Legendary Italian design house Pininfarina, famed for its historic decades-long collaboration with Ferrari, has unveiled its debut piece of collectible furniture – the Oksýs chaise longue. This unique creation seamlessly blends the company’s automotive design heritage with the functionality of a high-end chaise lounge. The Oksýs is a limited-edition statement piece designed to complement Pininfarina’s recent foray into branded residential projects. The chaise longue embodies the studio’s core design principles, which center on the harmonious marriage of aesthetics and technical innovation.
The Oksýs is a striking visual interplay of contrasting elements. The upper section features smooth, ergonomic lines reminiscent of a Pininfarina sports car. This section is crafted for comfort and boasts a reflective finish that invites touch. In stark contrast, the lower portion resembles a rough, crystal-like rock, creating a sense of groundedness.
“Seen from above, Oksýs is smooth and reflects light with no aggressive angles,” explains Marco Becucci, the in-house architect who designed the chaise longue. “This upper part invites the user to touch it, while the lower section offers a textural counterpoint, left coarse and milled to resemble an untouched rock.”
The design and development process for the Oksýs mirrored Pininfarina’s approach to creating high-performance automobiles. The project began with sketches, followed by ergonomic testing, computer-aided modeling, and finally, the creation of physical models using CNC milling to achieve the complex form.
The prototype showcased at Milan Design Week was crafted from polyurethane and finished with a gleaming epoxy resin, creating a captivating metallic effect. Pininfarina envisions future iterations cast entirely in steel or aluminum, further solidifying the connection to its automotive roots. Only three Oksýs chaise longues will be produced, each sold exclusively through the Rossana Orlandi gallery.
Picture this, it’s summer, you’ve packed your bags and you’re heading on a Eurotrip (maybe for a nice holiday on the Amalfi coast or to see Taylor Swift perform). In true holiday fashion, you intend on spending the entire day out and about, exploring the city, but you realize an hour in that your phone’s already on 15% battery. You might have a charging cable in your pocket, but there isn’t a power socket in sight. Here’s where a MagSafe power bank just makes things much easier. Designed to simply snap onto the back of your phone and give it a battery boost, the TORRAS MiniMag is a compact power bank that’s no larger than a credit card. With its compact size, 0.3 inches thickness, and MagSafe compatibility, the MiniMag merely attaches onto your phone, giving it an extra 5000mAh battery so you can go about your day without worrying about being perpetually on ‘Battery Saver’, or worse, a completely drained battery.
Convenience seems to define the MiniMag’s entire design approach. It’s compact enough to slide right into your pocket or laptop bag when not in use, with a form factor no larger than your average payments card. At 0.3-inches or 7.6 millimeters thick, it might not be slim enough to fit into your wallet, but it attaches to your phone without making it too bulky the way other power banks would. It weighs a minimal 4 ounces (113 grams) and has curved edges running throughout that lets you slide your phone into your pocket without the power bank snagging anywhere.
Card-sized Power Bank, Snap and Go!
Long-lasting Battery Life
The TORRAS MiniMag packs a 5000mAh battery, which practically doubles your iPhone’s battery capacity. Wireless MagSafe charging occurs at a standard 7.5W, and if you’re looking to go faster, plug it into your phone using a USB cable to get 18W of wired charging speeds. The MiniMag supports pass-through charging too, allowing you to basically charge the power bank as it wirelessly charges your phone, keeping your iPhone’s own charging port free for accessories or dongles.
Ostand R case: 360 Magnetic Rotatable Stand
The MiniMag comes with a matte anodized aluminum outer body, in either silver or pink. Although designed to be used independently, it pairs exceptionally well with TORRAS’ Ostand R case, which also gives your phone its own dedicated rotating kickstand. The Ostand R is practically a marvel of engineering, with a stand that sits flush against the case when closed, but opens to prop your phone up. It relies on a specially engineered hinge that’s 1.2mm (0.04 inches) thick, but can resist tens of thousands of folds, and can even hold its angle like a laptop hinge (while taking the weight of your phone). The ring even rotates independently to let you place your phone in either landscape or portait, and it does so with super-slim magnets inside that extend your phone’s MagSafe compatibility, whether it’s attaching accessories or mounts, or snapping on a wireless charger or power bank like the TORRAS MiniMag.
You can see up to 20% of muscle loss in just 11 days of being in space. Astronauts have to exercise nearly two and a half hours each and every day to prevent muscular atrophy. Sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it? Exposure to zero gravity causes muscle fibers to shrink, making astronauts much weaker and less coordinated. Whoever thought that the lack of gravity could affect our health THIS much??
Designed to help astronauts stay fit through regular movements, the Cosmofit Exosuit was imagined for astronauts making their way to the moon with SpaceX’s upcoming mission that aims to set up a lunar base to replace the ISS in 2030. Created by Minwoo Lee, a student at Hongik University, the Cosmofit is designed to be worn indoors, and uses resistance-based training to turn simple activities like walking or reaching out for something into a micro-workout. Astronauts therefore exert more to perform basic activities, and can retain their muscle mass while in a zero gravity environment.
Designer: Minwoo Lee
The Cosmofit bodysuit is made of two distinct parts – the suit itself, and the mechanical augmentations that attach onto the back and around your waist, or the ‘exo’ part of the suit. The suit features electrode pads laid out around different muscle groups, providing electrical stimulation to different muscles in the body to keep them active and healthy, while also helping with muscle recovery after stressful workouts. By providing electrical pulses, the suit can help rebuild muscle tissue and help with recuperation.
Meanwhile, the exoskeleton on the outside uses a series of motors to provide mechanical resistance to help you exert more pressure while moving around. This turns regular activities into mini workouts (sort of like jogging or exercising with weights strapped to your ankles) that prevent muscles from atrophying or growing weak.
The EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) suit can be worn for long periods of time, with the exoskeleton only strapped on for certain hours in the day. There’s even a potential for the exoskeleton to track vitals and fitness levels through activity, giving astronauts a comprehensive look at how healthy they are. Two and a half hours of exercise a day sounds like quite a task… turning just daily movements into a fitness regimen sounds like a much easier way to stay healthy in zero gravity, doesn’t it??
Orange juice is great for you. It’s packed with Vitamin C, antioxidants, citric acid, and anti-inflammatory compounds. The problem is that juicing an orange is a little more annoying than it should be. You need to cut the oranges, manually juice each cut half, strain the pulp, and then wash your hands because you got juice all over them. It takes way too long to get one glass of OJ and you end up smelling like oranges in the process. It’s much more convenient to buy a carton of orange juice, and that’s quite a shame… Which is why a Barcelona-based startup Citring designed the Citring One, a citrus juicer that works about as fast as a Keurig or a Nespresso takes to make coffee. Just add the oranges, press a button, and you’ve got yourself a glass of fresh juice. Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, if you think of how Nespresso and Keurig made coffee-brewing as simple as inserting a pod and hitting a button, the Citring One does the same for all citrus-based fruits. About the size of a coffee maker, the Citring One squeezes and juices 3 fruits at a time, eliminating the need for elbow grease, straining pulp, and cleaning yourself up after. Just open the lid and insert up to 3 whole citrus fruits in the silicon container. Shut the lid, place a glass under the dispenser, and hit the button on the Citring One. Once you do, something rather interesting happens. A slicer ascends upwards, guillotining the fruit into two halves, before using compressed air to press into the cut fruit and squeeze its juice out. Juice is dispensed to your glass through the same silicone container, so there is no need to clean any additional parts.
