Awaken RV’s MorningStar camper blends dual-hull fiberglass design with all-weather durability

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Fiberglass makes a camper lightweight and durable, and double-shell fiberglass construction makes it doubly tough, all-weather proof, and sublime to live in. This is the new MorningStar from Awaken RV, a manufacturer in Ohio, that’s changing the image and construction parameters for a traditional travel trailer and giving it a sleeker but tougher makeover, which is surprisingly pleasing to the eye.

This is perhaps because of its curved appearance, which is interestingly achieved by piecing the camper body together with an inner and outer shell of molded fiberglass boosting design, ruggedness, and of course, all-weather insulation. Talking about insulation, Awaken has provided the MorningStar with a bright and airy interior, and filled the split-shell fiberglass body with reflective bubble foil insulation that makes the space cozy for living in all types of weather conditions.

Designer: Awaken RV

Measuring 23.9 foot long, the trailer, owing to its construction, is almost corrosion and rot resistant, and should be able to carry a payload up to 6,235 lbs. The MorningStar itself weighs only 5,320 lbs., and its interior is designed to accommodate a small family on a journey of their lifetime. The smooth exterior with a curvaceous detail is provided with windows on practically all sides, in fact you get a skylight for a captivating view of the starry night, when you’re at your favorite stargazing spot, doing what it demands, practically lying comfortably on the bed with your partner and kids.

The timeless interior of the MorningStar has a full standing height of 6.8 feet and an open living layout that makes space for everything from cooking to dining and from sleeping to washing up. What really comes in handy for the storage inside is the specially designed storage case on the outside, behind the hitch of the trailer. The long kitchen inside features a three-burner glass-top stove, rectangular sink, microwave, and a 212-L dual door refrigerator.

The wraparound sofa on the opposite side faces a dining table comprising two swiveling tables that offer flexibility in their usage – from dining in the day and converting into a flat bed in combination with the sofa. The entertainment suite adjacent comprises a 32-in smart TV and Klipsch Bluetooth speakers, which you can detach and carry outdoors as well. The cabin is provided with cable and Starlink internet for uninterrupted entertainment and work.

The bedroom with a twin (or queen bed, if you choose) has a good view of the TV but is at the far end from the bathroom. The bathroom featuring a fixed porcelain toilet, a vessel sink, and a separate shower compartment is placed on the left of the entrance, so you can also use it to your advantage when you’re getting into the camping trailer after drenching in the rain or with a muddy pair of shoes from a hike.

A trailer these days is incomplete without an off-the-grid support system. Awaken has provided the MorningStar with a 250-Ah lithium battery and 500 watts of solar power for this. The travel trailer also features a 3,000-W inverter and a ducted heating and AC system for your comfortable travel all-year long. With a 147-L fresh water tank, an outdoor shower and other add-ons like a power awning, this fiberglass travel trailer starts at $88,900.

The post Awaken RV’s MorningStar camper blends dual-hull fiberglass design with all-weather durability first appeared on Yanko Design.

This DIY Cyberdeck With a 12-Inch Screen Actually Works Like a Laptop

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Most cyberdecks sit somewhere between prop and prototype, fun to look at but often awkward to use, with bolted-on parts and layouts that prioritize aesthetics over ergonomics. They’re conversation starters that rarely stay on the desk once the novelty wears off. This “CMDeck” build is interesting because it tries to behave like a real laptop-class machine you could actually reach for when you want to write or tinker.

Salim Benbouziyane’s core decision was to give the deck the footprint of a full-size keyboard, a wide clamshell that feels anchored instead of chunky. A 12-inch touch display sits up top, and a custom low-profile mechanical keyboard lives below, with a split ortholinear layout, central trackpad, and small OLED. It’s framed as a deliberate workspace rather than a random collection of parts that happened to fit in a box.

