Tag Archives: Appliances

The LUMO Grill Cooks With Light, Heats in Seconds, and Brings Charcoal Flavor Without the Smoke

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The George Foreman Grill sold more than a hundred million units, which tells you everything about how badly people want to cook without the setup, the smoke, and the outdoor requirement. What that number fails to explain is why, after thirty years of competing products, the fundamental problem remains unsolved. Every electric contact grill since 1994 has operated on the same basic principle: a hot plate pressing food against another hot plate, dripping grease onto a heating element, producing varying degrees of smoke and varying degrees of disappointment. The category has iterated endlessly on that geometry, adding digital timers and non-stick coatings and fold-flat designs, without ever questioning the physics underneath. Hong Kong startup COZYTIME is questioning them with the LUMO, a grill that cooks with focused far-infrared light instead of contact heat, and the approach changes the smoke problem by addressing it at the source.

Four precision reflectors focus infrared energy at food from multiple angles simultaneously, creating 360-degree heat coverage that cooks evenly from edge to center while retaining moisture, unlike hot-air convection heating, which dehydrates food. The side-mounted heating elements keep grease physically separated from any heat source, so drippings fall into a grease tray rather than the heating tube, preventing smoke from forming at the source. No filters, no fans, no workarounds. An AI system called CookPilot uses AI Vision and two built-in sensors to automatically detect food type, thickness, surface area, temperature, and weight, then selects the ideal cooking program from a library covering over 40 food types. A swappable Flavor Module lets you add authentic smoked taste to any cook by loading pellet fuels into the module, inserting it into the LUMO, and switching to Indoor Smoker Mode, where the enclosed chamber traps and circulates smoke around the food while a tight seal keeps the home clean. COZYTIME is pricing the LUMO at $329, against a retail price of $499. This pricing is exclusively available to crowdfunding backers, and the campaign will end on May 23! If you’re interested in LUMO, pledge now before it’s gone!

Designer: COZYTIME

Click Here to Buy Now: $329 $499 (34% off). Hurry, only 159/500 left! Raised over $344,000.

We covered LUMO hands-on at CES 2026 and came away calling it “genuinely novel in a category that’s seen mostly incremental tweaks for decades.” Far-infrared radiation transfers energy directly into food molecules rather than heating surrounding air first, which is how the LUMO reaches cooking temperature in a fraction of a second, using four precision reflectors to deliver full surround heating from multiple angles, cooking up to 4x faster than traditional appliances, without long preheat times or outdoor setups. Traditional contact grills heat the plate and then conduct that energy into the protein surface, a fundamentally different thermal pathway that drives more moisture out of food in the process. COZYTIME claims the infrared approach locks in 76.6 percent of natural food juices compared to conventional methods, a figure that, if it holds in real kitchen conditions, represents an actual cooking outcome improvement rather than a specification exercise. The four-reflector geometry is the physical enabler: each reflector focuses infrared energy at the food surface from a distinct angle, eliminating cold zones and removing any need to flip.

The unit handles thick steaks, skewers, quick snacks, large dinners, and even pizza, thanks to its TriForma StateShift System that allows for three different grill modes. In Indoor Smoker Mode, enclosed heating circulates warmth evenly to a maximum of 230°C (446°F), mimicking a full oven capable of pizza, casseroles, and slow-roasted steaks, and pairs with the Flavor Module for authentic smoked dishes like tender beef brisket. Fast Grill Mode hits a maximum of 270°C (518°F), where the semi-open lid concentrates heat for rapid grilling and juice-locking, delivering steakhouse-quality flavor in minutes, ideal for weeknight meals when time is short but standards aren’t. Flat Grill Mode opens to 180 degrees, creating two independent heating zones, so you can grill steaks on one side at high heat while roasting vegetables on the other, with no batch cooking and no waiting, which makes it particularly suited to dinner parties. Two heat zones running independently in a single countertop footprint is the kind of practical design decision that sounds obvious in retrospect but rarely makes it into a consumer appliance.

LUMO’s most compelling trick may be how seriously it treats flavor, because this is one of the more thoughtful attempts yet at bringing authentic charcoal-style cooking indoors. Plenty of indoor grills promise grill marks, very few deal convincingly with the taste itself. COZYTIME approaches that problem with a dedicated Flavor Module that burns pellets inside the unit’s enclosed chamber, allowing smoke to circulate around the food while the side-heat architecture keeps grease from hitting the heating elements and creating unwanted kitchen smoke. That separation is what makes the idea work. You get the smoky, grilled character people actually associate with charcoal cooking, without turning the room into part of the process. With the Flavor Module attached, the Heat Slider heats wood pellets to release rich smoky flavor during cooking, and when slid out with the griddle plate, it doubles as a high-heat searing surface for deep browning, crisp crusts, and smaller tasks like melting cheese or simmering sauces. LUMO also uses AI Vision to recognize different meats and automatically adjust heat and cooking time to match preferred doneness, from blue rare to well-done. Food-contact surfaces are made exclusively of premium food-grade stainless steel.

