The sustainable home goods market has a specific credibility problem. Products marketed as eco-conscious often get there through incremental adjustments, reducing a percentage of virgin plastic, switching to a recyclable box, or sourcing from a slightly shorter supply chain. The result is a kind of sustainability theater that satisfies certification requirements without fundamentally changing either what objects are made from or how they find their way into a home.
Artefilo approaches that question differently. Based in Edam in the Netherlands, the independent design atelier makes contemporary home objects from materials most manufacturers wouldn’t consider: elephant grass combined with recycled plastic, reclaimed wood fibres, brick dust, and salvaged hospital cabinetry. Each piece is made locally in small batches, and the materials are chosen with the specific intention of giving discarded resources a renewed place in a living space.
The choice of Edam isn’t incidental. The city has a long tradition of ceramics craftsmanship, and Artefilo draws on that heritage without replicating it, taking the spirit of making by hand and applying it to a different material palette. Elephant grass combined with recycled plastic, for example, produces a surface that reads as handmade pottery without the environmental cost of extracting virgin clay or new plastic.
The rest of the material list is equally unexpected. Reclaimed wood fibres and brick dust bring texture and warmth to objects that might otherwise feel too composed, while recycled hospital cabinets contribute rigidity and durability that wouldn’t be obvious from the source. Finding these materials requires locating waste streams that industry hasn’t already claimed, then working out what form they can credibly take in a domestic setting.
Making in small batches has real consequences for what the objects can be. It means pieces that are genuinely one-of-a-kind, because material conditions are never exactly repeatable from one batch to the next. Brick dust carries different tones from different sources; reclaimed wood fibres vary in density and grain. That variability isn’t a flaw in the production model; it’s built into it deliberately.
The underlying premise is that objects shape the atmosphere of a space, not dramatically, but persistently. Something placed on a windowsill or bookshelf gets seen many times a day, and that repetition adds up. Artefilo’s design philosophy treats each piece as something that participates in the daily texture of a home rather than simply occupying it. The materials reinforce that, each carrying a visible trace of its previous life.
The atelier distributes through its own online store and through a local stockist in Edam. The collection is small, deliberately so, and the material sourcing means it isn’t trying to scale into something it isn’t. For a design category that often talks about slowing down without quite managing it, Artefilo appears to have structured itself around that idea from the ground up.
Most people who drink tea on the go will admit, at some point, that they’ve committed the great tea crime: leaving the bag in too long. You meant to pull it out at three minutes. You got distracted by a notification, a phone call, someone asking you a question mid-sip. By the time you remember, the damage is done.
The cup is now a bitter, tannic situation you’re going to drink anyway because you paid for it and you’re already running late. Designer Elwin Kang clearly understood this particular brand of morning failure, because his concept packaging, Dot to Dot, is essentially a solution built around the most human of habits: forgetting.
Designer: Elwin KANG
The concept is for a takeaway tea cup that integrates the tea bag, lid, string, and label into a single, choreographed interaction. Before the lid goes on, the barista or café staff writes the recommended finishing time directly onto it by hand. That’s the first clever move. It’s not an app notification or a timer you have to remember to set yourself. It’s just a time, handwritten and staring back at you from the top of the cup, the way a sticky note from a friend might. Hard to ignore. Easy to act on.
When that time arrives, you pull the circular label downward. The label is red, small, and stamped with a gentle instruction. Pulling it lifts the tea bag out of the water and suspends it just beneath the lid, stopping the infusion without you needing to fish the bag out with your fingers, find a bin, or carry it loose in your hand while you navigate a crosswalk. The used bag stays sealed inside the cup for the entire journey. Contained. Out of the way. Done.
What makes the interaction satisfying, beyond the practical side of things, is the visual logic underneath it. The label is a circle with a hole in the center, like a ring or a small donut. The attachment point on the side of the cup is a solid filled circle. When you press the label onto the attachment point, ring over dot, the two shapes complete each other. A circle becomes whole. Dot to Dot. The name isn’t just clever wordplay; it’s the actual gesture, expressed in form.
