Author Archives: Sarang Sheth

Google Released a New Pixel 10a and It’s Basically the Same Phone From Last Year

Posted on by

Google would like you to meet the Pixel 10A. It has a new name, new colors, and a press release that runs to several pages. It costs $499, which is exactly what the Pixel 9A cost. It weighs the same. It measures the same. It has the same cameras, the same battery, the same chip, and the same 6.3 inch display. There is a episode of The Office where Pam preoccupies Michael by presenting two identical photo printouts as a spot-the-difference puzzle. Google has essentially done that, except the printout costs five hundred dollars.

To be precise about what actually changed: the display is about 10% brighter, the glass protecting it moved from Gorilla Glass 3 to Gorilla Glass 7i, wired charging climbed from 23 watts to 30, and wireless charging went from 7.5 watts to 10. The camera bump, already barely perceptible on the 9A, is now completely flush. In some regions, satellite SOS is supported. That is the complete list. Google did not forget to send the rest of it.

Designer: Google

The Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro both run on the Tensor G5. The Pixel 10A runs on the Tensor G4, the same chip from last year’s A-series, and the year before that in the Pixel 9 Pro. For years, buying the A-series meant getting the current flagship chip in a cheaper body. That was a genuinely good deal. Google has decided, apparently, that it was too good.

Best Take, Camera Coach, Call Screening, Clear Calling, Now Playing, Gemini as a built-in assistant, and seven years of updates add up to an experience that Android competitors at this price genuinely struggle to match. The Pixel ecosystem has real pull, and Google knows it. The 10A is banking on that pull being strong enough to carry a spec sheet that would embarrass a 2024 phone.

Google looked at the Pixel 9A, decided it had not been wrong about any of it, and shipped it again with brighter glass and a new colorway called Fog. In an industry that routinely invents problems to solve, there is something almost philosophical about a company that simply refuses to fix what it considers unbroken. The Pixel 10A does not have an identity crisis. It has its predecessor’s identity, and it is completely comfortable with that.

It will sell because the cameras are good, the battery lasts, the software support is unmatched at the price, and most people upgrading to it will be coming from something two or three generations older where the difference feels significant regardless of which Tensor chip is inside. Google understands its buyer perhaps better than its buyer understands the spec sheet. The Pixel 10A is a perfectly competent phone that knows exactly what it is. But also… this smartphone announcement could have been an email.

The post Google Released a New Pixel 10a and It’s Basically the Same Phone From Last Year first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Titan Grandmaster Watch Hides a Chessboard Inside It, and Only 500 People Can Own One

Posted on by

Magnus Carlsen banging the table. That image alone tells you everything about what Gukesh Dommaraju means to the world of chess right now. At Norway Chess in June 2025, the reigning World Champion, a 19-year-old from Chennai, sat across from the greatest player the game has ever seen and dismantled him in classical format. Carlsen, a man who has made a career out of psychological composure, was so rattled he slapped the table before collecting himself and patting Gukesh on the back. That moment, quiet and electric all at once, was the clearest signal yet that the throne had genuinely changed hands, and that its new occupant had no intention of warming it for anyone else.

Titan was paying attention. The Indian watchmaker’s “Titan of the Year” platform exists precisely to freeze moments like this in metal and mineral, and for 2026 they had an obvious, irresistible choice. The result is the Grandmaster X Gukesh Dommaraju Special Edition, a 500-piece limited run that takes the geometry, hierarchy, and quiet intensity of chess and presses it into one of the most thoughtfully designed Indian watches in recent memory.

Designer: Titan

The centerpiece of the watch, quite literally, is the dial. Titan’s design team went well beyond printing a chessboard pattern on a disc and calling it a day. The dial is a hand-crafted stone marquetry composition in tiger eye and black agate, two minerals with very different personalities that together produce the warm amber-and-dark-grid texture of a real wooden chess board. Closer inspection rewards patience, and the design team clearly understood that a chess player’s watch should reveal itself the same way a brilliant move does: slowly, deliberately, with growing appreciation.

The hour indices follow the movement logic of chess pieces. The Queen sits at 12, the Rook at 9, the Bishop at 3, and the King at 6, while the remaining markers take the shape of pawns. The red seconds hand carries a Knight counterpoise, a nod to Gukesh’s favorite piece on the board. Every glance at the time becomes a subtle re-engagement with the game. Then the lights go out, and the watch transforms entirely. The lume application on this dial is genuinely dramatic. The chess piece indices, rendered as sculpted rose-gold markers with lume fills, blaze a vivid green against the dark textured chapter ring. The hands, with their open-worked cutouts, carry the same green charge.

