Tag Archives: smart appliance

Portable Smart Induction Cooktop concept lets you cook healthy meals anywhere

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There are now several ways to get fresh and healthy meals delivered to you, but the best option is still to cook them yourself. You get to decide on the ingredients and the process, plus you can probably even save money in the long run. That said, cooking isn’t always easy or convenient, especially when you’re not at home or don’t even have access to a kitchen. Portable cooking equipment is slowly becoming an option, but many still fall short of providing convenience other than having a hot surface to cook on. This induction cooktop concept tries to address many of those shortcomings with features that help you cook smartly and safely while also borrowing the clean and minimalist aesthetic that the brand Braun is best known for.

Designer: Jenil Shah

While it’s true that all you need to cook most food is a hot surface for pans and pots, that is really just the most basic cooking experience and definitely not the most convenient. There are other factors you have to consider while cooking, not least of which is the smoke that cooking produces. Keeping tabs on the food you’re cooking or even the ingredients you will be using is also part of the process, and the SY10 portable smart induction cooktop wants to make those parts as painless as possible.

Somewhat ironically, the induction surface itself is the least exciting part of this design considering how the technology has more or less been perfected at this point. Instead, parts like the built-in Smart Air Filter offer a more interesting, especially since it’s almost invisible as part of the design. When you’re not in your kitchen, having access to a range hood with fans is almost impossible, and even at home those usually only suck up the smoke and nothing more. The SY10’s, however, uses carbon filters to remove not just harmful smoke but also odors, keeping indoor air clean without making too much noise. The filter lies horizontally right next to the cooktop, but if you have a taller pot or cookware, you can actually rotate the filter to make it stand, ensuring that no smoke escapes its fans.

Most induction stovetops use touch-based interfaces to really capture that futuristic aesthetic, but it also makes them more confusing to handle and definitely less satisfying. The SY10’s Infinity Dial adds some good old-fashioned haptic feedback when you turn its ring, while a large circular display delivers instant information about the menus and functions you’re using. Amusingly, the dial requires you to squeeze its body to confirm an action rather than tapping that display, further emphasizing the physical dimension. Its more interesting feature, however, is a built-in camera and computer vision capabilities which allow it to look at a particular food or ingredient and determine whether it’s still good to use or if it’s going bad. And yes, that means you can actually detach the dial to use this function.

The SY10 design also includes a motherboard and other electronics to power its smart features, though its compact design might raise questions about the heat management that could affect those more sensitive parts. It does, however, need to be that compact in order to implement its portability, which would allow you to set up a small kitchen anywhere, whether indoors or outdoor, or even connect two such cooktops together. Those are important implementation details that need to be ironed out, but the concept remains an interesting one that could help take out some of the worries when cooking your meals away from home or even at home.

The post Portable Smart Induction Cooktop concept lets you cook healthy meals anywhere first appeared on Yanko Design.

Portable Smart Induction Cooktop concept lets you cook healthy meals anywhere

Posted on by

There are now several ways to get fresh and healthy meals delivered to you, but the best option is still to cook them yourself. You get to decide on the ingredients and the process, plus you can probably even save money in the long run. That said, cooking isn’t always easy or convenient, especially when you’re not at home or don’t even have access to a kitchen. Portable cooking equipment is slowly becoming an option, but many still fall short of providing convenience other than having a hot surface to cook on. This induction cooktop concept tries to address many of those shortcomings with features that help you cook smartly and safely while also borrowing the clean and minimalist aesthetic that the brand Braun is best known for.

Designer: Jenil Shah

While it’s true that all you need to cook most food is a hot surface for pans and pots, that is really just the most basic cooking experience and definitely not the most convenient. There are other factors you have to consider while cooking, not least of which is the smoke that cooking produces. Keeping tabs on the food you’re cooking or even the ingredients you will be using is also part of the process, and the SY10 portable smart induction cooktop wants to make those parts as painless as possible.

