4 cool projects you can do with Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi
Smart home automation is more versatile than ever with Home Assistant and a Raspberry Pi. Check out what they can do.
Tag Archives: accessories
The pros and cons of using noise cancelling headphones
Active noise cancellation makes headphones much better, but you should know how it works and what the drawbacks are as well.
The Japanese Grooming Kit That Actually Makes Sense
Most guys have a drawer like this: a razor with a blade that’s gone slightly dull but not dull enough to justify tossing, tweezers that pinch skin as often as hair, and a nail clipper that crushes more than it cuts. None of it is broken exactly. It just quietly underperforms every single day, and most of us have stopped noticing because we’ve never used anything better.
That’s the actual gap the Auger PrecisionMaster Grooming Set is built to close. It’s a five-piece kit from Kai Corporation, the Japanese company that’s been making blades since 1908, and it bundles a razor, tweezers, curved scissors, a nail file, and a nail clipper into one matte black collection that costs $150. The pitch isn’t flashy. It’s the opposite. The whole set is designed around the idea that grooming tools should just work, consistently, without you having to think about them.
Click Here to Buy Now: $150.00
The razor is the standout piece, and it’s worth explaining why. It has a 30-degree adjustable pivoting head and a five-blade system, which sounds like spec-sheet noise until you realize what it actually solves: the awkward angles under the jaw or around the nose that force most razors into a compromise. The tweezers use a patented stopper mechanism so the tips close with the same pressure every time instead of slipping at the worst moment. Even the nail clipper has a rotating lever built to cut thicker nails without the hand strain that comes from cheap versions. None of this is revolutionary engineering. It’s just engineering that was actually done, instead of skipped because grooming tools are treated as an afterthought category.
That’s really the argument for buying Kai over the brands most Americans grab without thinking. Gillette and Harry’s have made razors a subscription commodity, cheap, replaceable, and optimized for margin rather than feel. A Gillette Fusion refill pack runs you close to $20 for four cartridges you’ll toss in a month, and a Harry’s starter set lands around $25 with plastic that feels exactly like what it costs. Kai isn’t playing that game. It’s a company that’s spent over a century making blades for barbers and kitchens, and the Auger set is what happens when that expertise gets pointed at your bathroom counter instead of a professional’s toolkit. You’re not paying for a brand name stamped on plastic. You’re paying for a company that actually knows what a blade is supposed to do.
Is $150 a lot for tweezers and a nail file? Sure, if you’re comparing it to what’s sitting in a drugstore bin. But that comparison misses the point a little. This set isn’t for someone who wants the cheapest option that technically works. It’s for someone who’s tired of tools that almost work, who wants their morning routine to feel less like maintenance and more like something they actually control. The all-black finish and the total absence of loud branding fit that mindset too. Nothing about this set is trying to impress anyone else. It’s built for the person using it, not the person watching.
I’ll admit I’m a sucker for products that solve a problem nobody bothers to name out loud, and the Auger PrecisionMaster Grooming Set is exactly that kind of product. Bad grooming tools are one of those small frustrations we’ve all just agreed to tolerate, the same way we tolerated bad headphones before good ones existed. The Auger set won’t change your life. But it might change your morning, and for $150, that’s a fair trade for never reaching for a dull blade again.
The post The Japanese Grooming Kit That Actually Makes Sense first appeared on Yanko Design.
MOFT’s Snap Fold Fits 5 Cards and a Stand on the iPhone Duo’s Back
Foldable phones solved the screen problem and immediately created a smaller, weirder one: there’s barely any flat space left on the back to stick anything useful. The MOFT Snap Fold for iPhone Duo tackles that head-on, built specifically for the Duo’s cramped rear panel rather than shrunk down from an existing wallet design. It still manages to hold five cards and fold into a stand, which shouldn’t be possible given how little room it actually has to work with.
Getting that footprint right meant working around obstacles most phone wallets never have to consider. The camera module on a folding phone sits somewhere that would normally get covered by a standard card holder, so the Snap Fold’s shape clears that housing entirely while staying tucked within the phone’s own edges. Nothing overhangs the sides or risks catching on a pocket, which matters more on a folding device than a rigid one.
Designer: MOFT
Holding five cards in that reduced space is the part worth pausing on. Most compact MagSafe wallets top out around two or three cards specifically because slim profiles and card capacity fight each other, and every additional card usually means added thickness. Fitting five into a footprint already constrained by a camera cutout suggests the internal card layout was rebuilt from scratch rather than adapted from a wallet meant for a flat, uninterrupted phone back.
