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Top modern gifts for people who love great design – YD Holiday Gift Guide 2021

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We took the thinking and planning out of gift-giving so you don’t have to worry about what to buy for yourself or for a loved one this holiday season! Here’s a list of great home, kitchen, and lifestyle products to spark joy in your life and the lives of the people around you. The one thing that’s common across all of them? The fact that they’re clever and innovative products that get the stamp of approval from the design-elves at the YD headquarters.

Be sure to snag some of these products while they’re around (and on discount), or share them with a friend/relative/partner if you want to give them hints!

Air6+ Air Purifier by YFLife

The AIR6Plus purifier by YFLife is about the size of a smart speaker and can be placed anywhere within the house… yet within it is air purifying technology so advanced, it’s even used by NASA. Referred to as photocatalytic oxidation or PCO, this technology obliterates any kind of germ or organic compound, turning it into CO2 and water. The technology would normally sound like overkill for using inside our homes on planet earth, but considering deteriorating air quality, the presence of pathogens, and a whole host of other organic compounds (smoke even) … it actually makes for a rather advanced air purifier that gives you the cleanest breathable air possible. Operating with a simple touch of a button, the AIR6Plus comes with 3 fan modes, and can sanitize the air down to 0.001 micrometers within a space of 360 sqft without generating any sound or even any waste… and with a ridiculously energy-efficient power consumption of 13W (that’s about as much as an LED bulb). Grab one for a YD-special discount below!
Click Here to Buy Now. 15% Discount Code YankoHolidays15

Nanopresso Handheld Espresso Maker by Wacaco

An espresso-maker that’s smaller than a Starbucks cup, the Nanopresso from Wacaco is designed to give you the most luxuriously rich and crema-laden coffee wherever you go. Just load hot water into the Nanopresso, pack coffee grounds into the pod (or use a Nespresso pod of your own), and the Nanopresso’s custom-designed pumping system can generate a whopping 18 bars (261 PSI) of pressure, pushing the hot water right through the tightly packed coffee grounds to produce up to 80ml (or two shots) of pure concentrated espresso. The Nanopresso also comes with a cup to dispense your fresh coffee in, and requires no electricity to use, making it perfect both at home or even outdoors. Once you’re caffeinated for the day, the Nanopresso is easy to clean, and even comes with a nifty EVA foam case to carry it around in!
Click Here to Buy Now

Koda 12 Compact Pizza Oven by Ooni

Imagine never having to stand for hours outside Lucali’s to get some crazy good Neapolitan-style pizza. Or rather, imagine being able to make that pizza right at home! That’s what the Koda by Ooni promises, with its ridiculously compact design that can frankly sit on most outdoor tabletops, letting you turn any table into an instant pizzeria. The Koda 12 is small enough to make a 12-inch pizza or calzone, and comes with a foldable design that you can flat-pack and carry home with you once you’re done (and once the pizza oven’s cooled down, obviously). The compact little gas-powered oven takes mere minutes to set up, and can heat up to ripping dough-baking temperatures in just 15 minutes. Use it to make pizzas, breads, babkas, steaks, or even grill veggies!
Click Here to Buy Now

Nanoleaf Shapes Modular Wall Lights by Nanoleaf

The year is 2021 and wallpaper has just been rendered obsolete. Meet the Nanoleaf Shapes, a series of slim, smart LED panels that come in geometric shapes and can be connected to one another to create a dynamic work of art on your walls. The modular panels can be used to create shapes, patterns, textures, even text, and they add a touch of color to spaces when off, but completely transform the ambiance of a room when switched on! The smart LED panels work via touch, and can instantly be transformed into an interactive installation that changes hues when you touch any of the panels. Alternatively, they can connect to your smart speaker and change colors to the rhythm of the music you play, or better still, hook them to your television and activate Match Mode, which lets the Nanoleaf panels light up to match the colors on your TV screen, creating an immersive experience that’s nonpareil!
Click Here to Buy Now

Bradley Element Tactile Wristwatch by Eone

Easily one of the most iconic watches of modern time, the Bradley watch from Eone comes with a spectacular design that’s backed by an even more incredible story. Named after former naval officer and Paralympic Gold medalist Bradley Snyder, the watch hopes to champion inclusive design by being a timepiece that you can read not just with your eyes, but with your hands too. The watch hopes to celebrate the brave legacy of officer Bradley, who lost his vision while diffusing bombs during his time stationed in Afghanistan. Championing Bradley’s no-can-do attitude, the watch features two ball-bearings that magnetically travel around the timepiece’s face to read the time (one bearing on the front tells the minutes, and another on the rim tells the hours). The wearer can simply run their finger across the watch to feel for the bearings and get an immediate sense of what the time is. If the bearings shift position while you touch them, they can slide immediately back thanks to the underlying magnets… which make the award-winning tactile timepiece double up as a nifty toy too!
Click Here to Buy Now

Millo Wireless Blender by Millo

Designed like something out of Apple’s or Dyson’s design studio, the Millo is a smart, sophisticated, and silent blender, that makes 4x lesser noise than your conventional blender, generates twice as less heat, and 2x more energy efficient. Moreover, using it is bafflingly futuristic. Just load your smoothie ingredients into the Millo, screw the top on, and rest it inverted on the base… and just like a phone starts charging the moment you rest it on a wireless-charging surface, the Millo begins whirring and blitzing all your ingredients into a fine smoothie. You can control the Millo’s intensity by sliding your finger around the rim of the base, as lights under the surface come to life, letting you see what power you’re running the blender at. When you’re done, lift the blender up and the blade magically stops spinning. It’s a sight to absolutely admire! Yes, this blender is everything Steve Jobs would love. It’s sleek, wireless, quiet, and removes any ugly mechanical details that would blemish the blender’s pristine design. Oh, and the base is made out of Aluminium too!
Click Here to Buy Now

ZenBeam Latte L1 Portable Projector by ASUS

Rather adorably named the Latte, this coffee-glass-shaped device from ASUS is actually a portable projector, capable of delivering 720p content while also functioning as a speaker-system. The ZenBeam Latte blends 720p HD projection and Harman/Kardon audio performance into a compact, lightweight, and ultra-portable design that’s similar in size, shape, and weight to a grande cup of coffee. The tiny projector can project screens measuring up to 120-inches in size, and works seamlessly with iOS and Android devices. Go ahead and Netflix & Chill in style!
Click Here to Buy Now

Levitating Smart Moon Lamp by Gingko

Dim the lights and switch the Gingko Smart Moon Lamp on and it quite literally looks like you’ve got a supermoon inside your home! Having gone certifiably viral on TikTok, its gravity-defying levitating design completes the illusion, creating a pretty remarkable-looking prop that’s great for decor as well as photography! The floating moon comes 3D printed from translucent PLA, complete with craters and undulating surface details to make it look like the real thing, and it floats on its base too, gently rotating as a planetary object would. 140mm (5.5 inches) in diameter, the moon floats on a wooden base made of dark walnut or light ash wood, suspended in place by a strong rare-earth magnet. It comes with built-in LEDs that give the moon its signature glow, with 3 light temperatures to choose from – warm white (3500k) and white (5000k), and a special yellow warm (2700k) for that rare blood moon effect! Each Smart Moon Lamp comes with its base and a 12V- 1A AD adapter to power the entire experience. Plus, Gingko offers a cool 2-year warranty that should quite literally send you ‘over the moon!’
Click Here to Buy Now

The post Top modern gifts for people who love great design – YD Holiday Gift Guide 2021 first appeared on Yanko Design.

