People who have a hard time falling asleep at night usually try to become sleepy by scrolling through their devices, most of the time to no avail. So if you’re trying to get away from your gadgets, staring up at the ceiling and counting sheep may be your other option. But what if you could see something else other than your blank ceiling.

Designers: Dongkyun Kim, Jaeyeon Lee, Yujeong Kim, Sumin Park, Dugyeong Lee

Loom is a concept for a beam projector that can project images onto your ceiling. It is meant to add to the atmosphere of your room, whether you’re trying to fall asleep or just relaxing after a hard day of work. Not everyone has the luxury to actually go outside and stare at the stars or at the nature surrounding them, so this is probably the next best thing.

The device is something that you attach to the wall and turning it on or off is designed to be like opening a door, letting you step into another world. Once you turn the knob so to speak, which is actually a small telescope-like device, your ceiling will be transformed into whatever image you want to see up there. There’s a controller that looks like a round speaker that you can rotate to adjust the angle of the projection and to rotate the image horizontally or vertically.

This is a pretty interesting idea especially if your ceiling is just a boring, plain color. It would also be nice if it can also project short videos that can loop so you can see things like clouds moving across the sky or anything that can lull you to sleep or relax.

The post Loom concept lets you turn your ceiling into a relaxing canvas first appeared on Yanko Design.

Elite cyclists and fitness fiends relish the adaptability of Wahoo’s KICKR Bike Shift

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Cycling Through The Cold Season With The Ultimate Indoor Biking System

Elite cyclists and fitness fiends relish the adaptability of Wahoo’s KICKR Bike Shift

Jason Harper

10 December 2024

An unseasonably warm fall was a gift to cyclists, keeping them on their bicycles far past the usual too-chilly date in places like the northeast. Outside temps have finally dropped, and bikers have fled indoors to their smart trainers. At COOL HUNTING, we wanted to find the ultimate indoor cycling setup that would get us through the winter in top shapem most closely replicate a workout on a real road, and still fit in a NYC apartment. The answer: The KICKR Bike Shift indoor trainer, coupled with the video-game application Zwift and a few key accessories.   

A smart bike or smart trainer is an internet-linked bike platform or a fly-wheel system that replaces the rear wheel of a bicycle, most often used in tandem with a training app. The combo simulates riding in real world conditions, including infamous Tour de France mountain passes. The trainer automatically alters difficulty as the rider goes up and down virtual hills. The courses are populated by other users worldwide, who you can ride alongside or race in real time. 

The leader of the smart trainers is a brand called Wahoo. We’ve been using their KICKR for almost a decade, though the industry technology progressed to the point that it was time for an upgrade. “The original KICKR was popular with triathletes and early adopters, but now we have a product line that allows a great range of people to ride indoors, in a pain-free way,” says Tyler Harris, Wahoo’s senior product manager of indoors. “Indoor biking is just a much more efficient way to train. You’re not limited by time and day. And it’s safe; you don’t have to deal with traffic. Plus, apps like Zwift create a social construct—just like riding outdoors, you can ride with groups of like-minded people, and talk about bikes.”

Indoor bikers are faced with an initial binary decision: Do you want to use your own bicycle, or choose a smart bike that looks more like a Peloton? Smart trainers necessitate a bicycle; users take off the rear wheel and attach the bike to the web-connected device. The bike sits upright and retains its shifting functionality. The upside is familiarity with your own equipment, the compact size of the trainer, and its relative affordability starting around $500 for the Core. The obvious downside is having to take the bike off the trainer and put the rear wheel back on anytime you want to take a real-world ride.

The other option is a stationary bike, offered as the KICKR BIKE or KICKR SHIFT. They are fully adjustable for riders of almost any size, and even allow you to customize the type of shifting to mimic SRAM or Shimano components. The BIKE, which retails for around $3,800, is the ultimate expression. The frame will physically tilt up or down to simulate inclines and descents, and an integrated motor runs the flywheel on descents, mimicking the sensation of coasting down a hill. The newer SHIFT lacks the integrated tilt function and flywheel motor, but is some $1,000 cheaper. Both models are incredibly quiet (unlike our old smart trainer), and work perfectly in the virtual environments of Zwift. The trainers also integrate with other apps, including those offered by Wahoo. And while Zwift and Wahoo are different companies, it should be noted, they work together symbiotically.

