Tag Archives: Product designs

Futuristic Wearable Designs that are emerging as the top tech trends of 2021!

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Wearable designs make our lives easier and more efficient in multiple ways! From smartwatches, Fitbits to even wearable furniture, innovative wearable designs can be valuable additions to our daily lifestyles. And, not to mention sometimes they’re really fun to use and trendy to wear as well! Hence, we’ve curated a collection of wearable designs that are not only super easy to wear on your person, but also promise to make your everyday life easier, simpler, and effortless! Enjoy.

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Dani Clode’s Third Thumb project aims at exploring and expanding the possibilities of what we can do with additional powers… in this case, an extra thumb. With the aim of adding to human possibilities, rather than replacing what’s lost, the prosthetic has the potential to rapidly alter the way we live our lives. The thumb, 3D printed from a variant of Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) called Ninjaflex, sits right beside your little finger. It’s connected to a smart bracelet that receives its commands via Bluetooth from the wearer’s foot. Pressure sensors are placed on the soles of the feet and any force you apply with your foot is perceived as a signal by the bracelet i.e., if you press down with one foot, the thumb flexes inwards, grasping whatever you’re holding. Clode says that the learning curve is rather minimal and people get used to the controls pretty quick. Watch the video to see one rather confident candidate shred away at a guitar with a Third Thumb!

The After You umbrella is a multipurpose product designed to save you from the rains and to help you carry stuff when the skies are clear! Anna, a student at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, created this design as a part of her design course. The aim of the course is to completely redesign an everyday object – an umbrella in this case. The After You revolutionizes the humble umbrella in quite a few ways – the first is by making the design hands-free! One of the most tedious things about carrying the umbrella is the juggling act of holding onto your umbrella with one hand with the tons of stuff we carry in our hands. By wearing the product over your shoulders like a backpack, After You leave your hands free to answer back to that text or browse your phone. The next thing we love about this design is the foldable design – the five layers made from rigid polycarbonate layers fold and unfold to form a cocoon that keeps you protected.

Industrial designer SangWoon Kim has reimagined the traditional waist support belt as a smart wearable to protect the lumbar spine better. Basically, it functions like any standard belt to compress the waist and isolate our breathing patterns. The striking difference is the ability to tighten the belt automatically, depending on the intensity of the workout and the user’s breathing pattern. Kim calls it the BIND.CO belt and this workout accessory come in handy for any exercise mode and intensity. The innovation will be godsent for beginners who are still learning about the exact tightening of the belt needed for their workout. Thanks to the embedded sensors, the smart belt tightens during exercise and loosens at the time of rest between activities.

Mictic is creating a new relation between music and dance. This hand-worn wearable allows your body movements to be converted into musical symphonies. Simply put, Mictic converts your hand movements into digital signals that trigger virtual instruments within the Mictic smartphone app. The two wearables sit on your wrists, and their individual movements help the app understand how your hands are moving. First, you need to pair your bands with your smartphone and select the drum instrument within the Mictic app. Now beat your hands around in the air and the app plays back drum sounds as if you were sitting in front of a real drum kit. Similarly, select the guitar instrument and shred away in the air and the Mictic app generates a killer solo.

Once activated, EVE launches a 10-second alarm meant to discourage the attacker from continuing their assault and instantly calls the local police station, sending operators the location and live audio recordings of the attack. EVE follows a two-step activation process to launch the wristband’s emergency features. First, to unlock EVE and prepare it for activation, the user simply shakes their wrist repeatedly three to five times. Embedded inside the wristband, an accelerometer and gyroscope detect the shaking and rotation of the wrist, awakening the device and gearing it up for activation. Then, either by announcing previously recorded voice triggers or by placing pressure on the wristband’s sensors, the 110dB alarm sounds, and the police are called, sending live recordings of the assault to an emergency operator, along with the GPS location of the EVE user.

Designed by Yang Zhao, the odd-looking origami-inspired contraption dubbed ‘SharkMan’ is only for the bold ones to actually use in a shopping mall or maybe at the beach. It is still worth the experiment at home since it cocoons you in complete privacy, although you might look a little funny. The deformable soft furniture morphs into several different configurations based on your needs for a “me space” when things get too distracting. Whether you are reading a book, working on your laptop, or simply want to take a quick nap – the SharkMan is an odd-looking solution that makes the cut. You can use it while standing, sitting, or even lying down – as three of these configurations don’t reveal your face to the world – so you don’t have to worry about the embarrassing part of using SharkMan in public.

Crown, from Neurosity, helps to maintain your brain’s focus by measuring not only what triggers your focus, but also what sustains it. Eight EEG sensors fill out the Crown to track and quantify an individual’s brainwaves to better understand what retains focus and what introduces distraction. As the brainwaves are measured, the accompanying Neurosity Shift app connects to your Spotify account to play the most suitable music for your brain to hold onto that state of flow. Similar to Neurosity’s previous brain-sensing technology, the Notion 2, the Crown also minimizes any technological distractions like notifications or ringtones by automatically muting any prospective interruptions that could take away from your focus.

Bone conducting audio devices aren’t new, although the Sentien Audio is one of the first to bring AirPods-style features to it. The headset comfortably rests around your head and against the front of each ear. It sports a touch-sensitive panel that lets you tap and swipe to do things like skip tracks, play-pause music, increase-decrease volume, and even summon your phone’s voice assistant. Unlike AirPods and other TWS earphones, the Sentien Audio boasts of a whopping 24-hour battery, allowing you to practically wear it all day and go about listening to music, answering calls, or asking Google Assistant or Siri random questions without worrying about battery life. Coupled with that is a unique adjustable titanium headband that comfortably places the headset on your head in a way that lets you naturally go about your day without worrying about it falling off or causing discomfort.


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Acknowledging the mental stressors within the ICU, a team of designers created SOVA, an ICU medical aid device that tracks the patient’s health progress and allows the patient to communicate their needs by simply directing their eyes. Either before, during, or following their visit to the ICU, almost half of the patients who receive medical treatment experience some form of trauma or suffer from mental stressors that make it difficult to communicate their needs. SOVA is a medical device that tracks and registers early signs of physical or mental pain so that medical personnel within the ICU can provide the patient with proper treatment. While physical pain, insomnia, and anxiety are only a few of the stressors in the ICU, SOVA operates as a system to track these stressors for real-time support and treatment.

This wearable fitness tracker-looking ring is actually a mouse designed to be as lightweight as possible so there isn’t excess load on your joints. The ring mouse’s design works intuitively, it reacts to the movements of the fingertips and does not interfere with the natural movement of the wrist since it is a wearable ring. Due to its unique shape for a mouse, it makes the experience smoother while reducing the stress on your wrists as it won’t be awkwardly bent at an angle for hours! The ring has sensors that provide the functionality of a mouse such as ‘click’, ‘sweep’, ‘scroll’ through different gestures that are similar to how we use the trackpads on a laptop.

Product designs to organise your workspace and achieve a de-cluttered work desk + mind!

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I’m sure we all have those little spurts of motivation wherein we want to completely organize our workspace! We channel our inner Marie Kondo and want to give our work desk and our home office a complete makeover. But how about integrating organization and tidiness into our lives on a daily basis, instead of erratically doing it every 2-3 months or so? In an attempt to bring some order and zen to your workspace, we’ve curation a collection of product designs that promise to reorganize and rearrange all your belongings – from your work desk to your office stationery in the tidiest manner possible. This nifty range of organizers is all you need to ensure your work environment is productive and organized!

Balance is a multi-functional desk that an creates organized, personalized, and productive work experience. It features a canvas and six types of modules (Surface, White Board, Cork, Kanban, Time, and Shelf) that are magnetically attached to the canvas. You can pick and choose the modules that work best for your needs, work style, and aesthetics preference while also combining them to be integrated with productivity techniques like Kanban and Pomodoro. Assemble the canvas to the arm by adjusting four screws through the standard VESA monitor connection. A C-shaped clamp connects the arm to the desk. Each module has strong neodymium magnets that connect them to the canvas. Furthermore, the whiteboard comes with an adjustable stand so you can use it on the desk surface for a more natural and ergonomic position to draw/write.

Created by LHiDS Creative, the MagEasy Folio and MagEasy Board use a combination of powerful magnets to help keep you organized and productive. The magnetic system, embedded within a durable and waterproof board, allows you to neatly arrange your life, from your keys and phone to your stationery, notepad, wallet, or even passport. The board and folio provide a canvas for MagEasy’s series of magnetic accessories which are powerful enough to hold keys in place as well as securely store your smartphone or wallet. MagEasy’s novel approach to organizing allows you to store all your everyday essentials in one place, so you don’t have to dig in your pocket for your wallet or keys, or in your bag for your pen, or a thumb drive.

