Tag Archives: accessories

Business Cards Were Forgettable, so Bandai Built a $22 Mecha Case

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Handing over a business card is, in most professional settings, a fairly unremarkable moment. You produce it, they take it, everyone moves on. Bandai Spirits, the company behind some of the most precisely engineered collectible robots in the world, has decided this moment deserves better. The Mobile Stationery Automatic Transformation Business Card Case deploys your card at the press of a button, rotating 180 degrees with a mechanical flourish that nobody is going to forget.

This is the debut product of Bandai’s new Mobile Stationery line, which is exactly what it sounds like: office stationery built with the engineering sensibility of a collectible mecha toy. The series name in Japanese is 機動文具, which intentionally borrows the kanji for “mobile suit” from Gundam’s full title. That’s not accidental branding. It signals that the same precision manufacturing techniques behind Bandai’s Chogokin die-cast figures went into making a business card holder.

Designer: Bandai

The mechanism itself is the product. When the case is closed, it sits flat and compact at approximately 125mm x 95mm x 25 mm, which is thin enough to slip into a jacket pocket without much bulk. Press the button, and it automatically opens with a 180-degree rotation that presents your card as if a small piece of machinery just woke up. The action is fast, repeatable, and genuinely surprising to anyone who hasn’t seen it before.

It’s made from ABS, the same material used across Bandai’s figure line, and sized to accept standard Japanese No. 4 business cards at 55mm x 91mm and a recommended paper thickness of 0.24mm. The fit matters here because a loose card in an automated case would undermine the entire presentation. The case holds the card securely in the closed position and positions it cleanly during deployment.

Three colorways are available, each aiming at a different kind of professional. The Toy Color is exactly what it sounds like, a vibrant, primary-palette version that makes no attempt to pass for a conventional office accessory and leans directly into the Gundam aesthetic. The Standard Color is subtler and more desk-neutral. The Black Color is the one you’d bring to a meeting where you still want the mechanism to surprise people without the case itself making a statement before it even opens.

The practical argument for something like this is harder to articulate than it might seem, which is part of what makes it interesting. Business card rituals in Japan carry real social weight, and the act of presenting a card is meant to be deliberate and memorable. A case that automates the drama of that moment, that turns the exchange into a small performance, fits surprisingly neatly into that context rather than clashing with it.

The Mobile Stationery line is Bandai’s first move into office accessories, and this particular opening product is doing a lot of work to establish what that line is. It’s a functional object that holds business cards. It’s also a small transformer that deploys them theatrically. Both things are true, and the case doesn’t apologize for either one.

The post Business Cards Were Forgettable, so Bandai Built a $22 Mecha Case first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rock Paper Pencil 4.0 Adds the Paper Feel the Apple Pencil Never Had

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The Apple Pencil on a standard iPad screen is a competent stylus. It isn’t, however, anything like writing on paper, and for a lot of artists and note-takers, that distinction matters enough to do something about it. Rock Paper Pencil has been the go-to solution for this since version one, and version 4.0, at $49.99, adds something earlier versions couldn’t offer: a choice of how drawing actually feels.

The setup is a two-part system. A removable screen protector attaches to the iPad’s display without adhesive, using NanoCling technology that leaves no residue when peeled off. Its microscopic texture adds enough controlled friction to the surface that the Apple Pencil moves across it the way a pencil moves across paper, with resistance that makes strokes feel intentional rather than frictionless.

Designer: Astropad

The four included tips are the version 4.0 update. Two are ballpoint, the same smooth steel-tip design from previous versions, and two are graphite, a new addition made from POM material and modeled after a 2B pencil. The graphite tips have a softer, toothier drag that catches the screen protector’s texture more noticeably, delivering the kind of feedback artists reach for when sketching, shading, or building up layered strokes.

Switching between the two feels like the difference between reaching for a pen and reaching for a pencil, which is precisely the point. Writers and quick note-takers tend to prefer the ballpoint’s smoother glide. Illustrators working on expressive, pressure-sensitive line work often want more grip. Neither one is wrong, and having both in the same kit means you don’t have to commit to one style of input permanently.

