Tag Archives: flo

This sleek blade-free desk fan is your portable companion in summers as well as winters!

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Sharing office space, the biggest problem, after having to listen to my co-working space neighbor aka my husband speaking on a call is trying to regulate a temperature that works for us. I love staying warm – the AC temperature goes lower than 20 and my fingers start freezing whereas my husband sweats bullets while staying in a 25-degree temperature. That sweet spot, it’s almost a myth for us! What I need is a solution that works for both of us depending on the season – and flo, by designer Soyoung An seems to be an apt design for my needs!

The flo is a desk fan that is portable by nature. The fan’s facade is actually covered – no more hurting your finger by occasionally poking into the blades. The fan can be regulated using a temperature dial at the back of flo – allowing you to easily switch between heating and cooling functionalities. One of the better functionality of the design is the use of a filter, that purifies the air being thrown at you, rather than having the dust from your fan blades being thrown at you. The fan also uses a simple USB-C cable to stay charged at all times. Flo’s aesthetics are simple, yet minimal, making it an easy to own and use piece over the years. And given how it works for all seasons – it reduces the storage space required for the off-seasons.

Muted colors of the flo elevate this design from an ordinary accessory to a statement piece in your setup. The design is also simple, almost intuitive to use with an upgraded functionality – isn’t that what great product design is all about!

Designer: Soyoung An





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An Extraordinary Necessary Sanitary System

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We love it when a student project takes off, going from the concept realm to being realized into an actual product… more so when it’s a medical/social-awareness project! The Flo is a wonderful product that creates an easy, efficient, discreet, and healthy system for women and girls in rural areas to wash, dry, and store their sanitary pads.

The social stigma around menstruation still exists even today in rural areas, to the extent that girls often avoid going to school while on their period, lest they be teased or shamed. Even worse, only 10% of families can afford to buy reusable sanitary pads (most families rely on rags and scraps of cloth), and the families that do purchase sanitary pads refrain from washing them properly or drying them out in the sun, under fear of allowing the rest of the society to see them. Flo creates a complete system for storing, carrying, washing, and drying sanitary napkins in a way that is efficient, engaging, and discreet, in an attempt to slowly remove the stigma behind menstruation while making sure the girls stay healthy, at an affordable price.

Rather than being a revolutionary sanitary pad (there are too many, say the designers behind Flo), the Flo is instead an entire kit, going all the way from a playful washing apparatus, to a concealed utility belt for carrying used and new pads, all the way to a box in which washed pads can be dried and fresh pads can be stored. We’re especially in love with the washing apparatus that uses plain physics (torsion) to spin a tiny drum at high speeds, effectively washing as well as drying used pads. The apparatus is hand operated and can be done solo, using virtually no energy!

The Flo is a beautiful and elegant solution that works because it looks at the entire problem right in the eye. Rather than redesigning the pad (which many people have tried over years), or trying to change society’s perception (which requires incredible amounts of time and patience), the Flo just provides a highly affordable solution that works perfectly in the present scenario, allowing young girls to stay healthy, comfortable, confident, and definitely not miss out on school and life!

The Flo is a winner of the IDEA award (Gold), and has also secured the prestigious James Dyson Award.

Designers: Mariko Higaki Iwai, Sohyun Kim, Tatijana Vasily, Charlotte Wong & Benjamin Freedman

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Wash.

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Dry.

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Carry.

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Coolpad’s Flo is its first 3G smartphone in the US, heads to T-Mobile’s GoSmart network

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Coolpad isn't exactly a household name here in the States, but the outfit is otherwise known for its budget-minded offerings. Today, it is introducing the Flo, a 4.5-inch smartphone running Android Jelly Bean -- the company tells us this is the first Coolpad device with 3G capabilities to hit North America. (Sorry, folks, no LTE.) Aside from that, the Flo also sports an undisclosed dual-core, 1GHz Qualcomm chip, 4GB of onboard storage (expandable up to 32GB) and a decent 1,880mAh battery. Customers using T-Mobile's GoSmart prepaid service can snag one now for $99, which isn't too bad if you'd like to save a few bucks during your holiday shopping.

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GoSmart

Nexus 7 factory image and binaries now available from Google

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Nexus 7 factory image and binaries now available from Google

Wanna mod that shiny new Nexus 7? Today's your lucky day. Google just posted the factory image and binaries for its second generation 7-inch tablet -- also known by the product name "razor" and device name "flo". The factory image lets you restore your new Nexus 7 to the exact software it shipped with in case you grow tired of that custom ROM you cooked up using the binaries (natch). Speaking of which, the packages include drivers for audio and sensors from ASUS, NFC from Broadcom plus graphics and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink from Qualcomm. This comes mere hours after some open source drama surrounding the binaries (which now appears to be resolved) and with plenty of time to spare for UK customers. Follow the source links below and have fun hacking this weekend.

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Source: Google Developers (factory image), Google Developers (binaries)