The famous fan fiction website Archive of Our Own or AO3 has finally exited open beta, 17 years after it launched way back in 2009. AO3 is a nonprofit created by the by the Organization for Transformative Works. In an announcement, the team reminisced about its early days and how volunteers had to manually send out invitations to prospective writers. Upon launching the website on open beta, it only had 347 accounts and hosted 6,598 works. Now, it has 10 million registered users and is hosting 17 million fan-created works.
The team has highlighted some of the most useful features it has added over the past 17 years, including its tagging system. It also mentioned a feature it calls “Orphaning,” which allows authors to leave their works online even after deleting their account. In addition, it released the ability to download fanworks in AZW3, EPUB, MOBI, PDF or HTML format for offline access.
Even though the website has only just exited open beta, it has been stable for a long time. Users will not see huge changes, but the team also promised that it will not stop improving the fan fiction portal. It says its contributors and volunteers will continue tweaking the website, and it also continues to welcome anybody who has coding knowledge to contribute their time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/fan-fiction-website-ao3-is-finally-coming-out-of-beta-115952633.html?src=rss
Your desk says a lot about the way you think. The objects you deliberately choose for it, rather than the ones that simply accumulate, reflect your values, your taste, and the kind of environment you want to work in. A great desk clock earns its place twice over: as a functional tool and as something genuinely worth looking at every day. The market is full of forgettable options, but the most interesting clocks right now are rethinking what a clock even needs to be, questioning material, interaction, and presence in equal measure.
Whether you work from a home studio, a shared office, or somewhere between the two, the right clock changes the feeling of an entire space. These five designs prove that telling time is still a conversation worth having, and that choosing a clock carefully is an act worth taking seriously.
1. Rolling World Clock
For anyone who regularly works across time zones, converting time in your head is a small but persistent irritation. The Rolling World Clock removes that friction with an approach so intuitive it almost feels obvious: a 12-sided form with a major city on each face, from London and Paris to Tokyo, Sydney, and New York, read by a single hand. Roll the clock until your desired city faces upward and the hand tells you exactly where things stand. No screen, no calculation, no second device needed.
What keeps this clock compelling beyond its core function is the physicality of using it. Rolling a 12-sided object to check the time in Cape Town or Karachi is a tactile experience that no phone interface can replicate; it turns a routine check into something deliberate and satisfying. The minimalist form, available in both black and white, sits cleanly on any desk without visual competition, and the single hand keeps everything honest and uncluttered. It is a rare thing: a genuine conversation piece with a practical reason to exist.
The rolling interaction gives checking global time a tactile quality that feels intentional rather than reflexive, adding a small moment of satisfaction to an everyday action.
The minimal form in black or white works across almost any desk aesthetic, functioning equally well as a decorative object and a practical timekeeping tool.
What We Dislike
Only 12 cities are represented, which means time zones outside those locations will still require some mental conversion on your part.
As an analog clock, precision is limited to the nearest quarter-hour, which may not suit those who need exact time readings at a glance.
2. Minimalist Desk Clock
Products that combine two functions usually compromise on both. This desk clock concept draws inspiration from Dieter Rams’ legendary Braun DN40, channeling the same visual restraint while placing a wireless charging pad on the top surface in a way that actually makes sense for daily use. The digital time display sits off to one side of the matte face, balanced by a date readout on the opposite end. Both are embedded flush into the surface, creating a presence that is visible when needed but never demanding your attention when you do not.
The placement of the wireless charger on top is obvious in the best possible way: your phone charges exactly where you can still see it, and the clock keeps doing its job without either function disrupting the other. The asymmetrical display layout reflects genuine compositional thinking, creating deliberate visual balance rather than defaulting to center alignment. For a desk already holding a notebook, a coffee cup, and a tangle of cables, this clock earns its spot by doing double duty without making a scene about it.
What We Like
The wireless charging surface sits intuitively on top, keeping your phone visible and accessible while it charges, without requiring a separate pad taking up additional desk space.
The asymmetrical display arrangement shows real compositional intention, making the object feel considered and specific rather than generically functional.
What We Dislike
This is currently a concept design and is not available to purchase, which limits it to an aspirational reference rather than a practical recommendation right now.
The matte embedded displays may lose legibility in dim environments without a backlight or ambient brightness adjustment, which the concept does not appear to address.
3. CAST
Meetings lose things. Good ideas get spoken into the room and never make it to a document, and most tools designed to fix that problem are more intrusive than the problem itself. CAST, a concept by designer Minseo Lee, takes a different approach entirely. Drawing its form from the Braun BC22, the device arrives as an arch-shaped tabletop companion with a circular display, tactile buttons, and a neutral finish that reads as a clock before it reads as anything else. It sits on the conference table and quietly gets to work.