We also added two accessories that transformed our experience. The first was simple—the Cycling Desk Stand, an adjustable-height table that tucks under the front wheel, with cut-outs for your phone and tablet, and anything else you want within arms reach. Simple, but something we wish we’d invested in years ago. The second is the KICKR Headwind, a Bluetooth fan. Tucked under the desk and facing the rider, it can be set to blow harder as you cycle “faster,” or increase fan speed as your heartbeat rises. File this one under the coolest bit of kit you didn’t know you needed. It adds to the realism of the experience and overall comfort.

Elementally, though, the ease and efficiency of the system brings us to the beauty of indoor training. Choose 30 minutes of tough interval training on a Zwift program—you won’t need to shift, as the system will optimize workout load for you—or do an hour and a half “climb” up a virtual route riding alongside (and against) other riders who may be located anywhere in the world. The floor underneath you will be slick with sweat. As Harris says, “virtual riding allows for structured workouts that make you a better athlete. Or you can approach it as simply a way to get more miles in the off-season. Either way, if it gets you riding, it’s a win.”

I keep waiting for the clothes valet to make a comeback; it might be the piece of furniture I’ve covered the most. The object would be a useful place to toss clothes that are not dirty enough to launder, but not clean enough to go back in the drawer.

As Simone Giertz has observed, most folks simply use a chair for this task. She resolved to design something more elegant, and her clever solution features a swiveling portion that can be deployed for clothes duty as needed.

Here she walks you through her design process—as you’d expect, it took a while to arrive at the final design—and shows you how she built it:

“I just love the idea of not designing for the perfect day, but for the normal day,” says Giertz.

Her Instagram video of the chair has gone viral, with over 400,000 likes at press time. Multiple followers have commented that this is furniture design for real life, and unsurprisingly, lots of people want to order the chair. (At press time Giertz hadn’t announced any production plans.)

Promotion: Allsteel is putting inclusivity at the heart of its design strategy, with products and applications that improve the office experience for people with disclosed as well as invisible disabilities.

The American workplace design company is increasingly thinking about acoustic solutions that create quiet spaces and furniture that accommodates movement, the company has said.

Colour, lighting and scent are other elements featuring in its design approach as it looks at the experience for people with invisible disabilities.

“Inclusive design considerations can foster a sense of welcomeness and help support a diverse workforce,” wrote Dr Lauren Gant, Allsteel’s senior workplace advisory manager in a recent blog post.

“The assumption may be that these considerations only benefit a specific demographic. With this assumption, one could easily ruminate on what the point is if all this work only benefits a few.”

“However, inclusive design considerations have the potential to benefit all,” Gant continued.

“With thoughtful integration of design principles throughout the workplace, inclusive design can foster a sense of wellbeing whether individuals require adaptations, or they are simply trying to find productive workspaces.”

Gant said the nature of invisible disabilities, also known as hidden disabilities, means they can’t immediately be detected by looking or talking to a person.

They can include some physical disabilities, such as chronic pain or living with a stoma, but also include disabilities that affect the mind, such as ADHD, autism or mental health conditions among other conditions.

“We’ve become well-versed at considering physical differences through considerations for adjustability, ergonomics, and ADA,” said Gant.

“We are now focusing on how we create more inclusive spaces for a broader rage of diversity. These can include differences in how we think, learn, and respond to stimulation.”

An accommodation that is often recommended for people on the autism spectrum is to do with acoustics and auditory stimulation. Because neurodivergent individuals can experience hypersensitivity to sights, sounds, smells, tastes or touch and enter “sensory overload”, the thrum of a busy open office can have a more negative impact on people with autism than others if not controlled or planned for.

This is where the use of sound-dampening furniture and installations can make a difference when used thoughtfully whether to zone off quiet areas or dull background noise in open environments.

