Tag Archives: Retro

Your 30-Year-Old N64 Cartridges Can Now Play at 4K for $229

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Retro gaming has grown into a legitimate market, but the original hardware it celebrates isn’t getting any younger. The Nintendo 64, now nearly 30 years old, runs on aging components that weren’t built to last indefinitely. Cartridge connectors wear out, capacitors degrade, and the console’s AV outputs don’t talk to modern televisions without adapters. Getting those games onto a screen today usually means compromising on something.

The ModRetro M64 is a new standalone home console designed to play original N64 cartridges on modern TVs, without emulation and without compromise. It doesn’t replicate the exterior of the original machine or rely on nostalgia alone as a design brief. Instead, it rebuilds the N64 experience from scratch, using contemporary hardware to deliver the accuracy that aging original consoles simply can’t guarantee anymore.

Designer: ModRetro

The technology enabling that accuracy is a 16nm AMD Artix UltraScale+ FPGA, which recreates the N64’s hardware at a fundamental level rather than interpreting it through software. Software emulation makes educated guesses about how games should behave, while an FPGA actually rebuilds the circuitry those games were written for. Gameplay timing and audio are identical to the original, and for anyone whose muscle memory is still intact, that precision is the whole point.

On the output side, the M64 connects via HDMI at 720p, 1080p, 1440p, or 4K, covering every modern display without compromise. Optional CRT filters and scanline effects are available for anyone who’d rather put something closer to the original look back on a flat panel. Overclocking modes are also included, giving certain games a bit more headroom than the original hardware could ever provide.

The console boots in roughly five seconds and gets straight to the game, with no logins or account screens in the way. Up to four controllers can be connected at once, making the split-screen multiplayer games that defined the N64 era immediately playable again. It’s the kind of setup that once required a living room full of people negotiating who got which controller.

The M64’s design leans into transparency rather than replica styling. The dual-texture transparent shell is a deliberate callback to the translucent plastic era of the late 1990s, when seeing a device’s internals was its own kind of confidence. A built-in LED strip illuminates cartridge artwork from below with adjustable brightness, and a dedicated eject button makes swapping games quick and clean. At 1.6 lbs, it doesn’t demand much shelf space.

Firmware updates arrive over Wi-Fi or USB, meaning the M64 can gain new features and support for upcoming accessories well after purchase. The hardware contains no adhesives and is designed to be opened and repaired, with a fully open-source, mod-friendly architecture. The circuit board uses gold traces to resist corrosion and improve conductivity, a detail that points to a product built for longevity rather than a planned upgrade cycle.

The box includes the M64 console, a pre-installed 16 GB SD card, a multi-region power adapter, and a power cable; no controller is bundled in, but original N64 controllers and several modern third-party options all work through the four controller ports. The M64 is priced at $229, which isn’t an impulse buy, but for anyone with a box of cartridges waiting somewhere, it’s the machine that makes sense of them.

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A $129 Music Player Built for People Done With Phone Distractions

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Dedicated music players gradually faded from use once streaming apps turned every smartphone into an on-demand jukebox. Carrying a separate device for audio began to feel redundant. That attitude has slowly changed. Growing numbers of listeners, tired of notifications and algorithm-driven queues, have started reaching for standalone players again, ones that let music be the only thing competing for their attention.

The Hidizs AP30 Music Boy addresses that growing appetite, though it does so in a way that isn’t easy to overlook. Rather than adopting the clean, minimal aesthetic common to most digital audio players, it draws heavily from the visual language of retro handheld gaming. The result is a device that looks playful and compact but carries serious audio hardware inside.

Designer: Hidizs

Physical directional buttons and a 2.0-inch IPS display give the AP30 an immediately tactile quality that touchscreen-only devices often lack. The plastic version weighs just 56g, while the CNC aluminum edition comes in at 80g. A small whale motif on the back adds a quiet nod toward environmental awareness, giving the device one more detail that makes it memorable beyond the spec sheet.

The “wearable” part of the AP30’s pitch has practical implications. It clips to bag straps, hangs from a neck lanyard, or attaches magnetically to the back of a phone via an optional case, keeping it physically accessible during exercise, commutes, or any activity that doesn’t leave a free hand. Storage starts at 128GB built-in and expands to 256GB via a microSD slot.

