Tag Archives: Gadgets

5 Best Pocket-Sized Gadget Designs That Give Your Phone a Break

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You reach for your phone to change a song, take a picture, or read a few pages. The task takes seconds; everything surrounding it is ready to keep you longer. A dedicated gadget gives that small action its own place to happen. Press a button, turn a page, put it away. Something is appealing about an object that knows its job and doesn’t immediately suggest five others for your attention.

These five designs take familiar phone functions and give them separate bodies, from a music player with an unusually placed screen to a camera disguised as a film canister. The MAD-5 is a concept, while the other selections are retail products, with availability noted below. This is a design roundup based on published specifications, not hands-on testing, and the largest pick belongs in a coat pocket rather than tight jeans.

1. BluHub

BluHub’s lid opens like a miniature grand piano, displaying a spare disc while another sits inside the working drive. The design combines Blu-ray, DVD, and CD reading and writing with USB expansion and memory card readers. Connected to a compatible computer, it offers a way to revisit a physical music collection or archive photographs outside a cloud service. The lid gives those discs a visible place on the desk, although the displayed disc isn’t the one being played.

This is a portable computer accessory, not a standalone player or a pocket-sized device. Its aluminum body measures 165 × 160 × 34 millimeters and weighs 409 grams, making a laptop bag the more sensible home. The advertised 100GB recording capacity requires suitable BDXL Blu-ray media, not ordinary DVDs. BluHub’s maker estimates shipping will begin in November 2026, so delivery remains a crowdfunding promise. Its appeal is bringing discs and peripheral connections together, rather than directly replacing a phone function.

What we like

  •  Combines an optical drive, USB hub, and memory card readers in one accessory.
  • The flip-up lid displays a spare disc without occupying the working drive.

What we dislike

  • Its size and 409g weight don’t fit the roundup’s pocket-sized promise.
    It needs a compatible host device, and the estimated November delivery isn’t guaranteed.

2. MAD-5

Florent Porta’s MAD-5 puts its blue display on the front edge of a square aluminum body, where track information could remain visible when the player is clipped to clothing. That placement is the interesting part. Instead of treating the clip as an accessory, the concept makes it central to the interface. A circular navigation surface and physical buttons keep the face simple. For listening on a walk, the arrangement would let the music stay separate from messages and app switching.

The design also proposes USB DAC functionality, allowing the player to handle audio from a connected computer. That gives the object a plausible role at a desk as well as on the move. Its resemblance to Teenage Engineering’s TP-7 stops at the circular face, though: there’s no motorized reel here. More importantly, MAD-5 remains a concept rather than something you can order. The compelling idea is its relationship between wearing and reading, with sound quality still unproven in actual use.

What we like

  • The edge display considers how a clipped player would be viewed.
  • Proposed USB DAC functionality gives it a useful second role.

What we dislike

  • It remains a concept, with no retail release.
  • Bluetooth and expandable storage aren’t specified in the published design.

3. Analog Capsule Camera

A film canister is an odd place to put a camera, which is what makes the Analog Capsule memorable. The ABS body measures about 45 millimeters across and 47 millimeters tall, with a listed weight of 25 grams before adding a memory card. It’s a digital camera, despite the name, and the included strap lets it hang from a bag. For casual snapshots, the appeal is having a separate object to reach for without unlocking your phone or opening apps.

Built-in playback lets you review photographs, while USB-C and microSD storage keep the process digital from capture to transfer. That distinction matters: a film-shaped shell doesn’t make this a film camera, and its aesthetic shouldn’t be mistaken for versatility. At its listed $55 price, consider it a playful sidekick for casual pictures, not a phone camera upgrade in detail or shooting flexibility.

Click Here to Buy Now: $55.00

What we like

  • The 25g body and included strap make carrying a separate camera less demanding.
  • Digital storage avoids the expense and waiting associated with film processing.

What we dislike

  • A 1 megapixel sensor limits captured detail.
  • The tiny 80 × 160 pixel display offers a limited area for reviewing photographs.

4. Playdate

Playdate’s fold-out crank gives your fingers something a phone screen cannot offer. It’s an analog game controller, not a charging handle, and some games build their mechanics around its rotation. Panic created the console, with hardware design by Teenage Engineering, giving the yellow handheld a clear family resemblance to purposeful electronic tools. At 76 × 74 × 9 millimeters, it makes a convincing pocket companion. A D-pad and two main buttons provide more familiar controls when the crank isn’t needed.

The package includes Season One’s 24 games, delivered two at a time over 12 weeks after setup. That gives the hardware a library designed specifically for its unusual controls, rather than asking it to imitate a phone. The black-and-white screen has no backlight, making available light part of where you can play. At $229 before taxes and shipping, this is a considered purchase. Choose it for games that make something of those physical controls, not for a larger gaming library.

What we like

  • The crank, D-pad, and buttons offer interactions beyond touchscreen tapping.
  • Season One’s 24 games are included with the console.

What we dislike

  • The screen has no backlight for low-light play.
  • At $229, it’s a substantial purchase for a device dedicated to one activity.

5. CasaBeam Everyday Flashlight

The phone flashlight is convenient until you need to keep using the phone. HOTO’s CasaBeam Everyday Flashlight puts lighting in a dedicated body with a front section you twist to adjust the beam. Choose a focused spotlight or a wider floodlight, then add the included diffuser cap for lantern use. Standing it upright frees your hands for other tasks. The design gives you several ways to direct light without balancing your phone against an object.