The case is 316L stainless steel with a rose-gold finish, warm and contemporary without being flashy, much like the man it honors. A sapphire crystal sits over the dial, and the whole thing rides on a calf leather strap with a butterfly clasp. Flip it over and the caseback gives you the real collector’s moment: a rotor embossed with the Grandmaster Knight motif, personally signed by Gukesh, alongside the inscription marking his achievement as the youngest World Chess Champion at 18.

Inside, Titan’s in-house calibre 7A20 automatic movement does the work, 22 jewels, 40-hour power reserve, and entirely built without outsourcing the mechanical heart of the watch. That’s a point of pride for Titan, and rightly so.

The watch ships in specially designed packaging with a personal note from Gukesh, and it’s priced at Rs. 69,995 (roughly $840). With only 500 pieces in existence, each one numbered, this is a watch that exists at the intersection of cultural moment and material craft. Whether you’re a chess obsessive, a collector of Indian design milestones, or someone who appreciates a dial that rewards long, careful attention, the Grandmaster X Gukesh is already playing its own quiet, masterful game.

The post This Titan Grandmaster Watch Hides a Chessboard Inside It, and Only 500 People Can Own One first appeared on Yanko Design.

Ducati Formula 73: Bologna Reaches Back 50 Years to Build Its Most Soulful Cafe Racer in Decades

Posted on by

There are motorcycles built to go fast, and then there are motorcycles built to make you feel something. The Ducati Formula 73 sits firmly, defiantly, in the second camp, and Ducati knows it. Unveiled on February 12, 2026, as part of the brand’s centenary celebrations, the Formula 73 is a love letter to one of the most consequential machines ever to roll out of Borgo Panigale, the 750 Super Sport Desmo, wrapped in modern engineering and limited to just 873 numbered units worldwide.

The story starts in 1972, at the 200 Miglia di Imola, Europe’s answer to the Daytona 200 and the first major competition for production-derived motorcycles. Paul Smart and Bruno Spaggiari crossed the finish line in a 1-2 sweep aboard the 750 Imola Desmo, a moment so electrically important to Ducati’s identity that the brand built a street-legal replica for the public the very next year. That replica became the 750 Super Sport Desmo, the first road bike Ducati ever equipped with its now-legendary desmodromic valve timing system. The Formula 73 name connects all the dots: the FIM Formula 750 series began that same year, 1973. History, compressed into two words on a steering plate.

Designer: Ducati

Fast forward to 2026, and Ducati’s design team dug deep into the company’s historical archives to resurrect the look with surgical accuracy. The result is a silver and aqua green livery that mirrors the original 750 SS almost note for note, right down to the vertical gold stripe running down the fuel tank. That stripe, easily the most poetic detail on the whole bike, references the unpainted strip on the original Imola racer that allowed the team to check fuel levels at a glance without adding any instruments or weight. On the Formula 73, it becomes a design flourish that ties the bike to its racing lineage without saying a single word.

The silhouette is pure café racer: clip-on handlebars with bar-end mirrors, a short and sharp front fairing, tapered tail section, single seat, and a steel trellis frame painted green to echo the original Desmo’s frame. Spoked 17-inch wheels reinforce the period-appropriate aesthetic, swapping out the standard Scrambler’s cast units in favor of something with far more visual character.

Under all that gorgeous bodywork beats an 803cc Desmodue engine, an air-cooled L-twin with two-valve desmodromic distribution that happens to produce exactly 73 horsepower at 8,250 rpm. That number is deliberate, almost theatrical, and completely perfect. Torque comes in at 48.1 lb-ft at 7,000 rpm, and while those figures won’t rattle any Panigale V4 cages, that’s entirely beside the point. The engine’s voice, amplified through a custom Termignoni silencer developed specifically for this model, is the real headline. Raw, characterful, and loud in the best possible way.

The Formula 73 rides on the Scrambler platform, which turns out to be a genuinely smart choice. That means KYB suspension front and rear (a 41mm inverted fork up front, preload-adjustable shock out back), Brembo four-piston radial-mount brakes, and a wet weight of 403 pounds. It handles like a Scrambler, which is to say it handles accessibly, predictably, and with enough personality to keep city riding engaging and canyon roads entertaining. Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tires add a layer of grip that the original 750 SS could only have dreamed about.

Ride-by-wire throttle, cornering ABS powered by an inertial measurement unit, Ducati Traction Control, a bidirectional quickshifter, two ride modes, and a 4.3-inch TFT display with Ducati Multimedia System and navigation are all standard equipment. Rizoma billet aluminum components including brake and clutch levers with integrated oil reservoirs, footpegs, and a fuel cap add premium texture to every surface your hands and eyes land on.