YD Handpicks: Perfect Star Wars-inspired products to kick off May 4th!

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The fourth day of the fifth month of the year holds no scientific or religious significance, but still is one of the most pop-culturally important days in the year. Why, you ask? Because the fourth of May is celebrated by nerds, movie buffs, and pop-cult lovers alike as Star Wars Day. Often heralded by greeting fellow Star Wars lovers with “May the Fourth be with you”, a hat-tip to an iconic dialogue from the film. Today, we celebrate the iconic series that spawned a culture that spread so far and wide, it’s probably also recognized in galaxies far far away. Here are a few designs that capture the phenomenon that is Star Wars!

Pangea Millennial Falcon Waffle Maker

Producing probably the best waffles in the galaxy, Pangea’s Deluxe Millennial Falcon Waffle Maker creates iconic starship-shaped waffles, with even browning on both sides thanks to its weighted lid and in-built thermostat. It even packs two LEDs that tell you when to pour batter, and when the waffles are perfectly golden and ready absolutely devour. Click Here to Buy Now

Plox Levitating Death Star Speaker

Perhaps the coolest application of levitation technology, the 5 watt speaker defies gravity as well as epectations. Pumping out some sick tunes using the Bluetooth connection to a smartphone or playback device, the speaker gradually performs 360 degree rotations like a planet, while also pushing out sound in every direction. Click Here to Buy Now

Onnit Star Wars Kettlebells

Star Wars-inspired gym equipment that takes “force being with you” perhaps a little too literally, these kettlebells are shaped like iconic characters from the films. Made from chip-resistant iron, the bells weigh 50, 60, and 70lbs respectively, and work as gym-equipment as well as fan-collectibles! Click Here to Buy Now

X-Wing Knife Block

The X-Wing Knife Block has a way of making your knives look menacingly futuristic. With the ability to dock 5 knives, the X-Wing inspired block takes knife blades and uses them as laser-turrets. Can it knock enemy spaceships out of the sky? No, but it can julienne vegetables, pretty well! Click Here to Buy Now

ThinkGeek Darth Vader Clapper

No Star Wars reference is complete without perhaps the greatest antagonist of all time… Mr. Vader himself. While the human species is far from being able to perform mind-control the way Darth Vader can, ThinkGeek’s Vader Clapper allows you to turn appliances on and off with a clap. I’d say that’s sort of just as impressive. Click Here to Buy Now

The Fowndry Darth Vader Kettle

How does Vader like his tea? Burning hot! Although he doesn’t complain if it’s Luke-warm either… The Fowndry’s hilarious, quirky kettle pays tribute to one of cinema’s most popular villains. Designed with a silhouette that uncannily resembles Vader’s helmet, the Darth Vader Kettle comes made in Stainless Steel and Plastic, has a 1.7L capacity, and a whistle that the creators describe as being powerful enough to “awaken the Force”! We’re loving every bit of the adaptation, especially the handle that was designed to resemble the grip of Darth Vader’s lightsaber.

Darth Vader ToothSaber

Bordering on a novelty item, this one’s a favorite just for the mechanism behind it. The toothpicks get housed in Vader’s cloak, and every time you use the toothpick Vader is holding onto, you can trigger his hand to reach into his cloak and promptly grab another one. The mechanism is virtually an eyegasm to look at, and the product, truly inspired! Click Here to Buy Now

Darth Vader Toaster

This one’s more than just a Vader-shaped toasting appliance. It even goes as far as to brand your toast with the official Star Wars logo! Pop in anything from bread, pancakes, buns, or English Muffins and they instantly go from regular food to food fit for the biggest geek in the Galaxy! Click Here to Buy Now

YD Handpicks: Celebrating the Chinese New Year with 8 winning designs from China

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With a little help from our friends at the Red Dot Design Awards, we’re kicking off the Chinese New Year with 8 award-winning designs from Chinese designers curated from the past year’s Red Dot Awards. Wishing all our readers a wonderful and bountiful ‘year of the pig’, from the YD family to yours.
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01. Segway Ninebot Gokart Kit by Bowen Cai, Yongjie Li, Ji Lin
Imagine if you could take your hoverboard, add two more tires and a steering wheel to it and fashion a go-kart for yourself. Why that’s what the Segway Ninebot is. Designed as an attachment to the $499 Segway Mini Pro, the Ninebot turns a last-mile commutation device into a fun, electric go-kart that can be driven around practically anywhere! The company claims that the Segway-Ninebot electric gokart can accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h) in under 2 seconds and can support riders of up to 220 lbs.

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02. Build-Fender by Chen Chi-Shan
The Build Fender is part architectural marvel, part massive eco-system. Inspired by how biological cells work together to clean and sustain a system, the Build Fender skyscraper imagines different ‘cell components’ in a building that have different functions and effects. When combined, they create a building that works around-the-clock like a living ecosystem that minimizes its impact on the environment and actively purifies the air that passes through it on a massive scale.

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03. Knitting Lounger by Liang Chen, Ma Qianli
Inspired by a type of Asian knitting handicraft that integrates aesthetics and functionality, the designers made full use of the merits of knitting and created this ergonomic outdoor furniture. The concept of knitting delivers a sense of interweaving and the ropes used for knitting are made from a water-proof material, requiring less maintenance and upkeep.

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04. Forseti Axe by Tony Chui Pak Ho
Designed as a modern take on the axe, the Forseti relooks the axe’s basic construction of a handle and a blade. The new design looks much more integrated, but what’s interesting is how the blade is designed as a plug-in-plug-out module that fits almost flush into the metal handle, creating an almost monolithic product that can always be repaired/maintained by simply switching blade-pieces by discarding the old blade and plugging in a new one!

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05. SHO by Pan Biwei
Practically a hallmark of simplicity and effectiveness, the Sho is made of literally two parts. A frame and a mattress. However, it can exist in three states. As a bed (with the mattress used as-is), as a comfortable chair, and as a reclining lounge chair. The SHO works well as instant furniture, be it in low-cost apartments, or at disaster relief sites. The metal framework is foldable, and when opened out, allows you to tuck the mattress into it, turning it either into a comfortable chair with a backrest, or into a lounging recline you can lean into. Independently, the mattress serves as a bed for one, allowing you to have three pieces of furniture that use just two simple objects.

