Google recently made its new AI generally available and this guide will help you get started using the new artificial intelligence tools that Google has made available in both its cloud services and also Workspaces. The introduction of Duet AI in Google Workspace has marked a significant shift in the way businesses and individuals can […]
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Apple has changed the design of their iPhone’s back glass with the new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro handsets, the back glass on the handset is designed to be easier to repair than the previous models. This year’s iPhone 15 comes with new color-infused glass according to Apple, so Phone Repair Guru decided to […]
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Laptops have become so powerful that they’ve started to rival some desktops, except for the part that they’re forever limited in how many devices you can attach to them. At most, you’ll probably have five to seven, depending on how thin the laptop tries to be. It’s not really unusual for many owners to expand their portable computer’s capabilities using hubs and docks, especially now with the use of USB-C and the related Thunderbolt technologies almost everywhere. These accessories, small as they may be, still take up space on your desk and can be a source of distraction. So why not put an eye-catching and enviable design on that dock, turning it into a unique homage to the original Apple Macintosh, one of if not the first to blaze a trail for personal computing.
Designer: RayCue
Click Here to Buy Now: $169 $249 (32% off). Hurry, for a limited time only! Raised over $145,000.
You’d be forgiven for mistaking this docking station as a fancy desktop toy, given how cute and attractive it is. The RayCue 128K is basically inspired by the design of the pioneering Macintosh from 1984, from its chunky and boxy design to its off-white paint job. There’s even a keyboard-like partner that uses the same motif to complete the faithful recreation. That design alone already makes it a worthy addition to your desk, bringing life and fun to your work, but it’s more than just a piece of eye candy. It is, after all, a docking station, but it goes above and beyond the call of duty compared to your standard docks.
The RayCue 128K Pro, for example, boasts 14 ports of different kinds, including three different types of USB ports, SD/TF card readers, an Ethernet port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and not one, not even two, but three 4K 60Hz HDMI ports. As if that number wasn’t already impressive, these video out ports support DisplayLink Apple MST (multi-stream transport), making it possible to connect that many extra monitors to your MacBook. With a powerful DC-in capable of accepting up to 130W of power, the RayCue 128K can charge not only your laptop but also other devices for a total of 100W of output.
But as they say on TV, “there’s more!” The screen on the RayCue 128K isn’t just for show and is, in fact, a 3.5-inch IPS color screen that can display the time, calendar, media information, and even photos, turning the dock into a true decorative accessory to enhance your working experience. It doesn’t end there either, since the box also hides a Bluetooth Speaker, making it a jukebox to help keep your focus. It’s going to keep you entertained and productive and might even turn you into the envy of your friends.
Given how it works, you can’t really take the RayCue 128K with you wherever you go. That’s where the RayCue 128K Pocket comes in, a portable 7-in-1 hub that comes in the form of a miniature Macintosh keyboard. It might not have all the bells and whistles of the Pro dock, but it still has plenty to offer, including a 4K 60Hz HDMI port and card readers. If you’re going to put a docking station on your desk, you might as well put something that offers the best impact and experience. With the RayCue 128K Pro and Pocket, not only are you getting a powerful dock and hub, you’re also getting an adorable yet functional decoration that gives a nod to the personal computer that started it all.
The post This adorable miniature Macintosh is actually an innovative multi-functional docking station first appeared on Yanko Design.
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban designed the Paper Log House with his non-governmental organization, Voluntary Architects’ Network, which he founded in 1995. The Log House was created as a shelter for victims of natural disasters in response to the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe, Japan. The model was also installed in Antalya as a school building after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake. It is intended to be easy and quick to construct, and also quite economical. The Pritzker Architecture-prize winning architect has now designed the latest prototype of the Paper Log House for Morocco since it was devastatingly hit by the earthquake on September 8th, 2023.
Designer: Shigeru Ban
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake caused innumerable damage to buildings and claimed over 3000 lives. The prototype is constructed using cardboard tubes, which gives the structure its name. The cardboard tubes function as the columns of the house, and are used to accommodate prefab wood panels. These wood panels form the walls, floor, and roof. The various components are elevated above the ground using a base created from plastic beer crates filled with sandbags. The temporary shelter has been constructed at the National School of Architecture of Marrakech as a symbol of hope, resilience, and support in an extremely difficult time.
Besides providing support through structures and architecture, Shigeru Ban also held a lecture on September 27 where he introduced the Paper Log House and his knowledge and experience in post-disaster support. He also stayed back in Marrakech to visit the affected areas and find potential locations for the Paper Log House.