Each of the 873 units comes serialized on the steering plate, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a collection of period images and sketches from the Ducati Style Centre, all presented in a special collector’s box. Ducati has also produced a short film called “A Piece of Timeless” featuring Italian actor Stefano Accorsi, a committed Ducati enthusiast, exploring the emotional experience of riding the bike for the first time. It’s the kind of cinematic treatment usually reserved for something you’d hang in a gallery.

Pricing starts at $19,995 in the US, and £15,095 in the UK. European dealerships get first crack at the 873 units this spring, with global distribution completing before the end of summer 2026. For a machine built on half a century of mythology, with the kind of detail obsession that makes collectors and riders equally weak in the knees, $20,000 feels less like a price tag and more like a conversation starter.

The post Ducati Formula 73: Bologna Reaches Back 50 Years to Build Its Most Soulful Cafe Racer in Decades first appeared on Yanko Design.

Would you pay over $10K for Caviar’s Valentine-special iPhone 17 Pro with 24K Gold and Mother of Pearl?

Posted on by

What’s the ultimate declaration of love? Sometimes it’s breakfast in bed, other times it’s a $10,000 splurge on a gold-plated iPhone with inlay work. Each to their own, I guess. Me, I’ll stick to avocado toast and OJ served in bed, along with a poem co-authored by ChatGPT.

The Dubai-based luxury customization house, famous for slapping Rolex movements and 24K gold onto iPhones and calling it a Tuesday, has just unveiled the Wings of Love, the latest piece from their Garden of Eden collection. The price? Upwards of three Vision Pros. (And that’s just for the base 256GB variant)

Designer: Caviar

Where most Caviar creations lean into black or stark white as a base, Wings of Love goes with a soft slate blue-grey leather that sits somewhere between storm cloud and morning mist. It’s an unusual, almost painterly choice, and it works brilliantly as a canvas for what’s layered on top: a full scene of swallows in flight, rendered in raised 24K rose gold with mother-of-pearl inlays catching the light at every angle. The birds weave through branching vines and leaves, each leaf tipped with its own iridescent shell inlay. Up close, the craftsmanship looks less like phone customization and more like a miniature Art Nouveau panel that belongs behind museum glass.

The symbolism isn’t arbitrary either. The swallow has carried meaning across cultures for centuries, representing loyalty, return, and love that survives distance. Sailors tattooed them as talismans for safe passage home. In folklore, spotting a swallow was a sign that someone who loved you was thinking of you. Caviar leans into all of that intentionally, positioning Wings of Love as a phone designed specifically for women who, as they put it, treat love as a direction.

The camera plateau, normally the awkward protruding bump that makes every modern iPhone beg for a case, has been fully absorbed and integrated into the decorative overlay. The upper portion of the back is completely redesigned, with the camera module sitting flush within an ornate gold and mother-of-pearl composition featuring a blooming rose motif. The result is a phone that’s slightly thicker overall, yes, but dramatically more coherent as an object. You’re not staring at a camera bump that disrupts the design. The camera IS the design, framed and intentional, like a window in an illuminated manuscript. And because the whole back is already a sculpted, protective structure, you’d be committing a small crime putting a case over it anyway.

The side profile is engraved with “Garden of Eden” and an individual edition number on each unit, and hallmark stamps on the bottom edge certify the 24K gold content, treating the phone with the same seriousness as fine jewelry. Which is exactly what it is.

The whole thing is built for exactly 14 people on Earth. That’s the edition size, 14 pieces, full stop. Which means this isn’t really a phone. It’s a wearable heirloom that happens to run iOS. Pricing starts at $10,340 for the iPhone 17 Pro in 256GB, climbing up to $12,270 for the Pro Max in 2TB. And yes, you can commission just the customization on a device you already own, which is a small mercy for anyone who doesn’t want to explain to their accountant why they bought two iPhones at once. The packaging, naturally, is interactive and comes with a Caviar key finished in 24K gold. Because when your phone costs ten grand, the box has to keep up.

Is it excessive? Absolutely. Is it for everyone? With 14 units in existence, mathematically, it’s for almost no one. But that’s kind of the point. The Wings of Love isn’t trying to be practical. It’s trying to be meaningful, a declaration that sometimes, love deserves to be made in gold. Oh, while you’re at it, close this tab once you’re done just in case your partner happens to glance over your shoulder and ask you for this phone.

The post Would you pay over $10K for Caviar’s Valentine-special iPhone 17 Pro with 24K Gold and Mother of Pearl? first appeared on Yanko Design.