That kind of layered meaning is rare in packaging design, which tends to treat function and aesthetics as separate departments. Kang made them the same conversation, and that’s worth pausing on. Most packaging either looks good or works well. This concept does both, without the two qualities cancelling each other out.
I’ll be honest: Dot to Dot hits that particular nerve that good design tends to hit, the sense that the solution was obvious in retrospect but nobody had quite articulated it yet. Over-steeped takeaway tea is such a common, low-stakes frustration that most of us have simply accepted it as an unavoidable condition of the modern commute. Kang treats it as a problem worth solving, which is a design choice in itself. Not every brief begins with a grand crisis. Sometimes it starts with a too-bitter cup of Earl Grey on the way to the office.
There’s also a quieter argument embedded in the concept about slowing down within an otherwise rushed context. You’re still getting your tea to go. You’re still multitasking. But the design builds in a small moment of attention, one pull, one click, one completed circle, that gently asks you to be briefly present with what you’re drinking. That’s a surprisingly generous thing for a disposable cup to offer.
Whether Dot to Dot ever moves from concept to commercial production is another matter entirely, and the distance between a beautiful prototype and an actual supply chain is rarely short. But as a piece of design thinking, it earns its place. It’s specific, it’s human, and it leaves you wondering why every takeaway tea cup hasn’t worked this way all along.
In 2024, Nike and Hyperice got together for a pair of boots that used air compression to massage athletes’ feet. Now, the two stalwarts in their own domains have joined forces again to release Nike Air Zoom Hyperslide – a pair of slides that could easily be the most innovative iteration of recovery slides ever made. Designed to heat and massage your feet after a long day’s work or activity, it uses Hyperice’s recovery technology with Nike Air Zoom cushioning.
The combination makes the slides ultra-comfy to wear after a tiresome day and increasingly relaxing for the feet post-workout. This convenience is made possible with the magnetically connected Hyperslide Pod, which resides in the adjustable, wide coverage midfoot strap of the slide. The pod is removable, but when it’s attached to the slide, it “provides targeted Hyperice heat and vibration massage across the top of the foot,” Nike confirms.
The heat therapy and vibration massage help reduce tension and relax the feet after strenuous training, a game of football, or a morning run. The comfort is, however, enhanced by the Air Zoom cushioning spanning the entire length of the footwear. The soft proprietary sole provides responsive comfort for everyday wear, which adds to the primary feature of heat and massage.
The Nike Air Zoom Hyperslide is created in two colors: Black and Beige. Despite the simplicity of the colors, the slides look distinct in their monochromatic finish. The silhouette is smooth and has a high-end construction feel to it, which revolves around the mounting hub for the magnetic pod.
The pod sitting at the top of the foot is the main aspect of the slide’s recovery capability. It is created to provide three levels of targeted heat to each foot, reaching 117 degrees Fahrenheit, or 47 degrees Celsius. The slides also create three levels of vibrations for a 15-minute recovery cycle. The pod is rechargeable and features a USB-C port for fast charging.
The levels of heat and vibration can be customized from the pod on the slides, or via the Hyperice app. For those, like me, who are often confused with the settings, the Air Zoom Hyperslide features onboard indicator lights signalling heat, vibration, or battery level. The slides are designed using feedback from athletes and are now being hailed for their soft cushioning, heat, and vibration working in tandem for post-workout recovery.
If you’re interested, we’ve learned that the Nike Air Zoom Hyperslide will be available globally starting September 29, 2026. The information is not official, but sources suggest the slides created to heat and massage your feet would cost $250.
Whenever a fast food chain releases a new toy collection for their kiddie meals, there’s always a discussion as to who these collectibles are really for. While originally their target market is kids, hence the name, it seems like it’s really the adults who enjoy (hoarding) collecting them, probably because there was nothing like that when they were actual kids. Burger King France’s newest meal deal makes it pretty obvious that this time, they are squarely targeting the older ones.
