Author Archives: Gaurav Sood

Pocket-sized 2TB SSD offers new age EDC-style data storage for creative professionals and vloggers

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Current-day gadgets bring limitless possibilities for creatives and professionals, be a photographer, videographer or audio engineer. The only thing that can be a hurdle is the amount of storage you have at hand. Portable hard drives are a good solution but there’s always scope for better. The size of HHDs and SSDs has reduced significantly in the last few years and this cool EDC for your data storage requirements is a game changer.

Meet Speekeys, a portable SSD enclosure that measures half that of a credit card and has a thickness comparable to a GoPro. The lightweight gadget weighing just 48 grams challenges the status quo of a standard EDC that can be carried in a pocket. Yes, this high-speed data hub keeps your data safe on the go and can be stuffed in your pocket or simply hooked to a backpack with a standard lanyard. The drop-proof hub has a water-resistance rating of IP54, making it ideal for content creators who travel a lot.

Designer: Webble

Click Here to Buy Now: $29 $58 (50% off). Hurry, only 76/600 left! Raised over $87,000.

The M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure comes with USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C connectivity enabling high transfer speeds of up to 1000MB/s. So, you won’t have to wait for a long time to transfer big files back and forth. Speekeys has a maximum storage capacity of 2TB which should suffice all your storage needs. Just for comparison, 2TB is enough to store more than a 100 PC games, over 500 HD movies, 100 hours of 4K footage (at 60fps), or if you’re the corporate kind, 13 million documents. It is fitted with a built-in cooling solution to maintain optimal temperature for optimal performance. The maker provides the cute little accessory with a data cable lanyard for plug-and-play convenience across all your devices.

The entire device measures 58mm x 41mm (2.2 inches x 1.6 inches) and weighs a paltry 48 grams. Contrast this with what most 2TB storage solutions would weigh just a few years back and you realize how far we’ve come. The Speekey itself is just an enclosure, which means you have the choice of which SSD to mount inside. More than happy with just 500GB? Or maybe your budget permits just 1TB of storage – buy the M.2 SSD and insert it into the Speekey and you’ve now got yourself the most portable high-capacity hard drive ever.

The gadget EDC is made of an aluminum shell that comes with a silicone case for maximum protection. The USB-C connection means your SSD can be used with a whole range of devices, from phones and tablets to laptops, gaming consoles, drones, and even handheld cameras. Its compact design means carrying it is a breeze, and unlike with cloud storage (that you can access on multiple devices), you ACTUALLY own your data instead of having it on a cloud server somewhere. Oh, and a built-in magnetic design means your Speekey can attach to the back of your iPhone or any metallic object, making carrying it a breeze.

The SSD enclosure starts at a mere $29, which means you can then invest in a high-end SSD to mount on the inside. Each Speekey includes a data cable that transforms into a lanyard for easy carrying, and you’ve got as many as 5 colors to choose from including, obviously, an all-transparent version!

Click Here to Buy Now: $29 $58 (50% off). Hurry, only 76/600 left! Raised over $87,000.

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Laurent Ferrier x Hervé Di Rosa limited-edition Classic Micro-Rotor watch flaunts 12-armed character on the dial

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Swiss horologer, Laurent Ferrier, is known for making watches that are timeless yet modern in all accounts. Their ultimate amalgamation of form, function, and aesthetics put LF watches ahead of the curve, and its new design, a revival of a flagship piece with touch of playfulness and art, is a fine embodiment.

To celebrate the longevity of the flagship Classic Micro-Rotor, the watchmaker has collaborated with French artist Hervé Di Rosa and arrived at this recovered timepiece that reflects the timeless elegance and minimalism of Laurent Ferrier and the creativity and imaginative artistry of Di Rosa. The five-piece limited edition watch is a testament to the fine collaboration and exchange of expertise between the watchmaker and the artist.

Designer: Laurent Ferrier

Hervé Di Rosa is a renowned name in the French and International art scene. Best known for being the pioneer of the Figuration Libre art movement in the 1980s, the 64-year-old artist unveiled “Hervé Di Rosa – The Worlds-Passer,” a retrospective exhibition in Paris at the Centre Pompidou, which celebrates his life’s work. In celebration of this occasion, the globetrotting artist has given a new artistic makeover to the Classic Micro-Rotor.