Behind the gaming console’s exterior is a Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC paired with an RT6863 amplifier, supporting DSD256, PCM at 24-bit/192kHz, and lossless formats including FLAC, WAV, and ALAC. Everyday headphones connect to the 3.5mm single-ended output, while the 4.4mm balanced connection offers meaningfully stronger output for listeners using higher-end in-ear or over-ear monitors, with room to grow as their setup does.

Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC handles wireless listening without much compromise in audio quality, and the USB-C port doubles as a DAC input for computers and phones. Connect it that way, and the AP30 draws its own power, sparing the host device’s battery. The 1,200mAh cell manages 10 to 12 hours of continuous playback in single-ended mode and charges back to full in about one hour.

HidizsOS, the player’s Linux-based operating system, keeps the interface focused entirely on music rather than apps or streaming services. Customizable EQ presets and switchable digital hardware filters give listeners control over how their music sounds, and a built-in block puzzle game is a fitting Easter egg on a device with this much retro DNA. Both plastic and aluminum editions retail at $129.

There’s no streaming service, no social feed, and no notification waiting to derail the listening session. The AP30 runs on a locally stored library and asks for nothing more than a decent pair of earphones. For anyone who’s ever put a phone on silent just to get an hour of uninterrupted music, it makes a compelling case for carrying two things instead of one.

The post A $129 Music Player Built for People Done With Phone Distractions first appeared on Yanko Design.

Kodak Just Dropped the $35 Y2K Camera Collectors Can’t Stop Chasing

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Cutesy analog-inspired cameras that also serve as keychains are probably all over your feed, if it’s anything like mine. And just when you thought you might be satisfied with the one you already have (if you actually have one), they go ahead and release new designs that make you want to replace what you have, or finally succumb and get one.

The Kodak Charmera line is one of the most popular devices in this segment, and now they have released a new series that will scratch the Y2K itch within you. The Kodak Charmera Keychain Digital Camera – Millennium Edition brings this line into the future-past, stepping away from the “portable retro” look of the original 1987 Kodak Fling-inspired Charmera. Riding on the current wave of Y2K nostalgia, Kodak is branding this new line as “the ultimate lo-fi futurist accessory.”

Designer: Kodak

Just like the previous Kodak Charmera cameras, this one is a Blind Box edition, so you never know which of the seven designs you’re going to get. There are six standard colorways: silver, black, green, orange, pink, and metallic, plus a chrome-like secret mirror variant, which you have a one-in-48 chance of getting. The original Charmera features a classic retro look, while this edition gives you a new high-gloss metallic Y2K finish. Think bedazzled flip phones, candy-colored Discmans, and the iMac G3. That’s the exact energy the Millennium Edition is channeling.

In terms of hardware, everything is more or less the same as the original. You have a 1.6MP 1/4-inch CMOS sensor, a 35mm F2.4 fixed lens, an image output of 1440 x 1080, and 30fps video recording. This is still in keeping with the lo-fi nature of what you’ll get from these keychain cameras, so don’t expect sharp or crisp images and videos. The intentionally grainy, pixelated results are all part of the charm. Lo-fi is a feature, not a flaw. After all, you’re not buying this camera to replace your phone. You’re buying it for the vibe.

What is new in this edition is the software and aesthetic overhaul. In photo mode, you get access to 4 retro-futurism frames, 7 color-rich pixelated filters, and a date stamp, all designed to give your shots that unmistakable early-2000s digital soul. The camera also comes with a dual zone focus system that distinguishes between subjects closer than eight feet and those farther away, giving you a little more control over your shots than you might expect from something this tiny.

The Charmera Millennium Edition is pocket-sized, literally. It measures just 58 x 24.5 x 20mm and weighs only 30 grams, making it one of the most carry-friendly cameras around. It charges via USB-C, which is included in the box, and runs on a built-in 200mAh rechargeable battery. You will also need to bring your own microSD card (up to 128GB supported), as one is not included. Each blind box also comes with a keyring, a CHARMERA ID card, and an A5 leaflet.

