Vending – Washing Machines

Time-pressed Londoners now have an easy way to get their dry-cleaning done thanks to a new vending-machine service launching there this week. The brainchild of local startup VClean Life, the first “VDrop” machines are being installed at subway stations across the capital where your deposited dirties will be cleaned, folded, and ready for pickup within 24 hours. To use the […]

DNA Infused Tattoo

Given how permanent they are, it’s no surprise that tattoos are pretty darn personal things. Whether it’s the date of your child’s birthday or some other marking which commemorates a significant moment or aspect of your life, tattoos provide a means to carry around a visual reminder about something important to us. They could be about to get a whole […]

Domio Apart-Hotels

The traditional hotel industry worldwide has been suspicious at best and fearful at worst of the impact that Airbnb has had on its share of the market but the tide seems to be turning not only in terms of what consumers want in a rented space but also in what developers are willing to move toward. From Airbnb’s own Niido […]

Google Slides Can Now Auto Transcribe

A recent internal hackathon at Google has resulted in a new captioning feature for its G Suite presentation app, Slides. The creation of Google software engineers Laura D’Aquila and Abigail Klein, the feature uses a computer’s built-in microphone to transcribe the words of a speaker in real-time, displaying them for everyone to see. While especially useful for the deaf or […]

Pin-pointing Space Debris

Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde has a knack for raising environmental awareness through spectacular and symbolic pieces of art, and his freshly launched Space Waste Lab might be his most impressive installation yet. The project uses real-time data and LEDs to call attention to the mounting problem of space debris, but his plans aren’t limited to simply shining a […]

Here’s For The Cheese Fans

You’ve never seen a brie or ricotta quite like this. A new Kickstarter project from the solar power company YOLK promises a cheese board that’s totally inedible — but completely electric. SunMade Cheese is a collection of cheese-shaped accessories all powered by a single solar panel. This panel looks a bit like a plate, and when fully charged, it generates […]

Zinc- Air Batteries A Low Cost Sustainable Energy Option

As green energy continues to rise as an alternative to traditional power grids, more people are looking towards how renewable energy sources can reach people in underdeveloped or remote areas. One California-based company, NantEnergy, might have an answer: rechargeable zinc-air batteries. Still relatively unknown, the innovative energy storage system could have major global impact. The green rechargeable battery is an air-breathing cell […]

Greenhouse As Experimental Living Space

Taipei-based design practice BIAS Architects recently completed “Greenhouse as a Home,” an experimental installation that reinterprets the living areas of a traditional house as five climatic zones. Created for the 2018 Taoyuan Green Expo, the project invited the public to experience the buildings with all five senses, from feeling the climatic differences to eating fresh vegetables hydroponically grown in the […]

Plastic Eating Mushrooms?

A new study from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London says that fungi are capable of expediting the breakdown of plastic waste. The aspergillus tubingensis fungus was featured in the State of the World’s Fungi 2018 report, which also documented that fungi are optimal in producing sustainable building materials and capable of removing pollutants from soil and wastewater. Whereas plastic […]