Somewhat ironically, the induction surface itself is the least exciting part of this design considering how the technology has more or less been perfected at this point. Instead, parts like the built-in Smart Air Filter offer a more interesting, especially since it’s almost invisible as part of the design. When you’re not in your kitchen, having access to a range hood with fans is almost impossible, and even at home those usually only suck up the smoke and nothing more. The SY10’s, however, uses carbon filters to remove not just harmful smoke but also odors, keeping indoor air clean without making too much noise. The filter lies horizontally right next to the cooktop, but if you have a taller pot or cookware, you can actually rotate the filter to make it stand, ensuring that no smoke escapes its fans.

Most induction stovetops use touch-based interfaces to really capture that futuristic aesthetic, but it also makes them more confusing to handle and definitely less satisfying. The SY10’s Infinity Dial adds some good old-fashioned haptic feedback when you turn its ring, while a large circular display delivers instant information about the menus and functions you’re using. Amusingly, the dial requires you to squeeze its body to confirm an action rather than tapping that display, further emphasizing the physical dimension. Its more interesting feature, however, is a built-in camera and computer vision capabilities which allow it to look at a particular food or ingredient and determine whether it’s still good to use or if it’s going bad. And yes, that means you can actually detach the dial to use this function.

The SY10 design also includes a motherboard and other electronics to power its smart features, though its compact design might raise questions about the heat management that could affect those more sensitive parts. It does, however, need to be that compact in order to implement its portability, which would allow you to set up a small kitchen anywhere, whether indoors or outdoor, or even connect two such cooktops together. Those are important implementation details that need to be ironed out, but the concept remains an interesting one that could help take out some of the worries when cooking your meals away from home or even at home.

The post Portable Smart Induction Cooktop concept lets you cook healthy meals anywhere first appeared on Yanko Design.

Portable Smart Induction Cooktop concept lets you cook healthy meals anywhere

Posted on by

There are now several ways to get fresh and healthy meals delivered to you, but the best option is still to cook them yourself. You get to decide on the ingredients and the process, plus you can probably even save money in the long run. That said, cooking isn’t always easy or convenient, especially when you’re not at home or don’t even have access to a kitchen. Portable cooking equipment is slowly becoming an option, but many still fall short of providing convenience other than having a hot surface to cook on. This induction cooktop concept tries to address many of those shortcomings with features that help you cook smartly and safely while also borrowing the clean and minimalist aesthetic that the brand Braun is best known for.

Designer: Jenil Shah

While it’s true that all you need to cook most food is a hot surface for pans and pots, that is really just the most basic cooking experience and definitely not the most convenient. There are other factors you have to consider while cooking, not least of which is the smoke that cooking produces. Keeping tabs on the food you’re cooking or even the ingredients you will be using is also part of the process, and the SY10 portable smart induction cooktop wants to make those parts as painless as possible.

Somewhat ironically, the induction surface itself is the least exciting part of this design considering how the technology has more or less been perfected at this point. Instead, parts like the built-in Smart Air Filter offer a more interesting, especially since it’s almost invisible as part of the design. When you’re not in your kitchen, having access to a range hood with fans is almost impossible, and even at home those usually only suck up the smoke and nothing more. The SY10’s, however, uses carbon filters to remove not just harmful smoke but also odors, keeping indoor air clean without making too much noise. The filter lies horizontally right next to the cooktop, but if you have a taller pot or cookware, you can actually rotate the filter to make it stand, ensuring that no smoke escapes its fans.

Most induction stovetops use touch-based interfaces to really capture that futuristic aesthetic, but it also makes them more confusing to handle and definitely less satisfying. The SY10’s Infinity Dial adds some good old-fashioned haptic feedback when you turn its ring, while a large circular display delivers instant information about the menus and functions you’re using. Amusingly, the dial requires you to squeeze its body to confirm an action rather than tapping that display, further emphasizing the physical dimension. Its more interesting feature, however, is a built-in camera and computer vision capabilities which allow it to look at a particular food or ingredient and determine whether it’s still good to use or if it’s going bad. And yes, that means you can actually detach the dial to use this function.