Designer: Salim Benbouziyane

The split ortho layout and central trackpad push your hands outward, leaving a clear middle zone for navigation and status. The low-profile switches and custom keycaps keep the deck thin enough to feel like a proper clamshell, while the OLED hints at system status without cluttering the surface. It’s a layout aimed at writing, coding, and multi-window work, not just showing off an unusual key arrangement that makes typing harder.

The enclosure journey is where the design process shows most clearly. The first CAD pass looked clean with all the I/O on the back, then immediately ran into reality when cables blocked the lid from opening. Salim carved clearances, added a removable rear section for assembly, and reworked hinge mounts after early prototypes ripped screws out. The heavy display forced him to add brass weights so the deck could open fully without tipping backward.

The decision to make the bottom shell translucent purple is a nod to transparent tech nostalgia that also turns the internals into part of the visual identity. Resin-printed and CNC-finished parts give the case a smooth, almost commercial feel, while PETG support structures and brass inserts handle the mechanical load. It’s a mix of show and structure that makes flipping the deck over as interesting as opening it to type.

Small interaction details make it feel finished. Riser modules tilt the keyboard and improve airflow, magnets in the lid help keep it closed, and the touch display keeps the deck usable even when the keyboard is borrowed by another machine through a special USB port. These are the kinds of decisions that make the deck feel like a finished object rather than a one-off experiment you’d be afraid to actually use daily.

The project took months of iteration, from fighting ribbon cables to reprinting support structures and swapping coolers, all in service of a form factor that feels right on a desk. The result is a cyberdeck that invites everyday use, especially for writing and side-by-side windows, and a reminder that the most interesting DIY builds now are as much about industrial design as they are about electronics, where getting the hinge geometry right matters just as much as the circuitry underneath.

The post This DIY Cyberdeck With a 12-Inch Screen Actually Works Like a Laptop first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nintendo’s Virtual Boy accessory lets you play VR Mario and Zelda on Switch 2

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The forthcoming Nintendo Virtual Boy accessory for Switch and Switch 2 can play VR-supported games, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. There are four available games to play, including Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

These aren't new VR builds of the games, rather they are the versions previously released for the Nintendo Labo VR set. This was a kit for the original Switch that allowed users to build a cardboard VR headset, among other items.

However, this is very good news for Switch 2 owners as Labo creations generally don't work with Nintendo's shiny new console. So this is the only way to experience the VR versions of the aforementioned four games. It's also worth noting that the Switch 2 upgrade for Breath of the Wild still includes the VR mode.

There are some caveats. The Virtual Boy accessory is available to purchase as a hardware unit or in cardboard. The cardboard version is much cheaper, at $25, and is actually the preferred method for playing these games in VR.

That's because the hardware version sits on a stand, like the original Virtual Boy, making it harder to move one's head around. The cardboard headset is free from those constraints. The hardware also includes red filters over the lenses, to better mimic the original experience, but these can be removed.

However, the hardware version is better for playing actual Virtual Boy games, as they were designed for a static headset resting on a table. You'll have to decide if that trade-off is worth $100. It's also worth noting that Virtual Boy games will not work with the original Labo VR headset, which is a bummer for OG Switch fans.

Both versions of the Virtual Boy accessories will be available on February 17, which is the same day several of the retro console's games head to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription service. They can be purchased at the My Nintendo Store. We got a chance to try the headset and came away fairly impressed, though noted that the revamped accessory is "just as eccentric and ungainly as the original was three decades ago."

For those wondering what all the fuss is about, the Virtual Boy was an actual console released by Nintendo all the way back in 1995. It was one of the first mass-market VR devices and, as such, was decades ahead of the curve. It was cumbersome, the games were only in red and there was nothing by way of motion control. Americans only got 14 games before the console was discontinued.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-virtual-boy-accessory-lets-you-play-vr-mario-and-zelda-on-switch-2-172138483.html?src=rss

The Umbrella Stand That Refuses to Be Grey or Boring

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There’s something quietly rebellious about a product that announces its refusal to blend into the background right there in its name. Meet notgrey, an umbrella stand from designer Joffey that’s basically the antithesis of every sad, utilitarian coat rack you’ve ever ignored in a hotel lobby.

