AT&T’s budget-friendly phone for kids was designed with parental controls in mind

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It might be near impossible to be a kid these days without a smartphone, but AT&T wants to offer parents a decent compromise. The wireless carrier launched its AmiGO Jr. Phone, which combines Samsung hardware and AT&T's app, to offer kids a smartphone that has parental controls baked right in.

The AmiGO Jr. Phone is just a Samsung Galaxy A16, which still remains a solid budget smartphone pick with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 6.7-inch display and reliable battery life. However, AT&T tweaked the Samsung hardware into its kid-friendly smartphone by including features like live location tracking, safe zones and screentime restrictions that can be controlled via the AmiGO app. It's not the first time we've seen a smartphone with parental controls, since competitors like Bark and Pinwheel have been on the market for a couple of years now, but it's the first time a major mobile carrier is offering its own standalone product.

As for the AmiGO Jr. Phone, it's now available on AT&T's website for $3 a month, but you'll have to commit to a 36-month contract that provides bill credits. You still have to pay for your monthly service charges as an AT&T customer, but it'll be cheaper than buying a Galaxy A16 outright for $200. For even more security, AT&T also launched its AmiGO Jr. Watch 2 to expand its ecosystem that already includes a tablet designed for kids.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/atts-budget-friendly-phone-for-kids-was-designed-with-parental-controls-in-mind-202200139.html?src=rss

Someone Finally Made Video Meetings Look Like a Game Console

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There’s something deeply satisfying about watching designers take a swing at corporate boredom. Fevertime, a recent collaboration by Dugyeong Lee, Gyeong Wook Kim, MyeongHoon Cheon, and Dayong Yoon, does exactly that by transforming the typical video conference setup into something that looks like it belongs in a mid-80s arcade.

The concept is deceptively simple: what if meetings felt less like mandatory Zoom rectangles and more like gathering around a shared screen? The team created a physical meeting system inspired by retro game consoles, complete with a bright red spherical camera perched on a stand like some cheerful robot companion, and a base unit that wouldn’t look out of place next to your old Nintendo. There are even cartridge-style slots and that unmistakable game controller aesthetic, all rendered in a palette of scorched red, neon accents, and soft grays.

Designers: Dugyeong Lee, Gyeong Wook Kim, MyeongHoon Cheon, dayong Yoon

But this isn’t just nostalgia bait. The designers identified a real problem with modern collaboration tools: everyone staring at their own screens creates this weird isolation, even when you’re supposedly “together” in a virtual room. Fevertime flips that script by projecting content onto a shared surface, encouraging actual eye contact and spatial awareness. The physical device becomes a focal point, something to gather around rather than disappear behind.

The system lets users set up meetings in advance, defining time, participants, and structure before anyone logs on. When the session starts, participants can instantly share content from their personal devices onto the collective display. Everything stays synced and visible to everyone simultaneously. No more “Can you see my screen?” or fumbling through share settings while everyone waits. The interface shows meeting cards, schedules, and project data in a clean, modular layout that feels more like organizing a playlist than managing corporate logistics.

What makes Fevertime visually compelling is how committed it is to the gaming metaphor. The red sphere isn’t trying to look sleek or invisible like most tech hardware. It wants to be noticed. It practically begs to be the conversation starter in the room. The cartridge system for what appears to be different meeting modes or templates plays into that collectible, tactable quality that made physical media so satisfying. You’re not just clicking through digital menus; you’re handling objects, sliding things into slots, physically engaging with the technology.

The UI design carries that same energy. Bright pink highlight screens pop against neutral backgrounds. Typography is bold and condensed, channeling the space constraints of old arcade cabinets where every pixel counted. Cards and modules feel like game level selects or achievement screens. There’s a playful confidence in the branding, with the Fevertime logo rendered in that wavy, almost melting typography that suggests heat and intensity without being aggressive.

