Author Archives: JC Torres

NEOM Siranna resort hotel looks like a fantasy castle carved from a mountainside

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When people speak of hotels, they probably think of towering buildings in the middle of cities or near beaches and tourist hot spots. Few will probably imagine one built on desert landscapes, surrounded by imposing mountains on one end and a sea on the other. They probably wouldn’t even be able to imagine how the hotel would be composed of towering spires that seem to be made from the very same rock as the mountains. That combination of elements, however, is exactly what NEOM’s latest ambitious project is proposing, creating a picturesque tourism escape that resembles fantasy or sci-fi fortresses built from mountains, which is actually also the blueprint for this hotel and residence dream.

Designer: NEOM

Imagine riding a boat across a sea and gazing at an imposing mountain range across the horizon. As you near the coast, you notice what seem to be stone pillars rising from the ground, their shadows during the day and lights at night casting an almost otherworldly atmosphere around them. This majestic view is actually your destination, and that’s the kind of adventure that the Siranna is meant to offer, a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and a journey into an ultra-luxurious and dreamy location where sea, mountains, and wadi intersect.

To be built on the Gulf of Aqaba coastline in Saudi Arabia, the Siranna is a complex that will be home to a 65-key hotel and 35 exclusive residences that promise top-of-the-line resort amenities, from beach clubs to spas to wellness facilities. Despite the seemingly dry environment, the experience will also include outdoor adventures, whether on foot or on horseback, to explore the awe-inspiring landscapes that surround this man-made structure. Even the way you get to Siranna will be a breathtaking journey that starts with a boat ride to a secluded bay and then a trek through the mountain’s natural rock formations before finally reaching the property.

The design of the architecture is quite unique and distinctive, with hexagonal pillars that make up both the vertical buildings as well as horizontal spaces. The towers have a single window that runs through the height of the pillar, resulting in a rather striking vertical pattern of lights at night. If you’ve ever seen fictional cities or castles built on the side of mountains, this rather unusual space definitely fits the bill.

Just as unusual as its design is the actual construction of Siranna, intended to support sustainable living and conservation at the same time. The hotel is almost literally carved into the mountainside, allowing it to seamlessly blend with its surroundings while also minimizing intervention in nature and preserving the surrounding landscape. In an age where skyscrapers are eating up the land and blocking the skies for the sake of human convenience, the NEOM Siranna represents an escape not only from the mundane but also from the devastation we inflict on the planet.

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Twelve South Butterfly 2-in-1 MagSafe Charger has a cute and ingenious design

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Apple’s MagSafe magnetic wireless charging technology has literally changed the face of charging accessories. Freed from the shackles of multiple cables, manufacturers have come up with creative designs that marry aesthetics and functionality in ways not possible before. And yes, there are even portable MagSafe chargers that let you bring that convenience anywhere you go. This category is still a bit young, and there haven’t been that many designs apart from foldable squares or small cubes. The latest entry from Twelve South, however, pushes the envelope of portable wireless chargers with a rather cute design that adds some unexpected functionality that you’ll come to appreciate, even if you can’t charge three devices all at once.

Designer: Twelve South

The Twelve South Butterfly is hardly what you’d expect to be a charger of any sort with its elegant circular design. Made from durable anodized aluminum on the outside, the Butterfly looks more like an accessory designed for MacBooks rather than a charger. Open up the two halves of the circle and you’re greeted with vegan leather material that’s meant to both add class to the product but also protect the devices you’ll be placing on top of them. These two halves are joined by a stylish leather strap to complete the rather posh picture that it paints.

Each half, of course, hides a wireless charger inside. One side can charge compatible iPhones with 15W power as well as AirPods with wireless charging cases. The other half holds a 5W Apple Watch Charger that can be flipped up to let you see the watch even while it’s charging. This Watch charger can also juice up the AirPods Pro 2nd gen so that you can charge it and an iPhone at the same time. Yes, this design’s biggest flaw is that it can only charge two devices simultaneously, though that might not be such a problem for most people.

The Twelve South Butterfly, however, has another secret feature. If you fold the halves in the opposite direction and make the outer covers touch, you can use the charger as a makeshift stand as well. This lets you activate the iPhone’s Standby mode or the Apple Watch’s Nightstand Mode without having to use a different accessory. Of course, you can also use this method to prop up the iPhone for watching videos and whatnot even if you won’t be charging it.