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06. Fu-Chair by Wei-Chen Chang, Pei-Chun Hsueh, Po-Wei Tsai, Zhen-Ling You
Fu-Chair’s brilliance is in its duality. Designed as two chairs stacked upside down on each other, the Fu-Chair can either be used as one single chair with armrests (and a storage space for books below the seat) or as two separate stools. Ingenious, eh?!

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07. Cloud Cooker Hood by Jin Ze, Ye Tian, Zhang Haonan, Zhu Lingjie
Inspired by traditional Chinese paper-cutting art, the Cloud Cooker Hood uses undulating sheets to form a hood that looks flat when closed, and turns into an organic chimney/hood when open, allowing fumes to exit the kitchen while also adding a touch of aesthetics to the decor of the room.

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08. Connect by Li Enxin, Miao Xinyi, Tao Zhixiang , Wang Fubing, Zhang Jing
Created for the kindergarten environment, the Connect is a fun table-setup that allows you to join or separate desks based on need. Connecting plates allow you to create different sort of patterns that immediately turn the kindergarten into a place of fun, allowing kids to experiment with forms and layouts, while also improving their dexterity and understanding of furniture and of puzzles. Having the Connect in any kindergarten will automatically make it a place of learning and a place of fun!

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The YD 2018 Holiday Gift Guide

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The fact that it’s mid-December already, means two things. The holidays, and the new year. It’s a time to get together with family, friends, and even co-workers to share the warm feeling of joy that beats the cold temperatures of wintertime. The YD Holiday Gift Guide is our way of spreading the joy too! We’ve got a selection of products we love (and that we know you’ll love too), to own or to gift to a loved one. They’re sure to enrich lives, bring about smiles, and make the season of giving truly a remarkable one! A very happy holiday season from the YD family!
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01. Pantone Formula Guide (Color Of The Year 2019 Edition) by Pantone
To normal people, you give calendars and planners around the new year. To designers, you give Pantone’s Formula Guide with the latest color of the year! With 2019 being all about happiness and optimism, Pantone’s Color of 2019 is Living Coral, a beautiful, heartwarming shade of, let’s say red. The Formula Guide comes in two booklets, with coated (glossy) and uncoated (matte) hues listed on each. Aside from the regular Formula series of 1,867 solid colors, the Color Of The Year edition even comes with the additional 112 colors of the new year, and even access to Pantone’s Color Manager Software that lets you have digital access to the hues for use in your work!

Click Here to Buy Now

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02. Ember Connected Copper Mug by Ember
Nothing’s more magical than a mug that heats its contents on its own. The Ember Temperature Control Mug, a product that we love, now comes in Copper too! The mug lets you pick a temperature through the Ember app and then it maintains your beverage at that constant temperature. It cools down drinks if they’re too hot, and heats up the beverage you left around at room-temperature, so just like Goldilocks (or in this case, Copperilocks), your drink is just right, every time! The mug comes with a completely waterproof design (it can be washed under running water or placed in the dishwasher), and hosts no controls. Just set the temperature through the app and the mug heats up if it detects liquids inside it. Click below to preorder the upcoming Copper Edition, or click here to buy the original edition.

Click Here to Pre-Order

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03. Yaktrax Summit by Yaktrax
Designed to be snapped on to your trekking shoes when you need every bit of traction you can get, the Yaktrax Summit looks bold, rugged, and like it can do the job. The Summit straps to any shoe (you buy it according to your shoe size), and secures itself tightly. The chains provide traction, but not as much as the 3/8” curved sawtooth stainless steel spikes that dig right into the ice or snow, making sure you’ll never lose grip. The rugged design and blue/black combo play well with the rough, snowy conditions in which the Yaktrax would be absolutely ideal. When not in use, the Yaktrax Summit fit beautifully into a drawstring bag that’s easy to carry them around without hurting anyone or damaging anything.

Click Here to Buy Now

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04. Snowflake Multitool by HexFlex
What’s a more perfect wintertime holiday gift (even if it’s for yourself) than a snowflake-shaped multitool?! Designed to get you out of any fix, this snowflake-shaped, winter-appropriate multitool fits 14 different tools into its small form factor. Originally designed to be a snowboard tool, the HexFlex Snowflake Multitool comes made in stainless steel and fastens right to your keychain, allowing you to carry it around wherever you go, giving you the power to open stuff from bottles to boxes, and tighten or loosen screws and bolts whenever needed!

Click Here to Buy Now

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05. Pet Holiday Keepsake Ornaments by Pearhead
Remember in your childhood when you’d string together popped corn and wrap it around your tree? Or you’d make ornaments out of papier-mâché and revel in nostalgia as you took them out each year to place on your Christmas tree? The Pet Holiday Keepsake Ornaments are like the same thing, but they involve your pet too! Take the quick-drying putty and use your pet’s pay to make an imprint on it and once it dries, voila! You’ve got yourself a beautiful little Christmas ornament with your pet’s touch to it! The ornament lasts forever and is a great keepsake to have with you for life!

Click Here to Buy Now

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06. Stretch Expandable Trivet by Joseph Joseph
The ‘Stretch’ Expandable Silicone Trivet by Joseph Joseph is by far the most ideal gift to grace this list. Made with heat-resistant silicone, and an expandable design, the trivet occupies a small amount of space in the drawer when not in use. However, take it out for a feast and spread it across the table, and you’ve got ample space to place hot utensils from large casseroles to elongated gravy boats, to even multiple pots and pans on it, protecting the table and tablecloth from the heat. A perfectly large trivet for feasts, potlucks, and get-togethers!

Click Here to Buy Now

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07. Porthole Infuser by Crucial Detail
The Porthole Infuser does exactly what you think it does. It allows you to make everything from infused cocktails, to syrups, to oils, dressings, or even cold-brewed artisan teas and coffees. Inspired by a submarine or ship’s porthole style window, the Porthole Infuser is a circular vessel with transparent panels on both sides, literally offering a window into the liquid infusion process happening on the inside. Go ahead, make yourself some incredibly heartwarming and life-affirming mulled wine to sip in the chilly weather!

Click Here to Buy Now

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08. Zippo Hand Warmer by Zippo
Zippo’s Hand Warmer literally puts the feeling of sitting near a bonfire, in your pocket! This flame-less catalytic heater fits on your palm, emanating heat for 6-12 hours (depending on the size). Hold it in your hand or stash it in your pocket to get the cozy warmth that’s comparable to placing your hands near the fire. The Hand Warmer uses lighter fluid and a carbon felt filter to burn without a flame, emanating just the right amount of heat to give your fingers the warmth it needs in the cold winters!