The designers describe the project as capturing “a single moment of high-intensity creative output,” that fever state when an idea finally clicks and everything flows. That philosophy shows up in the pulsing, breathing quality of the custom lettering, where font weights fluctuate to create visual rhythm. It’s design that refuses to sit still, much like the creative process it’s trying to facilitate.

From a product design perspective, Fevertime sits in that interesting space between speculative concept and plausible near-future tech. The physical components look production-ready, with thoughtful details like ventilation ridges on the base unit and a weighted stand for the camera sphere. But there’s also a conceptual boldness here, a willingness to say “what if meeting technology looked completely different from what we’re used to?”

The team used Adobe’s creative suite to develop the project, combining Photoshop and Illustrator for the identity work with After Effects for motion elements. That mix of static and animated content gives Fevertime a kinetic presence even in still images. You can imagine the interface cards sliding, the logo pulsing, the whole system humming with that arcade-ready energy.

Whether Fevertime ever makes it to market is almost beside the point. As a design exercise, it asks useful questions about how we physically and emotionally experience collaboration technology. It challenges the assumption that workplace tools need to look serious and minimal. And it demonstrates how pulling from gaming culture can make even something as mundane as meeting software feel fresh and approachable. Sometimes the best design projects are the ones that make you think, “Wait, why doesn’t everything look like this?”

The post Someone Finally Made Video Meetings Look Like a Game Console first appeared on Yanko Design.

We may see Apple’s new iPads and MacBooks in only a matter of weeks

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It's about that time. Apple is gearing up for a slew of hardware announcements that will include upgrades for the entry-level iPad, iPad Air, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, according to Mark Gurman's Power On newsletter. In line with what we've seen in recent years, Gurman reports, "A product launch is currently slated for as early as the week of March 2."

Apple unveiled the M5 MacBook Pro in October, bringing the chip first to the 14-inch model. With the coming announcements, we should see the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips finally arrive. Gurman notes that new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are on the way, along with a new MacBook Air. We're also likely to see new iPads soon. A new entry-level iPad will be able to support Apple Intelligence thanks to the inclusion of the A18 chip, and the iPad Air will be getting the M4, according to Gurman. 

Updates to the Mac Studio and Studio Display are expected to follow, as well as a Mac mini refresh down the line this year. As Gurman previously reported, Apple is also said to be releasing its first "low-cost MacBook" sometime in the very near future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/we-may-see-apples-new-ipads-and-macbooks-in-only-a-matter-of-weeks-192953977.html?src=rss

Steam now lets developers display the exact date of when their game leaves Early Access

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Steam is adding a little more transparency when it comes to Early Access games. Announced in a blog post, Steam introduced a new feature for game developers to add the exact date of when their game would leave Early Access and see a version 1.0 launch. According to Steam, this feature stems from developers who requested a way to display an official launch date.

While games still in Early Access give eager players a way to experience the early stages of a title and contribute towards the development, some games have been stalled in this phase for years. With this new feature, players can see a precise launch date displayed on the game's store page just underneath the Early Access Game note. However, game devs can choose a specific date or a more vague timeframe, including displaying only the year of the expected release.

This new feature lets game devs choose to display when their game leaves Early Access.
Steam

In the blog post, Steam noted that this feature was optional for developers, adding, "just because this feature exists, does not mean you should or must use it." Steam also said that game devs should only offer their player base a concrete date if there's a "very high degree of confidence."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/steam-now-lets-developers-display-the-exact-date-of-when-their-game-leaves-early-access-190413701.html?src=rss

This $400 Wooden Keyboard Goes Through Over 15 Hand-Finishing Steps Before You Can Type On It

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Tech moves fast, breaks things, ships updates, iterates. The entire industry is built on the assumption that this year’s product will be obsolete by next year, and that’s fine because next year’s version will be better anyway. Then you see someone in Fukui Prefecture spending twenty minutes hand-sanding a single wooden keyboard key, checking it by touch, and the whole paradigm feels suddenly optional. Hacoa has been making wooden keyboards this way for four generations now. The current craftspeople learned from their parents, who learned from theirs.