The SY10 design also includes a motherboard and other electronics to power its smart features, though its compact design might raise questions about the heat management that could affect those more sensitive parts. It does, however, need to be that compact in order to implement its portability, which would allow you to set up a small kitchen anywhere, whether indoors or outdoor, or even connect two such cooktops together. Those are important implementation details that need to be ironed out, but the concept remains an interesting one that could help take out some of the worries when cooking your meals away from home or even at home.

The post Portable Smart Induction Cooktop concept lets you cook healthy meals anywhere first appeared on Yanko Design.

This multifunctional smart cooker turns you into a kitchen wiz with ease

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Food is one of the most important needs of humans, and eating can be a very enjoyable experience. Cooking, however, isn’t something a lot of people look forward to because of all the work involved, from preparing to cleaning up. We do have smarter kitchen appliances today, but most of those just take care of the cooking part. There are just so many things to juggle, from weighing containers to different processes to multiple cooking appliances for each one. It can be a veritable mess on your kitchen countertop, which can take the joy out of cooking delicious, healthy meals. What if you can reduce all those to just one or two, especially ones that can be smarter and safer than any other in the market? That’s what the dynamic duo of CookingPal Pronto and Alto bring to your table, or rather your kitchen, to make preparing and cooking easy as pie.

Designers: Lars Junker & Mark Fung

Click Here to Buy Now: $259 $398 (35% off). Hurry, less than 48 hours left!

There is no shortage of pressure cookers in the market these days, some of them boasting a few Internet-connected, mobile-controlled smarts. Pronto, however, easily stands above the rest, and not just because it can Slow Cook, Pressure Cook, Sauté, Steam, Ferment, Keep Warm, or even Sterilize. It also has a built-in kitchen scale, so you don’t have to use separate containers just to weigh ingredients. That’s eight functions in one, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

A Smarter Way to Pressure Cook – Cook smarter with Pronto’s color screen and their clean & intuitive mobile app.

Precise and Smart Built-in Scale – Save time and reduce dirty dishes with Pronto’s smart built-in scale. Leave the slow mechanical kitchen scales in the past.

Automatic Pressure Release – Enjoy Pronto’s gentle automatic pressure release system with safety sensors and steam diffuser cap for maximum peace of mind.

Pronto isn’t just designed for convenience; it’s also designed for your safety. A hands-free pressure release makes short work of one of the scariest parts of pressure cooking, while heat-resistant easy-grip bowl handles bid farewell to burned fingers. In the same spirit of saving space, the hinged lid makes sure you have one less thing to keep track of and one less thing to take up space on your countertop. Plus, it has a built-in drip tray, so you don’t have to worry about the mess from the accumulated water, either.

Clutter-free Lid – Pronto’s hinged lid stays put as soon as you open it, and let the drip tray catch all the water.

Replace Multiple Appliances – Replace multiple appliances with Pronto and Alto’s combined 8-in-one multifunctionality for a cleaner, tidier kitchen.

One of the most popular trends for healthy cooking lately is an air fryer, and Alto brings that function to your kitchen without taking up additional space. It functions as a lid that can sit on top of most 6QT pressure cookers, such as the Cooking Pal Pronto, for example, removing the need to make room for yet another bulky cooking appliance. Alto can Air-Fry, Roast, Bake, and even Grill, with less unhealthy oil and consuming less power than a conventional air fryer.

Of course, both Pronto and Alto are smart appliances, but not just because they can be remotely controlled with a smartphone. The intuitive mobile app is a portal to all your cooking needs, from step-by-step recipes, nutritional information, and even free cooking classes with an in-house chef. And it doesn’t stop there, either, with more features coming, including a shopping list manager and user-generated recipes. It is your literal cooking pal for tastier and healthier dishes all year round. And for a Trailblazer promo price of $259 only, the unbeatable tag team of the CookingPal Pronto and Alto will bring not only convenience and safety but also fun to your kitchen life.