Shigeru Ban’s humanitarian effort is truly commendable. He is providing valuable support and shelter to victims. In fact, his involvement in disaster relief is spread over three decades, taking into account his work across the globe over the years, from Kobe to L’Aquila, Turkey to Haiti!
The post Shigeru Ban Offers The Paper Log House To Morocco For Disaster Relief Following The Earthquake first appeared on Yanko Design.
At 26 grams (<0.9 ounces), the FeatherLite is the lightest pocket flipper with a 2-inch blade. It comes with a D2 Steel blade sheathed within a titanium-reinforced G10 fiber handle that keeps the entire knife exceptionally light yet incredibly nimble. The FeatherLite even packs a prybar/screwdriver into its design, making it an EDC so light, you probably won’t even realize you’re carrying it with you… until you need it!
Designer: Peak Spec
Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $60 (35% Off) Hurry! Only 5 Days Left!
The title of the ‘world’s lightest folding knife’ isn’t easy to come by, but the FeatherLite manages to achieve this distinction thanks to its clever design. The knife, although built to size, does a great job of cutting down on all non-essentials. It trades an overtly ergonomic design for something that’s easy to grip, but still incredibly slim. The handle uses G10, known for its high strength-to-weight ratio, and its inner titanium frame is practically skeletal while still ensuring the knife stands up even to rough usage.
Being lightweight doesn’t mean the FeatherLite is a microscopic knife (like the one that fits into a US Quarter Coin). The entire folding EDC measures a respectable 2.9 inches when closed, extending up to 4.9 inches when fully open, and clocking in at just 0.27 inches (7mm) in thickness. The 2.9-inch handle is just the right size to grip, with the textured G10 handle giving you enough friction, and a finger groove on the bottom allowing you to easily hold the knife without it slipping away. The 2-inch blade is long enough to get you through most activities too, offering all the functionality of your everyday pocket knife.
The D2 steel blade balances its sharpness and lightweight properties with near perfection. Open the blade and a liner lock effectively secures it in place, ensuring it doesn’t close in on you while you’re working. The blade’s sheepsfoot shape gives it a straight edge that’s dangerously sharp, allowing it to slice through everything from paper to soft wood and even tough leather. The D2 steel construction keeps the blade sharp for a longer time than other steels, although if you’re looking for something more high-performance, the folks at Peak Spec let you upgrade the D2 to an M390 chromium steel instead.
The FeatherLite is useful even with the blade folded back into the handle. A small section of the titanium frame on the reverse end of the handle serves multiple roles, including being a pry-bar, a scraping tool, and a flathead screwdriver. Its hollow design also lets you string the 0.9-ounce EDC knife onto your keychain, letting you carry it everywhere you go.
The perks of a lightweight knife are pretty obvious. The very point of EDC (or everyday carry) is to be able to carry your gear around everywhere you go, every day… so having a knife as compact and ridiculously lightweight as the FeatherLite helps immensely. The folks at Peak Spec mention that it’s “so lightweight, you’ll forget you’re carrying it”… that is, until you end up needing a blade, and voila! It’s right there and it’s more than capable of handling both indoor and outdoor tasks with ease.
The FeatherLite comes in two colors, a bright, highly visible orange, and a complete opposite all-black design that even features an anodized black blade for that stealthy appeal. The beauty of the FeatherLite lies in the fact that it isn’t an explicitly outdoor-focused knife. You can use it to cut fruits and vegetables, open boxes, participate in DIY projects (thanks to the prybar/screwdriver), and even use it for self-defense. In its outdoor capacity, the knife is great for hunting, fishing, carving, camping, etc.
With a $39 price tag, the FeatherLite is an absolute steal for both enthusiasts as well as for people looking to own their first EDC. It’s built to be reliable, is safe to use with its liner-lock mechanism, and is a robust work-horse backed by a lifetime warranty.
Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $60 (35% Off) Hurry! Only 5 Days Left!
Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $60 (35% Off) Hurry! Only 5 Days Left!
The post The World’s Lightest EDC Folding Knife Weighs Less Than an Ounce but Packs an Absolute Punch first appeared on Yanko Design.
The film-focused social media site LetterBoxd has new ownership. Cofounder Matthew Buchanan announced on Friday that Tiny, a venture capital firm, has bought a 60 percent stake in the platform. The New York Times reported that the deal values Letterboxd at over $50 million. Buchanan and fellow founder Karl von Randow will retain minority shareholder positions and continue to lead the company as they insist “very little else will change.”