At first glance, it looks almost like a piece of kinetic sculpture that wandered out of a modern art museum and decided to make itself useful. A slender black metal frame rises from a bold blue base, punctuated by a cone-shaped holder in that perfect burnt orange-red that interior designers are always calling “terracotta” but really just makes you think of summer sunsets and Spanish roof tiles. Perched on one of the extending arms is a warm orange dish that could easily pass for a decorative accent if it weren’t so brilliantly practical.

Designer: Design by Joffey

The genius of notgrey is how it takes something most of us barely think about and turns it into a conversation piece. Umbrella stands traditionally occupy that weird category of household objects we know we probably need but can never quite get excited about. They’re the sensible shoes of home furnishings. But Joffey has created something that makes you actually want to display your rainy day clutter.

Let’s talk about what it actually does, because this isn’t just pretty geometry. The cone holder catches your dripping umbrella without taking up much floor space. The extending arm supports a coat hook that can handle your wet jacket. That orange dish? Perfect for corralling keys, sunglasses, your phone, or whatever else you’re juggling when you stumble through the door. And at the base, there’s room to kick off your shoes, keeping everything you need for coming and going in one tidy vertical arrangement.

What makes this design particularly smart is how it maximizes vertical space. Small entryways are notoriously tricky to organize, you need storage but you can’t sacrifice precious square footage. Notgrey solves this by building up instead of out. The slender profile means it tucks nicely beside a door without creating an obstacle course, while still offering multiple functions stacked on that single pole.

The color choices feel intentional in a way that goes beyond just being eye-catching. That blue base grounds the whole piece, literally and visually. The red cone creates a focal point that draws your eye without overwhelming the space. And the orange dish adds warmth that keeps the primary colors from feeling too stark or toy-like. Together, they create a palette that feels both playful and sophisticated, which is a surprisingly tricky balance to strike.

There’s also something refreshing about a functional object that doesn’t apologize for taking up visual space. So much contemporary design is obsessed with disappearing, with being invisible and unobtrusive. Everything’s supposed to be minimalist and neutral and blend seamlessly into your carefully curated aesthetic. But notgrey takes the opposite approach. It says, if I’m going to be in your home, if I’m going to serve a purpose, I might as well look interesting while I’m at it.

This is exactly the kind of design that makes mundane routines feel a little more special. Coming home on a grey, drizzly day and having somewhere cheerful and organized to stash your soggy belongings is the kind of small pleasure that accumulates over time. It’s not going to change your life, but it might change how you feel about your entryway, which is more than most umbrella stands can claim.

For anyone who’s been looking at their cluttered doorway and thinking there has to be a better solution than a pile of wet coats on the floor and umbrellas propped against the wall, notgrey offers an answer that’s both practical and genuinely delightful to look at. It’s proof that even the most ordinary household problems deserve solutions with a little personality.

In a market saturated with beige and white and “goes with everything” neutrals, here’s a design that confidently announces its presence. And really, isn’t that exactly what you want from something whose literal name is a rejection of dullness?

The post The Umbrella Stand That Refuses to Be Grey or Boring first appeared on Yanko Design.

OLOID ergonomic mouse is designed for hassle-free ambidextrous switching

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As simple as it might sound, getting a wireless mouse design right is not a simple task. The number of variables involved due to hand shapes, finger sizes, and the preferred hand for operating the accessory makes it impossible to design a mouse that suits all.

Ambidextrous designs do solve a part of this problem, but the major chunk of making the perfect ergonomic mouse still depends on the shape. That led to a design exercise by a designer duo to create the ambidextrous OLOID vertical mouse that’s almost perfect in every way possible when we consider the ergonomics and functionality.