The Boomer King meal and campaign from the burger joint is for those who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s and were glued to their TV screens watching their favorite shows. So yes, technically, this is a Gen X (and maybe older Millennials) thing rather than actual Boomers, but “Boomer King” sounds a lot better than “Gen X King Meal.” And of course, the term “boomer” has become a catch-all tag for anyone the younger generations consider “old.”
Designer: Burger King France (Buzzman agency)
This limited-edition meal from Burger King is available with several different burgers, including the Whopper, Big King, CBK, Steakhouse, and Big Fish. What adult fans will be looking forward to is that each meal comes with a random collectible item from four extremely popular TV shows from the ’80s and ’90s. These include socks (Saved by the Bell), a t-shirt (Knight Rider), a mug (Charmed), and a branded glass (Beverly Hills, 90210). If your reaction is, “What are those?” then you are definitely not the target market for this campaign.
The ad campaign promoting the Boomer King meal is, of course, packed with ’80s and ’90s nostalgia. The ad leans into “you’re old” humor with references to bald spots, back pain, and flying wigs. The official campaign film is actually a parody of those classic television shows, complete with dated graphics and wonderfully corny music. Everyone from that generation will recognize it and probably cringe and laugh in equal measure.
Of course, since this is a limited-edition offering, there’s an urgency to grab one if you’re a fan of any of these TV shows, especially if you live in France or happen to be visiting during this time. The Boomer King meal also features retro treats like Canada Dry (a classic fizzy drink) and King Fusion Galak (an ice cream dessert featuring Galak white chocolate, a nostalgic French childhood brand).
What makes the Boomer King campaign work so well is that it doesn’t just slap a retro logo on a burger wrapper and call it a day. Burger King has thought through the entire experience, from the food and drinks to the merch and even the ad itself, to create something that genuinely feels like an edible time capsule. This isn’t nostalgia as decoration; it’s nostalgia packaged as the meal itself.
There’s also something brilliantly cheeky about calling your own customers “Boomers.” It takes a certain confidence and a great sense of humor to name your campaign after a generational label and turn it into a celebration. That’s the kind of self-aware marketing that gets people talking, sharing, and yes, lining up at a Burger King in Paris just to find out which collectible they’re going home with.
The random distribution mechanic is a smart move, too. Much like a Happy Meal toy, you won’t know which collectible you’ll get until you open your box. That means fans might find themselves going back more than once, hoping to complete the set, and maybe picking up a meal for a friend who missed out. It’s a strategy that has worked for decades with kids, and it works just as well, maybe even better, with adults who have very strong feelings about whether Charmed or Beverly Hills, 90210 deserves the better merch.
Whether you’re in it for the Whopper, the white chocolate ice cream, or the chance to finally score that Knight Rider t-shirt, the Boomer King is a reminder that nostalgia, when done right, never really gets old.
Traditional cooling methods are gaining fresh attention as homeowners and designers search for environmentally responsible alternatives to energy-intensive air conditioning. Among these, clay coolers have emerged as a practical and elegant solution rooted in centuries-old craftsmanship. Their ability to cool naturally without relying on electricity aligns perfectly with the growing demand for sustainable living and climate-responsive design.
Today, architects are integrating these timeless cooling systems into modern homes. By combining natural materials, passive cooling principles, and thoughtful aesthetics, clay coolers are rediscovering solutions that have stood the test of time.
1. The Timeless Science Behind Clay Cooling
Clay coolers function through the principle of evaporative cooling, one of the oldest and most effective natural cooling techniques. The porous clay absorbs water, and as the moisture gradually evaporates, it draws heat from the surrounding air, lowering the temperature without consuming electricity. This process creates a gentle cooling effect that feels comfortable. Unlike conventional air conditioners that depend on compressors and refrigerants, clay coolers work in harmony with natural environmental conditions.
Their simple engineering offer an energy-efficient solution that remains highly relevant for contemporary architecture.
