The Thermostat That Finally Looks Like It Was Designed

Posted on by

At some point, every well-designed room has a thermostat on the wall. And at some point, nearly every well-designed room has been slightly let down by it. That’s the quiet irony of home design. We agonize over paint colors, hunt for the perfect light fixtures, spend weekends debating sofa legs, and then right there at eye level lives a beige plastic rectangle covered in tiny buttons that no one fully understands. We’ve simply accepted it as the ugly compromise of functional living.

Uriel Electronics, a design-focused electronics brand, apparently decided that compromise is no longer necessary. Their new temperature controllers, the USH-02 and the UEH-02, make a surprisingly compelling argument that utility and beauty don’t have to negotiate a truce. They can just coexist, elegantly, without one apologizing to the other.

Designer: Uriel Electronics

I’ll be upfront: I didn’t expect to have strong opinions about thermostats. But these two pieces carry a clarity of intention that’s difficult to walk past. Both models are built around the same core idea: strip away the complexity, keep only what matters, and make it look like it belongs on the wall rather than just stuck to it. A single rotary dial. A clean display showing the temperature. A refined body that reads more like a considered object than a hardware accessory. No confusing menu navigation, no crowded button grid, no searching through a manual to figure out how to lower the temperature by two degrees.

The USH-02 is the surface-mounted version, and it’s the one with visible personality. Its translucent skeleton design lets you glimpse the hardware inside, which feels like a little gift to anyone who appreciates how things are made. The graphic detailing adds visual wit to what could have easily been a clean but flat minimalist slab. It sits on the wall in a way that makes you actually stop and look, which is a strange thing to say about a thermostat, but here we are. It doesn’t disappear into the surface; it quietly introduces itself.

The UEH-02 takes the opposite route. Flush-mounted and incredibly slim, it’s designed to nearly vanish. The profile barely protrudes from the wall, creating the kind of visual quiet that interior designers specifically obsess over. If the USH-02 says “notice me,” the UEH-02 says “I’m here, I work perfectly, and I won’t interrupt your space.” Both approaches are valid. Both are well-executed. The choice between them is really just a question of how much personality you want your walls to carry.

The discipline behind this project is worth calling out. It is genuinely difficult to design something that is both beautiful and immediately intuitive, especially in a category most manufacturers have treated as purely functional. Removing complexity rather than adding features is a confident design move, and we’re living through a moment when more is still frequently mistaken for better in tech. Seeing a product that resolves itself into a single tactile dial and a clear display feels almost like a statement. The rotary control has a satisfying physicality that touchscreens never quite manage to replicate. High-end audio equipment and quality appliances have kept the dial alive for exactly this reason: turning something to get a result is one of the most natural gestures there is. It’s a reminder that good design often means returning to what already worked, done with more intention.

The engineering side, visible in the controllers’ back panels, confirms this isn’t just a surface-deep exercise. Components are neatly organized, an Omron relay handles the heavy work, and the specs support voltages between 85V and 265VAC with a max current of 18A. The function is serious. The form just happens to be beautiful.

That balance is rarer than it should be. Home tech has long been given a pass on aesthetics in a way that furniture or lighting simply would not tolerate. Uriel Electronics is quietly making the argument that it shouldn’t. Your thermostat is on your wall every single day, in full view of everyone who walks into that room. It might as well earn its place there.

The post The Thermostat That Finally Looks Like It Was Designed first appeared on Yanko Design.

A New Electric Hypercar Just Packed 3,154 HP and a 550km/h Top Speed Into a Prototype GT

Posted on by

WIRED called them the brands that stole the show, and at CES Las Vegas in January 2026, KOSMERA arrived with a four-door high-performance GT prototype wearing a blue-black finish that New Atlas described as magnificent in person, noting its low-sloping hood, big rear wing, and dual-layer diffuser. SupercarBlondie’s verdict was equally direct: “a race car from the year 2199.” For a company that almost no one in the room had encountered before that week, the response was the kind that established brands spend decades trying to manufacture. KOSMERA’s founders, whose engineering lineage runs from China’s earliest quad-rotor UAV programs through 100,000 RPM-class digital motors and autonomous chassis research, had spent years building toward this moment. The car on the floor was proof that the preparation had translated.

The company calls itself “born global by design,” combining Chinese speed of innovation, American AI ambition, German engineering discipline, and Italian emotional design language into one evolving brand vision. R&D centers sit across Beijing, Suzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Los Angeles, with the design studio operating out of Turin and manufacturing anchored in Brandenburg, Germany. From hypercars and high-performance GTs to luxury all-terrain SUVs, KOSMERA is building a product portfolio powered by a shared foundation of performance, intelligence, and software-defined mobility. That portfolio breaks down into a collector-series hypercar called The Hypera, a pair of high-performance GTs in the Star Matrix and Star Razer, and a luxury all-terrain SUV called Terra. At the center of every vehicle is a quad-motor AWD system targeting 3,154 horsepower, a 0-100 km/h time of 1.7 seconds, and a top speed of 550 km/h.

