Tag Archives: Technology

Retro Song Bird Is the Record Player Game Boy Cartridges Deserved

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Game Boy cartridges usually wait in a drawer until you feel like playing something again. But sometimes it’s the music you miss, not the game. Retro Song Bird gives those little plastic rectangles a different job: slot one into the top of a tabletop player, and it finds the soundtrack for you. No screen, no level to beat, just the tunes you remember.

The idea works because the cartridge remains the thing you choose. Instead of scrolling through a library of files, you pull a favorite from a shelf and plug it in. The prototype’s compact, translucent green housing makes room for a top-mounted slot, a front speaker grille, and simple controls along the side. It behaves a bit like a tiny stereo with chunky albums.

Designer: BJ (Bird Cartel Games) via Retro Dodo

It doesn’t play a stored recording from the cart. Retro Song Bird reads parts of the game’s code and recreates the music using an emulation of the Game Boy sound hardware. Its developer says the system maps more than 1,900 games, though that figure isn’t a tested compatibility list. You can skip between tracks and sound effects without having to play through them.

That makes it suited to the hours when you want a soundtrack but don’t want another screen demanding attention. Let it play through its built-in speaker while you’re working, or connect the stereo line output to your speakers. A melody that once accompanied a difficult boss fight can fill the room on its own, even if you never pick up a controller.

The cartridge slot also turns the player into an archive station. It can back up and restore save data, copy game ROMs, and export music as WAV files. That’s useful if you’ve kept a childhood save that feels too precious to lose. Rather than treating games as sealed collectibles, the design makes it easier to listen to and preserve what’s still inside them.

Musicians can go further. The Game Boy’s four sound channels appear as separate USB audio streams, ready to bring into music software for rearranging or sampling. You could start with a melody you recognize, then hear what happens when the square waves and noise part ways. The same cartridge that entertained you after school becomes a set of sounds to work with.

There’s even room for a wonderfully impractical detour. Insert a Game Boy Camera, connect the device to a computer, and it can serve as a USB webcam at 128×112 pixels, in four shades of gray. Alarm mode can wake you with a cartridge’s music, too. Neither feature is why this box exists, but both show how versatile that slot can be.

For now, Retro Song Bird remains a prototype, with shipping targeted for late 2026 and no listed price. Its mint-green housing may change before release. What makes the idea stick is choosing a cartridge for how it sounds rather than how it plays. A game can take a turn on the stereo without demanding another afternoon in front of a screen.

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ModRetro’s $149 Handheld Has Nothing to Hide, Including Its Circuits

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Retro handhelds have a habit of hiding modern electronics inside shells that pretend time stopped decades ago. ModRetro’s transparent Chromatic does the opposite and pays homage to a specific past era, letting the circuitry show through while you slide in an actual Game Boy cartridge. The familiar shape and chunky buttons are still there, but Smoke, Purple, Green, and Red shells turn the hardware underneath into part of the attraction.

Although the majority of electronics of the past did hide their inner workings inside opaque plastic, there was a point in time when colorful transparent shells were in fashion. Traces, screws, and the battery compartment share the stage with the D-pad and face buttons, rather than disappearing behind a fashionable color. Each translucent finish changes how much of that detail catches your eye, without changing the familiar way your thumbs find the controls.

Designer: ModRetro

Pull a vintage Game Boy cartridge from a drawer and the Chromatic lets you play it directly, rather than hunting down a digital copy. Its FPGA-based hardware supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, along with ModRetro’s own releases. That physical slot matters: swapping games still feels like changing games, complete with the ritual of choosing which cartridge deserves the trip in your bag.

The 2.56-inch backlit screen follows the original Game Boy Color’s 160×144 resolution, giving old games the space they were made for instead of stretching them across a giant display. Scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass covers it, while a D-pad and PBT buttons keep navigation pleasantly tactile. It’s a small screen by current standards, but that’s the point when you’re revisiting pixel art.

Then there’s the wonderfully old-fashioned matter of power. Three AA batteries come in the box, so you can replace them when a train ride outlasts your plans. If you prefer charging, ModRetro sells a separate Rechargeable Power Core that charges through the console. The transparent back even leaves the batteries visible, making an ordinary maintenance task part of the handheld’s character.

Of course, a trip back to cartridge gaming can involve another player. The Chromatic retains a link cable port and an infrared link, while its speaker and 3.5mm headphone jack give you options for listening without bothering everyone nearby. USB-C video output to a computer offers a route when you want to share what you’re playing, although this is still a pocket-sized machine.

The transparent ABS plastic shell is also designed to come apart for modifications, which gives tinkerers another reason to care about what’s inside. At 5.2in x 3in x 1.2in and 6.2oz, the Chromatic isn’t trying to pass for a modern phone. Its squared-off proportions leave room for physical controls, a cartridge slot, and the sort of grip you remember from childhood.

For $149.99, the transparent Chromatic comes with a Tetris cartridge and three AA batteries. It won’t make a game feel new, and the shell won’t do much for someone who prefers downloads to collecting cartridges. But sliding a game into a machine whose workings you can see has its appeal. The game stays on the cartridge, while the machine wears its personality on the outside.