Twelve South packs a 30W power adapter in the box for good measure, but you can also use power banks for the ultimate portable charging experience. There’s a braided 1-meter USB-C cable that matches the charger’s elegant looks while also providing durability. The Twelve South Butterfly 2-in-1 MagSafe Charger sells for $129.99 and definitely carries a design that matches that price tag.

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OPPO Find X7 camera design leak could leave you scratching your head

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Camera bumps are one of the necessary evils of smartphone design. There’s a hard limit on how small you can make imaging sensors and lenses while also keeping the phone itself thin and light. Sometimes, this situation has resulted in ingenious and beautiful designs, but sometimes the mass of glass and metal protruding from the back of the phone ruins whatever beauty the rest of the design might have. These days, it’s no longer common to see unappealing camera designs, though there are a few rare cases that pop up from time to time. If this leak is true, however, OPPO’s next flagship will come with a rather odd design choice that will surely split camps and get the Internet talking.

Designer: OPPO (via Weibo)

OPPO Find X6 Pro

OPPO Find X5 Pro

To be fair, it’s difficult to design around those cameras that wouldn’t look obnoxious or even unusable. Unless you’re Samsung, which separates each camera into its own little island, the common strategy is to have a single raised structure, often called a “bump,” to visually group the cameras together. Coming up with a pleasing design for that is no walk in the park, but OPPO has had some very good results in that regard.

The OPPO Find X5, for example, used a single piece of ceramic for the back cover as well as the camera so that the bump is more of a gentle slope rather than an abrupt and independent structure. This year’s OPPO Find X6, on the other hand, used a very large circle, but it tried to imitate the aesthetics of a DSLR lens to give it a more familiar appearance. Given these two hits, it’s almost shocking to hear that the brand might be adopting something completely different and opposite to what they achieved.

Leaked hands-on photos of the alleged OPPO Find X7 reveal a gigantic camera bump with a hexagon shape we rarely see on other phones, at least not of late. It seems to have a two-step structure perhaps to give it a bit of a flair, something it definitely needs given this rather unappealing appearance. At this point, however, the device in the photo is most likely a prototype, which means there’s a chance it isn’t the final design. Given the rather raw and rough appearance, that is hopefully the case.

The extra large camera bump could be due to having two periscope-style telephoto cameras, another first in the industry, that would require even more space for the hardware. That speculation isn’t that far off considering how OPPO markets its Find X series as a mobile photographer’s tool. It seems that the rest of the phone’s design will be similar to the OPPO Find X6, especially the curved edge screen which is a dying breed in this new flat age. The OPPO Find X7 is expected to drop sometime in the first quarter of 2024, so there’s plenty of hope that the brand will adopt a more attractive design for that large camera bump.

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Analogue Duo console revives TurboGrafx cartridges and CDs with a catch

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The retro gaming craze has given birth to many console revivals, but some of them are walking on legally gray areas. The officially sanctioned devices bear licensed titles but in very small numbers. Third-party recreations that use emulators, on the other hand, offer more freedom and flexibility but you’ll have to be creative in where you source your games. And then there’s the rare middle ground that puts those old games in fresh new hardware, like this curious console that pays tribute to the oft-forgotten NEC TurboGrafx. Unlike other retro consoles, however, it doesn’t come bundled with its own games and you’ll have to bring your own cartridges and discs, presuming you still have some of those around.

Designer: Analogue

With the explosion of home gaming systems in the late 80s to early 90s, it wasn’t much of a surprise that some brands would be pushed to the background. Although it did have a faithful following, the NEC TurboGrafx system eventually faded into history, only to be remembered with retro consoles and devices such as the Analogue Duo. It’s not a simple recreation of the original console, however. In fact, it looks nothing like the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine consoles. What this new console brings, instead, is a way to be able to use those original game cartridges and CDs just the way they were meant to.

Retro mini consoles like the NES and SNES Classics practically use emulation software to run digital copies of games that used to exist on physical media. That’s definitely convenient but also removes the gratification of experiencing those classic titles from the cartridges or CDs they came from. Without going into technical details, the Analogue Duo claims to use no emulation at all and uses hardware engineered for thousands of hours to offer compatibility with a wide range of NEC gaming systems and media, including those for the TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, SuperGrafx, TurboGrafx CD, PC Engine CD-ROM, and Super Arcade CD-ROM.

The design of the Analogue Duo itself is also quite unique, eschewing the trend of copying the appearance of the original consoles. It does lie horizontally like most consoles, but its modern and sleek appearance clearly tells which century it comes from. An odd and rather interesting detail is the wavy rear of the console, something you won’t find on any gaming hardware today. Interestingly, you can place two of these consoles back-to-back with those waves intersecting with each other.

