Elago is back with a nostalgic revival project… although this time, it isn’t a cover-case for the AirPods or the Apple Watch. The Elago T4 is a silicone cover that slips around your Apple TV set-top box, transforming it from a sleek black device to a grey SNES-inspired gaming console. In fact, there’s a cover-case for the remote too, turning its back surface into a faux controller complete with the XYAB and D-Pad buttons.
Of course, there are some who’d prefer the cutting-edge black aesthetic of the Apple TV, but what the Elago T4 does is introduce a nostalgic touch to the device. Sure, it’s meant for a subset of gadget-lovers and not everyone, but for its target audience, the T4 provides a beautiful bit of nostalgia while also giving your set-top box a nice, impact-resistant cover-case! Oh, and that lanyard on the TV remote case REALLY makes it easy to carry and use.
Move over baby Yoda, there’s a new precious Star Wars baby in the galaxy. Sculpted and cast by artist Nicholas J. Brown (aka LoreCraft), these baby Jabba silicone sculptures are based on a 3D character design created by fellow artist Leonardo Viti. Is this really what a baby Hutt would look like? No clue, and I’m not sure I care to find out.
The limited-edition baby Jabbas are made of the same silicone as the baby Yoda master puppet used in The Mandalorian, have custom glass eyes, a detachable tongue (for displaying with or without), and can be painted in any color combination you wish. Unfortunately for anybody interested in one that doesn’t have intergalactic crime lord money, they cost around $780. That’s a lot of Beskar!
I want one, but at the same time, I’ve sort of grown fond of my kidneys over the years. Granted I have no clue what they do and I’ve heard rumors you only need one, but, just like the tire in the backseat of my car, I don’t mind having a spare, you know?
Part computer accessory, part fidget-toy, the Hoglet is an absolute visual and tactile treat! Designed for kids with ADHD, or anyone with a quirky sense of style, this computer mouse aims at giving you a tech accessory that’s unconventionally fun to interact with! The Hoglet is a wireless mouse modeled on a hedgehog, with a silicone sleeve around its grip with multiple bristles that come in contact with your hand as you grip it. The objective of the Hoglet is to do multiple things. For starters, it makes tech feel a little less scary and a little more approachable. The mouse is incredibly tactile, and comes in heartwarming colors. Its silicone texture aims at creating a new sort of experience that almost seems pet-like, reinforcing the mouse-ness of the mouse, and helps boost focus and reduce anxiety.
The designer behind the Hoglet, Parker Lynch, struggled with ADHD growing up. As an adult, he dedicated himself to helping kids with learning differences. Working with children with ADHD helped Parker understand how beneficial a fidget toy could be with allowing a kid to stay attentive and focused… but for the most part, these fidget toys weren’t allowed into computer labs, which left the kids anxious and unable to concentrate. This led Parker down a road which got him consulting with researchers, parents, teachers, occupational therapists, and board-certified behavior analysts before he started developing the Hoglet. 5 years and multiple explorations and prototypes later, the Hoglet was born. With its anthropomorphic form, Hoglet instantly appeared as a friend, and with its sensory body, it gave kids something to fidget with and help them stay focused while using computers.
The body of the Hoglet is made of food-grade silicone: pliable, washable, non-toxic and child-safe. It’s as pleasing to the eye as it is to the touch, with a choice of brilliant colors. The mouse underneath the silicone sleeve comes with a ball-scroller, for more intuitive scrolling, and even features silent buttons, to prevent any distraction to children on the autism spectrum. All in all, the Hoglet is an inventive take on a tech peripheral that has hardly ever gotten a special-needs redesign. Most mice are built for offices, gaming, and ergonomic usage, so the Hoglet is quite literally a breath of fresh air… providing a new and enjoyable experience not just for kids but even for adults with a sense of wonder and whimsy!
The Z-Lamp’s collapsible feature isn’t just to make it portable enough to carry around with you. That ridged silicone shade does allow you to expand or contract the lamp’s overall design, but in turn, it helps control the lamp’s overall brightness too.
Derived from ‘zhé’, the Chinese word for ‘fold’, the Z-Lamp comes with a collapsible silicone clad that sits over its LED-base. The clad’s ridged design allows it to expand and contract, allowing the lamp to grow bigger or smaller. Expand the entire silicone cover and it acts as a large diffuser, scattering more light in all directions… compact it and the diffuser’s size reduces, dimming the LED’s intensity. Simple, smart, and engaging!
The Z-Lamp is a winner of the K-Design Award for the year 2020
So much of the act of eating food happens with your eyes, that there are sciences regarding how food can be presented to help them taste delicious because they look appealing. Food can be designed to take you on a gastronomical journey, and simply placing food on something as basic as a white plate can help accentuate flavors because the colors look more vibrant. The T&T Cake Mold for WMF sort of builds on the same principle by making confectionery look incredible. Designed in the bundt-cake format, the T&T’s mold is almost like a work of design and architecture (and highly reminiscent of Dinara Kasko‘s work), using geometric shapes and patterns to make each of the cake’s 8 ‘pillars’ look absolutely unique and exquisite. The cake’s silicone mold is perfect for casting intricate textures, and allows you to eject the confectionery post-baking with incredible detail. The cakes look rather awe-striking on their own, but coat them with some mirror glaze and they should look absolutely ready for Instagram!