Click Here to Buy Now

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The YD Guide to Pocket Knife Design

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We’ve covered quite a few EDC knives over the years without realizing that there’s no resource that guides you through the types of knives. Knife blades have evolved from culture and from need. Some knives are designed for everyday tasks, some for rough outdoor use, some for hunting, and some for combat/self-defence. Each blade design has a distinct silhouette, and has developed over the years based on need and on use. Knife materials have evolved over time too, ranging from the various alloys of steel, to Titanium, to even some with ceramic coatings for extra strength.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but rather focuses on highlighting different common types of blade designs that exist in the world of EDC, their purposes, and showcasing one exemplary knife in each category!
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Straight Back

One of the most common knife blade designs, the straight back is called so because of the blade’s straight spine. Perhaps one of the most old-school styles, the Straight Back features a straight-ish blade edge too, with the edge curving tightly right at the end to meet the spine. These knives are common and easy to maintain and work wonderfully for cutting or slicing tasks, thanks to the long, straight blade. The County, by James Brand, embodies the simple beauty of the straight back, with a long, 2.5inch Sandvik steel blade and an exquisite ebony wood and stainless steel handle to match!
Click Here to Buy Now
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Drop Point

A common knife design for hunting, the drop point is called so because the spine of the blade (above the edge) drops downward, Giving it a more pronounced tip. The edge of the blade travels upwards to meet the gently dropping spine at this somewhat centrally located tip, making it a knife that’s almost as functional as a spear, and an ideal knife for piercing. Most Swiss Army Knife multitools make use of the Drop Point knife, but our favorite is the Gerber Pocket Square. Almost halfway between the straight back and the drop point, the Pocket Square’s blade has a spine that does a gentle drop. Obviously, the modern drop point isn’t meant for combat or hunting, but could work well for any sort of cutting, slicing, and piercing work you’d want to do outdoors. It has an elegantly designed handle to allow it to blend into your urban lifestyle too, making it a rare piece of EDC that appeals to the urban as well as the rustic!
Click Here to Buy Now
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Clip Point

The Clip Point follows the same style of nomenclature as the last two blade types. While the straight back came with a straight spine, while the drop point had a curved, dropping spine, the clip point comes with a spine that travels straight for a portion of the distance before suddenly clipping across in a concave cut. If the drop point provides a sharp tip for piercing, the clip point goes the extra distance by making the tip a little bit narrower and therefore sharper. A common blade for hunting, the clip point’s tip can pierce hard surfaces, but damages easily too, given how fragile and thin it can be. The Gator by Gerber is considered a classic in the clip point category. In production since 1991 (when it was voted as the most innovative knife of the year), the Gator comes with a stainless steel blade and a glass-filled-nylon handle with an alligator-leather texture for superior grip.
Click Here to Buy Now
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Spear Point

There’s a very small distinction between a drop point and a spear point. Both of them have the spine and the edge converging and curving towards a centrally located tip, but the spear point’s spine is ground down to have a sharp edge too. While drop point blade spines are usually thick, spear point blades have thinner spines, almost like spears. This gives them the advantage of having sharper tips than drop point knives, and somewhat more resilient tips as compared to clip point knives. The CRKT Snap Lock makes the cut in this category quite simply for its brilliant design. Produced in 2004 (when it won the most innovative knife award), the Snap Lock was a runaway success, but CRKT discontinued its production after a few years to move onto newer designs. Given how popular it was (especially for its incredibly innovative folding mechanism), the company finally decided to reissue the knife and the Snap Lock was resurrected. You can’t say that about most knives!
Click Here to Buy Now
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Sheepsfoot

The Sheepsfoot features a straight blade and a curved spine, resulting in a blade that looks almost like a sheep’s foot or hoof. In most ways, it’s the absolute opposite of the Straight Back and features a design where the tip aligns with the blade’s edge. The Sheepsfoot blade design offers a nice, long, straight edge for cutting and carving (and can be easily sharpened too), whereas the tip isn’t particularly pronounced, and doesn’t work for piercing. The SOG Snarl is a wonderful example of a Sheepsfoot blade that doesn’t let its size be a disadvantage. Small and potent, like a stick of dynamite, the Snarl comes with a one-piece construction that fits easily on lanyards or even in pockets (it comes with a nylon sheath). With an overall length of 4.3 inches (half of which is the blade), the Snarl has two ways of gripping it. Traditionally, holding the area behind the blade like a handle, or using its finger-hole for far more dexterity and control… allowing you to go about all sorts of tasks with it by holding it in a fashion that works better for you.
Click Here to Buy Now
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Kiridashi

The Kiridashi comes with an unusually small cutting edge that occupies just a tiny part of the blade. The best and most common example is the medical scalpel. Extremely sharp and with a nasty tip, the Kiridashi is supposed to be an all-purpose utility tool that works in any and every situation. Inspired by the Japanese Kiridashi, but with a design that elevates the original, the Craighill Desk Knife is daringly unique, enough to make our selection for this category. Just over five inches long and slightly thicker than a half inch, Craighill’s Desk Knife has the proportions of a chunky metal pen, but comes with truncations on its sides to reveal a Kiridashi-style blade where the two truncations taper off. This makes the Desk Knife an absolute treat to hold, as it fits beautifully into one’s grip, and even to maneuver, making for a handy, and suave looking letter opener, box cutter, or scalpel-style paper cutter. Graceful, tasteful, and practical, the Craighill Desk Knife looks and feels remarkably unique, with a design that’s oh-so-simple but equally breath-taking!
Click Here to Buy Now
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Tanto

Another Japanese blade, the Tanto is named after a traditional short dagger that was carried by the samurai of feudal Japan. Tanto blades come with straight lines and sharp cuts. Imagine the Straight Back knife, but instead of having the edge curving to meet the spine at the tip, the Tanto’s edge breaks into two, creating two edges and two tips. The tanto’s blade works well in combat/tactical situations as well as works wonderfully as a recreational outdoor EDC knife blade too. CRKT’s Septimo tanto blade, however, has a more intriguing backstory. Designed by Jeremy Valdez of the 7th Special Forces Group (hence the name ‘Septimo’, meaning seven), the Septimo’s main motivation for this design arose from his 2009 deployment to Afghanistan, where, the lack of a proper slicing tool prevented him from being able to cut through straps or move debris, following a helicopter crash. Duty to his fallen comrades and brothers and sisters in arms drove him to design the Septimo with a tanto-style blade for use as both a safety tool as well as a combat weapon a desert-proof black oxide finish. The blade even features a single serration at its base (near the hinge) for effective strap-cutting ability.
Click Here to Buy Now
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Karambit/Talon

With a distinct blade that looks like an eagle’s talons, the Karambit comes from Southeast Asia. Used in both hunting and combat, the Karambit was designed to be held both straight or upside down, and used for swift, slashing motions, cutting through tough fruit/vegetables, hide, or even in combat. The Karambit, today, still sees itself being used sparingly in Filipino martial arts, but is more popular as a collector’s EDC knife, solely for its intriguing nature-inspired claw design. Probably the most intriguing of them all, CRKT’s Provoke comes with a karambit blade and an unusual folding mechanism. It uses a parallel motion linkage, as opposed to a single-point swivel. The result is a knife where the blade can slide outwards even as your palm is wrapped around the handle. The action is swift, decisive, and the blade doesn’t even have to touch your palm or fingers as it slides outwards and in, and works in the same way a jungle cat’s claws deploy or retract, probably paying the greatest homage to the Karambit’s claw-inspiration. It also makes the Provoke incredibly hypnotic to look at (especially in slow motion!).
Click Here to Pre-Order
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YD Cyber Monday Wishlist: Dope Tech for Designers!