Now, about that blind box format. It truly is half the fun. You pay $34.99 and get one random design out of seven. For collectors, this is both the thrill and the torment. You might land the silver on your first try, or you might end up with four oranges before you see the one you actually want. Kodak also offers the whole set for those who simply need them all, and yes, you know who you are.

The Kodak Charmera Millennium Edition is available for $34.99 per single blind box on the official RETO Pro website and on Amazon. Whether you are a longtime collector of the Charmera line, a devoted Y2K aesthetic enthusiast, or just looking for the most fun $35 you will spend this year, this tiny camera delivers exactly what it promises. No more, no less, and honestly? That is exactly the point.

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d64 Just Packed an Entire Dice Collection Into a Tiny 1980s Computer

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Tabletop roleplaying games have an accessory problem. The dice alone can take over a corner of any gaming table, each one representing a different die type that the rules will inevitably call for at the least convenient moment. Tracking down the right d10 mid-session, or explaining to a new player why there are two different ten-sided dice in the bag, is just one of those small but reliable annoyances that experienced players have long since stopped questioning.

The Console’88 from d64Computing is a compact digital dice roller that handles the entire set from d4 through d100 in a single device, the size of a pocket calculator. What makes it genuinely interesting, though, isn’t just the function; it’s that the designer chose to dress it up as a miniature 1980s computer, complete with a CGA color display, vector graphics, boot-screen text, and the kind of visual language that looks like it was pulled straight out of a 1984 computer catalog.

Designer: d64Computing

Selecting a die type is done through a rotary dial and a button underneath the faux keyboard, which fits the era aesthetically and keeps the interaction simple. Spin it to the die you want, and get your result. The randomness runs at microsecond precision, so the results are genuinely unpredictable rather than cycling through a predictable sequence. For anyone who’s ever side-eyed an app-based roller and wondered about its actual randomness, that’s a meaningful detail.

The sounds are what push it over from clever gadget into something with real personality. The Console’88 plays 1980s video game audio when you roll, and it apparently has dedicated sound effects for critical successes and critical failures, which is the kind of contextually appropriate design decision that’s easy to appreciate at an actual gaming table. A crit that’s announced by a triumphant eight-bit jingle lands differently than a number quietly appearing on a phone screen.

There’s an argument to be made for physical dice that has nothing to do with practicality. Rolling actual dice is tactile, dramatic, and central to the experience for a lot of players. But for anyone who travels frequently to gaming sessions, runs games for beginners without their own dice, or simply wants something that takes up less space on an already crowded table, a single device covering every die type is a reasonable swap to make.

The design commitment here is what separates the Console’88 from a generic electronic dice app. This thing looks like it belongs on a desk next to a Commodore 64, and reviews consistently call out the visual quality of the vector graphics and the charm of the retro computer case. It’s a product that clearly started from an aesthetic vision rather than pure function, and the function turned out to be genuinely good on top of it.

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The C64 and ZX Spectrum Finally Got the Handhelds They Never Had

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The retro gaming revival has been gathering steam for years, spilling from niche emulation communities into mainstream retail. Mini consoles, plug-and-play sticks, and budget handhelds have all taken a crack at the classics with varying degrees of success. Home computers like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum have had their own official revivals, too, but they’ve always been tied to a desk and a television.

Blaze Entertainment and Retro Games Ltd have finally asked the obvious question: what would those machines have looked like if portable computing had caught on in the 1980s? The answer is THEC64 Handheld and The Spectrum Handheld, two new clamshell retro gaming consoles built to bring those beloved libraries off the shelf and into your bag, your commute, or anywhere else the nostalgia takes you.

Designer: Evercade (Blaze Entertainment)

Both devices wear their inspirations openly. THEC64 Handheld comes in a warm retro beige that echoes the Commodore 64C, while The Spectrum Handheld goes with a classic black that fits the original Sinclair machine perfectly. The clamshell form factor draws as much from the palmtops and organizers of that era as it does from successful gaming handhelds, making both feel oddly familiar on first contact.