What makes this remarkable isn’t just the craftsmanship, though watching wood move from lumber to finished keys is genuinely mesmerizing. It’s the underlying assumption that contradicts everything tech culture preaches. These keyboards are built to last decades. They’re made from a material that ages visibly, that will show wear and patina and the passage of time. They’re designed for people who want their tools to have history rather than version numbers. And they’re assembled onto standard mechanical keyboard bases, so they actually work for the thing you’d use a keyboard for: typing, every day, for years.

Designer: Hacoa workshop

The process starts with lumber selection, which already tells you everything about how different this is from injection-molded ABS keycaps. Someone at the Hacoa workshop in Sabae City examines the grain patterns and decides which pieces are suitable for a keyboard. They measure carefully so nothing gets wasted, then plane the wood down to uniform thickness. This is furniture-grade attention being applied to something most of us buy on Amazon and forget about. The wood gets machined with multiple blade changes between operations, chamfered at the edges so the corners feel softer under your fingers, then cut into individual key blanks.

Then the hand work begins. Each key gets shaped individually, sanded on the end grain to refine the tactile experience, finished by craftspeople who use their palms as quality control instruments. They’re literally checking by feel whether each key is ready. The surface gets sanded extensively, taking as long as it takes, because rushing would defeat the entire point. Quality verification happens through touch, which is perfect given that touching these keys will be the whole experience once someone owns the keyboard. After that comes laser engraving for the legends, residue cleanup, and final assembly onto a mechanical keyboard base with standard switches.

What gets me is the very deliberate disconnect between effort and function. A $30 membrane keyboard from any big-box store does the same job in purely utilitarian terms. You press keys, letters appear on screen, your email gets written. But we spend hours every day with our hands on these things. The texture matters. The sound matters. Whether the object feels disposable or permanent matters, even if we can’t always articulate why. Hacoa seems to understand that the keyboard isn’t just an input device, it’s the primary physical interface between you and every digital thing you make.

The final product shows visible wood grain variation across every key. Some are lighter, some darker, because that’s what wood does. Each keyboard carries unique patterns that came from whatever tree the lumber came from, which means no two are identical. They’re mounted on dark bases that contrast with the natural wood tones, and the whole thing works with standard mechanical switches. You can actually use this daily without treating it like a museum piece, which honestly makes it more interesting than if it were purely decorative.

Four generations of craftsmanship went into mastering the material and this product category. That timeline alone makes it weird in tech terms, where four generations might mean four years of product iterations. Here it means actual humans passing down technique and judgment through family lines, the kind of knowledge transfer that only happens when someone works beside their parent for years. The current craftspeople at Hacoa learned by watching, by doing it wrong, by developing the muscle memory that lets them know when a piece of wood is ready just by running their hand across it.

I think about planned obsolescence a lot, probably too much. The assumption baked into most consumer tech that you’ll replace it soon anyway, so why build it to last. These keyboards operate in a completely different value system where the goal is creating something worth keeping. Whether that makes financial sense for most people is debatable. Whether it’s a more sane way to think about the objects we use constantly is not.

The post This $400 Wooden Keyboard Goes Through Over 15 Hand-Finishing Steps Before You Can Type On It first appeared on Yanko Design.

The iPhone 17e will reportedly bring some key upgrades without raising the price

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Apple is keeping the entry level for iPhones at $599, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest Power On report, Gurman said that the iPhone 17e is "due imminently" and will keep the same price as its predecessor.

Considering we’re about a year away from the iPhone 16e’s announcement, we’re due for a successor to Apple’s more affordable smartphone. According to Gurman, Apple upgraded the new budget-friendly iPhone with MagSafe charging and the A19 chip that's seen in the iPhone 17 base model. The iPhone 17e will also get Apple's latest in-house cellular and wireless chips, Gurman reported. 