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This time’s Cyber Monday Deals List comes with a slight twist! This is our collection of tech that should be in every designer’s wishlist/gift-list. If you have any of these goodies, you probably swear by them, and if you don’t own any of them, now’s a better time than ever! Here’s our list of dope tech that should be in every designer’s arsenal of digital weaponry!
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01. MX Vertical Mouse by Logitech
Inspired by the formation the hand makes during a natural handshake, Logitech’s MX Vertical Mouse is a beautiful piece of design intervention that actually makes it easier to use your mouse for hours at an end. Tilting at an angle of 57° off the horizontal plane that is your table, the MX Vertical feels halfway between a mouse and a joystick. It can be held onto for hours, being maneuvered without strain, and is even easy on your wrist too, shifting the movement from side-side to up-down. Built with the regular left and right click buttons and the scroll wheel, the MX Vertical ups the ante with two more buttons for your thumb, and another button on the top. It even comes with a rubber gripping area with this subtle texture that looks absolutely welcoming!

Click Here to Buy Now

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02. QooCam by Kandao
With three fisheye lenses, a swiveling 45° joint, and a lens cover that turns into a stand, the multiple-award-winning Kandao QooCam can be a regular action camera, a 360° camera, a 3D Stereoscopic camera, and even a webcam. The slim camera that literally fits into the grip of your hand comes with stabilizers on all the lenses to make sure that your videos are jitter-free. Aside from capturing in 4K, the camera can even record at 120fps, albeit at a lower resolution. Switch to the stereoscopic mode and things get even more interesting. Capture 3D stills and videos that can be later played back on a VR headset, or better still, use QooCam’s 3D depth-sensing technology to capture regular 2D stills, but with the ability to focus anywhere within the picture AFTER clicking it, giving you the effect of using the portrait mode on a dual-camera phone, although with much better quality and much more control. Another trick up its sleeve is its lens-cover, that doubles up as a rather useful stand for the QooCam, allowing you to prop it up on a flat surface (there’s even a tripod mount, for better control).

A must-have for designers who also want to be content creators (especially in VR), or if you just want to capture sweet HDRI maps to use in your rendering software as backgrounds for your cars or even products!

Click Here to Buy Now

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03. Oculus Go by Oculus
The Oculus Go is the perfect dedicated VR headset if you want to begin working in VR but don’t want to break the bank. At a price that’s incredibly competitive, this untethered VR headset is brilliant. It doesn’t connect to a laptop or desktop, so not only is it completely wireless, you don’t need to own an expensive system too. It comes with in-built storage and a dedicated controller to browse through content. Obviously, the Oculus Go isn’t for heavy-lifting… you can’t 3D model in it, but you can view 3D files/content as well as 360° media in it. Besides, Netflix on the Oculus Go is an absolute experience to be had. Trust me!

Click Here to Buy Now

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04. Mountie+ by Ten One Design
They say the new iPad Pro is worthy of being quite literally as powerful as a laptop… but what would you (the average laptop owner) do with two laptops? I say merge them together into a super-laptop. The Mountie+ is an incredibly small, incredibly strong clip that allows you to fasten displays to your laptop screen, allowing you to have extended monitors, or multiple screens to work with. Use it with any tablet you may have (or even your phone) and mirror your laptop’s content to a new secondary screen… or use it to prototype your work on a tablet or smartphone. The Mountie+ is extremely reliable, allows you to mount your devices in landscape or portrait, and with the use of a simple connecting cable and mirroring app, gives you a lag-free secondary screen wherever you go, making it absolutely ideal for the designer who wants to work on and prototype digital products at the same time, or for the office goer who wants to work and facetime/conference together, or just the serial multitasker. Want to push things a step further? Use two Mounties on either side and go full-on panoramic!

Click Here to Buy Now

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05. Cellphone Podcaster Kit by K&F Concept
This rather neat phone-mount comes with a built-in tripod as well as its own condenser microphone. Not only a rather neat facetiming kit, this uber-cool product courtesy K&F Concept makes for a great kit for recording podcasts, unboxing videos, DIY videos, or just process videos of you to use along with screen-grabs of your work. A great way to go on from designer to design influencer, or a designer with a YouTube channel of how-to videos, the Podcaster Kit is a single, one-stop solution to converting your smartphone with its powerful front-facing camera into a podcast-making kit!

Click Here to Buy Now

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06. NeatScreen YouTuber Starter Kit by NeatScreen
Pair the Podcaster Kit with foldable, portable, durable green screen and you’ve yourself a studio too! The NeatScreen takes literally a minute to set up, and can be used to overlay any sort of background when you’re recording video. The instant-pop-up screen comes with blue and black cloth on either side, allowing you to flip it over based on your needs. The NeatScreen website also comes with its own library of high-res backgrounds you can use for various scenarios. Take your how-to videos or your product/design/unboxing reviews to the absolute max!

Click Here to Buy Now

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07. Mavic Air Drone by DJI
The Mavic Air is one of the most advanced 4K cameras on the market. It’s worth noting that this powerful 4K camera can also fly, detect and avoid obstacles, track people, and even recognize gestures. The drone comes in a beautiful, foldable design that fits into any backpack, and when opened, can fly for 21 minutes on a full battery, clicking pictures, taking panoramas, or even videos that are stabilized thanks to DJI’s world-class 3-axis gimbal. What’s more is that you can even use the Mavic Air controller with your smartphone to see what your drone sees in first-person POV. The Mavic Air can also be used to track objects like people, cars, animals, etc., and can even actively avoid obstacles or collisions on its own.

Click Here to Buy Now

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08. Nix Pro Color Sensor by Nix
Imagine stumbling across the perfect hue or color for your project, but having no way to record it. That’s the thing with colors. You can’t memorize them the way you memorize speech, or even remember an image. Once the color leaves your sight, it fades away. So what do you do when you come across a hue that you can’t get enough of? Perpetually carry Pantone Shade cards to compare colors? No, right? Just carry the Nix Pro along with you. Position it over a hue and the Nix Pro records the hue for you, quite like a real-life eye-dropper tool. It saves the colors and hues on your phone too, and allows you to tap into color standards like Pantone or CMYK to find the best way to replicate the color in your design projects.

Click Here to Buy Now

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Part TWO! The YD Black Friday Wishlist: Cool Products, Cool Deals!

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The season of giving (even if it means giving unto oneself) is upon us and we present to you PART TWO of the consolidated 2018 Black Friday Gift Guide… a list of products that wowed us, from the year gone by. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from the YD Family! Click here to check out part one of the gift wishlist!