1) Put up to 3 whole oranges in the machine. No need to cut them. 2) In about a minute, your juice will be ready. 3) Citring will automatically squeeze the oranges and pour the juice into your glass.
The entire process is absolutely foolproof because you don’t need to do anything at all. The Citring One cuts and juices your fruit for you, giving you empty hemispheres of squeezed fruit that you can then throw away. The interface has all but one button, so you don’t need to worry about any settings, modes, or a smartphone app that tells you how much Vitamin C intake you’ve had all day. Drinking juice is good for you and the simpler the process the better. Every few uses, the BPA-free food-grade silicone containers inside the Citring One can be removed and rinsed under running water or in your dishwasher. The technology under its hood is impressive, and the overall product even secured an iF Design Award this year for how simple and foolproof it is.
Aside from being a little larger than your citrus juicer or even your blender, the Citring One does sport a $289 price tag which would make anyone reconsider… But think about a few things. You’d pay the same amount for a coffee machine, so why not a juicer? After all, juice is great for you. Secondly, those cartons of juice are filled with more sugar than fruit, and the costs add up when you end up buying a carton every week. Fresh fruit (especially from a farmer’s market) is a lot cheaper, and actually helps you regulate how much added sugar you consume in a day. Moreover, the Citring One works with other citrus fruits too, from lemons and limes to grapefruits, tangerines, mandarins, blood oranges, etc. It’s perfect for people who love consuming fruit, and just personally, makes for a great addition at juice cafes or restaurants/canteens wanting to offer juice that doesn’t get fresher than this. The Citring One comes in 2 colors, an all-black version and a stormtrooper black + white variant, and ships globally.
Meet the Wooask TransBuds A8 – a pair of TWS earbuds that are so unique you’ll want to ditch your AirPods for them. Built with ChatGPT integration in the earbuds themselves, these wearables put the power of AI in your ear, actively translating 147 languages and accents in real-time, without an app. What’s better, if you do need to navigate through the TransBuds A8’s functionalities, you don’t even need to look at your smartphone, the earbuds case comes with a nifty 2-inch screen for both online or offline translation, as well as the ability to simply chat with ChatGPT the way Iron Man chats with JARVIS. Oh, and you can listen to music too.
The A8 translation earbuds facilitate real-time bidirectional translation, allowing two people to wear one earbud each for instant simultaneous interpretation.
The TransBuds A8 has a familiar design, albeit with a few VERY clever upgrades. Sure, you’ve got the white case with a flip-top lid that reveals two white earbuds… but on both hardware and software fronts, the TransBuds A8 are much more advanced than any regular TWS earbuds you’ll find on the market. For starters, the entire wearable has ChatGPT integration, giving you a voice assistant that is far more advanced than Google, Siri, or Alexa. You can simply tap the earphones to talk to ChatGPT, or access the AI through the unique interface built into the case. The case with a touchscreen is a welcome feature too – it eliminates the need for an app, and gives you a perfect standalone device that works without draining your phone’s battery or piggy-backing off your phone’s cellular network.
By leveraging ChatGPT’s vast knowledge base and natural language processing capabilities, users can enjoy more than just translation assistance.
The presence of AI isn’t just a bandwagon feature, it helps aid the TransBuds A8’s core value proposition – the ability to actively translate 77 languages and 70 accents in real-time, giving you the ability to pretty much travel anywhere in the world without a language barrier. The interaction is swift and seamless, either share an earbud with someone and have bi-directional conversations in two separate languages, and the earbuds will actively translate both of them simultaneously, or use the earbuds and case together to have a conversation with a local. The earbud-sharing method is perfect for in-person meetings and other long conversations. Each person wears one earbud like a Bluetooth earpiece of sorts, and the TransBuds A8 listens to what the opposite person is saying, and translates it for you right in your ear. A transcript of your entire conversation gets captured as a text thread on the TransBuds A8’s screen, and can be saved for later, allowing you to quickly and easily transcribe an entire meeting using the power of AI.
Alternatively, the case itself comes with a microphone and powerful speakers, allowing you to use just the case as a translator device. Hold it up and speak into it, and the TransBuds A8 lets you have a conversation with a local or a stranger without needing to share an earpiece. A powerful mic and speaker system allow you to easily converse with people even around ambient noise, while the display on the case does a good job of allowing people to read the translated text if they can’t hear the translated audio.
The case, frankly, is more of a smartphone that houses earbuds than just your average charging case. It runs on a Qualcomm Quad-Core Processor and earbuds use a Qualcomm 3040 chipset that allows it to translate 147 languages and accents with a latency of 0.5 seconds and an impressive 98% accuracy. The 2-inch screen has an app drawer that lets you access the TransBuds A8’s different features, even letting you tap into the offline translation feature that works with 16 popular languages. Buttons on the side of the case let you increase or decrease the case’s volume, or even go back to the home screen while navigating the interface.
The earbuds are remarkable too, with an ergonomic design, and a dual-mic setup that powers the ENC (Environment Noise Cancelation) feature to help you speak and hear clearly even if you’re in a noisy environment. The earbuds have a translation time of 5 hours, and a regular battery life of 35 hours along with the case that doubles as a charging dock for the buds. 16 gigabytes of in-built memory means you can even load your favorite MP3 files right onto the case, turning it into a makeshift iPod Touch that plays music directly without a streaming app or pairing with your phone. You can, however, pair the earbuds with your phone to listen to music, watch movies, or take calls too.
Quite the all-round device, the TransBuds A8 are for any and everyone. They work independently without your phone, translating over a hundred languages, transcribing conversations, and giving you the power of ChatGPT right in your ears. They also work as your standard TWS buds when you’re looking for something traditional, pairing with your phone via Bluetooth for answering calls, watching TikTok, or listening to music and podcasts. The buds are ideal for avid travelers, students, digital nomads, expats, and people working in multicultural companies and teams. The TransBuds A8 starts at a discounted $179 (an absolute steal considering the features it packs), which also includes one year of free ChatGPT integration. Subsequently, you’ll either be required to pay $9.9 per month or $40 annually for the AI features – online and offline translation remains free forever.
Earlier this year, Dutch Drone Gods, in partnership with Red Bull, unveiled the World’s Fastest Drone that went head-to-head with Max Verstappen behind the wheel of an F1 car. With a top speed of 350km/h, that drone held the title for barely a few months before YouTuber Luke Maximo Bell decided to challenge it.
