Author Archives: Sarang Sheth

iPhone 17e Gets MagSafe but No Dynamic Island or Gemini Apple Intelligence… Is It Worth Buying?

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Apple has a habit of making its budget phones more interesting than they have any right to be. The iPhone 17e packs the same A19 chip found in the standard iPhone 17 into a $599 body, with a 6-core CPU built on 3-nanometer architecture, a 4-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine optimized for large generative models. Live Translation, Call Screening, Visual Intelligence, and Hold Assist all run natively on a phone that costs $200 less than the base iPhone 17. That’s the real headline, even if Apple hasn’t framed it quite that directly.

The A19 here is a binned variant with a 4-core GPU versus the 5-core in the standard iPhone 17, but graphics performance is still around 30% faster than the A18 in the 16e. The Neural Accelerators embedded in each GPU core are new to this tier and allow Apple Intelligence to run efficiently on-device rather than leaning on cloud processing. For everyday tasks, the performance gap between the 17e and the standard iPhone 17 will be essentially invisible.

Designer: Apple

MagSafe finally arrives on the “e” lineup, and it’s one of the more consequential additions Apple has made to this tier in years. The 16e’s absence from the MagSafe ecosystem was a genuine frustration, and the 17e corrects it with 15W wireless charging, double the 7.5W of its predecessor. The full ecosystem of snap-on chargers, car mounts, battery packs, and wallet accessories now works as intended. Storage starts at 256GB, double the 16e’s entry point at the exact same $599 price. On a phone shooting 48MP stills and 4K Dolby Vision video natively, that extra headroom is genuinely appreciated.

The C1X modem delivers up to twice the 5G speeds of the C1 in the 16e while consuming 30% less energy, matching the connectivity of the more expensive iPhone Air. The single 48MP Fusion camera pulls double duty with an optical-quality 2x telephoto mode, next-generation portraits with adjustable post-capture depth, and improved low-light processing through the A19’s image pipeline. Ceramic Shield 2 brings 3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation, and a new antireflective coating makes the display noticeably more usable outdoors. Battery life sits at 26 hours of rated video playback, with a 50% charge in 30 minutes using a 20W adapter.

The honest part: the notch is still here in 2026, and the 60Hz display is increasingly hard to defend. The Gemini-integrated Apple Intelligence features remain locked to higher-end models for now, so the 17e gets the core AI suite but not the full picture of where Apple Intelligence is heading. For anyone on an iPhone 11 through 13, this is a clear, confident upgrade. For 16e owners, MagSafe and doubled storage are real improvements but may not justify a full cycle. At $599, the 17e is the most accessible entry point into Apple’s AI era, and that counts for more than the notch counts against it.

Pre-orders open March 4, units ship March 11, starting at $599 for 256GB.

The post iPhone 17e Gets MagSafe but No Dynamic Island or Gemini Apple Intelligence… Is It Worth Buying? first appeared on Yanko Design.

If F1 Engineers Designed A Foldable Smartphone: HONOR Magic V6 Hands-On at MWC 2026

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Inside the engine of a high-performance car, components endure thousands of violent explosions per minute, resisting incredible friction and wear. The materials chosen for this environment are selected for one reason: absolute, uncompromising durability. One of the most resilient of these materials is silicon nitride, a ceramic used where extreme toughness is the only acceptable standard. It is a substance born from one of the harshest mechanical environments imaginable.

Honor has taken that same material and applied it to the screen of the Magic V6. This decision to borrow from the world of motorsport engineering is a telling one, and it is a philosophy that extends throughout the device. The hinge is benchmarked against the A-pillar of a modern EV, and the battery’s chemistry is pushed to new limits of silicon content. The 2026 F1 season starts in a few days, but apparently we are seeing F1-level engineering in the smartphone world already.

Designer: Honor

Certain objects feel like they should be impossible. A foldable phone that, when closed, is as thin as a conventional flagship, yet contains a battery that is larger than any of its thicker rivals, presents a genuine design paradox. The physics of space and energy density suggest that one of these goals must aggressively compromise the other. You can have a thin device, or you can have a big battery, but the laws of thermodynamics are usually quite firm about not letting you have both.

The Honor Magic V6 manages to exist in this paradoxical space. It resolves the contradiction by treating the inside of the phone like a three-dimensional puzzle, where core components were redesigned and relocated to accommodate its massive power source. This internal architecture is then wrapped in a shell of exotic materials, including that screen coating developed for racing engines and a hinge with the structural integrity of an automotive safety pillar.