MALU is a thoughtfully designed personal cooling system that transforms the ancient principle of evaporative cooling into a contemporary home product. Created by Austrian designer Katja Posch, the compact cooler features a porous terracotta cylinder supported by a handcrafted wooden frame and topped with a circular wooden water tray. Measuring 700 millimetres tall and 280 millimetres wide, MALU is designed to function as both a cooling device and a sculptural furniture piece. Its minimalist form, warm earthy materials, and refined craftsmanship allow it to blend seamlessly into modern interiors while offering an environmentally conscious alternative to conventional cooling appliances.
Water poured into the wooden tray gradually filters through the 8-millimetre-thick terracotta body, where natural evaporation cools the surrounding air before it is released through slim horizontal vents. An optional low-energy fan housed within the wooden base enhances airflow, while the cooler remains effective even in passive mode. Constructed from repairable, recyclable terracotta and wood, MALU is designed for durability and long-term use.
2. A Sustainable Alternative to Energy-Intensive Cooling
As global temperatures continue to rise, reducing energy consumption has become a priority for both homeowners and the construction industry. Clay coolers provide an environmentally friendly alternative by eliminating the need for electricity during operation and minimizing carbon emissions. Crafted from natural clay, they are biodegradable, locally sourced, and require significantly less energy to manufacture than conventional cooling appliances.
Their production also supports traditional pottery communities, preserving valuable artisanal skills while encouraging sustainable local economies. By choosing clay coolers, homeowners reduce their environmental footprint with a cooling solution that balances ecological responsibility with everyday comfort and long-term sustainability.
Designed by Simon Pavy in collaboration with the global design agency Entreautre, the low-tech terracotta cooler offers a sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning by combining traditional cooling methods with advanced fabrication techniques. The product is built around a porous terracotta vessel filled with water, using the natural process of evaporative cooling to lower surrounding air temperatures. Inspired by centuries-old cooling practices from the Middle East, India, and Egypt, the cooler channels warm air through precisely designed openings, where contact with the moist terracotta surface naturally cools the airflow. Its elegant geometric form improves cooling efficiency through carefully engineered airflow dynamics.
To maximize performance, the designers employed ceramic 3D printing to create complex, organic forms that increase the interaction between air and the wet terracotta surface. Developed using Grasshopper and Rhino 3D, the parametric design allowed precise control over thickness, porosity, and airflow for optimal cooling. The prototype was produced using a specialized terracotta 3D printer created by Dutch artist Olivier van Herpt, enabling intricate ceramic fabrication impossible through conventional methods
3. Modern Designs for Contemporary Interiors
Modern interpretations of clay coolers extend far beyond their traditional appearance, making them suitable for today’s refined interiors. Designers are experimenting with sculptural forms, textured finishes, earthy colors, and modular designs that complement contemporary architectural styles. Instead of hiding these cooling systems, homeowners display them as functional art pieces that celebrate craftsmanship and natural materials.
Whether placed in living rooms, courtyards, balconies, or open-plan homes, clay coolers contribute to a warm and organic design language. Their combination of beauty and performance reflects a growing appreciation for products that merge sustainability, cultural heritage, and sophisticated interior aesthetics.
Ant Studio’s Beehive, designed by architect Monish Kumar Siripurapu, is an innovative evaporative cooling system that reinterprets traditional earthen cooling methods for modern, energy-conscious environments. Developed in response to rising urban heat conditions, the system uses porous terracotta modules arranged in a honeycomb-inspired structure. Water is absorbed into the clay and slowly evaporates, naturally reducing surrounding air temperature without electricity or chemical refrigerants. Drawing from cooling practices used in ancient India, Egypt, and other hot climates, the Beehive merges cultural intelligence with contemporary architectural thinking.
Made entirely from terracotta, the Beehive is a zero-plastic, zero-emission system that also supports air purification through moisture-driven biofilm formation on its surface. The design is modular, repairable, and adaptable to different site conditions, making it suitable for factories and high-heat work environments.
4. Healthier Indoor Environments Through Natural Cooling
Beyond reducing energy consumption, clay coolers contribute to healthier indoor living conditions by providing gentle, naturally humidified cooling. Unlike conventional air conditioners that often dry indoor air and require chemical refrigerants, clay coolers maintain a more balanced indoor atmosphere through natural evaporation. This can create greater comfort in dry climates while reducing dependence on mechanically cooled environments.
