Author Archives: JC Torres

BenQ Just Made a $189 iMac Light Bar That Looks Like Apple Designed It

Posted on by

The iMac has always had a light bar problem. You could put any number of BenQ ScreenBars on top of one, but they’d cover the camera, block the microphone, or clip over the Apple logo on the back. None of them were made for it. The BenQ iScreenBar is the first that actually is, and it arrives at $189, looking like it was designed by the same people who designed the computer it sits on.

The construction makes the case immediately. Unibody aluminum with a glass touch panel, finished in Silver to match the iMac directly, mounting via a custom magnetic clamp on the back rather than a standard monitor clip. A magnetic cable clip routes the USB-C power cord out of view. The rear logo, the camera, and the microphone all remain unobstructed. It’s the kind of detail that should have been obvious from the start but apparently wasn’t until now.

Designer: BenQ

Compatibility is specifically tuned to the 24-inch iMac from 2021 onward. That USB-C connection does more than just carry power. It lets the iScreenBar communicate with the iMac directly, enabling a dedicated macOS app for software control of brightness and color temperature. It also means the light bar knows when the camera is active, which feeds into one of the more useful features here.

That feature is Video Mode. When the iMac’s built-in webcam turns on, the iScreenBar automatically shifts its output to reduce bright spots on the user’s face, giving calls and recordings a more balanced, flattering light rather than the harsh overhead glow that most desk setups produce. Nobody wants to look like they’re being interrogated from below during a team call, and Video Mode addresses that without any manual intervention.

The light itself uses BenQ’s ASYM-Light optical design, which angles illumination downward toward the desk rather than toward the screen. That means no glare, no hotspots reflecting back from the display, and lighting that reaches an area of roughly 33.5in x 19.7in at 500 lux. The glass touch panel on the bar handles brightness and color temperature adjustments directly, and auto-dimming keeps the workspace at a consistent level as conditions change.

Blue and Green colorways, two of the iMac’s most popular colors, are planned for late 2026. The Silver version is the only one available at launch, which is also the most versatile option since it matches every iMac color reasonably well. For buyers committed to a Blue or Green iMac, the wait might be worth it for a more cohesive result, but the Silver still looks deliberately matched rather than generically attached.

BenQ’s existing ScreenBar lineup has been a reference point in desk lighting for years, with options ranging from $109 for the standard bar to $179 for the Halo 2 and $289 for the new ScreenBar Max built for dual-monitor setups. The iScreenBar slots in at $189, making it competitive with the premium end of that range while offering something none of the others can: a mount that actually fits the iMac the way it was intended, rather than sitting on top of it like an afterthought.

The post BenQ Just Made a $189 iMac Light Bar That Looks Like Apple Designed It first appeared on Yanko Design.

MagSafe Wallets Leave Your Cards Exposed but This $24 One Closes

Posted on by

The TUCCH PU Leather Mag Wallet does something most MagSafe wallets don’t bother with: it folds closed. Rather than leaving your cards exposed in an open slot on the back of your iPhone, this one shuts like a traditional bi-fold and stays that way thanks to internal magnets. At $23.99, it holds six cards, blocks RFID signals, and includes a clear window for your ID.

The problem with most MagSafe wallets is that they’re really just an open pocket attached to your phone. Your cards sit loose, there’s nothing stopping them from sliding out when you dig into your bag, and pulling the wallet off doesn’t make it any more secure. If you’ve ever watched a card quietly escape an open MagSafe slot mid-commute, you already understand why a wallet that actually closes is a more useful object.

Designer: TUCCH

The folding design here means the same magnets doing the MagSafe work also keep the wallet shut when it’s off the phone. Pop it off your iPhone before going through airport security, tuck it into your jacket pocket, and your cards stay in place rather than fanning out freely. It’s a small shift in how the accessory behaves, but it makes the difference between something that feels like a wallet and something that just holds cards.

Six slots is more than most MagSafe wallets offer, and the layout is more thoughtful than a generic card stack. One slot is a dedicated clear window for your ID or driver’s license, something the category almost universally skips. Two of the remaining slots have cutout openings for the cards you grab most, so you’re not pulling out a chunk of plastic to find your transit card or gym membership every time.

