Author Archives: JC Torres

Logitech Keys-to-Go 2 portable keyboard hides a few gems in its slim body

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Phones and tablets are made for touch, whether that’s swiping through social media or typing messages. The latter, however, has become more complicated thanks to more powerful devices and more sophisticated activities. Typing up an email, posting on social, or even writing a novel on the go would require not only a keyboard but one that you can bring with you anywhere. Logitech has a wide variety of portable keyboards available, but it seems to have really gone out with its latest design. Combining powerful features, a slim body, and sustainable design, the new Keys-to-Go 2 aims to go where no mobile keyboard has gone before.

Designer: Logitech

There are plenty of portable keyboards in the market today promising comfort and portability, but many of them end up sacrificing one for the other. Foldable keyboards, in particular, are notorious for really being compact when not in use, but their ergonomics and accuracy leave a lot to be desired. Truth be told, it’s not easy to strike a balance between these two seemingly opposing ideals, but the new Logitech Keys-to-Go 2 probably comes close with a few special features to boot. It’s still going to be more cramped than regular desktop keyboards, but its wider body provides a more comfortable spread of keys compared to the first Keys-to-Go.

Unlike most wireless keyboards, the Keys-to-Go 2 comes with a built-in cover to protect the important keys while inside your bag or when exposed to the elements. You flip it all the way to the bottom of the keyboard when you’re about to use it so you don’t have to worry about losing the cover. Unfortunately, it’s a missed opportunity to have the cover also function as a makeshift stand for phones and tablets, so you’ll have to pull out your own stand when working outdoors.

Logitech also takes a stronger sustainability stand with the Keys-to-Go 2, using as much as 36% (Pale Gray, Graphite colors) or 33% (Lilac color) post-consumer recycled plastics for this iteration, while also employing renewable energy when producing the keyboard’s aluminum bracket. Surprisingly, Logitech opted to go with replaceable coin cell batteries rather than the common built-in rechargeable type, promising to keep the keyboard running for up to three years and lower the carbon footprint from repeated charging.

Unlike its predecessor, the Keys-to-Go 2 supports pairing with up to three devices simultaneously, and switching between these three is as easy as pushing a button. Aside from the rare lilac color, the keyboard’s design is pretty typical of Logitech’s style, simple yet also pleasing to look at. At only $79.99, the Logitech Keys-to-Go 2 becomes a very tempting option that almost gets that balance between comfort, convenience, portability, and sustainability just right.

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XREAL Beam Pro is an Android mobile device for creating and enjoying AR content

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The launch of the Apple Vision Pro has made people interested in augmented reality and spatial computing technologies again, but the price tag on that product, not to mention its limited availability, means very few will be able to see what the fuss is all about, pardon the pun. On the other end of the spectrum, headsets like the Meta Quest, primarily designed for VR and the Metaverse, are indeed more accessible but also less comfortable to use, let alone bring along with you anywhere. Fortunately, these aren’t the only options, and AR glasses like the Xreal Air series have been trying to give everyone a taste of AR, regardless of what device they have. To make the experience even easier, XREAL is launching a curious new device that looks like a smartphone and acts almost like a smartphone, except that it’s dedicated to letting you not only consume but even create content in full 3D AR.

Designer: XREAL

AR glasses practically act like second or external monitors to computers and smartphones, relying on an external device for all the computing, content, and even power. The spectacles themselves provide the image projection hardware and sensors that can then be used by that external device to do things like pinning a screen to a specific location or even displaying a wall of windows that follow your head movement. This design simplifies the setup and saves you from having to spend too much on powerful hardware that will be quickly outdated, but it also means the experience isn’t exactly optimized for AR.

The new XREAL Beam Pro solves that problem by offering a device and a user experience tailored specifically for augmented reality, especially around the brand’s line of AR glasses. And it does so in a form that’s all too familiar to everyone these days: an Android phone. The device features a 6.5-inch LCD 2K (2400×1080) touchscreen running a customized version of Android 14 with Google Play support. It’s even powered by a Snapdragon processor with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage, just like a phone. The similarities with a phone, however, end there.

Running on top of Android is XREAL’s NebulaOS, a user interface designed for augmented reality, and it kicks in once you connect an Xreal Air or later models. This software allows you to enjoy “normal” 2D content as if they were made for AR, letting you place two windows side by side, have them stick to their position “in the air” no matter where you turn your head, or have the display follow your head smoothly. Thanks to built-in sensors in the glasses, users can enjoy 3DoF (Xreal Air, Air 2, Air 2 Pro) or 6DoF (Xreal Air 2 Ultra) smooth movement so you don’t have to manually adjust the screen each time.