The watch keeps the curves of the Classic case, which is inspired by the pocket watches of the 19th century. The round stainless steel case measures 40mm and features a strikingly different dial comprising a 12-armed character named “Ah! Ah! Ah!” It is a design adapted from one of Di Rosa’s vibrant and chaotic paintings from 1984 called the Dirosapocalypse.

The dial of the Classic Micro-Rotor is completely hand-engraved and it’s made from 18-carat white gold. The artistic dial is topped with the iconic white gold assegai-shaped hands that blend with the base, yet stand out in their appearance. The watch case, on the side, has a ball-shaped winding crown, while the sapphire glass case back leaves you admiring the movement. The in-house FBN 229.01 automatic winding calibre has a 72 hours power reserve. The limited edition Classic Micro-Rotor Di Rosa is 30-meter water resistant, and priced at 80,000 CHF (roughly $90,000).

 

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Creative woodworking dad turn AI-renders into a timeless wooden car for his son

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Truong Van Dao of ND Woodworking is one of the most creative and loving dads you’ll ever meet. His tenacity for making wooden cars that are second to none speaks a lot of his passion. The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail brought to life in his wood workshop was one of the coolest gifts a father can give his toddler son. As my fellow editor rightly said in that article, the creation is undoubtedly “more valuable than a $28 million car can ever be!”

Now the super dad has created a unique wooden car right out of some sci-fi series plot. The idea initially generated from AI took shape as a real-life vehicle that is second to none. To me, this seems like the machine from the acclaimed novel Time Machine by H.G. Wells. The most amazing thing is the wooden vehicle’s attention to detail in design, and I’m completely in awe just looking at the thing.

Design: ND Woodworking Art

The inside of the big cogwheels makes up the cockpit section for the driver to maneuver this crazy looking four wheeler. The front wheels are the normal size, but real wheels even smaller, are given the appearance of big chunky wheels with design ingenuity. Functional mechanical parts are exposed making the DIY even more intricate. The initial phase involved creating the chassis out of a metal frame and then building the intricate woodwork for it. Mind you it took a lot of time to carve each section with hand, carving the wheels, mechanical levers and the curvaceous body. The power comes from the four onboard batteries with good torque to pull the thing forward. Top speed is kept very limited since Truong’s son will be driving this crazy contraption.

Every little detail is taken care of by the talented woodworking dad, right from the seating compartment, gearbox and input pedals to the cog-driven lever mechanism, taillights and concealing away the rear wheels. The snail-shell-like cockpit of the four-wheeler has neon lights to add an element of sci-fi. No matter where this vehicle goes – be it in the dark or broad daylight – it is going to catch eyeballs and garner appreciation from everyone simply because of the amount of effort and creativity put into the making.

The post Creative woodworking dad turn AI-renders into a timeless wooden car for his son first appeared on Yanko Design.

Creative woodworking dad turn AI-renders into a timeless wooden car for his son

Posted on by

Truong Van Dao of ND Woodworking is one of the most creative and loving dads you’ll ever meet. His tenacity for making wooden cars that are second to none speaks a lot of his passion. The Rolls-Royce Boat Tail brought to life in his wood workshop was one of the coolest gifts a father can give his toddler son. As my fellow editor rightly said in that article, the creation is undoubtedly “more valuable than a $28 million car can ever be!”

Now the super dad has created a unique wooden car right out of some sci-fi series plot. The idea initially generated from AI took shape as a real-life vehicle that is second to none. To me, this seems like the machine from the acclaimed novel Time Machine by H.G. Wells. The most amazing thing is the wooden vehicle’s attention to detail in design, and I’m completely in awe just looking at the thing.

