Capsule lets you spend your work breaks hanging out on the side of a building

If you’re stuck at an office desk day in, day out, and you feel like an adrenalin-fueled lunch to startle you from your near-catatonic state, how about spending it in a pod hanging off the side of your company’s building?

The remarkable — and somewhat scary — Monade Capsule is the creation of French-born designer Alice Bleton and a prototype was shown off recently at Dutch Design Week.

The Monade Capsule takes its name from “monad,” a word that means “an ultimately simple entity.” The design comprises a steel frame, 21 pieces of fiberglass, and a window to create a pod that rests on the top edge of a building, with one section hanging over the side.

Bleton says her creation is designed for office workers — presumably ones with nerves of steel — to provide them with “a place to isolate themselves, take distance from the office, and re-engage with the environment.”

On her website, the designer elaborates: “As city dwellers, our daily environment consists mainly of concrete and glass buildings. If we can not escape from this landscape, we need to look at things in our environment that give us air and inspiration. The Monade Capsule derives from this thought.”

It’s unclear how the pod would be secured to the building; we’re assuming several securely fastened cables are part of the package although none are shown in the accompanying photos.

The first image in the slideshow above shows someone relaxing inside the Monade Capsule, and take note: The photo isn’t taken from above, looking down. Instead, it’s taken from the side, and the fearless occupant is lying with their back toward the ground. You can also see a small ladder inside, allowing people to easily climb in and out of the pod.

“An urban hut”

Bleton says the project was inspired “by minimal living spaces designed for extreme conditions, such as mountain huts, spaceships, submarines and bunkers … The Monade Capsule is an urban hut [that] nestles in the density of the city, but escapes it due to its high position. The shape embraces the buildings since it lies partly on the roof and the facade.”

The French designer compares the capsule to a mountain retreat, offering “a quiet space to breathe with a new viewpoint. Spread over the city, the capsules can create a network of unique views — a new way to perceive and embrace our environment.” You just need the guts to climb into it.

Musk’s Boring Company fundraiser is ‘capping cap orders at 50,000 caps’

Whether Elon Musk’s weekend tweets came shortly after imbibing a few whiskeys during another rooftop party is anyone’s guess, but they’re certainly making people sit up and take notice.

First, the SpaceX CEO claimed that the upcoming and much-anticipated debut launch of the “world’s most powerful rocket” will carry into space Musk’s own cherry-red Tesla Roadster with the stereo playing Bowie’s Space Oddity, where it’ll orbit around Mars “for a billion years or so,” and now the entrepreneur says his Boring Company is “capping cap orders at 50,000 caps.”

If the whole Boring Company “cap” thing passed you by because you really have better things to do than immerse yourself in the shenanigans taking place inside Musk’s cranium, then allow us to briefly explain.

Following the announcement of his plan to build a futuristic subterranean freeway to banish traffic congestion (if this also passed you by, then read all about it), Musk hit upon a tongue-in-cheek plan to cobble together some cash for the ambitious project by selling baseball caps. The stunt also, would you believe, helped to raise the profile of the boring underground plan.

The $20 cap sold fast (fast for a cap with The Boring Company emblazoned across the front), in its first 24 hours raking in $80,000 in October, 2017. Two weeks ago we learned that “the world’s most boring hat,” as Musk himself describes it, had raised $300,000, with the CEO promising to “build that tunnel one hat at a time.”

And on Sunday Elon tweeted that to keep the cap special, “we are capping cap orders at 50,000 caps,” adding, “Almost there … ”

A short while later, Musk posted possibly one of his most profound tweets to date. It read simply: “Hat.”

He followed up by saying that every 5,000th buyer of the cap will receive it for free, and signed by the delivery guy. But the surprises don’t end there. The recipients will receive it inside one of Boring’s tunnels, while they drive the drilling machine. Blindfolded. Well, that’s what he said in the tweet:

That special hat delivery will take place deep within the real, but fictional (of course), tunnel we are building under LA while you drive the giant machine blindfolded. This will actually happen.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2017

He finished up by posting a link to a Spaceballs clip, commenting that the “documentary” had taught him that “the *real* money comes from merchandising.”