The Shop lists three brightness levels, a maximum output of 1,000 lumens, and USB-C charging beneath the zoom head. Its claimed 24-hour runtime applies to low brightness, not maximum output. Size deserves equal attention: at 6.14 inches long and 175 grams, CasaBeam is a coat-pocket proposition rather than a tiny jeans-pocket accessory. For evening walks or occasional lighting jobs, that bulk may be worthwhile. At $50, the question is how often you need lighting beyond a phone’s quick, close-range illumination.

Click Here to Buy Now: $50.00

What we like

  • Adjustable spotlight and floodlight.
  • Diffuser included for lantern use.

What we dislike

  • The 175g body demands pocket space.
  • Maximum claimed runtime requires low brightness.

One Extra Device Is Enough

A pocket full of replacements would defeat the point for most people. You would gain a collection of charging routines, storage decisions, and objects competing for limited space. A useful approach is to notice which phone task you’d enjoy giving its own device. Reading is different from photography; lighting is different from play. Pick the interruption you want to avoid, then decide whether the extra object earns its space.

Keep the phone for the jobs where its flexibility matters. There’s no prize for making navigation, communication, or sharing unnecessarily difficult. A dedicated gadget becomes interesting when its shape or controls change what you do, not simply because it removes an app. The strongest reason to carry one is straightforward: you prefer taking that picture, turning that page, or playing that game on an object designed specifically for the task.

The post 5 Best Pocket-Sized Gadget Designs That Give Your Phone a Break first appeared on Yanko Design.

KUXIU D5 Charges 3 Devices Without Taking Over Your Desk

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There are a lot of people who have more than two devices that constantly need charging throughout the day. Our workspaces are littered with different charging cables, power adapters, and all kinds of charging paraphernalia, aside from our usual work stuff. The advent of wireless chargers has been a welcome development for those whose devices support them and who don’t want their desks littered with all sorts of things. Having something that can charge more than your phone and looks good while doing it is also a bonus.

The KUXIU D5 Qi2.2 25W 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station is one of those devices that I’d welcome to my desk, and it now comes in burgundy as well. It’s a functional device for charging your compatible smartphone, Apple Watch, and earbuds, but it’s also well-designed enough that you won’t want to hide it when you’re not charging anything. It also has a real-time display of charging information, so you won’t have to guess whether your devices are receiving power.

Brand: KUXIU

One of the nice things about this wireless charger, aside from the fact that you can charge three devices at once, is that you’ll be able to see things like input voltage, current, and power on the display. It also shows the individual charging status of your smartphone, Apple Watch, and earbuds if you’re charging them all at the same time. You can even turn that same display into a desk clock if you want to check the time somewhere other than your phone or laptop screen. You just have to connect the charger to your phone via Bluetooth to sync the time. The display even has animated expressions to keep you company as you work.

The phone platform where you place your device as it charges can sit flat or tilt upward, depending on how you want to use it. It also means it can serve as a viewing stand in case you still need to look at your phone while it’s charging. The watch charging module, meanwhile, extends from the side and can also be retracted when not in use. Just press and hold the touch button to activate the motorized mechanism, so the dock won’t be a permanent protrusion when it isn’t needed.

The wireless charging station also has an active cooling fan, which KUXIU says is designed to reduce charging temperatures and help prevent heat-related slowdowns. You can also turn the fan off manually, which gives you a choice about running it on your desk or nightstand. That doesn’t mean it can guarantee that your devices will never overheat. Apple notes that an iPhone’s software may limit charging above 80% if the battery gets too warm.

On the charging side, KUXIU lists up to 25W for compatible phones, with separate 5W outputs for the Apple Watch and earbuds. The important phrase here is “up to”: your phone needs to support that charging rate, so older devices won’t automatically get the full 25W. The watch module is specifically for Apple Watch, rather than a universal smartwatch charger. Your earbuds will also need a wireless-charging case, so it’s worth checking your everyday devices before buying.

The burgundy color is a nice change from the usual black or white charging accessories, and the gold-toned side accent gives the little station some contrast. Its body measures about 2.91 by 2.95 by 4.25 inches, making its base roughly three inches square. KUXIU also includes a 45W power adapter and a one-meter charging cable, so you won’t have to go looking for a suitable adapter before you can put it to work.

For me, the appeal is having a place for those three devices without having three separate chargers taking over the desk. I’d still want to keep the display useful rather than distracting, but being able to see what’s charging and tuck the watch dock away makes this a more thoughtful desktop companion.

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Redmi just debuted an ultra-affordable $42 monitor arm that hides your cables too

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Xiaomi is assembling your desk one cheap piece at a time. First came the monitors, from 24-inch office panels to 4K gaming screens. In July, the Mijia Monitor Light Bar 2 arrived to perch on top of them for about $39. Now Redmi, Xiaomi’s budget sub-brand, has launched the piece that holds the whole thing up, a monitor arm with a hidden cable channel for roughly $42. At this rate, a Xiaomi standing desk is probably already sitting in a spreadsheet somewhere.

The Redmi Monitor Arm went on sale October 12 on Xiaomi Youpin for ¥299 (about $42), and Xiaomi has not announced a US release. It holds screens up to 34 inches, and the body is 3mm aluminum alloy. Xiaomi’s pitch is that cables tuck inside the arm, so your desk shows a single post. A five-year replacement guarantee comes along for the ride, which is a lot of faith at this price. If you have ever fought a monitor arm and zip ties in the same evening, you can see the appeal.