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The HomePod is finally getting a screen (and a robotic arm) this October 13th

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Apple event names usually read like perfume ads. Wonderlust, Scary Fast, It’s Glowtime. So when invites landed this week for an October 13 event called “Welcome home,” the bluntness was hard to miss. Apple went with a literal doormat quote. Behind it, the HomePod is reportedly getting a screen, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman saying the headliner is a smart home hub unofficially called the HomePad. A new Apple TV 4K and a HomePod mini 2 are expected to tag along, and press are headed to an “Apple Experience” in Tribeca, which sounds like hands-on time.

The HomePod has spent nine years as the best sounding speaker you never ask anything. We have been daydreaming about a screen for it since October 2023, when we covered the rumored HomePod Max and its 7-inch display. Gurman now describes a 6-inch square screen on a polished metal arm over a round, perforated speaker base, a look reminiscent of the 2002 iMac G4. That is the sunflower iMac everyone nicknamed the iLamp, so Apple appears to be raiding its own attic. Echo Shows and Nest Hubs have spent years looking like phones stuck on cans, so a little desk lamp energy goes a long way.

Designer: Sarang Sheth

The HomePad comes in two versions, with a robotic arm model reportedly on the way

Visual Rendering of the HomePad from 2023

Gurman says Apple is building two versions, a tabletop model codenamed J490 and a wall-mounted one codenamed J491, and both need an outlet. The wall version drops the arm and round base for a thin square base with the speakers and microphones below the display. Both are meant to serve a whole household, recognizing who is talking, showing that person’s content, and hiding private info in a visitor mode. The interface reportedly borrows from Apple Watch and StandBy mode, with iPhone widgets and a single front camera for FaceTime. It also needs an iPhone for setup, so nobody is throwing their phone out yet.

Apple tried several ways of attaching the iMac G4’s screen before settling on one stainless steel arm, and Jobs listed himself as primary inventor on one of its design patents. A third HomePad is reportedly in development with a 9-inch display on a robotic arm that moves 360 degrees, which is basically Pixar’s Luxo Jr. lamp coming to life. We spotted this coming in 2024, when we covered Apple’s homeOS plans, magnetic mount and robotic arm included. The thick bezels are the odd choice, since Apple spent a decade shaving them off. On a screen you glance at from across the kitchen, they might just read as a picture frame.

Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini 2 get new chips and Siri AI

The current Apple TV 4K runs a 2021 A15 Bionic, and rumors point to either an A19 with 8GB of RAM or an A19 Pro with 12GB, which is what the iPhone 17 Pro uses. An N1 wireless chip is also rumored, adding Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, the low-power smart home radio that keeps gadgets chatting without clogging your router. Code in tvOS 27.2 hints that four HomePods can pair with it for surround sound and relay Siri requests so answers show up on your TV. A tweaked Siri Remote is expected too. Siri AI will likely stay exclusive to the new box, so your four-year-old Apple TV gets to watch from the sidelines.

The original HomePod mini arrived in October 2020 at $99 and still runs an S5, a chip first seen in the Apple Watch Series 5. Rumors say the sequel moves to an S9, with the N1 wireless chip and a new Ultra Wideband chip. Code strings reportedly point to the same fabric-wrapped sphere with a backlit touch top, in a lighter blue and white plus new green, pink, and black. Keeping the sphere is the safe call, though I still crave the Braun T3 vibes of that fan-made HomePod Nano concept we featured in 2023. The headline feature is reportedly Siri AI, so the tiny speaker might finally earn the smart in smart speaker.

LG and Schneider accessories, plus what Apple is saving for later

Apple reportedly co-developed a lineup with LG that includes a smart lock, thermostat, temperature sensor, video doorbell, and indoor, outdoor, and floodlight cameras, all expected to wear LG branding. Gurman suggests they won’t ship as early as the HomePod and Apple TV, though a stage cameo is still likely. Leaks describe a deadbolt with a keypad that rotates to open, a doorbell with a second downward-facing camera, and an outdoor camera sealed with O-rings and waterproof grease. Code in iOS 27.2 also lists a Schneider thermostat and temperature sensor with a “second-party” tag, which gets special treatment from the OS. That is a rare admission from a company that usually builds everything itself: HomeKit needs friends.

Earlier reports floated a HomePad price around $350, which is unconfirmed and absent from Bloomberg’s latest report. That would sit right next to the $349 the original HomePod cost in 2017, when we called it Apple’s tune-busting Fabergé egg. Apple hasn’t said whether the event will be livestreamed, and US pricing and availability are still unannounced. The Macs get their own event about two weeks later, so October 13 belongs entirely to the home. A camera shaped like an oversized lip balm tube, which sends text instead of video, is reportedly waiting until 2027. After nine years of being heard and never seen, the HomePod finally gets a face, and it is wearing a 2002 outfit.

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This VR System Gets Bigger So It Doesn’t Have to Touch Your Face

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Virtual reality often asks you to strap a screen to your face before you can go anywhere. That can get uncomfortable when a short demonstration turns into a long session. Researchers at Kyushu University tried moving the display off your head and onto a chair instead, surrounding the seated user with an optical pod that offers a three-dimensional view without a headset.

The prototype looks more like a piece of oversized furniture than goggles and controllers. A high-backed seat supports your body, while a large white enclosure projects forward around your field of view. Its bulk might seem surprising for a system intended to reduce discomfort, but that weight belongs to the structure, not your forehead, cheeks, or neck during a session.