200-Inch Dolby Vision Gaming With 1ms Latency: Inside The Aetherion 4K RGB Laser UST Projector

Posted on by

Gaming displays speak in hertz and milliseconds, while most projectors still talk like it’s Blu-ray season. AWOL Vision’s Aetherion series tries to bridge that gap with something ultra-short-throws have simply never had: true Variable Refresh Rate. It negotiates frame timing from 0.1Hz up to 240Hz, syncing its output to whatever your console or PC is throwing at it. Paired with Auto Low Latency Mode and a claimed 1ms-class response, this is a projector that stands as a legitimate contender to high-end gaming monitors, not just a living room appliance for Netflix and chilling.

The rest of the stack backs that ambition. Dolby Vision Gaming support pushes scene-by-scene tone mapping, while an RGB triple-laser light engine and anti-RBE system tackle motion and color artifacts that usually show up the moment you swing a camera in a fast-paced title. Under the hood, a MT9655 chipset with 8 GB of RAM and 2.5G Ethernet handling 1000 Mbps throughput signals that this is not a token “game mode” toggle. It is an attempt to make the projector a first-class citizen in the modern gaming ecosystem.

Designer: AWOL Vision Aetherion

Click Here to Buy Now: $1999 $3499 ($1500 off). Hurry, only 223/300 off! Raised over $13.2 million!

This whole approach feels like a direct response to years of compromise. For too long, you had to choose: the immersive scale of a projector or the responsive precision of a gaming monitor. Aetherion’s spec sheet suggests that choice is becoming obsolete. The VRR implementation alone is a statement, acknowledging that game frame rates are not a static 60fps target anymore. They dip, they spike, and a display that cannot follow that cadence will produce tearing and judder. By building a system that can track that chaotic dance, AWOL is demonstrating a fundamental understanding of what interactive content actually demands from a display.

The underlying hardware seems robust enough to support these claims. The MT9655 is a capable flagship SoC, and pairing it with 8GB of RAM is generous for a projector. That 2.5G Ethernet port is another one of those quiet tells; it signals an understanding that streaming high-bitrate 4K content, or cloud gaming, requires serious bandwidth that standard 100Mbps ports just cannot handle reliably. This is future-proofing, but it is also a practical necessity for the kind of high-performance use cases Aetherion is built for. The entire platform is engineered to remove bottlenecks between the source and the screen.

Of course, a fast projector with poor color is just a fast way to see a bad image. That is where the triple-laser RGB light engine comes in. By ditching the spinning color wheel found in most DLP projectors, AWOL hit an impressive 110% of the Rec. 2020 color gamut, delivering the kind of vivid, saturated colors that single-laser systems struggle to reproduce. To push the boundaries of visual performance, Aetherion adopts the company’s proprietary Anti-RBE (Rainbow Effect) technology, eliminating the rainbow effect that distracts many viewers during fast motion. Their anti-RBE technology claims to cut these artifacts by 99.99% in both 2D and 3D content.

That obsession with image fidelity extends to how the Aetherion handles darkness. Instead of just blasting lumens, the projector uses a 7-level mechanical IRIS to achieve a 6000:1 native contrast ratio. Its proprietary EBL algorithm analyzes every single frame in real time, tweaking the laser output and image parameters to deepen blacks and pull out shadow detail, boosting the contrast ratio to 60,000:1. This dynamic, scene-adaptive approach is far more sophisticated than a simple brightness setting. It is the difference between a flat, washed-out night scene and one with genuine depth and texture.

From a user experience perspective, running on Google Android TV 14.0 is a significant and welcome choice. It brings a 4K user interface and broad app support without needing an external streaming stick. The integration with Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Alexa ecosystems also positions the Aetherion as a proper smart home device, not just an isolated piece of AV hardware. Little touches, like the motorized lens cover that protects the optics from dust, show a thoughtful approach to the daily realities of owning a high-end piece of equipment.

AWOL is also building out the world around the projector, offering a curated ecosystem to support their tech. The launch includes a new 150-inch Fresnel Daylight ALR screen, a seamless one-piece design with a 1.5 gain for brighter images in ambient light. There is also a redesigned Vanish Cabinet made with stainless steel and leather, featuring integrated cooling fans and a hidden bay for a soundbar. This ecosystem approach recognizes that a projector’s performance is heavily dependent on the screen and its placement, offering a complete, aesthetically coherent solution.

The Aetherion is available in two versions on its Kickstarter campaign. The Aetherion Pro offers 2,600 ISO lumens, while the Aetherion Max boosts that to 3,300 ISO lumens for rooms with more ambient light; both share the same 6000:1 contrast ratio and core technologies. Super Early Bird pricing puts the Pro at $1,999 and the Max at $2,199, which is a substantial 42-51% discount from their eventual MSRPs. If you’re committed to the entire kit, $3,999 gets you the Ultimate Cinematic Immersion Bundle, which includes the Max projector along with a 132″ cinematic ALR screen, and a 4.1.2 ThunderBeat audio system to give the projector its audio oomph. Each projector ships globally with a 2-year hassle-free warranty starting April 2026.