Click Here to Buy Now: $259 $398 (35% off). Hurry, less than 48 hours left!

The post This multifunctional smart cooker turns you into a kitchen wiz with ease first appeared on Yanko Design.

This smart toaster lets you cook two slices of bread at different temperatures at the same time

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It also has a touchscreen interface that really reimagines what a toaster should look and behave like in 2023.

I’m a big member of the ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ camp, and I don’t think toasters are broken. They do their job well, are really easy to use, and if you asked me yesterday, I’d say a toaster definitely doesn’t need a touchscreen or new features. Today, I might have changed my tune a slight bit.

The Tineco Toasty One is to the toaster what the microwave is to the OTG oven, or the Nespresso is to the French Press. It takes the core function and sees how technology can make it better. Microwaves make heating more efficient, Nespressos make coffee efficient and easier, and the Tineco Toasty One just makes toasts more consistent and browned-to-perfection. The touchscreen interface is central to the Toasty One’s function. Now normally I’d call bullshit on any random kitchen appliance suddenly having a touchscreen, but it makes sense for the Toasty One. The toaster’s multiple functions make having a screen much more intuitive. A slider on the screen lets you adjust your toaster’s temperature setting, and a small toast icon goes from white to golden to brown as you move your finger across the slider. This is much more intuitive than a numbered knob that really doesn’t tell you anything about how brown your toast’s actually going to be. Moreover, the touchscreen also lets you do something that no other un-smart toaster can – simultaneously cook two separate slices to different levels of done-ness.

Designer: Tineco

Click Here to Buy Now

Arguably the most impressive feature I’ve seen on a toaster, the Toasty One lets you choose multiple levels of brown-ness for your left and right toast. This means each toast gets cooked at different temperatures, because not everyone likes their toasts done the same way. I’m a golden-toast person and my dad likes his on the well-done side of the spectrum. The Toasty One lets you simply choose how brown you want each toast, and the toaster really figures the rest out.

The way it does this is using an ‘IntelliHeat’ toasting algorithm which monitors and regulates the heating coils, making sure each side of the toast is browned to even perfection. It dials in the hot zones to make sure you don’t see major grill marks on the toast, and even detects the bread state to know when it’s done. I’m not one for tech jargon, but the toaster even employs a ‘GoldenCrispy’ technology that makes sure each toasted piece of bread is crisp on the outside but airy and flavorful on the inside.

The toaster has a few other tricks up its sleeve, like allowing you to save presets (so you don’t need to work the slider every time), and even do things like reheat or defrost/thaw food. Its design also misses the notable plunger, which lets you lower the toasts into their cooking chamber. Instead, the Toasty One automates the process with an auto-lower and auto-lift feature. Admittedly, this takes the one truly fun interaction out of the toaster, but it does make the overall experience convenient. There’s no auto-crumb-clean feature, though. That stuff’s still manual!

Click Here to Buy Now

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This playful smart home gym brings a smarter and more enjoyable way to get in shape

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Few will argue that we need to keep our bodies fit and healthy to live life to the fullest, but we as a civilization seem to have developed a litany of excuses not to do so. Whether it’s the inconvenience of traveling to a gym daily, the lack of motivation to work out at home, or the boredom of repetitive actions, we can always come up with a bunch of clever excuses that keep us from meeting our fitness goals and living a healthy life. It’s clear that relying on willpower alone just isn’t enough for everyone, so this smart home gym helps demolish those excuses by providing a fitness machine and program that makes staying fit as fun as playing a game.

Designer: Gymera

Click Here to Buy Now: $2499 $3899 ($1400 off). Hurry, only 196/200 left. Raised over $165,000.

There has been a sudden surge in smart home gym products in the past years, and while they do bring a few “smart” solutions to the home gym market, they’re often too focused on simply translating the gym experience to your home. People who go to gyms regularly, however, are mostly already committed and disciplined, making these home gyms just conveniences. In contrast, Gymera revolutionizes home fitness by providing a more enjoyable exercise system that fits right in your home. It even folds up to serve as a full-body mirror that adds a beautiful accent to your home!