Yes, the million bucks raised by 20,000 cap sales will be a drop in the ocean for what The Boring Company requires to follow its plans through, but Musk — not your typical gray-suited, hidden-away CEO — is having fun getting the word out about the project.

The Boring Company has been digging test tunnels in California as it seeks to develop technology to speed up drilling work and as a result cut construction costs. Musk envisages a vast network of tunnels for high-speed electric sleds to carry vehicles and people across cities in a fraction of the usual time. Officials in cities across the U.S. have already shown an interest in Musk’s idea, while just days ago The Boring Company revealed it’s bidding for a contract to build an express transit line connecting Chicago O’Hare Airport to downtown.

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• T-Mobile’s ‘Mobile Without Borders’ is about to be hit with a 5GB cap
• Elon Musk offers first look at Boring Company’s futuristic freeway under L.A.
• ‘How not to land an orbital rocket booster’ – Elon Musk shares blooper video
• Elon Musk wants to whisk you from NYC to DC in 30 minutes with a new Hyperloop
• Everything you need to know about the Boring Company, Elon Musk’s latest venture

This is the OnePlus 5T Star Wars edition

OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition will be making its debut in India later this month.

OnePlus rolled out a gorgeous Lava Red color option of the OnePlus 5T in China late last month, and the company is now set to introduce another limited editon variant, this time aimed at Star Wars fans. The OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition will be making its debut in India on December 14, one day before the theatrical release of The Last Jedi.

The phone features a white color scheme with the red Star Wars logo etched at the back, and has a red Alert Slider and black volume buttons. Judging by the Stormtrooper on the home screen, it also looks like OnePlus will include software customizations to complement the custom color scheme.

OnePlus India hinted at a possible collaboration with the Star Wars franchise earlier this year, wherein the manufacturer posted a photo of the black and gold color variants (representing the dark and light sides of the Force) of the OnePlus 3T on May 4th.

India has a huge Star Wars fanbase, and the post inevitably kicked off speculation that OnePlus was working on a flagship with livery from the storied franchise. With the OnePlus 5T Star Wars edition, the company has delivered in spades.

OnePlus also picked the right venue to deliver the announcement. By revealing the device at the Bengaluru Comic Con over the weekend, the company made sure that Star Wars fans attending the event would be the first to know about the upcoming device. Overall, a great collaboration and perfect timing for the reveal. Here’s the launch trailer:

OnePlus is also hosting a launch event for the release of the Star Wars-themed phone in Mumbai on December 14, and fans will be able to purchase tickets to attend the event. Each ticket costs ₹999 ($15), and includes access to the launch, pop-up store where the OnePlus 5T Star Wars will likely be showcased, and a “surprise.”

Ticket sales for the event will kick off on December 7 at 10 a.m. on Paytm, and we’ll let you know once they’re up for purchase. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the OnePlus 5T Star Wars edition?

See at OnePlus 5T

Vidme’s YouTube-meets-Reddit video service is no more

Video service Vidme is shutting down after almost four years, citing competition from online juggernauts Google and Facebook. The self-professed YouTube-meets-Reddit-style platform boasted 25 million users as recently as last December, which is a blip in comparison to YouTube’s 1.5 billion users. Like fellow video also-ran Fullscreen, Vidme is the latest millennial-chasing platform to luck out in its hunt for a niche. The service is wasting no time in disabling sign-ups, video uploads, and paid channel subscriptions, according to co-founder Warren Shaeffer.

The digital video landscape has changed drastically since Vidme’s arrival in 2014. In its own words, YouTube was the sole video service for creators looking to make cash from their work when it landed on the scene. Back then, the fledgling startup’s focus on patronage — with the introduction of now common tools, such as tipping and paid subscriptions — helped it to amass 1 million creators. Meanwhile, its community went about grouping user videos into curated categories (think subreddits), including gaming animation, “weird wide web”, and movies.

Then everything changed. Clocking YouTube’s ad numbers, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter got in on the video act. Add to that the billions Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and Hulu began spending on original programming, and suddenly Vidme was dwarfed by a gaggle of larger competitors. The startup watched as Vine went bye bye, as did NBC’s comedy-oriented Seeso, and Verizon’s vertical video-centric Go90 struggled — none of which were small fry. And now Vidme too is bidding farewell to its fans.