Taking on the entire design and R&D team of Red Bull Racing, Bell managed to 3D-print a drone that was nearly 50% faster, hitting high speeds of 500km/h (310mph) and setting a new record, verified by the team at Guinness Book of World Records. The video above captures Bell’s entire journey, from prototype to building to tuning, and finally FPV footage of the world’s fastest drone. To think that one YouTuber with a BambuLabs printer managed to outpace a drone built out of carbon fiber by the elites at Red Bull Racing known for manufacturing the world’s leading F1 cars…
Designer: Luke Maximo Bell
Bell’s design process was a reiteration of one of his older drones named Peregreen, which could hit speeds of up to 400km/h. If you look at the shape of the drone you’ll quickly realise how even Red Bull and DDG opted for a similar format. The drone isn’t your average quadcopter or even FPV racer. Instead, it has a missile-style design with propellers at the bottom that give it an eVTOL style ability to vertically take off, tilt forward to race ahead, and then land vertically too.
The backbone of Peregreen 2’s success lies in its meticulous design and the use of high-quality materials. The frame, constructed from carbon fiber, was chosen for its exceptional strength and wide availability. Custom frames were precision-cut using a CNC machine at Flying Robot in Cape Town. Despite initial setbacks with incorrect mounting hole dimensions, which required manual adjustments, the final product was a high-precision, robust frame capable of withstanding the rigors of high-speed flight. Building on data from the original Peregreen, Bell and his father (who helped build the original Peregreen) selected larger motors, propellers, and batteries. However, this brought a new set of challenges. The initial batteries overheated, reaching temperatures above 130°C, leading to failures. Additionally, the motor wires were not thick enough, causing them to overheat and even catch fire during bench tests. After extensive testing and adjustments, the team switched to thicker wires and sourced new batteries that maintained a stable temperature below 80°C. These changes were crucial in ensuring the drone could operate at high speeds without the risk of overheating or component failure.
A cheap reliable way to test aerodynamics, simply hold it outside a car’s window!
Aerodynamics played a pivotal role in the drone’s performance. Initial designs faced stability issues at high speeds, necessitating extensive experimentation with tail lengths and fin sizes. The goal was to achieve a stable flight profile with a low drag coefficient. By creating and testing various models (often by simply 3D printing them and holding them out of a car window at high speeds), the team eventually found a configuration that provided the necessary stability. This iterative process of refinement led to a design that not only looked sleek but also performed exceptionally well in high-speed conditions. The final aerodynamic model was a testament to the team’s dedication to optimizing every aspect of the drone’s performance.
Once a drone’s built, its performance needs to be tuned by programming all its components to work in sync so that there isn’t a malfunction in the sky. Despite several initial failures during test flights, the team sought the expertise of Chris Raser, a renowned FPV drone specialist. His insights and detailed tuning guides were instrumental in resolving stability issues and fine-tuning the drone’s flight characteristics. This collaborative approach underscored the importance of seeking specialized knowledge and continuously learning from each phase of the project. The resulting improvements were significant, allowing the drone to perform high-speed maneuvers with precision and reliability.
The testing phase was rigorous and demanding, marked by numerous iterations and rebuilds. The drone was 3D printed using the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon printer, which proved to be an excellent tool for creating precise and durable components. Through a series of high-speed runs, the Peregreen 2 eventually achieved speeds of 500 km/h, a milestone that underscored the success of the design and engineering efforts. This achievement was officially recognized by Guinness, solidifying the team’s place in the record books.
Beyond setting a world record, the Peregreen 2 project also focused on capturing stunning cinematic footage. By incorporating a new open canopy for the camera (shown below), the team was able to obtain clear, distortion-free shots. The Insta360 Go 3 camera, known for its small size and lightweight, was integral in capturing high-speed footage. The drone’s performance in endurance tests was equally impressive, managing a flight of 7.5 km at an average speed of 180 km/h. These accomplishments highlight the drone’s versatility and potential for various applications.
The beauty of baking your own bread lies in its simplicity, and the fact that the yeast and bacteria does most of the job for you. You don’t need fancy equipment or ingredients, just a big container to proof your bread, and an oven to bake a perfectly rustic loaf of sourdough that you can then top up with avocado or ricotta and honey. However, what most bakers don’t tell you is that your loaf of bread is actually a living being. The yeast, whether natural or the instant kind you buy at the market, is a living creature that transforms your ball of dough into a fluffy, airy, mildly tart slice of bread that tastes so good with anything you put on top. This yeast needs just 3 things to perform this transformation – flour, water (hydration), and the right temperature. Most home bakers ignore that last metric, and if you’ve made a loaf of bread that just lacked that oomph or the right texture, chances are you followed your recipe correctly, but missed out on ensuring the yeast could grow under the right temperature. The DoughBed, however, takes care of that part of the breadmaking journey for you. Designed to be a perfectly optimal proofing tray for your dough, the Doughbed is a wide glass tray with a cork lid and a heating bed that creates exactly the right temperature for your loaf. Keep your dough to proof in the DoughBed and you’ll be consistently rewarded with the perfect proofing every time, whether it’s for sourdough loaves, pizzas, baguettes, focaccias, brioche buns, or any other kind of leavened bread you desire to bake!
Designers: Sourhouse (Erik Fabian & Jennifer Yoko Olson)
Designed by home-baker Erik Fabian and industrial designer Jennifer Yoko Olson, the DoughBed is basically an incubation chamber for bread microbes that creates the perfect thermal conditions for yeast (and sourdough bacteria) to feed and grow. “The problem is not your dough, it’s your kitchen. Kitchen temperatures are often too cold for bread dough, and more importantly, always changing,” say the duo behind the DoughBed. The yeast in your dough thrives at temperatures of 75-82°F (24-28°C), but that might just be a tad too warm for humans, who set their thermostats or air conditioners to slightly lower temperatures. This mild temperature difference (of a mere 4-5°F) can be the difference between a perfect loaf, and a loaf that just doesn’t have the right open crumb. The solution? A mini habitat for your doughball, allowing it to do its job flawlessly well, every single time.
Mat + Bowl + Lid = The Perfect Proofing Solution
DoughBed combines a warming mat, a glass dough bowl, and a cork lid to create an efficient warming solution. The dough bowl has a wide bottom so your dough is gently and evenly warmed to 75-82°F (24-28°C) by the mat below.
Each DoughBed is made of 3 parts – an oval-shaped glass bowl, a cork lid, and a warming base that gives your bread microbes the ideal temperature to do its job. The wide oval tray is big enough to hold 3 loaves worth of dough at one time, and is perfectly shaped and sized for mixing your dough in, resting and proofing, and pouring your dough out for shaping before baking. As a bonus, it’s even designed to be oven safe, although baking a loaf that big would be overkill!
The warming mat is made with cork to prevent heat loss into your cold counter.
Once your dough’s ready for proofing, simply cover the glass tray with the DoughBed’s cork lid and place the tray and lid on the DoughBed’s electric base, which heats up to just the right temperature for your bread microbes to thrive. The bowl’s wide base helps the bread dough heat evenly and quickly, and the DoughBed’s single temperature target works with remarkable consistency all throughout the year, giving you perfect loaves even in autumn or winter months.
Oval = the Best Shape for Dough Handling
The DoughBed is perfect for home bakers looking to upgrade their bread game. The oblong oval shape of the glass bowl is ideal for mixing, kneading, and folding with both your hands, and the cork lid and base don’t just give the DoughBed its rustic aesthetic, they’re key to helping your dough maintain its temperature efficiently, and the cork base prevents heat-loss into your kitchen counter.