Design: ND Woodworking Art

The inside of the big cogwheels makes up the cockpit section for the driver to maneuver this crazy looking four wheeler. The front wheels are the normal size, but real wheels even smaller, are given the appearance of big chunky wheels with design ingenuity. Functional mechanical parts are exposed making the DIY even more intricate. The initial phase involved creating the chassis out of a metal frame and then building the intricate woodwork for it. Mind you it took a lot of time to carve each section with hand, carving the wheels, mechanical levers and the curvaceous body. The power comes from the four onboard batteries with good torque to pull the thing forward. Top speed is kept very limited since Truong’s son will be driving this crazy contraption.

Every little detail is taken care of by the talented woodworking dad, right from the seating compartment, gearbox and input pedals to the cog-driven lever mechanism, taillights and concealing away the rear wheels. The snail-shell-like cockpit of the four-wheeler has neon lights to add an element of sci-fi. No matter where this vehicle goes – be it in the dark or broad daylight – it is going to catch eyeballs and garner appreciation from everyone simply because of the amount of effort and creativity put into the making.

The post Creative woodworking dad turn AI-renders into a timeless wooden car for his son first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Bluetooth speaker with rotating bar in the center assures three-dimensional experience

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Wireless speakers are ubiquitous thanks to multiple reasons playing in their favor: size, portability, and looks. Despite their size, portable Bluetooth speakers are now capable of reproducing sound that’s as accurate as those bulky and space-consuming ones in the past. These speakers are narrower, smaller, and slimmer, and many companies/designers are making them more versatile by toiling with their utility.

A case in point is the WhirlWave, a Bluetooth speaker designed to let the user control produced sound direction by rotating the speaker bar in the center. Made for those who crave a truly immersive experience not possible with the speakers configured to produce sound one-way, the WhirlWave can allow the user(s) to enjoy an acoustically complete three-dimensional experience.

Designer: Semin Park

Like most of the other speakers designed for one-way sound, Park thought of working on a speaker that would not limit the delivery of sound because of the design. The WhirlWave born from this ideology allows the user to have full control over the direction of the sound. The rotating speaker arm in the center can swivel like the hands of a clock from a cross orientation to 12 o’clock position.

When the speaker system is aligned as a cross, the three speakers – two on each end of the horizontal bar, and one at the bottom of the vertical support bar – spread the sound around for an immersive surround sound experience. As soon as you align the speaker’s horizontal bar vertically to the already existing support bar, you get the three speakers firing in a straight line for a more personalized sound experience.

The WhirlWave speaker features Bluetooth and power buttons on the back. Just below lies the USB-C Type charging slot, which allows juicing up the speaker using fast charging. What you can play with this Bluetooth speaker is not limited to what you play on a connected mobile device. Interestingly, the speaker is integrated with support for Apple Music, Spotify and other streaming apps. The top panel display of the speaker displays the streaming service currently playing. The display can also double as a digital clock for the bedside.

The post This Bluetooth speaker with rotating bar in the center assures three-dimensional experience first appeared on Yanko Design.

Off-road-ready lightweight and ultra-durable Next Adventure Trailer toy hauler rides behind any size car

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Toy haulers have an interesting feature; you can haul just about anything – that can fit in their height, weight, and load-bearing capacity – inside of them. They are designed to be robust, but often have a heavy dead weight, which makes them less appropriate for off-roading expeditions. The Next Adventure Trailer – a lightweight, ultra-durable toy hauler – has been designed for off-roading trips in a manner that it can be towed behind any size capable 4×4.

Want to go out with your mountain bike, dirt bike, or go climbing; you can just tow the $14,500 (starting price) Next Adventure Trailer to the back of your vehicle, load it with your choice of gear, and you’re good to go. When you’re at the campsite, pull down the aluminum ladder from above the lightweight and durable rig, to open the onboard tent that can comfortably sleep a couple with the gear safely stored in the box below.

Designer: Next Adventure Trailer

Like most other camping trailers, that are born from personal experiences and the absence of rigs ideal for required functionalities, the Next Adventure Trailer is also built on the same lines in Arizona with American craftsmanship and quality parameters. The toy hauler is thus meant for anyone who wants some extra, versatile space while traveling. A garage per se to haul their bikes, go-carts, fishing gear, kayaks and more.

