Technology

The rise in retro-style tech signals a significant shift in consumer electronics, as both established brands and startups move away from all-in-one devices and embrace more purpose-built alternatives. This trend is driven by more than just nostalgia: These gadgets reflect…

Nothing has spent years making earbuds you can recognize from across the room. With the new Ear (3a), the London-based tech company is asking what its earbuds can do beyond playing sound. The answer is Audio Snapshot, a feature that…

Historically, residential backup power has been defined by bulky, industrial hardware—unwieldy generators and oversized batteries relegated to the utility room or basement out of aesthetic necessity. Jackery, a California-based home energy company, is changing this convention with FridgeGuard. The ultra-slim…

Chai keeps its own time. Milk climbs to a boil while tea and spices steep loose in the pot, and the strength shows itself in color, deepening shade by shade until the foam begins to rise. The traditional method of…

Globally recognized skincare and fragrance brand Aesop is no stranger to audacious design innovation, often taking bold leaps into uncharted territory. This April, the Australian company launched Aposē, its first foray into furniture product development. The limited-edition lighting series was…

As AI, spatial computing and immersive technologies rapidly move from experimental novelty into the fabric of everyday life, a new question is emerging for designers, architects, technologists and cultural institutions alike: What does it actually mean to design for humans…

The simple pleasures of life are defined personally – ice clinking in a glass of water on a hot summer’s day, a fresh bar of nice-smelling soap – certainly, not everything is for everyone, yet there are usually things that…

There’s a particular kind of expectation that follows Apple and their iconic announcements—a belief that even the most familiar object can be recalibrated into something more ambient, more intuitive, or more essential. We’ve been spoiled lately. But with the introduction…

Apple’s products have always been about finding joy: joy in the creative process, joy in the user experience, and—of course—joy in the community, regardless of technical proficiency. A typesetter by trade, my mother brought our first Apple Macintosh computer—I’m dating…

Though embroiled in numerous political controversies, this year’s World Cup global soccer tournament will still be a celebration of global cooperation and cultural exchange, if not also some mostly harmless competition. The major event—being held across the vast territory of…

Rapid prototyping — now more commonly known as 3D printing — has been around for a while now. At industrial scale, it’s become increasingly agile and refined, harnessing a growing range of materials and replicating manual or mechanized processes. With…

“Traditional lighting serves a purely functional role—it helps us see,” says Ran Hu, lighting designer and co-founder of recently established Seattle studio MIRORLab. “When we notice light in everyday life, on leaves, on water, or in those quiet, simple reflections,…