A load range that starts at 4.2 pounds

Redmi rates the arm for 4.2 to 19.8 pounds (1.9 to 9 kg), and the low end is the interesting part. An arm tuned for a heavy screen will push a light one skyward, so a 1.9 kg floor suits the featherweight office panels Xiaomi itself sells. At the other end, 17173 notes a loaded 34-inch ultrawide lands around 8 kg, so the 9 kg ceiling has room. Anything heavier, or anything past 34 inches, needs a different arm. Check your panel’s spec sheet before you click buy.

The lift comes from a dual-spring design, with springs on both sides firing together so the force stays even through the whole 11.8 inches (30 cm) of height travel. Xiaomi says it survived 30,000 test cycles. Chinese outlet Kuai Keji worked that out to about 20 years of use at four adjustments a day, which is a lot of standing up and sitting down. The listing cites a Chinese utility model patent, a lighter registration than a full invention patent. Redmi adds a separate tilt-force adjustment at the VESA head to go after screen sag

Cable routing that hides the mess, mostly

Redmi’s renders show cables running through a channel beneath the arm and down the riser. Only the clamp stays visible on the desk. It echoes the trick behind Calvin Lien’s Console Desk concept, which hid its cabling inside the desk’s spine so the surface stayed clean. The arm adds reach to that job, with 17.1 inches (43.5 cm) of front-to-back travel and a 360-degree screen rotation. The promo shots still show a little cable curling out near the VESA plate, which is fair, because a moving screen needs slack somewhere.

Six years ago, Redmi’s first PC monitor, the Display 1A, launched with nothing to hide its cables, a gap a Polish review called out at the time. Concealed routing is now a headline feature on the company’s own product page. That tells you where desk setups have gone. A channel in the arm means the monitor’s cables follow one path instead of dangling in every direction. Redmi’s version is far simpler than a full desk rebuild, and it only has to live inside one arm.

The ¥299 price and China-only availability

The arm costs ¥299 in China (about $42) and went on sale October 12 through Xiaomi Youpin. The listing shows a struck-through ¥499, but Youpin’s fine print calls that a reference price, so read ¥299 as a launch price rather than a markdown. Notebookcheck points out that pricier ergonomic arms can run up to $350 in the US, which makes $42 look like a typo. A five-year replace-instead-of-repair guarantee comes with it, though the full terms are not spelled out on the page. The currency conversion is approximate.

Compatibility looks friendly, since the VESA plate takes the 75x75mm and 100x100mm patterns that most monitors use. That is the same pair CORSAIR’s Platform:6 desk specs for the arms it ships with, so most panels should line up. Xiaomi has not published a clamp thickness range, so measure your desk edge before you get excited. There is no word on a global release, but Xiaomi often sends its accessories abroad later, sometimes wearing the Xiaomi name. The part holding your screen up has never been the exciting purchase, which is exactly why a $42 version is worth watching.

 

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8 Best Gear & Gadgets of October 2026 That Turn Any Living Room Into Game Day Central

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Football season turns living rooms into something closer to a clubhouse for a few hours every weekend. The right gear makes that shift effortless, pulling together sound, screen, food, and drink into one setup that actually works for a full slate of games rather than falling apart by halftime.

None of these eight picks are trying to reinvent the sport itself. They’re solving the real logistics of hosting: the can that never pours right, the cooler that goes warm by the second quarter, the speaker setup that can’t keep up with a packed room full of noise.

1. DraftPro Top Can Opener

There’s a reason the first pour matters so much on game day. DraftPro removes the entire top of a can instead of just puncturing it, turning a beer or sparkling water into something closer to a glass pour, aroma included. Designed by Shu Kanno and built in Japan, the motion is smooth and controlled, with a clean edge that’s safe to drink from directly. For you, that means handing a guest a can that actually tastes like it was poured properly, without reaching for a single glass all game.

It works for more than beer too. Drop ice straight into the can for instant chilling when the cooler’s running warm, or mix a quick cocktail right inside it with zero cleanup. Compatible with domestic and international cans, it travels well between the kitchen and the couch, and the clean cut even lets you repurpose empties into planters or pen holders once the game’s over.

Click Here to Buy Now: $60.00

What We Like

  • Removes the entire top for a smooth, glass-like drinking experience
  • Works as a makeshift cocktail shaker with no extra dishes to wash

What We Dislike

  • Only a handful of units were listed in stock at the time of writing
  • Limited to cans, so bottles need a separate opener nearby

2. PhaseTherma

A great drink setup falls apart the moment the ice turns to water. Freezill solves that with PhaseTherma, a phase-change cooling core that keeps ice solid for up to 150 hours without any external power source. For you, that means setting up the drink station once before kickoff and not thinking about it again until the final whistle of a doubleheader weekend, no refills, no plugging anything in.

At $149, it reads less like a cooler and more like premium travel gear that happens to double as game day equipment. The zero power draw also means it works just as well on a porch or in a garage as it does parked next to the couch, so the setup goes wherever the crowd ends up sitting.

What We Like

  • PhaseTherma core keeps ice solid for up to 150 hours
  • Needs zero external power to maintain its cooling performance

What We Dislike

  • $149 is a real investment for what is, at its core, a cooler
  • Premium design means it’s built for care, not for rough outdoor use

3. Battery-free Amplifying iSpeakers

Every other speaker in the room needs something: a charge, a pairing sequence, a Wi-Fi password. This one needs nothing but your phone. Designed by Ooi Masato and machined from Duralumin, the same vibration-resistant aluminum alloy used in aircraft, it amplifies a smartphone’s built-in speaker purely through acoustic geometry. For you, that means setting it down on a side table and having sound fill the room without a single cable in sight.