Designer: Shogo Fukushima (Kyushu University)

Inside, a micromirror array directs slightly different images to each eye, creating depth without placing lenses against your face. Aerial imaging makes the scene appear to float beyond the chair rather than sit on a screen inches away. That gives you something closer to looking into a space than staring at a monitor, even though the machinery stays right where you’re seated.

The chair itself becomes part of the controls. A gyroscope follows its rotation, so turning your body changes what you see in the virtual scene. You don’t have to wear a tracker on your head or adjust a headset each time someone else takes a turn. Sit down, face the optics, and the system can respond to a swivel as you look around.

Imagine a museum where visitors take turns exploring a reconstruction without sharing something that rests against their faces. A seat could offer a brief journey, then welcome the next person without the ritual of fitting and removing goggles. The same approach might suit a stationary operator examining a remote workspace, although neither setting has been demonstrated as a finished installation.

Putting the optics in furniture also changes what designers can do with their size. Bigger components don’t have to balance on someone’s nose, leaving room to experiment with a broader view or different moving mechanisms. The researchers suggest that this freedom might eventually help address VR sickness, but it hasn’t been shown to prevent nausea. Less head pressure and less motion sickness are two different promises.

There are obvious trade-offs. You can’t walk around while using a chair-bound system, and the current prototype occupies far more room than a headset you can put in a drawer. It’s designed around seated rotation, not every little turn of your head, so it shouldn’t be mistaken for an equivalent replacement for mobile VR.

Still, the chair asks a question about who should carry the weight of immersion. Instead of shrinking everything until it fits on your face, it lets the room hold the hardware and leaves your head alone. For someone spending an afternoon inside a simulated environment, that shift could matter more than another reduction in headset weight, provided the chair itself proves comfortable.

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Garmin’s New Watches Go 320 Hours Without Dying on You

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The most frustrating moment for a sports watch to fail is when you need it most: halfway through a long route with no easy way to recharge, or standing over a golf shot on an unfamiliar course with no clear sense of the distance. Garmin’s Enduro 4 and Approach S72 tackle different versions of that problem. One is built to keep working deep into an adventure. The other puts more useful information within reach before and after every swing.

They make an interesting pair because neither treats design as decoration. The Enduro 4 favors battery life, low weight and quick access to maps. The Approach S72 gives golfers a brighter, more visual way to understand the course and their game. Both have premium materials and comfortable fabric bands, but their real appeal is how those choices serve the person wearing them.

Designer: Garmin

Garmin Enduro

For the Enduro 4, battery life is the headline. Garmin rates it for up to 320 hours in activity mode or up to 90 days in smartwatch mode, with solar charging under the conditions behind those estimates. That is a meaningful promise for someone planning an ultramarathon, a backpacking trip or several days away from an outlet. I would still treat those numbers as best-case figures, but the design priority is clear: spend less time managing the watch and more time moving.

Its 51mm case is substantial, yet Garmin says the watch weighs 66 grams. A titanium bezel and scratch-resistant Power Sapphire lens bring durability, while a fiber-reinforced polymer case helps keep the weight down. The 1.4-inch MIP display is less showy than a vivid AMOLED screen, but paired with the solar lens, it suits a watch built around endurance. The fabric band and white-and-red LED flashlight are thoughtful details for long days that may turn into nights.

The improvements are not limited to how long the watch lasts. Garmin says the Enduro 4 has 50% more RAM than the Enduro 3 and map panning that is 30% faster. Grade-adjusted pace tools offer a better way to judge effort on hills, while stamina features help athletes see how their endurance changes during training. Garmin Epic can group activities across multiple days. Together, those features address a familiar problem: plenty of data, but not always enough context to use it.

Garmin Approach S72

The Approach S72 takes the opposite visual approach. Available in 43mm and 47mm sizes, it has a bright AMOLED display, a titanium bezel, a sapphire lens and a lightweight ComfortFit fabric band. I like the choice of two sizes here. A golf watch needs enough screen space to make a hole legible at a glance, but it also has to feel comfortable through a round and look at home afterward.

Its most intriguing idea is connecting golf performance to what is happening with the player. The watch can show heart-rate trends alongside a completed round, while swing metrics include hand speed, backswing length and wrist rotation. On the driving range, golfers can log practice sessions rather than leaving that work outside their broader activity record. None of this guarantees a lower score, but it could make practice feel more purposeful than guessing which part of a swing went wrong.

The course tools are more immediate. Green reading uses contour data to help golfers judge a line on select courses, while aerial imagery provides a clearer look at the hole ahead. Post-round putting analytics can reveal tendencies in speed, direction and make rate. These are the features that could save a few uncertain decisions during play, then give someone a specific thing to work on afterward. Some require a Garmin Golf membership, a detail worth checking before buying.

Battery life matters here, too, though on a different scale. Garmin rates the 47mm S72 for up to 20 hours of golf activity or 16 days in smartwatch mode; the 43mm model is rated for up to 15 hours and 10 days, respectively. Add heart-rate, stress and sleep tracking, and it becomes easier to see why Garmin designed this as an everyday watch rather than a device you pull out only for tee time.

Neither watch is trying to do everything for everyone. The Enduro 4 makes the strongest case for people whose plans regularly outlast ordinary battery life; the S72 is for golfers who want clearer decisions and better feedback. What connects them is a useful design principle: the best sports technology should reduce the little uncertainties that distract you from the activity you came to enjoy.