A capable trailer that can go virtually anywhere your towing vehicle can; the Next Adventure Trailer combines the comfort of a camper with the robustness required for off-road adventure. The former is made possible with a pop-out rooftop tent comfortably loaded with lighting, heating, cooling and a sleeping mattress for two. For the latter, the 300 square feet toy hauler is made from 3M VHB bonding technology that provides the lightweight body with a watertight and durable aluminum skin. This construction technique makes the trailer strong and reduces its flex, making it an ideal off-road companion with the ability to clip up fuel cans, water tanks, shovels and more on its exterior.

The compact and lightweight footprint of the Next Adventure Trailer allows it to double up as extra storage at home, or be used as a small office, guest room, or garden shed in the backyard. When it’s ready for the road, it’s a highly customizable rig, which you can outfit with a storage cabinet, pull-out kitchen, HVAC system, folding bedding and more. The easy arrangement means, the toy hauler can be a comfy living space simultaneously or when you don’t have gear to haul.

 

 

 

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Limited Edition Post Malone Backbone One Controller in translucent green

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If Post Malone’s music sets the tone for your day, then you need to know that he is a passionate gamer too. Yes, the acclaimed songwriter and rapper has many chart-breaking performances under his belt, and he’s stopping at nothing. During his busy schedule, the star finds it difficult to game on a PC setup but makes up for that with his mobile games.

Backbone One is his favored controller choice for whenever he can find time and the team at Backbone acknowledges this fact. That’s the reason they’ve released Limited Edition Post Malone Controller. The accessory for mobile gamers will satisfy your gaming needs while having a deep connection with your favorite singer. Only 500 gamepads will be sold for $199, launching June 25 exclusively on their website, so you better mark the date.

Designer: Backbone

Post is mostly touring in his tight schedule and he found this collaboration request to be what his heart desired. He can bring his gaming to the road while traveling and the exclusive gaming controller based on the Backbone One is developed with inputs from him. The design bears a direct influence sporting his favorite color – 90s green done in a semi-transparent theme that looks stunning. The D-pad and the face buttons also get a facelift in an aluminum finish with the icons laser etched. When you’ll be gaming in the dark, the glow-in-the-dark Post Malone logo makes this one even a sweeter deal.

According to Backbone CEO Maneet Khaira, “The fusion of Post Malone’s renowned brand and his genuine passion for gaming with the category-defining Backbone platform felt like a perfect match.” The normal Backbone One controller for Android, iPhone and PlayStation costs $99 and this version is $100 more. Would you want to spend that amount, depends solely on your affinity towards Post Malone and this cool color theme.

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With integrated ChatGPT, Play T 1 foldable phone is effortless to use via voice commands

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When the mobile phone industry is swaying toward convenience and ergonomics, here’s one phone concept deviating from the norm but putting ChatGPT in your pocket. Well, if you’ve not been living under a rock, AI phones are already making waves, allowing enhanced photography and more applications for user convenience. With the integration of ChatGPT in its innards, the Play T 1 becomes a foldable mobile phone easy to use with voice commands.

With ChatGPT from OpenAI integrated into the phone, it would be helpful for users, limiting them from having to toggle between tools. A simple voice request would get photos and documents altered, emails perfected, and of course, webpages or lectures summarized for you.

Designer: Yeongkyu YOO

This is the right time for a product concept like the Play T 1 to energy. Only a few days back Apple announced the integration of a layer of AI into its new operating systems for iPhone, Mac, and iPads. The newly integrated artificial intelligence features would bring a striking change to Apple’s stream of gadgets courtesy of revamped Siri support, the ability to compose emails, or even create personalized emojis among other things, without the user having to use multiple applications for a task.

The Play T 1 with embedded generative AI at the core of its functionality will offer unimaginable capabilities to the handheld. The device is not a basic handset; it has been designed to be modular, such that different thickish modules can add up for functionality. The foldable smartphone and its accessories – the detachable 5000 mAh battery – are made from compostable plant-based materials, which make the phone essentially eco-friendly.

The detachable battery clips to the bottom of the Play T 1 mobile phone using magnets and can instantly charge the phone. By magnetically fastening it to a speaker base, the phone can effortlessly become a high-performance ChatGPT speaker you can command at will.