Designer: Josep Pedro and Jorge Paez

It all began by tearing down popular mouse options available on the market to identify the underlying functionality loopholes and the prospective design that fills the gaps. The major consideration was to create a wireless mouse that works equally well with both hands. Then the next step was to choose from the more popular flat design for simplicity and the more radical vertical design for wrist support. After much contemplation, the vertical configuration turned out to be the one that creates a balance between ergonomics and the primary requirement of the accessory to be ambidextrous.

After countless mockups and clay modelling renders, the final mouse design achieved the perfect blend of ergonomic grip and the underlying functionality provided by the optimally placed click buttons. If you look closely, the ergonomic design of the interaction surface is done with an arched pill shape that gradually transforms into an off-centre ellipse. The flared-up section is the resting position of the thumb for comfort. Another subtle element that adds tactile sensation is the wave texture that extends to the front, indicating the position of the index finger scroll sensors.

In-built sensors on the OLOID mouse automatically detect right-handed or left-handed use, thereby activating the corresponding electronics and triggering the indicator LED on top. Since this is 2026, the wireless mouse can connect to up to three devices simultaneously for multitaskers who love to switch between devices. Truly, the design of this ambidextrous ergonomic mouse and simplistic functionality is worth appreciating. When are we going to see this accessory on our desk? Well, it’s anybody’s guess right now. At least we can take heart from the fact that OLOID mouse has prototype models on the horizon, and it is not merely a random concept design penned for fun.

The post OLOID ergonomic mouse is designed for hassle-free ambidextrous switching first appeared on Yanko Design.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die rails against AI in style

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You've seen this movie before: A disheveled man (Sam Rockwell) busts into a restaurant, threatening to blow up the joint unless a crew of people joins him. Like Groundhog Day, he's been through this countless times before, and he immediately starts recounting otherwise unknowable details to convince the diner patrons. Like 12 Monkeys, he's from the future — the timely twist in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is that, rather than a world-ending virus, he needs help preventing a humanity-ending AI from being born. 

Good Luck is more of a primal scream than a thoughtful articulation about where everything went wrong. There's a bit of "old man yells at cloud" energy here (director Gore Verbinski is 61, and screenwriter Matthew Robinson is 47), but it fits the film's satirical tone. Looking around at the world today, who doesn't wish they could warn their past selves about the tech industry and the new ruling class it helped breed. 

Rockwell's character eventually wrangles a ragtag crew of future saviors: Mark and Janet (Michael Pena and Zazie Beetz), a married couple of high school teachers; Susan (Juno Temple), a distraught mother; and Ingrid (Haley Lu Richardson), a sad woman wearing a princess dress. There's also Asim Chaudhry's Scott, who mostly serves as comic relief, but doesn't get any real backstory like the others. 

Good Luck wastes no time fleshing out its present near-dystopia in episodic chapters. It turns out Mark and Janet are also on the run from smartphone-obsessed high schoolers, who spend their days scrolling through endless TikTok-like feeds. Susan is forced to confront a horrific situation around her son (I won't get into specifics here, but it's a distinctly American phenomenon). And Ingrid is literally allergic to Wi-Fi and smart devices, which makes it hard to fit into the modern world. 

Each of these scenarios play out like mini Black Mirror episodes. Everything is heightened to the absurd, and all the problems can be traced back to unchecked technological encroachment and capitalism. Nothing subtle there. The glimpses of an apocalyptic future are even less so — all we see are destroyed cities, people trapped in VR headsets (which place them in an AI-generated reality) and robots hunting down anti-AI humans. 

Sam Rockwell in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die.
Sam Rockwell in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die.
Briarcliff Entertainment

Good Luck is at its best when it's simply having fun. As Rockwell and crew make their way to their final destination — a child who is about to invent true AI — they encounter pig-faced assassins, Stepford-esque parents and an adorably horrific kaiju. Even when faced with half-baked scripts, Verbinski always manages to impress visually (think back to the creepiness of The Ring, or the wildly entertaining set pieces in Pirates of the Caribbean). That's as true as ever here, where the final scene evokes the hyper-tech chaos of Akira.