The battery itself is the real story here, the anchor for the entire design. To fit a 6660mAh silicon-carbon cell into this chassis, Honor had to completely re-engineer the phone’s internal layout. They customized and moved key components, including the speaker, the NFC module, and even the USB-C port, all to carve out precious fractions of a millimeter around the battery. The result is a cell with 25% silicon content, giving it the highest capacity ever seen in a foldable. This is the kind of obsessive internal space management that you see in high-end watchmaking or, well, motorsport, where every single component is fighting for its place.

Then you learn about the version they are keeping for the Chinese market, and the engineering goes from impressive to just plain absurd. This model gets the next-generation Silicon-carbon Blade Battery, pushing the silicon content to 32% and the capacity to over 7000mAh. It uses a unique stacking technology, with each power-generating layer measuring a mind-numbing 0.15mm thick. This might be the thinnest, most energy-dense battery ever put into a consumer device. It is a quiet technological flex, a statement that Honor is not just competing, but is capable of producing battery technology that feels a generation ahead of what we see elsewhere.

That philosophy of extreme durability extends to the hinge, the component that carries all the mechanical stress of a foldable. The device opens and closes with a satisfying, confident action, backed by a rating for half a million cycles, which is a frankly absurd number. At their keynote experience zone, Honor even had a V6 operating completely underwater, its hinge cycling open and closed without a single issue. This is an interesting, if slightly dramatic, way to communicate long-term reliability. We have all seen foldables that delicately dance around IP ratings and overall durability claims, but this is a clear statement of intent to build something that feels solid and dependable from the first time you open it.

Fitting a 64MP periscope camera into a device this ridiculously thin is another piece of that engineering puzzle. People who own the V5 might not see a massive day-to-day difference in thickness, but in the grander scheme, the ability to shave off millimeters while adding complex optical hardware is where the real magic lies. This focus on miniaturization and strength is not isolated to the V6. We saw the same DNA in their Robot Phone concept, where this hinge technology allowed them to shrink the necessary micromotors by a staggering 70% to achieve its tiny, folding camera design. This is a company obsessed with pushing the boundaries of mechanical engineering.

This hardware obsession serves a very specific software strategy. The team seems to have built the V6 with the assumption that its ideal customer already owns a Mac, an Apple Watch, and AirPods. They have leaned into this, building in one-tap file transfer to macOS, full support for the iWork suite, and even iCloud integration. It’s a bold move, positioning an Android device as the ultimate companion for the Apple ecosystem, all accomplished using open interfaces. It’s safe to say that not only did Honor build a highly-engineered design-forward foldable that’s thinner than any other Android device, they ended up making a foldable phone that Apple users can buy and use LONG before the foldable iPhone comes out!

The post If F1 Engineers Designed A Foldable Smartphone: HONOR Magic V6 Hands-On at MWC 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nintendo’s Game Boy Jukebox Plays Pokémon Music on 45 Swappable Cartridges

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Thirty years after Pokémon Red and Blue launched in Japan, Nintendo is celebrating the anniversary with something that looks almost exactly like a Game Boy — except it will never, ever play a game. The Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue Game Music Collection: Game Boy Jukebox is a miniature sound toy that slots mini cartridges to play the original games’ iconic 8-bit soundtrack, and it’s already selling out across regions.

The device is a faithful shrunken replica of the original Game Boy, complete with the grey shell, D-pad, A/B buttons, and a screen. None of those controls do anything. All the action happens through the cartridges: pop one in, and the player outputs the corresponding track, whether that’s the hauntingly spare Lavender Town Theme, the adrenaline-spiked Gym Leader Battle music, or the quietly triumphant Pallet Town Theme. All 45 tracks from the original games are represented, covering everything from the Title Screen to the Ending Theme, with Jigglypuff’s Song and the Pokémon Center jingle tucked in between.

Designer: Nintendo

Junichi Masuda, composer of the original soundtrack, was involved in tuning the product. “We took particular care to make the audio sound just like Game Boy,” he said, which goes a long way toward explaining why the format (one cartridge, one song) makes a certain kind of sense. It’s tactile, deliberate, and forces you to actually choose what you want to hear rather than shuffling through a playlist.

That said, the jukebox comes with some genuine limitations. There’s no headphone jack, meaning the music plays out loud only, which caps its utility as background listening. The three required LR44 button cell batteries are included for demonstration but not for ongoing use. And at $69.99 (£59.99 in the UK, 489 yuan in China), it’s priced squarely as a collectible rather than an everyday gadget.