The chamber’s proportions were shaped using the golden ratio, which is less a gimmick and more the reason the sound comes out as focused as it does. No app, no Bluetooth, no battery to die mid-game. Just a slot for the phone and a noticeably louder room a second later.

Click Here to Buy Now: $179.00

What We Like

  • Needs zero power, batteries, or pairing to work
  • Golden ratio proportions make it as much a desk object as a speaker

What We Dislike

  • Volume ceiling is naturally lower than a powered Bluetooth speaker
  • Only works with a phone placed inside it, not as a standalone unit

4. Xiaomi Redmi Projector 5 Pro

The screen is where game day actually lives, and this one makes a big one affordable. Native 1080p scales up to 120 inches, backed by 1,000 CVIA lumens, HDR10, and a 120Hz refresh rate running at just 5ms of latency. For you, that means a crisp, responsive picture that can fill an entire wall for less than the cost of a year of streaming subscriptions combined.

A metal gimbal arm swings 150 degrees, so the projector adjusts to whatever angle the room demands without needing a dedicated mount or stand. Dual HDMI and Wi-Fi 6 round out the connections, meaning a streaming box, a console, and a laptop can all stay hooked up at once without a single cable getting swapped out between games.

What We Like

  • 120-inch scaling at $281 undercuts most home theater setups by a wide margin
  • Gimbal arm adjusts 150 degrees without needing a separate mount

What We Dislike

  • 1080p native resolution means it’s not a true 4K experience
  • HDR10 support only goes so far without a properly darkened room

5. LG xBoom Stage 501

Halftime needs its own kind of energy, and this speaker is built specifically for that shift in mood. Up to 220W of output runs through dual 2.5-inch woofers and Peerless tweeters, loud enough to carry a packed room without distortion. For you, that means the moment the game pauses, the room doesn’t go quiet; it just changes gears.

The real party piece is AI Karaoke Master, which strips vocals from any song in real time using deep learning trained on more than 10,000 songs. Built around what LG calls late-night living-room chaos, it turns a halftime break into its own event, no separate karaoke machine or backing track search required.

What We Like

  • 220W output with dedicated tweeters handles a full room without strain
  • AI Karaoke Master removes vocals from any song on the spot

What We Dislike

  • At $499.99, it’s a serious commitment for occasional halftime use
  • Karaoke feature works best with a crowd actually willing to sing

6. Death Star Popcorn Maker

Snacks are half of game day, and this one earns its spot by being genuinely good at the one thing it does. A hot air vortex pops corn with close to a 98 percent success rate, no oil or butter required, while the whole unit folds back into a Death Star display piece once the popping’s done. For you, that means a snack station that’s actually fun to look at sitting on the counter between rounds, not just a plastic appliance shoved in a cabinet.

It’s a lighter note in the lineup, a conversation starter as much as a kitchen tool, and a reminder that not every piece of game day gear needs to be purely functional to earn its place in the rotation.

What We Like

  • Close to a 98 percent popping success rate without oil or butter
  • Folds back into a display piece instead of looking like leftover kitchen clutter

What We Dislike

  • Novelty shape won’t appeal to everyone’s kitchen aesthetic
  • Limited to popcorn, so it’s a single-purpose appliance taking up cabinet space

7. Took Foldable Chair

Every host eventually runs out of couch space before they run out of guests. This chair collapses into a compact case about the size of a soundbar, with a strap handle and a one-touch hinge mechanism that opens it in seconds. For you, that means extra seating that lives in a closet the rest of the week and shows up the moment the guest list grows past what the furniture can hold.

It closes the lineup on a practical note: the kind of object that doesn’t need to be clever so much as ready, there when the room fills up and out of the way the second it empties back out.

What We Like

  • Folds to the footprint of a soundbar for easy storage
  • One-touch hinge means setup takes seconds, not a wrestling match

What We Dislike

  • A folding chair will never match a couch for comfort over a long game
  • Durability of the hinge mechanism depends on how often it gets folded and unfolded

8.WiiM Bar Soundbar

For the games that deserve real sound, not just loud sound, this soundbar fills that gap. True 3.0.2 Dolby Atmos runs through an eight-driver array, three front mid-woofers, three front tweeters, and two upward-firing full-range drivers, backed by four passive radiators for low end that doesn’t need a separate subwoofer. For you, that means commentary, crowd noise, and the snap of a tackle all land with the kind of separation a standard TV speaker can’t touch.

A 2.1-inch round touch display sits embedded in the bar’s front face, giving quick access to inputs and volume without digging for a remote between plays. It sits under the TV rather than competing for space, built for the room rather than announcing itself as the centerpiece.

What We Like

  • Eight-driver array delivers genuine Dolby Atmos without a subwoofer
  • Touch display built into the bar simplifies control mid-game

What We Dislike

  • A setup this capable asks for a TV and source worth the upgrade
  • Four passive radiators still can’t fully replace a dedicated subwoofer in a large room

The Setup That Covers the Whole Afternoon

None of these eight pieces are trying to be the loudest thing in the room. The projector and the two speaker options handle the screen and the sound, the cooler and the can opener handle the drinks, and the popcorn maker and the folding chair round out the food and seating without asking for much space in return.

What makes this lineup work isn’t novelty; it’s that each piece solves one real problem well. A host doesn’t need everything to be smart or connected. Sometimes the best upgrade is a can that pours like a glass, or a chair that disappears into a closet until the room needs it most.

The post 8 Best Gear & Gadgets of October 2026 That Turn Any Living Room Into Game Day Central first appeared on Yanko Design.

