With its generative-design, the Helyx Drone accelerates faster than a Tesla Roadster

Mirroring the design process you’d see in a Formula 1 racecar, where aerodynamics, weight, and strength play incredibly key roles in the design process, Helyx is a drone that’s built for racing, and boasts of a unibody chassis that’s designed entirely using organic generative design. With a skeleton that feels almost animalistic, the Helyx quadcopter is incredibly light, weighing just 87.5 grams, and boasts of a max speed of a staggering 208km/h with an acceleration of 0-100km/h in 1.2 seconds. To put that into perspective, the Helyx Drone accelerates faster than the Tesla Roadster, which takes nearly 1.9 seconds to reach 100km/h. The top speed of 208km/h also makes the Helyx one of the fastest drones in the world.

While a lot of Helyx’s credit goes to the spectacular engineering, its generative design monocoque gives it a distinct advantage over most other drones. The Helyx’s body combines all aspects critical to drone design, with structural pillars, landing gears, bumpers, and load distribution built right into the drone’s singular skeleton. 3D printed using the HP Jet Fusion printer (probably out of carbon fiber), the drone was tested by FPV champion Guiseppe Renaldi in perhaps one of the most stunning, dizzyingly fast videos above.

Designers: Sigma Ingegneria, Tommaso Pardini & Andrea Rocchi.

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An innovative bicycle headlight that makes the road as well as the rider visible

The Dual Beam has an interesting take on a pretty common problem with being a bicyclist. A majority of bicycle accidents don’t occur because of bad roads, or because of faulty mechanics, but rather because of a lack of visibility. Given how slim they are and how quietly they drive, most bicycle accidents occur because they’re difficult to notice in low-light settings, effectively putting the biker at risk. Dual Beam takes on this problem with a rather innovative approach. Unlike bike reflectors that just passively reflect light, the Dual Beam is, in fact, a headlight for your bicycle… but instead of just shining on the roads to illuminate your path, the Dual Beam also shines on the rider like a spotlight, making you, as well as the road ahead of you visible. A literal two-birds-one-stone scenario.

The sheer genius of the patent-pending Dual Beam is that it makes its rider visible without distracting or blinding others. While most bike-lights aim at being brighter in a bid to be noticeable, brighter isn’t better, say the designers of the Dual Beam. A brighter light can often compromise the visibility of others, so the key is not to be the brightest, but to be easily visible. The Dual Beam effectively manages to do this by shining three LEDs at the driver’s torso. The RGB LEDs are visible from a distance, as they shine on your clothes, appearing white when far away (when the three colors combine) and showing up as three visible colored halos when viewed from up close. A flange above the LEDs prevents the RGB LEDs from shining into the rider’s eyes, increasing their visibility without impairing their vision.
The front-facing headlight points downwards too, so as to illuminate the road without creating a glare for other drivers.

Dual Beam comes with a weather-proof waterproof design and straps to the handlebar of any bicycle, thanks to its universal mount. The internal battery charges via MicroUSB, and provides 5 hours of run-time on a full charge. Designed to be used not just at night, the Dual Beam comes with a Day Mode too, which allows the headlight to strobe, making it visible even in bright daylight. After all, it’s always a good idea to be safe, right?!

Designers: Alex Mulvaney & Kathy Vega

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $110 (10% off). Hurry, for a limited time only.

ShineOn a Dual Beam | The New Bike Light Standard

The Dual Beam is a headlight for your bicycle and also shines on the rider like a spotlight, making you, as well as the road ahead of you visible.

The Team and Their Story

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $110 (10% off). Hurry, for a limited time only.