What makes this system work as well as it does is that the tips and the protector are engineered together rather than as separate products. The custom tips are designed specifically to interact with the nano-texture protector surface, so the friction you feel isn’t random. It’s calibrated. The tips work with every Apple Pencil model, including the Apple Pencil Pro, so upgrading your stylus doesn’t require replacing the tips you’re used to.

The screen protector itself attaches in seconds and stores in an included protective sleeve when it’s not on the iPad. The removable design is one of the things that separates Rock Paper Pencil from Apple’s own nano-texture glass option, which is a permanent surface applied at purchase on select high-end iPad Pro configurations. Rock Paper Pencil achieves a comparable paper-like feel without locking you into it, and without the price premium that comes with Apple’s version.

Compatibility covers most iPads in active circulation, from the iPad mini to the full-size iPad Pro, with model-specific screen protectors ordered for the right fit. The tips, by contrast, are universal across Apple Pencil generations. Each Rock Paper Pencil 4.0 kit ships with the screen protector, the protective sleeve, and all four tips: two ballpoint and two graphite.

The $49.99 price keeps the entry point low enough that it doesn’t feel like a commitment. The protector comes off clean, the tips swap in seconds, and the graphite option adds a dimension to iPad drawing that wasn’t there before. It’s a small change to the physical layer that produces a noticeably different experience.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Just Got a Commodore Collab That’s Absurd and Logical

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The original Commodore 64 launched in 1982. Cyberpunk 2077, the game, is set in 2077. The gap between those two years is roughly the entire history of the personal computer, which makes the Commodore 77 either the most absurd collaboration in gaming hardware history or the most logical one, depending on how you look at it. At $377, it’s clearly betting on the latter.

The 77 is a special edition of the Commodore 64 Ultimate, the FPGA-based revival that earned a 10/10 from IGN when it launched in 2025. FPGA recreations matter because they reproduce the original hardware’s behavior at the circuit level rather than running it through conventional software emulation. The practical result is compatibility with 99.9% of the 10,000-plus game and peripheral library built up over four decades.

Designer: Commodore

Under the hood, this edition upgrades the processor from the AMD Artix XC7A50T to the more powerful XC7A100T, pushing the ceiling from the Commodore 64 Ultimate’s speed to 77MHz. That’s a long way from the original machine’s 1 MHz, though the number was clearly chosen as much for the name as for the engineering. It also connects to modern TVs via HDMI and supports Wi-Fi and USB, covering the practical bases without compromising what the platform does.

The design is where Cyberpunk 2077 fully takes over. The main body is a distressed, weathered yellow with graffiti tags, a brushed-metal plate, and a teal power indicator. The bottom of the shell is smoked-gray translucent, with multicolor LEDs glowing through from beneath. It boots into a custom BASIC 2.0 startup screen themed around Seocho Electronics, a fictional Night City manufacturer, which separates this from a sticker job.

The most compelling piece of the package is the demo. Called “The Shard,” it ships on an exclusive cartridge designed to look like the data chips from Cyberpunk 2077 and was created by Arise, a long-running Polish C64 demo group with a serious reputation in the scene. It’s a non-interactive 8-bit audiovisual experience, not a playable game, with a 24-channel stereo SID soundtrack by chiptune artist LukHash. For anyone who follows the C64 demo scene, Arise and LukHash together is a meaningful combination.

The spiral-bound user guide is another thing entirely. It comes packed with Cyberpunk 2077 lore alongside type-in BASIC programs that you can key into the machine yourself, which is about as 1982 as anything in the box. It’s the kind of detail that only makes sense if you understand what a Commodore 64 actually meant to the people who grew up with one, and it suggests whoever put this together understood the audience fairly well.