The LUMO app adds a layer of control that makes the grill feel more like a connected cooking platform than a standalone appliance. It offers three recipe paths, including curated official recipes from a cloud library, fully custom recipes with adjustable time and temperature for each step, and one-click AI-generated recipes created by CookPilot, with any recipe shareable through a code or posted to the LUMO community. From the app, users can track cooking progress and food status in real time, adjust temperature and timing remotely, and get notified when food is ready. That flexibility extends to the accessory ecosystem too. COZYTIME currently offers nine add-ons in total, including six cooking accessories and three additional accessories designed to broaden what the LUMO can do day to day. On the cooking side, there’s a wireless meat thermometer for real-time core temperature tracking, flavorwood pellets for smoke infusion through the Flavor Module, an extra stainless grill grate for back-to-back cooking, a fine mesh grill grate for smaller foods like shrimp and asparagus, and a Heat Slider griddle plate for intense high-heat searing up to 450°C.

Outside the cooking accessories, COZYTIME also offers a travel bag for transport and storage, plus extended coverage options for added peace of mind. Cleanup remains refreshingly low-friction, with food only touching stainless grill grates and grease trays that lift out for a quick wipe or rinse, while detachable parts are dishwasher-safe and the side-heat architecture keeps grease away from chamber walls, minimizing residue elsewhere in the unit. At 14.3 pounds, the LUMO is still portable enough to move between kitchen counter, balcony, and dining table without feeling like a project.

Retail pricing sits at $499, with the current order price at $329 – that’s a 34% reduction off the MSRP.Every unit ships with the LUMO itself with built-in Heat Slider, a region-appropriate power cord, a user manual, two stainless steel grill grates, the Flavor Module, two detachable grease trays, and a grill grate lifter. Shipping is free across the United States (excluding PR, HI, and AK), Canada, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Europe starting July 2026.

Click Here to Buy Now: $329 $499 (34% off). Hurry, only 159/500 left! Raised over $344,000.

The post The LUMO Grill Cooks With Light, Heats in Seconds, and Brings Charcoal Flavor Without the Smoke first appeared on Yanko Design.

This AC Does 5 Jobs at Once and Looks Like Furniture on Your Wall

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The split air conditioner is one of the least loved objects in any home, which is a strange thing to say about something most people couldn’t live without. It works, technically, but it tends to make its presence known in all the wrong ways. The air is too direct, the noise is a constant background irritant, and the plastic box on the wall rarely belongs in any thoughtfully designed interior.

From that frustration comes WellFlow, a concept that reframes what air conditioning is supposed to do for the people living around it. Rather than engineering a better cooling box, the designers built something closer to a wellness device. It’s a concept that received validation through the iF Design Award in 2026 and was first revealed at IFA Berlin 2025.

Designer: Merve Nur Sökmen, Zehra Sarıarslan

The most immediate shift is in how air actually moves. Conventional units push output in one direction, landing directly on whoever is in the room. WellFlow uses four-way diffusion to spread conditioned air from all sides without targeting anyone in particular. Sensors also monitor occupancy and steer airflow accordingly, so the unit quietly adapts to the room rather than expecting the room to tolerate it.

Beyond airflow, the system also handles humidity, air purity, ambient lighting, and sound. A built-in humidifier balances moisture levels rather than leaving the air artificially dry, which is one of the most common complaints about running a conventional unit through the night. Circadian lighting and integrated speakers complete the picture, creating conditions that support sleeping, concentrating, or quietly winding down, depending on what the moment calls for.

All of this adjusts automatically. The system continuously monitors temperature, humidity, and air quality, then fine-tunes its output without any manual input. A baby’s room needs different conditions than a home office or a gym corner, and WellFlow is designed to recognize those differences. Its behavior was shaped through user research spanning new parents, older adults, and people with respiratory sensitivities, groups that conventional air conditioners routinely fail to address.

The physical form is just as deliberate as the behavior. Most air conditioners are conspicuously technical, with plastic housings that fight against any interior aesthetic. WellFlow uses a woven textile front panel with rounded corners and a matte finish, giving it a material quality far more associated with furniture than appliances. An ambient light halo behind the unit softly signals its presence on the wall without demanding any attention.

A pull-out front filter makes maintenance visible and intuitive, addressing something the design team identified as a recurring trust issue with conventional units. People often aren’t sure when or how to clean their filters, and that uncertainty quietly chips away at confidence in the device. WellFlow removes that ambiguity. For a machine designed around human comfort, even that seemingly small detail ends up mattering quite a lot.

The post This AC Does 5 Jobs at Once and Looks Like Furniture on Your Wall first appeared on Yanko Design.