The DoughBed’s base operates with just 10W of power (that’s 75% less than an oven light), relying on a USB cable that can be wound up and tucked into the underside of the base when not in use. The cork lid comes with a removable, food-safe polypropylene liner, and both the glass bowl and polypropylene liner are dishwasher safe. We’d recommend not washing the cork to ensure it lasts longer. The DoughBed starts at a discounted $175 for backers – that’s a lot cheaper than the Le Creuset you’d mix and proof your sourdough loaf in.
Wacom was once an industry leader in the sketching tablet PC market. However, it’s no match for the deadly combo of the new iPad Pro M4 and the Apple Pencil Pro. Announced at the iPad keynote yesterday, the new Pencil Pro packs features so unique, it makes regular capacitive styluses look like tools from the Stone Age. The new Pencil Pro has a new squeeze gesture to activate quick menus, can track rotation to have objects and brushes rotate in real-time (known as barrel roll), and even has a haptic motor for feedback – while still packing features from previous models like the hover feature, pressure and tilt sensitivity, and low-latency. If all that wasn’t enough, the Pencil Pro even has Find My support, allowing you to locate your stylus if it ever gets lost. The Wacom Pro Pen 3 on the other hand, has buttons.
Styluses have existed for decades at this point, and if you asked anyone ten years back which was the most well-designed stylus and tablet combo for creatives, the answer would invariably be something from Wacom’s lineup. The company had three options back in the day, the budget Wacom Bamboo, the mid-range Wacom Intuos, and the flagship Wacom Cintiq. Apart from the Cintiq, none of the other tablets had screens – they were just massive trackpads that you could only draw on with styluses. The Cintiq was the closest thing to an iPad – it had a screen, allowed multi-touch gestures, and came with controls galore… the only problem was that it didn’t work independently, it needed to be tethered to a desktop or laptop to work. The Cintiq, along with the Intuos and Bamboo, came with a stylus that featured a pressure and tilt-sensitive tip, along with programable buttons that let you undo or redo tasks, and a stylus tip on the back of the pen also that activated the eraser, mimicking how most pencils come with erasers on their reverse tip. The styluses also operated without batteries, allowing for hours of sketching without needing to charge the pen periodically.
The Wacom Cintiq Pro is anywhere between 5-8 times thicker than the 2024 iPad Pro
Cut to yesterday when Apple dropped the iPad Pro M4 and the comparison is incredibly stark. For starters, whenever anyone asks me whether they should buy an iPad or a Wacom, the answer is almost always the former… because when you’re not sketching on the Wacom, it’s useless, but when you’re not sketching on the iPad, it’s still an iPad. The difference seems even greater with the new iPad Pro being Apple’s thinnest device yet at just 5.1mm thick, while the 16-inch Wacom Cintiq is a whopping 25mm thick – 5 times thicker than its competitor. Cut to the larger 22-inch Cintiq and it’s a staggering 40mm thick, or the equivalent of 8 iPad Pros stacked one on top of the other.
However, a hardware comparison between a trillion-dollar electronics giant and Wacom, that’s valued at just half a billion dollars doesn’t seem fair. What does seem fair, however, is to just look at one singular product to see how far Apple’s outpaced its competition – the humble stylus. Wacom played a critical role in perfecting its EMR stylus technology, which was game-changing a decade or so ago. The pens ran without batteries, could sense pressure and tilt with stunning accuracy, and an eraser on the rear, becoming the creative industry’s go-to for digital sketching. When Apple debuted the Pencil, it had the same features except without any buttons. The Pencil 2, on the other hand, got a tap feature that let you swap between brush and eraser, and a unique charging mechanism that allowed you to charge your stylus simply by snapping it to the side of an iPad (it subsequently also got a hover function with newer iPad models). Apple’s newly announced Pencil Pro, which dropped yesterday, however, is an entirely different beast.
The new Pencil Pro has the hover function, lets you squeeze to activate a quick menu, and even supports barrel rolls that allow you to rotate brushes or objects simply by rotating your stylus. In true Apple fashion, it doesn’t have any buttons on it, but you can still tap to alternate between brush and eraser, and you even get a brush preview when your stylus is near the screen, letting you know how your brush is oriented. If all that wasn’t enough, the new Pencil Pro even packs Apple’s Find My feature, letting you locate a lost pencil through your iPad or iPhone.
The Pencil Pro can be squeezed to activate a quick menu
A great stylus on the iPad Pro, which already comes with an industry-leading chip, laptop-grade performance, a brilliant camera setup and LiDAR sensor, and an app store, basically makes the iPad or Wacom question moot. The only true advantage Wacom’s tablets have at this point is that they’re bigger than iPads, starting at 16 inches and maxing out at 27 inches diagonally. They also cost MUCH more than the iPad Pros, with the Cintiq Pro 16″ starting at $1599, and the Cintiq Pro 27″ having an eye-watering $3499 price tag. That’s Vision Pro territory for a sketching tablet.
The haptic motor gives you feedback when you squeeze the Pencil Pro
There still is a market for Wacom products. They’re massive, preferred by the hardcore animation and visual industries, and are platform-agnostic, which means you can easily run Windows or Linux programs on them, which most power users will appreciate over being limited to the iPadOS. But for the most part, the iPad Pro and Pencil Pro are so far ahead of their competition at this point, that they’ve made Wacom’s tablets (an already niche creative-focused gadget) even more niche… almost to the point of obscure.
It’s the year 2024 and if you’re still manually rotating your screwdrivers, you’re doing something wrong. Meet the SES Nano, a ridiculously compact electric screwdriver that’s no larger than a pencil and weighs a paltry 2 ounces or 58 grams. Arrowmax, the folks behind the SES Nano, has practically perfected the art of electric screwdrivers, and the SES NANO builds on the backs of all that research and development. This tiny screwdriver packs 5 torque settings, peaking at 5 kgf.cm that’s powerful enough to work with even the tightest screws. A simple two-button interface lets you easily choose whether you want to rotate the screwdriver clockwise or counter-clockwise, letting you tighten or loosen screws without any elbow grease. Just load one of the SES NANO’s 52 bits, hold the driver in place, press the button, and watch the magic happen. The SES NANO’s tiny design makes it a no-brainer against most conventional electric drivers that are much larger, and is perfect for your workshop or DIY kit whether you’re working with watches or phones, laptops, computers, drones, tiny models, or even your spectacles.
Despite its compact size and measuring just over 5 inches in length and weighing a mere 58 grams, the SES NANO boasts an impressive torque output of up to 5.0 kgf.cm at 250 RPM. This translates to tackling various projects, from repairing delicate electronics like smartphones and glasses with precision control to confidently assembling flat-pack furniture. The lightweight design, crafted from a single piece of high-grade CNC aluminum alloy, ensures durability while making it easy to maneuver and reducing fatigue during use. Simple one-button operation with clear forward and reverse controls ensures user-friendliness for anyone, regardless of DIY experience.