With 200+ movements you always have new ways to work out.

GyRacing – Change your routine fitness into absolute fun.

GyBoating – Start your strength training in wild boating, get stronger and get fun.

Gameful design has long been a successful strategy in many industries, and Gymera applies it to fitness to make your reps more engaging and memorable. Whether you’re driving a race car, rowing a boat, or playing tug of war with a Gymera friend, the interactive puts a whole new layer of experience into your workouts. The smart home gym machine is equipped with a variety of sensors and a vivid 27-inch 4K touch screen that helps immerse you in that virtual world to the point that you might even forget you’re actually sweating it out at home.

Just because you’re working out at home doesn’t mean you actually need to be alone. The 5MP camera easily lets you and your friends enjoy a Facetime workout together even when you’re far apart. And for those with a more competitive streak, leaderboards combine socialization and motivation in a way that will push you to go beyond your limits.

Fit Any Space – Gymera foldable smart gym only comes in 5.38 ft². Put the mirror down and turn it into a professional home gym. Fold it, and you can do your cardio training right away!

Classes for Everybody – Choose different workouts ranging from getting lean, building muscle and weight loss, Gymera’s expert-led workout classes help you get the most from your workout.

Two-coach Demonstration – Two coaches demonstrate Gymera-guided workouts and moves. One action moves while the other demonstrates. Easy to learn and get the right move. Just look and listen.

Gymera isn’t just fun and games, of course. Underneath all those engaging experiences is a true-blooded total gym machine designed to give you the exercises you need right there at home, whether it’s a high-intensity workout or a beginner’s set. Don’t know which one is for you? Thousands of expert-guided classes give you the real deal, covering different types of exercises, from cardio to yoga to strength training. Gymera’s AI system can analyze your posture in real time and give you feedback on your form if you need to correct it right at that moment. And with a digital weight system that can offer up to 220lbs (100kg) and four types of models, you’re guaranteed to have everything you need to build up your body the way you want.

Dynamic Digital Weight – Gymera’s dynamic digital weight system (Max. 220 lbs of resistance, adjust in 0.1 pound increments) and get your most efficient workout.

They say you should work smarter, not harder, and that also applies to working out. For only $2,499 for a Early Bird discount, you get a home gym complete with a super smart AI, thousands of expert content, and gamified workouts. With Gymera, not only will your workouts be more efficient, they will also be more engaging and, dare we say, more fun as well.

Click Here to Buy Now: $2499 $3899 ($1400 off). Hurry, only 196/200 left. Raised over $165,000.

The post This playful smart home gym brings a smarter and more enjoyable way to get in shape first appeared on Yanko Design.

This smart tea pot can read your mood to make the perfect brew

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Many people swear by coffee to get through the day, but there is also quite a good number that prefer the variety of teas to get their fix. Just like with different coffee beans, different tea leaves have different personalities; that is, they have different brewing requirements like time and temperature. Further complicating things is the fact that tea can give you different experiences depending on when you drink them or your mood at that time. Considering these different factors can make brewing tea sound almost impossible for mere mortals. Thankfully, that conundrum is a thing of the past with this connected tea pot that looks just as good as the brews it makes.

Designer: Hiroaki Nishimura

Click Here to Buy Now: $254 $299 (15% off at checkout). Hurry, sitewide Pre-Black Friday sale ends Nov 23rd.

The art of brewing tea goes back centuries, but just like coffee, it has been commercialized and diluted down into cheap teabags. Even without considering the rituals involved, brewing tea is almost like a precise art that varies depending on the type of tea leaves being used. Some require a longer steeping time at lower temperatures, while others are best at a high temperature and for a brief period only. That’s not much of a problem if you stick to one kind, but tea lovers who crave and enjoy variety will have to keep in mind those different requirements.