What all this means is that you can enjoy all your favorite Android games, streaming content, and even Internet activities in an immersive AR environment, anytime anywhere. Even better, the dual 50MP cameras on its back are intentionally spaced far apart to let you create 3D content as well. XREAL has partnered with many cloud service providers to bring as much content to your hands and eyes as possible, including NVIDIA’s CloudXR platform, Amazan Luna and Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming services, and more.

That said, some people might be a bit confused by the XREAL Beam Pro’s phone-like design and Android interface. While it does have Wi-Fi and 5G, it doesn’t seem to support phone features like calls and SMS, especially if it doesn’t have a built-in mic. It’s still a perfectly usable data-only Android handheld, though, even without the XREAL Air glasses, but you’ll be missing out on what makes the device special in that case. Global pre-orders for the XREAL Beam Pro start today with a rather surprising price tag of $199 for the base 6GB RAM/128GB storage model.

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Biophilic smart humidifier concept also functions as a plant pot

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It isn’t just outdoors that air quality can be a problem. The recent years have made us acutely aware that even indoors, the air we breathe isn’t always in its best state. Even disregarding pollutants, the air inside our houses or rooms can be bereft of moisture, leading not only to discomfort but also respiratory issues. That’s why not only air purifiers but also humidifiers have become so popular of late, though most of their designs leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately, there seems to be a wave of creativity washing over this market, producing designs that blend better into living spaces or push the boundaries of what an appliance can do, like this minimalist humidifier concept that also gives a home to nature’s own purifiers: plants.

Designer: NOI Creative Design Studio

There’s a reason why interior designers always recommend placing plants in living areas, and not just because they look good. They have the natural ability to clean the air around us, purifying and releasing just the right amount of moisture. Of course, just a few plants can no longer handle our poor air quality by themselves, and they’ll definitely need a little help to ensure the quality of life of the humans they’re living with. That’s the core concept of the ACQUAIR design, a smart humidifier and air purifier that tries to combine technology and nature in an aesthetic design.

ACQUAIR is actually two products in one, a smart humidifier and a pot for a single-stem plant. These two parts share the same water tank that both nourishes the plant and sprays moisturized mist to meet the required humidity in the air. The latter is determined using sensors, intelligently adjusting the mist depending on the temperature and amount of humidity already present. There’s very little human intervention needed other than refilling the tank once in a while.

With this system, both the plant and the smart appliance can work together to ensure the comfort and health of the people living inside the space. The small plant can utilize its own natural abilities to purify the air while also living on the same water used to humidify the air. It also serves an aesthetic value, displaying a symbol of life and health in a simple yet elegant pot. Unfortunately, the concept doesn’t go deep enough to detail the device’s features for helping keep the plant alive beyond just water. It definitely has room for improvement, like utilizing sensors to also monitor the health of the plant itself.

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Toy-like cold aroma diffuser offers a fun way to make a room smell great

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Aroma and essential oil diffusers have become quite the fad in the past few years, offering a slice of peace and calm by stimulating one of the most underrated senses that we have: the sense of smell. There is a wide variety of designs for these products, ranging from extremely minimalist clay pots to hi-tech boxes, from garish tech products to aesthetic pieces of art. Most of these use evaporation or water vapor to spread their scents around, but a few simply rely on natural air to do the heavy lifting, so to speak. This diffuser is part of the latter group, but it does more than just stand still and hope a gentle breeze will carry the aroma around. Instead, this upside-down lollipop uses a simple yet effective trick inspired by the last thing you expect: a child’s toy.

Designer: Diptyque

Although they might be effective in diffusing the scent of aromatic oils across a space, most diffusers also have some downsides, like being fire risks or raising the temperature and humidity in a room. For smaller enclosed areas, a passive or cold diffuser might be a better and simpler option, letting nature run its course by using the air around or a breeze to carry the aroma. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to give it a little push, which is what the Culbuto does by moving back and forth like a metronome.

The name might sound foreign, but all of us will be familiar with toys that have spherical bottoms swaying back and forth to the delight of many kids and even some adults. This oscillating diffuser uses that same motion to help fan the scent emanating from its ceramic stick, sending the scent of Baies or Berries, specifically blackcurrant berries, mixed with flowery smells to all sides of a room. It requires no flame or electricity, simply a literal nudge in the right direction, creating an experience that is fun and engaging.

The Culbuto oscillating diffuser, however, is also a work of art that deserves a prominent place on your desk or shelf. The spherical body is wholly made from beechwood, crafted using traditional wood-turning techniques that bring a touch of elegance to a utilitarian product. The aroma comes from a ceramic stick that, pardon the pun, sticks out from the ball of wood, complementing and contrasting the base in a beautiful manner. The stick is “endlessly refillable,” making the cold diffuser not only simpler and more beautiful but also more sustainable in the long run.