So you spent a pretty penny on a pair of Apple’s pricey AirPods Pro earbuds. You can’t just carry them around in their nondescript white charging case now, can you? You need something special to go with your fancy wireless audio gear, and I think this case definitely meets that criteria.
The Portrait Stone case makes your AirPods Pro case look like an ancient stone statues like the ones on Easter Island. Unlike the mysterious stone Moai created by the Rapa Nui, this one was made much more recently, using soft and stretchy silicone. It’s also much wider than it is tall.
It’s a fun way to protect your precious earbuds and to visit one of the world’s wonders without leaving your house. This particular version of the case is available from Hong Kong outfit Brando for $16, but you can find similar ones over on Amazon for a few dollars less. Buy a bunch, and you can stand them up just like the ones at the famed tourist attraction. They’re a bargain compared to flying all the way to Chile to see the real deal, and you don’t have to worry about getting in trouble for knocking them over.
Robots can be a bit heavy-handed. Their forceful grip might not be a problem when they're moving boxes in a warehouse, but they can damage fragile marine creatures like jellyfish. Researchers may have a solution. They've created a robotic hand with a...
At Dreamfarm, along with food, there are always a couple of good ideas cooking. I’m talking about the guys that designed the Nutella spatula you’ve surely seen on the internet, or the TAPI, a silicone attachment to your bathroom tap that you pinch to divert water flow upwards, turning it into a water fountain. Now meet the Vebo, another rather brilliant idea from the minds at Dreamfarm. Unlike most metal colanders, the Vebo (a portmanteau of vegetable + boiler) is a silicone perforated bag with handles. Its silicone construction makes it food-grade and safe to immerse in heat. The bag’s flexible silicone design expands to let you put more veggies in or even fold to fit into pots of any size, and it even packs handles that allow you to lift it and carry it around.
The Vebo can be used to boil or even steam veggies with ease. It comes with an elevated base, making steaming vegetables easier, and the handles allow you to grab and hold the boiled or steamed vegetables fresh off the stove. Its perforations allow the water to drip through, even making it easy to rinse vegetables under running water. The Vebo is like a metal colander in the fact that it performs the exact same job… but just infinitely better!
While its been drilled into our heads lately that straws are bad for the environment, apparently, those Q-Tips you use take like a billion years to break down and they are hurting wildlife in the sea as well. LastSwabs are medical silicone grade tipped swabs that are designed for reuse to help prevent pollution.
This seems like a good idea, but I think it would feel pretty weird for most of us to use silicone at this point because we are so used to sticking cotton in and around our ears. But it’s probably a good idea to get used to it so we don’t kill the planet because we have to clean our ears. For $20 you’ll get you two reusable swabs and carrying cases. They come in ten different colors and they come in a nubby version for cleaning, and a smooth version for applying makeup.
Here’s a fun fact: Over 1.5 billion cotton swabs are manufactured every single day, and a lot of those find their way into the ocean. According to LastSwab, anyway. Never seen it myself. But their video has a fake seahorse all wrapped up in cotton swabs, so you know it’s the truth. Personally, I think it was just jousting.
The PortaVia Universal To-Go Lid does something quite marvelous. It retrofits onto the top of any drinking vessel (mugs, cups, glasses, usually have roughly the same diameter at the lip) and instantly turns it into a travel cup that you can carry around with you without splashing your drink. It covers the mouth of the drinking vessel almost entirely, not only creating a nice seal that prevents spills, but it also helps in retaining your drink’s overall temperature, keeping your beverage hot and piping for longer, and if any of this wasn’t good enough, the PortaVia lid even comes with an integrated sipper that lets you use the cup and lid together like a travel mug with a sipper lid.
The PortaVia Universal To-Go Lid is made from food-grade BPA-free silicone. It can withstand hot temperatures, it’s dishwasher-safe, and most importantly, it grips particularly well, creating a robust seal around the edge of your mug. Designed for most mugs between the 12-20 fluid ounces, the PortaVia sits snugly on top, almost like a Tupperware lid, turning a regular cup into a cup you can walk (or even run) around with, without worrying about your drink going cold, or worse, spilling. It also makes sipping your drink on the go easier, and is a much better alternative to disposable plastic lids. Plus, the fact that the PortaVia sits so wonderfully on ceramic and glass mugs also helps reduce your dependency on plastic or paper cups. The PortaVia, with its silicone construction, can be used and reused multiple times across almost all cups, mugs, and tumblers. It’s dishwasher-safe, food-grade, stain and odor-free, and also a boon for the planet!
Robots can be a bit heavy-handed. Their forceful grip might not be a problem when they're moving boxes in a warehouse, but they can damage fragile marine creatures like jellyfish. Researchers may have a solution. They've created a robotic hand with a...