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PocketBook Gave Its $198 E-Reader the One Trick Old Nokia Phones Had

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E-readers are supposed to replace physical books, but they strangely come mostly in black or gray, unlike colorful and distinctive book covers. Although not a complete design overhaul, Pocketbook’s new Verta and Verta Color e-readers offer a simple fix, and no, it doesn’t require slapping on a case. You can change the color of the e-reader by swapping the back panel while maintaining its slim shape and keeping the screen and page-turn buttons uncovered.

That’s a rather different approach to personalization than slipping on a protective cover. The interchangeable panels are sold separately, so you can keep a few colors around and switch when your taste changes. More importantly, they replace the back rather than wrapping over the front. There’s no extra flap to fold behind the reader when you settle into a chair with a book.

Designer: PocketBook

The front stays familiar in the best way. Both readers have a 6-inch touchscreen and enlarged page-turn buttons beneath it, giving your thumb another way forward when the screen is smudged or your hands are occupied. Each measures just 0.28 inches thick and weighs about 4.9 ounces, a size that suits a jacket pocket or an overstuffed bag on the commute.

Choose the regular Verta, and you get a 6-inch E Ink Carta 1300 display at 300 pixels per inch, built for the sort of long novel that makes you miss your stop. SMARTlight lets you adjust brightness and warmth as daylight disappears. It also offers Dark Mode, so you can keep reading in bed without a bright white page facing the person beside you.

The Verta Color is for readers who want their covers, illustrated pages, and comics to retain some color. Its E Ink Kaleido 3 screen renders monochrome text at 300 pixels per inch, but color drops to 150 pixels per inch. Those numbers matter if you read fine print in graphic novels; the color option gives illustrations some life, not the punch of a tablet.

Both have 16GB of storage, Wi-Fi for downloading books, and Bluetooth audio for audiobooks or text-to-speech, though you’ll need headphones or another compatible listening device. PocketBook also supports a broad range of file formats and borrowing through library apps. That flexibility comes in handy when the next book you want isn’t sitting in a single company’s store waiting for you.

An IPX4 rating gives the pair protection against splashes, not an invitation to use them in the bath. Their 1,500mAh batteries are meant to last up to two months, depending on how you read, although that figure comes from PocketBook rather than an independent test. The removable backs add personality, but they’re not a replacement for a protective case if the reader needs one.

PocketBook plans to release both in November 2026, pricing the Verta at €169 (about $198) and the Verta Color at €179 (about $209). Both are marked as coming soon on its storefront. The cleverest trick, though, is letting you change the color of something you hold for hours on end without asking a protective case to do the decorating for you.

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A $249 Smart Lock That Still Opens When You’ve Forgotten to Charge It

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Smart locks sound like the future until you’re standing outside with groceries and the lock won’t wake up because of a dead battery. Although there are different methods to address that, Ring’s first-ever Smart Lock has a rather ingenious solution: an almost literal crank. Simply turn a dial a few times to power the keypad just long enough to key in your code.

It’s simple yet effective, and it doesn’t require you to fumble for a cover to replace the battery. The knurled dial sits beneath the backlit touchscreen keypad, with a circular fingerprint reader topping them all. All in all, the design looks more like a stack of controls instead of a deadbolt with electronics just bolted on.

Designer: Amazon

On regular days or nights, you can simply touch the fingerprint reader instead of digging for keys in your bag or pocket. You can also give a visitor a PIN that only works during a set time window. The Ring app also offers yet another way to let you in, and it also allows you to check the lock remotely, including Alexa voice control. These are the typical features you’d expect from a smart lock, but Ring does one better.

Most keyless locks require a cable or a spare battery before they even wake up, which isn’t exactly the fastest or the easiest when you only have one hand free. Ring puts that backup in that same free hand, figuratively. Simply turn the dial to “charge” the lock, almost like cranking some lever for power. It’s an almost comical analogy, but it gets the job done.

Of course, you don’t charge the Ring Smart Lock by turning the dial endlessly. That’s what the Quick Release Ultra Battery Pack is for. That battery is rechargeable, which means you don’t need to worry about extra wiring or hardware when installing the Smart Lock. It works with a standard single-cylinder deadbolt, making it immediately compatible with many doors.

One thing to note is that remote features depend on Amazon Sidewalk rather than your home Wi-Fi. That could spare you a trip back to check whether the door locked, or let you admit someone while you’re away, provided there’s coverage where you live. Ring says unlocking at the door happens locally, but Sidewalk remains a requirement for the connected functions. It’s a condition beneath the promise of convenience.

The lock can share the Ring app’s activity feed with Ring’s other products such as doorbell, cameras, and alarms, so you get a more holistic view of everything that happens at home even when you’re away. That said, it doesn’t have a camera of its own, which is a subtle nudge to get a Ring doorbell, too.

Black, silver, and brass finishes are planned, with a $249 price and U.S. availability expected in early 2027, pending regulatory authorization. For now, some details about the Ring Smart Lock have yet to be fully disclosed, including battery life. Regardless, it’s an interesting and low-tech solution to a high-tech problem that makes you feel you’re in control, even in such an emergency.