This bauble-box is brutalist beauty at its best! The Mesh, by Mexico-based Shift is a concrete organizer that allows you to store all your small belongings and customize how you store them too! Designed to work well in any space, the Mesh can be placed on your work desk, bedside table, mantelpiece, dressing table, or even your bathroom. The concrete setup comes with a toothed base and containers with notches that dock right into the grooves/teeth. The layout opportunities are endless, and you can even use the grooved base to route cables, rest stationery, and even dock your phone! The concrete components cone in a variety of monochrome hues, and blend into the decor well, whether it’s your desktop, dressing table, or the shelf right beside your main door. The fact that the containers (and base) are slip-cast in porous concrete means the Mesh doesn’t mind a little bit of water, making it ideal for the bathroom, or even to plant tiny succulents around your workspace!

It took one simple redesign to turn the plug-point into a neat wire-organizer

It took one simple redesign to turn the plug-point into a neat wire-organizer

Determined to never have random loose wires corrupt the visual balance of his spaces, Andrew Ferrier designed the Cable Cradle, a simple, innovative twist on the plug-point. Ferrier’s redesigned plug-point comes with an extended lip that gives you a channel to wrap your spare wires around. Almost like a thread and a spool, the wire can be looped as many times as needed to make your space look neat, and to prevent you from accidentally tripping over that pesky little wire that’s aimlessly strewn across the floor. Ferrier even built a nice ridge on the top of the Cable Cradle to allow you to rest your phone on it, so you can charge your phone and dock it too!

CableTread, a standing desk with a built-in cable organizer, was conceived with San Francisco-based e.ventures, where Tom Gielselmann recruited Nick Allen to develop a “circuit-board desk.” Together, over the course of a year, they redefined what cable organization looks like, winning the Red Dot Design’s 2020 Innovative Award. The printed circuit board is relatively familiar for any young person who grew up on science-fiction spy movies but also stands as the inspiration behind CableTread. Simply put, the printed circuit board is an electrical connector that mechanically supports electronic components through conductive pathways. A clever reinterpretation of the circuit board’s purpose, it makes sense that the organizational scheme for CableTread’s underbelly mimics the electric roadways of circuit boards since both seem to make some sense out of an intimidating mess.

Fritsch-Durisotti, a creative studio based in Paris, launched their line of backpacks and companion organizers, Fil & Fog so that we can bring our own “little universe of personal items” with us anywhere we go, leaving the hassles of clutter and disorganization at home. The designers behind Fil & Fog set out to construct a backpack built to last and accompanying organizers that can keep up with our passions, no matter where they might take us. For Fritsch-Durisotti’s Fil & Fog, passion is found in its construction. TPU coating is applied to every backpack and organizer, which enhances both products’ impermeability factors and also allows room for untraditional, but effective textile assembly methods. High-frequency welding, for instance, a plastic welding process that relies on high-frequency electric fields, gives Fil & Fog’s backpack and organizers their high resistance threshold and water-tightness. Elastic bands come with each organizer so that they are completely customizable for each user’s needs – just weave the elastic bands through the laser-cut grids found inside each organizer and store all your items. It’s the perfect office bag!

Throughout the working day, our desks can become cluttered and deeply unorganized messes that limit our potential through creating distractions and reducing efficiency. This is only made worse by the abundance of cables that weave around our desks. We need something that contains all the essential items and places them within one organized location. The Stealtho Desk organizer is here to do just that; It carries an array of features that keep everything you need in one tidy place! Stealtho is the combination of both a humble desk organizer and a Qi Wireless charger. This allows for easy access to essential writing equipment, whilst your phone can be simultaneously charged on the upright stand. With Stealtho, annoying dongles are a thing of the past; built-in to its base is a USB hub that enables efficient data transfer or the charging of mobile devices.

A portable, reusable, magnetic Post-it-style note that you could stick on any surface? The Mover Erase was an incredible ideation and organization tool. Now, with the Mover Erase Combo, it becomes arguably even more useful and versatile. At the heart of this system is the individual Mover Erase tile, a small rectangular element that you can write/doodle on and stick anywhere. Unlike a whiteboard, where you can’t really rearrange stuff that’s written, the Mover Erase’s tile-based system meant you could move blocks around, shifting ideas from one column to another… and unlike Post-its, the Mover Erase tiles were infinitely reusable, with each reusable tile saving nearly 10,000 sheets of paper. The Mover Erase Combo comes along with a magnetic folio case that’s best described as your portable whiteboard.

Designed to help declutter your nightstand or your work desk as well as help you de-clutter your mind, the TRAY light serves as an ambient lamp that also holds and organizes your items like your spectacles, water bottle, phone, etc. It features an accordion-inspired lampshade that glows with a fluted/banded design, atop which sits an opaque tray that holds your belongings. At 9.25 x 9.25 inches, it fits comfortably on most tables and offers enough surface area for all your belongings. When the lamp’s switched on, your objects are cast in a diffused light that bounces around your room.

iSwift Pi was primarily created to help those working from home feel a lot more comfortable when they choose to work from the comfort of their beds. Designed to be compact and portable, iSwift Pi boasts an ultra-thin form when folded or unfolded. When folded, the iSwift Pi is as thin as a small stack of paper, which then unfolds to two different heights, either 7.5 inches or 8.6 inches, depending on your lap situation. Then users can adjust iSwift Pi’s sitting placement to four different angles, so the screen can always meet your eyes. iSwift Pi carries itself on two triangle legs and comes with built-in magnets for its frame in order to provide enough stability and even distribution of weight to carry up to 44 pounds on its desktop.

A smart helmet with SOS alerts + more product designs that emerged as the tech trends of May!

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The month of May brought with it an influx of innovative and mindblowing tech designs! At Yanko Design, it was surely an exciting month for us, as we came across an array of intriguing designs that left a lasting impression on our minds. Each design broke through some barrier or convention in the tech world, bringing to us unique solutions, improved functionality, and immense value. From the downpour of tech designs that May introduced to us, we’ve curated some of the very best. Not only do these designs address tangible problems, but they also make our lives better, easier, and efficient in their own way. We hope you love these tech trends as much as we did!

In a world where over 40,000 bicyclists die globally each year, the LIVALL EVO21 Smart Bike Helmet is aiming at impacting change by making bicycling smarter and safer. Apart from serving as protection for your head, the LIVALL EVO21 helps other motorists and pedestrians be aware of your presence and helps avoid a collision in the first place. The helmet’s aerodynamic outer shell comes with a built-in wide beam angle front light as well as a super bright 270° rear light and two turn indicators. Controlled by a tiny remote that straps to your handlebar, the lights offer 360° visibility to people around you, allowing them to be aware of your presence as well as of your intentions as you ride. The wide beam-angle headlight offers great visibility by shining a beam of light that’s wide horizontally as well as vertically, allowing oncoming traffic to spot you even if you’re cycling with your head down for better aero dynamism.

No matter how you cut it, the iPhone 13 looks unique – from the front, the back, and even the sides. The bump serves a practical purpose too. For once, the modern iPhone doesn’t have a notch. The iPhone 13 comes with a complete screen, as all the cameras and sensors that enable FaceID to sit on top, within that tiny 3-4 millimeter bump. Looking beyond it, however, the phone comes with speakers on the top as well as the bottom. The camera bump shifts slightly upward too, ensuring it’s perfectly aligned with the raised edge, thanks to the bump. Lastly, the conceptual phone flexes its muscles with its greatest feature yet, the Apple-made M1 chip.

Designed to be extremely portable (they’re just about the size of your thumb) and equipped with unsettlingly fast read and write speeds, portable SSDs like the Rapid SSD are slowly killing cloud subscriptions because they’re A. always accessible anywhere, B. can’t be hacked because they aren’t on the cloud, and C. cheaper than cloud drives, because an SSD is just a one-time purchase, not a monthly subscription. Quite like the SSDs we’ve spoken about here before, the Rapid SSD puts up to 2 terabytes worth of storage right in your pocket. It’s about the size and shape of a pack of chewing gum but takes care of virtually all your storage needs. It also has 3 different ports that let you connect to virtually every device you own, from your smartphone to laptop, and from your tablet to your DSLR… and even your gaming console!

Inspired by living life on the edge and documenting travels along the way, the iCam Pro was conceptualized using top-grade technology fit for the adventure seeker who isn’t about to be held back by limiting camera setbacks. Equipped with Apple’s A12Z Bionic Chip, the concept of iCam Pro boasts lightning-fast feedback and the same power efficiency we’ve all come to expect from Apple. In addition to its ultra-fast microchip, the iCam Pro comes outfitted with LiDAR sensors, an advancement in camera technology that fills out Apple’s camera to take videography to another level. LiDAR sensors essentially use remote sensing to examine the Earth’s surface, and all of its nooks and crannies to deliver photos that are as close to the real thing as you can get from phone cameras.