Fellow Just Designed the Espresso Machine Beginners Always Wanted

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While I really do love coffee, I do not have the tools at home to experiment with different espresso pulls and make my own espresso-based drinks. So I always end up just buying drinks from my favorite coffee shops. Every time I get the urge to actually buy my own machine, the fact that machines seem so complicated stops me from building my own home coffee bar.

The Espresso Series 1 by Fellow, the first home espresso machine from the coffee equipment brand, is positioned as a premium semi-automatic machine that bridges the gap between professional-level performance and approachability. This means that whether you are a beginner in the home coffee game or you are an expert, you will be able to appreciate the features that this machine brings.

Designer: Fellow

Before we even talk about what it does, let’s talk about what it looks like, because this machine is genuinely beautiful. Fellow has always been known for its clean, minimal aesthetic, and the Espresso Series 1 is no different. It comes in a sleek matte black finish with a painted ABS outer wrap, and the portafilter features a real wood accent that gives it a warm, premium feel. The three piano-style buttons for brew, steam, and hot water sit flush against the front panel, keeping things looking uncluttered and intentional. There is also a rubberized cup-warming mat on top, which is a small but thoughtful detail that makes it feel more like a café machine than a home appliance. With dimensions of 12.4 inches wide, 11 inches tall, and 17.25 inches deep, it has a compact footprint that would sit beautifully on any countertop without overwhelming the space.

One thing that I appreciate about this machine is that the full-color LCD display will walk you through your entire brewing process. It can tell you if your shot ran too fast or too slow and can even suggest grind adjustments you can make. As a noob, this would be truly helpful if I ever got something like this. It also gives you customizable profiling including pressure, pre-infusion, brew temperature, and steam pressure, so as your skills grow, the machine grows with you.

Another feature worth highlighting is its patented Boosted Boiler system. It has a three-part heating system: a flow-through heater, a 225ml boiler, and a dedicated group head heater. This system works together to give you to-the-degree temperature stability and near-instant transitions between brewing and steaming. The warm-up time is also impressively fast at under two minutes, so you are not standing around waiting for your machine to be ready before your first morning cup.

Speaking of steaming, the steam wand comes with auto-purge and auto-stop functions, which are features typically found in high-end café machines. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of steaming milk, which is something that intimidates a lot of beginners (myself very much included). Whether you are going for a flat white, a latte, or a cappuccino, having a wand that practically guides you through the process is a huge plus.

The Espresso Series 1 also connects to Wi-Fi and syncs with the Fellow app, where you can save, download, and share espresso profiles with other users. You can download brewing profiles built specifically for certain coffee roasts, which is incredibly useful when you are still learning how different variables affect your shot. It turns espresso-making into something closer to a community experience, where you can learn from other home baristas and experiment with profiles without having to start from scratch every time.

From a materials standpoint, Fellow did not cut any corners. The boiler, portafilter, and baskets are all food-grade stainless steel, the water lines are reinforced silicone, and the entire machine is BPA and PFAS-free throughout. For anyone who is conscious about what their beverages come into contact with, this is a meaningful detail that is genuinely worth calling out. The machine also uses a commercial-standard 58mm portafilter, which means it is compatible with a wide range of third-party baskets, tampers, and accessories. So as you go deeper down the espresso rabbit hole, you have the freedom to upgrade and personalize your setup without being locked into proprietary parts.

Priced at $1,499, the Fellow Espresso Series 1 is definitely an investment. But for everything it offers, from guided brewing and app connectivity to professional-grade temperature control and a genuinely beautiful design, it makes a compelling case for itself. If you have been putting off building your home coffee bar because espresso machines have always felt too intimidating or too technical, this might just be the one that finally changes your mind. It certainly has me reconsidering my morning coffee shop run.

The post Fellow Just Designed the Espresso Machine Beginners Always Wanted first appeared on Yanko Design.

Air Purifier Filters Cost $100 a Year, but CUE Uses Water Instead

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Air purifiers have become a common fixture in homes and offices, quietly working to keep indoor air breathable. Most of them follow the same basic formula, drawing air through a dry filter that captures dust, pollen, and airborne particles over time. When that filter reaches its limit, you throw it away and buy a replacement, or wash it if it’s the reusable kind. It’s a familiar routine, but not exactly a thoughtful one.

CUE Air Washer from Watervation is a 2-in-1 purifier and humidifier that takes a noticeably different approach. Rather than filtering air through a dry medium that slowly fills with grime, it washes the air with water, borrowing from how rain naturally clears the atmosphere of dust and pollen. It’s a concept that sounds simple in hindsight but actually changes quite a bit about how air care works.

Designer: Watervation

Click Here to Buy Now: $299 $575 (48% off). Hurry, only 41/975 left! Raised over $411,000.