Here, Allsteel foregrounds the products of Swedish brand Zilenzio, which range from soft, enclosed seating to focus pods, panels, screens and dividers.

Another highlighted consideration to foster inclusivity is around movement. Although the traditional expectation around focused work is that a person will keep still, some people with autism or ADHD will use rocking or other fidgeting movements to help keep themselves grounded and concentrating.

This is why Allsteel features the Rock lounge chair by Rainlight Studio – an egg-shaped chair that enables the sitter to partake in a fun rocking motion while either relaxing or working.

Both the Zilenzio range and Rock chair are examples of the “curb-cut effect” – named after the curb-cut or ramp transitions from the pavement to the street. Although these were introduced with the primary intention of providing access for wheelchair users, it was soon understood that nearly everyone preferred using curb-cuts.

Similarly, everyone benefits from seating designs such that eliminate static postures and create a culture where movement is common and accepted.

“The curb-cut effect is an excellent example of how considerations for inclusive design often have wide-reaching benefits,” said Gant.

With this in mind, Allsteel advocates not that employers dig into each person’s specific needs prior to design, but respect that people with invisible disabilities may choose not to disclose their conditions.

Instead, employers should practice empathy and imagine that there is a wide range of experiences and internal states among their staff, and create an office design that makes employees feel “safe” and allows them the flexibility to choose between a variety of spaces and furniture, such as a breakout space created with Rainlight Studio’s Peak lounge seating.

Allsteel’s approach to inclusive design also encompasses trauma-informed design, which recognises that people carry around their past experiences in the present and focuses on constructing spaces such as quiet rooms where they can recover and regulate their emotions at times of overwhelm.

“Trauma-informed design does not require us to understand specifics about the conditions or histories that have produced any individual’s needs,” said Allsteel senior workplace advisory manager Jordan Arnold. “However, it does require that we have an understanding that these needs exist and are real.”

“With thoughtful integration of design principles throughout the workplace, inclusive and trauma-informed design can foster a sense of wellbeing, whether individuals require adaptations, or they are simply trying to find productive workspaces.”

For more information about Allsteel and inclusive design, visit the company’s website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Allsteel as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Allsteel champions invisible disabilities as part of broader inclusive workplace design appeared first on Dezeen.

Despite evolutions and innovations in technology, Apple continues to lead the charge with its innovative devices that seamlessly integrate into our daily lives. However, to truly maximize the potential of your Apple gadgets, the right accessories are essential. Whether you’re looking to enhance productivity, personalize your style, or streamline your tech setup, the market is brimming with diverse and interesting options.

We have curated a collection of the ten best accessories designed to complement your Apple devices, offering a blend of functionality, style, and convenience. From portable solutions like the Magic Bar and Maco Go 2 charger to the stylish Native Union Active Magnetic Band, each product offers unique benefits that can transform how you interact with your technology.

1. Magic Bar

Called the Magic Bar, this unique and versatile accessory gives the MacBook Pro Touch Bar a whole new life and makeover. It can be used externally with any Apple device and is a portable design that provides a seamless and smooth user experience. It features a sleek, aluminum body that complements the aesthetic of Apple peripherals, while the touch-sensitive strip offers a familiar interface for users.

Irrespective if you’re using a MacBook, iPad, or iPhone, the Magic Bar is a lightweight design that offers quick access to smart home shortcuts or media controls at your fingertips. You can fit it into your backpack, making it a perfect travel buddy. It has a plug-and-play functionality which makes setup easy peasy. It is blessed with an intuitive design and practical applications.

What we like

• Enhances productivity by providing easy access to shortcuts and controls.
• Portable and lightweight, making it convenient for travel.

What we dislike

• Limited to Apple devices, reducing versatility for non-Apple users.
• May not appeal to users who prefer traditional physical keys over touch-sensitive controls.

2. MOFT Snap Phone Tripod Stand

Called the MOFT Snap Phone Tripod Stand, this sleek design will stick perfectly to your home, functioning as an ultra-thin and nifty tripod. It unfolds within seconds, providing you with steady support, and replacing makeshift solutions to prop your phone up. It can be folded into a super slim form, allowing it to blend into the back of your phone. It won both the iF Design Award and the Red Dot Award. It is a clever and handy design for users who prefer reliable hands-free solutions on the go.