Nintendo is selling the jukebox exclusively through PokémonCenter.com in North America with a one-per-customer limit. The UK has already sold out. Fans in mainland China can enter a lottery-based purchase system starting March 6. Gotta catch ’em all, right?!

The post Nintendo’s Game Boy Jukebox Plays Pokémon Music on 45 Swappable Cartridges first appeared on Yanko Design.

A 113-Year-Old Patent Just Became the Most Creative EDC Pocket Multi-Tool of 2026

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MetMo has a very particular way of working. The Leeds-based engineering team finds a mechanical concept from history that was ahead of its time, studies it carefully, then rebuilds it with the materials and precision manufacturing the original inventor could never have accessed. The MetMo Pen went back to an 1892 dual-thread screw. The Fractal Vise revived a gripping technology too complex for most workshops. Both became substantial hits, and if you follow our work, you know we covered them. Their next one follows the same formula, and it might be the most satisfying yet.

Patent no. 1,070,656, filed by J. Anderson in 1912 and granted in 1913, described a double-ended parallel wrench that never quite found its moment. MetMo took that silhouette and used it as a chassis, assigning a specific function to every surface: a hex drive zone at the centre, adaptive parallel jaws drawing directly from their Fractal Vise technology, plier teeth, a V-groove for square drive tools, and an edge nipping point. It’s five tools in one slim body, after a 113-year wait for the right team to come along and finally build it properly.

Designers: Sean Sykes & James Whitfield

Click Here to Buy Now: $134 $167 (20% off). Hurry, only 4/600 left! Raised over $438,000.

The original Anderson patent was a ghost, a clever idea that lacked the context to thrive. You can picture it being made from rough-cast metal with loose tolerances, a tool that worked in theory but was probably clunky in practice. What MetMo does is take that core mechanical logic and run it through a modern filter of CNC machining and advanced metallurgy. The result is a tool that fulfills the original’s promise in a way Anderson himself likely couldn’t have imagined. It’s the same double-ended, central-pivot concept, but executed with a precision that makes it feel entirely new. Coupled with tiny tools and details stuffed into every empty spot MetMo could find.

What’s really clever is how they packed in so much function without making it a brick. A typical multi-tool suffers from compromise, with each function feeling a bit clumsy to accommodate the others. The Pocket Grip avoids this by making existing geometry do double duty. The central pivot, a structural necessity in the 1913 design, is now a perfectly machined 1/4-inch hex drive for standard bits. The jaws aren’t just serrated; they’re divided into a ‘chomping zone’ for aggressive grip, dedicated points for round or flat objects, and even an edge nipping point. Every surface has a purpose, a level of design efficiency that makes the final object feel intentional and integrated.

That’s especially true of the adaptive parallel jaw, which is a direct technological inheritance from their own Fractal Vise. We wrote about that vise when it came out, admiring how its interlocking jaws could conform to almost any irregular shape. MetMo has miniaturized that same logic and engineered it into the Pocket Grip. One jaw remains fixed while the other adjusts, staying perfectly parallel up to a 20mm opening distance. This gives you a clamping stability that a simple pair of pliers could never match. It’s proof that MetMo isn’t just reviving old ideas; they’re building a cohesive design language and iterating on their own innovations.

All of this engineering is packed into a form that is genuinely pocket-friendly. The tool measures just 95.5mm long by 45.5mm wide, and a remarkably slim 10mm thick. The aerospace-grade aluminum version weighs a scant 83.6 grams. These numbers are key to its success as an everyday carry item. But the specs only tell half the story. The other half is the tactile experience, the so-called ‘desk toy’ factor. The smooth action of the TR6x2 drive screw, the satisfying resistance of the knurled brass adjuster, and the balanced weight in your hand make it something you instinctively want to pick up and fiddle with.

The jaws on all versions are machined from 17-4 PH hardened stainless steel, heat-treated to a Rockwell C hardness of 45, with an ultimate tensile strength of 1448 MPa. In simple terms, they are incredibly tough and designed to retain their edge. The body itself comes in three flavors: hard-anodized 7075-T651 aluminum for lightweight durability, Grade 5 titanium for the ultimate strength-to-weight ratio, or a solid stainless steel build for those who prefer a bit of heft. This isn’t a disposable product; the jaws are removable and serviceable, a direct counter-statement to the throwaway culture common in tool manufacturing.