LetsGoDigital uncovered Xiaomi’s patent for a modular smartphone on the 26th of April and partnered with Jermaine Smit (aka Concept Creator) to bring the patent drawings to life. The phone’s components attach to one another using sliding dovetail joinery, with contact points that allow for communication between modules. Finally, a primary screen snaps on the front, hiding the crease lines and providing a large, bezel-less display. The three modules play a rather interesting role when combined. The upper module houses the camera but also contains the phone’s motherboard. The central module houses the battery, while the third includes the speaker along with the phone’s charging port. Conceptually, the modules would be interchangeable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you had to switch the phone off prior to swapping parts.

Bose just announced their latest product, the SoundControl™ Hearing Aids – the first FDA-cleared, direct-to-consumer hearing aid developed for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. They’ll be sold by Bose (as opposed to being available at medical stores) and can be directly purchased, worn, and controlled by the wearer without needing to visit a doctor for a prescription or even an audiologist for a hearing test and professional fitting. The SoundControl hearing aids partner up with the Bose Hear app that gives wearers complete control over their wearables through their smartphone. Using its revolutionary CustomTune technology, the app lets you personalize your hearing experience in under 30 minutes, which Bose says is “a seismic shift from the process required for conventional hearing aids”.

The rumor-mill of a new Apple Watch started back in 2020 when prominent Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo hinted that a new design was in the works and could drop as soon as 2021. Now that we’re well into the year 2021, Prosser’s collaborated with Ian Zelbo to bring rumors and leaks to life in the form of pretty life-like renders. The renders are based on real images and CAD file screenshots supplied to Prosser by his network of sources. In order to protect the sources yet still share the designs with everyone, Prosser and Ian created these renders to show us exactly what they saw, and it seems like Apple is really beginning to streamline their design language. The ‘magical slab of glass’ analogy seemed to work really well for the iPad and its flat-edge design language finally carried onto the iPhone 12 last year and the iMac this year. According to the renders, the Apple Watch is getting a similar design upgrade with flat sides as opposed to the rounded ones, giving its screen a larger-than-life presence with minimal bezel interference.

The Zen Garden speaker captures the minimalistic element of a Japanese garden by mimicking the repetitive patterns you find in the sand there. As a bonus, the rock on the top of the speaker doubles as a volume control know. The speaker boasts of a diffused white light that shines underneath the speaker and under the pebble/volume knob, amplifying the overall tranquility of the design. Music is known for its ability to help us transport ourselves to another space. We don’t need visuals, but we always need music to work on our mood. The Zen Garden speaker brings the visuals to help you meditate, or even take you through the streets of Kyoto, wandering as we feel that balance of tradition and modernity in one tiny little package guaranteed to look great even when not in use.

The Z Fold Tab concept takes on the avatar of a folding device with an outward screen. Although, unlike the Huawei Mate X or any of Royole’s Flexpai devices, the Z Fold Tab comes with two hinges on its massive screen, creating a novel folding format that has a rather interesting set of pros as well as cons. In its closed mode, the Z Fold Tab can obviously be used as a regular smartphone (albeit being slightly thicker) with a waterfall display on both left and right edges thanks to the folding screens (this obscures the volume and power buttons, but those could easily be translated to the screen via force-touch like in the Vivo Apex 2019). However, unfold the screens on either side and you have yourself a larger tablet.

The Snapods by Scendo are a pair of TWS Earbuds that come with a flat case that snaps right to the back of your phone. Building wonderfully on the capabilities of the MagSafe feature introduced in the latest iPhones, the Snapods make carrying earphones convenient. Just snap them to the back of your phone and you’ve got yourself a pair of earphones that are easy to store, quick to access, and hard to lose. The case’s design is inspired directly by where it’s located. Made to sit against the back of your phone, the Snapods case comes with a flat, wedge-shaped profile, making it easy to slip your phone into your pocket. The slim case doesn’t just dock the earphones, it charges them too, giving you an impressive 45 hours of playtime.

MacBook Accessories that are the best investments of 2021 for Apple fans!

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My MacBook is probably one of my most prized possessions! It contains basically everything I hold important in my life – from work documents to memorable pictures from even ten years ago. And not to mention, I do end up spending most of my day, typing away and working on my MacBook. Since it is such an integral part of my daily and work routine, I’m always looking for ways to elevate my MacBook. I love innovative and nifty gadgets that function as the perfect sidekick to my MacBook, helping me boost up my daily productivity and efficiency. Here, we’ve curated a few of our favorite MacBook accessories that’ll promise to level up your already awesome and beloved MacBook. These are must-have accompaniments to your MacBook!

The HybridDrive is a lot like if your external hard drive and your USB hub had a love-child. Think of it as the one, true, all-powerful accessory to your MacBook or your iPad Pro, or even your Android phone. Armed with a two-piece design that can plug into each other, the HybridDrive is like the Yin and the Yang of computing accessories… the Yin being extra ports, and the Yang being extra storage. Compatible with most USB-C devices, the HybridDrive offsets your need for multiple hubs, dongles, and drives. With a multiport on one end, and an SSD on another, and a USB-C interface connecting the two, the HybridDrive bridges the gap between your portable devices (laptop/tablet/phone) and your desktop – in the sense that it gives you extra ports and expandable storage… something most desktops have in common.

 This wearable fitness tracker-looking ring is actually a mouse designed to be as lightweight as possible so there isn’t excess load on your joints. The ring mouse’s design works intuitively, it reacts to the movements of the fingertips and does not interfere with the natural movement of the wrist since it is a wearable ring. Due to its unique shape for a mouse, it makes the experience smoother while reducing the stress on your wrists as it won’t be awkwardly bent at an angle for hours! The ring has sensors that provide the functionality of a mouse such as ‘click’, ‘sweep’, ‘scroll’ through different gestures that are similar to how we use the trackpads on a laptop. You only require two fingers to operate this mouse as opposed to your whole palm and it is more versatile – you can use it everywhere freely like on top of a desk or on your legs, it doesn’t need a specific pad or surface.

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The AirBar is an amazingly thin little beaut is capable of turning your MacBook screen into a touchscreen. It broadcasts invisible light waves to detect movement, allowing virtually anything to become a stylus. Use anything from chopsticks to a paintbrush to even your fingers (with or without gloves) to touch, navigate, zoom, swipe, or even paint on your MacBook! All you got to do is plug the AirBar into a USB port and mount it on the bottom of your screen. The only drawback here is the lack of pressure sensitivity since the AirBar only works in the X & Y axes.

With minimal material and maximal robustness, the Curve SE elevates your laptop 6.5 inches from your desk, allowing your neck to rest at a much more comfortable angle. Made from a single curved piece of anodized aluminum, the Curve SE’s clean design complements your MacBook perfectly although it works universally with all laptops. Silicone grips ensure your expensive machine is held well in place so any accidental nudges don’t knock it over. The Curve SE’s elevated (in the literal sense) sense of design even helps keep your laptop ventilated, promoting proper airflow so your machine doesn’t heat up. In the event that it does, though, I imagine the metal body serves as some sort of heat sink to help dissipate heat and cool your machine down faster.

Sixty minutes is all that it takes for the SuperTank to power up and be ready for deployment. This 27,000 mAh portable charger with dual USB-C PD (100W + 60W) and dual USB-A ports, has the potential to quickly charge MacBook Pros and many other devices. What this means to people on the go, is that they don’t have to worry about carrying excess wires, multiple power plugs, and compatible sockets, when they are out of home or office. One supercharge, and this battery pack will last you for seven whole days, making you wish that your lover could last that long! This Power Bank offers full-speed charging for the latest devices in the market. The dual USB-C ports can charge two laptops and the four USB outputs make room for your phones, tablets, cameras, security cameras, projectors, LED lights, etc.

A leather housing for your MacBook, Bluebonnet isn’t just a protective cover, but also a portfolio case and a kickstand! Along with protecting your laptop from accidental bumps and scuffs, Bluebonnet also gives you a neat place to store your planner/notebook/papers and a pen of your choice, freeing your hands up while giving you everything you’d need to carry to a meeting, conference, or a coffee shop, all in one svelte sleeve. The leather construction undeniably gives the MacBook a stylish, professional upgrade, and comes available in multiple colors. The Bluebonnet even features a cutout at the base that gives your laptop an impromptu kickstand, tilting it higher for better viewing/cooling.

The designers of DGRule describe it as an “invisible hub” and I guess we can see why. The DGRule promises to be a convenient alternative to the limited Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports since they aren’t always compatible with all devices. Subtle, discreet, and far from bulky, DGRule snaps onto both sides of the MacBook Pro. The cushion pad ensures it stays glued onto the laptop, no matter which position you work in. Available in Space Gray or Silver, it camouflages with your laptop, appearing to be a natural extension of it. Created from CNC aluminum, this allows the hub to comfortably merge with the MacBook Pro. However the resilient aluminum has other purposes as well, it lends its durability to the hub making it sturdy and reliable.