Their quiet operation also minimizes noise pollution, promoting a calmer and more relaxing home environment. When combined with cross ventilation, shaded openings, and other passive design strategies, clay coolers help create interiors that prioritize environmental sustainability and occupant well-being.
Nature assigns a role to every organism, even those humans often dismiss as pests. Scavengers return waste to ecological cycles, while termites despite damaging human structures build complex mound systems that regulate airflow and maintain stable internal temperatures. This hidden intelligence in termite architecture inspired TerraMound, a cooling system designed by Rameshwari Jonnalagedda. By studying how these structures achieve passive ventilation, the project translates biological efficiency into a human-centered approach to sustainable cooling that responds intelligently to rising temperatures without excessive energy use.
TerraMound operates on two principles and that is maximizing surface area and enabling porosity. Its geometry replicates the internal networks of termite mounds, increasing air contact through a surface-area-to-volume ratio. Produced using clay-based 3D printing, it forms intricate porous structures impossible to handcraft. A water reservoir at the top releases moisture through terracotta, while a base fan draws air upward, intensifying evaporative cooling and creating a functional, sculptural biomimetic system.
5. The Future of Climate-Responsive Home Design
The renewed interest in clay coolers reflects a broader movement toward climate-responsive architecture that values passive design over energy-intensive systems. Architects are increasingly pairing clay cooling with courtyards, green roofs, thermal mass walls, rainwater harvesting, and natural ventilation to create homes that remain comfortable while consuming fewer resources. These integrated strategies show that sustainable architecture does not always require advanced technology, but often benefits from revisiting proven traditional practices.
As cities confront rising temperatures and environmental pressures, clay coolers represent a meaningful intersection of heritage, innovation, and ecological responsibility, offering a timeless solution for resilient modern homes.
The Nave Air Conditioning System is a low-tech cooling product that uses terracotta’s natural evaporative properties to regulate indoor temperatures without electricity or complex electronics. It is designed as a passive climate solution where water stored inside a porous clay structure gradually seeps through the walls and evaporates on the surface. This process absorbs heat from the surrounding air, helping cool both the material and the room. With zero emissions and no power requirement, Nave offers a sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning systems, especially for hot climates and off-grid or low-energy spaces.
The product is available in floor-standing and wall-mounted modular forms, allowing flexible placement in homes and interiors. Once filled with water, it begins working immediately as the moisture moves through the terracotta body and evaporates naturally. Its porous structure and patterned grill design enhance airflow and surface cooling efficiency. Beyond functionality, it also acts as a sculptural interior element, integrating passive cooling technology into everyday living spaces.
As climate-conscious design continues to evolve, clay coolers bridge tradition and innovation with remarkable simplicity. They offer an elegant, low-impact approach to creating comfortable, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible living spaces.
The future of tattooing fits inside a dissolving patch, and I will be honest: I did not see that coming. CipherX, a London-based biotech startup founded by Ferdinand Kohle and Karl-Anton Harms, has developed something that genuinely sounds like fiction: a single-use microneedle patch that delivers a permanent tattoo without a machine, without a needle gun buzzing near your skin, and without any real pain. It’s called the Microdot Tattoo, and it’s not a concept or a prototype. It’s already being offered to real people at pop-ups happening right now.
The technology works like this. You choose a design online, redeem it at a CipherX pop-up, and trained staff position a small disposable patch on your skin using a dedicated handheld applicator. The patch is covered in hundreds of microscopic spikes, each made from conventional carbon-based tattoo ink combined with a biodegradable biopolymer. It gets pressed against the upper layers of your skin in one motion, sits there for fifteen minutes, and then the microneedles dissolve while the pigment stays put. When the patch comes off, the image is already there, though it tends to appear pale at first. Over the next two days, the marks deepen and merge into a continuous form. No buzzing. No blood. No bracing yourself.