The controls have been designed with the same care. THEC64 Handheld uses tactile plastic function keys that feel snappy under the fingers, while The Spectrum Handheld opts for rubber buttons, a direct nod to the membrane keyboard that made the original ZX Spectrum so recognizable. Both include four mappable function keys alongside the D-pad and face buttons, so keyboard-heavy games aren’t completely unplayable without one.

Flip either one open, and you’re greeted with a 4.3-inch IPS screen at 840×480 resolution, crisp enough to do justice to games originally built for home television sets. A quad-core 1.2GHz processor handles the emulation cleanly, and the 2,000mAh battery is rated for over three hours of play. A 3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C charging round out the basics, keeping the whole thing portable-friendly.

Each handheld arrives with 25 preloaded games, so you could pick one up and be knee-deep in Boulder Dash or Paradroid on the C64 side, or Starquake and Zynaps on the Spectrum, within minutes. A MicroSD slot lets you expand beyond those 25 if you’ve got your own collection, and a rear USB-A port even accepts a physical keyboard when the gamepad layout falls short.

The emulation goes deeper than just one flavor of each machine. THEC64 Handheld lets you switch between C64 PAL and NTSC variants, and The Spectrum Handheld covers formats from the 16K to the 128K and beyond. Collector’s Edition versions, limited to 2,000 units each, also include a hard-shell case and an exclusive print magazine, Crash for the Spectrum and Zzap for the C64.

Both standard editions are priced at $129.99 and launch in October 2026, with pre-orders already open. It’s a step up from a generic emulation handheld, and the gap is hard to miss. But for anyone who grew up loading games from a cassette tape and staring at a loading screen for far too long, it’s a price that’s surprisingly easy to justify.

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A Burned-Out Xiaomi Phone Now Runs Gemini AI Inside a Retro TV Case

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The smart home speaker market has settled into a familiar aesthetic. Smooth cylinders, matte finishes, and understated designs meant to disappear into a room are the default for most voice assistants. It’s a reasonable approach, but it also means most of them look exactly the same, and the hardware driving them tends to get replaced every couple of years, whether it actually needs to be or not.

HANDMAX Workshop took a different approach entirely. Rather than buying new hardware, the build starts with a Xiaomi Mi 8 already well past its prime, complete with a burned-in display, degraded speakers, and a failing battery. The processor and software capabilities were still perfectly usable, though, and that turned out to be all this kind of project actually needs.

Designer: HANDMAX Workshop

The case is where things get interesting. Instead of a sleek enclosure meant to blend in, the HANDMAX design goes full retro television, with a front grille, physical control buttons, and decorative legs completing the picture. Carefully modeled 3D-printed parts handle the practical side of things, accommodating the phone’s sensors and camera while keeping the vintage illusion intact from every angle you look at it.

Put it on a desk, and you have a smart speaker that looks like something rescued from a garage sale, in the best possible way. Ask it a question, and Google Gemini handles the conversational side, pulling in responses without needing a dedicated microprocessor or a new development board. It’s the same AI model powering higher-end commercial devices, running on hardware that would otherwise be sitting in a drawer.

The smart home integration is what makes it genuinely useful beyond being a conversation piece. Through Google Home, the device can control smart home accessories directly, and custom routines let voice commands trigger specific actions around the house. Turning lights on, adjusting a thermostat, or running a sequence of automations becomes a spoken instruction directed at what looks like a miniature television set.

Getting there wasn’t entirely straightforward. The phone’s Bluetooth module had a habit of shutting itself down after 20 minutes of silence, which would quietly cripple the whole setup. The fix was characteristically clever, though; an inaudible 6 Hz tone runs constantly in the background, imperceptible to human ears but enough to convince the firmware that the system is still in use and shouldn’t shut down.

Beyond voice interaction, the finished device also functions as a wireless charger and a desktop display, which means it earns its counter space even when no one is talking to it. The final hardware list doesn’t include a single new component, just old parts that most people would have discarded without a second thought. That’s the more interesting design challenge of the two.

There’s an argument to be made that the best AI hardware isn’t always the most expensive, and this project makes it quietly. Commercial smart speakers are bought, used for a few years, and eventually replaced. A device built from broken hardware doesn’t follow that lifecycle, and the retro TV case that holds it together makes sure it doesn’t look like it’s trying to.