The SES NANO goes beyond just being small and convenient. With its ingenious design that integrates a robust output circuit board, a precision gearbox, and a secure bit-locking mechanism seamlessly into a single unit, it prioritizes both efficiency and precision. This innovative design minimizes the overall volume of the power unit while maximizing its effectiveness. An LED display keeps you informed about critical details like the current battery level (displayed as a percentage), the selected torque mode (out of 5 available modes), and charging status. Strategically placed 4 LED lights on the chuck illuminate the work area, providing a shadowless light source for focused operation, especially in tight or poorly lit environments.
The SES NANO comes with a comprehensive set of 59 S2 steel screwdriver bits, including commonly used Phillips, star, and nut driver heads, all featuring a standard 4mm hex shank for secure fitment within the driver. This wide variety of bits ensures you’re equipped to handle most screw types you might encounter during various DIY tasks. The inclusion of a handy 58mm extension tip further enhances the SES NANO’s versatility, allowing you to reach and tackle screws in tight spaces or deep recesses that may otherwise be inaccessible with a standard screwdriver. The universal Type-C charging port, a common connector found in most modern devices, ensures convenient and hassle-free power top-ups using a power bank, laptop, or any USB-C wall charger. The best part, you can access the SES Nano’s charging port right through the case, allowing you to juice your screwdriver without even taking it out!
Each SES NANO ships with its all-encompassing case that contains the driver itself along with 52 well-arranged driver bits to choose from, ranging from common to specialty bits. The case also contains an extender tool that lets you extend the reach of your SES NANO to access hard-to-reach spots or sunken screws, a magnetizer that helps you re-magnetize bits, and finally a USB-C charging cable for your device. The SES NANO starts at a discounted $59, and ships globally starting June 2024.
Why do cars have air-filled tires? And why do spring suspensions exist as separate entities? What if someone just made tires out of springs, wouldn’t that kill two birds with the same stone? Moreover, spring tires would be more durable, wouldn’t require air, and could therefore never get punctured. All of these questions make a lot of sense, and to be honest, Germans even experimented with spring tires in the 1900s during rubber shortages, but soon reverted back to good-old air-filled rubber tires soon thereafter, sticking to it when they developed the autobahn too.
A YouTuber by the name of Garage54 decided to put this experiment to the test, just to see how things would play out. Instead of rubber treads, G54’s car was outfitted with wheels made of springs in the hopes of being able to travel well on snowy roads and off-road trails. Hate to give you spoilers, but the experiment almost instantly failed, in part because metal doesn’t make a good rubber substitute, and also because G54 quite literally welded springs to his tire. However, it was a great starting point for what I personally think is a pretty unique theory. The design could be optimized, material considerations could be made, and if there’s anyone I trust with getting things right, it’s The Q, who designed the Wheelless Bicycle we saw last year!
Designer: Garage 54
The project started, as most do, with seeing an image on the internet of a spring tire from the early 20th century – designed to boost off-roadability. Of course, good ideas have a certain sticky nature to them, so the fact that nobody uses spring tires anymore was a warning sign to begin with… but then again, I bet you’re just as curious as I am. What if you replaced bouncy rubber tires with bouncy spring tires? How much of a difference could it really make?!
The process of attaching springs to the wheel was quite literally as simple as sanding down the wheel, bending a few massive springs, and welding them in place. To make sure the springs don’t make direct contact with the ground (and potentially destroy the roads), an extra metal strip was then welded around the rim.
A look at the springs that were going to be attached to the wheel
Bending and spot-welding the springs in place
Attaching the rim
Finally, the new tires got a spray of red paint to increase their visibility. Even in their new avatar, they were just about as thick as the original wheels, making the modification incredibly easy.
G54 then attached the tires to his Mercedes-Benz G-Class
The tires, however, ran into a few snags as G54 drove the car on sludgy snowy roads. For starters, metal doesn’t provide much friction, so even though the spring shape promised to easily conquer off-road paths, the tires tended to either rotate in place or slip in all four directions. Secondly, rubber and air are infinitely lighter than steel springs, so the new wheels added immense weight to the car, causing it to literally sink in the snow – this happened especially when the car was stationary. What also didn’t help the weight problem was the fact that snow managed to fill right up inside the hollow spring tires, adding to the vehicle’s bulk. The springs also managed to catch stray twigs and branches, creating more problems than they solved. And as far as suspension was concerned, the new wheels hardly offered any improvements.
Although an instant flop, the experiment had a few areas of improvement. For starters, manually welding together a metal wheel will result in imperfections that then affect the car’s performance. However, before we dismiss metal tires entirely, it’s worth noting that NASA has been extensively testing airless metal mesh wheels for its Mars rover, allowing the vehicle to quite literally drive on the most off-road terrain mankind has ever witnessed! If NASA can do it, I’m sure us normies could figure something out too!
Hot on the heels of the new Beats Solo 4 headphones and Solo Buds earbuds, eagle-eyed fans spotted F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo and basketball star LeBron James carrying what appears to be a brand new Beats Pill speaker. This has ignited speculation about a potential revival of the popular portable speaker line, discontinued in early 2022.
The original Beats Pill, launched in 2012, quickly gained a loyal following for its compact size, bold design, and surprisingly good sound quality. After Apple acquired Beats in 2014, they introduced the slightly larger Pill+ in 2015, addressing some sound quality concerns and adding a Lightning port for charging (likely to be replaced with USB-C in the new iteration).
These celebrity sightings with the new Pill come across as a calculated marketing strategy, similar to how the Beats Pill gained traction in the past. The new Beats Pill maintains the familiar pill-shaped design of its predecessors, measuring roughly 8 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. It retains the clean look with just the Beats logo adorning the front grille. A continuous rubberized strip separates the front and back speaker grilles, and rubber feet on the bottom keep it from rolling around.
For reference, the discontinued Pill+ earned praise for its significantly improved sound quality thanks to an internal redesign. It also sported a Lightning port for charging, which will likely be swapped for USB-C in this new iteration. The Pill+ offered a respectable battery life of 12 hours. While details remain scarce, the leaked images show a design that stays true to the classic Beats Pill silhouette. A lanyard attachment hints at portability remaining a key feature.
At first glance, it’s entirely possible to think that the NEO SPIN is just a fidget spinner… Take a second or third look and you’ll realize that it’s so much more. Building on the craze of fidget toys, designers Sundeep Rajula and Pratapa Sanaga created a Minimalist, Multi-functional EDC gadget not just to fidget, but one that doubles as a gaming apparatus as well as a measuring device. Precision machined out of premium-grade brass and 304 stainless steel, the gadget is haute EDC at its finest, with a touch of fun. It takes equal inspiration from regular fidget spinners as well as roulette wheels and other spin games, combining the tactile joy of one, along with the suspense of the other. What’s more, the NEO SPIN’s also designed to be modular, allowing you to swap out the spinning disc inside and replace it with something different to serve an altogether new purpose. Each disc bestows its own function to the NEO SPIN, turning it into either a roulette wheel, a gaming die, or even a measuring device.
The NEO SPIN is designed to be perfectly handy, fitting right into your palm and practically begging to be fidgeted with. Two machined brass caps sit on either side, with a centrally-located gorgeous knurled Stainless Steel Disc that makes it easy to spin. A window in the brass cap lets you see the results of the spinning disc when it comes to a stop.