The company describes the experience as pain-free, though their public guidance does note the possibility of temporary redness or mild irritation, which reads about as alarming as any standard skincare caveat. Aftercare involves petroleum jelly and avoiding prolonged water exposure for the first 48 hours. For anyone who has sat through hours under a needle followed by weeks of obsessive aftercare rituals, that trade-off sounds almost suspiciously simple.
I want to be fair here, because not everything that claims to be painless actually is, and not every technology that sounds revolutionary survives contact with a mass market. But what CipherX has built is not a novelty product targeting commitment-phobes who want a glitter star on their wrist for six months. The Microdot Tattoo is the first commercial application of a broader skin technology platform, and the founders have spoken publicly about the potential for this same microneedle mechanism to one day deliver vaccines and cosmetic compounds through the skin. The tattoo is the entry point. The ambition is significantly larger.
That context matters, because it reframes the current limitations rather than making them feel like failures. Right now, designs are small, fitting inside a 15mm circular canvas, and are only available in carbon black. The current lineup includes hearts, stars, and Van Gogh’s Chair, which is a curiously specific and oddly charming selection. At £50 per tattoo, it is not cheap for something that size. And you can only access one at a CipherX pop-up, not your local studio or a pharmacy shelf.
Those constraints will expand. Academic research on microneedle tattoo patches has been building since at least 2022, and what CipherX has done is take that science and manufacture it into an actual consumer product. The leap from a research paper to something a person can experience at a pop-up is not a small one, and it deserves credit for that alone.
Where I land on all of this is somewhere between genuinely impressed and cautiously curious. Tattooing carries a cultural weight that no technology alone can replace. The ritual of sitting with an artist, the discomfort that becomes part of the story, the permanence that feels earned through a specific kind of patience: these things matter to a lot of people, and rightly so. But there are also many people who want a small, meaningful mark on their skin and have never gone through with it because of the pain, the intimidation, or the unfamiliar environment of a tattoo studio. For them, a quiet fifteen-minute patch might be exactly the right door in.
CipherX envisions skin as a platform where science, design, and engineering unlock new possibilities for expression, health, and human interaction. That phrasing could sound clinical, but it also feels like an honest acknowledgment that human skin has always been a site for meaning and identity. The only thing changing here is how the mark gets made.
I struggle every day to keep my desk organized. I’ve added a monitor arm, a phone stand, a laptop cooling stand, and even a cable organizer clipped to the edge of the tabletop. Despite all these accessories, my desk still ends up feeling cluttered; earbud case is lying unattended somewhere, while the pens are all over the place. My problem isn’t lack of organizers: it’s that I’m not really sure how to use each accessory effectively or how they should work in tandem.
That may be exactly why this modular monitor stand from designer Lorenzo Vega caught my attention. Instead of adding yet another standalone accessory, it reimagines how desk organization should work. The modular stand is designed with various parts that interconnect to feel more intuitive and form an easier layout to keep things on the work desk organized.
The design concept of a modular monitor stand comprises a base stand and five different sectional trays which can be interchanged to accommodate the user’s preferences and workflow. The base stand, which the designer calls the main rack is designed to clamp to the back of a table. It is similar to how other monitor stands secure themselves to the table. The clamps, however, are adjustable and should work securely with tabletops of varying widths.
Since the rack attaches to the back of the table and remains almost six inches clear of it with a pair of legs – one on each side – it can free up space below to keep your notepad or the reference books you require in the vicinity. The tray modules can be placed on the two parallel rails of the rack running horizontally. They fix seamlessly to the base rack and, in addition to holding the monitor on top, are designed for common uses. A tray for organizing stationery, one to hold the phone/tablet, or even to hold papers upright.
The designer suggests that the modular monitor stand – which appears to be made ground up from aluminum – is a working concept at the time of writing. The build quality feels solid, and it can easily support a monitor. In the future, the designer intends to include wireless charging and magnetic cable organizers below the interchangeable racks. This addition will uplift the design into a feasible category, which should have tech enthusiasts intrigued.