The company promises a new product next year (although it won’t say what) and is in talks with “creator-focused” firms to integrate its technology and maybe even “revive” its service.

Source: Vidme (Medium)

Gravity waves could help scientists detect earthquakes faster

Tracking minor changes in gravity when an earthquake hits could buy us precious life-saving minutes, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Revisiting data from the huge 2011 Japan earthquake, the researchers indicate that shifts in gravity could’ve told people the scale of the quake three minutes after it began. The findings come on the heels of a separate study (presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America) that theorized that 2018 would see a surge in earthquakes, due to a slight slowing of the rotation of the Earth.

Previous research has shown that the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku quake that struck Japan in 2011 was powerful enough to slightly alter the affected area’s pull of gravity. On the ground (where the gravitational shifts are barely noticeable), it took 3 hours for the Japan Meteorological Agency to gauge its true size, after initially estimating it to be magnitude 7.9.

The new study suggests gravity signals, travelling at more than 185,000 miles per second, were most apparent at monitoring stations between 1,000 and 2,000 km from the quake’s epicentre. At that speed, the signals had enough time to be recorded before the seismic waves took over.

Japan’s largest recorded earthquake, the Tohoku event triggered a tsunami that resulted in over 15,000 deaths and caused the Fukushima Daiichi power plant meltdown — the ongoing cleanup of which is estimated to take between 30 to 40 years. Although we’re still no closer to predicting earthquakes, the researchers claim that (with revision) their method should work for detecting quakes of magnitude 8.5 or greater, which are large enough to generate measurable gravity signals.

Source: Science

Best Xiaomi Phones

The manufacturer you may have rarely heard of makes some of the best devices available today.

Xiaomi is a smartphone manufacturer that is growing in stature day-by-day, despite having virtually no physical presence outside of Asia. The company is now the fifth-largest smartphone vendor globally, a considerable achievement seeing as how the brand started selling phones outside China just three years ago.

Impressive, certainly, and it seems Xiaomi is set to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Apple and Samsung in the higher reaches of the smartphone market. And yet while so many may have heard the name, the phones are still relatively alien to many in the West. Xiaomi has a reputation for building devices that are an extremely good value without cutting corners. If you’re interested in picking up a Xiaomi phone or just interested in the brand, these are the phones you’ll need to know about.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2

Released October 2017: Xiaomi made the smartphone segment stand up and take notice with the Mi Mix last year. The device’s ultra-thin bezels combined with the ceramic construction made it an enticing option for enthusiasts, but with availability limited primarily to Asian markets, it wasn’t the easiest phone to get a hold of. All that’s changed with the Mi Mix 2: the phone has the same basic design as the Mi Mix, but with a smaller 5.99-inch screen and a more rounded design that makes it much more accessible.

And with Xiaomi set to offer the device in over 40 markets, it will be widely available for purchase. One of the highlights of the Mi Mix 2 is global LTE connectivity, with the phone featuring 42 bands in total — the most of any phone sold today, according to Xiaomi. Then there’s that evocative bezel-less design, which sees three edges of the screen sporting razor-thin margins.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 review: Astounding, audacious, accessible

Like last year, the front camera has been moved to the bottom bar, which has also shrunk. The camera module itself is smaller, and has been blacked out to make it blend into the frame, creating a seamless look at the front. Xiaomi has retained the ceramic back, but switched to an aluminum mid-frame. There is a version with an all-ceramic chassis, but that particular model is exclusive to China and sold in limited numbers.

The Mi Mix 2 is no slouch either, sporting a Snapdragon 835, 6GB or 8GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB/256GB of internal storage, 12MP camera, 5MP front shooter, Wi-Fi ac with MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3400mAh battery. One of the main drawbacks of last year’s Mi Mix was the primary camera, but this time around Xiaomi addressed the issue by using the same 12MP imaging sensor as the one on the Mi 6. As a result, images taken with the Mi Mix 2 look incredible.