RFID blocking is built into the PU leather shell, which is worth having without having to think about it. Contactless card skimming isn’t something most people worry about until it happens, and having that protection passive rather than optional means one less thing to consider. The wallet handles it quietly, in the same way that the best security features tend to stay out of your way entirely.

Magnetic strength is strong enough to hold through a firm shake of the phone, which is about what you’d expect from a well-built MagSafe wallet at this price point. Compatibility extends beyond TUCCH’s own cases as well. Any MagSafe-compatible case from another brand works just as well, which matters if you’re already committed to a case you like and don’t want to switch just to add a wallet.

The wallet stays flat even when all six card slots are filled, which isn’t guaranteed with wallet accessories in general. A lot of them start to bow under a full card load, adding enough thickness to make a slim phone feel bulky. At approximately 0.4 inches thick fully loaded, the TUCCH keeps things compact enough that adding it doesn’t noticeably change how the phone sits in your hand or your pocket.

Compatibility covers the iPhone 12 series through the current lineup, excluding Mini models and cases without MagSafe support. The $23.99 price puts it well below what most leather MagSafe wallets ask without trimming the features that make this one worth buying. A MagSafe wallet that closes, organizes, and works as a standalone is simply a more complete object than the category norm.

The post MagSafe Wallets Leave Your Cards Exposed but This $24 One Closes first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Cyberdeck Trend Went Viral and Raspberry Pi Just Made It Official

Posted on by

A cyberdeck, as Raspberry Pi defines it in its freshly published official build guide, is something you make to solve a problem that a conventional tablet or laptop simply can’t, or just to build something entirely your own for no reason beyond the satisfaction of doing it. That definition is broad on purpose. The cyberdeck trend has been all over social media and the Internet for months now, and Raspberry Pi has finally stepped in with its own version.

The concept traces back to William Gibson’s cyberpunk novels, where cyberdecks were the portable hacking tools of futuristic underground operators. What people are building now is less dystopian but arguably more interesting: compact, custom computers assembled from parts, housed in whatever enclosure the builder can imagine, running whatever software fits the project. Briefcases, mint tins, old pocket computers, wooden boxes, purses, prop replicas, and more have all served as cyberdeck enclosures.

Designer: Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi’s reference build keeps things approachable for first-timers. The brain of the whole thing is a Raspberry Pi 5 board paired with Raspberry Pi flash storage. The keyboard is the Rii RK302, a low-profile Bluetooth model small enough to fit inside the chosen case. Audio comes from the Pimoroni Picade Max USB Audio, a compact USB-C sound card with a 3W stereo amplifier that handles everything through a single connection, leaving the 40-pin GPIO header completely free for other uses.

Power comes from a LiPo battery tucked underneath the keyboard plate, a small but deliberate detail that keeps the layout clean while making the computing stack accessible whenever needed. The whole assembly sits inside a black Pelican-style hard case, which is weatherproof, carries a handle, and is widely available at various price points. It’s an unassuming container that happens to hold a working personal computer inside.

The guide is structured around four decisions: brains, peripherals, power supply, and case. Each section walks through the considerations that matter most, power consumption, processing power, fit, and form, without prescribing a single right answer. The Pelican-style case gets the most airtime because Raspberry Pi says the case is what defines a cyberdeck. Pick a different container, and you get a fundamentally different machine.

Customization is built into the concept from the start. A Raspberry Pi Pico can be added as a secondary processor to drive a smaller auxiliary display, control LEDs, or monitor the battery level in real time. The guide notes this explicitly and frames it as just the beginning of what you can bolt on. For anyone who wants a project that never really finishes, that’s part of the appeal.

The timing connects to something real. The viral wave of cyberdeck content on the Internet has pulled in creators who’ve built these machines into everything from jewelry boxes to rehabbed thrift store bags. Some have attracted millions of views. Raspberry Pi’s social team admitted it “hasn’t been able to get away from” the trend, which makes the official guide feel less like a product launch and more like the company finally joining a conversation it had been watching for a while.

The post The Cyberdeck Trend Went Viral and Raspberry Pi Just Made It Official first appeared on Yanko Design.

XBOX Is 25 and 7 Accessories Just Brought Back Its Most Iconic Color

Posted on by

The original XBOX launched on November 15, 2001. A quarter-century later, it’s getting the tribute it probably deserves, not just a cake but a full coordinated collection of gaming accessories wrapped in the translucent green that made the first console so immediately recognizable. Seven products across five manufacturers, all designed to land before November arrives.