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Logitech MX Ink stylus for Meta Quest gives creators a new tool for mixed reality

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Mixed reality platforms, or spatial computing as Apple calls it, try to seamlessly blend digital objects into the real world, but that illusion quickly breaks down when it comes to manipulating those virtual pieces directly. Yes, tapping on buttons in thin air or pinching the corner of floating windows might feel a little natural, but creating content, especially 2D and 3D objects, is less believable when all you have are two “wands” in each hand. For decades, the stylus has been the tool of choice of digital artists and designers because of its precision and familiarity, almost like holding a pencil or paintbrush. It was really only a matter of time before the same device came to mixed reality, which is exactly what the Logitech MX Ink tries to bring to the virtual table.

Designer: Logitech

The Logitech MX Ink is practically a stylus designed to work in virtual 3D space, but while that description is simplistic, its implications are rather world-changing. It means that creators no longer need to feel awkward about waving around a thick wand, making them feel like they’re playing games more than painting or modeling. Artists, designers, and sculptors can now use a more convenient and intuitive tool when moving around in mixed reality, bolstering not only their productivity but also the quality of their work. Admittedly, the MX Ink is bulkier and heavier than most styluses, closer to a 3D printing pen than an Apple Pencil, and drawing on air is still going to feel unnatural at first, but it’s significantly better than even drawing with your finger.

What makes Logitech’s implementation a bit more special is that it works in both 3D and 2D spaces. The latter means that you can still draw on a flat surface and feel the same haptics and pressure sensitivity as a Wacom stylus, for example. This means you can easily trace over a sketch or blueprint on paper and bring that up to a 3D space for fleshing out. Or you can paint artistic masterpieces on a physical canvas without actually leaving any mark on the paper.

The MX Ink is a standalone product, but Logitech is also offering optional accessories to further reduce the friction of working in mixed reality. The MX Mat offers a low-friction surface for drawing with the stylus in 2D, though the MX Ink can actually work on most flat surfaces anyway. The MX Inkwell is a stand and wireless charging station for the device, letting you simply lift it from the dock to start drawing and then put it back without having to worry it won’t be charged and ready for your next work session. Without the MX Inkwell, the stylus will have to charge via a USB-C connection, and Logitech doesn’t even ship a cable with it.

As promising as this new creativity tool might sound, its use is limited to the Meta Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets, ironically leaving the Quest Pro out of the party. This is boasted to be the first time the Quest headsets support more than two paired controllers at the same time, which means you can connect the MX Ink and simply switch between it and the regular Quest controllers without having to reconfigure anything every time. The Logitech MX Ink goes on sale in September with a starting price of $129.99.

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Cut and slice with confidence with this majestic Hinoki cypress cutting board

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Having a sharp kitchen knife is essential to successful and stress-free food preparation, but it’s really only half of the cutting equation. You also need a dependable cutting board on the opposite side to receive the sharp edge of the blade cutting through fish, meat, vegetables, and other ingredients. There is a variety of materials used for these cutting boards, but most of them just don’t make the cut (pun intended). Plastic ones are too soft and easily get damaged, while metal or stone boards are too hard and damage the knife instead. Wood is a good medium, but not all kinds of wood are created equal or are equally up to the task. This rather stylish cutting board rises to the challenge by calling upon the majestic properties of Japan’s Hinoki cypress tree.

Designer: Metaphys for TEUD

Click Here to Buy Now: $59

The cypress tree has always been associated with sacred legends and its Japanese equivalent takes that to an artistic level. Hinoki wood is considered to be a precious material and it has been used to build temples and palaces for centuries. The slow growth period of this sacred tree results in straight grains and an elegant pinkish color, giving it a unique and premium aesthetic that is almost too good to be used on a kitchen cutting board.

Hinoki wood is, in fact, the perfect kind of wood to be used for this kind of design. It has natural antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, which means it’s resistant to mold. The wood also has a natural fragrance that pleases the sense of smell even after having so many kinds of ingredients cut on its surface. Most importantly, it has a medium hardness that is gentle on knives, ensuring that they stay sharp longer. When paired with our dashing Ceramic Sashimi Knife, you get a dynamic duo that’s going to last you a very long time with minimum fuss.

Unlike most of its kind, the Hinoki Cutting Board’s oval shape and sloping edges give it a gentler and more visually pleasing appearance. It isn’t just for show, though, as the shape also makes it easier to drain fluids and juices off the board, coupled with the Hinoki wood’s natural drain-friendly property. And thanks to cypress wood being lightweight, the cutting board is easy to handle, clean, and store away when not needed, though you might want to have its sleek shape on display all the time anyway.