In practice, the Pocket Grip finds its place everywhere. For a model maker or miniatures painter, it’s a precise third hand, clamping onto a base to hold a project steady. For a cyclist, it’s a compact wrench and driver for quick adjustments on the go. Around the house, it’s the tool you grab for that one awkward fitting that nothing else can quite get a handle on. The V-groove is a subtle but brilliant touch, perfect for holding 3-6mm square drive tools like taps and drill bits, adding another layer of utility for detailed work. With the ability to apply over 21kg of clamping force with just finger pressure, it has more than enough power for most daily tasks.

The Pocket Grip is available in three primary configurations based on the body material. The lightweight choice is the hard-anodized aluminum at 83.6g. For those wanting a balance of weight and extreme durability, the titanium version comes in at 103.6g. Finally, the stainless steel model offers the most substantial feel at 141g and includes an upgraded ‘Snip Grip’ with hardened cutting jaws. Pricing starts at £99, positioning it as a premium, investment-grade tool. And MetMo backs that up with what they call a 200-year guarantee, a confident statement that this is a tool built not just for you, but for the person who finds it in your workshop generations from now.

Click Here to Buy Now: $134 $167 (20% off). Hurry, only 4/600 left! Raised over $438,000.

The post A 113-Year-Old Patent Just Became the Most Creative EDC Pocket Multi-Tool of 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

What If Artists Designed Wi-Fi Routers?

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A Wi-fi router has to hands-down be one of the ugliest appliances to be placed in a modern home. Sure, your thermostat can be concealed, your purifier can be hidden away when not in use, your home gym can fit under your bed. But the Wi-Fi router can’t be moved without some serious repercussions for performance. The router, by virtue of how it works, HAS to be kept in an open environment so it can broadcast the Wi-fi signal everywhere efficiently.

That being said, hardly any companies actually spend time thinking about how home-based Wi-fi should look. Companies like Google and Apple worked fairly hard to ensure their smart speakers fit well into interior spaces, but your router is still this alien-looking device with angular forms, black plastic, blinking lights, and antennas shooting out in every direction looking like a large bug ready to strike. So Cosin Design asks a simple question – what if we merged the worlds of router design with modern art?

Designer: Cosin Design

These Mondrian Routers treat the router’s surface as a canvas for modern art. Inspired by the abstract artwork of Piet Mondrian, the routers translate the geometric artpieces of the Dutch painter onto the plastic appliance’s otherwise cold, boring, and frankly unsightly surfaces. Black or white plastic wasn’t meant for modern homes, especially homes filled with color, texture, and life. Given how routers are almost always centrally located and mounted on walls or placed on high tabletops, visible to every one, Cosin Design’s routers at least try to make a visual statement through art.

Would I put such a router in my house? In fact, this project is an invitation to companies like ASUS, D-Link, Netgear, TP-Link, and others to at least experiment with unique artworks and form factors that delight instead of displease. Huawei launched a beautiful lava-lamp-inspired Wi-fi router just at the end of last year, and it really goes to show how something as essential as an internet connectivity device can speak the language of home decor, instead of looking like something meant to be hidden in a server room.

The post What If Artists Designed Wi-Fi Routers? first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Mercedes-AMG Uhlenhaut Shooting Brake Concept is the Most Beautiful Car You’ll See This Week

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There’s a name in Mercedes-Benz history that carries almost mythological weight: Rudolf Uhlenhaut. The engineer and designer behind the legendary 300 SL Gullwing was known to drive the prototype racing versions of the car to work in Stuttgart, casually lapping most professional racing drivers in the process.

The original 300 SL Uhlenhaut Coupe, the racing variant that never made it to public roads, remains one of the most valuable cars ever auctioned, fetching $143 million at a 2022 Sotheby’s sale. So when concept designer Gabriel Naretto decided to name his reimagined Mercedes-AMG shooting brake after the man himself, the pressure to deliver something worthy of that legacy was immense. Remarkably, he pulled it off.

Designer: Gabriel Naretto

The Mercedes-AMG Uhlenhaut Shooting Brake concept arrives draped in obsidian black, and it hits you in layers. From the front, the DNA of the original 300 SL is unmistakable but filtered through a thoroughly contemporary lens. That iconic central grille with the three-pointed star sits framed in warm copper gold, flanked by large air intakes that mirror the same bronze-kissed treatment. The X-shaped daytime running lights cut through the glossy black bodywork like a precision incision, echoing AMG’s current design vocabulary while feeling completely unique to this car. The hood is long and muscular in the classic front-engine GT tradition, but the surfaces flow with a smoothness that feels almost liquid, like someone poured ink over a clay sculpture and let it set.