Razer leads the lineup with three anniversary editions spanning mouse, keyboard, and earbuds. The Basilisk V3 Pro 35K brings the translucent green shell to a wireless ergonomic mouse with a Focus Pro 35K Optical Sensor Gen-2, a four-way scroll wheel, and up to 140 hours of battery life between charges. It’s the same hardware underneath; the anniversary treatment is entirely in the aesthetic.

Designer: XBOX, Razer, 8BitDo, Backbone, GameSir

The BlackWidow V4 75% joins it as the compact keyboard option, a wired mechanical board with hot-swappable keys, Razer Chroma RGB, and a new XBOX key that launches Game Bar directly in Windows. It sits comfortably on a desk without dominating it, which is something a full-size board can’t always claim. The 75% layout keeps it portable without sacrificing the keys most gamers actually use.

Completing Razer’s contribution are the Hammerhead V3 X HyperSpeed earbuds, which match the translucent green look across both the earbuds and the charging case. They support low-latency 2.4 GHz wireless audio alongside Bluetooth 5.3, with up to 10 hours of standalone use and 35 hours total when the case is factored in. For anyone gaming across multiple devices, the dual-connection options make them genuinely flexible.

8BitDo brings back the transparent green with its X25 Special Edition of the Ultimate Charging Dock for XBOX controllers, compatible with XBOX Series X|S and XBOX One wireless controllers. GameSir’s X5 Lite for XBOX adds the anniversary colorway to a mobile controller that works with iOS and Android devices and carries Apple MFi certification for broad compatibility, including cloud gaming on either platform.

The Backbone Pro XBOX 25th Anniversary Edition takes a different angle on nostalgia. Instead of translucent green, it reaches into the original 2001 hardware’s full palette, offering Iconic Blue, Bold Orange, and Crystal Clear as the three available colorways. The catch is that it ships blind box style, so the color inside the package isn’t something you choose at checkout.

PowerA rounds out the collection with a sling bag built specifically for the ROG XBOX Ally and ROG XBOX Ally X handheld gaming PCs. The four-compartment bag has dedicated space for the device itself, a headset, a controller, and accessories, with a padded main compartment that includes thumbstick protectors. It carries the 25th anniversary logo on the front and matches the green zipper pulls across the bag.

The collection is available for preorder now, with most items shipping in November to coincide with the actual anniversary date. The XBOX Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition, sold separately, uses colored ABXY buttons and black-and-white bumpers as a callback to the original Duke controller’s layout. The PowerA sling bag retails for $39.99 and the GameSir X5 Lite for $44.99, with other pricing still unconfirmed.

The post XBOX Is 25 and 7 Accessories Just Brought Back Its Most Iconic Color first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rear Screens Were a Flagship Trick, so Honor Put One on a Budget Phone

Posted on by

Secondary rear displays have been a flagship trick for a while, the kind of feature that premium phones use to justify their price tags. The Honor Play20A throws that logic out. It’s an entry-level 4G phone with a 6.9-inch main screen, a 6,000mAh battery, and a small secondary display built into the camera module on the back, at a price that isn’t anywhere near flagship territory.

The rear screen isn’t just decorative. It shows the time, incoming call details, and what’s currently playing, so you can pause or skip tracks without flipping the phone over. It also works as a viewfinder, letting you frame shots with the 13MP rear camera rather than the 5MP front camera inside the notch. In practice, that means group photos taken with the better lens rather than settling for the weaker front sensor.

Designer: Honor

That 13MP rear camera is the only functional one despite the module’s appearance. There’s no telephoto, no depth sensor, no second anything hiding behind the glass. It’s a single lens, and the design leans into the secondary screen to make up for the hardware economy. For everyday shooting, the combination works reasonably well, and it sidesteps the common frustration of front cameras that can’t match the quality of the back.

The main screen is a 6.9-inch IPS LCD running at 90Hz with an HD+ resolution of 1600×720. It’s a big panel with slim bezels and a waterdrop notch, and 90Hz makes scrolling feel noticeably smoother than phones still running at 60Hz. That refresh rate isn’t guaranteed at this price point, which makes its inclusion here more meaningful than it might look on a spec sheet.