Of course, bare wood wouldn’t be good as a cutting board, which is why even the Hinoki board has a silicone coating on top for protection, especially against water and moisture. This coating penetrates as deep as 2mm into the fibrous part of the wood, ensuring that it can’t accidentally be removed or easily damaged just by cutting over the surface. Whether you’re gently slicing sashimi with our Ceramic Kitchen Knife, cutting juicy fruits, or dicing portions of meat, this regal Hinoki Cutting Board will support all your food prep needs, while making sure your knife stays sharp for a very long time.

Click Here to Buy Now: $59

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Ice-like sculptures are actually handcrafted plastic furniture

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Furniture can be made from any material, with the only requirement that it should be strong enough to serve its purpose. Wood is the most common choice and one that’s beloved by designers, but there are also a number that are made of metal or even glass. There is also furniture made from plastic, though these bear the stigma of not only being cheap in terms of cost but also in quality and durability. Of course, not all plastic is made equal, and some perform better than others. And depending on how you actually use the material, they can look as plain or as luxurious as you can make them. This furniture collection, for example, looks like it has been carefully carved out of blocks of ice, but if you’ve been following the flow so far, then you’d probably guess they’re made from plastic and handcrafted plastic at that.

Designer: Kasper Kyster

Despite the harm they pose to the environment, plastic is still a common sight in many products. They’re cheap to make and easy to work with, which is why they’re used in mass-production pipelines. You’d almost be crazy to manually form the plastic by yourself, but it’s that inspired insanity that brought these beautiful masterpieces to life.

The project, called “Crafting Plastic,” is meant to challenge the way the material is perceived or even utilized. Rather than going through a machine or even a 3D printer, sheets of PETG plastic are cut into small sizes, heated with a heat gun, and then bent and shaped by hand. The pieces are turned into tubes that can be flattened, folded, and bent to create the classic forms of furniture. It’s definitely a painstaking method that won’t scale well, but it definitely serves its purpose, proving that plastic is not as simple as we presume it to be.

The result is a unique aesthetic that, on the one hand, looks like transparent glass but, on the other hand, also resembles sculpted ice with its imperfections and rough surfaces. It has an element of delicateness that almost makes you hesitant to even touch it, let alone put some weight on the pieces to actually use them for the furniture that they are. Fortunately, the lamps in the collection are fully functional without requiring interaction, though they may have also been the most difficult to make. The folds of the plastic pipes have to be done in a certain way and direction to make sure that light actually passes through.

It’s probably for the best that these pieces of furniture are more artistic and not easily replicated because, after all, they are made from plastic. There is some amount of recycled plastic but it’s kept at a low percentage in order to retain the material’s structural rigidity and stability. Hopefully, the eye-catching and thought-provoking design will inspire more experimentation on the use of plastic in furniture that will take into account not only functionality and beauty but also sustainability.

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Blown glass side tables look delicious enough to lick

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Glass isn’t often used for tables and even when it is, it’s usually only limited to the tabletop part. Glass is strong yet also brittle, so you would rarely want to have it in something that meets a lot of accidents in daily use. At the same time, however, glass also has an exquisite quality to its appearance that has even made it the favored material for counterfeit jewelry. There’s a certain artistry in glassware, especially when their production involves more traditional methods like glass blowing, embracing imperfections and flaws as unique traits that give the design a personality of its own. These side tables, simple as their shapes may be, are fine examples of how skilled craftsmanship can turn glass into something so beautiful that they might be good enough to eat.

Designer: Sabine Marcelis

Although they are completely functional, side tables often act more as decorative pieces, making them the perfect subject for design experimentation and thinking outside the box. There’s never a scarcity of concepts that explore different forms and functions for side tables, from transforming furniture to tables that serve both humans and pets at the same time. There are also plenty of more artistic renditions of what a side table is, like this collection that looks like tempting gigantic hard candy.

Coming in a variety of sizes, these square and rectangular glass boxes create a playful display of light and color through their translucent materials and even through the imperfections inside that material. The smoky gray and amber hues make the glass look less like jewelry and more like sweet treats that are too big to put in your mouth. Despite what would normally be boring shapes, the Lokum side tables have a certain aura of fun owing to the design’s charming character.

The simple boxy shapes of the side tables would normally be perfect for using mass-produced techniques, but these are instead blown glass into their geometric forms as evidenced by the traces of ripples in the glass. What would normally be seen as flaws actually enhance the glass tables’ playful image, adding a touch of dynamism to a rather static form. It also affects the way light passes through and bounces off, creating shadows and patterns that draw your attention further.