This is Commodore’s first franchise hardware collaboration in 68 years of existence. That’s worth pausing on. The Commodore 64 became a cultural landmark not through corporate restraint but through the things people built on it, the games, the demos, the music, the code. The Commodore 77 is a collector’s object, but the BASIC programs in that guide are an open invitation to do something with it rather than just admire it.

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BenQ Just Made a $189 iMac Light Bar That Looks Like Apple Designed It

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The iMac has always had a light bar problem. You could put any number of BenQ ScreenBars on top of one, but they’d cover the camera, block the microphone, or clip over the Apple logo on the back. None of them were made for it. The BenQ iScreenBar is the first that actually is, and it arrives at $189, looking like it was designed by the same people who designed the computer it sits on.

The construction makes the case immediately. Unibody aluminum with a glass touch panel, finished in Silver to match the iMac directly, mounting via a custom magnetic clamp on the back rather than a standard monitor clip. A magnetic cable clip routes the USB-C power cord out of view. The rear logo, the camera, and the microphone all remain unobstructed. It’s the kind of detail that should have been obvious from the start but apparently wasn’t until now.

Designer: BenQ

Compatibility is specifically tuned to the 24-inch iMac from 2021 onward. That USB-C connection does more than just carry power. It lets the iScreenBar communicate with the iMac directly, enabling a dedicated macOS app for software control of brightness and color temperature. It also means the light bar knows when the camera is active, which feeds into one of the more useful features here.

That feature is Video Mode. When the iMac’s built-in webcam turns on, the iScreenBar automatically shifts its output to reduce bright spots on the user’s face, giving calls and recordings a more balanced, flattering light rather than the harsh overhead glow that most desk setups produce. Nobody wants to look like they’re being interrogated from below during a team call, and Video Mode addresses that without any manual intervention.

The light itself uses BenQ’s ASYM-Light optical design, which angles illumination downward toward the desk rather than toward the screen. That means no glare, no hotspots reflecting back from the display, and lighting that reaches an area of roughly 33.5in x 19.7in at 500 lux. The glass touch panel on the bar handles brightness and color temperature adjustments directly, and auto-dimming keeps the workspace at a consistent level as conditions change.

Blue and Green colorways, two of the iMac’s most popular colors, are planned for late 2026. The Silver version is the only one available at launch, which is also the most versatile option since it matches every iMac color reasonably well. For buyers committed to a Blue or Green iMac, the wait might be worth it for a more cohesive result, but the Silver still looks deliberately matched rather than generically attached.

BenQ’s existing ScreenBar lineup has been a reference point in desk lighting for years, with options ranging from $109 for the standard bar to $179 for the Halo 2 and $289 for the new ScreenBar Max built for dual-monitor setups. The iScreenBar slots in at $189, making it competitive with the premium end of that range while offering something none of the others can: a mount that actually fits the iMac the way it was intended, rather than sitting on top of it like an afterthought.

The post BenQ Just Made a $189 iMac Light Bar That Looks Like Apple Designed It first appeared on Yanko Design.

MagSafe Wallets Leave Your Cards Exposed but This $24 One Closes

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The TUCCH PU Leather Mag Wallet does something most MagSafe wallets don’t bother with: it folds closed. Rather than leaving your cards exposed in an open slot on the back of your iPhone, this one shuts like a traditional bi-fold and stays that way thanks to internal magnets. At $23.99, it holds six cards, blocks RFID signals, and includes a clear window for your ID.

The problem with most MagSafe wallets is that they’re really just an open pocket attached to your phone. Your cards sit loose, there’s nothing stopping them from sliding out when you dig into your bag, and pulling the wallet off doesn’t make it any more secure. If you’ve ever watched a card quietly escape an open MagSafe slot mid-commute, you already understand why a wallet that actually closes is a more useful object.

Designer: TUCCH

The folding design here means the same magnets doing the MagSafe work also keep the wallet shut when it’s off the phone. Pop it off your iPhone before going through airport security, tuck it into your jacket pocket, and your cards stay in place rather than fanning out freely. It’s a small shift in how the accessory behaves, but it makes the difference between something that feels like a wallet and something that just holds cards.