In our review of the iPhone 16e, we weren't particularly sold because of its limited camera capabilities, particularly when compared to the iPhone 17's release a few months later. However, for the same $599 price, Apple's iPhone 17e is getting a few notable upgrades and will compete with Google's Pixel 10a. More specifically, Gurman expects Apple to target the emerging economies and enterprise demographics with the iPhone 17e. While Apple faces a lot more competition in overseas markets, iPhone sales have been experiencing a resurgence in China. Apple is even forecasting strong sales for iPhones across Asia, especially in China and India.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-iphone-17e-will-reportedly-bring-some-key-upgrades-without-raising-the-price-174154577.html?src=rss

Nader Gammas’ Vessels Turns Light Into a Slow, Living Presence

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The Vessels collection feels like a quiet confession from Nader Gammas. Known for lighting defined by brutalist strength and architectural discipline, Gammas takes an unexpected turn inward with this series. The sharp certainty that once shaped his work softens here, replaced by forms that feel grown rather than constructed. These lights do not announce themselves. They linger. They unfold slowly, like something discovered rather than designed.

The inspiration comes from cup fungi, a modest yet mesmerizing group of organisms that bloom close to the earth. Their clustered growth patterns and delicately rippled rims become the emotional backbone of the collection. Instead of rigid symmetry, the vessels curve and open organically, as if responding to an internal logic of growth. Light is not forced outward. It is held, filtered, and gently released, echoing the way fungi cradle moisture and air within their fragile structures.

Designer: Nader Gammas

This natural influence marks a clear departure from the heavy brass and assertive geometries that have long defined Gammas’ work. In Vessels, the language shifts toward softness and restraint. Ceramic takes center stage, valued for its warmth and sensitivity to touch. Its surface carries subtle variations in thickness and texture, details that only emerge through hand shaping. Brass remains present, but now it plays a supporting role, adding quiet warmth rather than visual weight.

Each piece is shaped entirely by hand, without molds or replication. This process ensures that every vessel is singular, carrying its own proportions, curves, and imperfections. The result is a collection that feels almost alive. As light passes through the ceramic forms, it creates a slow interplay of glow and shadow, giving the impression that the object itself is breathing. These are not fixtures designed to disappear into a ceiling or wall. They are characters within a space, each with its own presence and mood.

While the aesthetic has softened, the philosophy behind the work remains firmly rooted. Gammas has always believed that lighting is fundamental to how people experience a space emotionally. That belief traces back to his early life growing up in the United States with Syrian roots, where he developed an instinctive understanding of how form and function shape atmosphere. His academic path, from architecture at the University of Jordan to an MFA in Lighting Design at Parsons School of Design, refined that instinct with technical precision.

Today, with exclusive representation by STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN, Gammas stands confidently on the global design stage. Yet Vessels feels deeply personal, almost like a return to intuition. It is a collection that listens more than it declares, allowing nature to guide form and light to guide emotion.

Vessels is a lighting series, but with a meditation on growth, material, and restraint. Through handmade ceramic forms accented with brass, the collection transforms light into something felt rather than seen, shaping spaces with a quiet and lasting intimacy.

The post Nader Gammas’ Vessels Turns Light Into a Slow, Living Presence first appeared on Yanko Design.

GameSir Pocket Taco : Clamp, Connect & Play, Turns Your Phone Into A GameBoy

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GameSir Pocket Taco : Clamp, Connect & Play, Turns Your Phone Into A GameBoy Phone gameplay running RetroArch while the Pocket Taco supplies power to the device from its 6,000 mAh battery.

What if your smartphone could transform into a retro gaming console, complete with the tactile charm of a GameBoy? The GameSir Pocket Taco makes this dream a reality, blending nostalgia with modern convenience in a way that feels almost too good to be true. In this walkthrough, ETA Prime shows how this compact Bluetooth controller […]

The post GameSir Pocket Taco : Clamp, Connect & Play, Turns Your Phone Into A GameBoy appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.