As much as Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, evokes classic sci-fi, it still can’t hold a candle to the sheer terror of seeing AI unleash a nuclear bomb in Terminator 2. And despite its zanines, it doesn’t reach the madcap heights of Gilliam’s Brazil or 12 Monkeys. But if you’re sick of having AI products shoved down your throat, and you think the notion of “true AI” is a farce, it’s a fun way to channel your rage.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/good-luck-have-fun-dont-die-rails-against-ai-in-style-154437854.html?src=rss

Pebblebee Clip 5 Hot Coral and Subzero Trackers Won’t Be Restocked

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Bluetooth trackers usually behave like small discs or tags you hide on keys and bags and forget about until something goes missing. They tend to come in grayscale, designed to disappear, even though they live on things you carry every day. There’s room for a tracker that feels more like a deliberate accessory choice instead of invisible insurance dangling off your keychain.

Pebblebee’s Evercolor program is a limited-edition color drop series for Clip 5, and Freeze Frame is the latest release. The brand launched two new colors, Subzero and Hot Coral, framed around temperature as “our first teacher.” The drop is time-limited, never repeated, and meant to make carrying a tracker feel personal and collectible rather than generic, more like picking a phone case than just buying another black tag.

Designer: Pebblebee

Pebblebee positions Subzero as a restrained, icy blue that reflects calm, control, and stillness, and Hot Coral as a warm, saturated coral red that signals energy, urgency, and action. The pair is meant to capture that early lesson of cold and heat, pause and response, turning the act of clipping a tag to your keys or bag into a small statement about how you relate to that item.

Under the new colors sits the same Clip 5 hardware. It’s Pebblebee’s latest item finder, with brighter LED strobes, a louder buzzer, and a more modern, rounded design. It runs for up to twelve months on a single USB-C charge, has an IP66 water resistance rating, and reaches up to 500 ft over Bluetooth. It’s built to be found by sound, by sight, and now by style.

Clip 5 can join Apple’s Find My network on iOS or Google’s Find Hub on Android, so billions of devices quietly help you find lost items. There’s also a built-in Alert personal safety feature, where rapid presses trigger a siren, strobe, and SMS location ping to your chosen Safety Circle. That makes the color choice feel a bit more loaded when you think about where you clip it and when you might need it.

Evercolor drops are designed as moments, not permanent SKUs, and these shades won’t be restocked once they sell out. That scarcity nudges trackers into the same mental space as seasonal phone cases or watch bands, something you pick on purpose for a specific bag, coat, or set of keys instead of a default tag you never think about after you buy it.

Freeze Frame is less about changing what Clip 5 can do and more about changing how it feels to carry it. A Subzero tag on a camera bag or winter coat reads as calm and controlled, a Hot Coral one on keys or a gym bag feels like a bright “do not lose this” marker. When the whole point is not losing what matters, making it easier to care about the tag itself is smart design thinking most trackers skip entirely.

The post Pebblebee Clip 5 Hot Coral and Subzero Trackers Won’t Be Restocked first appeared on Yanko Design.

Is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Worth the Upgrade? Reasons to Wait for the Feb 25 Launch

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Is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Worth the Upgrade? Reasons to Wait for the Feb 25 Launch Close-up of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s translucent camera module

Samsung has officially announced its Galaxy Unpacked event for February 25, 2026. This much-anticipated event will showcase the Galaxy S26 series, including the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra. The event is set to take place in San Francisco at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time and will be live-streamed globally, making sure you can witness […]

The post Is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Worth the Upgrade? Reasons to Wait for the Feb 25 Launch appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.

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Meta is reportedly working to bring facial recognition to its smart glasses

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Meta has backed away from highly controversial facial recognition tech in its products and services before, but seemingly not so far that it isn’t willing to have another crack at it. A new report from The New York Times claims Mark Zuckerberg’s company wants to add facial recognition to its lineup of branded smart glasses at some point this year.

