When Bruce Sterling spoke at NEXT last year, he talked of the delights of design fictions: ideas of product that could be, but weren’t yet, worked up to feel as if they existed. A couple of such fictions have crossed our paths in recent weeks, that rethink something as sophisticated as an aircraft, or as simple as a pair of heels…

High above the streets and houses

If you have real issues with heights or flying, you might not want to watch this video. For the rest of us – could this be a future vision of the air travel experience?

Now, I’m not entirely convinced that a full-sky view is going to comfit the average short-haul flyer. But seamless use of screens to turn “dead” surfaces into something more lively seems like a good plan to me.

[via Quartz]

Click your heels three times

This is a neat little idea – a device you clip into your shoes, and which talks to your phone. Preset an action – like a fake call to end a bad date, or an Über call to extend a great one – and then click your heels together three times:

For all the twee fun of the video – it’s a great example of how a subtle emergency trigger could be added to a phone.