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This $175 Wii-style Smart paddle turns your TV into a pickleball court

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Pickleball has officially escaped the court. At some point in the last two years, it stopped being ironic and became a lifestyle: parking lots of suburban rec centers filled up, TikTok feeds followed, then came the celebrity investors, the professional leagues, the branded paddle drops, and the kind of mainstream saturation that tells you a sport has officially graduated from niche to undeniable. Getting turned into a Wii-style digital pastime is, at this point, a rite of passage for any sport that has truly made it. Tennis got there. Golf got there. Boxing, baseball, bowling. MegaShot Pickl+ is the moment pickleball collects that particular badge, and it does so with an actual sensor-embedded pickleball racket for authentic gameplay, not some generic rectangular controller.

The smart paddle pairs with your phone, tablet, or laptop over Bluetooth and sends the game to your TV (via an included cable) for big-screen play, mimicking your real swing movements on screen and firing haptic feedback through the handle on every hit. A split-screen mode lets you play multiplayer on the same screen too, making it a great family entertainer. No court reservation, no weather to negotiate with. The Wii taught an entire generation that swinging something in your living room could feel surprisingly real. Pickl+ is betting that a generation raised on that premise is ready to do it again, this time for the sport that has genuinely taken over the world, and without an extra console to add to the mix. The Starter Edition is on Kickstarter now for $175, down from a planned retail price of $249. Pickl+ will be compatible with sports like tennis, ping pong, and badminton with more racket sports planned for the same smart-paddle platform.

Designer: MegaShot

Click Here to Buy Now: $175 $249 (30% off). Hurry, only a few left!

Under the hood, Pickl+ is built around a 9-axis sensor that reads the angle, speed, and arc of every swing for precise motion tracking. The haptic feedback responds distinctly to different kinds of hits, making the on-screen action feel genuinely tied to what your arm is actually doing. The paddle weighs around 300 grams, carries a 2000 mAh battery rated for up to five hours of continuous play, and charges over USB-C. Bluetooth 5.2 handles the wireless pairing, while an MHL cable connects your phone to the TV when the living room demands a proper screen. The app runs on Android 14+, iOS 18+, Windows, and macOS. Setup is as minimal as it sounds: download, charge, pair, connect, play. Unlike the Wii, Switch, or the Meta Quest, no extra console or hardware needed.

Most gaming hardware asks you to adapt to the machine: learn the buttons, the gestures, the control scheme. Pickl+ goes the other direction. You know how to hold a paddle, and you know what a swing feels like. Rather than turning a conventional controller into a sports accessory, Pickl+ turns the sports object itself into the controller. The technology is essentially trying to disappear into the physical experience, which is part of what makes it a more interesting object than just a clever game controller.

Ten-plus game modes ship at launch, including Streak, Practice, Split Mode, Career, Local Multiplayer, Target, and Beach Mode, with more already in the pipeline. VIP unlocks exclusive virtual courts, daily bonus challenges, glowing paddle effects, custom ball trails, and profile cosmetics.

Before the Kickstarter campaign went live, the beta version of the paddle was showcased at New York Toy Fair, where people across different age groups, including gaming enthusiasts and industry experts, got hands-on time with the motion tracking, gameplay, etc. It gave MegaShot an early real-world read on how quickly people understood and enjoyed the experience. Motion gaming can look impressive in a controlled demo; the real test is whether someone can pick up the paddle, understand what to do, and immediately have fun. New York Toy Fair gave MegaShot that read before asking anyone to back the campaign.

MegaShot arrived at this with receipts. Before Pickl+, the company built a smart bat, which sounds hyperlocal until the numbers land: 100,000+ units sold worldwide, 2,700+ Amazon reviews, and ratings above 4.5 across Google, Amazon, the Play Store, and iOS. The Smart Bat earned the team a spot on Shark Tank India, coverage across major publications, and placement on Walmart shelves. Cricket was a demanding proving ground, the kind of sport where precision hardware lives or dies by real player feedback. That foundation gave MegaShot a validated tech stack, a battle-tested supply chain, and the track record that earns trust going into a bigger, more globally ambitious launch.

Pickleball is the entry point for something larger. The same paddle hardware is designed to eventually support tennis, badminton, table tennis, and squash, with the VIP Pass carrying across sports as they are added. That roadmap turns Pickl+ from a single-sport product into a platform for multiple racket-sport experiences, which changes the value calculation considerably. The most globally accessible racket sport of this decade is also, as it turns out, the perfect vehicle for a company that built its credibility in one market and is now ready to find out how far a smart paddle can travel.

The Starter Edition, one smart paddle and an MHL cable, is available at its $175 Kickstarter launch price, versus a planned $249 retail price. Duo packs start at $275 for two paddles with a cable, while the Starter VIP Duo Pack, which throws in a VIP Pass, runs $315.

The Signature Edition, the premium single-paddle option, comes in at $349. The Signature Duo Edition bundles two premium paddles with cables, a VIP Pass, and protective sleeves for $499. Worldwide shipping begins in early 2027, covering the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, and India.

Click Here to Buy Now: $175 $249 (30% off). Hurry, only a few left!

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The 8 Best Tech Gadgets of October 2026

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Physical media is quietly winning again, phones are starting to treat light as a material instead of an afterthought, and the humble power bank just got embarrassingly thin. This month’s list pulls from every corner of consumer tech: a CD player built for a generation that never owned one, a camera disguised as a roll of film, and a keyboard that looks more like furniture than gaming gear.