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The Unconscious Path to Purchasing Decisions

The mind works in mysterious ways, unless you are tracking the path to purchase. According to Daniel Codella, Senior Content Marketing Manager, Wrike, there are 7 psychological triggers that marketers can use to ascertain how consumers think and feel. 
Triggers are common psychological motivators, cognitive biases and behavior patterns. Knowing them can help influence and understand consumer interest, attention and actions. 
This is vital because, as he noted, “Ninety-five percent of purchasing-making decisions take place in the subconscious mind.” Product designers are especially adept at exploiting these triggers. “They are able to design products and apps that we have an emotional bond to,” Codella explained. But you don’t have to be a designer to apply these triggers. “People can be moved to action, enthusiastic persuaded to try new things just based on writing alone,” he added.
Here are the 7 Triggers:
     1.       Faith in Aesthetics. “The way that things look, matters a lot,” he stated. More than 50% of our brain is used to process visual information. Only 8% is used for touch and 3% for hearing. People make immediate judgments based on how things appear. Visual appeal can increase perceived credibility, authority, trust and value.
     2.       Request Justification. People have a natural tendency to comply with requests if they are given a reason why. “When people understand why you are doing certain things, they are more likely to follow through and do it,” he explained. When a ‘because’ is included, compliance increased from 60% to 95% in a study about cutting into a line. For marketers, be clear in what you will do and add something visual about your deliverable.
     3.       Social Proof and the Bandwagon Effect. Because we are social creatures, the actions of others serve for how we think we should act. In unfamiliar situations, we look to others to validate decisions, even if we don’t like these other people. “There is power in numbers,” Codella noted because feeling included in a group is a strong motivator. Interestingly, there are cases where aligning with smaller groups offers a sense of exclusivity. Examples are Facebook showing likes with specific friends, social-proofing our posts. This includes building momentum. Getting traction for messages, just as an airplane need momentum to lift off, is important for marketers. Codella suggests adding comments to your articles to get discussions started.
     4.       Serial Positioning. “The order in which we encounter information is powerful,” he asserts. People can most easily recall information from the beginning or end of a list. The beginning is the Primacy effect and the end is the Recency effect. So Codella recommended that marketers should, “Tell me. Show me. Tell me what you showed me.”
     5.       Availability Cascade. The more a piece of information is repeated, the more likely we are to believe it. Repeating claims such as The Best and The Most consistently will eventually get consumers to believe it. Repetition in social media is important because the average lifespan of posts range from 18 minutes on Twitter to 7.4 hours on YouTube. “People don’t pay as much attention to our marketing as we think they do,” he noted.
     6.       Curiosity.  This is one of the most powerful emotions,” according to Codella. There are no limits as to what people will do to satisfy their curiosity. Having partial information drives us to fill in the information gaps. But balance is important. Too little information doesn’t drive enough interest and too much makes seeking more information unnecessary. Tweaking blog titles so as to pique curiosity will drive traffic.
     7.       Labeling. “We are a lot more like each other than we like to admit. We don’t mind being included in a group if we like the attributes of the group.” Codella cited the example of a study where people were randomly labeled “politically active” even though they were no more active than the other groups. However this group was 15% more likely to vote. Codella’s advice is to label customers by the qualities you’d like them to have and they will change their behavior to reflect those characteristics. 
     This article first appeared in Cynopsis.

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Report: Facebook launching own TV streaming service

Facebook Portal

Facebook is reputed to have approached media companies including Netflix and Disney ahead of the launch of a new TV chat device.

A report published by The Information on Wednesday indicated the device would use the same video calling technology found in its Facebook Portal devices.

It’s already known that Facebook is working on new form factors that would be released in the autumn.
Code-named Catalina, the launch could provide a threat both to the Apple TV box and the new Apple TV+ service, also slated to debut in the next few months.

Launched a year ago Facebook Portal was released internationally earlier this year. It includes the ability to make video calls through Facebook and What’sApp and has Amazon Alexa built in.

It has AI Intelligence that allows it to follow a subject around the room.

All the parties mentioned in The Information’s article have declined to comment, though HBO did say it was not involved in any discussions.

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Inside Chobani’s massive, sustainable new innovation center

Yogurt giant Chobani has made it a practice to hire refugees to work at its manufacturing plants. As anti-immigrant rhetoric has soared, Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya reportedly received death threats for the practice (both of the company’s plants are in conservative areas), despite creating new jobs with solid benefits in communities that could use them.