The 6,000mAh battery is the other headliner. It charges at 15W via USB-C, which is modest given the capacity, so filling it up from empty takes some patience. The trade-off is that you’re unlikely to drain it before the day is done under normal circumstances. A battery this size in a budget phone tends to last considerably longer than comparable handsets that prioritize thinness over endurance.

Running all of this is the MediaTek Helio G81, an octa-core chip built on a 12nm process. It handles messaging, browsing, video streaming, and social media without issue. Intensive tasks aren’t what this phone is built for, and the chip doesn’t pretend otherwise. Paired with 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage, expandable to 1TB via microSD, the Honor Play20A is configured for people who need a phone to do a lot of everyday things reliably.

Connectivity stays at 4G, with no 5G on board, which fits a budget positioning but is worth noting for anyone in a market where 5G coverage has become the practical standard. The triple tray accommodates two SIM cards and a microSD card at the same time, without asking you to choose between extra storage and a second line. The secondary rear display is the feature that makes this phone worth talking about, but the battery and the large screen are what most buyers will end up living with daily.

The post Rear Screens Were a Flagship Trick, so Honor Put One on a Budget Phone first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Xperia 10 VIII Has Rare Android Features, but £549 Is the Catch

Posted on by

The Sony Xperia 10 VIII is a compact 6.1-inch Android phone with a 3.5mm headphone jack, a dedicated microSD slot, a 5,000mAh battery, and an IP68 water resistance rating. In 2026, that combination is genuinely hard to find on any phone, let alone a mid-ranger. It also costs £549, which is where the conversation gets complicated.

The display is one of the few areas where the 10 VIII makes a clear step forward. Sony says the OLED panel is roughly 50% brighter at maximum than last year’s model, and it pairs that with an automatic color-adjustment system that reads ambient light to keep text and maps legible in direct sun. For a compact phone that goes everywhere, screen visibility in bright conditions matters more than any benchmark.

Designer: Sony

The camera setup stays at 50MP on the main sensor and 13MP on the ultrawide, which is the same hardware as the Xperia 10 VII. The lens combination covers most of what everyday shooting actually demands, and Sony’s imaging tuning has always leaned toward natural color reproduction rather than the overly saturated processing that many phones default to. It’s a camera made for people who shoot, not people who want to appear to shoot.

Battery longevity is built into both the hardware and the software. The 5,000mAh cell comes with Sony’s battery-care system, which manages charge cycles to minimize long-term degradation. The company is also promising six years of software updates here, a notable jump from the four years offered on its predecessor. Getting six years out of a mid-range phone is a meaningful practical advantage.

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 inside is the same chip that powered the Xperia 10 VII, which launched a year ago. It handles social media, streaming, and everyday tasks without issue, but it doesn’t offer much over what existing owners already have. Sony added a Point & Pay shortcut for faster contactless payments, improved the speaker output, and redesigned the back panel with a translucent matte finish in Frozen White, Frosted Grey, and Misty Lilac.

The headphone jack and microSD slot are worth more than they might initially seem. Most phones at this price tier have dropped both, forcing wireless-only audio and fixed internal storage. For anyone who owns wired headphones worth actually using, or needs to carry large media libraries on a card, those two ports turn the 10 VIII into one of the few phones in this segment that doesn’t demand compromises to accommodate them.

At £549, the Xperia 10 VIII doesn’t have an easy answer to the competition. For similar or less money, there are phones with faster chips, bigger batteries, and more capable camera systems. Sony’s argument is that none of them are this compact and this fully equipped with legacy features in a single package. That’s a narrower pitch than it sounds, but it’s also a pitch that doesn’t have many other phones making it.

The post The Xperia 10 VIII Has Rare Android Features, but £549 Is the Catch first appeared on Yanko Design.

Carrying a Separate Power Bank Was Always Annoying, so Nokia Fixed It

Posted on by

The idea of carrying a power bank separately has never been particularly glamorous. It’s another thing to charge, another thing to forget, and another thing to dig out of your bag just when you need it. The Nokia 300 Charge sidesteps that by folding the power bank into the phone itself, a feature phone with a 3,700mAh battery that can share its charge with other devices.

That 3,700mAh figure sounds modest until you consider what it’s sitting inside. Most feature phones top out well below 2,000mAh, and the Nokia 110 Power only packs 1,750mAh, despite the name. The 300 Charge has more than double that, giving you up to 37 hours of talk time and over 40 days of standby. For a phone living in a drawer or a travel bag, those numbers genuinely matter.