The stand half of the equation runs on the same origami folding logic MOFT has used across its laptop stands and tablet covers for years, just reworked to survive a much smaller starting shape. Unfolding the wallet reveals multiple viewing positions rather than a single fixed angle, letting the same flat card holder become a way to prop the phone up for a video call or a recipe on the counter without needing a separate stand taking up space in a bag.
That dual identity only works if neither function undercuts the other, and this is where the tight design tolerances actually pay off. Card capacity doesn’t shrink to make room for the folding mechanism, and the stand doesn’t wobble because there wasn’t space left for a sturdy hinge. Both jobs get done inside the same limited footprint, which is a harder balance to strike than building either function alone.
Priced at $49.99, the Snap Fold sits closer to the premium end of MOFT’s wallet lineup, reflecting the added engineering that comes with fitting five cards and a folding stand around a camera cutout instead of across an open, flat surface. That price also positions it as a companion piece bought alongside a foldable phone already carrying its own premium, rather than a casual accessory picked up as an afterthought.
Building for a folding phone means redesigning assumptions that held up fine on every rigid iPhone before it. The Snap Fold treats that constraint as the actual design brief instead of an inconvenience, and the result carries more cards and more stand positions than the smaller back panel should reasonably allow.
The post MOFT’s Snap Fold Fits 5 Cards and a Stand on the iPhone Duo’s Back first appeared on Yanko Design.
Fast Food Gimmicks Stop at Sauce Packets, so Burger King Made a Handbag
Fast food brands love a marketing gimmick, but most of them stop at a wrapper redesign or a limited-time sauce packet. Burger King skipped that entire playbook with Le Nugguette, a micro-bag shaped and colored to look exactly like one of its newly reformulated chicken nuggets. It’s a handbag built to promote a menu item by literally becoming that menu item, scaled up just enough to carry a set of keys instead of a dipping sauce.
The shape does the heavy lifting here. Le Nugguette mimics the rounded, irregular silhouette and golden-brown coloring of an actual nugget rather than smoothing that shape into something more conventionally purse-like. A short handle and a zippered compartment turn that lumpy, organic form into something genuinely carryable, while a small metallic BK logo keeps the branding subtle instead of stamping the whole surface with a wordmark.
Designer: Burger King
Scale is the detail that makes the object read as absurd rather than merely branded. Described by reviewers as roughly the size of three real nuggets, the bag sits closer to a keychain accessory than a functional handbag, and that’s clearly intentional. Shrinking the object down to nugget-adjacent proportions keeps the joke legible at a glance, since a full-sized version would just look like a brown leather purse with a strange texture.
Every accessory decision loops back to the food rather than standing apart from it. Each bag ships with one of four charms tied directly to Burger King’s relaunched sauce lineup, Special Savory, Honey Mustard, Buffalo, or Sweet and Sour, turning a random grab-bag surprise into a miniature flavor sampler hanging off the zipper pull. That charm effectively becomes the bag’s only variable feature, since the nugget shell itself stays identical across every unit sold.
Pricing reinforces the same logic rather than breaking from it. Le Nugguette retails for $3.99, matching the price of the nugget order that inspired its shape, so the accessory costs exactly what the food product costs rather than commanding a premium for the novelty. A bundled code for a four-piece nugget order rides along with every purchase, closing the loop between the object and the meal it was built to advertise.
None of this positions Le Nugguette as a serious entry into handbag design, and that’s precisely where its cleverness sits. Treating a fast food shape as a wearable object, then pricing and bundling it exactly like the meal it promotes, turns a limited drop into something people photograph and share rather than scroll past. That’s a harder trick to pull off than most food marketing attempts, and this one lands it through restraint rather than spectacle.
The post Fast Food Gimmicks Stop at Sauce Packets, so Burger King Made a Handbag first appeared on Yanko Design.
The Diffuser That Refuses to Plug In, Beep, or Buzz
Most home fragrance today falls into one of two camps. There’s the ultrasonic diffuser blinking a soft blue LED on your nightstand, gurgling every few minutes like a tiny humidifier with opinions. Or there’s the reed diffuser, quietly leaking oil onto whatever surface it sits on, looking exactly like the reed diffuser your aunt has had since 2011. Neither one actually solves what people want, which is a room that smells intentional without turning fragrance into one more gadget you have to charge, clean, or explain to guests.
The Ritual Card Diffuser, designed by Yasuyuki Nagato and the studio SOL style, skips both problems by refusing the premise entirely. There’s no battery, no cord, no flame, no mist. You slide a handmade washi paper card into an anodized aluminum body, the same motion as tapping a train ticket or slipping a bookmark into a novel, and that gesture alone starts the diffusion. A patented mechanism pulls alcohol-based fragrance oil upward through the card using nothing but capillary action. No moving parts, no sound, no plug. It just works, quietly, in the background of your day.