Load the Disc of your choice. Choose a Particular game you wish to play. Spin the Disc and Stop after a few seconds. Align the result with the arrow on the case.
The joy of using the NEO SPIN is compounded by the the presence of different discs, like the one with multi-game graphics or the roulette wheel, or even the special Dungeons & Dragons disc. Alternatively, swap out the fun for function with the measuring disc that lets you accurately chart distances. A ball-bearing at the center of each disc makes the spinning effortless, and the disc can randomly be stopped simply by pressing you thumb or finger on the knurled disc to ‘brake’ the movement. It’s a brilliantly fun fidget activity that also turns into a decision-making interaction. An arrow etched under the window tells you where you’ve landed on the disc, preventing ambiguity and cheating.
An easy-to-open design lets you access and swap out the discs, choosing from a wide range of pre-designed discs or even having your own custom-engraved disc of choice. The standard discs allow the NEO SPIN to transform into a gaming device, a decision-making aid, or even measuring. The measuring disc comes in both imperial as well as metric measurements, and simply rolling the NEO SPIN on a linear or non-linear surface allows you to measure distances with remarkable accuracy.
Each NEO SPIN measures 40mm wide (1.5 inches) and 10mm thick (0.03 inches), weighing just 70 grams (2.4 ounces), making it perfectly palm-sized for fidgeting throughout the day. The $49 Standard Pack of the NEO SPIN ships with three discs – one for roulette or gaming, one specifically for DND, and a third for measuring. Upgrading to $69 lets you get a custom disc of your own made, perhaps with names of friends/colleagues so you can decide who pays the bill at a restaurant after dinner! After all, tossing coins is so old-school!
There’s a massive missing link between tech companies and tech reviewers… and instead of fixing it, we’re playing the blame game.
The backlash following bad reviews from MKBHD and other tech outlets like The Verge, Engadget, and CNET has been swift from the AI community. The internet is ablaze, either blaming Marques Brownlee for being too harshly critical in his review of the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 device… or shaming Humane and Rabbit for not delivering on what they promised. The blame, however, lies on the inherent relationship between the two parties. Like two people who aren’t emotionally ready to date, these AI companies shouldn’t have even shipped their products to tech reviewers.
The job of a tech reviewer, as its name rather simply suggests, is to provide an objective (or sometimes even a subjective) analysis of a product for their consumers/viewers. Tech Reviewers highlight technology through the lens of ‘Is this worth the money or not’… The problem, however, is that Humane and Rabbit needed beta testers, not tech reviewers.
Who’s to blame?
Let’s look at every single stakeholder in this AI charade and you’ll see that there’s some blame to go around for everyone. The first reaction, and justifiably so, is to blame Humane and Rabbit. They overpromised, underdelivered, hyped the product, raked in tonnes of VC and preorder money, but couldn’t stick the landing. Companies all across the world have been rushing to develop the ‘next iPhone’, and while Samsung has hedged all its bets on folding devices, and Apple on a $3400 headset, Humane and Rabbit happened to be at the right place at the right time with the right buzzwords. Imagine this, an AI assistant powerful enough to do anything you ask – it’s literally something out of a sci-fi movie, and that’s precisely what these companies hoped we’d think. They weren’t wrong. However, they committed the cardinal sin of the entrepreneur – they pitched something that didn’t exist. Sure, this wasn’t as detrimental as the stunts Elizabeth Holmes or Sam Bankman-Fried pulled, but in essence, it was still a far-fetched lie or rather a very convenient truth. An AI that does everything you ask doesn’t exist and probably won’t for a while… but a cute design or a body-mounted projector was more than enough to deceive us… and for the sake of this argument, let’s operate under the good-faith assumption that Humane and Rabbit didn’t know they were pushing a bad product.
Why the hardware trickery though? Why did Humane and Rabbit NEED to build hardware devices that looked fancy/quirky/cool? Here’s where the blame shifts to the powers that be – Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. For every reviewer that said the Humane AI Pin or Rabbit R1 “could’ve been a smartphone app”, there are thousands of engineers at these companies building JUST THAT. It’s no coincidence that Humane and Rabbit BOTH had their products publicly reviewed well before Google I/O and Apple’s WWDC. Rumor has it that Apple and Google are just waiting to launch AI assistants with similar features, tying into all the smartphone-related services. These large companies have repositories of consumer data, and they have a powerful influence, putting them miles ahead of the starting line when it comes to the AI race. The only way Humane and Rabbit could escape the clutches of these companies was to isolate themselves completely from them. Not to mention, there’s absolutely no way Apple would allow a third-party smartphone app to have Humane or Rabbit’s level of control over your entire device. Sure, Humane and Rabbit could have made all-powerful AI assistant apps, but they A. wouldn’t be as impressive or attractive, and B. they’d be doomed to fail because of the goliath forces that are Apple and Google.
A snippet of the Twitter outrage following MKBHD’s review. Ironically, Sam Sheffer (new media head for Humane) admits the software is bad, while the product sells for $700
A venture capitalist’s job, in Shark Tank parlance, is to “pour gasoline on a fire”, so there’s definitely some blame to share here too. AI became a buzzword in the second half of 2022 and it’s been on the top of everyone’s mind ever since. I don’t blame VCs for seeing potential in the ideas that Humane and Rabbit came up with, but if there’s one thing that absolutely pisses me off, it’s the fact that they took the criticism of Humane and Rabbit’s devices a little too personally. After all, a VC thrives on value creation – take that away and you have a very angry person who’s poured millions into a project that now doesn’t have anywhere to go. However, bad products and bad companies are all too common in the VC world. What they didn’t expect, however, was their golden goose (AI) to lay a rotten egg.
It’s easy to say that tech reviewers were simply doing their job and deserve no blame (after all, I’m a tech reviewer too), but the truth is that the reviewers also share a bit of blame in this entire cycle of events. However, not for the reason you think. Arguably, Marques Brownlee deserves praise for being forthright with his review – some reviewers would probably hesitate to say something bad about a company if there was sponsorship money involved – and although MKBHD didn’t have any financial stake in this product, they spoke their mind (as did every other reviewer). But that isn’t where the problem lies. The problem lies with the hype train that tech reviewers both create and ride. These reviewers are, by nature of their profession, enthusiasts when it comes to technology – so it’s no surprise that they were the biggest cheerleaders of Humane and Rabbit 5-6 months back when the products were first teased. If anything, the media should have balanced their enthusiasm with a pinch of real-world salt. Had that been the case, these disastrous reviews would’ve stung less under the pretext of the age-old “I told you so”…
Dave2D’s review of the Rabbit R1 device may just be the most sensible, erudite take on the internet.
So what’s the solution?