The tripod is designed to seamlessly merge with your daily routine. You can fold it flat when you’re on the go, and then pop it open to click pictures, watch videos, or get on video calls. It also converts your phone into an external display beside your laptop or desktop, letting you choose. You can adjust it to different angles, so you can get the perfect shot or viewing experience whenever you like.

Click Here to Buy Now: $39.99

What we like

• Ultra-thin profile which makes it incredibly easy to carry around
• Transforms your phone into an external display.

What we dislike

• Limited stability for larger devices.

3. PITAKA Classic Ultra-Slim Case

If you’ve recently purchased the iPhone 16, then you need a sturdy and dependable case to protect your smartphone. You may want to consider PITAKA’s Classic Ultra-Slim Case design – a no-fuss protective cover that does its job without any added bulk or weight. It measures 0.84 mm-0.89 mm in thickness and weighs around 17.78-21g. It not only offers protection to your phone but also adds a bonus element of sophistication.

The ultra-slim case is made using high-grade aramid fiber blended with shockproof TPU. It protects your smartphone both inside and out. It features a smooth woven texture and metal button covers, which give your already premium iPhone an added premium feel. It is equipped with PITAKA’s Amber Magnet Film technology and is available in a 600D Black/Grey design. The case is sturdy, strong, and slim – the perfect companion for the iPhone 16 series.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49.99

For Amazon click here.

What we like

• Designed to add minimal bulk to your iPhone 16 Series.
• Offers robust protection without compromising on style.

What we dislike

• The case is available in a 600D Black/Grey design, which may not appeal to users seeking a wider variety of color choices.

4. Gundam Collection

CASETiFY’s Gundam-themed collection is a dream come true for fans of the iconic anime series. This collaboration brings the legendary mecha designs of RX-78-2 Gundam and MS-06S Char’s Zaku II to a range of Apple accessories, including phone cases, wireless chargers, and power banks. These accessories not only offer robust protection for your devices but also allow you to express your fandom in style.

The hard-shell cases provide durability, while the themed designs add a unique aesthetic to your gadgets. Whether you’re a fan of the Earth Federation or the Principality of Zeon, you can choose accessories that resonate with your allegiance. These products are not just about looks; they maintain the high standards of protection and functionality that CASETiFY is known for, ensuring your devices remain safe and stylish.

What we like

• Offers a unique aesthetic for anime fans, allowing for personalized device styling.
• Provides robust protection for Apple gadgets, ensuring durability.

What we dislike

• May not appeal to users unfamiliar with the Gundam series.
• The themed designs might not suit professional environments.

5. Maco Go 2

Called the Maco Go 2, this revolutionary and innovative accessory completely redefines convenience for Apple Watch users. It is a compact charger that cuts down the need for cumbersome cables, serving as a portable and sleek solution for on-the-go charging. It features a unique square design with a USB-C plug that supports easy connection to power bricks or laptops. It is MFi-certified and supports fast charging.

It is compatible with the latest Apple Watch Series, including the Ultra, and even the AirPods Pro 2. Its innovative design ensures that you never have to leave your charger behind, providing maximum mobility and efficiency. With the Maco Go 2, you can keep your devices powered up wherever you are, without the hassle of tangled cords.

What we like

• Compact and portable, ideal for travel and on-the-go charging.
• Supports fast charging for the latest Apple Watch models.

What we dislike

• Limited to devices with USB-C ports, restricting compatibility.
• May not charge as quickly as larger, more traditional chargers.

6. xCool InkPlay Smart E-Ink Photo Phone Case

Dubbed the xCool InkPlay Smart E-Ink Photo Phone Case, this product is an innovative case equipped with a tri-color E-Ink screen that supports instant customization. It lets you change the design in 15 seconds. It is equipped with NFC technology, which lets you wirelessly transfer images without consuming daily power. Your chosen design stays even if the phone battery dies.