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What Streaming Took From Music, Samsung Design Just Gave Back

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Music used to take up space in the most satisfying way. There was a record sleeve to pull from a shelf, a cassette to slot into a deck, a disc to slide into a tray. Each was a small, deliberate act that made listening feel like a choice rather than a background default. Streaming replaced all of that with convenience, and something tactile and visual quietly disappeared along the way.

Samsung Design seems to think that loss is worth addressing. At Milan Design Week 2026, it presented Visual Audio, a collection of music player concepts that reinterpret the forms of LPs, cassettes, and CD players through tailored displays. Rather than smart speakers with screens bolted on, they’re objects designed to make listening visible again, giving digital music a presence that largely disappeared with the vinyl era.

Designer: Samsung Audio

The appeal of analog formats was never really about fidelity. It was about having something to look at while the music played, a record spinning on a platter, tape reels turning inside their housing, a disc glowing in a transparent tray. Each gave listening a visual rhythm you could follow without thinking. Streaming quietly removed all of that, leaving the experience invisible in a way that’s only grown more obvious.

Visual Audio addresses this with objects that are clearly players but also clearly more. One recalls the boxy silhouette of a cassette deck, its screen animating spinning reels as the music plays. Another takes the form of a circular piece that simulates vinyl in motion, with a rotating label at the center. Each has a visual identity tied to the analog format it evokes, and that’s very much the point.

What these objects do differently from regular speakers or streaming devices is make playback legible. When something is playing, you see it happening. The interface isn’t a generic progress bar on an app; it’s a reel turning, a record label spinning, album art presented in a way that matches the physical form of the device. That makes sitting down to listen feel more like an occasion than a habit.

There’s also how these pieces actually live in a room. A speaker that looks like a cassette deck or a miniature turntable doesn’t need to be tucked in a corner; it contributes to the space around it, the way a record collection or a well-placed audio rack once did. Keep one on a desk, and it quietly communicates something about taste and how seriously you take the act of listening.

None of the Visual Audio concepts are headed for retail, and Samsung Design is upfront about that. They’re experiments, open questions about what music players could look like if they treated the emotional intelligence of analog formats as a design priority. The interesting thing is how specific and considered they are for objects not going anywhere near a store, which suggests this line of thinking goes beyond the exhibition itself.

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Your Dusty Film Camera Can Shoot 26MP Digital: No Modifications Needed

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Film cameras have had a strange little comeback, and not in the way anyone expected. It’s not that people find waiting days for developed photos convenient. It’s that pulling a mechanical viewfinder to your eye still feels more deliberate, more personal, than tapping a glass screen. Vintage bodies from the 1970s and ’80s have become far more desirable again than they were a decade ago.

The obvious problem is the film itself. Processing costs have climbed, lab turnaround times can stretch into weeks, and there’s always that faint dread of discovering a whole roll came out underexposed. I’m Back Roll tries to address that without asking you to give up the camera you actually love. The idea is to keep the body intact and quietly swap out what goes inside.

Designer: Samuel Mello Medeiros

Click Here to Buy Now: $449 $699 ($250 off). Hurry, only 1/435 left! Raised over $525,000.

What goes inside is a digital roll the size of a standard film cartridge, housing an APS-C sensor positioned in the film gate. Close the camera back, and almost nothing looks different from outside. No rear screen, no clunky attachment bolted to the body. The only visible concession to the digital world is a small Bluetooth remote that clips near the winding lever.

That remote is how you synchronize the digital sensor with the mechanical shutter, pressing it just before you fire. It sounds fiddly at first, but it also reinforces the whole point. There’s no live view to second-guess yourself with, no image to review immediately after. You shoot, move on, and download everything wirelessly later. That’s closer to how film photography actually felt than most digital cameras manage.

At the heart of the roll is Sony’s 26.1 MP APS-C IMX571 sensor, the same sensor family also used in astronomy cameras, where low-noise performance matters. It sits inside a CNC-machined aluminum body designed for heat dissipation, with up to 256GB of internal solid-state storage and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for transferring images once you’re done shooting.

