Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor chip maker, and the immensely popular blog Design Milk asked us to develop a concept laptop bag to coincide with the launch of the new Acer Aspire S Series Ultrabook. So in two days’ time, we conceived the next gen laptop bag. The casing is made from replaceable, customizable molded neoprene panels with a hard plastic interior casing. The design utilizes wireless charging technology, popular among communication and electronic devices, by incorporating the technology into the bag’s inner tray. In other words, the bag is the charger. The carrying strap features a USB connector and built-in adaptor so you can plug your bag directly into an electrical outlet. Or you can use the USB port to connect directly into another computer, thereby allowing the bag to charge. That same USB port can allow for the laptop bag, with its own build-in memory, to act as a thumb drive. Because the new Acer features speakers on the bottom edges of the computer, the charging tray also features two amplification cavities to allow for the sound to reflect upward, offering greater audibility.

We live, work and move more quickly than ever before. Even the simplest of tasks (i.e., charging a laptop) can eat up valuable time. This new take on the laptop bag questions not only what our rituals are with regard to our technology, it begins to challenge and redefine what the laptop bag is and our relationship to it. This is a vital way of thinking about the future of computing and our role within that future. We have to work better, quicker and smarter. Everything that we live with should accommodate this way of working and living, not impede it.