Six slots is more than most MagSafe wallets offer, and the layout is more thoughtful than a generic card stack. One slot is a dedicated clear window for your ID or driver’s license, something the category almost universally skips. Two of the remaining slots have cutout openings for the cards you grab most, so you’re not pulling out a chunk of plastic to find your transit card or gym membership every time.

RFID blocking is built into the PU leather shell, which is worth having without having to think about it. Contactless card skimming isn’t something most people worry about until it happens, and having that protection passive rather than optional means one less thing to consider. The wallet handles it quietly, in the same way that the best security features tend to stay out of your way entirely.

Magnetic strength is strong enough to hold through a firm shake of the phone, which is about what you’d expect from a well-built MagSafe wallet at this price point. Compatibility extends beyond TUCCH’s own cases as well. Any MagSafe-compatible case from another brand works just as well, which matters if you’re already committed to a case you like and don’t want to switch just to add a wallet.

The wallet stays flat even when all six card slots are filled, which isn’t guaranteed with wallet accessories in general. A lot of them start to bow under a full card load, adding enough thickness to make a slim phone feel bulky. At approximately 0.4 inches thick fully loaded, the TUCCH keeps things compact enough that adding it doesn’t noticeably change how the phone sits in your hand or your pocket.

Compatibility covers the iPhone 12 series through the current lineup, excluding Mini models and cases without MagSafe support. The $23.99 price puts it well below what most leather MagSafe wallets ask without trimming the features that make this one worth buying. A MagSafe wallet that closes, organizes, and works as a standalone is simply a more complete object than the category norm.

The post MagSafe Wallets Leave Your Cards Exposed but This $24 One Closes first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nike Just Turned One Piece’s Devil Fruits Into $180 Sneakers

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One Piece is an enduring piece of pop culture that has transcended manga, anime, and of course, the Netflix live-action adaptation. Since its debut in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1997, Eiichiro Oda’s epic adventure has grown into the best-selling manga series of all time, with over 500 million copies in circulation worldwide. There are plenty of apparel, merchandise, and brand collaborations out there that can show off your love for the characters and the series. But if you’re also a fan of Nike, then this latest collection is a must-have, especially if you’re looking for cool sneakers to add to your wardrobe.

The Nike x One Piece collection brings this universe to life with footwear and apparel that makes the legendary Devil Fruits part of your everyday fashion. Rather than just slapping some character photos onto Nike items, the collaboration reimagines the iconic Air Max Plus into sneakers that embody the extraordinary powers of the series. As Nike puts it, the creative team was “inspired by the superhuman abilities that are unleashed when One Piece characters eat the Devil Fruits, much like the feeling an athlete has when they put on a pair of Nikes.” That’s a crossover worth lacing up for.

Designer: Nike x One Piece

In case you’re unfamiliar, Devil Fruits are rare, mysterious fruits scattered across the One Piece world that grant incredible superpowers to whoever eats them, although they also remove the user’s ability to swim in return. It’s a classic trade-off that has defined many of the series’ most beloved characters. So this collaboration brings Straw Hat fans these extraordinary abilities, fashion-wise. The stars of the collection are three Air Max Plus colorways, each inspired by a different Devil Fruit.

The Gomu Gomu no Mi, which was famously eaten by Monkey D. Luffy, comes in a purple-dominant colorway. In the manga, this fruit transformed Luffy’s body into rubber, giving him his signature stretchy abilities and setting him on his path to become King of the Pirates. The Ope Ope no Mi, Trafalgar Law’s fruit which grants its user surgical-like control over everything within a defined spherical space, takes on a red and green-themed look, while the Mera Mera no Mi, once wielded by Luffy’s fiery older brother Portgas D. Ace, is fittingly orange-dominant. Each pair features TPU-textured uppers exclusive to this collection, paired with contrasting tongues and shoelaces.