The idea at the heart of CUE is surprisingly intuitive. Instead of holding contamination inside a dry filter, the device draws air through a water-based medium that strips airborne particles and gases from the air. Once the water turns dirty, you empty it, rinse the tank, and refill it, giving the device a clean start every day. There’s nothing to replace, and nothing to accumulate.

The technology behind CUE is Watervation’s patented RainTec system, and its most notable quality is what it doesn’t rely on. Most air washers need motorized water pumps to circulate liquid, but RainTec uses fluid dynamics instead. A spinning rotor generates a vacuum that draws water upward without any pump, eliminating the most common failure point in these devices and keeping the design considerably simpler.

What makes CUE genuinely practical is how naturally it handles two common problems at once. Dry air and airborne pollutants tend to go hand in hand, especially in bedrooms during winter or in home offices that don’t have great ventilation. Instead of running two separate appliances for purification and humidity, CUE handles both, covering spaces up to 300 sq ft, which fits most personal and domestic environments.

The ownership story is where CUE makes the strongest case for itself. Conventional air purifiers can cost over $100 per year in filter replacements alone, a figure that doesn’t stop growing the longer you use the device. CUE cuts that entirely by using water as its only medium. The maintenance routine comes down to emptying the tank, rinsing it, and refilling it with fresh water.

CUE is also one of those rare appliances that’s genuinely pleasant to leave out in the open. The cylindrical device has a dark upper housing and a clear lower tank that lets you watch the water action inside. There’s something calming about it. The swirling motion of water being spun and atomized gives the cleaning process a visible, almost meditative quality that isn’t common in this product category.

Performance testing by Korea Conformity Laboratories gives the product’s claims some independent backing. Results showed a 93.5% reduction in fine particulate matter, a 99.5% reduction in acetic acid, a 99% reduction in ammonia, and a 90% reduction in formaldehyde. The device also includes a built-in UV-C sterilization module that continuously disinfects the water tank while running, keeping the water hygienic throughout each cycle.

There’s a growing appetite for home appliances that earn their place on a shelf rather than hiding behind it. CUE Air Washer fits that thinking, handling air quality in a way that’s quieter, cleaner, and far less dependent on consumables than what came before. Watervation’s direction with this product hints at what home air care could look like when the design is as considered as the engineering behind it.

Click Here to Buy Now: $299 $575 (48% off). Hurry, only 41/975 left! Raised over $411,000.

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No More Waiting in Line for Hot Water, This RV Heater Has 66,000 BTU

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Summer has a way of changing the rules for RV travel. What was a relaxed weekend trip for one or two people becomes a full-blown family expedition, with everyone’s routines packed into the same tight space. Showers get longer, dishes pile up faster, and the morning rush gets more competitive. The systems you barely thought about in cooler months suddenly start to matter a great deal.

Hot water is one of the first things you notice when an RV can’t keep up. Waiting for the tank to recover, a cold burst just as you find a comfortable temperature, or having to ration usage when multiple people need the sink, these aren’t exactly the highlights of a road trip. The Fogatti InstaShower Ultra is a propane tankless water heater designed to change all of that.

Designer: Fogatti

Click Here to Buy Now: $799.99 $899.99 ($100 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours. Website Link Here.

Picture a typical summer morning at a campground. Someone’s in the shower while another is getting breakfast going, and a third is at the sink washing up before everyone heads out for the day. That kind of simultaneous demand used to be a problem. With 66,000 BTU of rapid heating power and a maximum flow rate of 3.9 GPM, the InstaShower Ultra handles it without much fuss.

The end of a summer day outdoors tells a different story. Whether you’ve been hiking dusty trails, splashing around a lake, or just sitting in the heat all afternoon, everyone comes back to the RV needing a proper wash. A strong, steady shower makes that feel less like a chore and more like a reward, and you don’t have to queue up for it.

One of the more thoughtful bits of engineering is a built-in pre-mix system with a small mixing tank that balances temperature at startup. It addresses a familiar tankless annoyance, namely the cold burst before the heating kicks in. Once that’s handled, water comes out warm right away, and it’s the kind of improvement you only appreciate once it stops being a problem.

Temperature management doesn’t stop there, either. The heater uses segmented combustion that automatically adjusts heat output based on conditions. On a scorching summer afternoon, it scales back to prevent overheating. On a cool mountain evening or at higher altitudes, it ramps up accordingly. It’s a neat bit of self-regulation that keeps water temperature consistent, whether you’re parked in a sun-baked valley or somewhere up at 9,800 feet.

The InstaShower Ultra also activates at a flow rate as low as 0.5 GPM, which is considerably lower than what most standard tankless heaters require to kick on. That might seem like a minor detail, but it matters quite a bit on longer off-grid trips where every gallon counts. You aren’t forced to run the tap wide open just to get the heater going.