What ties these eight together isn’t a single trend so much as a shared instinct: solve one problem well instead of chasing a longer spec sheet. Some of these are shipping this month. A couple are concepts worth watching closely. All of them earned their spot through genuine design thinking rather than a press release checklist.

1. Syitren R400 CD Player

Collecting CDs only matters if you have something to play them on, and that’s been the real gap for anyone under thirty who’s started buying physical music again. The R400, designed by ORGDOT for Syitren, solves that with a detachable modular shell that lowers cost without making the player feel cheap. For you, it means an entry point into physical media that doesn’t ask you to hunt down a decade-old Discman on eBay.

What makes it worth owning day to day is the small stuff. A sunken charging compartment keeps your cable from fraying, Bluetooth 5.3 handles wireless streaming, and anti-vibration engineering means no skipping on your commute. At four hours of battery per charge and a price well below premium audio gear, it fills the exact space Sony abandoned when it quietly discontinued its CD boomboxes in the US.

What we like:

  • The detachable shell lets you personalize or wall-mount it instead of leaving it stuck as a desk object
  • Anti-vibration engineering actually solves the one real complaint people have with portable CD playback

What we dislike:

  • Four hours of battery life means you’re recharging more often than a typical wireless earbuds case
  • The dual material build is sturdy, but it still can’t match the heft of Syitren’s premium R300

2. Analog Capsule Camera

Pick this up without knowing what it is, and you’d swear it was an unopened roll of 35mm film, right down to the box it ships in. It’s actually a fully digital camera, and that disguise is the entire point. For you, it turns picture-taking back into something tactile, a small object you display on a shelf rather than another app icon buried on your phone.

The 1 megapixel CMOS sensor leans into grain and softness instead of correcting for it, so every shot looks like a well-worn photograph rather than a clinical digital capture. At 25 grams with USB-C and microSD support, it travels light and clips onto a bag strap without you noticing the weight. At $55, it’s priced like a fun accessory rather than a serious camera, which is exactly what it’s going for.

Click Here to Buy Now: $55.00

What we like:

  • The disguise is genuinely convincing, making it as much a desk object as a working camera
  • A 25-gram body with an included strap means it adds almost nothing to what you already carry

What we dislike:

  • A 1-megapixel sensor keeps image quality intentionally lo-fi, not for anyone wanting crisp detail
  • Stock is listed at just a few units, so it may sell out before most readers can order one

3. TECNO POVA 8 Pro Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition

TECNO POVA 8 Pro 5G Tonino Lamborghini Limited Edition

The last Lamborghini-branded phone cost $6,000 and ran on two-year-old silicon because a logo was stamped onto gold plating. The badge on this one actually does something on this one: 177 individually controlled mini-LEDs draw the Lamborghini “L” in light, while a red Pulse Line shifts and rises across the back panel using internal mirror structures rather than a printed graphic. For you, it’s proof that a co-brand can be more than a sticker job.

TECNO spent close to four months reworking the software to match, down to icon shapes nudged toward hexagon and shield silhouettes. The manufacturing challenge wasn’t making one unit look right; it was making thousands of units look consistent, which TECNO calls one of the most complex rear cover processes it has run. The specs mirror the standard POVA 8 Pro, so you’re paying for the surface, not new hardware underneath.

What we like:

  • The Pulse Line effect uses real physical depth rather than a flat printed decal, which actually shows in person
  • At under $500, it’s the cheapest phone the Lamborghini name has ever been attached to

What we dislike:

  • There’s no US release and no FCC certification, so American buyers are stuck with gray market imports only
  • The hardware is spec-identical to the standard POVA 8 Pro, meaning you’re paying entirely for the finish

4. Teenage Engineering Inspired MAD-5 Music Player

Florent Porta noticed something nobody else did: Sony’s MZ-RH1 MiniDisc recorder mounted its display on the front edge instead of the top, readable at an angle no other player offered. The MAD-5 concept takes that detail and builds an entire player around it, a square aluminum body with a thin blue ticker running along the clipped edge. For you, it solves what clip-on players have ignored for two decades, showing information without needing a screen on the face.

The clip itself borrows from the fourth-generation iPod Shuffle, while a jog disc on the front nods to Teenage Engineering’s TP-7 without the motorized reel underneath. There’s no Bluetooth, no balanced output, and nothing marked for expandable storage, all treated as current audiophile DAP standards elsewhere. The real idea might be its USB DAC mode, letting it double as an audio interface the moment you plug it into a laptop.

What we like:

  • The edge-mounted ticker screen solves a real design problem that two decades of clip-on players walked past
  • USB DAC mode turns it into a dongle replacement for anyone already carrying a laptop

What we dislike:

  • No Bluetooth or expandable storage puts it behind basically every current audiophile DAP on the market

5. Keychron K8 HE All-Wood Special Edition

Most gaming keyboards announce themselves before you even press a key, all glowing lights and cases that belong beside a spaceship. This one goes the other direction entirely, a walnut frame and bottom case giving a genuinely fast magnetic switch keyboard the look of desk furniture instead of gaming gear. For you, it means one keyboard that works all day instead of one you hide before a video call.

Underneath that calm exterior sit Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Nebula switches with actuation adjustable from 0.2 to 3.8mm and Rapid Trigger for instant key reset. The tenkeyless layout drops the number pad so your mouse hand has room to move, and switching between Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, or a cable means it follows you from laptop to gaming PC without a second purchase. Browser-based customization skips installing an app entirely.