Elegant, entertaining, and ephemeral all at the same time, these blown glass side tables definitely do more than just provide a temporary place for books or cups. They turn imperfections into beautiful impressions, transform plain shapes into mouth-watering forms, and give life to any space through their simple yet eye-catching design. All these, using a technique that’s been around for centuries and a material that is as common as the sand.

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Canon’s quirky new lenses help you create content for Apple Vision Pro and VR

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Mixed reality platforms try to seamlessly blend physical and digital objects, but our current technologies have their limits. You can, for example, view a regular photo or video in this virtual world, but it’d be like seeing a TV float in front of you. Such content doesn’t fully convey the power and the possibilities offered by these technologies, for which you’ll require specialized tools that are often well beyond the reach of even the majority of professional content creators. Fortunately, the industry landscape is changing, and more accessible tools are becoming available, like this pair of Canon lenses recording at creating stereoscopic 3D photos and videos that don’t require you to buy a new camera, provided you already have a compatible Canon model.

Designer: Canon

To create a stereoscopic 3D video effect that doesn’t look fake, you’ll naturally need either multiple cameras working in sync or one that records in 3D from the get-go. Since there isn’t a huge demand for the latter, 3D or spatial cameras are rare and expensive. More importantly, they require you to set aside your existing cameras and settle for something unfamiliar and potentially less capable than your pro DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Canon’s solution is to actually equip its interchangeable lens cameras with optics designed to take photos or record videos directly in stereoscopic 3D or spatial video. This does mean using two lenses, which is what the upcoming RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL lens will bring to the table. Details are still slim on this particular lens, other than it’s designed with the Apple Vision Pro in mind, particularly its new Immersive Video capability. Best of all, this lens is compatible with existing cameras, though only the Canon EOS R7 has been named so far.

The RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL lens is, of course, also compatible with Canon’s own EOS VR system, as is a slightly odder RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM DUAL FISHEYE lens, also for the Canon EOS R7. As the name implies, the lenses for this module are farther apart, allowing for a wider field of vision and a deeper 3D effect. It does make your camera look weird and could potentially block easy access to the grip or buttons on the front of the camera.

At $1,099, the RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM DUAL FISHEYE isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s also within reach of pro content creators. More importantly, they won’t need to buy another camera and can stick to the powerful Canon EOS R7, presuming they already own this model. The price for the RF-S7.8mm F4 STM DUAL for the Apple Vision Pro will most likely be revealed closer to its launch this Fall.

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Samsung Color E-Paper display could open the doors to new product designs

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Samsung is a tech giant with its hands in many industries, but one of its biggest businesses is in making displays. These cover anything from TVs to laptops to smartphones to signage, supporting a variety of display technologies like LCD, LED, and everything in between. One kind of technology it has barely touched, however, is Electronic Paper Displays or EPDs, the same kind of eye-friendly, battery-efficient screens found on eBook readers. That is changing now, however, with Samsung dipping its toes into this market with a new Color E-Paper display that’s currently aimed at indoor signage and posters but could also be extended to new types of devices in the very new future.

Designer: Samsung

E Ink signage is becoming more common these days, especially as these electronic paper displays start to show improvements in color rendering. It’s not hard to see the benefits of the technology for this particular use case, since EPDs don’t use power to retain their image and use very little power when changing what’s on display. Although it is hardly the first of its kind, even for the tech giant, Samsung’s presence in this growing market is pretty much a stamp of approval from a brand that sells large TVs and screens for the same purpose of advertising in indoor signage.

Image courtesy of invidis

The new Samsung Color E-Paper display seems to be really pushing the boundaries of the technology. The 32-inch has a QHD resolution of 2560×1440, though its real boasting feature is the 60,000-color gamut (six per pixel) which is quite high for a color electronic paper. This is thanks to the new E Ink Spectra 6 panel, the very same that flaunted artistic designs and images on the ASUS ROG Project DALI at Computex 2024 last week. This laptop concept utilizes a smaller panel that acts as a canvas for owners to customize the design of the laptop cover as they desire.

ASUS ROG Project DALI laptop concept @ Computex 2024

While the gigantic size of the Samsung Color E-Paper limits it to applications like signs and posters, it does make one wonder if Samsung will stop there. Its collaboration with E Ink could, in fact, lead to more devices with smaller screens, particularly in the eReader market that Samsung has never ventured into before. And with its close ties with Wacom, it could even add stylus support for these devices, potentially putting the likes of the Amazon Kindle and Kobo on notice.

Image courtesy of SamMobile

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