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Built by the true geniuses at Twelve South, the Plug Bug Duo simply connects to your MacBook Charger, supplying power to it while also giving you two extra USB ports to plug other devices/cables into it. The red adapter is compliant with all MacBook chargers and even works as a travel adapter, allowing you to use your MacBook charger with international sockets. It comes with 5 different snap-on plugins that let you plug your MacBook into any international socket you may be subjected to. Besides giving your MacBook charger international compatibility, the PlugBug Duo’s two USBs are heaven-sent, since they let you run your MacBook as well as power your iPhone and iPad simultaneously.

Pairing perfectly with the slim perfection of Apple’s MacBook, Woolnut’s laptop sleeve aims at adhering to the highest Scandinavian design standards too, with its precisely designed sleeves that fit the MacBook like a glove. Measured to the nearest millimeter, Woolnut’s sleeves are made specific to each MacBook model, given their thickness and dimensions over the years. This precision results in a sleeve that absolutely hugs your laptop, protecting it with a sheep wool interior, while giving it the sheer class of a premium cognac leather outer clad. Woolnut’s sleeves even allow you to charge your laptop inside them, giving you functionality and protection in one cover case… And the slim design is perfect for carrying either under your sleeve or even in your bag. Custom-built for each MacBook model, Woolnut’s sleeves age over time, as the leather develops a signature patina with use, giving the outer sleeve an antique finish, while your laptop remains as good as new!

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You see, MacBooks are built with rather advanced sound cards. Almost every music producer you find uses a MacBook for production. It’s a great machine. But it’s also a great machine backed by speakers that don’t do it justice. Thin laptops mean thin speaker modules, which usually result in thin-sounding audio. The Bassjump 2, however, is a clever little accessory. Instead of replacing the speakers on your laptop, it empowers them. Designed as a portable subwoofer, the Bassjump 2 adds a low-end to your laptop speakers, making them sound fuller. The Bassjump 2 is nothing but pure subwoofer power, designed solely to play alongside your laptop’s inbuilt speakers, to the MacBook’s strengths. Calibrated to perfectly add low-end notes to your MacBook’s audio, the Bassjump does one job and does it well. Combining powers with your laptop speakers to push out great-sounding audio, the Bassjump is designed to be portable too(it even comes with a carrying case).

Modern millennial-friendly fireplace designs that are a far cry from traditional space-consuming ones!

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Fireplaces have been incorporated into homes for ages galore. They’re a humble and trustworthy source of heat and have kept people warm through the years. However, the traditional fireplaces don’t make an ideal fit for our modern urban homes! Space is any way at a premium, and we really can’t afford to squeeze in a space-consuming fireplace into our constrained homes. But designers have been adding modern twists to the quintessential fireplaces! These ergonomic and smart designs provide heat while also functionally fitting into our homes. Some of them are even portable, while others are ideal for placing in your backyard. We’ve curated a range of the most innovative and unique fireplaces we had the pleasure of coming across. Stay warm!

The Rocco multifunctional outdoor furniture by Moróro is a barbecue, a sofa, a champagne bar, and more! 2020 has been about creating intimate moments at home, and nothing says intimate like a cozy evening in your backyard! To take things up a notch, we have Rocco which is an all-rounder piece of outdoor furniture. Its clever design transforms it from a fun barbecue into a sofa or champagne bar and even a smores pit – I think it’s safe to say Rocco is an essential this year! You can add a fire bowl to the base or choose from various other accessories like a grill, tabletop, ice bucket, and parasol base. Customize Rocco to fit what you define as a chill evening.

Designed by Lorna De Santos, this fireplace has been inspired by a Japanese philosophy! Fireplaces are usually an attraction point in the interior decor of a space but in Casa Decor, it is more of a hidden gem. The team has an appreciation for the traditional Japanese aesthetics inspired by the wabi-sabi philosophy which encourages an appreciation for imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete things. The characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of both natural objects and the forces of nature – something that is clearly seen throughout the project and this fireplace. The designer viewed the crack in the wall as a gap in the professional architectural scene and turned it into an opportunity that elevated the room, much like cracks being metaphorical openings leading to projects that make you immerse yourself into a study that will eventually give you winds. Casa Decor is a range of home products designed keeping sustainability in mind.

A portable smart fireplace is what we need for this unprecedented holiday season! My Warmth by Simon Pavy is a conceptual fireplace that was created to make having a fireplace accessible despite how your interior is laid out. The smart portable appliance also gives you the same cozy vibes while reducing work that comes with a traditional fireplace. My Warmth is the size of a humidifier or an air purifier so it doesn’t take a lot of space in your living room. There is a dial to control the temperature so you can pick the right degree for toasty toes or crank it up for smores! The all brushed aluminum gives it a sleek aesthetic that reminds me of glass domes that cover baked goods – as one should have by the fireplace. My Warmth lets you enjoy the quintessential holiday vibes with your own portable fireplace. I can already hear Nat King Cole start on those chestnuts!

There is something about looking into flames that brings us closer to our inner self and keeps us transfixed there. However, with the advent of electric heating devices, we no longer get to sit and relish this experience at our homes. There are many who still keep a traditional fireplace or a gas stove in their houses. But, their purpose is limited to either heating or cooking and the flames are always entrapped in a black industrial frame that does not do justice to their spell-binding liveliness. Designer Jeong Kim has taken a rather unique approach to this idea by designing a stove that showcases the flames in their captivating brilliance. He has created ‘Contact Surface’, a stove that also works as an ornamental piece to go with your furniture. The design is as much attractive as it is functional. The body features a glass door with various color gradients and a lever on the side which locks and unlocks the door. The action of opening however is vertical, keeping the hot glass safely away from the user’s touch and in steady movement instead of having it swing around randomly.

The Bigfoot Table comes handcrafted out of Western Red Cedar wood with a built-in lightweight stainless steel endoskeleton to provide it with its strength. Right in the center of the table lies an opening that reveals a rectangular fireplace built right into the tabletop. The fireplace is supplied with fuel using a propane canister that can be placed in the hollow space below and comes with a metal outer-casing to protect the wood from getting burnt. Scattered within the fireplace pit are faux-stones that help create a truly remarkable burning surface that’s perfect for roasting smores on, and the fire can be ignited electrically with a simple push of a button and even regulated with the turn of a knob. The fireplace cover is even designed to be reversed, with a game of Mancala integrated into its flip-side – with the ability to use the firestones as game pieces!

A portable fireplace that ditches the age-old flame for a fiery vortex, the SPIN is absolutely alluring to look at. The portable fireplace, or fire vortex if you’re the technical kind, can be used indoors or outdoors. It comes with a base that holds the fire starter, and an optional glass hood that helps expand the flame to make the vortex bigger and more visible. The SPIN works by using three guide plates that cause air to rotate before it reaches the flame. The thermal lift of the flame itself accelerates the air, creating a flaming vortex, and the chimney effect caused by SPIN’s glass tube boosts the flow by up to 500% without any extra energy, allowing the vortex to rise significantly higher. The SPIN also packs an ‘extinguisher lid’ made from stainless steel that you can directly place on the top of the glass tube, breaking the airflow and extinguishing the flame.

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Wood burning fireplaces are quickly becoming a thing of the past, especially if you reside in a big city apartment or new home… but that doesn’t mean you can’t get cozy! Designed by a group from the University of Buenos Aires, the AWA home heater is a modern interpretation of the familiar form of the fluted fireplace that utilizes new thermal power tech to fill your home with warmth and ambiance. The design generates thermal power through electrolysis, breaking the bonds in the water molecules and then combusting the separated hydrogen. The hot air rises along the body releasing heat by the means of convection using the ventilations allocated in the upper part. At the same time, the central core made of refractory ceramics radiates warmth, even once it’s turned off. Better yet, it uses 40% less energy compared to a classic stove, avoids troublesome code requirements, and be a whole lot safer!

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‘In frame’ is a modern take on the traditional fireplace and it aims to connect the past and the present through carefully considered design. The elegant frame that surrounds the circular central section has been designed to be rotational, allowing it to be easily adjusted. This frame also creates an area to hang basic laundry, so it can dry. In frame’s flexibility doesn’t end there, the user has the choice of either hanging it on the wall, so it mimics the location of a traditional fireplace, or having it freestanding in the center of the room.

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Taking terms like “Playing with fire” and “Drop it like it’s hot” a little too literally (or should I say lit-erally), the Fireside Audiobox turns audio into a pyrotechnic performance, by channeling the sound through a tube of propane gas. Using an apparatus developed in 1905 by Heinrich Rubens, the Fireside Audiobox is a wireless speaker with a certain retro allure that completely gets overshadowed once you light the tube on the speaker’s upper end, resulting in a dance of flames! Audio frequencies play on the intensity of the flames, causing them to jump along with the music, making for a speaker that is bound to be the centerpiece at any and every house party. Perfect for the weather we’ll soon be experiencing, and with the festive season coming up, the Fireside Audiobox could add a wireless Bluetooth speaker, a fireplace, and an unignorable charm to your living room! Maybe avoid trying to roast snacks over this fire though!