If you’re trying to clean up your desk without adding more clutter, Vega’s idea of a modular stand for the monitor is worth appreciating for how customizable it is. Built as a modular system, it allows you to add things like a phone stand, stationery holder et al, depending on how you use your desk. So, instead of stacking accessories everywhere, everything stays integrated.
Flip phones never really disappeared. They just got sidelined once smartphones made everything available in a single touchscreen slab. Now they’re back in two very different forms: the foldable flagship, where a large touchscreen folds in half and costs over a thousand dollars, and a growing category of deliberately simpler devices that use the clamshell form to keep things from spiraling into the same habits smartphones enabled.
The Light Flip lands firmly in that second camp. It’s a 5G clamshell built around the same philosophy that has driven Light’s earlier devices, giving people the connectivity they need without the features that compete for attention. Fold it open, and you get a 2.8-inch matte OLED display and a physical keypad. Close it, and there’s no outer screen to glance at, no notification count, nothing pulling you back.
That absence of an outer display is a deliberate one. Most modern flip phones make the external screen a selling point, showing you messages and notifications without opening the phone. The Light Flip skips that entirely, which means the act of opening it is the only way in. It’s a small friction that turns out to make a meaningful difference in how often you reach for the phone by instinct rather than by intention.
Calls, texts, T9 predictive input, voice-to-text, and audio messaging cover the communication basics. Beyond that, LightOS includes a focused set of tools: directions, a music and podcast player, hotspot, calendar, weather, notes, a timer, and an authenticator for two-factor logins. The tools are genuinely useful and show up only when you need them. There’s no app store, no browser, and no social feeds anywhere in the operating system.
The hardware is honest about where the money went. The body is plastic, 160g, and uses a MediaTek MT8873 processor with 128 GB of storage and a 1,800 mAh battery that lands around 1.5 days. The camera uses a 50-megapixel rear sensor to produce 12-megapixel images. There’s no selfie camera, no NFC reader, and no touchscreen, which is how Light kept the price to $299. A 3.5mm headphone jack and a swappable battery are both present, which makes the trade-off feel more deliberate than arbitrary.
Connectivity covers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, and 5G across a wide band range. The phone ships with a nano SIM slot and an eSIM option, and Light offers its own service plan at $39 a month for unlimited calls and texts with 1 GB of data, available in the US on a two-year contract. The unlocked version works on compatible carriers worldwide.
There’s a growing audience for devices that sit somewhere between a dumbphone and a smartphone. The Light Flip fills a specific niche with modern hardware and a considered software layer that adds without overwhelming. For anyone who’s tried screen time apps and focus modes on a smartphone and found them too easy to undo, a phone that simply doesn’t have those functions built in offers a different kind of answer to the same problem.
Samsung and Apple have been known to take a leaf out of each other’s book when it comes to features and product design. Now the South Korean giant has done something that Apple has already been offering its users. After much speculation and rumors, the Samsung Galaxy Card is finally revealed for U.S. users.
Samsung already offers the Samsung Card in its native region, but this is the first time they’ve come up with a credit card in the West. Offered via Barclays on the Visa network, the branded credit card is more or less the same as the Apple Card in terms of the perks and financing options being offered. For early adopters, the card will be offered free of cost with no hidden annual charges.
Samsung wants to take the fight to Apple; therefore, they’re offering more cashback discounts, which should lure in users who are stuck between deciding to go for the Apple or Samsung ecosystem. The card is integrated into the Samsung Wallet, as it prompts users to tie in more deeply into the ecosystem. You can manage payments, IDs, digital keys, or passes. Surprisingly, this comes ahead of the Galaxy Unpacked event slated for the Z Fold 8’s release, signaling the consumer electronics company’s affinity for going far beyond just hardware innovations. This move at this time of the year also signals a stronger push by Samsung to engage users before major events. Let’s be honest, people are upgrading their devices and gadgets less frequently, as hardware has become difficult to differentiate from the competition.
