A moat-crossing bridge which was designed to blend into the background at a Dutch fort has become a tourist attraction itself after being dubbed the 'Moses bridge'.

Bosses at RO & AD Architects said it would have been "improper" to build a bridge across the West Brabant Water Line in Halsteren, so set about creating an invisible crossing.

The result was an amazing (and award-winning) Moses-style sunken walkway beneath the water level at Fort de Roovere

A spokesperson for RO & AD Architects said: "Its construction is entirely made of wood, waterproofed with foil." We think they forgot to mention the magic.

Living in a city-centre might not prevent you from embracing your bee-keeper dreams for much longer -- after Phillips revealed the urban beehive.

Designers who say we are disturbing its equilibrium, have tried to tackle the issue of dwindling bee numbers with the bizarre concept.

The urban beehive is designed to fit to the windows of apartment blocks and consists of a entry passage and flower pot outside and a glass vessel containing an array of honeycomb frames, inside.

The glass shell filters light to let through the orange wavelength which bees use for sight. The frames are provided with a honeycomb texture for bees to build their wax cells on.

To access the honey, users pull a cord to release smoke into the hive and calm the bees before it's opening it… and if it's not working you've just got 10,000 angry bees in your flat.

There is no denying that facial hair can help you keep warm in the winter. And while not everyone can grow a full bushy beard… they could buy this hat.

The Beardo is a Canadian-designed beanie which has become an instant fashion hit since it went on sale online -- because it includes an instant beard.

Makers say the hat-beard-combo is "always guaranteed to be full, perfectly coiffed, and super soft" and that you don't have to worry about itching or scratching.

While the acrylic yarn facial fuzz is adjustable and can fit any face, it can also be stowed away in the hat for the occasions a knitted beard might not be appropriate… though we can't imagine when that would be.