With the Mi Mix 2, Xiaomi has made its bezel-less design accessible to a more mainstream audience. The device is now on sale in a handful of Asian markets, including India, where the model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage is available for ₹35,999 ($560). Xiaomi also kicked off sales in Europe, starting with the Spanish market.

If you’re looking to pick up the phone from a country where it isn’t officially available, then you’ll have to go through a reseller like GearBest.

See at GearBest

Xiaomi Mi 6

Released April 2017: Launched earlier this year, the Mi 6 became the first sub-$500 phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 835. It is also the first Xiaomi device to ditch the 3.5mm jack. The highlight of the phone is the dual-camera setup at the back, which includes a standard 12-megapixel wide-angle lens, along with a 12MP telephoto lens that delivers 2x lossless zoom.

The design has picked up a considerable upgrade from last year’s Mi 5, with Xiaomi offering a chassis with rounded corners and two panes of glass sandwiched by a stainless steel frame. As you’d imagine from a Xiaomi flagship, the Mi 6 has beefy specs in the form of a 2.45GHz Snapdragon 835, 5.15-inch Full HD display, 6GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB internal memory, 8MP front shooter, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and USB-C.

Xiaomi Mi 6 review: A new beginning

The removal of the 3.5mm jack allowed Xiaomi to fit in a larger 3,350mAh battery — 15% larger than the battery in the Mi 5 — while also making the device splash-resistant. The Mi 6 is also offered in a variety of color options, as well as a limited edition ceramic version and a silver variant with a mirror finish.

The phone retails for the equivalent of $420 in China, and with availability limited to a few Asian markets, you’ll have to go through a Chinese site to get your hands on a device if you’re looking to use it in other markets. Just be aware that it doesn’t have global LTE bands, unlike the Mi Mix 2. You get bands 1/3/5/7/838/39/40/41, but if you’re in a market where there’s LTE connectivity on those bands, the Mi 6 is a great option for under $500.

See at GearBest

Xiaomi Mi A1

Released October 2017: If the Mi Mix 2 is innovative for its hardware, the Mi A1 is groundbreaking for its software. The phone is the first from Xiaomi to not run MIUI, with the Chinese manufacturer collaborating with Google on the Android One platform. As a result, you get a device with Xiaomi’s design language and Google’s software vision. The fact that the device costs under $250 is the icing on the cake.

The Mi A1 has a premium design with antenna bands running along the top and bottom of the phone at the back, and the aluminum body gives it an upmarket look. The phone also has dual 12MP rear cameras, with the same configuration as the Mi 6: a wide-angle lens augmented by a telephoto lens for 2x optical zoom.

The rest of the specs include a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, microSD slot, 5MP front shooter, 3.5mm jack, and a 3080mAh battery that charges over USB-C.

Xiaomi Mi A1 review: Best of both worlds

In the two months the Mi A1 has been on sale, Xiaomi has rolled out two updates, delivering the latest security patch. The phone is set to receive the Android 8.0 Oreo update before the end of the year, and is slated to be in the first wave of devices to pick up the Android P update once it becomes available next year.

The Mi A1 is widely available, with Xiaomi kicking off sales in all markets it currently has a presence. In India, the device is sold on Flipkart for ₹14,999 ($235).

See at Flipkart

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

Released January 2017: The Redmi Note 4 is Xiaomi’s juggernaut in the budget segment. The phone has improved in several areas from its predecessor — including the design and camera — in an overall package that delivers incredible value for money. No wonder, then, that it is the best-selling phone in India for 2017, breaking all sales records for the brand.

Best of all, there’s now a variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage. The rest of the internal hardware has also been tweaked, with a Snapdragon 625 running the show. There’s also a 13MP camera at the back with an f/2.0 lens, 5MP front shooter, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, and a massive 4100mAh battery that delivers at least two days’ worth of usage on a full charge. Oh, and it has a 3.5mm jack too.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 review: Setting the benchmark

The phone has received the MIUI 9 update, bringing a slew of new features. The pricing is what makes the Redmi Note 4 so alluring: the base model with 2GB of RAM and 32GB storage is available for as low as ₹8,999 ($140) in India, and the version with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage costs ₹11,999 ($185).