Click Here to Buy Now: $1999 $3499 ($1500 off). Hurry, only 223/300 off! Raised over $13.2 million!

The post 200-Inch Dolby Vision Gaming With 1ms Latency: Inside The Aetherion 4K RGB Laser UST Projector first appeared on Yanko Design.

Benks’ $40 Kevlar Case for iPhone 17 Pro Max Features Hand-Woven Horse Patterns for Lunar New Year

Posted on by

2026 marks the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac cycle, a symbol associated with vitality, independence, and charging ahead without hesitation. Tech companies usually acknowledge this with red packaging and zodiac graphics that disappear by February. Benks decided their limited edition iPhone case should actually reflect what the horse represents: strength, elegance, and refined power. The Knight ArmorAir case uses military-grade Kevlar as its foundation, the same material trusted in aerospace and body armor, then layers in artistic details that transform functional protection into something worth displaying.

The design starts with a deep burgundy Kevlar weave that creates texture through the material itself rather than surface treatments. A lighter champagne-toned pattern forms a running horse across the back, with individual dots creating movement and depth when light hits it from different angles. The camera bump gets the most elaborate treatment, featuring an embossed horse head with flowing mane details inspired by traditional Chinese ornamental metalwork. Rose gold accents on the frame and buttons coordinate with the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s natural titanium finish. It’s a case that works whether you’re celebrating the lunar calendar or just appreciate when limited editions actually bring something new to the table instead of recycling the same festive clichés.

Designer: Benks

The foundation is 1000D DuPont Kevlar, the same aramid fiber family used in bulletproof vests and aerospace components. This material offers tensile strength five times that of steel while weighing considerably less, which is why your phone case can be slim and protective simultaneously. Most people associate Kevlar exclusively with black because that’s its natural woven appearance, but Benks spent years perfecting the dyeing process. They treat the aramid fibers before weaving them, achieving colors like this burgundy base without degrading the material’s protective characteristics.

The champagne horse pattern shows how Benks separates itself from competitors still doing basic Kevlar work. Those lighter dots forming the galloping horse silhouette come from strategic weave density variations rather than printing or painting. Benks essentially programs the weaving pattern to allow more underlying resin exposure in specific areas, creating what looks like pixel art made from industrial fiber. It’s the kind of manufacturing technique that requires custom machinery and tolerance levels most accessory makers won’t bother investing in. The three-dimensional horse head on the camera surround takes this further with actual relief work, meaning it’s sculpted metal rather than flat etching.

The case adds 2mm of thickness total, keeping the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s profile relatively intact while delivering that Kevlar rigidity. MagSafe compatibility maintains 1,200g of magnetic holding force, so wireless charging and accessory attachment work identically to Apple’s official cases. The camera surround raises 1.5mm above the lens surfaces for flat-surface protection. Button cutouts use individual rose gold aluminum inserts instead of silicone pass-throughs, preserving tactile feedback. Benks includes a one-year warranty, which suggests this limited run uses the same construction standards as their permanent lineup rather than cost-cutting for a seasonal release.

The Knight ArmorAir Year of the Horse edition runs $39.99 through Benks’ site and Amazon. That positions it between bargain-bin TPU options and the luxury leather folios that somehow cost more than AppleCare itself. For a limited edition with this level of material engineering and cultural design work, the pricing feels appropriate rather than opportunistic. Whether the horse motif resonates with you culturally or just aesthetically, the case delivers functional protection that doesn’t expire when the zodiac calendar turns over in twelve months.

The post Benks’ $40 Kevlar Case for iPhone 17 Pro Max Features Hand-Woven Horse Patterns for Lunar New Year first appeared on Yanko Design.

If Sci-fi Gardening met MC Escher: Meet The Holocene House’s Floating Jungle Canopy

Posted on by

The pool doesn’t sit beside the house. It doesn’t occupy the backyard. It runs straight through the middle of the living space, dark-tiled and creek-like, with stepping stones crossing it at the entry. This is the organizing principle of Holocene House: water as hallway, water as climate control, water as the thing everything else revolves around.

Above this central watercourse, a canopy of floating planters and geometric panels creates its own microclimate. Timber beams intersect with structural steel. Translucent jade FRP panels catch and scatter light. Plants spill from concrete boxes suspended in the grid. The whole structure has this disorienting quality, like multiple dimensions of garden folded into the same space. It’s both hyper-technical and completely organic, which makes sense for a home that’s carbon positive while feeling more like a living ecosystem than a building.