The NYT spoke to four anonymous people with knowledge of Meta’s plans, who told the publication that the feature is codenamed "Name Tag" internally. As you’d expect, it would let people wearing Meta-powered Oakley or Ray-Ban glasses identify people and "get information about them" using AI.

Such technology naturally carries huge privacy and ethical risks, which is reportedly why Meta was hesitant to unveil Name Tag at a conference for the blind last year. It also may have shelved plans to include facial recognition in the first version of its smart glasses, which launched in 2023.

In an internal memo from Meta’s Reality Labs viewed by the NYT, Meta said that the current political instability in the US presents a good opportunity for it to push ahead with its plans. "We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns," it said.

With the smart glasses market expected to become more competitive in the coming years, Meta seemingly believes facial recognition would give it an edge on rival products from the likes of OpenAI. As for how it would work, the company is considering its options. It could recognize people the wearer is already connected to via one of Meta’s apps, or potentially display information from public Instagram accounts. The NYT’s sources said that universal facial recognition, effectively allowing you to look up the identity of anyone you walked past, would not be possible.

Meta shut down Facebook’s Face Recognition system, used when tagging people in photos, in 2021, following widespread public backlash over privacy concerns. Three years later, it brought it back, this time as a tool for Instagram and Facebook designed to detect scam ads that use the faces of celebrities and other public figures. Last year Meta rolled out the feature beyond the US, so Facebook and later Instagram users in the UK, Europe and South Korea could also use it on their accounts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-is-reportedly-working-to-bring-facial-recognition-to-its-smart-glasses-144721330.html?src=rss

This Aroma Diffuser Orb Floats Above Its Base and Glows at Your Touch

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Most aroma diffusers behave like small plastic towers or pods that sit in a corner, quietly bubbling or misting away. They do their job, but they rarely feel like part of the room’s character, more like humidifiers with better marketing. It’s strange that scent and light are both mood tools, but the hardware behind them often looks forgettable enough to hide behind a plant or book.

AER OMA is a magnetic levitating aroma diffuser concept that tries to make the act of scenting a room feel more deliberate. It uses a smooth spherical pod that hovers above a base, wrapped in a glowing band of light. The designer calls it a way to enhance room fragrance with a “futuristic feel,” which is rare copy that actually matches what the object looks like it wants to do.

Designer: Vedant Kore

Coming home in the evening, you tap the touch panel on the base to wake the diffuser, and the ring light comes up as the sphere steadies in mid-air. Sliding a finger along the control changes heat and aroma intensity, with the light ring quietly reflecting those changes. It feels less like fiddling with a dial and more like setting a scene before you sit down and let the day catch up.

Instead of a water tank and essential oil puddles, AER OMA uses polymer aroma beads held in a small metal and mesh container. Heat from a roughly 12W element releases fragrance without spill risk, and refilling is as simple as swapping beads. You can choose a handful for a light scent or more for a stronger presence, making the ritual more tactile than just dripping liquid into a reservoir.

Magnets and coils in the base and sphere handle the hovering act, powered by a 12-15 V USB-C adapter, while ambient LEDs in the base ring and the band around the sphere handle the glow. The floating form and soft light sell the idea that scent is something weightless moving through the room, not just vapor coming out of a nozzle buried in plastic.

The sphere is about 250mm across, the base around 200mm, with a polypropylene or ABS shell molded into smooth curves. Color options range from deep purple to teal and warm orange, each with matching light accents. It’s big enough to be a focal object on a sideboard or bedside table, but still reads as a single, calm shape rather than tech bristling with vents.

AER OMA treats scent diffusion as a small performance instead of a background process. By floating the diffuser, hiding the mechanics, and giving you a simple touch strip and a bowl of beads to work with, it reframes a functional task as a quiet ritual. It’s a reminder that even making a room smell nice can feel different when the object doing it looks like it belongs in the future instead of the back corner of a shelf.

The post This Aroma Diffuser Orb Floats Above Its Base and Glows at Your Touch first appeared on Yanko Design.