During a meeting, CAST listens, identifies key points, and generates a concise summary when the session ends. A QR code appears on the display, and participants scan it to access their notes instantly, with no app download or login required. Outside of meetings, it functions as a standard clock, maintaining its understated presence without demanding attention. The dotted graphic details and calm proportions mean it suits an open-plan office as naturally as a private home studio. The best AI tools do not announce themselves; they simply make the room function a little more smoothly, and CAST embodies that idea completely.
What We Like
The QR code summary system is a genuinely clever solution, distributing meeting notes to every participant instantly without requiring anyone to install a specific app or create an account.
The Braun-inspired design ensures CAST reads as a clock first, which meaningfully reduces the psychological discomfort of having a recording device present during a conversation.
What We Dislike
As a concept, CAST is not yet available for purchase, meaning its real-world performance in noisy or complex meeting environments remains completely untested.
The quality of the AI-generated summaries will depend on microphone sensitivity and processing power, which are factors the industrial design itself ultimately cannot control.
4. Wooden Desk Clock
There is something quietly refreshing about a clock that does not try to do anything beyond telling the time beautifully. This wooden desk clock, developed in collaboration with Shapr3D, is exactly that kind of object. CNC-machined from walnut, cherry, or maple, each version uses the natural contrast of warm wood tones and smooth curved surfaces to create something that belongs on a desk the way a well-chosen book or a ceramic cup does. The analog face reads the hour in the most satisfying way possible, without apology.
The clock comprises two parts: a clock head that displays the time and a supportive frame that serves as both a base and a functional handle for adjusting the vertical viewing angle. It is a small detail, but one that shows genuine thought about how the object actually gets used on a real desk by a real person. In an era dominated by aluminum, glass, and screens, a clock machined from actual wood makes a quiet but firm statement about material honesty and the pleasure of things that simply do what they are supposed to do.
What We Like
Three wood type options, walnut, cherry, and maple, give the clock a material warmth and versatility that suits a genuinely wide range of desk setups and personal aesthetics.
The adjustable vertical viewing angle through the supportive frame reflects thoughtful, user-centered design that considers how the object will actually be used day to day.
What We Dislike
Natural wood requires more care than synthetic materials and may be susceptible to scratches or moisture damage over time without proper surface treatment or regular maintenance.
The purely analog format offers no smart features, which will not appeal to anyone who expects additional functionality beyond time-telling from a desk object in this category.
5. Moon Rocket Clock
A note upfront: this is not a typical desk clock. It is larger than everything else on this list, more visually assertive, and designed to occupy space rather than disappear into it. Made from specially polished stainless steel, the Moon Rocket Clock is a circular timepiece where printed numbers appear to float and gradually fade around the edges of the face, echoing the visual rhythm of the moon’s phases. The second hand carries a small rocket ship on its tip, which sounds ornamental until you watch it move and recognize the emotional charge the detail actually carries.
This clock works best where it has room to be itself, on a wide desk, a generous shelf, or a statement surface in a home studio. The polished stainless steel construction is durable and catches light in ways that cheaper materials simply do not, giving it a presence that reads as genuinely considered rather than simply bold. More than any other clock on this list, this one carries emotional meaning: a daily reminder to take your ambitions seriously, framed through the imagery of space travel and lunar exploration. It is bigger than usual, demands more visual real estate than a standard timepiece, and earns every bit of space it claims.
The specially polished stainless steel construction gives the clock a premium material quality that holds up to daily visual scrutiny and looks better the more closely you examine it.
The rocket ship, second-hand, transforms an ordinary glance at the time into a small, recurring moment of inspiration that does not wear out with repetition.
What We Dislike
The larger footprint demands more desk space than a standard clock and may feel visually overwhelming on smaller or more tightly curated setups.
The bold, distinctive aesthetic is strong enough to require a specific kind of environment to land well, meaning it will not suit every desk or room it is placed in.
The Best Desk Objects Ask Nothing Back
A desk clock was never supposed to disappear. It got displaced gradually by phones and computers, and the slow collapse of single-purpose objects into multipurpose screens. But these five designs are a reminder of what that displacement costs. A clock sitting on your desk is a fundamentally different presence than a clock on your phone. It exists only to mark time, without asking you to respond to anything, check a message, or make a decision. That kind of quiet object has a value that is easy to underestimate and harder to replace.
Good design does not need to solve every problem at once. Sometimes it is about doing one thing well and doing it in a way that earns a permanent place in a room. Whether it is a rolling 12-sided clock that translates time zones through touch or a stainless steel moon keeping a rocket on its seconds hand, each of these clocks has earned its spot. The best desk objects are the ones that make you glad they are there each morning, and every single one of these is exactly that kind of thing.