If you want to complete your One Piece outfit, the collection also includes jerseys, caps, and T-shirts with actual manga illustrations printed on them, reimagined in the style of classic Nike ads. There’s also a special vest that nods directly to the side effects of eating a Devil Fruit: once you gain your powers, you become “hated by the sea” and lose the ability to swim forever. It’s one of those clever, deep-cut design choices that die-hard fans will absolutely love. The entire line also features a special Nike x One Piece collaboration logo created exclusively for this collection.

The collection is rolling out globally through a series of pop-up events and select retailers. Tokyo kicks things off on September 4, followed by regional drops across cities like Seoul, Hong Kong, and Jakarta. The Ope Ope no Mi pair arrives exclusively at select US and European retailers on September 19, while the full worldwide launch on SNKRS is set for September 25. Each sneaker is priced at $180.

Whether you’re a lifelong One Piece fan who has been sailing with the Straw Hats since the very beginning or a sneakerhead who appreciates thoughtful, story-driven design, the Nike x One Piece collection delivers on both fronts. It’s rare for a collaboration to feel this intentional, where the creative vision of two very different worlds genuinely speaks to each other. Much like Luffy’s unwavering dream of becoming King of the Pirates, this collection is a reminder that the best adventures are always worth gearing up for. Set sail, and grab your pair before the tide goes out.

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XBOX Is 25 and 7 Accessories Just Brought Back Its Most Iconic Color

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The original XBOX launched on November 15, 2001. A quarter-century later, it’s getting the tribute it probably deserves, not just a cake but a full coordinated collection of gaming accessories wrapped in the translucent green that made the first console so immediately recognizable. Seven products across five manufacturers, all designed to land before November arrives.

Razer leads the lineup with three anniversary editions spanning mouse, keyboard, and earbuds. The Basilisk V3 Pro 35K brings the translucent green shell to a wireless ergonomic mouse with a Focus Pro 35K Optical Sensor Gen-2, a four-way scroll wheel, and up to 140 hours of battery life between charges. It’s the same hardware underneath; the anniversary treatment is entirely in the aesthetic.

Designer: XBOX, Razer, 8BitDo, Backbone, GameSir

The BlackWidow V4 75% joins it as the compact keyboard option, a wired mechanical board with hot-swappable keys, Razer Chroma RGB, and a new XBOX key that launches Game Bar directly in Windows. It sits comfortably on a desk without dominating it, which is something a full-size board can’t always claim. The 75% layout keeps it portable without sacrificing the keys most gamers actually use.

Completing Razer’s contribution are the Hammerhead V3 X HyperSpeed earbuds, which match the translucent green look across both the earbuds and the charging case. They support low-latency 2.4 GHz wireless audio alongside Bluetooth 5.3, with up to 10 hours of standalone use and 35 hours total when the case is factored in. For anyone gaming across multiple devices, the dual-connection options make them genuinely flexible.

8BitDo brings back the transparent green with its X25 Special Edition of the Ultimate Charging Dock for XBOX controllers, compatible with XBOX Series X|S and XBOX One wireless controllers. GameSir’s X5 Lite for XBOX adds the anniversary colorway to a mobile controller that works with iOS and Android devices and carries Apple MFi certification for broad compatibility, including cloud gaming on either platform.

The Backbone Pro XBOX 25th Anniversary Edition takes a different angle on nostalgia. Instead of translucent green, it reaches into the original 2001 hardware’s full palette, offering Iconic Blue, Bold Orange, and Crystal Clear as the three available colorways. The catch is that it ships blind box style, so the color inside the package isn’t something you choose at checkout.

PowerA rounds out the collection with a sling bag built specifically for the ROG XBOX Ally and ROG XBOX Ally X handheld gaming PCs. The four-compartment bag has dedicated space for the device itself, a headset, a controller, and accessories, with a padded main compartment that includes thumbstick protectors. It carries the 25th anniversary logo on the front and matches the green zipper pulls across the bag.