The case provides 360-degree protection with a four-layer construction, raised camera bezel, and metal buttons. It protects your phone while maintaining a sleek aesthetic. Since it is compatible with wireless charging and Apple Pay, you can seamlessly include it in your daily routine. The case offers style and security in a sleek protective form.

What we like

• Allows for quick and easy customization of your phone’s appearance.
• Provides comprehensive protection while maintaining compatibility with wireless features.

What we dislike

• The E-Ink display may not appeal to users who prefer traditional phone cases.
• Limited color options for E-Ink display may not suit all preferences.

7. The Hub

The Holme & Hadfield The Hub is a minimalist docking station designed to keep your Apple devices and accessories organized. This sleek desk organizer is perfect for decluttering your workspace or nightstand, offering designated spots for your iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch, and more. Its simple, elegant design complements any modern decor, while its functionality ensures that all your essentials are within easy reach.

The Hub’s quick assembly and clutter-free design make it an efficient solution for maintaining a tidy space. Available in two stylish color finishes, it not only serves as a practical accessory but also adds a touch of sophistication to your setup. Whether you’re looking to streamline your morning routine or keep your desk neat, The Hub is an ideal choice for Apple enthusiasts.

What we like

• Efficiently organizes multiple Apple devices, reducing clutter.
• Stylish design enhances any workspace or bedroom decor.

What we dislike

• Limited to organizing smaller accessories, not suitable for larger devices.
• May not fit all types of accessories, limiting its versatility.

8. Active Magnetic Band

Designed by Native Union, the Active Magnetic Band is an essential Apple Watch accessory for those who lead active and dynamic lifestyles. It is a sports-ready strap, creating performance and style, making it a great fit for workouts and professional settings. It features a dual-color reversible design which lets you effortlessly switch up your look. The secure magnetic closure keeps it in place during intense activities.

It is made from a lightweight and breathable material which provides comfort. It is also water-resistant, making it ideal for different environments. It has a magnetic attachment, which provides a hassle-free use. It can be custom fit for all wrist sizes, making it a versatile addition to your Apple Watch.

What we like

• Versatile design is suitable for both sports and professional settings.
• Secure magnetic closure ensures the band stays in place during activities.

What we dislike

• May not be as durable as traditional buckle straps over time.
• Limited color options might not suit all personal styles.

9. AirPods/AirPods Pro Neck Strap

Named the AirPods/AirPods Pro Neck Strap, this accessory is sturdy, functional, and stylish. You never have to worry about losing your beloved AirPods again with this accessory. It includes woven ropes which will transform your AirPods into a fashionable necklace. You can wear your AirPods around your neck, giving you easy access to them.

It features a patented magnetic lock which keeps the buds securely in place. So, you never have to worry about your AirPods getting lost. The lovely strap is available in multiple colors – Panther Black, Daisy Yellow, and Midnight Blue. Make your pick, and choose the color that best complements your style.

Click Here to Buy Now: $39.

What we like

• Fashionable design with a variety of color options.
• A patented magnetic lock keeps AirPods secure, ensuring you never misplace them again.

What we dislike

• Not the best option for minimal design lovers.

10. iPod Magnetic Hybrid Card Holder

Meet Elago’s iPod Magnetic Hybrid Card Holder – a MagSafe-compatible accessory that brings a touch of old-school charm to modern smartphones. It mimics the classic iPod and combines nostalgia with contemporary technology. It can be merged seamlessly with MagSafe-enabled iPhones, offering a safe and easy way to carry your important cards with you.

It is built from durable polycarbonate and features powerful Neodymium magnets which ensure your cards are always safely in place. It has a smooth and ergonomic design with a finger groove for easy and efficient handling. It also has a card removal aid for convenience.

What we like

• Can accommodate two cards, allowing you to carry your essentials with you.
• Sturdy and durable, designed to handle daily use.

What we dislike

• Since it can only be used with MagSafe-enabled iPhones, limiting its use to a specific audience.

The post 10 Best Accessories For Tech-Savvy Users To Unlock Their Apple Device’s Potential first appeared on Yanko Design.