Now the company is doubling down on retaining its growing workforce at its Twin Falls, Idaho, plant by giving those employees a massive innovation and community center that adjoins the world’s largest yogurt plant. In doing so, Chobani joins the ranks of companies creating shiny new spaces for workers. The 71,000-square-foot edifice is topped with a 14,000-square-foot research and development lab with a full test kitchen to help spur more yogurt innovations.

Unlike some of the walled gardens created by tech companies, it’s meant to be a shared space for both the community and the people actually making its products: workers at the adjoining yogurt plant. The angular, three-story building is flanked by two open courtyards. It’s been designed with enough sustainable features to hopefully meet LEED silver certification.

[Photo: courtesy Chobani]

“We wanted to build a beautiful home for our employees and our plant workers where they could feel comfortable and welcomed and eat a good meal,” says Peter McGuinness, the company’s chief marketing officer. “Within that, we wanted to integrate R&D and innovation into the operations of the plant. And then we wanted to create a place where anyone can come, so it acts as a community center.”

There’s a spacious gym, cafeteria, and lounge areas. The company is still vague about exactly what kind of community programming might happen there but suggests it could be a good spot for town halls and music events. The space features low-flow water fixtures, resilient native plant landscaping, LED lighting, and a 30,000-square-foot reflective roof to reduce cooling costs.

[Photo: courtesy Chobani]

The building is wrapped in “smart glass” windows that tint automatically to reduce glare, passively boost cooling, and allow for more natural lighting. The result is a facility that will require 30% less water than similar space, and 25% less energy. The company claims to have reused more than 50% of its construction waste to keep it out of landfills.

Chobani built the enormous yogurt plant—more than one million square feet—in Twin Falls in 2013. The company says that it brought 700 jobs to the area and that it contributes indirectly to the sustainability of another 8,000. Since 2012, the unemployment rate in the area has dropped from nearly 7% to just under 3%.

[Photo: courtesy Chobani]

The new space symbolizes CEO Ulukaya’s efforts to build an inclusive and empowered workforce. Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant, has been proactive about paying fair wages and hiring refugees (despite protests from the local community). The company offers paid parental leave, and Ulukaya has previously given employees shares of his stake in the company. This year, Chobani paid all of the school-lunch debt for students in Twin Falls and continued a partnership with nonprofit Wholesome Wave to increase the amount of healthy foods—especially fruits, vegetables, and yogurt—that people who are food-insecure or have nutrition-related health issues have access to.

Over the last year, the company has continued to launch dozens of offerings, including a nondairy line of coconut-based yogurts and others featuring nut butters, mix-in toppings for kids, and reduced sugar. McGuinness says that the new R&D area will give the company “a lot of the innovation and equipment . . . to go beyond yogurt,” although he declined to specify what’s next.

Regardless, they’ll be relying on the workers in Twin Falls to produce it. “This was really to celebrate our employees and our plant workers and make them as comfortable and safe, and as energized and well fed, as possible,” McGuinness says.

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Our new Pinterest board ties down buildings and furniture that are on the move

Cody Rolling Bridge by Thomas Randall-Page

Keep your eye on architecture and design projects that twist and turn on this week’s new Pinterest board, including animated houses, spinning walls and furniture that pulls down from ceilings. Follow Dezeen on Pinterest ›

Open the Pinterest app on your phone, tap the camera icon and scan the below Pincode to explore Dezeen’s feed.

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The Weekly Design Roast, #11

"There are times when I want to sit down and have a conversation with somebody, but I don’t want to face them, and I want us both to be hunched over. I used my design skills to make this happen."

"You can also place two of these together, and add this optional Ottoman that curves off to one side, for when you want to lie down in a funny position."

Not pictured: The barrel you place next to your toilet to store the extra rolls.

"Since you’re already walking around while texting and not looking where you’re going, let’s add some hot coffee to the mix."

"I call it the Narcissistoaster. Be aware that lighter parts of the photo will translate to untoasted portions of bread, so for best results, fill the frame with your face and/or shoot against a dark background."

"As a designer, you ask the tough questions. I’ve always wondered ‘How can I make the act of drinking coffee something that requires two triple-A batteries?’ Then it hit me!"

According to the actual product description, this was designed to save your "achey arms" and "creaky neck" while watching a movie on your phone. Now you can transfer that tension to your jaw.