The collection is available for preorder now, with most items shipping in November to coincide with the actual anniversary date. The XBOX Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition, sold separately, uses colored ABXY buttons and black-and-white bumpers as a callback to the original Duke controller’s layout. The PowerA sling bag retails for $39.99 and the GameSir X5 Lite for $44.99, with other pricing still unconfirmed.

The post XBOX Is 25 and 7 Accessories Just Brought Back Its Most Iconic Color first appeared on Yanko Design.

At $69.99, the Boya Notra Neo Is the AI Note-Taker That Students Can Finally Afford

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The Plaud NotePin costs $169. Boya’s own Notra flagship launched in February 2026 at $149.99. For a stretch, if you wanted a dedicated AI recorder with real transcription and AI-powered organization, you were looking at spending north of $150, which quietly priced the category out of reach for the students and young professionals who arguably needed it most. Every new tech category does this: it launches expensive, finds its early adopters, and then figures out how to bring the price down. Boya just compressed that timeline significantly with the Notra Neo, a $79.99 AI recorder that retains the core AI note-taking experience of the flagship.

Launching September 4th at IFA 2026 in Berlin, the Notra Neo targets students, young professionals, multilingual users, and anyone who has been curious about AI note-taking but wasn’t ready to drop $150 on the experiment. The spec differences from the Notra are real but they’re calibrated: storage drops from 64GB to 8GB, the ambient pickup range goes from 10 meters to 5 meters, and battery life trims from 24 hours to 20. The core AI feature set remains available, with transcription across 140-plus languages, speaker identification, summaries, to-do lists, mind maps, and AI Search across your entire recording history. Automatic switching between Ambient, Phone Call, and Bluetooth recording modes means the device reads the situation and adjusts without you touching a setting. Pre-orders open August 24 at $69.99.

Designer: BOYA

Click Here to Buy Now: $69.99 $79.53 (12% off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hour!

Boya’s automatic scenario detection handles context management silently: Ambient kicks in for face-to-face conversations, Phone Call for phone calls (obviously), and Bluetooth when you’re on a virtual meeting through your earbuds. In Ambient mode, the device picks up 360-degree audio within a 5-meter radius, covering most classroom or conference table setups without precise positioning. For first-timers already managing a phone, a laptop, and half a dozen tabs, that simplicity matters more than any individual spec. None of this requires navigating a settings menu mid-session or remembering which mode you last used. A similar friction-removal logic powered the REETLE E-Ink iPhone case YD covered last year, where a single dedicated record button built into the frame turned out to be the one design decision that made the entire product click.

Keeping the full AI feature set identical to the flagship Notra is genuinely the most interesting product decision Boya made with the Neo. Transcription runs across 140-plus languages and dialects with speaker labeling, making it a credible tool for multilingual classrooms, international teams, and professionals who regularly conduct conversations across more than one language. The AI layer generates summaries, to-do lists, mind maps, and insights from those recordings, with 60-plus professional templates calibrated for different scenarios. AI Search lets you query your entire recording history without scrubbing through audio, which shifts this from a recorder into a searchable knowledge base. Everything syncs and exports through the Boya OS App and Web, with format options for audio, transcripts, summaries, and mind maps.

The Notra Neo boasts a cleaner front face than its flagship counterpart, swapping the “BOYA Notra AI” label for a simple “Boya” wordmark on a smoother surface. The form factor follows the compact square silhouette now standard in this category, but the softer branding reads younger and more consumer. Nothing about the physical profile announces entry-level in the way cheaper electronics sometimes can’t avoid, which matters for users already self-conscious about carrying a dedicated recorder. At $80, the Notra Neo competes less with the Plaud than it does with the phone propped against a water bottle, and that’s a smarter fight to pick.

Pre-orders for the Notra Neo open August 24, 2026, at a discounted $69.99. At its budget-friendly price, this is the most accessible entry point into dedicated AI recording the category has seen, and for anyone who has been putting off the experiment, the excuse just ran out.

Click Here to Buy Now: $69.99 $79.53 (12% off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hour!

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