Then you walk around to the side, and the shooting brake proportions hit you all at once. Naretto has given this concept a fastback-style extended roofline that arcs gracefully rearward before dropping into a truncated Kamm-tail rear, and it works brilliantly. The roofline is outlined by a thin copper pinstripe that traces the greenhouse all the way to the tail, a detail so refined it belongs on a Swiss watch rather than an automobile. “V12” badging sits discreetly on the sill, a knowing nod to the kind of naturally aspirated thunder that the original Uhlenhaut Coupe’s racing engine would have produced. The body itself is devoid of unnecessary creases or character lines, relying entirely on curvature and proportion to generate visual drama, which is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off and an even more impressive thing to actually see rendered this well.

The doors, of course, are gullwing. There was never any other option for a car wearing the Uhlenhaut name. When they swing open, they reveal a cabin wrapped in black leather accented with copper stitching, with deeply bolstered racing seats and a minimal instrument layout that prioritizes the driving experience over digital noise. The steering wheel is small and driver-focused, and while the concept renders don’t offer a full cockpit tour, what’s visible suggests Naretto was thinking about the complete experience rather than just the silhouette.

The taillights are styled as three-pointed star clusters rendered in deep red, a sculptural interpretation of the Mercedes badge that functions as a graphic element rather than just a regulatory necessity. A subtle integrated spoiler sits at the trailing edge of the roofline, and the diffuser treatment below the bumper gives the rear end genuine aerodynamic intent. The AMG-badged multi-spoke wheels in gloss black with copper center caps complete the picture, tying the whole visual package together in a way that feels considered and cohesive from every angle.

Naretto’s concept navigates the tension between historical reverence and forward-looking design just beautifully. He preserved the emotional architecture of the Gullwing, the long hood, the coupe greenhouse, the gullwing doors as ceremony, and then reimagined everything else through the filter of a modern AMG performance car. The shooting brake body style was a masterstroke of a choice, because it gives the car a sense of versatility and intelligence that a pure coupe wouldn’t carry, while also referencing Mercedes-Benz’s own history with practical performance vehicles like the CLS Shooting Brake and the AMG GT 4-Door.

Parked against the Georgian townhouses of what appears to be a Kensington street in those lifestyle renders, the Uhlenhaut concept looks like it belongs to a world where automotive design never stopped being an art form. Rudolf Uhlenhaut himself would probably have driven it to work.

The post This Mercedes-AMG Uhlenhaut Shooting Brake Concept is the Most Beautiful Car You’ll See This Week first appeared on Yanko Design.

Govee’s Pendant Light Is the Temu Sunset Lamp’s Smarter, Grown-Up Cousin

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Temu sunset lamp, we had fun. The warm orange glow, the perfect circle on the wall, the way it made any room look like a soft launch music video. But the era of the single-trick ambient light is quietly wrapping up, and Govee’s new Pendant Light is part of what’s replacing it.

This one hangs from your ceiling like it always belonged there, a wide smoked-glass drum shade with the confident silhouette of a proper design fixture. Nothing about the exterior screams smart home gadget. And then you turn it on, and the whole thing comes alive in layers. RGB color pulses along the sides. A warm RGBWW gradient bleeds across the curved interior. Clean white light floods down from the bottom panel for actual task lighting. Three zones, one fixture, and a Govee app full of presets that range from “cozy Sunday breakfast” to “we are absolutely having a party in this kitchen.”

Designer: Govee

Click Here to Buy Now

Three lighting zones make this pendant lamp an ambient gradient you can control. Govee splits the fixture into side, curved, and bottom segments, each independently addressable. The side strip runs RGB for pure color expression and visual drama. The curved middle section runs RGBWW, which is where those buttery gradient transitions happen, the kind that made the sunset lamp so irresistible in the first place. The bottom panel is also RGBWW, tunable from 2700K all the way to 6500K, with 1300 lumens and a CRI of 95. That last number matters because 95 CRI means colors rendered under this light look accurate, which is exactly what you want when you’re plating food or checking whether the steak is actually the right shade of pink.

Matter support ships standard, which in 2025 is table stakes for any smart fixture worth recommending. What that means practically is that the Pendant Light drops into Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and SmartThings without friction, no proprietary bridge, no separate hub sitting on your counter. The Govee Home app handles the deeper customization, 80-plus preset scenes, six music sync modes, and a full DIY color editor that lets you set each of the three zones independently. Sync it with up to seven other Govee devices and the whole room moves together. The light also responds to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, so control is reliable and remote-accessible, not dependent on Bluetooth proximity.