NASA’s Artemis II successfully launched on April 1, with its crew on a 10-day mission to circle the Moon. It’s the first crewed Artemis flight and a major step toward humanity returning to our little neighbor in the future. Since launch, the vehicle has separated from its launch system and been manually piloted, testing how the Orion capsule will dock with future lunar landers. There have been some snags, however: The onboard toilet went awry, and Microsoft Outlook has been acting screwy.
Jokes aside, there is something magnificent about seeing humanity taking to the stars once again. That, for all of our worst instincts, we can still come together to solve problems and explore beyond our own horizons.
At CES 2026, a Finnish–Estonian startup claimed to have invented a world-changing solid state battery. Rather than explain how it did so, it engaged in a lengthy campaign teasing out data that didn’t quite support its explosive claims. We’ve dived deep to separate truth from hype and found there’s little of the former and far, far too much of the latter.
As James Trew says, $300 is a lot for a portable mixer in this class, but Roland’s brand new Go:Mixer Studio justifies its price. Unlike its predecessor, the Pro-X, it gets a second XLR port, MIDI connectivity and a display offering visible VU meters. That you can also use it as a desktop interface adds another layer of icing on an already sweet cake.
WWDC 2026 isn’t until the summer, but we’re already collating enough rumors from the mill to bring you the inside skinny. Early reports suggest Apple is making this a Snow Leopard year, tidying up after itself inside its software rather than going hard on new features. Hopefully, that will see the gaudier excesses of Liquid Glass dialed down, a lot of trimmed cruft and stability improvements. Oh, and some guff about AI.
There are some things in life that would normally be a hard sell, a $1,400 boombox that could just about move around with poor sound quality being one of them. Dress it up as Soundwave from the original Transformers toy line / cartoon, however, and suddenly Sam Rutherford is racing for their wallet.
Nebula’s built quite the track record for making projectors you’re actually proud to show off. Its latest is the X1 Pro, which combines a beefy 4K projector with a 400-watt Dolby Atmos 7.1 speaker system. That’s a hell of a lot of tech in a single package and is clearly at home at the center of a backyard movie night under the stars. But is it worth the $5,000 asking price? For that, you’ll need to read Steve Dent’s review.
Samsung is poised to make a significant impact in the tech world with its latest lineup of devices, including the Galaxy Watch 9, Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and an entirely new category of smart glasses. While the Galaxy Watch 9 may seem to offer only modest battery improvements at first glance, its true advancements lie […]
The Integrity, the name of the Orion capsule carrying Artemis II astronauts on a trip around the moon, has left Earth’s orbit. NASA has announced that it has successfully completed a key burn of Orion’s main engine. That six-minute firing of the engine provided approximately 6,000 pounds of thrust, which gave the spacecraft the acceleration it needed to set it on its path to the moon. “Today, for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, humans have departed Earth orbit,” said Dr. Lori Glaze from NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Orion is operating with crew for the first time in space, and we are gathering critical data, and learning from each step.” Commander Reid Wiseman called seeing “the entire globe from pole to pole” after leaving Earth’s orbit a “spectacular moment.”
Artemis II launched on April 1 at 6:35PM Eastern time after a couple of delays caused by a hydrogen leak and then a helium issue. It’s the first crewed flight of the Artemis program and the first time humanity has ventured beyond Low Earth Orbit after the Apollo program shut down. Within a few hours after its launch, the astronauts reported an issue with their onboard toilet, which crew member Christina Koch eventually fixed. Commander Wiseman then reported to mission control that they were having problems with Microsoft Outlook on the Surface Pro device they were using. But they were ultimately manageable setbacks that wouldn’t prevent the crew from achieving the mission’s goal.
The mission is taking NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day trip around the moon. On April 6, the spacecraft will pass by the far side of the moon that humans have never directly seen before, and the crew will take photographs, as well as provide their own observations of the lunar surface.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-artemis-ii-mission-has-left-earths-orbit-104219933.html?src=rss
The line between product design and sculpture has been blurring for years, but most objects still declare their purpose plainly. A lamp looks like a lamp. Its form is a familiar enough gesture that it becomes invisible, something you reach for and forget. The more interesting territory is what happens when a designer begins with something alive and works backward into a functional object.
That’s what Hazel Villena did with the Bean Lamp, a limited-edition desk light designed in Brooklyn in 2026 that functions as a light source and a quietly unsettling presence at the same time. Villena started with the creature first and then solved the engineering around it. The legs exist to hold the disc of light. That they read as limbs is entirely deliberate.