The weather is something a lot of buyers don’t think about until it’s too late. Summer storms roll in fast, and a water heater that can’t cope with heavy rain or strong gusts becomes a liability. HydroShield-Tech gives the InstaShower Ultra both windproof and waterproof resistance, with a NIDEC high-performance fan backing up the wind protection, so the heater keeps running when conditions outside take a turn.

For those still running on an older four- or six-gallon storage water heater, the InstaShower Ultra is a practical replacement. It comes with a door measuring 15 x 15 inches, designed to fit the cutout left by those older tanks, along with a decorative frame. Optional larger door frames are also available separately if your RV’s opening calls for a different fit.

Summer trips have a way of exposing which parts of the RV are actually ready for extended life on the road. A water heater might not top the pre-trip checklist, but it touches nearly every part of the daily routine, from the first shower of the morning to cleaning up after a late campfire dinner. Getting it right makes those routines a lot less stressful, and that’s the peace of mind that the Fogatti InstaShower Ultra delivers.

Click Here to Buy Now: $799.99 $899.99 ($100 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours. Website Link Here.

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Dreame’s Pet-Friendly Air Purifier Collects Fur Before It Clogs Your Filters

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Dreame started building vacuum cleaners in 2017. They built motors that spun faster than anyone else’s, wrote algorithms that mapped rooms more efficiently than the competition, and developed bionic robotic arms that could reach where other robot vacuums couldn’t. Nine years later, they’re launching rocket cars at events in San Francisco, announcing electric SUV lineups, teasing smartphones, and showing off water purifiers alongside lawn mowers. If that trajectory feels chaotic, you’re reading it right. What holds it together is the motor technology, the same engineering philosophy that made their vacuums compelling now applied to air purification, personal care devices, and apparently vehicular propulsion systems.

The FP10 air purifier sits somewhere in the middle of this expansion spree, and it’s the first place the company has applied robot vacuum thinking to stationary air cleaning. The core concept borrows directly from their floor-cleaning playbook: a self-cleaning roller brush that actively separates debris instead of waiting for a clogged filter to choke performance. For pet owners who’ve watched traditional purifiers lose suction as fur accumulates on intake grilles, that’s a genuinely useful pivot. The question worth asking is whether Dreame’s computational approach to home appliances translates as well to air purification as it did to floor cleaning.

Designer: Dreame

The roller mechanism operates on two axes, rotating 360 degrees to strip hair and particles from incoming air before they reach the primary filter. A dual-powered system keeps both the roller and filter moving independently, compressing debris into a sealed 460ml collection bin that you empty like you would a vacuum canister. Dreame claims a 99.5 percent hair collection rate based on lab testing with two cats in a 30-square-meter chamber over seven days, which sounds optimistic until you consider that the alternative in most purifiers is zero percent because the hair never makes it past the intake grille in the first place.

What makes this approach legitimately different is the elimination of primary filter maintenance. Traditional purifiers with washable pre-filters require you to pull them out, rinse them, dry them completely, and reinstall them every few weeks if you have shedding pets. Miss a cleaning cycle and airflow degrades fast. The FP10 handles that process autonomously, triggered either by a preset schedule or in response to air quality readings. The machine runs a self-cleaning cycle, the roller dumps collected debris into the bin, and airflow stays consistent without your involvement. Dreame calls this their Filter Maintenance 4.0 era, positioning it as an evolution beyond mesh filters that need constant washing and felt filters that burn through replacement costs.

The air purification stack itself follows convention: HEPA H13 media rated for 99.97 percent filtration of particles down to 0.3 microns, backed by what Dreame calls a CataFresh odor removal system combining 2.5 times more activated carbon than their previous flagship with a metal catalyst layer that chemically decomposes odor molecules rather than just adsorbing them. The unit pushes 350 cubic meters per hour in standard configuration, operates between 32 and 62 decibels depending on mode, and includes the expected smart home integration through the Dreamehome app with Google Assistant and Alexa support.

The pet-specific features extend beyond hair collection. An optional weighing tray sits on top of the unit, tracking weight and activity patterns for multiple pets through the Dreamehome app. When a pet steps onto the tray in Pet Mode, the purifier gradually reduces airflow to avoid startling them. It’s the kind of thoughtful detail that suggests someone on the team actually lives with skittish cats.

The FP10 ships in early May. Pricing hasn’t been announced for most markets yet, but it’s positioned as a premium pet-focused purifier competing against dedicated units from brands that have been in this space far longer. What Dreame brings to the fight is proven self-cleaning technology and a willingness to treat air purifiers as active systems rather than passive filters. For households where pet hair has become the limiting factor in purifier performance, that mechanical preprocessing layer might justify the premium over simpler designs that just throw bigger HEPA filters at the problem.

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The Smartest Heater Has No App, No Screen, Just Bricks

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Most of the time, when we talk about innovation in home appliances, we mean sleeker apps, voice control, or some kind of sensor that automatically adjusts to your preferences. Eliot Andrault went in the complete opposite direction, and I think he was right to do it.