Physically, the fixture weighs 5.29 pounds and the hanging cord adjusts up to 4.92 feet, which gives you enough flexibility to dial in the drop height over an island or a dining table without it feeling either too close or awkwardly ceiling-bound. The smoked glass shell does something clever optically: it reads as dark and sculptural when the light is off, almost like a piece of decorative glass, and then transitions into a glowing gradient object when it’s on. That kind of on/off personality shift is genuinely hard to engineer without the shade looking cheap in one of the two states.

Retail price is $149.99, though it’s been sitting comfortably at $109 on Amazon for months now. At that price, the comparison set shifts considerably. Proper designer pendants with a fraction of this functionality routinely run two to three times higher, and none of them pulse to your playlist.

Click Here to Buy Now

The post Govee’s Pendant Light Is the Temu Sunset Lamp’s Smarter, Grown-Up Cousin first appeared on Yanko Design.

Arduino’s $61 Matter Bundle Lets You Build Smart Home Devices That Work With Apple, Google, and Amazon

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The smart home space has always had a problem, and that problem has a name: fragmentation. Your Philips Hue bulbs want to talk to your Google Home, your Apple HomeKit wants to command your smart thermostat, and somewhere in the middle, your Amazon Alexa is just standing there, confused. For years, developers and tinkerers alike had to pick sides or wrestle with clunky workarounds. Then Matter came along, and the industry finally had a universal language for connected devices. Now, Arduino wants to put that language in your hands with the brand new Matter Discovery Bundle, priced at a very approachable $61.04.

Because here’s the thing: once every major smart home platform agrees to speak the same language, the real fun begins. Imagine designing your own smart thermostat, building a presence sensor that dims the lights when you leave a room, or retrofitting that vintage lamp on your desk into something your phone can control. Arduino’s bundle turns those ideas from “cool concept” into “actually buildable weekend project,” and it does it without requiring a computer science degree or a garage full of equipment.

Designer: Arduino

The kit is built around the Arduino Nano Matter, a compact but capable little board that forms the brain of whatever connected device you want to bring to life. Alongside it, you get a plug-and-play connector carrier that lets you snap in additional components without any soldering, and three sensor and control modules that cover the core building blocks of almost any smart home creation. One module handles switching real-world appliances and devices, one detects presence in a room using distance sensing, and one reads temperature and humidity. Output, presence, environment. Those three capabilities alone unlock a surprisingly wide range of DIY smart devices, all of which talk natively to Apple HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Home Assistant right out of the box.

If the idea of jumping into this stuff headfirst sounds daunting, don’t worry… there’s a free 7-course curriculum you can access. Arduino built a free seven-module course on their Cloud platform that takes you from a complete beginner all the way through building devices that can be officially certified and even commercialized. The course balances theory with hands-on building, so you’re always making something tangible rather than just reading about abstract concepts. Complete the whole thing and you earn an Arduino Certified Engineer credential, which is a genuinely useful thing to have if you’re building a portfolio in the product design or IoT space.

The bundle was developed in collaboration with Silicon Labs, whose wireless chip technology powers the Nano Matter board at the kit’s core. All the complex smart home communication happens automatically in the background through Arduino’s Matter library, leaving you free to focus on the creative side of what you want to build and how you want it to behave. That’s been Arduino’s philosophy since the beginning, stripping away the intimidating technical layers so the idea can take center stage.

One small caveat worth knowing upfront: connecting your creations to a live smart home network requires a Thread border router, like an Apple TV 4K or a HomePod. Most households already deep in the Apple or Google ecosystem will have one without even realizing it. For everyone else, it’s a minor additional step before things really come alive.

The bigger picture here is genuinely exciting for tinkerers and creators wanting to hack together a product or an idea within an existing ecosystem. We talk about the smart home almost exclusively as a product category, something you buy off a shelf and plug into an app. Arduino’s Matter Discovery Bundle reframes it as something you design and build yourself, shaped around your actual space and your actual needs. Custom connected devices that fit your life rather than the other way around, available to anyone curious enough to try, for about the price of a nice dinner out.

The post Arduino’s $61 Matter Bundle Lets You Build Smart Home Devices That Work With Apple, Google, and Amazon first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Bonkers F1 Off-Road Racer Concept Puts Senna’s McLaren MP4/4 on Monster Truck Stilts

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What happens when you yank one of the most dominant Formula 1 cars in history off the smooth tarmac of Suzuka and hand it the suspension travel of a Baja 1000 trophy truck? Pascal Eggert decided to find out, and the result is equal parts sacrilege and beautiful.