Designer: KOSMERA

The Star Matrix is KOSMERA’s interpretation of intelligent performance built around balance, with an aluminum spaceframe wrapped in carbon-fiber panels, starburst rear lighting with a speed-responsive dynamic flow animation, and an acceleration pulse effect that makes the tail of the car feel alive at night. Designed as a next-generation high-performance GT, it combines extreme electric performance with aerodynamic efficiency and driver-focused ergonomics. Physical controls inside are reduced by 80 percent, leaving a driver environment of carbon fiber, aerospace textiles, and Alcantara with an AI Coach display projecting real-time racing lines and blind-spot alerts into the driver’s eyeline. The Star Razer carries the same architecture into wilder territory, arriving in Quantum Violet with frameless doors, a lower and wider stance, a breathing light bar, and a Cd of 0.20 achieved through aero blade lines and rear wheel channels. Where the Star Matrix reads as precision, the Star Razer reads as provocation.

Kosmera Star Matrix

Axial-flux motors redirect magnetic flow along the rotation axis rather than radially, producing a shorter magnetic path and better torque leverage in a far more compact package, and the HyperDrive quad-rotor layout delivers up to 1,578 PS on a single shaft, achieving nearly twice the power density of conventional motors. The quad-rotor configuration targets 1,160 kW per axle, 7,500 Nm of peak wheel torque, and wheel-end speeds above 4,000 rpm. The power electronics use a full silicon-carbide inverter architecture, reducing conduction loss by approximately 40 percent compared to conventional silicon systems. Four independent motors deliver per-wheel torque vectoring, shaping cornering through real-time torque redistribution rather than braking intervention, a more precise and faster-reacting control philosophy. KOSMERA describes each axle as comparable to two Ferrari V12 engines combined, and for once the metaphor and the physics actually align.

The HyperCore battery’s cell-to-pack architecture eliminates the module layer, pushing pack efficiency to 85 percent and enabling peak discharge above 2,500 kW on a 1,200-volt, 6C platform. Charging targets 10 to 80 percent in under seven minutes, a figure that starts collapsing the practical gap between an EV charge stop and a combustion fuel stop. KOSMERA’s HyperPilot Vision-Language-Action stack runs on a 2,000-TOPS compute platform with LiDAR, millimeter-wave radar, cameras, IMU, and HD mapping feeding a physics-based World Model architecture capable of predictive reasoning. The system covers predictive track mapping, an AI racing coach, AR headset integration, highway L3 assisted driving, and urban Navigate-on-Autopilot. The Star Razer extends the ecosystem further, adding an onboard drone interface that deploys autonomous UAVs for last-mile logistics, emergency delivery, and aerial capture, functioning as a mobile mothership for intelligent mobility. That prediction layer shifts the system from reactive driver assistance to genuinely anticipatory control.

FlexBase integrates drive, braking, steering, and suspension into a fully by-wire architecture with a closed-loop response time under 10 milliseconds, a latency figure that approaches the point where human perception cannot distinguish digital from mechanical control feel. A maximum steering angle of 90 degrees enables zero-radius turning and crab-walk capability that conventional suspension geometry cannot approach. Four-wheel independent control includes automatic compensation for single-wheel failure, and the ASIL-D safety certification aligns the platform with L4 autonomy requirements. KOSMERA claims the electrified integration reduces overall system cost and weight by 30 percent by eliminating components rather than replacing them. The modular chassis is designed to scale across the entire vehicle lineup, from The Hypera to Terra, meaning each model shares a validated foundation rather than developing bespoke hardware from scratch.

Kosmera Star Razer

Kosmera Star Razer

AutoEvolution placed KOSMERA’s 1.7-second 0-60 claim squarely in “a league where Rimacs and Koenigseggs have been making the rules for years,” and that is the competitive frame the brand has chosen for itself. The Axion Power propulsion division confirmed in June 2026 that the 3,000-plus horsepower system remains in pre-development and patent application review, a qualifier worth holding onto when reading the headlines. What exists today is a technically serious platform grounded in axial-flux motor engineering, 1,200-volt battery architecture, AI-driven chassis control, and software-defined mobility. The founding team’s background spans decades of experience in AI, robotics, autonomous systems, and high-speed motor engineering, which means the ambition carries real engineering DNA behind it. Whether KOSMERA can close the gap between concept-stage intensity and production-validated performance will be the story worth watching through the rest of the decade.