Designer: CplusC Architects + Builders

CplusC Architects + Builders designed this thing, and honestly, they went harder than they needed to. The brief could have been “nice sustainable house with pool,” but instead they built something that reorganizes how residential architecture relates to water and vegetation. The swimming pool measures roughly 12 meters long and runs parallel to the main living spaces. Dark tiles give it the appearance of a natural creek bed, which sounds precious in theory but actually works because the water is moving and filtering constantly through reed beds, polishing ponds, charcoal, and pebbles. No chlorine. The system mimics what happens in actual wetlands.

The canopy overhead is immersive and disorienting in the best way possible. Structural steel beams intersect with timber framing at multiple angles, supporting concrete planters that float at different heights. Between them, translucent jade-colored FRP (fiber-reinforced plastic) panels fill gaps in the grid. The whole assembly casts this dappled, constantly shifting light that changes character throughout the day. It’s functional shading that drops the temperature on the deck by several degrees, but it also creates this spatial ambiguity where you lose track of what’s ceiling, what’s wall, what’s garden. Very Escher. Very disorienting if you stare at it too long.

This is Australia’s first certified carbon-positive home under the Active House Alliance, which means it produces more energy than it consumes over a year. Solar panels handle the energy generation. Rainwater and greywater systems irrigate the productive garden, which includes fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, and even chickens. The spotted gum cladding on the exterior got the Shou Sugi Ban treatment, that Japanese charring technique that makes timber more resilient and gives it a charcoal finish. Low embodied energy material that will age well in the coastal climate near Shelly Beach.

Inside, a 9.2-meter recycled hardwood island stretches through the kitchen and doubles as the dining table. That’s over 30 feet of continuous timber. The cabinetry uses Paperock, a composite material made from recycled paper and resin, formed into panels with these small perforations that create textured shadows. Floor-to-ceiling storage hides appliances and maintains clean sightlines. A built-in daybed sits in the kitchen area with views straight through to the pool and back garden. The whole spatial layout keeps pulling your attention back to that central water feature, which becomes the thing every other design decision orbits around.

What makes this work is that it’s rigorous about the systems. The natural pool filtration, the greywater recycling, the solar array, the thermal mass of the concrete, the cross-ventilation through operable walls. These aren’t aesthetic gestures. They’re load-bearing infrastructure that allows the house to function as a net positive contributor rather than just a less-bad consumer. And somehow that rigor produces spaces that feel loose and organic rather than over-engineered. You can see the thinking, but it doesn’t announce itself.

The project sits between a national park and million-dollar beach views, which is both an advantage and a responsibility. The landscape architect, Duncan Gibbs, designed the garden to support local bandicoot habitat while producing food for the residents. That’s a specific kind of design challenge: make it productive and beautiful and ecologically functional for native species all at once. The planting selections reinforce local ecology rather than importing exotic specimens that need constant maintenance. It’s a working garden that happens to look good, not the other way around.

Photos by Renata Dominik

The post If Sci-fi Gardening met MC Escher: Meet The Holocene House’s Floating Jungle Canopy first appeared on Yanko Design.

The “Shot On iPhone” Lifehack: This 235mm Telephoto Case Packs Manual Controls + MicroSD Storage

Posted on by

Every time you see “Shot on iPhone” superimposed over a stunning image, ask yourself what’s just outside the frame. Chances are good there’s a telephoto adapter screwed onto the phone, a stabilizing rig keeping it steady, professional lighting bouncing off reflectors, and maybe even an external monitor for the director to watch. Apple loves to showcase the iPhone’s camera prowess, but conveniently omits the ecosystem of professional gear that makes those shots possible. The phone is capable, sure, but it’s getting significant help from its friends.

That’s exactly the gap PGYTECH’s RetroVa Vintage Imaging Kit fills, except it doesn’t hide what it’s doing. The system gives your iPhone 16 or 17 Pro a camera-inspired grip with actual tactile controls, a 13-element optical telephoto system that brings you to 235mm equivalent focal length, external storage support via microSD, and a companion app that offers film-style rendering straight out of camera. Sandmarc and Moment have been in the iPhone lens game for years, but RetroVa takes a more holistic approach by addressing not just optics, but the entire shooting experience.