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The Zippo Hand Warmer basically gives out heat without a visible flame. It does this by burning lighter fluid through a proprietary carbon felt filter (much like steel wool). What you get as a result is heat without fire. Simply pop the cap and the burner unit off and pour the desired amount of lighter fluid into the hand warmer (a full tank should give you 12 hours). Then pop the burner unit on and hold it close to a naked flame. Within seconds, the burner will begin emanating heat, after which you can just place the perforated cap back on and stash the Hand Warmer in your pocket (and dig your hands into it every few minutes for warmth), merrily going about your day while everybody else is vigorously rubbing their palms together like cavemen. It’s a little fireplace for your pocket!

The Top 10 Weekend Essentials you need to keep your weekend anything but boring!

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With most of us locked away in our homes, the weekend can bring in a sense of excitement but also some confusion! If you’re simply stuck at home, how do you spice up your weekends? How do you spend your weekend in a way that’s distinguished from the way you spend your weekdays? I’m always coming up with creative ideas to jazz up my weekends. So when I find products that can help me bring my creative weekend ideas to life, I’m overjoyed! Here are a collection of innovative and exciting product designs that are weekend essentials! These are the products that can totally turn a boring Saturday night in into an indoor barbecue session or an interesting games night! This is the ultimate weekend essentials guide. Enjoy!

A lot of us are still home and that means our plans include bingeing Netflix and a snack marathon! Designed by Sushant Vohra, Couch Console is all you need to have a productive binge/snack session – no more trying to balance your chips, drinks, and remote! The designer did tons of ideating and mockups before settling on a modular couch buddy that holds everything for you while you are chilling to the max (can we bring back chillax?). Couch Console’s core pillars are simple geometry and clear functionality. The cupholder has a mechanical gyroscope with a counterweight that ensures your drink stays still even on uneven surfaces – you don’t have to sit upright anymore, get comfy!

This conceptual lounger is all you need for every mood – zen weekdays for WFH and books with wine on the weekends. After a long day of Skype/Zoom calls and speaking to people across meetings, a relaxing place where you can hear the water trickle is exactly what you need to unwind! Dhyan is a Sanskrit word that means focus, care, or meditation and rightly fits this lounger that has been designed to bring all of that to you. Inspired by the simplicity of the tree of buddha and intricate Japanese zen gardens, the lounger blends traditional eastern philosophies with minimal modern design. It embodies peace and stillness one feels when they connect with nature. Dhyan has three different modes to suit your needs — a standard mode, a water-pond mode, and garden mode.

Picture this. You’re in your home (where else would you be, really?), the popcorn’s in the microwave, the couch is ready, the curtains shut, and all that leaks through is a tiny beam of moonlight, giving the place a dreamy aesthetic. You switch your Netflix 4K projector on and begin watching the movie you’ve been WAITING to watch now that the weekend’s finally upon us. That scene right there, that visual setup is the inspirational mood board behind the aesthetic of the Netflix projector. Designed as a concept (although I really wish it were true), the Netflix projector and Bluetooth speaker don’t just create the perfect Netflix-and-chill setup after a long day of work, they also are designed to look a lot like the moon popping up behind two buildings to create the perfect atmosphere for your night-time binging session. The projector and Bluetooth speaker give you the best experience Netflix has to offer (provided you’ve got a great internet connection).

Every weekend brings forth a new dilemma – what is the most entertaining way to spend this weekend without stepping out in this quickly escalating COVID situation? Well, we now have LEGO to thank to make our weekend castle-making activity (consider this writer guilty of spending hours playing with LEGO creating her personal billionaire homes) a little more adult. What I mean is, the LEGO Art is here to make playing with LEGO more intricate and also creating an artwork that definitely deserves that coveted shelf space! Designed to help adults relax and recharge as they transform a blank canvas (or in this case, small interlinking base plates) using LEGO tiles. Each set can be reimagined in a number of different ways to express the personality of each different builder and to make it easy and simple for pop culture lovers to refresh the LEGO Art piece on display in their house.

Missing the BBQ parties during game nights and holidays in quarantine? This conceptual BBQ grill, Campin, makes it possible to still enjoy it indoors (perhaps with fewer people, and if it is just yourself then you won’t even have to share food!) while following the COVID-19 restrictions about outdoor activities and gatherings. It has two core parts – the BBQ bowl at the top and the bottom base. The BBQ bowl has a metal container that houses the whole setup including the intake vent, a charcoal bowl, a grill, and a lid. These pieces are modular and can be separated for easy cleaning and management. There is an LED located under the BBQ bowl that illuminates the lower side and making it look like there is a real fire for the ‘right vibes’.  Campin lets you grill with a charcoal fire by using the specific charcoal bowl for that authentic taste. The smoke is sucked in through the intake vent outside the grill and it is purified and discharged through the filter structure inside the body – the mechanism is similar to an air purifier. The lower part in front of the base includes an outlet to discharge the purified air.

I think the first instinct for most of us when the weekend rolls in is to put on our favorite PJ’s, laze around in bed, and binge watch some Netflix. This is exactly what Fabio Vinella’s latest creation promises to provide us! Designed by Hi-interiors, the HiBed is quite frankly the bed of my dreams. The second generation in their smart beds, this one is a more minimal and sleeker version of its predecessor, the HiCan. A modern take on the traditional canopied bed, the smart(er) bed is versatile and integrates effortlessly with any and all furnishing. “The design of the HiCan and the new HiBed is a contemporary cocoon equipped with state-of-the-art technology for wellness, entertainment, and health monitoring that syncs seamlessly with your smart device,” said the design firm Hi-interiors. Equipped with a built-in 4K projector that can be synced with a series of devices to binge-watch movies/TV shows on a 70-inch retractable screen, the HiBed is the epitome of in-bed relaxation.

The best way to describe the GEMJI is by calling it a game system. This means that GEMJI’s tiles can be used to devise and play multiple types of games for various audiences across all age groups. Younger GEMJI-players can use it to create mazes, while more proficient youngsters can snap multiple tiles together to build complex 3D models. If you’re looking for less of a creative outlet and more of a traditional game, the GEMJI’s black-and-white pieces can be used to play anything from Chess to Draughts, Jenga, Go, Mahjong, Backgammon and even devise your own games along the way! Each GEMJI box-set comes with 70 of those dual-color magnetic tiles, along with a playbook of 30+ games you can play (including GEMJI’s own original games) and an online app that promises many more games with future updates.

The Ishiyaki Set tackles a unique problem associated with being under lockdown… missing out on great food. The Ishiyaki Set brings an authentic Japanese dining experience to your home by allowing you to prepare food in the teppanyaki style. Designed as a tabletop stone grill that you can cook your meat on, the Ishiyaki (which literally stands for rock-grill) is a charming little personalized grilling set that lets you experience the fun of dry-searing your food right before you eat it, just like at that Benihana you miss going to. You can now have a teppanyaki session at home during the weekend!

The Slab Console is an upscale adult furniture piece with a vibrant, fun personality – so you can upgrade your home’s interior design level and also have a lit time with your playlists! This console is the ultimate audio system, it brings you movie theatre quality sounds with living room-worthy visuals. Inspired by the consoles that existed in the 60s and 70s, the Slab brings high-fidelity audio to your space with immersive 5.1 surround movies and games. It is equipped with passive left, center, and right channel speakers along with a 12 inch recessed active subwoofer and a 500 Watt internal amplifier which basically translates into “I am a top-performing audio system worth every dollar of my $6,995 price tag.” I am having a dance party for one this weekend and my weapon of choice is the Slab Console!

Cineorama by Erika Hock is an outdoor viewing space, so you can sit and watch a couple of your favorite movies with your family and friends, within the comforts of your own backyard! Although during this pandemic, it may be wise to simply have a movie session with your family. No outsiders!

The Top 10 stationery designs that promise to be the best investments for your work from home desk!

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Work from home is now the new norm! Although it can get boring at times. I mean your home is now your office, your office is now your home. You basically eat, sleep, work, and repeat the same old activities in the same old place. I’m always looking for little ways to brighten up my mundane workday! And I’ve come to find that a few innovative stationery designs can add that extra sparkle to your everyday work routine. I don’t know about you, but I always feel a rush of excitement before I use a new stationery product! Not only do these crafty designs excite you, but they can truly amp up your work from home productivity. Even the littlest of tasks are completed with more efficiency. So, we’ve curated some nifty stationery designs that we believe will truly be a valuable addition to your work from home desk. Be sure to invest in them!