P.S. Stay tuned for the Cyber Monday Gift Guide that drops at the beginning of next week!
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01. PlugBug Duo by TwelveSouth
I remember a meme that circulated on Instagram the minute Apple was declared a Trillion Dollar Company. It was of a frayed lightning cable, and it had the caption “This is why Apple is worth a trillion dollars”. It’s true. Apple practically loots people with their peripherals. A separate charger for your iPad and iPhone because they have different power requirements? And another one for your MacBook? Bully! The TwelveSouth PlugBug Duo takes care of those problems for you. It sits on your standard Macbook Adapter, directing power to your laptop, but ALSO giving you two additional USB ports to plug your iPhone and iPad into. What’s better is that it’s built to with a 2.1amp and 10W output that can charge your iPhone AS WELL AS your iPad, letting you effectively juice three devices together, using just one power outlet!

Click Here to Buy Now

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02. Beeline Bicycle GPS by Bee Line
Designed to simply get you from point A to B by allowing you to choose your own route, the Beeline is a rather elegant little GPS/Compass/Speedometer that puts most smart-bike apps and dashboards to shame. In a lot of ways, the Beeline does for the bicycle what the Nest did for the thermostat. It adopts a beautifully minimal circular interface, offering just the correct amount of functionality. It doesn’t distract, and it doesn’t overload itself with features. It does its job marvelously and is actually designed so that you pay less attention to it and more attention to your route.

Available in a robust, damage-proof and waterproof silicone casing, the Beeline can be strapped to any bike handlebar, and can even be used as a keychain when you’re done with your ride… because you’re sure to get very possessive about this little beauty!

Click Here to Buy Now

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03. Bird Photo Booth 2.0 Bird Feeder by Bird Photo Booth
Bird photography is a tricky thing and requires expensive gear, as well as incredible amounts of patience. However, if you change your approach a bit, it isn’t that difficult. The Bird Photo Booth 2.0 lures your bird in with bait so you don’t need to search for the birds and line the perfect shot up. Just put the birdfeed in and sit back. When the birds make their way to the feeder, a motion sensor detects their presence and triggers the 4K camera on the inside which takes spectacular close-ups of the bird. It quite literally couldn’t be any easier!

Click Here to Buy Now (Enter promo code “bluejay” for $60 off)

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04. ManMower by Timothy Mount
With No-Shave-November finally on its way out, you’ll need something to trim your jawline-jungle. We recommend the ManMower, a ludicrous, genius product that’s literally a lawnmower for your face. An internal blade slices away at your facial hair, leaving just a casual, badass stubble behind, just like the lawnmower slices the grass in your lawn to a short, uniform length. The Manmower needs no electricity, no shaving cream, no water, and no prep. Just pull it out of your pocket and roll it across your jawline (you could practically do this in public too) and the Manmower cuts away at your beard, giving you a uniform stubble in no time. Crafted from surgical grade steel, the Manmower doesn’t need too much maintenance and lasts years as opposed to the razors that just last you two or three shaves.

Click Here to Buy Now

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05. Vector Smart Robot by Anki
Imagine if your Amazon Echo had a cute robot avatar. That’s what the Anki Vector is. A helpful little robot on wheels that zooms around the house following you, cheering you, and just giving you company. It can’t do the heavy-lifting that Alexa can, but you can talk to it, ask it questions, set timers, and even ask it to take pictures of you. Vector can identify people and obstacles, carefully traveling around your house without colliding against objects, and is smart enough to go charge itself when it’s running low on batteries. Totally the antithesis of the bots that you thought were going to take over humanity. No, the Vector is smol, adorable, and the next best thing to having a pet!

Click Here to Buy Now

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06. Perfect Sushi Roll Machine by Leifheit
The California Roll or the California maki is a tricky thing to make. Your ingredients need to be right at the center, around a belt of perfectly positioned sticky sushi rice, followed by the Nori or the seaweed. The sushi roll needs to be tight enough to not fall apart when cut into perfect, bite-sized discs. That’s where you could either spend years perfecting the process, or pick up a Perfect Sushi Roller by Leifheit. Yes, it’s literally called the Perfect Sushi Roller, and that isn’t hubris, it’s a guarantee. Follow the instructions and place your ingredients in the correct order, pull a lever and presto! A perfect sushi roll!

Click Here to Buy Now

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07. Levoop by Dreamfarm
A portmanteau of the words level and scoop, the Levoop is exactly that. Designed to be a large scooping spoon, the Levoop allows for precise measurements using scoops as a unit, as opposed to spoonfuls. It also comes with a leveling ring that lets you quickly and cleverly level off whatever you’re scooping with the swift action of your thumb. A movable ring around the periphery of the scoop clears off anything above the scoop’s rim, leaving you with a perfectly measured out scoopful that you can then use in your cooking. The Levoop is also a winner of the Red Dot Product Design Award for the year 2018

Click Here to Buy Now

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08. BladeBrush by Joseph Joseph
I’ve spoiled a hundred sponges and scouring pads trying to scrub a knife blade only to have the blade actually slice across the sponge, leaving a cut in it. Within twenty washes, your sponge is a fine shredded mince. Joseph Joseph’s BladeBrush tackles the problem with the company’s signature innovative style. The U-shaped brush comes with bristles on both ends, strong enough to scrub any grime off the blade, even getting in between serrations. The bristles make a perfect choice not only because they do a remarkable job cleaning the blade, but also because the blade doesn’t really slice through them, since they flex. The BladeBrush works perfectly with any sort of blade and even with cutlery, making the cleaning process easier… and it keeps your hands clean too, since you’re holding a textured rubber grip around a plastic frame, and not a soapy sponge!

Click Here to Buy Now

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Have you taken a look at PART ONE of the Black Friday Wishlist? Click here to check it out!

The YD Black Friday Wishlist: Cool Products, Cool Deals!

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The season of giving (even if it means giving unto oneself) is upon us and we present to you the consolidated 2018 Black Friday Gift Guide… a list of products that wowed us, from the year gone by. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from the YD Family!

P.S. Stay tuned for the Cyber Monday Gift Guide that drops at the beginning of next week!
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01. Royole Moon by Royole
You may remember Royole for its most recent launch, the Flexpai, a tablet that literally folds into a phone. The California start-up, however, has been around for quite a bit, designing products that enhance the way we interact digitally. The Moon is Royole’s exclusively-for-entertainment VR Headset that comes with a comfortable design that rests on your head, giving you a fully immersive audio-visual treat. Its unique design enables it to be folded down to occupy lesser space, allowing you to carry it around with you on flights, so you don’t need to rely on crummy in-flight entertainment, and to hotel rooms that have terrible cable services. Two AMOLED screens sit in front of your eyes giving you a stunning 1080p display each, while the around-ear headphones deliver crisp audio and block out external noise. True indulgence, this one!