The battery follows the same logic as a film roll, sitting in the film chamber where a cartridge would normally live. It’s interchangeable, so you can swap in a fresh one mid-session the same way you’d load a new roll. That’s a small but genuinely clever bit of design thinking, because it doesn’t ask the camera to pretend it’s something it was never built to be.

An old Nikon F3 or a Contax G2 becomes a genuinely different camera with the I’m Back Roll inside, without actually looking any different on the outside. From that point, it shoots RAW and JPEG files across an ISO range of 100 to 6400, with presets inspired by classic film stocks and brands, including Fujifilm and Ilford, for anyone who wants some of that analog character in the output.

There’s something appealing about the idea of pulling a camera out of a drawer and actually using it again. The roll works with most 35mm bodies from major brands, including Nikon, Canon, Pentax, and Leica, though cameras where the back opens from bottom to top may need a custom rear panel. Many classic 35mm bodies can accommodate it, though some may need the pressure plate removed or a custom rear panel.

Of course, the two-step shooting process, activating the sensor before triggering the shutter within a second or two, is going to feel less natural to some. Someone who relies on live view or reviews every frame would need to adjust expectations considerably. The rhythm here is slower and more committed, which is either the whole point or the main reason to look elsewhere.

What I’m Back Roll is really arguing is that cameras collecting dust on shelves aren’t finished. The lenses are still sharp, the mechanics are still smooth, and the experience of using them is still genuinely different from anything modern. Slipping a digital core inside doesn’t change any of that. It just means those cameras might actually get used again, which feels like the better outcome.

Click Here to Buy Now: $449 $699 ($250 off). Hurry, only 1/435 left! Raised over $525,000.

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Bumpboxx BB-777 Plays Cassettes, CDs, Radio, and Bluetooth at 270W

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Most portable speakers these days are designed to disappear. They’re compact, wireless, and largely anonymous, blending into whatever surface they rest on until a voice command kicks things off. Music has become a background utility, something that happens to you rather than something you actively choose. The ritual of physically engaging with sound has faded quietly, replaced by convenience that’s smooth, automatic, and almost entirely invisible.

The BB-777 from Bumpboxx addresses that shift in a very deliberate way. Inspired by the legendary GF-777 of the ’80s, it brings back the classic boombox in a form that captures the unmistakable look and feel of the original, while updating everything under the hood. It’s the kind of design that immediately signals its intent: put music back at the center of the room, loud and visible.

Designers: Rob Owens and Luis Maciel

Click Here to But Now: $649 $1049 ($400 off). Hurry, only 197/1100 left! Raised over $3.8 million.

Part of what makes the BB-777 so compelling is just how much it commits to the aesthetic. The wide, horizontal body stretches 29.6 inches across, with dual cassette bays, a central control section, a long analog tuner strip, and four large drivers across the lower half. Paired with two telescoping antennas and a carry handle, the whole thing stays true to the iconic boombox design of the ’80s, built to be seen, not tucked away.

What really sets the experience apart, though, is how it feels to operate. Bass, treble, balance, and master volume are shaped through solid knobs that respond instantly, giving a direct connection to the music. Each adjustment is tactile and precise, bringing back the simple satisfaction of tuning sound with real hardware. There’s also a wireless remote for those moments when you’d rather adjust the sound from across the room without getting up from wherever you’ve settled in.

Then there’s the format support, and it’s where the BB-777 truly stands apart from other retro-styled speakers. It plays dual cassette tapes, loads CDs, tunes the radio, and connects via AUX, USB, or Bluetooth. It also handles CD-R and CD-RW discs, AM, FM, FM stereo, and shortwave radio. Old mixtapes, burned discs, streamed playlists, and radio stations all coexist in one machine without any compromise.

Beyond playback, the BB-777 brings old recordings back to life. Audio from cassettes, CDs, or radio can be recorded directly to a USB drive as clean WAV files, turning a retro boombox into a straightforward way to digitize your favorite recordings. The cassette deck supports cassette-to-cassette dubbing at high speed, and a built-in microphone with dual wired mic inputs and echo and volume controls means it handles voice recordings and live sessions just as comfortably.