STEA is a personal heater designed by Andrault as his Masters project at École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre in France. At its core, literally, are refractory bricks. Not smart chips, not Wi-Fi connectivity, not an OLED display. Bricks. The kind of material you’d find in a kiln or a fireplace, chosen specifically because it stores heat and releases it slowly. That’s the whole point.

Designer: Eliot Andrault

The idea Andrault started with is deceptively simple: how do we heat ourselves differently without giving up comfort? That question sounds obvious, but it almost never gets asked. We default to thermostats and central heating systems that warm up entire rooms, burning energy to heat the air that surrounds you and then some. STEA does something much more targeted. It creates a microclimate around the person using it, right where the body needs warmth most.

The mechanism is equally understated. STEA heats up for ten minutes, then spends the next twenty releasing that warmth. That 1/3–2/3 rhythm means the device is drawing power for only a fraction of the time it’s actually keeping you warm. It’s not a constant draw on electricity. It’s a brief charge followed by a long, quiet exhale of heat.

The material choice matters more than it might seem at first glance. Refractory bricks have what designers call thermal inertia. They don’t just get hot and then cool down the moment power cuts off. They hold that warmth and let it go gradually, which is what gives STEA its particular feeling of comfort. Andrault describes it as enveloping, and that word is accurate. It’s not the sharp, dry blast of a conventional space heater. It’s something steadier.

Formally, STEA is gorgeous in a way that feels earned. Andrault drew inspiration from traditional cast-iron radiators, and you can see it in the vertical stacking of the bricks, the monolithic silhouette, the sense of weight and solidity. What cuts through that industrial seriousness is the tubular steel handle, which introduces a human gesture to the whole thing. It makes the object feel carryable, usable, personal rather than architectural. That balance between raw and refined is harder to pull off than it looks.

I’m also genuinely impressed by how Andrault approached the end of STEA’s life before it even began. The entire device can be disassembled with a single Allen key. Materials are locally sourced and fully recyclable. It’s designed to be repaired, not replaced. In a market where most products are engineered toward obsolescence, this feels like a quiet act of defiance, and an honest one.

The context behind STEA is worth pausing on. Andrault designed this while studying in Belgium, where heating accounts for nearly two tons of CO2 emissions per person per year. That’s not a small number. And STEA doesn’t pretend to be the total solution to that problem. Andrault says explicitly that it isn’t meant to replace existing heating systems. It’s meant to propose a different relationship with warmth, one that’s more local, more bodily, more intentional.

That philosophy puts STEA in a category of objects that are harder to evaluate by spec sheet alone. It’s not competing with your boiler or your smart thermostat. It’s asking whether you could lower your overall energy use by staying warmer at the scale of your body rather than the scale of your apartment. It’s a design that assumes you’re sitting still, reading, working, resting, and gives you exactly what you need for that moment.

The post The Smartest Heater Has No App, No Screen, Just Bricks first appeared on Yanko Design.

The ‘Keurig’ of Ice Pops: Coolwill’s Automatic Popsicle Maker Delivers Fresh Frozen Pops in 30 Minutes

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Nobody plans for the heat. You turn on the air conditioner the moment you feel warm, not four hours before, and yet the homemade popsicle has always demanded exactly that kind of advance thinking. Fill the mold, find the freezer space, commit to checking back the next morning. For a treat that exists purely to cool you down on impulse, that overnight ritual has always sat in strange contrast to why you wanted one in the first place. Coolwill, a Hong Kong startup preparing a Kickstarter launch, seems to have built their entire pitch around this exact tension.

The machine runs on a real compressor and direct-cooling system, producing a finished, demolded ice pop in roughly 30 minutes, with no freezer space required and no pre-freezing involved. Six smart preset modes handle everything from fruity popsicles to creamy sorbet-style treats, with the machine managing cooling, freezing, and demolding entirely on its own. Three interchangeable mold types keep the output varied without any extra effort. The touchscreen keeps operation to a single tap, and the compact form factor is designed to fit even small kitchen countertops.

Designer:  Coolwill

Click Here to Sign Up for Pre-Order

Bypassing the household freezer entirely is the technical decision that makes the 30-minute claim credible rather than aspirational. Powered by a real compressor and direct-cooling system, the machine freezes juice, yogurt, or smoothies into solid pops in just 30 minutes, operating independently without pre-freezing bowls or clearing space in the freezer. Traditional mold-based popsicle making is entirely dependent on your freezer’s ambient conditions, which vary by load, door frequency, and room temperature, and Coolwill’s compressor bypasses all of that variability by chilling and freezing the contents directly. The brand claims intelligent insulation keeps pops fresh after the freeze cycle completes, which matters on a countertop in a warm kitchen in a way it simply wouldn’t inside a sealed freezer compartment. The prelaunch materials make a point of distinguishing this from cold-plate-based systems, framing the compressor as the category differentiator.