Designer: HMD Global

The reverse charging works through the same USB-C port the phone charges from, activated by a dedicated button on the side. Press it, plug in a cable, and the 300 Charge starts pushing 10W out to whatever’s connected. An included 4-in-1 cable covers most devices you’d commonly carry, and the phone itself charges at the same 10W speed when it’s on the receiving end.

Long travel days and power outages share a common anxiety: a smartphone dying when there’s no wall socket in sight. You’d normally be counting on someone else’s power bank to get through. With the Nokia 300 Charge in your bag, you’re already carrying the solution. It’s the kind of device that makes sense stashed in a go-bag, a glove compartment, or a festival backpack before a long weekend.

Then there’s the torch. The Nokia 300 Charge has a high-power LED flashlight that’s reportedly four times brighter than the one on the Nokia 105. That kind of output actually matters when the power goes out, or you need to navigate somewhere dark. Rather than a gimmick, it’s one of the more immediately useful things on the device, especially given what the phone is designed to handle.

The phone is built for situations where things get knocked around. A rugged chassis with a textured, anti-slip grip keeps it secure in your hand, while the overall package comes in at 138 grams and about 15mm thick. It doesn’t feel like a compromise between durability and portability. Available in Sandstone, Green, and Black, the colorways lean practical rather than flashy.

On the inside, the Nokia 300 Charge keeps things simple. A 2.4-inch display, a microSD slot expandable up to 32GB, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and dual SIM support cover the basics. Connectivity is 2G only, which limits it to regions where that network infrastructure is still active. It’s worth confirming coverage before picking one up for travel, since some markets have already shut down their 2G networks.

The Nokia 300 Charge launched in the Philippines at around $32, with a wider international rollout expected. The battery is removable, a practical detail that most phone makers have quietly dropped. It charges at 10W via USB-C, matching the same output it provides when sharing power. A feature phone that calls, texts, lights your way, and tops up other devices at that price doesn’t need a complicated pitch.

The post Carrying a Separate Power Bank Was Always Annoying, so Nokia Fixed It first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Cassette Revival Has Had a Player Problem, and FiiO Just Fixed It

Posted on by

Vinyl already had its big cultural moment, dragging turntables and record stores back into the mainstream. Cassette tapes, quietly and without much fanfare, have been going through the same arc. Sales have been climbing for years, but the revival has lacked a player actually engineered for it. The FiiO CP11 is that player, and it comes with two years of R&D to back it up.

Getting to the CP11 wasn’t a straight line. FiiO originally planned to lead with the higher-end CP15, but as the new ultra-thin mechanism proved far more complex to engineer than expected, from structure and servo coordination to full system integration, the roadmap got reorganized. The CP11 was added earlier in the lineup so the new playback technology could reach people before everything else was perfected.

Designer: FiiO

The size of the thing is worth talking about. FiiO designed the CP11 to be genuinely pocketable, competitive with the Walkmans that defined portable listening decades ago. That’s a different proposition entirely from the thick, ungainly cassette players that have populated the modern revival market. The all-new ultra-thin transport mechanism is what makes that slim profile possible, and getting it right required repeated prototyping and refinement.

Inside, the CP11 moves away from the hardware compromises that hold most modern tape players back. It runs on a brushless motor paired with a new servo drive and revised circuit design, which together are meant to deliver more stable, accurate playback than conventional motors allow. The magnetic head has been upgraded as well, since even the warmest analog sound can only be as good as the head reading it.

Then there’s Bluetooth, which is probably the feature that makes the CP11 most interesting to a broader audience. The fully analog CP13, FiiO’s existing tape player, never had it. Adding wireless transmission here means you can pair the CP11 with any wireless headphones and listen to your mixtapes or favorite vintage tapes without a headphone cord to manage. The 3.5mm jack is still there for people who prefer it that way.

The design doesn’t try to pass off nostalgia as a substitute for intent. The body is clean and minimalist, available in cream, green, and silver colorways that feel more considered than retro-chic. There’s a battery hatch on the back, which suggests the cell might be user-replaceable, a small but meaningful detail for a device built around physical media and the culture of long listening sessions.

