18MAY2025: A cool pop of color
Organizing your desk, fixing your gadgets, telling time with style, looking more deeply at things, and more!
Happy Sunday, everyone!
This week, I've been reading some great tips on night photography, thinking about brushing off my Traveler's Notebook, playing through the fan-made Pokemon Unbound for the Gameboy Advance, and contemplating hacking my Aiden coffee brewer so I can have ChatGPT help me refine my brew recipes.
On to the good stuff!
🗃️ UGMONK's Capture System - Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk is back with yet another great-looking upgrade to our desktop note-taking systems. The Capture is a stackable, modular system for capturing and filing handwritten notes at your desk, building off his excellent Analog Productivity System, with which this new system is also compatible. The new system provides a tray for holding your 3x5in Analog to-do cards, and adds a new, larger tray and premium stock 5x6.5in Capture Card for long-form notes. I particularly like the addition of a small flap at the bottom of the trays to make it easier to slide used cards into the bottom of the stack (something I've struggled with on my wooden Analog tray).
🪛 Hoto Electronics Screwdriver Set* - I've written before about my love for Hoto's stuff. They make thoughtful, beautifully designed tools for home use. They're back with a new version of the awesome Electric Screwdriver set that I use almost daily, now designed for precision screwdriving. This new set is for assembling and disassembling smaller items and electronics, compared to the other set that's more for furniture. Like the older set, this one comes with a nice storage case for all 56 bits... However, unlike the boring grey of the original, this one has a cool pop of color and uses magnets so you can modularly stack it with their other new tool sets. The electric driver supports three speeds with built-in smarts to prevent over-torquing micro screws on your glasses, phone, laptop, etc.
🕦 Kehai Wall Clock - I've been seeing this clock in several design feeds recently and decided to hunt it down. Originally designed and released in 2004 by Japanese designer Makoto Koizumi, it's just been brought back into production. I love the glazed finish on the glass and the pops of color. It reminds me of an abstract take on the VisionOS aesthetic. I want one.
📱 GNAR iPhone Case - The folks at Peak Design just keep cranking out cool products. I already love and own several of their Every Day iPhone cases*, and am now very tempted to grab one of these new extra rugged but sleek outdoor cases. This case not only looks great but adds 4.5m/15ft drop protection, a removable USB-C plug to keep water and dirt out of your charging port, and a pleasing diamond-knurled edge on the outer bumper for extra grip. This could be perfect for helping my phone survive our summer rock climbing and swim hole outings.
🔍 Chance.AI - Chance AI helps you look at things more deeply. Unlike standard AI visual tools that simply report what they see, this app uses a reasoning model to "think out loud" about the scene, providing insights about design, cultural or historical significance, and more. I'm enjoying it as a tool to explore moments more deeply, giving me more to consider as I watch scenes unfold.
That's it for this week, may you be happy, healthy and at peace!
*Asterisks indicate links that may generate a small commission to support the site at no extra cost to you. These links are not sponsored, and I have no relationship with the makers of these products