CARBU is a compass and a protractor – so if you are a student or a designer, you know exactly how convenient it is to have tools that serve more than one purpose. The user can make multiple circles without measuring the distance of the opening of the legs with a ruler. The slim legs of the compass on the inside are clogged with discs that are integrated with low-power magnets for smooth movements. The compass has a 2 disc system for accuracy – the inner one disc shows the measurement in a 0.2cm interval and this is amplified with a second disc that magnifies it for ease of viewing. The inner transparent case has two options – you can measure with degrees (for angles and arcs) and also without degrees for simpler things. The second transparent case that has a magnifying glass shows the distance between the two legs of the compass precisely. The discs also tell you if you are in compass mode or protractor mode.

Designer Jeong Woo Kim created Ouverture – a conceptual keyboard accessory that is a number pad + a digital notepad when you flip the cover. It has a typing mode which is the number pad and a memo mode which is the writing pad. “The leather cover acts as a number pad on a conventional keyboard. Current from the fingertips passes through the special conductive fiber to the touchpad inside the leather cover,” explains Kim. A quick survey showed that 98% of people take notes when they are working on computers and 70% of them said it is uncomfortable and 34% complained that their desk tends to get messy or notes tend to get lost. With a device like Ouverture, your notes are saved as image files and your desk remains clutter-free.

This pen is quite literally timeless… in the sense that it will write forever, that too without a single drop of ink. The ForeverPen is a bit of a technological marvel that solves one of the most common problems in the world – needing to write but never find a pen around. Made from a unique silver composite, the ForeverPen writes without actually writing. Unlike a pen that leaves behind ink or a pencil that leaves behind graphite, the ForeverPen’s unique material can oxidize surfaces, leaving behind a mark without really wearing out or running out. In theory (and even practically), it lasts forever, letting you draw/write/doodle anytime or anywhere, infinitely.

The Constrained Ball by Gihawoo Design is one of those concepts I can easily see myself buying from a late-night infomercial. I’m not saying it’s bad but the novel approach to a simple kind of problem is endearing. Fitted with a gasket, the gadget helps you draw straight lines and indicates the length. OMG, is this the end of the ruler’s dominance?!? No, but I quite like this concept. I’m a stickler for drawing straight lines. It’s either gotta be straight and perfect or it’s a no-go for me.

This is a jellyfish that stings gently! We love stationery design and especially cute ones inspired by animals! Designed by Fabio Verdelli, Medusa is a jellyfish-shaped push pin that moves like the actual jellyfish when pushed into the board. this one is gentler. The designer has made this push pin soft and translucent just like the real ones in the ocean. It’s also slightly colored to give it a fluid visual effect. The CMF and the simple movement of the pin work together to make Medusa a functional yet realistic ode to the marine marvel. Who wouldn’t like to have a box of these!

Meet the Ferrule, probably the most significant improvement to wooden pencils since they started putting erasers on the opposite end. The Ferrule is a brass pencil enclosure and extender. It upgrades the feeling of using a tiny, frail wooden pencil by enclosing it in a hexagonal brass body that gives you confident strokes, thanks to its weight, and a much more premium writing and drawing experience. The Ferrule works with all standard pencils (7-8mm in width) up to 120mm in length. Designed to function as a high-end pencil sleeve, the Ferrule works with short pencil stubs too, giving you a consistent premium writing experience throughout. It opens and closes with simple twisting action, allowing you to lock or release the pencil within with a satisfying click.

Reusable like a whiteboard, portable and sticky like a Post-it, the Mover Erase brings one of the workplace’s most effective features to your WFH setup. You see, in our transition from the office to the home office, we missed out on quite a lot. Sure, there’s an obvious lack of workplace gossip and office chit-chat, but we’re also missing out on the kind of tools that make us more productive. The ability to stick notes around our work desk, to walk up to a whiteboard, and really brainstorm effectively. To streamline your process in a way that makes you more productive and organized. The Mover Erase turns the whiteboard into a portable setup that you can carry around with you because productivity shouldn’t be limited to a ‘place’.

Outside/Inside was created to question the traditional understanding of a “vessel” and reimagine it with materials like pine needles to not only add more function but also give it a refreshing form. “What do you understand as a ‘vessel’? What image comes to mind if I tell you to describe it? Now, how far can you stretch that image? How far is too far?” asked the duo as they worked on reinterpreting the meaning through their design. Just like wild grass, it looks like the ‘vessel’ is growing from the surface it is kept on. What I love is the usage of pine needles because it is an underrated and under-explored natural material. Pine needles also bring a touch of nature inside on your shelf or desk. It also adds a poetic theme to the design as its colors, smell, and texture change over time letting you experience the ‘seasons’ of Outside/Inside.

The Clip-Pen by Foxtail Gihawoo combines the traditional ballpoint pen with the even-more-traditional paper clip. The metal clip finds itself located on the pen-cap, where you’d normally see the cap’s pocket clip, creating a fusion that may seem weirdly clever at first, until weirdness wears right off and just feels like a good idea! The Clip-Pen retains its original functionality (of being able to be clipped to a pocket) but is capable of much more. You could use it to keep your pen and papers together, or just use the cap to hold your sheets while the ballpoint pen sits in your pen-stand.

Created by LHiDS Creative, the MagEasy Folio and MagEasy Board use a combination of powerful magnets to help keep you organized and productive. The magnetic system, embedded within a durable and waterproof board, allows you to neatly arrange your life, from your keys and phone to your stationery, notepad, wallet, or even passport. The board and folio provide a canvas for MagEasy’s series of magnetic accessories which are powerful enough to hold keys in place as well as securely store your smartphone or wallet. MagEasy’s novel approach to organizing allows you to store all your everyday essentials in one place, so you don’t have to dig in your pocket for your wallet or keys, or in your bag for your pen, or a thumb drive.

Medical innovations that are boosting and transforming modern healthcare: Part 3

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If there’s something that this pandemic has taught us it’s that health truly is wealth! We cannot take our health and well-being for granted, and a mindset of preparedness and precaution is extremely integral during such times. The medical industry has been making leaps and jumps in its innovations, to ensure such a brutal pandemic doesn’t occur again. Designers have been coming up with new and improved, life-saving medical designs that not only boost medical care but relieve some of the pressure from our tireless medical force. From a nifty gadget that turns your bed into an auto-reclining vitals-tracking smart bed to an intelligent knee brace, these designs tackle a variety of problems in the health and medical field. They’re a boon to modern healthcare and a reminder that we cannot take our health for granted any longer!

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Literally, the size of a quarter, Adam Miklosi’s Dab is an unobtrusive Holter ECG/EKG that rests comfortably on your chest, constantly reading your heart’s movements. Designed to be minimal, non-invasive, and simple, the Dab tries to bridge the gap between medical appliances and wearables. Its tiny yet classy design sits on your chest via a gel patch, while the electrodes capture your heart activity. The Dab’s dry-electrodes allow it to be used and reused, while constantly measure one’s heart activity (requiring periodic charging via their wireless charging hub), and keep logs of accurate readings, quietly sitting on your chest while you absolutely forget that they’re even there in the first place!

Designed by a former cancer patient, the BheemUP aims at transforming the bed into a hospital bed alternative – one that people can afford, and one that doesn’t FEEL like a hospital bed. The BheemUP is a two-part design that not only turns your regular bed into an automatic recliner but also senses and tracks your sleep, posture, and vitals while you’re in bed. Perfect for people with medical concerns, or just people who are looking to upgrade how they sleep and wake up, the BheemUP makes your bed smarter, safer, and more comfortable too. The BheemUP is complemented by the BheemSense Lite, a provisionally patented sensor mat that’s the first to track movement, heart, and breath rates in bed, contact-free. The mat, which sits right underneath your bedsheet, helps track your posture, your sleep quality, and even your heart rate, creating a holistic diagram of health while you’re in bed, and uses machine learning to provide personalized insights. Using a combination of Bheem’s patent-pending, in-house stretch fabrics, and proprietary algorithms, the mat monitors vitals and movement over your ENTIRE upper body, sending the data to their App, which helps track and improve posture, health, and sleep quality.

Conceived by a self-proclaimed “group of sporty geeks who are dedicated to exoskeleton technology and addicted to robots and Cyberpunk,” E-Knee was created by C-Exoskeleton upon realizing that most knee braces in circulation today do not incorporate auto-adjustments or auto-binding, instead, the elastic knee braces wrap knees either too loosely or too tightly. Designed in the image of Cyberpunk, E-Knee’s support elements, such as gyroscope and airbags, remained exposed and exaggerated with colorful displays. Offering real-time support, each component of E-Knee works to register when and where support is needed and decipher how best to deliver that support.