Fortunately, we can now rely on technology to take the drudgery out of a process that should be calming and relaxing. Rather than memorize the different conditions for different leaves, the Teplo connected tea pot memorizes those for you. A simple tap on the smartphone app will set the precise time and temperature for the tea leaves you place inside the infuser. This insightful tea brewer, however, can do more than that and can even adjust those brewing factors to match your mood, the time of day, or the surrounding conditions.

You might, for example, prefer a stronger dose of caffeine in the morning, or maybe you want a bit of sweetness when you’re almost out of energy in the afternoon. Changing the temperature can result in these different teas, even using the exact same tea leaves. This seemingly magical feat is actually the result of advanced technology, combining data from different sensors to paint a holistic picture of your mood. In addition to detecting room temperature, humidity, brightness, and noise, a fingerprint sensor on the base can also read your heart rate and body temperature, allowing the tea pot to adjust the temperature and time to create a personalized brew each and every time.

This innovative tea pot isn’t just smart, it’s also a handsome appliance that’s perfect for your kitchen countertop or table. Inspired by the last “golden drop” of tea, the pot’s unique and beautiful infuser automatically rotates to submerge the tea leaves for the optimal brewing time and then rotates again to prevent over-steeping. Whether you’re waiting for your caffeine fix for the day, winding down after a long day at work, or simply looking to relax and chill, this intelligent tea maker will serve you the perfect cup of tea to fit your mood.

Click Here to Buy Now: $254 $299 (15% off at checkout). Hurry, sitewide Pre-Black Friday sale ends Nov 23rd.

The post This smart tea pot can read your mood to make the perfect brew first appeared on Yanko Design.

BORA X BO smart steam oven makes cooking feel like a chore

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Many fitness gurus will say that the first and hardest battle in staying healthy and fit happens in the kitchen. Everyone knows that they should eat healthily, but very few know how to proceed from there. Preparing your own food is the most recommended way to keep tabs on what you eat, and that’s where most of us stop because of the work involved. Short of a Star Trek replicator or a robot that could actually make the food for us, most of us will probably settle for a cooking appliance that will at least take care of most of the other chores for us, like cleaning the oven or stove. BORA’s latest darling, the BORA X BO flex oven, comes close to being that dream smart oven, automating and taking care of many parts of the cooking process, leaving you free to focus on preparing and then enjoying your healthy dish.

Designer: BORA

Cooking is a multi-step process that may feel overwhelming for some, especially when they think about the cleanup they have to do afterward. Ovens, in particular, are notorious for being hard to clean, especially to get rid of odors. Keeping tabs on the food’s temperature and making sure you don’t stink up the whole house are tiring jobs in themselves, and you’ll be forgiven if you wished that ovens were smart enough to do that themselves. The BORA X BO is, thankfully, and it makes the cooking process a lot less burdensome, especially for the parts you might have taken for granted.

The BORA X BO can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like or need, scaling to users of different skill levels. All its operations are driven by a bright and colorful 19-inch touch display on top, including setting food preferences, looking up recipes, or manually tweaking each and every possible option there is. Or you could set it to automatic and let the oven do the heavy lifting for you. With so many features, you might easily feel overwhelmed, but you can customize the screen and rearrange things to fit our workflow. You can also search for settings and features using the on-screen keyboard, which is faster than tapping and swiping through menus. And since very few people actually read paper manuals, BORA included an animated guide right on the screen.

The oven supports plenty of cooking methods and recipes, but its intelligence and convenience go beyond the direct act of cooking. Worried that you didn’t stick the thermometer properly into your meat? The four points on the metal probe each have their own sensor, so you won’t have to fret over that. Worried that opening the oven door will suddenly flood your vision with steam and your kitchen with fish odor? BORA X BO will extract all the steam and filter the odor before you can even open the door. Want to make sure nobody accidentally touches the oven or its settings while you go walk the dog? Leave a message on the large screen for everyone to read.