Founded in 2011, Letterboxd was a rare independently owned social network. It grew significantly during pandemic lockdowns as homebound users sought new movies to stream (and communities to chat with). Lacking the clutter of Amazon-owned IMDb, the website and app provided a haven for film buffs who wanted to write and read reviews, rate movies, create watch lists and socialize with fellow enthusiasts.
Letterboxd’s cofounders frame the move as less about selling out to big money and more a growth opportunity. “Teaming up with Tiny represents a big leap forward for us,” Buchanan and von Randow wrote in a statement. “We see this as a huge win for our community, enabling us to cement Letterboxd’s future with additional resources without sacrificing the DNA of what makes it special.”
The site doesn’t currently support television series, but the founders say they’re working on a way to offer that. They insist they want to incorporate TV shows “only once we know we can do it right.” Letterboxd partnered with Netflix earlier this year, bringing the streaming service’s recommendations to the social platform.
“We’ve been huge fans and users of Letterboxd for a long time and could not be more excited to join forces with Matthew, Karl, and the rest of the team for the long-term,” said Andrew Wilkinson, Co-founder of Tiny. “If you’re running out of things to watch, it’s because you haven’t used Letterboxd yet — and we believe that the potential for superior discovery is a large opportunity.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/letterboxd-sells-a-majority-stake-after-explosive-pandemic-fueled-growth-201646444.html?src=rssThe film-focused social media site LetterBoxd has new ownership. Cofounder Matthew Buchanan announced on Friday that Tiny, a venture capital firm, has bought a 60 percent stake in the platform. The New York Times reported that the deal values Letterboxd at over $50 million. Buchanan and fellow founder Karl von Randow will retain minority shareholder positions and continue to lead the company as they insist “very little else will change.”
Founded in 2011, Letterboxd was a rare independently owned social network. It grew significantly during pandemic lockdowns as homebound users sought new movies to stream (and communities to chat with). Lacking the clutter of Amazon-owned IMDb, the website and app provided a haven for film buffs who wanted to write and read reviews, rate movies, create watch lists and socialize with fellow enthusiasts.
Letterboxd’s cofounders frame the move as less about selling out to big money and more a growth opportunity. “Teaming up with Tiny represents a big leap forward for us,” Buchanan and von Randow wrote in a statement. “We see this as a huge win for our community, enabling us to cement Letterboxd’s future with additional resources without sacrificing the DNA of what makes it special.”
The site doesn’t currently support television series, but the founders say they’re working on a way to offer that. They insist they want to incorporate TV shows “only once we know we can do it right.” Letterboxd partnered with Netflix earlier this year, bringing the streaming service’s recommendations to the social platform.
“We’ve been huge fans and users of Letterboxd for a long time and could not be more excited to join forces with Matthew, Karl, and the rest of the team for the long-term,” said Andrew Wilkinson, Co-founder of Tiny. “If you’re running out of things to watch, it’s because you haven’t used Letterboxd yet — and we believe that the potential for superior discovery is a large opportunity.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/letterboxd-sells-a-majority-stake-after-explosive-pandemic-fueled-growth-201646444.html?src=rss
Looking remarkably like something from an old Victorian mansion, the LEGO Antique Chandelier pays tribute to the decorative lighting fixture with a near-realistic representation of the luxurious light. The Antique Chandelier measures 16 inches long, weighing a whopping 17.8 ounces or half a kilogram. It doesn’t light up, regrettably, but that was a trade-off on LEGO builder DallasBricks’ part to ensure the chandelier looks exactly like its inspiration.
Designer: DallasBricks
The LEGO Antique Chandelier is DallasBricks’ submission to the LEGO Ideas forum, a public site where LEGO fans build out their own creations and vote on the best fan-made projects.
The LEGO Antique Chandelier comes together using a variety of gold chrome-plated bricks to allow it to shimmer when there’s a light-source nearby. The chandelier comprises of 8 candles around the rim and one light piece at the bottom. The candles themselves use LEGO pillar bricks with the ‘capital’ on the top resembling melting wax! The candles are finally capped with transparent orange egg-shaped bricks that look like flames.
Other decorative elements on the Antique Chandelier include ornamental chains that connect the main body to each candle arm, along with ‘crystal’ pieces used all around to help scatter light and create the shimmering effect associated with chandeliers.
The chandelier, sadly, doesn’t light up. “I’m sorry about that feature missing, which is important for a chandelier, but I thought making an engine to make it work would have been too big, and this means not suitable for the set,” said LEGO builder DallasBricks.
