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Remote work has fundamentally changed how often people need access to devices they aren’t sitting in front of. The tools built for this, however, haven’t kept up. Software-based remote access drops the moment a device sleeps or the screen locks, traditional KVMs demand a tangle of HDMI, USB, power, and Ethernet cables, and phones and tablets have been left out of the picture entirely.

GL.iNet, the Hong Kong-based networking company behind a range of popular OpenWrt routers, has built the Comet Q to tackle all three of those problems at once. Officially designated the GL-RMQ1, it’s described as the world’s first browser-based, pocket-sized remote-control device built specifically for USB-C devices, covering laptops, phones, tablets, and Mac minis. You plug it in, open a browser, and you’re in.

Designer: GL.iNet

Click Here to Buy Now: $89 ~~$129.9~~ (31% off). Hurry, only 866/2500 left! Raised over $1 million.

What sets the Comet Q apart is that it operates at the hardware level, not through software installed on the target device. That distinction matters more than it sounds. Traditional remote desktop software relies on the operating system and an active network connection, failing the moment a device sleeps, locks, or loses Wi-Fi. The Comet Q keeps working through all of that, as long as the device stays powered on and hasn’t entered a hibernation state that cuts off its HDMI/USB output.

That control comes through a single USB-C cable that simultaneously carries video, data, and power, doing away with the HDMI dongle and USB hub that traditional KVMs require. Video output reaches up to 2K at 60 fps with two-way audio, and a built-in USB-C passthrough port means the device being controlled stays charged throughout the session. It’s a genuinely pocket-sized setup that actually earns that description.

Where the Comet Q breaks new ground is with mobile devices. No KVM was ever built for them, and if something went wrong remotely, there was no clean solution short of being physically present. It connects directly through the USB-C port, working with iPhones from the iPhone 15 onward (excluding the iPhone 16e and later budget models), iPads, and a wide range of Android phones and tablets, provided the port supports DisplayPort Alt Mode.

All of that also means the OS combination no longer matters. Users can control an iPhone from a Windows PC, a MacBook from an Android tablet, or an iPad from a Linux machine. Developers can manage test devices without being at their desks, IT teams can monitor a fleet of phones from one interface, and content creators can run a dedicated recording device from anywhere in the same room.

There’s a surprisingly personal side to this. If you’ve ever tried walking a parent through a tech problem over the phone, knowing you could take over their screen remotely would have saved everyone a lot of stress. The Comet Q makes that possible, and since Wi-Fi credentials can be preset before shipping the device, the person receiving it doesn’t need to set it up.

Accessing the Comet Q doesn’t require any downloads. From a laptop or desktop, any browser pointed to glkvm.com is enough to take full control, with no account creation needed. When controlling from a phone or tablet, the GLKVM app, available on Windows, macOS, App Store, and Google Play, handles touch gestures more precisely. A 1.8-inch circular touchscreen on the device also makes initial setup possible without opening a laptop.

Security runs through every layer of the design. Each session ends the moment the Comet Q is physically disconnected, leaving no residual access or background processes behind. Built-in support for Tailscale, ZeroTier, and WireGuard VPN keeps remote connections encrypted and firewall-friendly, while two-factor authentication adds yet another layer on top. Remote access that works through hardware rather than software has been a long time coming for phones and tablets.

Click Here to Buy Now: $89 ~~$129.9~~ (31% off). Hurry, only 866/2500 left! Raised over $1 million.

The post This USB-C Dongle Just Let You Control an iPhone From Windows first appeared on Yanko Design.

Owls sending mail might be pure fiction, but there was a time when birds were indeed used to send messages across distances. Taking advantage of their natural homing instincts, pigeons were used to send messages in the fastest way possible when using humans on horseback was too dangerous for various reasons. Of course, all that is ancient (or medieval) history by now, but the image of a mail-carrying bird has forever been etched into our minds. Some might even use that association to brand certain services that simply ferry bits and bytes of data from one device to another. That’s the inspiration behind this rather charming USB thumb stick concept, though its seemingly whimsical design carries some important practical implications as well.

Designer: SHS Shih

Even in this day and age of the cloud, it’s sometimes still more efficient, not to mention more secure, to store your files on a small USB flash drive. You have instant access to your data, as long as you can plug it into your device, and only those who can actually hold the flash drive in their hands can actually use it. Over the course of the years, the technology behind this gadget has moved forward by leaps and bounds and it’s now possible to see a 1TB flash drive, even if few can actually afford it.

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These advancements open up flash drives to more interesting designs, like this Pinge “bird-style” design concept. Right off the bat, you will notice that it isn’t your usual flash drive, even if you can’t immediately make out that it’s supposed to resemble a bird. Instead of staying flat as almost all flash drives do, its end curves upward, forming the bird’s neck and head. A small golden triangle protruding from that end forms the beak, but it also has the added function of being a pendant or lanyard hole. As you might have guessed, the actual USB interface is the bird’s tail, which is perfect considering the alternating white and gold lines resemble feathers, with some stretch of the imagination.

As unconventional as the design might be, it has merits that go beyond its eye-catching shape. The upward curve makes it easy to pick up the flash drive, and it gives your fingers something firm to hold onto when pulling it out from a computer. Curiously, putting Pinge down on a flat surface makes it rest on that curved portion thanks to a shifted center of gravity. That means that no matter how much you tip or rock the flash drive, it will always return to that stable position. Coincidentally, that makes Pinge a potential desk fidget toy.

Of course, there are drawbacks to such a non-flat design, like how the bird’s “head” might snag on things more easily or how it would take up more room in an accessory pouch. It might also make the flash drive more prone to breaking if something heavy was dropped on it or if it was sandwiched between too hard surfaces. It’s still an interesting design experiment, especially considering how most flash drive designs focus solely on functionality without paying attention to aesthetics. It doesn’t have to be the case, and it requires a bit of outside-the-box thinking to come up with interesting designs that don’t sacrifice functionality in return.