What we like:

  • Real wood construction reads as desk decor during the day and serious gaming hardware at night
  • Adjustable magnetic actuation down to 0.2mm gives genuinely competitive response times when it matters

What we dislike:

  • The tenkeyless layout drops the number pad, a real tradeoff if spreadsheets are part of your daily routine
  • At $199.99, you’re paying a real premium for walnut on top of the magnetic switch hardware itself

6. OrigamiSwift Folding Mouse

A mouse that folds flat enough to disappear into a laptop sleeve solves a problem anyone who’s worked from a café already knows: that full-sized comfort and genuine portability rarely come in the same device. Designed by Horace Lam, OrigamiSwift borrows its triangular structure from origami folding and springs into shape in under half a second. For you, that means leaving the bulky travel mouse at home without giving up ergonomic comfort.

At just 40 grams, it barely registers in a bag until you need it, and the USB-C rechargeable battery lasts up to three months on a single charge. The HD infrared sensor tracks at up to 4000 CPI with a 4000 frames-per-second imaging rate, numbers that hold up against mice twice its size. Soft click buttons keep it quiet enough for shared workspaces or quiet flights.

Click Here to Buy Now: $85.00

What we like:

  • Folding flat in under half a second makes it genuinely practical rather than a gimmick you stop using
  • Three months of battery life on a single USB-C charge beats most travel mice by a wide margin

What we dislike:

  • At $85, it costs noticeably more than most portable mice with comparable specs

7. Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 15W

Power banks have been stuck in the same bulky shape for years, so a 6mm thick, 98 gram unit that’s thinner than most smartphones sounds like a typo until you actually hold one. Xiaomi pulled it off using a silicon-carbon battery with 16 percent silicon content, packing 5,000mAh into something closer to a metal business card. For you, it means a backup battery you forget is in your pocket until the moment you need it.

It snaps onto your phone magnetically for up to 15W wireless charging, though iPhones are capped at 7.5W due to Apple’s MagSafe restrictions, and a USB-C port handles up to 22.5W wired. Ten layers of protection cover overvoltage, overheating, and short circuits, with dual temperature sensors and a graphite sheet managing heat in real time. At roughly $60 to $65 depending on region, the price tracks with the engineering involved.

What we like:

  • A 6mm profile genuinely disappears against your phone, solving the bulk problem every other power bank ignores
  • Ten layers of safety protection feel reassuring rather than excessive for something built this thin

What we dislike:

  • The 7.5W cap for iPhones feels limiting as Apple’s own MagSafe ecosystem pushes toward faster speeds
  • Early reviews suggest slightly less usable charge than competitors rated at the same 5,000mAh capacity

8. Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds

Wired earbuds are having a real moment again, mostly because nobody wants to worry about a charging case dying or buds getting lost in transit. Bose answered that comeback with active noise cancellation built into a tethered pair, something only a handful of trusted brands currently offer. For you, it means the reliability of a cable paired with the quiet you’d normally expect from a much pricier wireless set.

USB-C connectivity keeps things current, while two microphones per bud handle adaptive noise cancelling across Quiet, Aware, and Off modes. The proprietary Sound Design processing outputs a fixed 24-bit, 48kHz signal for lossless listening, and low-latency performance makes gaming or fast-paced video noticeably smoother than typical wireless buds. An IPX4 rating covers sweat and splashes, with a zippered case for carrying.

What we like:

  • Active noise cancellation on a wired pair is still rare, and Bose executes it convincingly at this price
  • Low latency performance makes it a genuinely better pick for gaming than most wireless alternatives

What we dislike:

  • There’s no dedicated app for control, leaving everything to the inline remote’s three physical buttons
  • IPX4 covers splashes and sweat but won’t survive a real submersion the way some wireless buds can

Design That Knows When to Stop

Eight very different problems, solved with eight very different budgets. The cheapest entry here costs $55, and the most expensive sits just under $200, yet the thinking behind each one matters more than where it lands on a price chart. A CD player built for people too young to remember CDs, a phone that turns a logo into light, a mouse that folds flat enough to vanish- these are the kind of details that separate genuine design work from a spec sheet with a release date attached.

If one thread runs through this month’s picks, it’s restraint. Nobody here tried to cram in every feature available. The R400 leaned into a modular shell instead of extra buttons. The MAD-5 skipped Bluetooth to focus on one screen placement nobody else thought to try. That kind of focus is rarer than it should be, and it’s exactly why these eight earned a spot this October.

The post The 8 Best Tech Gadgets of October 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Waterdrop Filter’s Prime Big Deal Days Gets Your Water Ready Before Guests Do This Fall

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Fall has a way of turning the kitchen into the busiest room in the house, whether it’s earlier coffee brews, soups lingering on the stove, or “free-flowing” tea for guests. Water is almost always a crucial element in all of those routines, yet it rarely gets the same attention as the ingredients or appliances. A well-designed water filter matters all year round, but even more so before holiday guests arrive at your door.

Waterdrop Filter approaches that everyday problem from different angles. Some households need an under-sink reverse osmosis system that can keep up with family dinners. Others would rather plug in a countertop dispenser, while a refrigerator filter might be all another kitchen needs. Its Prime Big Deal Days lineup covers each without pretending one design fits everyone.

