Those Wacky Folks at IBM

IBM may have sold off its PC division to Lenovo, shrunk the size of its organization, and still be thought of as "the suits," but its chip designs still power many of the gadgets we use today, including Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo machines. One of the few companies that still encourages research, IBM's Corporate Design Center has been at work banging out concepts for all sorts of new devices.

I caught up with Bob Steinbugler, design-services program manager, who works with the team in Research Triangle Park. He let me peek into his briefcase full of designs in progress. If I could title the experience it would be "The Orient Meets James Watson."

First up, I saw a very Zen-like MP3 that looked like polished stone. Swiveling the stone turned it off and on. and dropping the stone in what looked like a rice bowl (actually a magnetized docking station) charged the device. Definitely a status symbol for the right executive.

Next came the pocket-sized DJ soundboard/mix machine called the Music and Creativity Console that looked like two scroll wheels on the end of a stick with a display in their midst. Third, a shiny Bluetooth-enabled heart-shaped necklace designed for a young girl emerged. The necklace held 20 songs that played when you squeezed. There also were phones as versatile as food processors, which allowed you to leave the base and take only the attachments you needed.

None of these things will be branded as IBM in their final incarnations, but if you ever find yourself squeezing a heart-shaped necklace to play a song, well, you can know that IBM was THINKING about you.