The Analogue Duo is pretty ambitious in its goals, which is probably why it took three years for it to finally become available. Even then, it will be in extremely limited supply, available first to those who pre-ordered back in May. Perhaps it’s for the best so that TurboGrafx fans will be able to bide their time and see whether the console will be able to deliver that faithful classic experience it promised.

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Galaxy S24 designs unofficial look reveals familiar faces, subtle changes

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We’re nearing the end of the year, which means almost all the new flagship phones for 2023 have already flown the coop. That also means that the Internet is seeing a constant stream of leaks and rumors about next year’s roster, especially the ones that will be ushering in the new year. As per tradition, Samsung will be opening the year with its own definition of a “bang,” with none other than the Galaxy S24 family to pave the way for 2024. But just like any flagship smartphone from any brand any year, this trio has already been leaked to death. The latest addition to that list is a bunch of official-looking unofficial images that uncover what the Galaxy S24 will look like, and it looks like it’s going to be a very flat affair.

Designer: Samsung (via Windows Report)

Galaxy S23 Family

In contrast to its practice a few years ago, Samsung seems to have mellowed down on making big changes to its flagship phones’ designs. The 2021 Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S22 the year after were almost identical, while this year’s Galaxy S23 still looked slightly similar but ditched the “Contour Camera” bump for a more minimalistic design. It seems that the upcoming Galaxy S24 will continue that trend, preferring refinement over sensational changes in order to establish a stronger brand identity.

This new set of images of the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra match those rumors. They retain the basic design identity of the current Galaxy S line but have some subtle yet important changes as well. If there’s one word that could describe the Galaxy S24’s design, it would be that it has embraced the flat trend even further.

This is especially true with the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+, which now have nearly flat edges with chamfered corners where the front and glass back cover meet the frame. You can be sure that there will be a lot of criticism about Samsung copying Apple yet again, but it’s actually surprising it took this long to do that. In the meantime, a lot of other smartphone brands have already adopted this flat look, so it’s not like Samsung needs to be singled out.

The more important flat change, however, is with the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s screen which ditched the curved edge or “Infinity Edge” design of yesteryears. As mentioned before, this isn’t just a visual change, because it lets owners exploit all the screen space available, down to the last pixel at the edges. It’s a more usable design, especially for a smartphone that uses a stylus. Of course, all of these are still unofficial, but given all the “confirmation” we’re seeing on the Internet, it’s almost as good as gold. The Galaxy S24 lineup is expected to be announced on January 17th, 2024, though even that date isn’t official.

Galaxy S23 Family

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Everlasting Metal Pencil Changes the Game in Writing No Sharpening Ever Required

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We’ve all been through those panicked moments when we try to scramble for a pen or even a pencil and neither is in sight, let alone within reach. Thanks to a renaissance of paper notebooks and analog productivity systems, it’s no longer weird to be carrying a writing instrument with you all the time, sometimes even in your pocket. Not all pens and pencils, however, are made to be shoved in pockets, especially when it comes to pencils that have fragile leads that easily break at the slightest pressure. But what if you had a writing tool that never ran out of ink, never needed to be sharpened, and never snapped in two when you accidentally sat on it? That’s the kind of handwriting bliss that the Pocket Everlasting Metal Pencil brings to your pocket, bag, or EDC toolkit, ensuring you’ll have something to write down your thoughts with at the moment that inspiration strikes.

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Although an ink pen is the preferred tool for jotting down notes, some prefer the centuries-old pencil for its more forgiving and expressive properties. That’s mostly thanks to the nature of the graphite core that leaves its unique mark on paper or other mediums. But whether the pencil is traditional or mechanical, it has the almost innate drawback of needing to be sharpened or replaced because the “lead” has become dull or has broken off. When that happens, not only does your flow of thought get broken as well, you also start to get stressed while scrambling for a sharpener or replacement leads.

This all-metal pocket pencil removes that weakness by using an ingenious special alloy core that barely needs sharpening or not at all. That alloy, however, still contains graphite so it leaves the same marks that a regular clay or charcoal-based pencil would. In other words, you get the same writing experience and quality as a 2H pencil, but without the hassles of “running out” of lead or even ink.