The post A New Electric Hypercar Just Packed 3,154 HP and a 550km/h Top Speed Into a Prototype GT first appeared on Yanko Design.

The90Gem smart necklace tracks UV exposure in real-time for sensible skincare

Posted on by

Wearables are targeting most of our burning health concerns, but sun exposure damage is still in the guessing game. Stacy Salvi, who has previously led the acquisition of Fitbit by Google, and is a health expert when it comes to tech wearables, wants skincare to be more considerate when it comes to active sun exposure. Under her new venture, The90, Stacy has launched the Gem wearable that looks like a stylish round necklace for women.

On the inside, the wearable has a built-in UV sensor to track the skin’s UV exposure in real time. The gadget makes complete sense, as most of the time we are left guessing about the real exposure to damaging Sun rays, and are dependent on integrated weather apps’ UV index, which only show generic localised data. Gem goes beyond that and actively tracks the real-time exposure, whether you are lounging in the mid-day Sun or spending afternoons sitting near an office window. It basically takes out the guesswork and focuses on the real-time solution.

Designer: The90

The90Gem keeps a tab of the UVA and UVB data received from the sensors in real time, and over time builds a personal skincare profile that is actually beneficial. “The90 transforms sunscreen from a one-time morning ritual into an adaptive, responsive system built around your actual UV load,” Salvi said. Micromanaging the skin type, sunscreen used, and any sun-protective clothing that you’re wearing is another feature of the accompanying app. For now, the wearable is specifically targeted towards women who tend to be more informed about the risks of UV exposure. The brand, however, eventually wants to expand the product line to men and children as well.

Detecting UVA and UVB exposure is one part of the wearable. The most important bit is the timely beaming of notifications for sunscreen application, or a reminder of the sun protection habits that should eventually be ingrained in your muscle memory. The app also provides data on Vitamin D targets for a mindful suncare routine. The Gem is essentially a titanium case with the sensor inside, wholly encapsulated in a pendant. The battery on the gadget should last for around a week on a single charge, but that remains to be seen in real-world usage.

This piece of smart jewellery is available in silver or gold finish to complete the aesthetic look. Priced at $299, The90 Gem wearable is just borderline affordable for a specific benefit, but the members of The Skinny Confidential community can get it for an exclusive price of $199 in the early access offer. The company also has plans to incorporate the smart wearable as other items as well, which should further expand the options to gauge your sun exposure in style.

The post The90Gem smart necklace tracks UV exposure in real-time for sensible skincare first appeared on Yanko Design.

Lenovo Just Built a $499 Rugged Tablet You Can Run Without a Battery

Posted on by

Consumer tablets have gotten remarkably thin and capable, but the categories of people who actually use tablets on a job site, in a warehouse, or out in the field have largely been served by a different and considerably more expensive tier of hardware. Most rugged tablets come either from enterprise-only brands with steep price points, or from consumer devices pressed into duty they weren’t really designed for. The gap between those two extremes has rarely been addressed cleanly.

The Lenovo ThinkTab X11 is an attempt to close that gap. It’s the first device to carry the ThinkTab name, extending Lenovo’s Think portfolio into rugged Android territory for frontline workers in logistics, manufacturing, construction, transportation, and energy. Starting at $499, it lands well below what comparable enterprise-grade rugged tablets typically cost while bringing credentials that those environments actually require.

Designer: Lenovo

The most unusual thing about the ThinkTab X11 isn’t its durability ratings, which are genuine rather than decorative, but rather its battery design. The 10,200 mAh cell removes without tools, using a screwless mechanism that lets a worker swap a depleted pack for a fresh one mid-shift and keep going. That’s a design decision that most tablet makers abandoned years ago in pursuit of thinner profiles, and it matters enormously when a dead device means halting an entire workflow.

It goes further with a battery-less operating mode. When the tablet is mounted in a vehicle or bolted to a fixed workstation, it can run directly from DC power with no battery installed at all. This reduces heat buildup during continuous use, extends the long-term health of the device, and removes the battery’s natural degradation from the equation entirely for fixed deployments. Dual USB-C ports handle simultaneous charging and peripheral connectivity alongside all of that.

The rest of the hardware is built around the same operating logic. The 10.95-inch display runs at 90 Hz with up to 800 nits of peak brightness under high brightness mode, and it’s coated with Corning Gorilla Glass. The touch layer is calibrated to work with gloved hands and wet fingers, which matters on a construction site or loading dock more than any raw spec comparison might suggest. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 handles processing, with up to 12 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage available.

The included rugged case brings MIL-STD-810H certification for drops and vibration, while the device itself carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The case can be swapped out for a plain back panel when the environment is less demanding, which keeps the device from feeling like overkill in lighter contexts. Front-mounted NFC handles inventory scanning, access control, and field authentication without requiring the tablet to be flipped over.