Eggert, a Presentation Director at EA DICE in Stockholm (the studio behind the Battlefield franchise) and former Art Director at Crytek, clearly spends his off-hours channeling a very specific brand of automotive madness. His latest personal project, titled “Offroad Racer,” takes the unmistakable silhouette of a late-1980s Formula 1 car and reimagines it as a lifted, wide-track off-road machine that looks like it escaped from a fever dream involving Ayrton Senna, the Dakar Rally, and a really ambitious RC car collection.

Designer: Pascal Eggert

The primary variant wears the iconic Marlboro McLaren livery in all its red-and-white glory, complete with the number 3 on the nose cone, Honda badging on the rear wing endplates, Shell logos, Canon branding, and Goodyear Eagle tires. For anyone with even a passing knowledge of F1 history, that combination screams McLaren MP4/4, the 1988 car that won 15 out of 16 races with Senna and Alain Prost behind the wheel. It remains one of the most successful single-seater race cars ever built, designed by the legendary Gordon Murray and Steve Nichols, powered by a Honda RA168E turbocharged V6. Eggert has taken that iconic bodywork and done something beautifully absurd with it.

The track width has been stretched dramatically. Long-travel double wishbone suspension arms sit fully exposed at both the front and rear, made from what appears to be tubular steel framework that would look right at home on a desert pre-runner. The ride height is jacked up considerably, giving the car enough ground clearance to tackle terrain that would shred a real F1 car’s floor in milliseconds. Up front, a pair of compact headlights sit recessed into the nose, giving the machine a menacing, almost insectoid face when viewed head-on. And at the back? The entire rear end is stripped bare, exposing a complex engine with a tangled web of exhaust headers, intake trumpets, and mechanical components that give the concept an incredibly raw, mechanical honesty. There is no rear bodywork hiding the powertrain. Everything is on display, and it looks glorious.

The rear wing, meanwhile, stays faithful to its F1 roots, mounted high on twin supports with the Marlboro branding proudly running across its main plane. It is a beautiful contradiction: a component designed purely for high-speed downforce on a vehicle that looks like it wants to jump dunes and spit rooster tails of dirt. A pretty audacious render below shows the car in full flight on a circuit, a helmeted driver hunched low in the open cockpit, flames erupting from the exposed exhaust. It captures the raw energy of the concept perfectly.

Eggert also presents a second colorway that swaps the Marlboro livery for a darker, moodier Martini Racing-inspired scheme. The base shifts to black with the signature blue, red, and light blue stripe work running across the bodywork and rear wing. This version, photographed in dramatic low-key studio lighting, feels like the nighttime counterpart to the Marlboro variant’s daytime bravado. Red LED taillights glow through the exposed rear mechanicals, and the overall effect is significantly more sinister. If the Marlboro version is the weekend warrior, the Martini edition is the car that shows up uninvited to a hillclimb at midnight.

What makes this project so compelling is the tension between two completely opposing design philosophies. Formula 1 cars are perhaps the most track-specific machines ever created, engineered down to the millimeter to extract performance from perfectly manicured asphalt. Off-road racers, by contrast, are built to survive chaos, to absorb impacts, to maintain composure when the surface beneath them is actively trying to destroy them. Eggert has found a surprisingly coherent visual language between these two worlds, borrowing the aggressive aero surfaces and low-slung cockpit from F1 while grafting on the muscular stance, generous wheel travel, and exposed mechanicals of desert racing.

It helps that Eggert brings serious professional chops to the table. His career spans time at Crytek, where he rose to Director of Visual Design and served as Art Director on titles like The Climb, before moving to DICE where he has worked on Battlefield V and Battlefield 2042. The man understands how to make vehicles look both believable and aspirational, and that game-industry sensibility shows in every render. The weathering on the bodywork, the subtle dirt accumulation, the realistic tire textures: everything is dialed in to sell the illusion that these machines actually exist somewhere, parked in a dusty garage, waiting for their next outing.

The post This Bonkers F1 Off-Road Racer Concept Puts Senna’s McLaren MP4/4 on Monster Truck Stilts first appeared on Yanko Design.

TORRAS’ Galaxy S26 Ultra Case Has a 360° Rotating Magnetic Stand, Leather-Like Skin, and a Design Award

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Galaxy S26 Ultra users tend to fall into a specific category. They’re the people who picked the Ultra not because they needed the absolute maximum specs, but because they actually use those specs. The 200MP camera system gets put to work, the S Pen stays in regular rotation, and the phone handles everything from spreadsheet edits to client presentations. Cases for these users need to solve real problems, which makes the TORRAS Ostand Q3 Vegskin feel purpose-built rather than mass-marketed.