The BORA X BO also takes care of the most dreaded post-cooking task of all, cleaning. Put in the recyclable two-chamber cleaning cartridge, tap the cleaning function, and step back to watch the oven do its magic. It sprays and spins water and cleaning material around its stainless steel interior and automatically drains and dries it afterward, so you won’t have to lift a finger except to take out the single-use cleaning cartridge. Cleaning an oven has never been that easy or effortless.

The flex oven stands out not just in features but also in its handsome looks, its black panels and tinted front panel providing a sharp contrast against other fixtures in any kitchen. Multi-level LED lighting lets you see the food inside as they are, despite the tinted panel, helping remove the guesswork and ease worries about the dish’s state. While steam ovens have been around for years, the BORA X BO gives the cooking appliance a much-needed upgrade, making cooking almost as easy as using your phone.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Google’s Little Signals devices will deliver notifications in a subtle way using our plants

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Living in an always-on world can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because you will never miss an email, a message, or a call because you have notifications on your smartphone, smartwatch, or your smart speaker. But it’s also a curse as it can be very distracting or even triggering for some. Sure you can just turn off notifications if you don’t want to be disturbed or bothered but of course, you might miss some important things. There should be a delicate balance between the two and Google seems to be looking for that.

Designers: Seed Studio and Map Project Office

What Google has come up with is something called the Little Signals series, a set of devices that aims to bring distraction-free notifications. They came up with a way to integrate ordinary, everyday sounds that are part of your environment to still bring you alerts but not get distracted or bothered by them. There are six devices in this experimental project for distraction-less alerts: Air, Button, Movement, Rhythm, Shadow, and Tap. Each one has different options that users can choose from which will best fit their lifestyle and needs.

The Air device seems the most interesting one if you are a plant parent. It uses patterns like blow, wiggle, or spin that will affect nearby plants or objects that will be affected by “air” when you receive a notification. Of course, if you’re not paying attention much, you might miss the signals but at least there’s a way to make it less in your face. The Button device meanwhile is a bit more noticeable as it will pop up, twist, or give off a subtle chime sound. It is orange so it is will catch your attention.

The Movement device has seven different actions you can choose from like move, bounce, push, and can even create a “graph” to let you know you have a notification. The Rhythm one seems the most “calming” among the devices as it gives off ambient sounds and can be controlled with the wave of a hand. If you don’t need it to give you notifications, you can just flip it over. I would personally choose this one if it ever goes to market.

Shadow, like its name says, casts movements of shadow when you receive notifications. The shadow itself is able to breathe, shake, stretch, and rotate so it can subtly grab your attention. Lastly, Tap will be able to knock, wave, spin, and point for various notifications. Design-wise, these devices seem to match the Google Home line and are also pretty subtle in appearance, matching their functionalities and how we can interact with these devices.

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A transforming and multifunctional television set featuring a retractable screen doubles up as a bookcase!

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Giro is a multifunctional television with a retractable display screen that slinks away to transform the TV set into a simple bookshelf.

Living rooms are more like multipurpose rooms. We use our living rooms for everything from watching television to working out, and from eating dinner to doing homework. Taking a traditional living room setup, sometimes it’s not the space, but the single-purpose appliances within the space that limit all of the living room’s potential. South Korea-based designer Park Yoo Jung has developed Giro, a television that transforms its facade according to users’ changing needs.

To help facilitate all that our living rooms can provide, Giro morphs from a conventional smart television into a simple bookcase with the click of a button. Recognized by the Red Dot Design Awards in its Best of the Best category, Giro is the multifunctional living room appliance that creates customizable spaces as your needs change.

For the occasional living room workout between your lunch hour and the night shift, Giro maintains its initial form as a smart television so users can broadcast exercise classes to follow. Of course, Giro operates as an everyday television when needed, projecting movies and television shows chosen from a programmed catalog.

When users would like to transform their Giro television into a screenless bookcase, the rotating projector slinks behind the main platform to remain out of view for evenings spent reading in the armchair or beneath the bay windows. Once the projector screen is retracted, users will find a minimal, yet sturdy bookcase where they place artworks and books on display.

Designer: Park Yoo Jung

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