Designer: PGYTECH

Click Here to Buy Now: $72 $89.95 (20% off) Hurry! Only 192 left of 300. Raised over $157,000

PGYTECH have played this game before. They’re the same company that builds the telephoto extenders for Vivo and Oppo’s flagship phones in China, smartphones that rank second and third in that market behind Apple. The 2.35X telephoto uses a professional 13-element, 3-group optical system crafted from premium ED glass, optimized specifically for the iPhone’s F2.8 aperture. Distortion sits at just 2%, which is impressive for a clip-on system. The optical design delivers razor-sharp clarity and organic bokeh without the digital noise that comes from cranking up your phone’s native zoom. Real glass doing real optical work makes a difference you can see in the final image, especially when you’re shooting wildlife, concerts, or anything else where you need serious reach without turning your photo into a pixelated mess.

The grip changes everything about how you hold and shoot with your iPhone… way more than the ‘Camera Control’ does. Physical buttons include a shutter release that half-presses to focus, just like a real camera. Control dials let you adjust ISO, white balance, and exposure value without tapping through menus on a touchscreen. A zoom lever switches focal lengths in the companion app’s vintage mode, letting you freely adjust zoom in standard shooting. There’s a multi-function button that handles power, quick start, mode switching, camera flips, and Bluetooth pairing. The whole thing weighs between 63 and 65.4 grams depending on your iPhone model, wrapped in classic black pebbled leather with a premium grip that feels like you’re holding a vintage Leica instead of a slab of glass and aluminum.

The grip also packs a built-in microSD slot to offset any storage woes you’d have from saving everything to your iPhone’s camera roll. Imagine this – you’re shooting 4K ProRes video and suddenly your phone throws up a “Storage Almost Full” warning, forcing you to stop everything and start deleting apps or old photos. An independent microSD slot avoids this problem entirely. You can record high-bitrate ProRes and RAW files directly to the card, completely bypassing your iPhone’s internal storage. The USB 3.1 connectivity delivers transfer speeds up to 312MB/s, so offloading footage to your tablet or computer takes seconds instead of the eternity you spend waiting for wireless transfers or slow card readers. The system supports external recording for ProRes, HEVC, and more formats, though 4K60+ ProRes external recording isn’t supported yet.

RetroVa’s companion app delivers film camera texture and mood straight out of the sensor. You get full manual control over shutter speed, ISO, and white balance, creating with the precision of a dedicated camera. The app suppresses iPhone’s built-in sharpening and algorithm processing for a more natural look, avoiding those over-sharpened phone images that scream “shot on smartphone.” You can stamp shots with instant-style watermarks and custom frames for each creation, adding your personal mark before the image even leaves the camera. Vintage film presets give you that classic camera aesthetic without needing to run everything through post-processing filters later.

PGYTECH offers the RetroVa in two distinct tiers to cover different photography styles. The Grip Kit runs $72 for street and everyday shooters who want mechanical controls and external recording support. The Ultimate Kit at $184 adds the 2.35X telephoto extender, tripod collar, lens adapter ring, photography strap, and lens pouch, building a complete creator ecosystem for street, travel, portraits, and long-distance photography. Both kits work with iPhone 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max. First units ship globally starting this month, with future iPhone 18 Pro compatibility requiring only a case swap while the grip continues working.

Click Here to Buy Now: $72 $89.95 (20% off) Hurry! Only 192 left of 300. Raised over $157,000

The post The “Shot On iPhone” Lifehack: This 235mm Telephoto Case Packs Manual Controls + MicroSD Storage first appeared on Yanko Design.

iPhone 17e Rumored for February 19 Launch With MagSafe, Dynamic Island, and a $599 Price Tag

Posted on by

Apple’s budget iPhone is getting less budget and more iPhone. The 17e, set to arrive later this month, is rumored to bring MagSafe charging and the Dynamic Island to the $599 price tier. For context, MagSafe has been available on iPhones since 2020, but only if you were willing to spend at least $799. Now it’s trickling down to the entry model, along with faster wireless charging speeds and compatibility with the full range of Apple’s magnetic accessories.

The Dynamic Island is the other headline addition. While earlier leaks suggested the notch would stick around, newer reports claim Apple is finally retiring it across the entire lineup. That would make the 17e the first budget iPhone to feature the pill-shaped cutout that handles notifications and live activities. The price is staying put at $599 despite industry-wide component shortages and inflation, which makes this one of the rare years where Apple is adding features without inflating the cost. It’s a smart play in a segment where Google and Samsung are both raising prices.

Designer: Volodymyr Lenard

Look, the 16e was fine. Competent even. But that 7.5W Qi charging was a joke, especially when every other iPhone in the lineup had been doing MagSafe since 2020. You’d slap your phone on a charging pad and hope it actually aligned properly, then wake up six hours later to find it at 60% because you were off by half a centimeter. The 17e fixes this with 20W to 25W magnetic charging, which is fast enough that you can actually top up meaningfully during the day. And yeah, you get access to the full MagSafe accessory catalog without feeling like you’re missing out on features you already paid for.