USB-C handles charging, which is a small but welcome concession to the present. It charges at 5V/2A, so any standard cable will do, and you won’t need to hunt for a specialized adapter while your tape collection gathers dust. Physical playback controls sit at the top alongside a dedicated Bluetooth button, keeping the experience tactile rather than forcing everything through a touchscreen or an app.

No pricing has been announced yet, though FiiO’s existing CP13 sells in the $99 to $110 range, giving some rough sense of where the CP11 might land. A late 2026 launch is the target, and the higher-end CP15 is progressing simultaneously, with its internals largely completed. The cassette revival doesn’t have a device worthy of leading it yet. The CP11 is making a case for the job.

The post The Cassette Revival Has Had a Player Problem, and FiiO Just Fixed It first appeared on Yanko Design.

Full-Color 3D Printing Once Cost $50,000+, HeyGears Brings It to 10% of the Cost

Posted on by

True full-color 3D printing has always lived in industrial settings, with price tags starting at $50,000 and machinery too large for any studio shelf. Most desktop alternatives can’t close that gap on their own. The HeyGears G1 Series changes that, combining full-color 3D printing, 3D texture printing, 2D UV printing, and True DTF (Direct-to-Film) & DTG (Direct-to-Garment) fabric printing into one compact desktop machine anyone can actually set up at home or in a studio.

Beyond bringing full-color 3D printing to the desktop, the HeyGears G1X also delivers outstanding UV printing performance, offering up to 12× faster printing speeds with the Epson I3200-U1HD printhead, a 10× wider color gamut, more accurate color reproduction backed by G7 Colorspace’s highest-level color certification, and lower ink costs. What’s genuinely useful here is how fluidly the G1 Series moves between modes. A small gift shop, for instance, can run custom UV prints on mugs in the morning, emboss a leather journal cover in 3D texture mode in the afternoon, and print a full-color figurine in the evening, all from the same machine.

Designer: HeyGears

Click Here to Buy Now: HeyGears is currently offering G1X backers $500+ in additional promotional savings. Hurry, only a few left! Raised over $14.4 million.

The standout of the three is the full-color 3D printing. Using Precision Piezo Inkjet technology with instant UV curing, the G1X builds vibrant, paint-free models layer by layer at just 10 to 20 μm thick, roughly half the diameter of a human hair. Transparent and colored sections print in one continuous build, and there’s no post-print assembly to deal with since water-soluble supports simply dissolve in water.

A lot of that output quality comes down to the printhead. The G1X runs on an Epson i3200-U1HD, an industrial-grade unit with 3,200 high-density nozzles across eight ink channels, a maximum resolution of 1,440 x 2,400 DPI in UV printing, and over 10 million colors in its palette. The extra channels include light cyan and light magenta, which keep gradients and skin tones from going muddy.

The G1X also offers three UV printing modes to match different production priorities, whether you want maximum printing speed or a wider color gamut. Ultra-High-Speed Mode uses 4 white-ink channels to achieve up to 12× faster printing, while High-Speed Mode uses 2 white-ink + 2 varnish channels, reaching at least 6× faster printing. Finally, Wide-Gamut Mode utilizes Wide-Gamut inks, including Light Cyan (Lc) and Light Magenta (Lm) inks, for enhanced color reproduction, with printing speeds of at least 3× faster. Whether you prioritize speed or color performance, the G1X lets you choose the configuration that best fits your workflow.

For UV work, the machine isn’t limited to any single surface type. It works on wood, leather, glass, metal, acrylic, and ceramic, among over 400 compatible substrates in total. A rotary module handles cylindrical objects up to 245 mm tall, covering everything from mugs to tumblers, and an integrated line-scan camera auto-calibrates placement so curved surfaces print accurately without manual setup.

The 3D texture mode goes a step beyond standard UV printing, producing raised embossed effects, oil-painting-style relief, and wood-carved surfaces with a recommended height of 5mm (up to 150 mm). For apparel, the G1 Series supports True DTF and DTG printing with a water-based ink set built for wash durability, and that’s what makes it one of the few desktop platforms covering both hard-surface and fabric printing in a single unit.

HeyGears paired the hardware with a full software ecosystem that goes well beyond basic print management. Blueprint Studio handles everything from model preparation to batch layout, while HeyVerse adds AI tools for text-to-3D and image-to-3D generation. There’s also a LiDAR sensor in the print carriage that monitors layer thickness to within ±0.01mm in real time, helping maintain consistent output across longer production runs.