If the last few years have proven anything, it’s that designers and companies operate in such secrecy, they often don’t put themselves in the shoes of the consumer to begin with. With Tesla pushing the steering yoke over a wheel even though consumers have been begging for the latter, with Apple needing EU regulators to force them into adopting USB-C, with Google cancelling products left right and center against the wishes of their consumers, or firing employees who object to their technology being used for warfare (whoops, I went there), there’s a massive disconnect between what companies do and what consumers want. Even though at a smaller scale, Humane and Rabbit seem to find themselves in a similar soup. Whether it’s the holier-than-thou attitude that’s hard-coded into being an entrepreneur, or whether it’s a bunch of VCs deciding what’s good for the public, the one voice that seems to constantly be left out of the room is that of consumers… and their only representative for now is the humble tech reviewer, who actually is incentivized to see things from their points of view. Sadly, that also means Marques Brownlee ends up being in the line of fire when he has to call an AI gadget ‘the worst product he’s ever reviewed’…
The solution lies in reimagining how products are developed and promoted. Humane and Rabbit needed beta testers, not reviewers, who would’ve helped them swallow the hard pill that is the realization that their product isn’t ready for the real world. After all, it’s better to hear that bitter truth behind closed doors instead of an influencer saying it on YouTube… right?
I guess the exploding Death Star metaphor works well here considering it also explodes kernels of corn.
Meet the Death Star Popcorn Maker, an intergalactic-themed appliance that gets you ready for any movie night in minutes. Designed to look like Darth Vader’s cosmic headquarters, this contraption whips up a bowl of popcorn without relying on a drop of oil or butter. It uses a clever vortex of hot air that super-heats the corn kernels up, making them pop. The air then carries the popped kernels out of the heat chamber, giving you popcorn that’s perfectly cooked without getting burnt… and without any unpopped kernels.
Created by the folks at Uncanny Brands, this popcorn maker is perfect for your May 4th ritual of watching every Star Wars movie made (you may require the entire weekend for that program if you commit to it). The Death Star Popcorn Maker comes in two parts, the base of the planet is where the action happens – corn is popped without oil or butter, using pure heated air. Once it’s popped, the corn rises to the top where it collects in a transparent cloche, getting dispensed in the upper half of the Death Star, which conveniently becomes your popcorn bowl!
The air vortex technology is clever for a bunch of reasons. From just a health point of view, the idea of having popcorn without copious amounts of butter or oil just feels less sinful – sure, you can absolutely add butter to your corn after it’s popped. The lack of grease means the Popcorn Maker doesn’t need cleaning up after either – all you need to do is empty out any unpopped kernels. Popcorn pops evenly with a nearly 98% success rate, and the air vortex automatically pushes the popped corn upwards and out into the bowl, so you’re never left with any burnt flavor. You can then easily season your corn with powders and spices of your choice.
When all’s said and done, simply lift the transparent cover and place the popcorn bowl back on top and your popcorn maker magically transforms back into a Death Star replica, looking less like a kitchen appliance and more like fan memorabilia!
Dubbed the OutIn Nano, this little flask-shaped beauty is your key to a golden cup of coffee literally anywhere. Use it indoors, outdoors, or even in the sky – the OutIn Nano Portable Espresso Maker lets you pull a shot of espresso anywhere, letting you relish your coffee whenever you want. Even equipped with its own water heater, the Nano will warm up your water as it brews the coffee, which means you really don’t need anything apart from an empty cup and a caffeine craving.
Designer: OutIn
The OutIn Nano is perhaps the only portable espresso maker that will heat your water for you. Sure, other portable espresso makers boast a compact design, but every single one of them needs you to add your own hot water. That really isn’t a concern for the OutIn Nano, which has its own heating coil that ensures you get a perfect espresso shot even if all you have is tap water or mineral water around. The vertical flask-shaped design lets you add water to the top, and either a Nespresso or Keurig pod at the bottom, or a small puck filled with your own coffee grounds. A single-button interface gets your coffee brewing, and a built-in pump extracts your espresso right into the OutIn Nano’s cap, which serves as a nifty cup.
A 7500mAh battery powers the OutIn Nano, heating up water in just 200 seconds. Alternatively, you could just add hot water the way you would with any other portable espresso maker and that should speed up the process. The battery life also significantly differs between cold and hot water, with the OutIn Nano brewing 5 cups of coffee if you add cold water and rely on the built-in water heater feature, or a stunning 200 cups of coffee on a full battery if you use pre-heated water.
The resulting coffee is deliciously authentic, with a rich crema created by heating/brewing at 92°C/198°F and passing the water through the coffee grounds at an impressive 20 bars of pressure. The entire cycle takes just 4 minutes from start to finish (if you use the water heater), giving you your espresso. The OutIn Nano holds as much as 80ml of water, which is more than enough for a double-shot, allowing you to either drink your coffee neat or turn it into an Americano or a latte by adding water or milk.
Weighing just 700 grams, the OutIn Nano was practically built for the outdoors. It comes in 5 colors, charges via USB (even working with your car charger), and ships in a soft-shell case that includes the entire coffee-making kit. Heck, the Nano even won both the Red Dot and iF Design Award last year for its impressively compact design.
Even tinier than the PS5 Slim that launched in October last year, this fan-made gaming rig is small enough to slide into a backpack, has a glowing PS logo on the front, docks and charges two DualShock controllers on either side, and has a thermal performance that almost matches up to the regular PS5. Designed by YouTuber NFC, this ‘PlayStation Mini’ relies on a reimagined architecture and an external disc drive that helps cut space by nearly 70%, giving you a final console that’s merely 30% the size of its original self. No Ozempic was involved…
Designer: Not From Concentrate
When rumors of the PS5 Slim began making rounds on the internet, YouTuber NFC (short for Not From Concentrate) hoped that Sony would radically shrink the console and make the disc drive external instead of detachable. Instead, we got a marginally smaller console that had a disc drive that could only be used by snapping it onto the side of the vertical console. Not that anything’s wrong with the PS5 Slim, we think it’s an iteratively improved console, but NFC definitely found himself wanting more. The journey he embarked on is one that not all of us can take – it involved deep designing, engineering, and using CNC machines and 3D printers to build everything from new outer housings to inner thermal architectures, and even adding a logo and backlight to make it something so professional it looked like it came out of Sony’s own headquarters.
The resulting PS5 Mini is probably a one-off unit that NFC built for the YouTube video (you can watch the entire thing above), but it’s a sheer work of art and engineering. Anyone can rip circuitry off from the existing PS5 and cram it into a new plastic body… but only a few of them can do such a great job that the resulting PS5 Mini has a performance that rivals its bigger sibling. In fact, the tinier console is nearly 3.3 liters in volume, making it significantly smaller than the 10.5-liter PS5. It’s so small it fits into most backpacks and is no larger than a thick book.
The PS5 Mini comes with a construction featuring metal, plastic, and even carbon fiber parts. It has a completely new heat sink, a new chassis, outer body with massive grills on the side for air flow, a new fan, and even backlit plastic components that glow blue when the machine’s on. It also features not one but two DualShock controller docks that also charge your controllers when put in place, doing something that even the OG PlayStation couldn’t.
The new build features up to 20 redesigned components that were either made in NFC’s studio workshop on his CNC machine or 3D printer, or ordered from a fabrication website. The size of the new PS5 Mini was determined by the motherboard, which was a compact rectangular little component that served as the starting point for the console’s design. NFC uses a Black-Ridge CPU Cooler heat sink, and even a new fan and fan controller because the original PS5’s fan is a massive component that played a major role in what made the original console so big. NFC explains that Sony prioritized console ‘quietness’ with the old design, owing to the large fan size (larger fans move more air at slower speeds, creating less noise). The power supply was replaced with a smaller 250W GaN one, the front was capped off with carbon fiber that contrasted the white outer body beautifully, and NFC used the original PS5’s status LEDs to light up a new PS logo that now adorned the front.