Of course, the sound system is equally serious and modern. Inside the wide enclosure sits a 270W system built for bold, room-filling audio, with a 3-way setup featuring dedicated isolated woofers, full-range drivers, and horn tweeters delivering deep bass, clear mids, and sharp highs. The internally chambered housing with bass ports and a fan-cooled amplifier round out an acoustic architecture built for real performance. The low end carries genuine weight, and the highs cut through cleanly.

Running all of that for up to 15 hours is a TSA-approved 97.6 Wh Li-ion rechargeable and interchangeable battery pack. With a 4-to-6-hour recharge window and 100 to 240V multi-voltage input, the battery can be charged either inside the unit or separately, and keeping a spare means the music never has to stop. It’s a smart upgrade from vintage boomboxes, which drained stacks of D batteries far faster than anyone expected.

For those wanting a bigger setup, two BB-777 units can be paired via TWS for true stereo sound, with dedicated left and right channels working together for deeper, more immersive audio across every format. The 100 to 240V AC input makes it ready for use almost anywhere in the world, with no voltage converters needed. It comes in Classic Silver, Radical Red, and Onyx Black, with removable magnetic front grills and a shoulder strap included.

What the BB-777 ultimately offers is something most audio products stopped trying to give people a long time ago: the feeling that music occupies real space. It sits in a room with a presence that commands attention, rewards the people who use it with a physical connection, and carries enough history in its silhouette to feel like it genuinely belongs to culture, not just a shelf.

Click Here to But Now: $649 $1049 ($400 off). Hurry, only 197/1100 left! Raised over $3.8 million.

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This Raspberry Pi Camera Looks Like It Was Made in the 80s for 2050

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There’s a particular visual language that 1980s science fiction used for technology. It was chunky, industrial, and slightly alien in form, the kind of hardware that felt like it belonged on a spaceship more than in a pocket. That aesthetic has been largely absent from consumer electronics for decades, replaced by sleek glass rectangles and matte aluminum that all end up looking roughly the same.

A maker going by Yutani on Reddit has built something that resurrects that forgotten design language in the form of a functional digital camera. It’s called the Saturnix, and the concept is simple but strange: what would a camera look like if it were designed in the 1980s, not to look like what cameras looked like then, but to look like what cameras were imagined to eventually become?

Designer: Sf140/Yutani

The body is 3D printed and draws clear inspiration from the science fiction hardware of that era, specifically the industrial aesthetic of films like Alien. It’s chunky and deliberate by design. The five control buttons use mechanical Kailh switches, a choice the creator was specific about: “a camera should feel like a real tool, not a touchscreen.” The tactile feedback from each press reinforces exactly that.

Inside, the Saturnix runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W paired with a 16-megapixel Arducam IMX519 autofocus sensor and a 2-inch IPS LCD viewfinder. It captures RAW and JPG simultaneously, with full manual controls covering shutter speeds from 30 seconds to 1/4000, ISO from 100 to 3200, and white balance and exposure compensation adjustments. Three autofocus modes round out the shooting options.

The film simulation engine is what separates the Saturnix from other DIY camera builds. Six presets are available, all processed on-device with no apps or cloud services involved. You can shoot with profiles mimicking Kodak Gold’s warm analog tones, the hyper-saturated punch of Kodak Ektar 100, the cool greens of Fujifilm 400, and the rich grain of Kodak Tri-X 400 black and white.

Filter: Kodak Gold

Filter: Fujifilm 400

Photo transfers happen via a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot, keeping the entire process completely self-contained. The entire project is open source. The code, STL files for the 3D-printed case, and sample outputs from each film simulator are all available on the Saturnix GitHub page under MIT and Creative Commons licenses, meaning anyone with a printer and the right components can build one. A firmware release hasn’t shipped yet, but the creator is actively developing it.

Filter: None

The Saturnix doesn’t compete with commercial cameras on paper, and it doesn’t try to. What it does is offer something most cameras, cheap or expensive, don’t bother with anymore: a strong point of view about what a camera should feel like to hold, use, and look at, from a set of aesthetics that mainstream design long since walked away from.

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