Habity’s E-Paper Bedside Clock Makes a Case for a Phone-Free Nightstand

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Smartphones have become rather good at convincing us they belong beside the bed, if only because we need an alarm in the morning. Unfortunately, that also puts every source of distraction within reach the moment you open your eyes. To fight that, Habity’s E-Paper Bedside Clock takes over the alarm, sleep sounds, and nightlight duties with physical controls and a display that doesn’t glow continuously, giving your phone fewer reasons to stay.

The clock has a rounded rectangular body and a slightly tilted face, but its most useful details are the ones your fingers encounter. A large side dial handles settings and volume through turning and pressing. On top, a yellow stop button sits beside a broad snooze key. Their different shapes separate two decisions you probably don’t want to confuse when you’re half asleep.

Designers: Peter Arvad, Jesper Westendahl

Of course, the screen is where Habity really parts ways with your phone. Its 3.7-inch e-paper display reflects ambient light rather than relying on continuous illumination. That means darkness calls for a little help. Interacting with the clock activates a warm frontlight for 10 seconds, enough for a quick check without leaving the time glowing beside your pillow all night long.

There’s also a built-in speaker for sleep sounds, which don’t need an app or subscription. Rain and ocean waves are familiar choices, but a sleeping dog and dishwasher bring a surprisingly domestic touch to the collection. Double-press the snooze button to start playback and turn the dial to change volume. Sessions can last up to eight hours, without borrowing your phone for the soundtrack.

Mornings get a little more flexibility than a single repeating alarm. Habity lets you choose weekday schedules or different wake-up times for individual days, although you’re limited to one wake-up alarm per day. The built-in light can gradually brighten up to 30 minutes beforehand. Once the alarm sounds, that broad snooze button grants another five minutes, as many times as you care to negotiate.

Perhaps the most curious detail is what happens when you stop touching the clock. After 10 minutes, an optional idle screen introduces an illustrated face and shrinks the time. The hour is still there, just less prominent. It’s a small concession for people who don’t want a constant reminder of how late it’s getting, and you can disable it if you’d rather keep watching the, er, watch.

Despite those straightforward controls, Habity hasn’t completely shut the door on connected features. Optional Wi-Fi provides automatic time setting and integrations with Philips Hue Bridge, Home Assistant, and Homey. That requires USB-C power, however. Leave it offline and the alarms and sounds still work, so your morning routine doesn’t need to depend on whether the router is having a good day.

Habity estimates two weeks of battery life, depending on use, but a full recharge can take up to 24 hours. You’ll want to plan that USB-C top-up rather than squeeze it in before bedtime if you’re using it unplugged. Getting one won’t move your phone to another room, of course, so you’ll still have to decide where it spends each night.

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This Kid-Friendly Raspberry Pi Cyberdeck Teaches Children How To Build Chatbots

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Remember those Radio Shack project kits with the spring terminals, where you bent wires into a working radio and felt like Tony Stark? Elecrow’s CrowPi 3 is that feeling, updated for a world where the thing kids want to build is a chatbot. It is a Raspberry Pi 5 learning station with 41 built-in sensors and modules, a camera, a microphone, and a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The courses run from blinking an LED to face recognition and voice control, plus plugging in LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek. Kids already talk to AI all day, so Elecrow figured they should get to build one.

The CrowPi 3 ships in a bumpered gray briefcase with a frosted magnetic lid, a fold-out handle, and an orange pull tab, which makes it the friendliest cyberdeck I have seen. For the uninitiated, that is a DIY computer built into some rugged container, usually with a Raspberry Pi for a brain and a lot of sci-fi attitude. Most of them cost their builders a few weekends of 3D printing and swearing, while this one arrives finished. The faceplate is silkscreened with labels and pin numbers, so the board doubles as its own wiring diagram. A middle schooler can legally carry the whole thing onto the bus, and I did not own anything this cool at that age, so I am only slightly bitter.

Designer: Elecrow

Click Here to Buy Now

Every module gets its own labeled cell, so the ultrasonic sensor, buzzer, tilt switch, RFID reader, and flame sensor sit in plain view instead of hiding behind a lid. That layout is the best teaching decision in the box, since a kid can point at the part they just coded and watch it react. Two breadboards on the left handle custom circuits, and a Pico, Arduino Nano, or micro:bit can join the Pi 5 on the same board. The unit measures 11.2 by 7.3 by 1.5 inches (285 by 185 by 38mm) and weighs 2.43 pounds (1,100g), about a hardcover textbook. Elecrow calls the design open source, with resources on GitHub.

The touchscreen is the one part of the faceplate that moves, folding flat or flipping forward for a better angle. A 2MP camera sits on a small bar above it like a laptop webcam, which is exactly where a face-recognition lesson wants it. At 800 by 480 pixels and 300 nits, the screen suits status readouts and debug info, and the It’s FOSS reviewer found the custom learning interface doesn’t display properly at that size. The full-size HDMI port solves that, so a bigger monitor can take over once the real coding starts. The RGB cooling fan got a gripe too, loud for its size and always spinning, though the same reviewer cheerfully called silencing it a free coding exercise.

The AI curriculum covers OpenCV (an open-source computer vision library) image processing, object tracking, face recognition, QR codes, pedestrian and car detection, and speech recognition. Elecrow says there are 180+ lessons in total, which is a lot of homework disguised as fun. The LLM lessons connect the board to ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek, and since a Pi 5 can’t host models that big, expect those to lean on online services. Elecrow’s project ideas are pleasantly small, like a voice-activated night light or a piggy bank that recognizes coins and plays a sound for each deposit. There is also a Minecraft course where tapping an NFC card spawns TNT, which is how you sneak Python into a kid’s weekend.

