Funny news bloopers that hit the internet in 2018…(Read…)

From a floating university to a network of black female architects, Phineas Harper offers an alternative guide to the year’s most important happenings in architecture. Read more

What would we do without EDC? EDC is literally one of the most important categories of product design, given that they’re as invisible and as necessary as the air we breathe. An abbreviation for Every Day Carry, EDC is quite literally anything you’d carry with you or on you everyday. It comprises everything from your keys to your wallet, to a watch, to even a pen, or a multitool that you may keep on your person, to get out of tough fixes. Anything you’d carry with you every day, only because getting through your day without it is near impossible.

The 2018 throwback looks at all the EDC from this year that’s wowed us, pretty much with the only hope that 2019 can match up to the spectacular standard this year has set by providing us with innovative, incredible, and indispensable EDC that makes life easier and more enriched!

The way Caswell’s Morphing Karambit knife opens and closes is a thing of sheer beauty. It uses a parallel motion linkage, as opposed to a single-point swivel.

Integrated into the end of the pen, a finger fidget mechanism allows users to turn the wheels, press buttons and feel the intaglio to their subconscious heart’s content!

Relying on a system that uses positive and negative shapes (think: jigsaw puzzle, or key and keyhole), Linx allows you to simply slide the keyring in and out of its holder by matching shapes.

Designed to be a tiny, square-shaped object when not in use, the FOCX smart wallet comes with an elastic band that expands to hold as many as 5 cards.

The Manmower needs no electricity, no shaving cream, no water, and no prep. Just pull it out of your pocket and roll it across your jawline (you could practically do this in public too) and the Manmower cuts away at your beard, giving you a uniform stubble in no time.

Made for designers, engineers, technicians, and the MacGyver in all of us, the Alt Pen is half pen, half multitool.

Built from reclaimed industrial files, the Kiridashi by OriginHG features a small pocket-friendly design and even a nice knurled grip, courtesy the industrial file’s abrasive surface.

Maker Blade comes with a unique sliding design that’s actuated from inside the handle… and no matter how hard you press against the blade, it doesn’t retract until you tug on the slider inside to pull the blade back in.

“The Writer” replicates its owner’s signature by using historic cam technology and a complex series of 585 parts, assembled and finished by hand.

At a mere 0.4 inches thick, the Ekster 3.0 can hold cards, cash, and even a GPS tracker that lets you locate your wallet using your phone. It comes with space to store as many as 12 cards, featuring an engaging trigger mechanism that allows the cards to instantly pop out of the wallet for you to pick.

Not only looks incredible with its skeletal, bare-basics look, tilt it just a bit and the sapphire crystal’s refractive index creates a beautiful diamond-like glimmer around the edges.

The Snarl has two ways of gripping it. Traditionally, holding the area behind the blade like a handle, or using its finger-hole for far more dexterity and control… allowing you to go about all sorts of tasks with it by holding it in a fashion that works better for you.

Touted as the smallest phone charger in the world, the Chargerito is literally the size of a car key-fob, and transforms swiftly and smoothly into two prongs and connector that you can plug into a socket and charge your phone.

The MyKee 2.0 sports over 20 unique functionalities built into one compact unit you can take with you just about anywhere.

Focused on only the visual essentials of reading time, the band features 60 seamlessly integrated multicolor-LEDs that count down the hours and minutes.

Made to accompany your favorite EDC knife, the Knife Maintenance Tool is small enough to fit right into your pocket, strapped to your keychain.

A series of slanted cuts, spaced apart to provide a balance between flexibility and rigidity without breaking apart, are placed in the arm of the carabiner.

Designed to be the thinnest and lightest wallet we’ve ever seen, the Micro Wallet is just 2.3mm thick, is durable, waterproof, eco-friendly, comes with space for 8 cards and cash, and even integrates RFID protection.

The Pocketbands 3.0 is a replacement for your chunky, clunky wallet. It holds your keys and loose change, strapping them to your arm so you know exactly where they are, and it uses your wrist, a resource you always have, instead of a pocket, something that one may or may not possess depending on the clothes you’re in.