As the pictures depict, this folding ChatGPT phone is in itself pretty thick for modern smartphone users and when the magnetic battery pack merges with the main body, it does form a nice unified unit, but at the cost of additional weight and thickness. If the design is slimmed and the folding creases evened out, who knows the GenAI-based Play T 1 can have a future.

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AI-based LEGO printer turns any subject into replicated pixel art

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Just when everyone is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI), why should avid LEGO fans not dig a share in the pie? Dutch creator, YouTuber, and master brick builder Sten, thought of the obvious and set out to harness the power of AI and built a printing machine entirely from LEGOs that can print any subject into identical pixel art.
The entire building process, along with a demo pixel art made from LEGO pieces, has been documented by Sten on his YouTube channel, Creative Mindstorms. The Pixelbot 3000, as the LEGO printer is called, Sten informs, is ‘capable of creating pixel art of anything using AI.’

Designer: Creative Mindstorms

The Pixelbot 3000 is programmed in Python using help from DALL-E from OpenAI. Sten has managed to program, and create software-hardware integration, in such a manner that you simply ‘type a subject line, hit start’ and the printer takes on from there.

Sten informs, in the video, that he started with inspiration from LEGO printers such as Briccasso, but over time had to improvise a great deal – both with the code customization and the machine functionality – to achieve what he set out to build. He initially used 16 x 16 base plates to print the developed pixel art, but it was later changed to a 32 x 32 grid for better result output.

The basic operation of Sten’s LEGO machine is similar to that of a pick-and-place machine, which has been precisely programmed and created to place large-size LEGO pieces with surprising accuracy on the 32 x 32 grid base plate. Moreover, the machine is designed to pick colors – according to the picture’s demand – and place brick-by-brick to achieve the identical pixel art of an AI image generated. Since LEGO brick colors are limited, Creative Mindstorms reduced its machine’s color palette to 15 base colors including a white background.

The machine does not at any point rely on designing the art or scanning it. It instead uses AI to generate pixel art (using LEGOs) of the image generated in the software. The user can preview the generated image, crop and color grade it, before saving it for printing. When commanded for print, the image is divided into 32 x 32 grid, color and center of each pixel on the base plate is sampled, and the pixel art is then built piece by piece. In the testing, Sten asked AI to create a ‘quirky robot holding a sunflower,’ you can check out how it came out in the video above.

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This Mad Max-esque Porsche 928 had a very important role in achieving 911’s current status quo

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While the Porsche 911 has evolved into an iconic roadster, the Porsche 928 has played second fiddle in shaping the acoustics for the sports car all these years. You probably might never have heard about the Porsche 928 but the famed grand tourer initially created to replace the 911, faded away into the mid-90s.

One lucky Porsche 928 served as a testbed for three decades to test the noise to help the German manufacturer stay within the permissible limits of the law while also having a sweet sound signature compared to the competition. The Grand Tourer was the perfect fit as opposed to the 924 which had a lower engine speed, the 911 which was too loud, or the 944 which had a lot of gearbox rattle at low speeds. Porsche test engineer Harald Mann called it the dinosaur for obvious reasons.

Designer: Porsche

The prized vehicle saw a host of additions for the purpose of acoustic testing, like adding scoops to the engine compartment or bonnet. Porsche had a routine of testing the car to achieve the sweet 63 dB low noise level by accelerating to 30 mph and smoothly moving up to 37 mph on a 20-meter stretch rigged with microphones. This one-off gem also comes with a 5.4 liter V8 engine refined from the early 90s tests. The vehicle’s interiors are kept to a minimum, making it a unique proposition. No doubt it adorns the Porsche Museum now for automotive enthusiasts to revel in the live history of Porsche’s innovation.

What we are interested in about the rare 928 is its Mad Max-esque looks that have a hint of Back to The Future element. The engineers had to wrap the car in cotton wool for noise dampening, and it was mounted on the radiator giving it a very intimidating persona. On the rear, the enormous exhaust silencer strapped to the window gives off the same vibe. Imagine this rare Porsche driving on the streets for Instagrammable reels and pictures.

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