Raspberry Pi’s own 500+ answers a simpler question: what if the whole computer lived inside a keyboard? For $200 you get 16GB of RAM, mechanical keys, and a 256GB SSD, which makes a fine desktop and a poor science fair. It has no joystick, no ultrasonic sensor, and no flame detector, which are the things a kid actually wants to poke. The closest direct rival is the Joy-Pi Advanced, a Pi 4 kit that TechRadar put above $470 while comparing it to the CrowPi 3’s Kickstarter pricing. The CrowPi 3 is the one that sells the poking.

The original CrowPi hit Kickstarter in 2018 with a Pi 3B+ and a carry case, and the CrowPi 2 later fit in over 22 sensors and modules. The CrowPi 3 nearly doubles that count and adds the AI courses, plus Pico and micro:bit support that the earlier kits never had. Makers who build briefcase cyberdecks from scratch will get the appeal immediately, since this one skips the modeling and wiring marathon. The sensors come pre-wired and the lessons come already written. That is a fair trade when the person at the desk is eight.

Elecrow sells two kits, and the gap between them is a Raspberry Pi. CNX Software’s December 2025 roundup had the Basic Kit at $229 on Elecrow’s store and the Advanced Kit at $439, with the Advanced Kit listed at $599 on Amazon, so check that listing for today’s price. The Basic Kit expects you to bring a Pi 5, while the Advanced Kit adds a 16GB Pi 5, a wireless keyboard and mouse, two 18650 batteries, and two game controllers. Kids will spend the next decade chatting with AI, and the Radio Shack kids turned out fine because someone let them open the box. Somebody will build a piggy bank that judges your coins, and honestly, I would back that.

Click Here to Buy Now

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OnePlus wants to stick a tiny air conditioner on the back of its gaming phone

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Apple’s MagSafe, which returned on the iPhone 12 in 2020, turned the back of the phone into prime real estate. Wallets stuck on first, then grips, battery packs, and tripods (we rounded up the early MagSafe accessory wave in 2021), with Qi2 later pulling Android into the same magnetic party. The next resident, apparently, is a tiny air conditioner. Gaming phones and cooling fans have been dating for years, but those clip-ons were bulky and held on by spring clamps. A magnet-mounted cooler that sits flat like a card wallet is a more civilized take, and OnePlus is about to launch one.

The OnePlus Ice Card Mini follows the 68-gram Magnetic Ice Cooling Clip, which launched in March at 179 yuan (about $26) in China. The new one weighs about 1.8 ounces (50 grams) and measures 2.8 by 2.1 inches (70mm by 53.4mm), a footprint roughly 30% smaller, at 0.38 inches (9.7mm) thick. A thermoelectric cooling chip and an air-cooling system do the work, powered straight from the phone’s USB-C port. It debuts alongside the OnePlus 16 on October 12 at 7pm local time, and Oppo’s China store already lists it. Pricing and US availability have not been announced.

A mini-fridge chip and a tiny fan, squeezed into 0.38 inches

Thermoelectric (Peltier) coolers shuttle heat from one face of a small ceramic sandwich to the other whenever current runs through them. That leaves the hot side as the problem, so the Mini pairs its TEC chip with an air-cooling system that puts cold air where the phone runs hottest. The body mixes polycarbonate and aluminum alloy, measures 0.38 inches (9.7mm) thick, and bulges to 0.48 inches (12.3mm) around the air intake. Two settings sit at about 25dB and 35dB, closer to a whisper than a hair dryer. About 10 newtons of magnetic force holds it on.

We covered the Ice Speed Freezemat, a concept MagSafe charger that borrowed its cooling trick from the way the body sweats. The SHARGE Icemag then brought active cooling to the MagSafe power bank, and LISEN’s stand later tucked a fan into a desk object. The Mini strips the idea down to one job in a card-shaped body that draws at most 3.5W (5V at 0.7A) over USB-C. OnePlus’s earlier 27W and 40W coolers for China were far hungrier. That puts the Mini in the pocket-and-forget camp instead of the gaming-rig one, and I like that call.

No RGB, one status light, and a plate for phones without magnets

OnePlus’s 27W Ice Point clip from 2025 leaned on dual-color lighting for a gamer look. The Mini arrives in a single Silver Wing gray, with one status light that glows blue or green for the active mode and flashes red to flag a fault. That reads like a tool rather than a trophy, which suits a card-sized accessory you might actually leave in a bag. Nobody needs RGB on something that lives in a jacket pocket. The result is closer to a router’s blinking LED than a gaming rig’s light show.

A magnetic plate in the box extends the trick to Android phones and iPhones without built-in magnets. OnePlus and OPPO phones also get a pairing with the ColorOS X high-performance mode, so the home team gets a software handshake. Power can come from the phone, a power bank, or a wall adapter, so there is no proprietary port to hunt for. That plain USB-C approach suits a household of mixed phones. The pairing is the part I most want to see in action, since a cooler that talks to the phone beats a fan on a magnet.

Eight hours off a power bank turns a gaming gadget into travel gear

OnePlus says a 10,000mAh power bank can keep the Mini running for up to eight hours on high, which covers a long flight or a very committed gaming marathon. That detail turns the cooler into a field accessory, one that lives in a bag next to the power bank most of us already own. The math is believable, since 3.5W for eight hours is about 28Wh, and a 10,000mAh bank holds roughly 37Wh at nominal voltage. Add conversion losses and the claim lands right where physics says it should. Not bad for a gadget weighing 1.8 ounces.