“The Prescription Paper Pill Bottle, a first of its kind, is 100% compostable and biodegradable. Its open-source design adheres to FDA regulations for durability, light, water, and child resistance. It’s available to any pharmacy for filling prescription tablets and capsules. Once used then emptied, the paper bottle can be tossed into any compostable bin with its Rx label to decompose and be reused as fertilizer to safely replenish the soil in fields, gardens, and landscapes,” says the team. Tikkun Olam Makers made it an open-source design which means anyone anywhere in the world can use their method and make their own paper pill bottles by downloading the .stl file that contains the attendant images and assembly instructions.

The TEMPMi isn’t a bulky gun-shaped thermometer or a fragile mercury-filled glass thermometer. It’s a tiny, battery-sized device that weighs a mere 8 grams (as much as a key) and is designed to be the kind of thermometer you carry around with you as EDC. It uses a thermopile and infrared sensor to accurately gauge temperatures without contact, working just like a contactless thermometer-gun would, but at a mere fraction of the size. The TEMPMi’s compact size isn’t just another feature, it actually allows the device to be smart too. It comes without a battery or display and operates by plugging into your smartphone. This enables the TEMPMi device to record your readings for you, turning the thermometer into a smart one. All temperature readings are displayed on your smartphone screen in a legible font and in the unit of your choice.

The conceptual Neura project focuses on solving two issues with one product – an ambulance attachment assembled quickly for a bike to navigate dense cities easily. Neura’s intention is to get the patient to the medical facilities faster and because of how fast it can be made, it is a gift when resources are short. The form is built like a two-wheeled wagon that can be attached to a vehicle. The Neura ambulance has one stretcher for the patient and a seating place for one paramedic. It is 3.1 meters long and has been designed to be light in weight by using minimal parts. It can reach remote parts where the lanes are narrow and can conserve the use of the traditional, more well-equipped ambulances for critical patients. In countries like India, the Neura project will be very successful given the dense traffic at any given point of the day will still allow a bike to slip out to the hospital easier than a van.

Fitbit, a company that was already leading the game in monitoring body activity, has taken its tagline of ‘every beat counts’ to a whole new level by designing portable ventilators to fight the crisis. The Fitbit ventilator is called Flow and has already received emergency clearance from the FDA which means they can start working on the production process. Be it a 3D-printed ventilator or the one that costs $40,000, they have the same job – pump oxygen into the patient’s lungs and reduce the respiratory distress. Fitbit is a trusted personal gadget that we all use to monitor our health and wellness, so the team used their existing body sensors and put them to work in a product designed to function as a portable ventilator. The resuscitator bags that paramedics use is placed inside a clear case so the health professionals can monitor and operate them from a safe distance if needed.

The design studio Valkiria has put a lot of time and research into creating the blueprint, and final product of the Mercur Immobilizer Boot M1 leg braces with consultation from existing users of other such braces and health experts who conveyed the problem and the intended solution they would want. In the end, Valkiria managed to come up with a product that is safe, stays consistent in its shape with use, and intended for long-term usage if the rehabilitation period is extended. The form and function of the Boot M1 facilitate the user with both feet fit as it is bilateral – in both longer and shorter versions depending on the need. Also, there are the anatomical plastic nails that reduce the pressure on the calf, and for easy opening and closing, there is the Velcro fastening system. To address the smelling issue, the design studio chooses a breathable material to annihilate the growth of bacteria and keep the heat down.

Fernando Sánchez from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico proposes a solution to this rising waste problem with his Biodegradable Medical Test kit. Made entirely from plant-based materials that can easily biodegrade into soil, these kits help ramp up testing without leaving a massive ecological footprint behind. “Each test is made of cellulose and contains no plastic, fiberglass, or nitrocellulose, elements found in almost all single-use diagnostics. It can be disintegrated in wastewater and is safe for most plumbing systems, even those with septic systems. The test can biodegrade in the soil in less than 10 weeks, just like a banana peel”, says Fernando, who designed the Biodegradable Testing Kit as his final-year project. The kit consists of a nanoparticle-based immunochromatographic test that helps detect antibodies present in a blood, serum, or plasma sample. The tests are accurate and easy to read as the results display in under 8 minutes.

An ambulance’s role is to get patients to a hospital as fast as possible. While this system remains the current norm, it basically means ambulances need to make TWO trips to fulfill their purpose – to the patient, and to the medical facility. The Mobile Hospital halves that by directly bringing the cutting-edge facilities of the hospital directly to the patient. Designed for disaster-struck areas and war-torn regions, the Mobile Hospital is a complete diagnostics center and operation theater on wheels. The vehicle is roughly the size of a semi-truck and fits all state-of-the-art medical equipment within its rear compartment. When the hospital reaches its destination, the rear compartment expands sideways to virtually triple in size. This makes its inner cabin much more spacious, allowing the hospital to effectively and efficiently treat multiple people.

Bring your yard to life this summer with these inspirational furniture designs!

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In these pandemic-stricken times, we find ourselves spending more and more time at home. However, sitting in the same old four walls of our bedroom can become quite boring, and sometimes the only fresh air we really get is when we step out into our yards. Although we shouldn’t underestimate our backyards, they can be locations of major fun, recreation, and relaxation…depending on how we do them up! Adding a few pieces of cozy and interesting outdoor furniture pieces can really transform our yards. From a multifunctional design that serves as a barbecue, sofa, and champagne bar to a throne-like hammock – we’ve curated a bunch of exciting furniture designs that will completely liven up your yard! You don’t need to step out of your home to have a good time now.

The Rocco multifunctional outdoor furniture by Moróro is a barbecue, a sofa, a champagne bar, and more! 2020 has been about creating intimate moments at home, and nothing says intimate like a cozy evening in your backyard! To take things up a notch, we have Rocco which is an all-rounder piece of outdoor furniture. Its clever design transforms it from a fun barbecue into a sofa or champagne bar and even a smores pit – I think it’s safe to say Rocco is an essential this year! You can add a fire bowl to the base or choose from various other accessories like a grill, tabletop, ice bucket, and parasol base. Customize Rocco to fit what you define as a chill evening.

It’s the season to do some barbecues and grills, and at such times I envy those who actually have one. Due to space constraints, not all of us can own it, and when innovations like The Domino Barbecue surface, it makes me wonder – why can’t they be real! I especially like the way designer Umit Can Koralay has cleverly incorporated a half-a-marble slab that serves as a cover for the grill when laid open, and as a prep/service area, when you’re grilling. The product functions as a barbecue grill, and a piece of furniture! There are two drawers under, one for charcoal storing and the other for cutlery.

The lounger, recliner, and couch have come of age – it’s the era to usher in better ways to sit… and feel like royalty. Thanks to the ‘Hammock Throne’, you can literally feel like that. One of the biggest problems with hammocks is that you need two trees (or poles) to hold them up, and typically they are placed outdoors. Even the home-swing doesn’t match up to the comfort of lazing in the comfortable embrace of a hammock. Folks at Yellow Leaf are solving for this, by giving us the Hammock Throne. Kind of an indoor/outdoor hammock chair; this full-body contraption features a 360° swivel thanks to the anchor base.

The inspiration for this model came from the fact that there was nothing in the market that was sleek or modern enough to go with the interiors of today’s houses and that is how the MDK9 Dog Haus came to be – no more hiding the kennel in your backyard! This dog house is your pet’s dream house, it’s crafted with Brazilian teak wood responsible for the classy look which rests on a powder-coated steel frame so it’s sturdy. To make it long-lasting, the base of the dog house is made from concrete which also adds to the existing strong structure.

The Bigfoot Table comes handcrafted out of Western Red Cedar wood with a built-in lightweight stainless steel endoskeleton to provide it with its strength. Right in the center of the table lies an opening that reveals a rectangular fireplace built right into the tabletop. The fireplace is supplied with fuel using a propane canister that can be placed in the hollow space below and comes with a metal outer casing to protect the wood from getting burnt. Scattered within the fireplace pit are faux-stones that help create a truly remarkable burning surface that’s perfect for roasting smores on, and the fire can be ignited electrically with a simple push of a button and even regulated with the turn of a knob.

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I’m assuming you’ve grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, or other types of plants in your garden. However, my friend, I can wager that you’ve never grown ready-made furniture in your backyard! It takes some level of expertise though, but Gavin Munro seems to have mastered his hand at growing trees/plants into chairs, lanterns, and sculptural art pieces that can just be harvested and put to use. Each tree uses an armature that gives it its shape. Branches are sliced and grafted to form unbelievable-looking contours and joints that make the products what they are.

The SwingTables are a super cute and comfy piece of outdoor furniture for your backyard! They’re essentially tables equipped with swings. So instead of on boring old chairs, you can sit on the swings, and have a chat or meal with family and friends. I wouldn’t mind one of these in my backyard!

Created by DeiCoon Design, this bench has been integrated with a planter! It’s the perfect combination of furniture meets nature. You can add these benches to your yard, and have your favorite plants growing right out of them. Interesting, no?