Click Here to Buy Now: $125.00
I like objects that make you do something with your hands before they reward you, and this one leans into that fully. The card-sliding motion isn’t decoration bolted onto a function, it’s the function. Most diffusers want to disappear into the wall outlet and be forgotten. This one wants five seconds of your attention, and honestly that’s a better trade than it sounds like on paper.
The materials back up the concept instead of just dressing it up. The body is cut aluminum with an anodized finish, which holds up to daily handling without looking scuffed after a month. Underneath sits a dual-layered glass base that makes the whole thing look like it’s floating slightly above the table, which is a nice trick for something that’s actually quite solid and grounded. The washi paper cards are handmade using traditional Japanese methods, and they diffuse scent at a slower, more natural pace than a synthetic wick would. Three cards come with the diffuser, and once one dries out, it’s not exactly trash. You can tuck it into a drawer or a bag and it still carries a faint trace of scent, which is a small detail that made me like this thing more than I expected to.
It’s worth putting this next to something like Pura, the smart plug-in diffuser that’s become a fixture in a lot of American homes over the past few years. Pura is genuinely useful. It’s app-controlled, it schedules scents, it syncs with your routine. But it also asks you to hand fragrance over to your phone, which is one more thing living on your screen and one more subscription-adjacent habit. The Ritual Card Diffuser goes the opposite direction on purpose. There’s no app, no notification, no need to open anything except a fragrance bottle. It’s not trying to be smarter than you. It’s trying to ask less of you, which for some people is the more valuable feature.
At $125, it’s not an impulse buy, and I won’t pretend the price doesn’t put it in a different category than a candle from the drugstore. But you’re paying for a mechanism that’s patented, materials that are meant to last years instead of a single season, and a design object that looks intentional sitting on a shelf, not something you’d hide in a drawer between uses.
None of this means every diffuser needs to work this way, or that convenience tech is somehow the enemy. But there’s a real appetite right now for objects that don’t ask you to download anything to use them, and this Ritual Card Diffuser is a clean example of what that looks like when it’s done with actual craft behind it. It doesn’t try to impress you with what it can do. It just does the one thing it’s built for, slowly, and lets that be enough.
The post The Diffuser That Refuses to Plug In, Beep, or Buzz first appeared on Yanko Design.
This DIY Computer Build Looks Like a Muppet and Works Like a Real PC
Nearly every DIY computer build chasing the cyberdeck label ends up looking like a prop from a gritty sci-fi film, all exposed wires and grungy metal panels borrowed straight from Neuromancer’s aesthetic playbook. This build ignores that entire tradition on purpose, wrapping a fully functional single-board computer inside a soft, orange, furry puppet head with a mouth that actually opens. It’s a cyberdeck that looks like it wandered off the set of a children’s show instead of a hacker den.
A single-board computer sits at the center of the whole thing, running the Linux side of its chip rather than tapping into the onboard microcontroller some builders use to drive servo motors. That decision kept the mechanics simple. A 5-inch HDMI screen handles the display duties, paired with a compact Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad combo for actual typing, while a USB battery bank keeps the entire rig running without hunting for an outlet mid-performance.
Designer: Natasha Dzurny
A webcam tucked into the build adds a function most puppets never get, letting its creator record herself running an actual puppet show through the lens mounted somewhere in that fuzzy head. That’s the kind of detail that turns a novelty prop into something genuinely useful for someone practicing puppetry, since reviewing your own performance afterward is a lot easier when the camera is already part of the puppet doing the performing.
Getting all that hardware to fit inside a rounded puppet skull took real spatial planning rather than just stuffing components wherever they’d squeeze in. The head itself started as a spherical mold, cut into two halves specifically so the mouth could open and close during a performance. A frame built inside that sphere anchors the electronics in place, giving the soft fur exterior something rigid to hold onto underneath all that plush material.
Fitting a human hand inside the same space the electronics occupy created its own puzzle, since puppeteering requires room for fingers to move the mouth while the board, screen wiring, and battery pack all compete for that same interior volume. A mounting platform above the hand cavity solved that conflict, giving the electronics their own dedicated shelf instead of floating loose around whatever space a puppeteer’s fingers happened to need that day.
Small engineering choices reveal how seriously the functional side of this build got treated despite the whimsical shell around it. The board itself sits on a piece of foam board rather than glued directly to the frame, which keeps adhesive away from sensitive components while also helping dissipate heat that would otherwise build up inside an enclosed, fur-covered space. A modified stereo jack even gets its own reinforced pocket near the mouth so headphones can plug in without disrupting the puppet’s face.