What makes this everlasting pencil even more special is its size. At only 4.7 inches (120mm) long, it is the perfect length to keep in your pocket so you always have it at hand when you need it. At the same time, it isn’t too short to make writing for long periods of time uncomfortable. It strikes the perfect balance between portability and ergonomics, something that a regular pencil can’t even achieve.

The design of the pencil is quite distinctive as well, sporting a faceted metal barrel with a matte texture that improves your grip and prevents the pencil from rolling off desks. It also comes with a rather cute leather cap so you don’t accidentally leave marks inside your pockets. Whether you’re scribbling notes or drafting your next designs, you can enjoy a stress-free and expressive writing experience by having this everlasting all-metal pencil always in your pocket.

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This cute desk gadget concept gets you into a meditative state in a more fun way

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Though there are still some who have a negative or incorrect opinion of it, meditation has become a much-recommended tool to fight off stress, anxiety, depression, and other negative mental states that, in turn, affect our health or productivity. There is even a growing business of meditation assistance services that help guide people toward a calmer state, often daily or maybe even more times in a day. Given the way these tidbits of meditation aids come in digital format, they’re often delivered through smartphones, which is a bit ironic considering these devices are often the cause of stress and distractions. Having a dedicated meditation device might sound overkill, but this rather interesting companion makes that a bit more worthwhile by showing you an adorable face to go along with your mood or the mood that you’re aiming for.

Designer: Pascal Grangier

Meditation services like Headspace and Calm are able to reach a large number of subscribers by offering their content through smartphones. It’s a very practical and convenient strategy that lets you get into a calmer head space anytime, anywhere. The drawback is that you might be tempted or distracted by the very smartphone you’re using to meditate, defeating the purpose of the exercise entirely.

The Headspace Companion is a design concept for a device that leads you into that same state in a more detached yet also more visually appealing way. It’s basically a toy-like device that stands on small feet, almost like a clock. But instead of a clock face, you get an actual digital face themed like clouds, the sun, veggies or fruits, and other objects you might not immediately associate with meditation. The style of both the device and the faces are cartoonish and almost comical, enough to bring a smile to your face every time you look at it.

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The idea is for these faces to reflect your mental state, either based on your mood (probably taken from health sensors or services connected to the device) or just how much time has elapsed since your last meditation. The faces can be gloomy or even angry, while clouds can become darker as time passes. Once you start meditation, however, the character’s face, mood, and colors lighten up as well, reflecting what should be your mental state after the process. Just like on the app, you can set how much time you want to devote to meditation using a wooden wheel timer on its side.

Admittedly, the concept leaves a lot of the technical implementation up to the imagination, since it seems to focus mostly on the visual experience more than anything else. It’s still a rather interesting meditation device that almost literally gives a face to your emotions, a visualization that might even help some people face their problems and watch the same calm reflected on their own faces.

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This aluminum lounge chair is built for easy repairs, not so much for comfort

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Chairs are designed to be comfortable to sit on unless they’re meant to be art or statement pieces rather than usable furniture. Of course, not all designs hit the mark, and some tend to value other traits like aesthetics or features over comfort. That isn’t always intentional, though, especially for chairs that are meant to be sold commercially. This lounge chair, for example, seems to check off boxes like minimalism, repairability, and sustainability, but its rather imposing industrial aesthetic might make some think twice about parking their bodies on its thin body, even if there’s a comfy cushion on the seat.

Designer: Haus Otto

Truth be told, the AL13 lounge chair doesn’t inspire much confidence because of its super thin construction. Each component is made from laser-cut aluminum sheets that seem to be too thin to support heavy objects, like your body for example. Of course, looks can be deceiving, and this chair was designed to be really stable and safe, at least enough to be sold and used both for indoor as well as outdoor use.

The chair’s extra-wide seat is flanked by extra-wide armrests that might seem too high for actually placing your arms on them. Instead, they function better as small side tables to hold your phone, book, or drink, though you have to be careful with the latter that you don’t accidentally knock it over with your arm. It can also hold your laptop, but it might not be comfortable much less ergonomic to use it in that position.

Perhaps the more interesting aspect of the AL13 lounge chair is its somewhat modular construction so that parts can be easily disassembled. This makes it easy to repair, replace, or recycle parts, which are just bent sheets of aluminum. Its distinctive shape and the added function of the armrests make the chair suitable for any spatial environment, whether indoors or outdoors.

That said, the rather hard and cold appearance of the chair might feel a little intimidating, especially if you’re a fan of softer and cozier chairs. There’s an option for upholstered seat cushions, but that still leaves out the back and armrests, not to mention making it unsuitable for outdoor use. It’s still an interesting brutalist design, though, and could be an inspiration for other variations that add a bit more comfort to the equation.