"I designed this for lefties who are easily fooled by poor Photoshop jobs with incorrect perspective." [True Story: While this is clearly fake, it’s being sold here for $199.99.]

"Sure, it picks up a lot of dust and is tricky to clean, but you’ll love that it takes twenty to thirty minutes to find your phone and remote controls in this thing."

"This double-level snack bowl is great! There’s a slot in the back to hold your phone, a top level that holds shelled snacks, and a bottom level where you discard your hopes and dreams."

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Innovative tableware designs that turn eating into an experience: Part 2

Spoons, forks, dishes… these are some classic designs that have remained standard ever since their invention. Or so we thought until we came across these innovative tableware designs! From a teapot that keeps your tea warm while you have those long conversations, an ergonomically efficient spice grinder to flowing plates that add a moment of zen to your table, these designs, when used, are sure to set your table apart to an extent where your cutlery ends up being the focus over the food! Check out our Part 1 of this collection to spice up your dinner table even more!

Tea for two is an easy-to-use tea set with 2 spouts on a pivoting base to keep the tea and conversation flowing by Mark Huang

The Ortwo models itself on the hand-grippers that we use to increase our gripping strength, giving you a new, single-handed way to crush pepper, salt, or other spices by Dreamfarm 

Doubloom is a darling spice canister set that adds a decorative touch to your kitchen by Wanki Kim 

The Pick-Up Lid lets you grab a pinch of seasoning from the glass receptacle without making any contact with the food by Nendo for Daikin

The storm tray from 24d-studio Design&Architecture 

Inspired by ever-shifting dunes, The Foundry by Tinkah set out to develop a material that tames the characteristics of desert sand into a moldable medium 

Folding Tableware by Zhou Buyi is stacked up from top to bottom, flowing with aesthetic feeling. Lines are made up of 1:2:3 ratios, in geometric progression 

This Cutlery Design has utensils made from black matte steel and inset into wood handling by Saad Syed (emrgnce)

The Outlery Cutlery is a three-part kit that screws on in a jiffy and can be used on the go. Easy to clean and maintain, just carry a box on you, wherever you go by Outlery 

This family of products designed for Virgin Atlantic consists of everything from the cutlery through to the cupholders, with every single element of the experience receiving a new lease of life by Youmeus Design 

Teapot designed by Jose Carlos 

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$9.1BN lost to piracy in 2019

In 2019, OTT and pay-TV companies in the US will see $9.1 billion in lost revenue due to piracy and account sharing.

parks 17 july 2019

Parks Associates research, 360 Deep Dive: Account Sharing and Digital Piracy, reports that this number will grow to $12.5 billion in 2024, a growth rate of 38%. Currently 27% of US broadband households engage in some form of piracy or account sharing.

« Piracy is a complex issue that cannot be addressed with a single solution or by targeting a single use case, » said Brett Sappington, senior research director and principal analyst, Parks Associates. « Most pirates also subscribe to at least one OTT service. They are not simply thieves looking to steal content but are video enthusiasts who engage with many different services. OTT services could better reach these consumers through ad-based content, which also aligns with these users’ general belief that ‘movies/music should be given away for free. « 

Consumers who report viewing an OTT video service for free but without ads are 22% more likely than average broadband households to subscribe to OTT services, three times as likely to use ad-supported services and twice as likely to use transactional online video services. Growth in connected device ownership has shifted the focus of pirates towards the online video ecosystem too: About a fifth (20%) of US broadband households are using a piracy app, website, or jailbroken device.

« Growing subscriber numbers and an increased number of services signal a very healthy OTT market, but more services and aggressively promoted content could incite

more piracy

 over time, » Sappington said. « Consumers will hit an upper limit to spending eventually. When that happens, they will resort to pirate tactics to get the content that they want, particularly for sports and other content where trials are not available. »

Demographics that most often subscribe to OTT services are also those who most often engage in piracy or account sharing. Men, consumers under age 35, and households with low annual incomes pirate content at a disproportionate rate.

In all, the

Parks research

found that 13% of consumers report using a piracy website or app.

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