Click Here to Buy Now

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02. Leatherman Tread Bracelet by Leatherman
Almost every tool you’ll need, from flathead screwdrivers to Phillips head screwdrivers, to hex bits, to even box wrenches, they all sit on the Leatherman Tread Bracelet which sits on your wrist. You’re quite literally armed with every tightening or loosening tool you need up your sleeve! Made from stainless steel, the bracelet is strong, resilient, and friendly on the skin… and by design, it’s TSA friendly too! What’s better is that with these cool link adapters, you can use the Leatherman Tread Bracelet as a strap for your Apple Watch! Yes, it works with the latest Watch 4 too! Click here to grab the adapter links and click below if you want a Leatherman Tread bracelet for yourself!

Click Here to Buy Now

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03. WePlenish Java by WePlenish
Imagine never running out of coffee because your coffee jar automatically orders more coffee for you when you’re running low. That’s what the WePlenish Java is. A storage unit for your coffee pods that can sense when you’re running low on your supply. It hooks to Amazon’s Dash service to order more coffee for you when you’re low, so your mind is free for more important things. The WePlenish Java hooks to your WiFi and runs on AA batteries (that last a full year), and works with coffee pods as well as other stuff like granola bars or pocket-snacks.

Click Here to Buy Now

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04. PowerUp X FPV Airplane Drone by PowerUp
Between making and testing paper planes as a child and enthusiastically flying drones as an adult, we grew up. The PowerUp X FPV Airplane Drone captures that journey called life by plugging the two experiences together. The PowerUP X augments paper planes by introducing a powerful, lightweight twin-engine to it. The engine sits atop your paper plane, controlled remotely by your phone, allowing you to drive your plane around for large amounts of time. Built in collaboration with renowned drone maker Parrot, the RC paper airplane drone comes with a camera too, letting your smartphone screen act as a viewfinder as you drive your modded-up paper airplane. Want to experience the thrill even better? Introduce a Google Cardboard or VR Headset to the mix and experience the thrill of flying around on a paper plane in first person!

Click Here to Buy Now

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05. Polaroid Pop by Polaroid
Designed quite literally with a popping contrasting color scheme, the Polaroid Pop is the classic instant-print camera with quite a few revolutionary features. For starters, it comes with a screen that lets you compose and view your shots as you take them (as well as admire them in the photo gallery later). The touch-enabled screen lets you not only cycle through photos and print the ones you want on demand, it allows you to share images on social media too… and most importantly, it comes with video and GIF recording features too for your Instagram account! With a 20mp camera on the front and Polaroid’s technology on the inside, pictures quite literally pop from the screen, and when you want to print them out, they print on 3.5” x 4.25″ paper, which is significantly larger than any of Polaroid’s other offerings. With the ability to save images, record videos, and post to social media, the Pop is an upgrade on any other instant camera, and with the ability to print out your photos on large postcard-worthy pieces of paper the Pop one-ups your smartphone!

Click Here to Buy Now

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06. Spigen Classic One iPhone X Case by Spigen
Designed to look and feel exactly like the iPhone 2G that Steve Jobs launched in 2007, the case for the iPhone X (it’s compatible with the iPhone XS too) is a nostalgic revisit that will take you down memory lane. With its signature dual-colored finish and curved body, you’d get the best of both worlds… a high-end smartphone wrapped in a beautifully ergonomic body that was designed to fit well into hands. The curved body isn’t just palm-pleasure, but also protects the phone from accidental drops, thanks to its PolyCarbonate and TPU construction; besides Spigen’s cases go through rigorous drop-tests. The case is arguably the perfect combination of the best of both worlds, giving you a taste of the future and the past, simultaneously. Oh, and it’s wireless-charging compatible too!

Click Here to Buy Now

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07. Moment Anamorphic Lens by Moment
Have you ever noticed how there’s an immense difference in quality between videos shot with your smartphone and music videos or movies? Even though smartphones are now capable of shooting in 2K or even 4K, there’s a difference in the output. It’s because of a few basic things. Color correction, frame-rate correction, stabilization, and the use of high-quality lenses. You can achieve the first two with simple software, and a hand-held gimbal should give you stable videos, but the last one’s the tough bit. A good anamorphic lens can make your videos and images look ‘cinematic’ by introducing lens flares that give your videos and photos that wow-factor (Michael Bay quite literally swears by them). Moment’s anamorphic lens shrinks that magic down into a product that can sit in front of your phone’s camera, uplifting the shots you take with it. The Anamorphic lens is compatible with Moment’s case-mount for iPhones, Galaxy phones, and Pixel phones, designed to sit exactly in front of the camera in a way that allows it to work with precision, and create spectacular looking horizontal flares that are sure to make your videos look miles ahead of the rest!

Click Here to Buy Now

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08. Ojo Nintendo Switch Projector
The Ojo Projector was designed to mirror the Nintendo Switch screen onto a much larger surface like a wall or projector screen. In other words, the Ojo Projector is a Nintendo Extendo (I really believe Ojo missed out on the wordplay opportunity). The Nintendo Switch is a great way to play Nintendo’s latest labels. It works as a solo-player device, as a mano-a-mano or co-op gaming device, connects to televisions, and even comes with its extensive Labo kit that gives it a tonne of other incredibly cool functions. The Ojo Projector gives the Switch one more feature. Expansive gaming. Just dock the Switch into the Ojo and you’ve got yourself a 120-inch screen powered by Texas Instruments DLP Technology. With a 20,000mAh battery that runs for up to 4 hours on a full charge, and dual 5w speakers providing stereo sound, you’re probably going to be glued to your game for hours… and with HDMI setup, you’re not just limited to the Switch. You can connect your phone, tablet, laptop, or even Chromecast to the Ojo Projector for universal extendo!

Click Here to Buy Now

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Psst… It isn’t friday yet! Stay tuned for PART TWO of our Black Friday wishlist tomorrow! And click here to check out last year’s Black Friday wishlist!

Concept Cars That Never Made It: Vol. 2

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Concept Cars That Never Made It is a five-part series that documents production concept automobiles from years and eras ago. Some are bewildering, while others are beautiful, and the only thing common between them is the fact that somewhere down the line, these concepts remained just figments of imagination and creative spirit, and never saw the light of day. Check out the ongoing series here.

Holden Hurricane (1969)
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Unveiled back in 1969, the Hurricane was Australian carmaker (and a GM-owned brand) Holden’s first ever concept car. Imagine the rush of excitement, the glee on the faces of the journalists who got a look at this beauty for the first time on the 4th of March, 1969. The car was dripping with appeal on the outside with its bad-boy orange paint job, the way the hood and boot opened, and the orange Dunlop tires to match. On the inside, the car had the Holden V8, a 4.2-litre (253ci) engine that went on to become the standard for their flagships way until the 1980s, along with a cockpit that seemed decades ahead for its time. It featured one of the first auto-seeking radios in cars, an automatic air conditioning system dubbed Comfortron (remember, this is the late 60s), and even featured a wide-angle camera lens on the back that hooked to a closed-circuit display in the car’s dashboard because the Hurricane had no rear window (talk about not wanting to look backwards). The car wasn’t really developed for production, but it made it to almost every newspaper and magazine front-page when it launched. The Holden team, however, considered the Hurricane to be a research vehicle, allowing them “to study design trends, propulsion systems and other long-range developments”

Citroën Karin (1980)
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Almost everything about the Citroën Karin is, as the French would say, avant-garde. Designed by Trevor Fiore and unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1980, the Karin featured an unusual pyramid-shaped body with four glass walls and a roof that was no bigger than the size of an A3 sheet. The car’s unusual design didn’t just stop there. It came with butterfly doors, and its controversial-yet-eye-catching pyramid shape resulted in a rather strange cockpit that could seat 3 people. The bilaterally symmetrical cockpit had three seats in a row, with the driver sitting in the middle, controlling a steering wheel mounted on a dashboard that clearly looks like a James Bond vehicle designed by a mad-scientist. This car, however, would have to have two Bond ladies, if you know what I mean!