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This Chair Looks Skeletal But That’s Exactly the Point

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There’s something satisfying about watching minimalism meet function in furniture design, and Denis Zarembo’s Insero Chair does exactly that with an unexpected twist. Based in Moscow, Zarembo has created a piece that challenges how we think about sitting, proving that sometimes the most interesting designs come from playing with basic shapes in not-so-basic ways.

The Insero Chair isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it’s reimagining the seat, backrest, and frame through a lens of geometric precision that feels both contemporary and surprisingly timeless. What makes this design stand out on Behance, where it’s already racked up dozens of appreciations and hundreds of views, is how it balances visual lightness with structural integrity.

Designer: Denis Zarembo

At first glance, the chair appears almost skeletal. Clean lines intersect at deliberate angles, creating a framework that looks like it could have been sketched in a single, confident stroke. But look closer and you’ll notice the thoughtfulness behind each junction point, each curve, each decision about where material exists and where it’s been carved away. This isn’t minimalism for minimalism’s sake. It’s reduction with purpose.

The name “Insero” comes from Latin, meaning “to insert” or “to place within,” which gives us a clue about Zarembo’s design philosophy. The chair seems to explore the relationship between positive and negative space, between what’s there and what’s deliberately absent. The seat appears to nestle within the frame rather than simply sit on top of it, creating an integrated whole that feels more like sculpture than traditional furniture.

What’s particularly clever is how the design manages to look both delicate and sturdy. The slender proportions suggest lightness and mobility, which is increasingly important in our flexible living spaces where furniture needs to work harder and move more freely. Yet the geometric construction hints at strength, with forces distributed through the frame in ways that are as much about engineering as aesthetics.

The chair exists at that sweet spot where industrial design meets art object. You could absolutely see it in a modern apartment or a minimalist office, but you could just as easily imagine it cordoned off in a design museum, being studied for its formal qualities. That dual nature is what makes pieces like this so compelling. They don’t just serve a function; they start conversations.

Zarembo’s work fits into a larger tradition of designers who understand that chairs are never just chairs. They’re statements about how we live, how we work, how we relax. From Charles and Ray Eames to contemporary makers pushing digital fabrication techniques, chair design has always been a proving ground for new ideas. The Insero Chair continues that lineage while speaking in a distinctly current visual language.

The rendering quality also deserves mention. The way Zarembo has presented the chair on Behance shows it from multiple angles, letting viewers appreciate how the geometry shifts depending on perspective. Sometimes it looks almost two-dimensional, like a line drawing come to life. From other angles, the complexity reveals itself, showing depth and dimension you might not initially expect. This careful presentation isn’t just about showing off. It’s essential for understanding how the piece actually works in three-dimensional space.

There’s no information yet about whether the Insero Chair will move into production, but that’s almost beside the point. Concept furniture serves an important role in pushing the conversation forward, in asking “what if?” even when “when?” remains unanswered. These designs influence other makers, spark ideas, and gradually shift our collective sense of what’s possible.

For anyone interested in where contemporary furniture design is heading, pieces like the Insero Chair offer valuable clues. We’re seeing a move away from bulky, overwrought designs toward cleaner silhouettes that don’t sacrifice comfort or functionality. We’re seeing digital tools enable precision that would have been difficult or impossible with traditional methods. And we’re seeing designers like Zarembo who understand that good design doesn’t shout. It speaks clearly, confidently, and leaves room for you to fill in the meaning yourself.

Whether the Insero Chair ends up in living rooms or remains in the realm of conceptual exploration, it’s already doing what good design should: making us look twice, think differently, and reconsider something as everyday as where we choose to sit.

The post This Chair Looks Skeletal But That’s Exactly the Point first appeared on Yanko Design.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Game-Changing AI, But at What Cost?

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Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Game-Changing AI, But at What Cost? Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

The Galaxy S26 Ultra represents a significant leap forward in smartphone technology, showcasing remarkable advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and camera performance. However, it also introduces a contentious limitation in wireless charging that could divide user opinions. Alongside this flagship device, Samsung is unveiling the Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro, which bring notable […]

The post Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Game-Changing AI, But at What Cost? appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.

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