Phones keep getting thinner and more powerful, and the thermal answer keeps shifting to a second object clinging to the back. OnePlus alone has announced at least four coolers in about eighteen months, from the 27W Ice Point to this 50-gram Mini. That cadence says the company sees cooling as a real accessory category rather than a gimmick. I would not be surprised if other brands copy the card-sized format. Cooling accessories could become the next thing everyone shrugs at until their navigation app turns the phone into a hand warmer.

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Retro Song Bird Is the Record Player Game Boy Cartridges Deserved

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

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

Designer: BJ (Bird Cartel Games) via Retro Dodo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Designer: ModRetro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The 8 Tailgate Gadgets Of October 2026 Serious Fans Bring Before Kickoff

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This Japanese Can Opener Removes the Entire Top and Makes Your Beer Taste Like Draft

The parking lot fills up two hours before kickoff. That window is where the real game happens. The rituals, the cooler setup, the first drink of the day. Most tailgate gear is functional at best and forgettable at worst. These eight picks are the exception. They show up in the hands of people who planned and made noticeably better choices than everyone else parked next to them.

Buying for a tailgate used to mean compromising on quality because portability demanded it. That trade-off no longer makes sense. The products on this list are designed with the same seriousness that goes into anything meant to be used hard, outdoors, and repeatedly. All eight belong in the back of a truck.

1. DraftPro Top Can Opener

There is a different pleasure when you hand someone a fully open can of beer with the top removed entirely. They expect a can. What they get is something closer to a glass. The DraftPro Top Can Opener, designed by award-winning Japanese designer Shu Kanno, works by removing the entire aluminum lid in a single motion, converting any standard can into an open-top vessel that lets the aroma and carbonation behave the way they would in a proper pour.

The design is compact enough to slide into a jacket pocket and comes in black or silver at $60, both finishes clean enough to look intentional sitting on a folding table. Made in Japan, it carries the kind of build precision that makes cheap can openers feel like a completely different category of object. It costs less than a round for the group but changes the entire register of the drink. That is a reasonable trade by any standard.

Click Here to Buy Now: $60.00

What we like:

  • Removes the full lid cleanly in one motion
  • Japanese-made build quality is immediately apparent in the hand
  • Available in black or silver with a finish refined enough to look deliberate at any table

What we dislike:

  • Only works on standard aluminum cans; bottles and other formats require a separate tool
  • Single-function design means carrying it alongside other tools rather than instead of them

2. The Freezill Cooler

The cooler is the anchor of every tailgate. Everything else builds around it. Most coolers do their job adequately until they don’t, and the failure mode is always the same. Ice gone by halftime, warm drinks by the third quarter, someone making a gas station run nobody wanted to make. The  Freezill cooler sidesteps all of it with a PhaseTherma phase-change cooling core that keeps ice solid for 150 hours without any external power draw.

One hundred and fifty hours is not a rounding error. It means you load it on Friday and it is still doing its job through Monday. For a Saturday game, that translates to a cooler that is still ice-cold when you get home, unpack it, and wonder whether you ever need to buy a bag of ice again. The design is compact relative to its thermal output, which matters when fitting it between a camp chair and a truck wheel well.

What we like:

  • 150-hour ice retention with zero power required
  • Size-to-performance ratio is genuinely better than anything available at this price point

What we dislike:

  • $149 is a considered investment for a cooler
  • The PhaseTherma core is not field-replaceable if damaged

3. Took Foldable Outdoor Chair

This foldable outdoor chair occupies the same amount of space as a soundbar

Seating is the detail most tailgaters get wrong. They show up with a camp chair that weighs eight pounds, opens like a puzzle, and collapses at the wrong moment. The Took chair is built from reclaimed airbags and seatbelts and folds into a slim case that occupies roughly the same horizontal footprint as a soundbar. It fits cleanly into a trunk beside the cooler and the bag without rearranging anything around it.

The construction tells a different story than the weight suggests. Seatbelt webbing and airbag fabric are materials engineered to absorb force, so using them as the primary structural components of a chair is not just a sustainability angle. It is a genuine durability argument. The one-motion unfold keeps setup time at zero. It goes from the case to a real seat without effort, which is the correct behavior for something used twenty weekends a year through October and into November.

What we like:

  • Reclaimed airbag and seatbelt construction is a genuine durability argument, not just a sustainability statement
  • One-motion unfold with zero assembly keeps setup time at zero in a parking lot

What we dislike:

  • The slim-case form factor may feel unfamiliar to anyone used to a conventional camp chair
  • Weight capacity has not yet been confirmed by the editorial team; verify before committing to it as a heavy-use seat

4. All-in-One Grill

Skewers of meat and green onions grilling on a small portable charcoal grill with a metal insert holding a glass bottle.

The grilling piece of a tailgate is where most people either go too big or not big enough. A full kettle grill requires a dedicated trip. A disposable grill is barely worth the effort. The All-in-One Grill lands between those two poles with a modular stainless-steel cooking system measuring 11.8 by 7 inches. Small enough to sit on a folding table, substantial enough to cook for the group without managing heat in shifts or rationing surface space.

Stainless steel at this scale is a different material than the coated sheet metal found on most portable grills. It heats evenly, cleans without special products, and does not develop the rusted patch behind the hinge that kills most camp-style grills by the third season. At $449, this is a considered purchase for someone who tailgates the same way they do everything else. It is not a cheap fix. It is the piece of gear that replaces three cheaper versions of itself.