Waterdrop X12 Alkaline Mineral Reverse Osmosis System

Some households are just too busy to always keep in mind how much clean water they’ll need during the day. The Waterdrop X12 Alkaline Mineral Reverse Osmosis System is built for that kind of traffic, with 11-stage filtration that reduces the water’s original dissolved mineral load before adding calcium and magnesium back for a measured finish. For a family that drinks water throughout the day and cooks most nights, that controlled approach makes sense.

There’s a design story under the sink, too. Its tankless layout frees up space that a storage tank would otherwise claim, while a smart faucet puts a useful part of the system at the point of pouring, rather than leaving it under the sink. Rated at up to 1,200 gallons per day, the system is intended for busy households, while its stated 3:1 pure-to-drain ratio addresses another concern that can come with reverse osmosis: wastewater.

Click Here to Buy Now: $899 $1299 (31% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Waterdrop G3P800 Reverse Osmosis System

Not every family needs the X12’s higher capacity. The Waterdrop G3P800 Reverse Osmosis System suits a kitchen where four or five people cycle through breakfast, packed lunches, and dinner without wanting another large object under the sink. Waterdrop cites certification to NSF/ANSI 42, 53, 58, and 372 for this 10-stage system, while UV sterilization adds an extra layer of protection, giving households something more concrete to examine than vague promises of cleaner water, especially with kids at home.

The G3P800 doesn’t cut corners with an 800-gallon-per-day rating, which still speaks to family demands rather than an occasional glass. It also uses a tankless layout and smart faucet, so there isn’t a reservoir competing with cleaning supplies. A stated 3:1 pure-to-drain ratio rounds out the practical side. The point isn’t to fuss over the numbers every morning; it’s to have water ready when the kitchen gets crowded.

Click Here to Buy Now: $699 $999 (30% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Waterdrop M6CG Mineral Hot & Cold Reverse Osmosis System

An under-sink system doesn’t help much if messing with the cabinetry isn’t an option at all. As the 2026 Premium New Arrival, the Waterdrop M6CG Mineral Hot & Cold Reverse Osmosis System brings reverse osmosis to the countertop without permanent installation, something renters can appreciate. Its 8-stage RO filtration helps reduce TDS, PFAS, fluoride, lead and other specified substances, while remineralization adds minerals back for a more balanced taste. The system is certified to NSF/ANSI 58 and 372. Then it dispenses water from 59°F to 203°F, making it easy to enjoy everything from chilled water to tea, cocoa, or a quick bowl of noodles without waiting.

The more interesting decisions are in how it handles the rush between drinks. Five volume settings and a customizable Favorite Mode reduce repeated button pressing, while a detachable 40-ounce glass pitcher makes it easier to serve several people at once. Separate tanks keep clean water and wastewater apart, and the stated 3:1 pure-to-drain ratio limits what goes to waste. Even the water left behind can be used for cleaning.

Click Here to Buy Now: $409 $539 (24% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Waterdrop CT01 Instant Hot & Cold Water Filter Dispenser

The Waterdrop CT01 Instant Hot & Cold Water Filter Dispenser has a different kind of appeal, favoring quick drinks and a simpler setup for apartments, study spaces, and offices. Its 6-stage filter targets chlorine, rust, and sediment while retaining naturally occurring minerals. With water dispensed from 59°F to 203°F, a chilly refill and a cup of tea can come from the same spot.

That distinction matters if you want hot and cold water without adding plumbing work. The CT01’s 1.32-gallon capacity cuts down on refills, while its filtration produces no wastewater to manage. You can fill a bottle on your way out, come back for hot water, and leave the kettle untouched. It’s a less elaborate answer than countertop RO, but for a small or single-member household, the simpler routine might be exactly the attraction.

Click Here to Buy Now: $199.49 $289.99 (31% off, use code YANKOPF26 for the additional 5% off). Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

Refrigerator Water Filters

Then there’s the filter many people already own and forget about. A refrigerator dispenser gets used between meals, and its ice tends to end up in a guest’s glass. Waterdrop’s replacement filters offer an easy way to refresh that everyday water supply. The WD-F45 is designed for compatible Samsung refrigerator models, the WD-F46 for selected LG models, the WD-F07 for compatible Whirlpool and Maytag models, and the WD-F48C for selected GE models. Their activated-carbon filtration addresses chlorine taste and odor, though certifications and claims about other contaminants differ by model. Better water doesn’t always require another appliance.

Choosing the right replacement filter is important, since similar-looking filters are not always interchangeable. Checking your refrigerator model before purchasing ensures the right fit. Once fitted, replacement doesn’t change how anyone uses the fridge. Many filters can last up to six months, depending on water quality and use, which makes upkeep easier to remember before the holidays.

Click Here to Buy Now: up to 34% off. Hurry, deal ends in less than 48-hours!

By the time holiday cooking and hosting pick up, it helps to have one less thing to think about each time you turn on the tap or open the fridge. The right change might be a full under-sink system, a countertop machine, or simply a fresh cartridge. Waterdrop Filter’s Prime Big Deal Days brings discounts into that decision, but the better reason to pay attention is how often you’ll use the upgrade.

The post Waterdrop Filter’s Prime Big Deal Days Gets Your Water Ready Before Guests Do This Fall first appeared on Yanko Design.