The Horizon puts the entire day on your wrist with its 24-hour format. The way it does it feels completely natural as compared to most 24 hour watches that need getting used to.

Don’t forget to check out YD’s top car designs from 2018.

Don’t forget to check out YD’s top architecture designs from 2018.

I’ll admit, I have an affinity for all things audio, so this list was bound to happen at some point! Audio isn’t, however, just a passion of mine… it’s also a massive industry that grows as the smartphone industry grows, because music and entertainment play a major role in the smartphone experience. We’ve seen a lot of growth in the truly-wireless audio wearable department (I even got my hands on the TicPods featured below… review pending) as well as the smart-speaker making its way into the homes of as much as 60% of all smartphone users, indicating a massive growth for the voice assistant too.

2019 should see voice-search really kick off, with the user being able to talk to their homes, cars, and everything else. 5G may just deliver on that promise, allowing products to communicate with each other effectively, while we finally learn to talk to our machines, rather than press buttons or type in commands… but I digress. Let’s take a second to appreciate how good 2018 has been for audio, both personal and domestic… and let’s hope we see some great products in 2019, including the new edition of the Apple AirPods!

The Infinitum takes the existing design and tweaks it to create a new and improved experience. The iconic sound-hole is bid adieu for four ‘vents’ on the front and back that allow the sound to emanate outwards in a way that makes it easy for the player as well as the audience to hear the music.

Is that a new iPod?! Nope! It’s the new Apple Watch in its coolest, old-schoolest external case yet!

The knob on the left controls volume, while the one on the right, rather interestingly, allows you to adjust noise-cancellation, pretty letting you decide the volume of external noise too.

The Red Dot and iF Design Award winning TicPods make a bulletproof case against most wireless earbuds, especially the AirPods.

The geometric form of the body is aggressively interrupted by the asymmetric cut-out, where the vinyl is positioned, creating a sense of imbalance and suspense that elevates the visual interest of the device greatly!

The Stylophone is a tiny, pocketable electronic synth you can play anywhere you go.

A cross section of wood taken from an ash tree, the Barky’s base has wooden age-lines that match perfectly with the shape and nature of vinyl, creating something that looks absolutely surreal as you begin to notice the biomimicry of sorts.

Designed to look like ornaments, rather than those Bluetooth headsets you see businesspeople and security details wearing.

The Pal retains the boxy aesthetic of the Traditional Cassette Player while allowing for a more up-to-date listening experience. Contained in the sections where the batteries would usually be housed is a set of Bluetooth headphones.

In a world where we’ve got in-ear, on-ear, and around-ear style headphones, the DP-2 breaks the mold as it holds onto the earlobe in its signature fashion by twisting open and closed.

Stepping away from the usual plastic and metal construction, the Maverick smart speaker uses cutom-knit fabrics, distressed leather, and genuine wood too, to give you a speaker that conforms yet doesn’t.

Titled the SoundCube, Eric Guack’s concept headphones for Lenovo literally come with a hexagonal design. Yes, the cups are hexagons too!

Eye candy means different things to different people. To us, it means photos and videos of unusual objects, interiors and phenomena. We’ll take a vintage Soviet control room over a carefully-curated Dwell magazine interior any day. Here’s the best of what we saw in 2018:

An Unusual Design Aesthetic: Photos of Vintage Soviet Control Rooms

Vintage UI Design Gold Mine: A Photo Database of Old Control Panels

What do International Government Emergency Hotlines Actually, Physically Look Like?

Shots of Old-School Pre-CAD Drafting Pools

A Japanese Village’s Incredible Rice Paddy Art

Eye-Opening Photos and Video Taken Inside Illegal Click Farms

Overhead Time Lapse of Dogs Herding Sheep Resembles Computational Fluid Dynamics

360-Degree Stabilized Rollercoaster Footage

Hilarious BBC Sketches Give Voice to Inanimate Objects

Need more eye-catching videos? Check out our Best Process Porn Videos of 2018.