The Karin’s creators had no intention of launching the vehicle. It was created, some insiders say, only because the Paris Motor Show was coming up and Citroën had no production-ready cars to display at the event!

Bertone BMW 2800 Spicup (1969)
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The Spicup was developed as a single, ready to drive concept automobile by Italian design studio Bertone on the technical basis of a BMW sedan. It featured BMW’s signature dual-grills and a hood overhang that was so prominent, it gave the car a perpetual scowl. What was noteworthy of this concept was its ‘lamellar roof’, an expensive, highly complex mechanical roof that comprised a telescopic set of metal roof-modules that slid backwards underneath each other to disappear into the back. The concept, developed and created by Bertone, couldn’t be taken forward, given the company’s financial condition post the war. They did, however, showcase it at all the latest motor shows in an attempt to rekindle brand interest, and eventually sales.

Suzuki Mobile Terrace (2003)
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This ridiculous lemonade-stand-from-the-future comes courtesy Suzuki, and was showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2003. Looking like a cheap imitation of Karim Rashid’s work, the car came with yellow-tinted glass windows and roof, and a color scheme that looked more ‘Lemon Meringue Pie’ and less ‘future of automotives’. Designed as a part of the anti-car movement, the vehicle showcased a design that deviated from the standard car/van aesthetic and opted for a capsule look. Designed to fit 6 people, the car came with rotating seats, sliding doors, and a centrally located instrument-panel that doubled up as a table. The idea was to have an “innovative packaging” that “creates relaxing space.” Yeah sure, whatever makes the marketing team happy…

Ford SynUS (2005)
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Whether it was the name, the odd boxy shape, or the fact that it had a vault door on its rear, the Ford SynUS wasn’t really the made for success, now was it? With an exterior designed by Jose Paris, the SynUS was envisioned as a tough, resilient streetcar of the future. Too bad the critics who first saw it unveiled at the North American International Auto Show called it everything from “silly” to “hideous,” while one writer described it as the perfect car to carry groceries and deflect bullets! Apparently, the SynUS (pronounced sin-you-ess) was supposed to be named Armadillo, but Ford changed their plans when they found out Fiat already had an equally absurd looking concept by the same name!

Concept Cars That Never Made It: Vol. 1

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Concept Cars That Never Made It is a five-part series that documents production concept automobiles from years and eras ago. Some are bewildering, while others are beautiful, and the only thing common between them is the fact that somewhere down the line, these concepts remained just figments of imagination and creative spirit, and never saw the light of day.

Bertone Lancia Stratos HF Zero (1970)
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Probably the most fitting concept to begin this series with, the Lancia Stratos Zero was debuted for the first time at the Turin Motor Show in 1970, in what was claimed to be a war between Pininfarina and Bertone to see how low they could make their cars. The wedge-shaped design was absolutely ahead of its time, conceived by Marcello Gandini, who also went on to make Lamborghini’s Countach, a car that was inspired heavily by Stratos Zero’s radical shape. The concept came with a V4 engine that sat under a rather revolutionary looking triangular hood on the back of the car. In fact, the car was considered so desirable and beautiful, it even made its way into Michael Jackson’s 1978 film Moonwalker, becoming an absolute icon of cars that were ahead of their time.

Isuzu 4200R (1989)
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Designed by Shiro Nakamura, who was also responsible for the famous Nissan GT-R, the Isuzu 4200R was a 350HP V8 engine powered product of Japan’s Bubble Era, when the economy was riding a high, resulting in wild technology, outstanding performance, and unbelievable price tags. Debuted at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, the Isuzu 4200R could seat two adults, two children, and (hear this out), came with a VHS player, a fax machine, and a satellite navigation system built right into its dashboard. It’s too bad that as soon as the 1990s began, Isuzu abandoned all passenger car projects to focus on making SUVs and trucks, something it still does pretty well even to this day.

Mercedes Benz C112 (1991)
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The Mercedes Benz C112 was a frustratingly beautiful concept car. I say frustratingly beautiful because back in 1991, customers were literally begging for Mercedes to release it, with as many as 700 confirmed orders too, but a disagreement at the executive level caused Mercedes Benz to just ditch the project altogether, publicly claiming that the world didn’t need another high-speed sports car. The C112 was every bit beautiful, every bit powerful, and every bit Mercedes, with a V12 engine, gullwing doors, and overall aerodynamic design, courtesy Italian designer Sergio Coggiola. Apparently, the company was all set to launch what could have been one of Mercedes Benz’s greatest street-legal-race-cars, with the design even being thoroughly optimized to pass American crash tests. It’s just that the company didn’t bother. *sigh*

Lotus Etna Concept (1984)
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Italdesign’s Lotus Etna also classifies as a frustratingly beautiful concept car that could have been Britain’s first true supercar back in the 80s, had the automotive company not been in financial turmoil. The Etna concept incorporated a new active suspension system from the company’s F1 cars, along with traction control, anti-lock brakes, active noise canceling, and a 4.0-liter “Type 909″ V8 engine derived from their racing motors, also boasting of 335 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque… figures that were pretty impressive for the 80s. The Etna, however, got scrapped when General Motors bought 91% stake in Lotus in 1986. A shame, really.

Daihatsu X 021 (1991)
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Coming from Japan’s oldest automobile manufacturer, the Daihatsu X 021 was presented at the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show and was touted to be a rival to Mazda’s Miata (a car that went on to become an icon for the brand). The X 021 was smaller, lighter, and faster than the Miata, built on an aluminum spaceframe and wrapped in fiberglass, along with a 16-valve 1.6-liter 140HP engine that could propel the car at speeds of 125 mph. The company decided to abandon the project to focus on domestic sales, launching the less aggressive, more friendly looking Copen roadster.

Ferrari 125 S (1947)
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The first ever vehicle to hold the Ferrari logo, the 125 S may have been Enzo Ferrari’s second car, but was the first car under his brand. It came with a V12 engine, a trait that all future cars carried too, and a 5-speed gearbox, envisioned by Enzo himself. Celebrating its 70th birthday in March last year, the car may have kickstarted one of the most successful sports car brands of all time, but the reason we classify this legend as a concept is that only two models of the 125 S were made.