Click Here to Buy Now: $449

What we like:

  • Modular stainless-steel system is genuinely compact at 11.8 by 7 inches without sacrificing real cooking surface
  • Build quality is in a different tier from disposable or coated alternatives

What we dislike:

  • The cooking surface is sized for a group, not a large crowd

5. Twelve South Power Clip

The Power Bank You’ll Actually Have When Your Phone Hits 1 Percent

A dead phone at a tailgate is not a minor inconvenience. It means no music, no live scoring, no group chat, no way to share parking lot coordinates with the three people still circling the section. The power bank is built around the specific problem of actually being in your bag when you need it, not sitting on a counter at home because it was too annoying to remember to pack.

The design rationale here is form before specs. Most power banks fail not because of capacity but because of size. They get left behind. This one solves the packing problem first and the charging problem second, which is the correct order of priorities for any piece of gear designed to travel. At a tailgate, where the phone is doing double duty as a speaker controller, ticket scanner, and camera for the fourth-quarter comeback, having a charge source on hand is not optional.

What we like:

  • Designed around real carry behavior rather than spec-sheet numbers
  • Small enough to stay in the bag consistently instead of being forgotten on the kitchen counter

What we dislike:

  • Single-device charging means a group scenario requires passing it around rather than running multiple cables simultaneously

6. Blank Forces Carabiner

Blank Forces Just Made the Only Carabiner Worth $84

The carabiner is the most underestimated piece of gear in a tailgate setup. It keeps the cooler latched, clips the chair bag to the truck handle, and holds the key ring out of the wrong pocket at the wrong moment. The Blank Forces Carabiner, priced at $84, is precision-machined from titanium and built without any multifunction additions. It clips. It does that one thing with a quality of construction that immediately distinguishes it from anything sold at a hardware store.

That restraint is the point. The stripped-back design means there is nothing to snag, no secondary function to engage accidentally, and no branding announcement across the body of the clip. Titanium at this gauge is lightweight without feeling fragile, and the machining tolerance is tight enough that the gate closes with an authority you notice the first time you use it. It costs more than a carabiner should rationally cost. It also feels better in the hand than anything else on the strap.

What we like:

  • Precision-machined titanium with nothing unnecessary added
  • Gate action and build tolerance are immediately apparent at first use

What we dislike:

  • $84 is a real price for a single-function clip
  • No integrated tools at a cost where some buyers will expect more from the investment

7. Edrin 6-in-1 Carabiner-Knife

Edrin 6-in-1 Carabiner-Knife Lives on Your Belt, Not in Your Bag

If the Blank Forces is the carabiner for the person who wants one thing done perfectly, the Edrin 6-in-1 is for the person who wants to stop patting four pockets for a knife, a key ring, and a clip and finding none of them. The Edrin consolidates a GR5 titanium-frame carabiner, a folding D2 blade, and a D-ring for keys into a single clippable object. At a tailgate, that covers the strap, the cutting tasks, and the key problem in one piece of hardware.

GR5 titanium keeps the combined weight low without making structural compromises, which matters when the D2 blade is doing actual cutting work rather than sitting in a display case. The folding mechanism keeps the blade safely recessed until it is needed, and the D-ring handles keys cleanly enough to replace a separate key clip entirely. Six functions is a claim that usually means six mediocre ones. The Edrin earns it by keeping each function honest rather than overdesigned.

What we like:

  • GR5 titanium keeps total weight low while accommodating a genuine folding D2 blade
  • Consolidates three separate carry items into one clippable unit

What we dislike:

  • Six-in-one designs mean each function is more minimal than a dedicated single-purpose tool
  • Check local regulations on folding blade carry before adding it to an event kit

8. Obsidian Black All-Around Tongs

Most tongs at a tailgate are the ones someone grabbed off a hook at a grocery store checkout. They do the job badly, feel cheap in the hand, and disappear into a bag never to be found again. The Obsidian Black All-Around Tongs are a different object. The finish is not paint. It is a black oxidation process applied directly to the stainless steel, creating a surface layer that is part of the metal itself rather than something sitting on top of it.

That distinction matters more at a grill than it does in a kitchen. Paint chips under heat. An oxidized finish does not. At $35, these are the least expensive items on this list and also the ones that get touched most. Every flip, every pull from the heat, every pass across the grate. The tongs people actually keep track of at a tailgate are the ones that feel like they belong there. These are those tongs.

Click Here to Buy Now: $35.00

What we like:

  • Black oxidation finish is built into the stainless steel itself rather than painted on, holding up under grill heat without degrading
  • At $35, the price matches the frequency with which this tool gets used

What we dislike:

  • Single colorway means no options if black does not suit your setup
  • The all-around design covers most tasks well but may not replace a dedicated long-handle grill tong for deep-fire cooking

The Right Eight Wins Every Saturday

Eight items for a two-hour window before kickoff sounds like more than necessary. It is not. Each one on this list solves a specific failure mode that shows up in the parking lot every single Saturday. Warm drinks, dead phones, no seating, borrowed tools, no fire, no grip. Solving each of those problems with something well-designed, not just functional, is a different way of thinking about what a tailgate is actually for.

If only one thing on this list makes it into the rotation this season, make it the cooler. Everything else eventually runs out or gets replaced. A cooler that holds ice for 150 hours without power earns its trunk space every Saturday without being asked to justify it. The rest of this list fills in around it. Get the foundation right first, then build outward.

The post The 8 Tailgate Gadgets Of October 2026 Serious Fans Bring Before Kickoff first appeared on Yanko Design.