Six preset modes sit on the touchscreen, and the names visible on the display, Popsicle, Ice Cream, Spiked, Chocolate, Sorbet, and Mini, suggest the programs are calibrated around ingredient categories rather than simple time variations. Each mode automates the full sequence, and each is tuned for a different texture profile, from the cleaner icy bite of a fruit pop to the denser body of something creamy or chocolate-based. That distinction matters because dairy-forward and juice-based mixtures respond differently to the same freezing duration and rate. Having the machine make those calibrations automatically, without user input, is a meaningful layer of automation that moves the appliance beyond a glorified cold-timer. The process closes with the machine cooling, freezing, and demolding automatically, delivering a finished ice pop in about 30 minutes.

The three mold formats, classic popsicles, standard ice cubes, and cute cat paw shapes, cover a deliberately broad range of output types. The everyday utility of ice cubes and standard pops anchors the machine as a practical appliance, while the cat paw format leans into a novelty visual language that has proven durable in the food and beverage space. The stated ingredient range spans fresh juice, yogurt, smoothies, or any mixture, so the output can be as health-focused or as indulgent as the user decides. Families can make healthy, additive-free popsicles for kids, health enthusiasts can control every ingredient from fruit to protein, and party hosts can turn out custom shapes and flavors in 30 minutes. That breadth of use case, packed into a single compact appliance, makes a reasonable argument for a permanent countertop spot rather than a seasonal one.

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DREAME, the Robot Vacuum Company, Just Launched a Rocket Car and 20 Smart Home Products in One Week

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San Francisco just witnessed something wild. Dreame Technology, the company you probably know from robot vacuums that actually work, took over the Palace of Fine Arts for four days and unveiled a product lineup so sprawling it felt like watching a tech conglomerate speedrun a decade of ambition. DREAME NEXT wasn’t a launch event. It was a statement of intent, wrapped in smoke and mirrors and one very literal rocket car.

The Nebula NEXT 01 JET Edition kicked things off on April 27th with dual solid-fuel rocket boosters delivering 0-to-100 km/h in 0.9 seconds. Sebastian Thrun showed up to co-present. Steve Wozniak appeared on day three for the smartphone launch. Dwyane Wade demoed cleaning tech on day two. But here’s the thing about this spectacle: buried underneath the celebrity cameos and rocket-powered stunts, Dreame actually showed off some genuinely clever engineering in the categories where they’ve already proven themselves.

Designer: DREAME

The X60 Pro Ultra Complete introduced Dreame’s second-generation Dual UltraExtend Arm, which is exactly what it sounds like: a robotic vacuum with extending appendages that reach into corners and edges. The mop extends 18 centimeters out from the body, the side brush goes 12 centimeters. The fan motor hits 42 kilopascals at 150,000 RPM, which is absurd suction for a robot this size. It climbs 10-centimeter steps, which means double-layer staircases are no longer a dealbreaker. The stereo vision obstacle avoidance keeps it from ramming into furniture, and the runtime is unlimited because it auto-docks and recharges. This addresses the single biggest frustration with robot vacuums: they miss spots. The extending arms mean actual edge-to-edge coverage without manual cleanup afterward.

The Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller Complete takes a different approach to the same problem. Instead of extending arms, it brings 160-degree Celsius steam directly to the floor. The built-in steam generator reaches temperature in eight seconds, and the steam loosens dirt before the hot water mop follows through. It’s a multi-dimensional attack on kitchen grease and dried pet paw prints, the kind of stuck-on mess that normal robot mops just smear around. The combination of heat, water, and pressure means fewer passes and cleaner floors.

Then there’s the Aero Ultra Steam wet-dry vacuum, which introduces what Dreame calls a Tri-Force Cleaning Solution: 200-degree Celsius steam wash, 194-degree Fahrenheit hot water mopping, and targeted foam wash for pet odors. The suction hits 30 kilopascals, and the body is slim enough at 3.88 inches to slide under most furniture. The runtime goes up to 100 minutes. Wet-dry vacuums have always been finicky because you’re dealing with both dry debris and liquid spills in the same cleaning session, and the separation between air and water matters. Dreame’s using what they call AirHydro Separation technology, an air-shield system that keeps the airflow path isolated from the water recovery path. It means you can switch between vacuuming crumbs and mopping spills without clogging the motor or diluting suction.

Group of diverse attendees at a DreamE booth, a man in a blue shirt points toward the camera while others smile nearby; a robotic vacuum sits on the table in front of them.

The outdoor lineup got similar treatment. The A3 AWD roboticmower uses LiDAR and binocular AI vision for autonomous mapping with no perimeter wires. Four-wheel drive handles 5.5-centimeter obstacles and 80 percent slopes. The cutting height adjusts from 3 to 10 centimeters, and the EdgeMaster system gets within 5 centimeters of boundaries. The All-in Center is what makes this actually hands-off: the mower returns to the base for automatic charging, cleaning, and weatherproof storage. It handles rain, heat, and freezing temps without manual intervention. Most robotic mowers still require you to babysit the charging process or bring them indoors during bad weather. This one just docks and waits.