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This portable E Ink typewriter reveals its guts to spirit you away to novel worlds

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NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, has come and gone, but the joy and chore of churning out words never ends. Most people use a computer these days for writing any sort of content with words. Some might even use a smartphone to give their thoughts some form when a computer isn’t available. These devices are, of course, sufficient and practical, but that doesn’t mean they offer the best typing experience. They can become sources of distraction as well as cause of eye strain, both fatal for serious writers. Fortunately, there is now a class of devices that promise distraction-free typing, and this latest addition to that roster takes it up a notch with a design that will spark curiosity and flights of the imagination, hopefully, to better cajole those words out of your brain and onto a digital sheet.

Designer: Freewrite

The Freewrite Traveler is hardly a new gadget. In a nutshell, it is a portable digital typewriter that uses an eye-friendly E Ink screen for displaying the words you type. Unlike a laptop or phone, it doesn’t have any other function, which means there are no notifications or inessential features to distract you from the task of writing. It’s meant to deliver the joy of uninterrupted writing while still offering conveniences like a comfortable mechanical keyboard, saving files on the cloud, and a portable design.

The “Ghost” builds on this solid foundation and adds a design twist that, while not exactly necessary, could help lead your mind to new ideas. It takes inspiration from products that flaunted transparent or translucent shells, including old Game Boy models, the candy-like iMacs, or even Crystal Pepsi. As its name implies, the Freewrite Traveler Ghost sports a transparent shell that lets you take a peek at the electronics that make the device tick.

It’s admittedly gimmicky, but one shouldn’t underestimate the subconscious effects of such gimmicks on our creativity. Humans have always been interested in discovering what lies within, even if it consists of a jumble of wires. The play of light on the translucent white case also gives our eyes plenty of interesting visual points that, in turn, could help trigger the brain and spark new ideas. At the very least, it could offer a nice visual break while you stretch your fingers and arms after a long period of typing.

Granted, not everyone will be keen on spending a solid $600 on a device that does one thing and one thing only, but that limitation is also the very same appeal of the Freewrite Traveler. And when you’re a writer stuck in a rut or are easily thrown off your groove by distractions, every little bit counts to get you focused and inspired, even if it means staring at the indecipherable mess of modern electronics.

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This smart game controller has a screen for phone notifications

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Whether you prefer playing on consoles, PCs, or even mobile phones, chances are you will be using a controller at some point or another. Game controllers are a dime a dozen these days, and they come in all shapes, sizes, and feature sets. Some are so tiny they can fit on a keyring, while others try to include everything and the kitchen sink in a handheld gadget. A new design leans more towards the latter, listing a litany of features that could make pro gamers on any platform drool. But while the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra is already quite notable for its its RGB lighting, which gamers apparently love, it has a special trick that seems both cool yet also over-the-top for something you hold in your hands and barely look at while playing.

Designer: Turtle Beach

Game controllers have come a long way since the earliest days of gaming. There are now more buttons than you can handle, added to cope with the growing complexity of games. Some controllers even have touchpads or some mouse mode, thanks to games or software that need a bit more precise movement than a joystick. The Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra doesn’t have the latter but instead slaps a 1.5-inch display in the middle for showing customization options and notifications, even from social media apps coming from your phone.

This “Connected Command Display” feature, as it is called, is definitely a fancy way to upgrade the game controller. In a nutshell, it lets you see and access controller settings right on the controller itself, removing the need to put up a separate window on the PC or console screen. You can even connect it to an iPhone or Android phone and it will show notifications as they come.

The implementation, however, leaves a few things to be desired, like how you have to switch to a specific mode to use the controller to navigate that screen, breaking your flow. Making it a touch screen could have made it more convenient. Having it display notifications might also be overkill or too distracting since you will most likely want to keep your eyes on the game screen rather than having them glance down at the controller.

Aside from the screen, the Stealth Ultra is chockful of features that gamers will definitely appreciate, ranging from drift-free analog sticks, so that you won’t feel like a ghost is moving them sometimes, to a promise of lag-free wireless connection to customizable RGB lighting to match your game and mood. These features, however, don’t come without a price, specifically a $199.99 price tag. That takes the Turtle Beach Stealth Ultra to the “premium” game controller segment, though some of those features might sound a little superfluous or even unnecessary, especially for hyper-focused gamers.

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