The stand charges the controllers even when it’s switched off.
An external disc drive made sense, allowing the PS5 to be web-based when needed, and disc-based when plugged in.
Surprisingly, even the thermals match up to the original, with idle temperatures being a mere 1°C hotter, and gaming temperatures hitting a marginal but impressive 4°C hotter than the original. The way NFC did this is by literally wiring temperature probes into the different parts of the console to get a holistic reading of the console’s temperature at all times. The new fan works in theory, but NFC does point out that making everything smaller means having a marginally noisier fan. Luckily, this could easily be taken care of by placing the console near some speakers, that would wash out the fan’s sound.
The problem with racing simulator rigs are that they aren’t designed by automotive designers, they’re designed by gamers. Most sim-racers are fairly utilitarian looking, with an almost bare-basics cockpit-inspired design focusing on real-world feel. The most aesthetic part is almost always the driver’s seat, and everything else looks like a naked chassis. Not the Pininfarina Formula though… designed by Fabio Bilotta, this concept piece brings the world of automotive art and gaming together to create a rig so unique it’ll garner stares the same way a hypercar does.
Designer: Fabio Bilotta
The Pininfarina Formula combines sleek aesthetics with user-centered functionality. Paying homage to the iconic shape of the Istanbul Air Traffic Control Tower, it embodies a blend of sophistication and dynamism. The secret to the Pininfarina Formula’s sculptural beauty lies in its meticulous material selection. Carbon fiber offers a perfect balance of strength and lightness, while reinforced plywood ensures long-lasting durability. Stainless steel adds a touch of class, and genuine leather elevates the experience with a luxurious feel.
The Pininfarina Formula models itself ergonomically on Formula 1 cars, positioning the user’s feet at shoulder height for optimal control and mimicking the posture of professional racers. But it doesn’t stop there. The setup is designed to adapt to individual needs. The pedal sledge and steering wheel housing are both fully adjustable, allowing users of all heights and preferences to find their perfect racing position.
Whether you prefer the immersive world of virtual reality or the classic experience of a traditional screen, the Pininfarina Formula caters to your taste. Its adaptable design seamlessly integrates with different gaming setups, ensuring you can enjoy your favorite racing titles in the way that suits you best. The setup comes without a wheel or pedals, giving you the ability to attach your own, based on your preferences as well as your budget… although if you’re splurging on a Pininfarina-inspired rig, is money really an object for you?!
Just in time for Apple’s May 7th event, Blackmagic announced the Micro Control Panel, a tiny, keyboard-sized controller that takes your iPad color grading to a whole new level. Dock your latest iPad Pro in the Micro Control Panel, fire up the DaVinci Resolve app, and this tiny rig rivals most color-grading setups. Designed for professional as well as novice videographers and unveiled at NAB 2024 this year, the new portable control panel features a mounting slot for an Apple iPad Pro, an internal battery, supports both Bluetooth and USB-C connections, and boasts an affordable $495 price tag.
Designer: Blackmagic
Standing out for its portability, the DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel is roughly the size of a keyboard. Don’t be fooled by its size, though. This panel packs a punch with high-quality trackballs and machined knobs for precise control over color correction. Whether you’re adjusting shadows, highlights, or saturation, the tactile feedback provided by these controls allows for nuanced fine-tuning.
Beyond color correction, the panel offers a range of transport and grading controls conveniently positioned around the edges. With these buttons at your fingertips, you can navigate your project timeline, set stills, and execute other commands with ease, significantly speeding up your workflow. Notably, some of these controls were previously exclusive to the larger DaVinci Resolve Mini and Advanced panels.
For existing DaVinci Resolve users, the Micro Color Panel offers a familiar feel. The trackballs boast a similar professional design, and the shift keys mimic the layout of higher-end panels. This ensures a smooth transition for experienced colorists while offering a user-friendly introduction for beginners.
An exciting feature for creators on the go is the integrated battery and Bluetooth connectivity. Ditch the cables and achieve wireless control over your color grading suite. This makes the Micro Color Panel ideal for location shoots or editing suites with limited space. But don’t worry, traditionalists can still connect via USB-C if desired.
The biggest perk might be the price tag. At $495, the DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel is significantly more affordable than its larger counterparts. This opens the door for a wider range of editors and colorists to experience the power of dedicated control panels and take their creative output to the next level.
Remember the Playdate console from 2019? If you don’t, here’s a refresher – the Playdate made the rounds on the internet at a time when gaming was becoming quite the craze. Google had just announced Stadia, Apple had recently unveiled their subscription-based games service, and among all that news, the Playdate emerged as this bastion of retro handheld gaming. It came with a quirky, bold design courtesy of Teenage Engineering, and sported a unique hand-cranked control that promised to add a new dimension to your gaming experience. With a retro black and white screen and the promise of immersing you in nostalgia, the Playdate garnered quite a bit of a fan following, but that doesn’t seem to be all on the horizon. The console’s maker, Panic, has just announced a new docking station for the console. Quite similar to Nintendo’s dock, this one lets you attach the gaming device to the dock for charging… but that’s not all. The Stereo Dock, as it’s named, also serves as a Bluetooth speaker, as well as a stand for the Playdate’s stylus, a new input device for the gaming console!
With a design that mirrors the Playdate console’s aesthetic perfectly, the Stereo Dock is a quirky retro-punk box that sits on your desk with speaker grilles on either side, a stylus popping out the top, and a very old-school kickstand at the bottom that lets you prop the dock up at an angle. Along with the Playdate console, it almost looks like a tiny retro television with buttons on the bottom and an antenna on the top!
The Playdate console snaps right onto the front of the dock and begins charging wirelessly. The dock doesn’t just serve as a speaker for the console, but also as a general stereo speaker that you can connect to your phone or any other device for audio playback. The Playdate DOES have a touchscreen interface, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the stylus in the Stereo Dock would work along with the console. If it relies on regular capacitive touch input then the stylus would just as easily work with your smartphone or touchscreen tablet too, which would surely be interesting.
There’s no official launch date for the Stereo Dock, although Panic has had its share of minor delays. Project Lead Greg Maletic said “We apologize to everyone with a Playdate who has been waiting patiently for the Stereo Dock; it’s been a trickier project than we anticipated and we had a few false starts. We thought we’d save some time on that project by having our factory do the software for the Stereo Dock, but we’ve learned that you don’t always necessarily want that in some cases. The Stereo Dock is very much alive, we have the physical prototypes to prove it! We expect to have a formal update on when you can buy one later this year.”
It isn’t easy being a fledgling gaming company dealing with product success – folks who remember Cyberpunk 2077 know how small companies can sometimes get crushed by the burden of expectations, although Panic certainly delivered on its promise by launching the Playdate in 2022 after a few road bumps that also included needing to change battery suppliers due to a serious battery issue. Hopefully, the Stereo Dock will be out sometime later this year, although it’s currently missing an official price tag.
Connexion