Apple’s probably sitting on a pile of iPhone 14 display panels, which is why everyone assumed the notch would stick around for another generation. Cheaper to use existing inventory than retool the production line for Dynamic Island cutouts. But multiple sources are now saying the pill-shaped design is coming to the 17e anyway, which means Apple decided it was worth eating the cost to kill the notch completely. The notch lasted nearly a decade. Watching it finally disappear from the budget tier feels like the end of an argument that stopped being interesting years ago.

Component shortages are driving prices up across the industry. RAM is expensive, display panels are expensive, everything is more expensive than it was two years ago. Google’s probably launching the Pixel 10a at $549 or higher. Samsung’s A-series keeps inching upward. Apple could have easily bumped the 17e to $649 and blamed supply chain issues, but they didn’t. Holding at $599 while adding MagSafe and an A19 chip is either aggressive margin compression or a bet that ecosystem lock-in is worth more than short-term profit per unit.

The post iPhone 17e Rumored for February 19 Launch With MagSafe, Dynamic Island, and a $599 Price Tag first appeared on Yanko Design.

‘Scandinavian Sci-Fi’ Elliptical Machine Finally Looks Good Enough for any Modern Living Room

Posted on by

Look at high-end Scandinavian or minimalist Japanese interiors and you’ll notice a pattern: objects earn their presence through either pure utility or pure beauty, ideally both simultaneously. A Sori Yanagi kettle. An Artek stool. A Noguchi table. Each piece justifies its footprint by being excellent at its job while also contributing to the room’s visual composition.

Fitness equipment rarely makes this cut. Even premium treadmills and bikes tend to occupy space through force rather than grace, their mechanical nature overwhelming any attempt at aesthetic integration. The Ypoo U U elliptical machine challenges this category assumption by treating the home as a gallery rather than a gym. The form is deliberately quiet: flowing white surfaces meet a single accent of brushed metal, creating visual interest through material contrast rather than sculptural complexity. That exposed circular flywheel housing becomes a focal point, the one moment where the machine admits its mechanical nature, but even this element feels considered, almost jewelry-like in its finish. The elastic resistance cords, rather than appearing as afterthought accessories, integrate into purposefully designed anchor points that read as intentional sculptural gestures.

Designer: Zhejiang Ypoo Health Technology Co Ltd

t 1030mm x 510mm x 620mm, the footprint clocks in at 0.6 square meters, roughly the size of a compact armchair. The height barely clears your knee, which means it lives below the typical sight line when you scan a room. Most ellipticals tower vertically, demanding attention through sheer mass. This one compresses its presence horizontally, spreading low and wide like a piece of modern furniture. The 31kg weight matters because it’s light enough to actually move around without recruiting help or planning an operation. Front-mounted wheels turn relocation into a casual decision rather than a semi-permanent commitment to a room’s layout.

The machine is entirely operated by self-generated kinetic energy. No power cord means no relationship with wall outlets, no visual clutter snaking across floors, no forced positioning based on electrical infrastructure. You generate the electricity through pedaling, which powers the display and resistance system. Zhejiang Ypoo claims 32 levels of magnetic resistance controlled through a visual dial, and the whole thing arrives 99 percent pre-assembled. The self-generation tech also keeps operation quiet since there’s no motor humming or fan whirring to compete with. That silence matters in open-plan spaces where sound travels freely and background noise accumulates into ambient chaos.

Matte white polymer dominates the structural elements, creating that clean, almost medical-grade aesthetic that works in contemporary interiors. The brushed metal flywheel cover provides the only material contrast, and it’s placed exactly where your eye naturally lands when approaching the machine. That’s careful composition, the kind of thinking you see in product photography but rarely in the actual product. The finish quality on the metal reads premium in photos, though I’d need hands-on time to verify if it holds up to the Dieter Rams standard it’s clearly channeling. The whole design borrows heavily from consumer electronics language, treating the elliptical like an oversized Braun appliance rather than gym equipment trying to be friendly.

Look at the side profile and you can see through the machine around the flywheel housing. That negative space keeps the form from reading as a solid mass claiming territory. Instead, it feels permeable, lighter than its actual weight suggests. Traditional ellipticals are opaque objects that divide rooms. This one allows sight lines to pass through, which psychologically reduces its presence even when it’s sitting in the middle of your living space. However, when you do end up glancing at it, it still manages to evoke less of a feeling of utility and more of an otherworldly appliance that adds a touch of minimal futurism to your house.

The post ‘Scandinavian Sci-Fi’ Elliptical Machine Finally Looks Good Enough for any Modern Living Room first appeared on Yanko Design.