None of that hidden engineering shows once the fur and the big cartoonish eyes go on. What’s left looks entirely harmless, friendly enough to hand to a kid, right up until someone notices it also streams video, plays media, and somehow doubles as a bag you can carry over one shoulder. That kind of layered function inside a shape nobody would ever suspect is exactly what makes a build like this worth remembering.
The post This DIY Computer Build Looks Like a Muppet and Works Like a Real PC first appeared on Yanko Design.
Razer refreshes the one-handed Tartarus Pro keyboard with improved switches
The new version of this keyboard-like thingamajig will have some small improvements.
Expensive flash drives: When and why it’s worth paying more
Flash drives can vary wildly in cost. While a cheap drive will get the job done, a premium one offers extra sped and features that might be worth the money.
Rimowa Actually Made a $3,100 Suitcase for Faber-Castell Pencils
I’m not an artist or an architect, but I do love me some good quality pens, pencils, and markers. Since I’m just a casual user, though, I don’t mind tossing them into an ordinary pencil case or even just slipping them into my bag’s side pocket when I’m heading out and might use them somewhere. I know people who rely on these tools for their livelihood tend to be a lot more careful about how they carry them around, but the truth is, there just aren’t many quality cases built specifically for that job.
In a surprising collaboration, luxury luggage brand Rimowa and German pencil maker Faber-Castell have teamed up to create a suitcase specifically meant for carrying around your precious pens and pencils. It’s made from the same signature anodized, grooved aluminum shell that Rimowa uses on its actual luggage, with a colorful surprise waiting once you pop it open.
Designer: Rimowa x Faber-Castell
This limited-edition collector’s piece isn’t just a classy-looking suitcase, either. It’s a full kit that includes 120 Polychromos color pencils, custom-made grooved 2B Grip graphite pencils, and a Rimowa-branded platinum-plated sharpener and eraser. Everything is arranged in a two-level tray system that unfolds smoothly, so each piece stays visible and within reach. It’s a stationery lover’s stylish, fever dream and something worth adding to any artist or designer’s wish list.
The case itself looks like a smaller sibling to Rimowa’s regular luggage line, using the same material and design language throughout. It also has the brand’s signature high-gloss aluminum corners and TSA-approved locks, which proves it’s actually travel-ready in case you’re flying somewhere with your supplies in tow. The leather carry handle comes in Faber-Castell’s signature green, a nice branding touch that ties the two icons together.
I said this was a surprising collaboration, but if you really think about it, the partnership makes perfect sense. Rimowa is famous for its sturdy aluminum suitcases, while Faber-Castell has a long history of crafting high-quality pens and pencils dating back to 1761. Both brands are essentially obsessed with precision and “honest materials,” so their craftsmanship philosophies line up more naturally than you’d expect.
So how does this stack up against what’s already out there? The closest comparison in the luxury space is probably Louis Vuitton, which sells its own Art & Craft Elizabeth Pencil Pouch for around $515. That’s already a steep price for something that’s essentially just a fancy fabric zip pouch, and it doesn’t come with any pencils, sharpeners, or organizational trays included. Rimowa and Faber-Castell’s Artist Case, by comparison, costs roughly $3,100, but you’re getting an entirely different category of product: a hard-shell, TSA-approved, aluminum case with a built-in two-tier tray system and a complete 120-pencil professional drawing kit already inside.
On the more affordable end, Faber-Castell’s own wooden Polychromos case with all 120 pencils runs about $700 on its own, no case included. So while the Rimowa collaboration is definitely priced for collectors and diehard fans rather than casual doodlers like me, it’s less “overpriced pencil box” and more “a piece of design furniture that happens to hold your pencils.” It occupies its own lane entirely, somewhere between fine luggage and fine art supplies.
If you’re hoping to snag one, the RIMOWA x Faber-Castell Artist Case officially releases on September 17, 2026, and will be available at Rimowa stores worldwide, on Rimowa.com, and at select Faber-Castell retail stores across Germany, Austria, France, and Italy. Given that it’s a limited-edition run, don’t expect it to stick around for long once it hits shelves.
At the end of the day, most of us don’t need a $3,100 aluminum suitcase just to keep our colored pencils from rolling around in a backpack. But that’s kind of the point. This isn’t really about function alone; it’s about two heritage brands proving that even the most humble everyday tools, the pencils we doodled with as kids, deserve the same obsessive craftsmanship as a suitcase built to survive a transatlantic flight. Whether you’re a professional illustrator, a serious hobbyist, or just someone who appreciates when two iconic names come together in a way that actually makes sense, the Artist Case is a reminder that good design doesn’t discriminate by price point or purpose. Sometimes it just shows up in the most unexpected shape: a pencil box dressed up like a suitcase.
The post Rimowa Actually Made a $3,100 Suitcase for Faber-Castell Pencils first appeared on Yanko Design.