What Dreame is doing here comes down to three core technologies they’ve been refining since 2015: high-speed digital motors, intelligent algorithms, and bionic robotic arms. The motors hit 200,000 RPM in lab conditions and mass-produce at 160,000 RPM. That’s aerospace-grade engineering applied to household appliances. The robotic arm platform, which started in vacuums, now scales across dishwashers, range hoods, and air conditioners. The AI perception stack learns from 4.05 million datasets across 35 algorithm versions, enabling real-time object detection and scene understanding.

Man in a maroon hoodie leans over a display table to inspect a round robot vacuum while holding a smartphone at a tech expo booth.

The guest list told the story. When Sebastian Thrun, Steve Wozniak, and Dwyane Wade show up for a cleaning appliance company’s launch event, you’re watching category boundaries dissolve. William Fong put it plainly during the opening forum: “Dreame has the foundational OS for reality.” Julie Zhuo noted that Dreame delivers the kind of freedom people actually want. Sebastian Thrun closed with this: “Dreame is positioned to move from AI software into the physical world.”

Crowded technology expo with multiple vendor booths and the word DREAME on signage, people chatting and exploring displays at a dark, industrial venue.

Whether refrigerators with hyperspectral sensors and smartphones with modular satellite attachments actually land remains to be seen. But the cleaning tech works because Dreame stayed focused on solving real problems: edges that don’t get cleaned, grease that doesn’t lift, lawns that require constant manual oversight. The rocket car got the headlines. The robot vacuums earned them.

The post DREAME, the Robot Vacuum Company, Just Launched a Rocket Car and 20 Smart Home Products in One Week first appeared on Yanko Design.

This 28mm Turntable Is Fully Automatic and Glows Softly Like Mood Lighting

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Vinyl is having a moment that shows no signs of ending. Record sales have been climbing for over a decade, and turntables have found their way into living rooms, bedrooms, and home offices worldwide. The problem is that many still look like they did 30 years ago, big, chunky, and designed to occupy their own dedicated corner. For anyone keeping their space tidy and intentional, that’s a real trade-off.

The CoolGeek TS-01 tries to address that without asking you to compromise on either front. Its ultra-slim body measures just 28mm thick, sitting low and clean on virtually any surface you’d want to put it on. It doesn’t look like it’s trying hard to be noticed, which is exactly the point. It’s a turntable designed to feel like a natural extension of the room rather than an intrusion.

Designer: CoolGeek

Click Here to Buy Now: $219 $299 (26% off). Hurry, only a few left! Raised over $152,000.

Part of what makes the TS-01 so comfortable to live with is how little it actually demands of you. It’s fully automatic, so the tonearm drops, plays, and returns on its own from start to finish. For anyone who’s been put off vinyl by manual cueing or the constant worry of a needle dragging across a quiet groove, that’s a genuinely significant shift in how the whole ritual feels.

There’s also a remote in the box, which might sound like a minor detail but changes things more than you’d expect from a turntable. You can play, pause, fast-forward, or rewind without leaving wherever you happen to be. It’s a small but thoughtful addition, especially when you’re settled in with a book, have guests over, or simply don’t want to get up every time a side ends.

Of course, the audio side isn’t an afterthought. The TS-01 runs on a belt-drive system with an aluminum die-cast platter, and sports a tonearm that’s lighter and yet stronger than the standard arms you’d find on most players in this range. It also ships with an Audio-Technica MM cartridge already fitted, so there’s no fiddly cartridge alignment to deal with out of the box.

On top of that, the TS-01 has six selectable lighting modes and a glow vinyl mat, which together do something unexpected for a turntable: they turn it into an ambient object. That might sound more like a lifestyle feature than an audio one, and honestly, it is, but there’s something genuinely pleasant about having your record player cast a soft glow across a room while a side plays out.

Connectivity covers both ends of the spectrum, whichever you prefer. Bluetooth 5.3 lets you pair it with a wireless speaker or headphones without running cables across the room, while the RCA output stays available for anyone already working with an active speaker or a home hi-fi setup. It’s the kind of flexibility that makes the TS-01 easy to fit into a surprisingly wide range of living situations and listening habits.

The TS-01 comes in Black and Light Gray, both neutral enough to blend quietly into most interior palettes. At 2.65kg and 398mm x 350mm x 94 mm, it’s genuinely compact for a full-size turntable. CoolGeek clearly had a certain kind of space in mind, the kind where a record player can sit on a shelf or credenza and look like it was always supposed to be there.

Click Here to Buy Now: $219 $299 (26% off). Hurry, only a few left! Raised over $152,000.

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