Printhead maintenance is often where UV systems let their owners down, and HeyGears hasn’t ignored that. A quad-layer anti-clogging system combines printhead heating, white-ink agitation, standby cleaning cycles, and a sealed moisturizing state during extended downtime. Three cleaning modes handle everything from a quick nozzle check to a thorough channel flush, and built-in air filtration captures ink mist and VOCs for cleaner indoor operation.

For someone running a small studio or a product-based creative business, the appeal goes beyond having one versatile machine. It means skipping three separate consumable budgets, three learning curves, and three maintenance routines. The i3200-equipped models carry a rated printhead lifespan of 12 to 24 months, while the open ink system offers material flexibility, and HeyGears’ lower-priced inks help keep material costs well below those of comparable industrial platforms. Turns out industrial-grade color doesn’t need an industrial-sized space after all. And with a limited-time $500+ cashback offer now available to G1X backers, you wouldn’t want to miss out on this opportunity to bring your designs to life, and in full color to boot!

Click Here to Buy Now: HeyGears is currently offering G1X backers $500+ in additional promotional savings. Hurry, only a few left! Raised over $14.4 million.

The post Full-Color 3D Printing Once Cost $50,000+, HeyGears Brings It to 10% of the Cost first appeared on Yanko Design.

RayNeo Just Split Smart Glasses Into Two, and Neither One Compromises

Posted on by

The smart glasses category has long struggled with identity. Most devices try to do too much and end up doing nothing all that well. RayNeo’s answer to that is two entirely separate glasses for opposite ends of the spectrum: the iO as a discreet all-day AI companion and the GT Series as a portable personal theater. It’s a straightforward bet that specialization beats compromise.

The iO is the one you’d wear to a meeting and forget you have on. At 33 grams, with an aerospace-grade titanium frame and magnesium-aluminum alloy construction, it distributes weight evenly enough to disappear on your face. The display is invisible to anyone looking at you, a 97% transparent waveguide that delivers text at 1,300 nits of brightness while looking like ordinary eyewear to everyone else in the room.

Designer: RayNeo

What the iO actually does with that display is where things get interesting. Sit through a meeting, and it’s quietly logging the conversation, capturing context, and flagging action items that you can approve with a nod. Step up to give a presentation and its Auto-Teleprompter scrolls your script in sync with your speaking pace. For frequent travelers, it translates across 55 languages and 109 accents in near real time.

The iO doesn’t have speakers or a camera, which is a deliberate call. A four-mic array paired with a bone conduction sensor picks up your voice clearly even in noisy environments, and the 240mAh battery stretches to two days of regular use. Bluetooth 5.4 with MFi certification, IP54 water resistance, and a tactile Smart Crown rotary dial on the right temple complete the hardware.

The GT Series is a completely different proposition. Where the iO blends in, the GT and GT Max make no apologies for what they are: personal cinemas you wear on your face. The standard GT projects a 231-inch virtual screen at a 46° field of view, and the GT Max scales that up to a maximum of 307 inches at 59°, adjustable across three selectable sizes.

Paired with the RayNeo Pocket TV Pro, a Google TV-powered streaming device with a 6,500mAh battery, the GT Series is also the world’s first AR glasses system to support native Dolby Vision playback. That companion device powers both itself and the glasses for about 5.5 hours of streaming, which means actual Dolby Vision on a screen that fills more of your visual field than most living room televisions.

Audio in the GT Series comes from a quad-speaker system co-tuned by Bang & Olufsen, using a six-magnetic circuit design that delivers a 5dB boost in low-frequency sensitivity. Head-tracked spatial audio keeps the soundstage anchored as you move, and a dedicated Steady Mode in the 3DoF chip filters out turbulence and vehicle vibration, making it a natural companion for long flights or train journeys.

Both products go on sale September 4, 2026, via RayNeo’s website and Amazon. The GT starts at $299 and the GT Max at $399, with pricing for the iO still to be confirmed. Custom prescription lens inserts are supported across both GT models, and the GT Max comes in three IPD sizes to accommodate different face shapes. It’s a two-pronged launch that doesn’t hedge its bets on either end.

The post RayNeo Just Split Smart Glasses Into Two, and Neither One Compromises first appeared on Yanko Design.