The ThinkTab X11 ships with Android 16, guaranteed to receive two major OS upgrades reaching Android 18, along with four years of security patches. Lenovo’s ThinkShield security layer sits underneath the consumer-facing OS, giving IT departments the kind of centralized device management tools they already use for ThinkPads. An organization that runs the Think ecosystem at the desk can now extend the same infrastructure to the field, with the 256 GB model available at $579.

The post Lenovo Just Built a $499 Rugged Tablet You Can Run Without a Battery first appeared on Yanko Design.

A Student Built a Buoy That Could Fix Seaweed Farming

Posted on by

Most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about seaweed. It turns up in sushi, drifts around in the ocean, and occasionally ruins a beach day. But seaweed farming is quietly becoming one of the more compelling conversations in sustainable food and ocean health, and the tools that support it are finally starting to catch up with the ambition. Enter Symbios, a buoy system designed by Aaron Mooser as his bachelor thesis project at Bauhaus University Weimar, and one of the more quietly impressive things to come out of student design in recent memory.

The core idea is straightforward, but the thinking behind it is genuinely sharp. Symbios is an automated buoy system built for Nordic nearshore seaweed farmers. Its central feature is depth regulation, allowing the buoys to move seaweed into cooler, deeper waters during warmer months. This solves one of the most persistent problems in seaweed cultivation: ocean temperatures fluctuate enough to disrupt or completely derail a harvest season. By managing that shift automatically, Symbios makes year-round cultivation and partial harvesting not just possible, but practical.

Designer: Aaron Mooser

That might not sound like a design story, but it absolutely is. The challenge Mooser was solving wasn’t purely biological. It was logistical, environmental, and deeply human. Seaweed farmers in Nordic regions deal with the compounding pressure of climate variability and the sheer labor of monitoring a harvest that lives underwater. Every unnecessary boat trip costs time, fuel, and money. Symbios addresses this through remote monitoring built directly into the system, reducing the number of trips farmers need to make without losing visibility into what’s happening below the surface.

There’s an elegance here that feels distinctly Bauhaus-trained. Mooser completed his bachelor’s in product design at Bauhaus University Weimar and is now pursuing a Master’s in Industrial Design at FH Joanneum, where he’s focused on Eco-Innovative design. That background shows. The buoys are modular, built to be repaired rather than replaced, and designed for durability in conditions that would wear most things down quickly. It’s the kind of systems thinking that doesn’t get enough attention in sustainability discussions, because repairability rarely makes a headline. But designing for longevity in a marine environment is a serious commitment, and it’s a far more honest environmental gesture than a lot of what gets labeled green.

What Symbios also does, somewhat unexpectedly, is create stable marine habitats. Because the seaweed is cultivated continuously in a regulated environment, it offers more consistent ecosystem support for the marine life around it. The design doesn’t just serve the farmer. It serves the water, too. That dual benefit, where agriculture and ecology work together rather than in opposition, is what makes Symbios feel like more than a polished student project. It reads as a genuine proposal for how nearshore food systems could be structured.

The fact that this began as a bachelor thesis is worth sitting with. Student design can sometimes feel speculative, imaginative but distant from actual use. Symbios pushes back on that assumption. It’s detailed, practical, and built around a real user: the Nordic seaweed farmer navigating a genuinely complex set of conditions. The design process clearly involved deep engagement with that context, not just a convincing visual presentation.

Aaron Mooser’s work has been recognized by the Green Product Award, and it earns that recognition. Not because it’s flashy, but precisely because it isn’t. Symbios doesn’t try to solve everything at once. It addresses specific problems cleanly, considers the full lifecycle of the product, and respects both the people who will use it and the environment it operates within. That kind of restraint, in a design culture that so often rewards novelty over genuine usefulness, is worth paying attention to.

Seaweed farming isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it’s going to become more prominent as food systems shift toward more sustainable sources. The real question is whether the infrastructure supporting it can evolve fast enough. If Symbios is any indication, the answer might surprise you.

The post A Student Built a Buoy That Could Fix Seaweed Farming first appeared on Yanko Design.

The First Major Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra Features Are Finally Revealed

Posted on by
The First Major Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra Features Are Finally Revealed Front view of the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra smartphone

Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy S27 series has been officially confirmed through a GSMA database listing, offering a glimpse into what the next flagship lineup will bring. The listing reveals the model number SM-S952U, which corresponds to the carrier-locked US variant of the Galaxy S27 Ultra. This confirmation not only validates earlier rumors but also sets […]

The post The First Major Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra Features Are Finally Revealed appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.

Posted in Uncategorized