Vegskin covers the back panel with organic silicone fabric that mimics the texture of quality calfskin leather, complete with Italian-inspired embossing that delivers a matte, slightly velvety surface. The material resists oil and water stains while offering antibacterial and anti-mold protection, staying clean through daily handling without constant maintenance. Inside, a beige microfiber lining guards the S26’s glass back from scratches and scuffs. The combination of materials creates a case that works in business settings without looking sterile, pairs well with casual use without feeling too relaxed, and handles outdoor situations without compromise.

Designer: TORRAS

Click Here to Buy Now: $51.30 $56.99 (10% off, use coupon code “YANKO111”). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours! Amazon Link Here.

The Ostand has been arguably TORRAS’ most clever invention, providing an ultra-slim yet robust O-shaped ring/stand that rotates on a 360° pivot point for flexible gripping as well as docking (while sitting flush against the case when shut). The Tora-Hold™ perfects on that technology by packing components that are slimmer, stronger, and somehow smoother in their motion and use too. Eight layers of intricate components (down to micrometers in thickness) deliver the 360-degree rotation with stable angle-locking at any position you choose. The stand measures 2.7mm thick, integrating seamlessly into the backplate when closed, which matters because most kickstand cases add noticeable bulk that ruins the phone’s profile. Flip it open and the hinge operates silently, tuned for smooth reliable motion through over 30,000 rotations according to durability testing. The aerospace-grade aluminum construction went through more than 400 trials refining texture, tone, and color, which explains why the champagne gold finish feels considered rather than flashy.

Four quick-stop positions at 90°, 180°, 270°, and 360° let you snap the stand into place for fast setup, but the mechanism also locks smoothly at any angle between those points – a feature I’ve come to absolutely fall in love with on TORRAS’ Ostand cases. The magnetic ring doubles as a stand and a mounting solution, delivering 15N of magnetic force that holds firmly to car mounts, refrigerators, whiteboards, or any magnetic surface you encounter. That force rating means the phone stays put during workouts or bumpy commutes, which makes the stand viable for actual use rather than occasional convenience. The one-click locking and hidden hinge design keeps the mechanism from feeling like an afterthought bolted onto the case. And, your S26 Ultra will be wireless charging capable with this case on.

The lens guard deserves its own mention because TORRAS designed it specifically for the S26’s camera layout. A precision raised frame wraps around the camera module, following Samsung’s left-high, right-low runway-and-pillar design that keeps the lenses elevated above flat surfaces. The protection works without blocking the flash, the 10MP telephoto cameras, or the radar sensors Samsung packed into that corner, so every shooting function stays fully operational. Camera bump designs change with every phone generation, and cases that ignore those specifics end up causing problems with focus or flash washout. TORRAS clearly mapped the S26’s exact sensor placement, which matters when you’re spending flagship money on computational photography.

The sides use concave TPU that curves to fit your hand naturally, creating a secure hold without adding aggressive texture or rubber grips that collect lint. Soft-touch TPU increases friction just enough to prevent slips while keeping the case comfortable during extended handling, which matters when you’re scrolling through long documents or editing photos. The metal buttons deliver precise tactile feedback with every press, maintaining the satisfying click of the S26’s physical controls instead of mushing them into spongy approximations. Samsung brought back the S Pen slot for the Ultra, and TORRAS built an ergonomic cutout that makes removal effortless with one press for smooth extraction. Little details like that separate cases designed around a specific phone from universal designs adapted to fit whatever Samsung releases.

TORRAS prices the Ostand Q3 Vegskin at $54.99, positioning it in premium territory alongside first-party Samsung cases and established accessory brands. Three colors cover different aesthetic preferences: Amber Brown for warmth and character, Obsidian Black for understated professionalism, and Amethyst Purple for users who want their tech to show some personality. The case works exclusively with the S26 Ultra, designed around that specific body and camera configuration. If you’re investing in the Vegskin, might as well grab one of TORRAS’s 9H hardness screen protectors too, since a premium phone with a scratched display isn’t particularly pleasing to the eye or the pocket.

Click Here to Buy Now: $51.30 $56.99 (10% off, use coupon code “YANKO111”). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours! Amazon Link Here.

The post TORRAS’ Galaxy S26 Ultra Case Has a 360° Rotating Magnetic Stand, Leather-Like Skin, and a Design Award first appeared on Yanko Design.