Patricia Urquiola designed The Swing Chair for Louis Vuitton! The chair has been inspired by LV’s handbags. Two leather-covered metallic handles hold and support a woven mesh and it instantly makes you think of a handbag. It’s a sophisticated piece of furniture that would look lovely in your backyard or balcony!

Joe Mortell designed “Peppermint Gardens”. And, honestly, if my backyard looked anything like this haven, I would never leave it! What do you think, would you want to remodel your backyard to look something like this?

Bicycle accessories that’ll make your next cycling experience safe, secure, and fun: Part 2

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Slowly and steadily, people are ditching the fossil fuel consuming and pollution causing automobiles for the more eco-friendly option of bicycles! Bicycles are a means of transportation that are not only healthy for the environment, but for us too! They’re a fun way of completing leg day without actually visiting the gym! Amping up your bike with handy and innovative accessories always adds on to the cycling experience. From bike tires that can last a lifetime without any punctures to a foldable bicycle helmet, we’ve got you covered with a whole range of fun and functional products. Bike on!

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“You’re used to changing your shoes and jacket to match the location or weather. Why shouldn’t you be able to do the same with your bike?” reTyre’s zippable tire-tread system gives your city bicycle the versatility to work off the road too. A simple zipping mechanism allows you to add a secondary, tougher tread on your tires, letting you go from riding on smooth asphalt to traversing through tough terrain. No matter the speed, the distance, or the condition, reTyre’s selection of treads make it the only set of wheels your bicycle needs… and in turn making your bicycle the only bicycle you’ll need too. reTyre’s special bicycle tire comes with a zipper lining and a selection of treads or skins that you can clad on your existing tire. The original tire works great on asphalt, and the wide variety of skins allow you to ride your bicycle on mud, gravel, rocks, or even snow.

Just when you thought tubeless bike tires are the best thing on the road for your bicycle, the next revolution has arrived. The very technology that NASA uses in its Mars rover and lunar mission, has now made it through to the consumer-oriented arena in the form of METL tire developed by the startup Smart Tire Company, which has licensed the technology to bring to the bicycle lanes in the near future. The airless METL bike tires are crafted out of the Shape Memory Alloy Radial Technology (SMART) – made from strong (like titanium), lightweight yet ultra-elastic material (like rubber) known as NiTinol+. This magic material according to Smart Tire Company, “rearranges its molecular structure when you bend it, but instantly goes back to its original shape, perfectly.” In fact, these tires are so good, they can last your bicycle’s lifetime – meaning you don’t even need to bother about flat, tires, or ones with the tread wearing – needing to change to a new one.

At Hövding they thrive on the impossible. The brainchild of industrial designers Anna Haupt and Teres Alstin, the Hövding: an airbag for urban cyclists has progressed from an idea to a groundbreaking and certified product! Since its conception in 2006, the product has been renewed again (and again), and today it is rated the world’s safest means of head protection for cyclists. But after four years of vigorous R&D, the Swedish company has released its third generation of airbags: The Hövding 3. Worn around the neck like a collar, it is considered to be 8x safer than traditional bicycle helmets. In the event of an accident, the airbag inflates and forms a protective hood around the head and neck within 0.1 seconds! The airbag forms a protective cushioning around the neck, fixating it and providing extremely gentle shock absorption. The pressure remains constant for several seconds, enabling the airbag to withstand multiple impacts to the head, during the same accident. Once its job is done, the airbag quite simply deflates.

The TorchONE hopes to alter a scary statistic around cycling. In 2019, 56,000 cyclists lost their lives worldwide, and an estimated 60-70% of them were during low-light conditions. By integrating lights right into the helmet, the TorchONE approaches this problem with a two-fold solution – Prevention and Protection. A finalist at the 2020 EuroBike Awards, the TorchONE boasts of a streamlined, aerodynamic design that weighs a mere 382 grams with large, highly visible, removable lights on the front and back. Designed to provide 360° visibility, these are the largest lights to ever be fitted onto a bike, ensuring that they’re sufficiently visible even in bad weather. Attach them when you need and the lights can run 24/7, detach them during the day and the helmet’s weight drops to an incredibly lightweight 266 grams.

Many modern bikes come with a rear light, signaling to the trailing traffic behind the rider that they must share the road. Often, when bike storage bags are attached to a bike behind the rider, that rear light ends up getting covered, making for unsafe riding at night and busy streets. The Lumis Bike Bag from Happy Buddha integrates a translucent compartment area and accompanying rear signal light for their storage bag to assure riders that they’ll be seen on the road even at night. To attach Happy Buddha to their bicycle, users simply slide the Lumis Bike Bag’s translucent plastic covering onto the rear light and both can then be connected to the bicycle. The rear light projects onto Lumis Bike Bag’s plastic top to increase its visibility and brightness for nighttime riding and packed city streets. Whenever the user’s bike is left unattended, the Lumis Bike Bag itself can easily be dislodged from its joined rear light, providing portability and an added sense of security.

The Dual Beam has an interesting take on a pretty common problem with being a bicyclist. A majority of bicycle accidents don’t occur because of bad roads, or because of faulty mechanics, but rather because of a lack of visibility. Given how slim they are and how quietly they drive, most bicycle accidents occur because they’re difficult to notice in low-light settings, effectively putting the biker at risk. Dual Beam takes on this problem with a rather innovative approach. Unlike bike reflectors that just passively reflect light, the Dual Beam is, in fact, a headlight for your bicycle… but instead of just shining on the roads to illuminate your path, the Dual Beam also shines on the rider like a spotlight, making you, as well as the road ahead of you visible. A literal two-birds-one-stone scenario. The sheer genius of the patent-pending Dual Beam is that it makes its rider visible without distracting or blinding others.

Discarding the notion that a helmet needs to be a sturdy, stiff, singular form, the FEND One is, in fact, foldable. With two segments on either side that fold inwards, the Fend becomes rather portable, occupying a fraction of the volume it would when opened. Its folded design makes it relatively flat, allowing it to slide easily into messenger bags and backpacks… a feature that makes carrying helmets so convenient, you’re more likely to wear/carry them everywhere. The FEND One reduces the number of moving parts in its original design by ditching the bellow-style fold for something more simple and secure. The helmet exceeds US CPSC and European EN1078 safety standards for bicycles, skateboards, and e-bikes/scooters under 20mph, and comes with an impact-resistant outer shell made from ABS and PC, and a cushioning EPS inner that’s both lightweight as well as shock-absorbing.

Crafted from solid wood and sheet steel, B-spot is a wall-mounted bike stand. It comprises of a matte black panel protruding from the wall, with a layer of solid wood on top. The lower portion of the hanger is characterized by two hooks. However, the B-spot doesn’t simply hold bicycles! The black steel and solid wood panel duo can be used to hold planters, vases, your wallet, keys, and other miscellaneous items. The two little hooks can be used to hold your clothing items, caps, coats, umbrellas, and more. The hanger’s most interesting feature would be how its black panel curves in the front, forming a long rectangular slot. The slot serves as a little nook to hang your bicycle on! So once you’re done riding your bike, simply lift it up and place it within the slot. The sturdy steel structure holds your bike effortlessly.

Designed to be the most universal grip ever, CYCLYK works with every smartphone, with or without a case. Multiple bands hold your smartphone in place without overlapping or blocking the screen, and the act of docking or removing your phone literally takes two seconds, allowing you to hop on or off your two-wheeler with ease. The CYCLYK’s universal design even allows it to be used with motorbikes, scooters, mopeds, or even the odd Segway. Heck, you could even mount it on the handles of your shopping cart or baby-pram if you wanted to, but I believe that isn’t the product’s intended purpose. The silicone construction stretches to accommodate any sort of setting, while providing enough friction to hold your smartphone in place (and even at the same angle) on all sorts of terrain, allowing you to traverse through the city or even go off-roading on your mountain bike. It gives you the freedom to use your smartphone the way you see fit, transforming it into a GPS while you’re riding, or a handlebar-mounted action camera, or even run your fitness apps like STRAVA or music apps while you cycle/work out!

Fitted with bright LEDs on the inside, the BLINXI works as a head-worn tail-light and indicator, allowing you to be more visible to drivers/riders behind you. A single on/off button on the BLINXI allows you to toggle the taillight while even letting you cycle through the product’s three modes (flashing, steady, and daytime). The indicators are powered by a wireless controller that straps right to your handlebars, giving you the experience you’d have with motorbikes and their accessible indicator controllers. Fitted with incredibly powerful LED lights with visibility as high a 100 meters, the BLINXI works both at night and in the day to help you, the wearer, be visible (and predictable) as you drive down roads and make turns along your route. BLINXI’s internal battery gives it up to 24+ hours of use on a single charge while in daylight mode (or conversely 10 hours in flashing mode), and a MicroUSB port allows you to charge the accessory with any standard charger or power bank.