At 17.8 ounces, the 16-inch Antique Chandelier is a little too heavy to be mounted within most LEGO constructions unless you opt for the ‘illegal’ method of trapping the upper hub of the chandelier between two blocks. While that isn’t traditional (and most LEGO purists would undeniably object to it), it’s pretty much the only way of securing this Antique Chandelier to a LEGO build given the fact that a traditional press-fit wouldn’t be able to hold the chandelier’s overall weight. The chandelier itself holds together thanks to a “hose rigid”, (75c47 piece), almost the same height as the chandelier itself, connecting the whole inner structure in a way that uses mechanical friction to keep the entire unit together.
The post LEGO Antique Chandelier is a gold chrome-plated fixture with 8 LEGO candles first appeared on Yanko Design.
A beetle protagonist emerges into a beautiful, lonely world. There’s no preamble, no text overlays; not even a hint of what you’re meant to do next. So, you walk. After finding your way to a small staircase, you descend, and the steps disappear into the ground — a silent cue that you’re on the right path. A few paces further, you discover a purple pad, and as you stand on it, your iridescent wings begin to quiver. Without thinking about it, you press a button on your controller, the pad turns green, and a nearby rock transforms into a new staircase. Progress!
After solving a couple of rudimentary puzzles, you’ll encounter an orb — these are the heart (and the body) of this game. You carry them on your beetle back, initially using them as keys to open doors and solve puzzles, before discovering that inside every orb is a new world of puzzles and challenges to overcome.
Cocoon is the first game from Geometric Interactive, a studio founded in 2016 by Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid. Both are alums of Playdead, the Danish studio behind Limbo and Inside, for which Carlsen worked as lead gameplay designer. If you’ve played either of those games, Cocoon’s quietly impressive intro may sound familiar. Both were side-scrolling puzzle-platformers that used their environments and challenges to simultaneously tell a story and guide their players. The story is much the same here, but Cocoon’s structure of layered, interconnected worlds showcases another level of maturity and artistry.
The game actually opens inside the orange orb, a gorgeous desert world, and expands out from there. Each world is protected by a guardian, which needs to be defeated in order to fully unlock the orb’s power outside of that world. Unlocking the orange orb, for example, allows you to walk on hidden paths while carrying it. Each orb grants its own powers, and all are critical to progression.
The guardians are the game’s “boss fights.” Though there is no traditional combat, each guardian is certainly combative, and there is a degree of skill and timing required to best them. One of the later encounters did actually trip me up a few times, which is as good a time as any to mention that Cocoon has absolutely no fail state. Getting tagged by a guardian doesn’t hurt, they merely throw you outside of their orb — hop back in and you’ll return to the encounter within a couple of seconds. Likewise, you can’t mess a puzzle up to the point that you need to reload.
In isolation, the guardians are probably the game’s weakest moments, but they do provide a nice break from the puzzle-solving alongside a bit of visual spectacle. This is broadly a beautiful game to see and hear, full of bright pastel hues and beds of synth pads, and in places it’s surprisingly gross. What starts as a tranquil walk through something approximating the American Southwest quickly devolves into goopy bio-horror, and I’m very here for it. I started playing the game on a little Ayaneo handheld PC, but about quarter-way through moved over to the Xbox — while it’s a fun thing to play on a portable, the art and sound design really does benefit from a big screen and some decent speakers or headphones.
I think the bigger screen actually helped me — though this is more a review of my eyesight than the game — solve puzzles faster. Toward the end of the game, you’ll find yourself truly disoriented as you jump in and out of worlds and portals, twisting the game’s logic on its head to progress. I feel like I would’ve missed some of the environmental cues — again, my old eyes — had I been playing on a 6-inch screen.
I only truly got stuck once, when I spent an hour wandering around, trying to figure out what exactly I had to do to solve a puzzle. (The answer, as you’d expect, was blindingly obvious.) Cocoon doesn’t hold your hand, but it is a helicopter parent — in a good way! — gently hovering over you and pushing you in the right direction. There are environmental cues scattered around, and you’ll notice throughout that gates shut behind you at key moments. This prevented me from trying to double-back to see if I’d missed something, an activity that represents half of my playtime in similar games. Subtly locking you in an environment is the game’s way of saying “you have everything needed to progress, so stop being so dense and figure it out.”