Coming back to the Galaxy Card, any purchases made on Samsung products directly will earn a cashback of 5 percent. Any spending done using the Samsung Wallet gets users a 3 percent cashback. The cardholders are also eligible for a 20 percent discount on the VIP Advantage, as well as the Samsung membership and extended warranty program. If any eligible OTT subscriptions, including Netflix, Disney+, or Spotify, are made, the cashback earned is 2 percent. For any other purchases, the cashback is 1 percent.
Knox security layer is embedded into the card’s ecosystem to ensure all the financial information remains securely on the Galaxy devices. The credit card can be acquired starting July 22, and Samsung will offer a $200 bonus cashback reward on purchases of $2,000 or more made in the first 90 days. The card is offered in virtual and premium metal physical versions. Existing Samsung users will like the prospect of it, as more cashbacks mean more savings. Anyone switching their ecosystem from Apple to Samsung for the higher cashbacks is less likely, though.
Keeping houseplants alive has become something of a modern ambition, especially for those living in smaller spaces where a bit of greenery goes a long way. The problem is that most people have a complicated relationship with plant care. Forgetting to water on time, struggling with repotting, and watching plants suffer because the pot can’t keep pace can make the whole experience feel more discouraging than rewarding.
That’s what HELIX was designed to address. Created by Andrew Flynn, former industrial design lead at Dyson and the mind behind the Airwrap, Corrale, and Airstraight, HELIX is what POTR describes as the world’s first self-watering pot that physically grows alongside your plant. Its origami-inspired form isn’t purely decorative; the folds are the functional mechanism that lets the pot expand as roots develop.
At the heart of HELIX is a capillary wicking system tucked into the base. Fill the 300 ml reservoir, and a wick draws moisture steadily upward into the soil, letting the plant absorb exactly what it needs. The result is consistent hydration for up to two weeks between refills, meaning you’re no longer guessing whether you’ve overwatered, underwatered, or simply forgot entirely.
What really sets HELIX apart is what happens when a plant outgrows its space. Rather than pulling it out, cleaning up the mess, and starting over in a bigger container, you simply twist the pot open and add fresh compost around the root ball. The structure expands from 7cm to 16cm tall, accommodating up to 2 litres of soil without disturbing the roots.
For those who want to start from scratch, the Sprout Plate turns HELIX into a seed-starting setup. It sits inside the pot and works with the self-watering reservoir to keep seeds consistently moist, which is exactly what herbs like basil, mint, coriander, and parsley need to get going. As the seedlings grow taller, the pot simply expands around them, no transplanting required.
The Sprig Plate handles something slightly different. It’s designed for propagating cuttings, holding them above the water reservoir so stems can develop roots before being moved into soil. It works well for popular houseplants like pothos, monstera, and Chinese money plants, and the smart part is that once those roots have taken hold, the same HELIX pot expands to become their permanent home.
Then there are climbing plants, which have their own needs entirely. The Expanding Trellis plugs into the soil and can be extended upward in layers as the plant grows, with stems clipped into the folded origami structure for support. It borrows from the same geometric design language as the pot, turning something aesthetic into a functional vertical guide for climbers like pothos, hoya, or jasmine.
What makes HELIX even more interesting is that its hexagonal footprint lets multiple pots sit flush against each other without awkward gaps. Line up several on a counter or windowsill, each growing a different herb or microgreen, and you end up with a surprisingly coherent indoor herb garden that you can keep adding to. It’s a modular setup that scales with your appetite for growing.
The sustainability angle is woven into the design rather than tacked on as an afterthought. HELIX ships completely flat, which cuts both packaging volume and transport emissions compared to conventional rigid planters. It’s made entirely from recycled polypropylene, a waste plastic that often ends up in landfill, and uses roughly 70% less material than a comparable concrete or ceramic pot, making the eco credentials feel genuinely earned.
Plant care has always been about patience and attention, but it’s rarely been about the pot itself. HELIX shifts that dynamic by asking what a container could look like if it were as invested in a plant’s progress as the person tending to it. Whether you’re growing something you plan to eat, something to look at, or something you simply don’t want to kill, that’s a compelling thought.