The body is cast copper with a chrome finish, sculpted into a low, wide stance on four tapered legs that curve and splay at angles borrowed more from biology than furniture. A polished aluminum ring joint at the center holds the matte polycarbonate diffuser in place, and the integrated LED disc inside throws a soft, contained pool of warm light across the surface beneath it.
At 10.5 inches long and 4.5 inches tall, the Bean Lamp is compact enough to sit on a desk or shelf without dominating the space, though it tends to hold the eye. Proportion was a significant part of the design process, giving an elementary silhouette more gravity than its simple form suggests. The chrome catches light, the matte disc diffuses it, and the four curved legs suggest something caught mid-pause.
There’s also how it comes apart. The Bean Lamp is mechanically assembled rather than bonded, which means it can be fully disassembled when needed. The shade and LED unit can each be replaced or upgraded independently, extending its life beyond any single component. At the end of its life, the copper body and aluminum ring separate cleanly into existing metal recycling streams, a quiet argument for longevity built directly into the object.
The lamp runs on a 12V cord with an in-line switch, keeping the operation uncomplicated. Plug it in, turn it on, and it does what a lamp is supposed to do: lights a small, deliberate area of wherever you’ve put it. What it also does, and what takes longer to resolve, is sit there looking like it might eventually decide to move on its own when nobody’s watching.
It reads differently across the room than it does up close, and differently still once it’s switched on. Villena’s stated goal was an object that sits in a deliberate blur, familiar enough to understand, strange enough to stop you. The Bean Lamp lands there without apology and seems to have no intention of clarifying itself further.
Nick Bailey has addressed a critical challenge in energy storage: improving the safety and lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. His development, Battery IQ, introduces a proactive battery management system (BMS) that uses predictive analytics and real-time monitoring to prevent issues like overheating and early degradation. Unlike conventional systems that respond only after problems arise, Battery IQ […]
While not yet officially unveiled, rumors are intensifying around the Galaxy Z Roll 5G, a rollable smartphone poised to redefine the premium mobile market. Speculated for a potential reveal in the second half of 2026, this innovative device is expected to debut alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8, significantly expanding […]
There’s a certain kind of object that can’t quite decide what it is, and not in a bad way. Furniture has increasingly strayed into collectible territory, and collectibles have crept into living rooms posing as furniture. The result is a growing category of designed objects that live somewhere between a chair and a limited-edition release, serious about craft but refreshingly light about everything else.
Carpet Company, the Baltimore brand known for carving out its own irreverent corner of the design world, leans into that tension with the S-TOOL, its first piece of furniture. The name makes no effort to hide the attitude, and the official list of potential uses runs from stool and ottoman all the way to footrest, ornament, chew toy, and, with admirable candor, trash.
The form is remarkably direct. A 12-by-12-by-12-inch cube of 100% fiberglass, cast in a single unbroken gloss color, sits on four chunky legs that taper down to blunt, faceted points. The top surface carries a screw-head relief in each corner, molded flush into the fiberglass in the same color as the piece, which reads immediately as hardware but behaves purely as ornament.
The screw motif carries through to the legs, shaped like Philips screwdrivers that slot into the screw-head relief of another S-TOOL. It’s a small but loaded gesture, nodding to the DIY impulse of the design process without pretending to be handmade. Carpet describes it as hardware that speaks to how things get built, balanced against the glossy, almost candy-like finish to keep the whole concept from becoming too earnest.
The S-TOOL is a limited release, with only 150 units spread across 30 colors, five of each. Every piece carries a metal plaque screwed into the underside, detailing the release and edition, which gives the stool some of the same collectible gravity you’d expect from a numbered print or a signed sneaker. At 15 pounds, it’s substantial enough to feel like something, and that’s rather the point.
The packaging reinforces the whole thing. The box carries the same list of purposes, a column of color-coded screw illustrations previewing the full range, and a cartoon hippo mascot that’s equal parts absurd and charming. Carpet has always been deliberately playful, and the S-TOOL packaging reads like the product brief itself, a small manifesto folded around a cube of brightly colored fiberglass.
What makes the S-TOOL interesting is how much effort went into something that officially disclaims all responsibility. Carpet spent considerable time on proportional analysis to give the elementary form a sense of sophistication it doesn’t advertise, and it shows in how quietly resolved the piece sits. It’s furniture that doesn’t mind being treated as trash, but it’s built carefully enough that you probably won’t.
Artificial intelligence continues to evolve rapidly, with recent developments showcasing significant progress across multimodal models, persistent agents and advanced coding workflows. Universe of AI explores key innovations, including Google’s Gemma 4, a multimodal AI model optimized for diverse inputs like audio, video and images. Notably, Gemma 4 combines efficiency with accessibility, running effectively on consumer […]