Cocoon is a game I can (and will) recommend to anyone that plays video games, and plenty who don’t. Perhaps my only complaint is that I want more. The game only actually introduces, to my count, six core mechanics, and each of those are mixed, matched and remixed in truly creative ways. I appreciate a game being as long as its developer wants it to be, but the bones here are so good, so satisfying, that I can’t help feeling it can hold up to more orbs, more puzzles.
That said, the seven hours or so I spent with Cocoon are among the most memorable of this decade, and I’ll definitely be returning to it in a couple of years, once my brain has purged all of the answers to its puzzles.
A beetle protagonist emerges into a beautiful, lonely world. There’s no preamble, no text overlays; not even a hint of what you’re meant to do next. So, you walk. After finding your way to a small staircase, you descend, and the steps disappear into the ground — a silent cue that you’re on the right path. A few paces further, you discover a purple pad, and as you stand on it, your iridescent wings begin to quiver. Without thinking about it, you press a button on your controller, the pad turns green, and a nearby rock transforms into a new staircase. Progress!
After solving a couple of rudimentary puzzles, you’ll encounter an orb — these are the heart (and the body) of this game. You carry them on your beetle back, initially using them as keys to open doors and solve puzzles, before discovering that inside every orb is a new world of puzzles and challenges to overcome.
Cocoon is the first game from Geometric Interactive, a studio founded in 2016 by Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid. Both are alums of Playdead, the Danish studio behind Limbo and Inside, for which Carlsen worked as lead gameplay designer. If you’ve played either of those games, Cocoon’s quietly impressive intro may sound familiar. Both were side-scrolling puzzle-platformers that used their environments and challenges to simultaneously tell a story and guide their players. The story is much the same here, but Cocoon’s structure of layered, interconnected worlds showcases another level of maturity and artistry.
The game actually opens inside the orange orb, a gorgeous desert world, and expands out from there. Each world is protected by a guardian, which needs to be defeated in order to fully unlock the orb’s power outside of that world. Unlocking the orange orb, for example, allows you to walk on hidden paths while carrying it. Each orb grants its own powers, and all are critical to progression.
The guardians are the game’s “boss fights.” Though there is no traditional combat, each guardian is certainly combative, and there is a degree of skill and timing required to best them. One of the later encounters did actually trip me up a few times, which is as good a time as any to mention that Cocoon has absolutely no fail state. Getting tagged by a guardian doesn’t hurt, they merely throw you outside of their orb — hop back in and you’ll return to the encounter within a couple of seconds. Likewise, you can’t mess a puzzle up to the point that you need to reload.
In isolation, the guardians are probably the game’s weakest moments, but they do provide a nice break from the puzzle-solving alongside a bit of visual spectacle. This is broadly a beautiful game to see and hear, full of bright pastel hues and beds of synth pads, and in places it’s surprisingly gross. What starts as a tranquil walk through something approximating the American Southwest quickly devolves into goopy bio-horror, and I’m very here for it. I started playing the game on a little Ayaneo handheld PC, but about quarter-way through moved over to the Xbox — while it’s a fun thing to play on a portable, the art and sound design really does benefit from a big screen and some decent speakers or headphones.
I think the bigger screen actually helped me — though this is more a review of my eyesight than the game — solve puzzles faster. Toward the end of the game, you’ll find yourself truly disoriented as you jump in and out of worlds and portals, twisting the game’s logic on its head to progress. I feel like I would’ve missed some of the environmental cues — again, my old eyes — had I been playing on a 6-inch screen.
I only truly got stuck once, when I spent an hour wandering around, trying to figure out what exactly I had to do to solve a puzzle. (The answer, as you’d expect, was blindingly obvious.) Cocoon doesn’t hold your hand, but it is a helicopter parent — in a good way! — gently hovering over you and pushing you in the right direction. There are environmental cues scattered around, and you’ll notice throughout that gates shut behind you at key moments. This prevented me from trying to double-back to see if I’d missed something, an activity that represents half of my playtime in similar games. Subtly locking you in an environment is the game’s way of saying “you have everything needed to progress, so stop being so dense and figure it out.”
Cocoon is a game I can (and will) recommend to anyone that plays video games, and plenty who don’t. Perhaps my only complaint is that I want more. The game only actually introduces, to my count, six core mechanics, and each of those are mixed, matched and remixed in truly creative ways. I appreciate a game being as long as its developer wants it to be, but the bones here are so good, so satisfying, that I can’t help feeling it can hold up to more orbs, more puzzles.
That said, the seven hours or so I spent with Cocoon are among the most memorable of this decade, and I’ll definitely be returning to it in a couple of years, once my brain has purged all of the answers to its puzzles.