If you’re looking for a well-rounded budget device that has it all, then the Redmi Note 4 should be at the top of your list.

See at Flipkart

Xiaomi Redmi 5A

Released November 2017: The Redmi 5A has the distinction of being the most affordable Xiaomi handset to date, with the phone making its debut in India for under $100. Xiaomi saw a lot of success with the Redmi 4A, and it didn’t alter the formula too much with the Redmi 5A: you get the same basic hardware, but the lower price means the phone will be accessible to a wider audience.

The Redmi 5A is aimed at the Indian market, where the base variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage is on sale for just ₹4,999 ($77). That’s ₹1,000 ($15) less than the Redmi 4A, and while that price is limited to the first five million units, Xiaomi’s decision to sell the device for under ₹5,000 should give the brand an added boost when it comes to sales figures.

Specs of the Redmi 5A include a 5.0-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 425, 2GB/3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of internal storage, dedicated microSD slot along with two SIM card slots, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front shooter, and a 3000mAh battery. On the software front, the phone runs MIUI 9 out of the box.

The Redmi 5A is all about delivering incredible value in the entry-level segment, and it manages to do that with aplomb.

See at Flipkart

Xiaomi Mi Max 2

Released May 2017: The Mi Max turned out to be a surprise hit for Xiaomi last year, so the company rolled out an updated variant with a better design and upgraded internals. The large 6.44-inch screen combined with a massive battery makes the Mi Max 2 a multimedia powerhouse.

With the latest iteration, Xiaomi switched to a unibody design with antenna lines at the back, and made the edges rounded to make it easier to hold the device. The phone isn’t made for one-handed usage, but it is a far sight better to look at and use when seen next to the Mi Max.

Xiaomi Mi Max 2 review: Bigger is better

The Mi Max 2 features a 6.44-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, 12MP camera, 5MP front camera, and a huge 5300mAh battery that is designed to provide at least two days’ worth of usage from a full charge.

The sheer size of the Mi Max 2 makes it a niche device, but if you’re in the market for a phone with a large screen and class-leading battery life, there isn’t a better device available today.

See at Flipkart

Updated November, 2017 with the Mi Mix 2, Mi A1, and the Mi Max 2.

Australia investigates Facebook and Google over media impact

Internet giants may be trying to make nice with publishers, but that’s not completely reassuring to Australian regulators. The country’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is investigating Facebook, Google and other “digital platform providers” to see if their search engines and social sites are harming competition in the news space. It wants to know if the long-term shift to digital news is unfairly limiting conventional publishers’ ability to produce content, and whether the “information asymmetry” between internet services, advertisers and the public is damaging.

This isn’t just a surface-level report, either. The Commission will have the authority to demand info and hold hearings if the existing information isn’t enough to gauge the level of competition.

It’ll be a while before there are answers. The ACCC’s preliminary report isn’t due until early December in 2018, and a finished report will have to wait until June 2019. A lot could change in that space of time — Facebook alone has made rapid changes to its relationship with publishers. Still, the investigation could increase pressure on search companies to please traditional outlets and avoid government action.

Via: Reuters

Source: ACCC

Venezuela will start its own digital currency to beat sanctions

The authoritarian streak of Venezuela’s recent leaders has cost the country dearly. Mismanagement and sanctions have crippled its infrastructure, its money is increasingly worthless and the public is fuming. President Maduro thinks he has a solution, though: creating the country’s own cryptocurrency. The “petro” will be backed by Venezuela’s key natural resources (diamonds, gas, gold and oil) and, in theory, will help it get around the “financial blockade” imposed by the US and other nations.

Whether or not it works as promised is uncertain… and that’s assuming this isn’t just bluster. Maduro didn’t provide many other details, including a timetable for when the digital currency would be available. The move would need congressional approval (provided Maduro doesn’t find a way to act unilaterally). And of course, this could easily be likened to putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Many Venezuelans are struggling to meet basic needs — what good is a digital currency if it still leaves you starving?

Cryptocurrencies are hot right now (one Bitcoin is worth over $11,000 US as of this writing), so the strategy isn’t exactly coming out of left field. Maduro is clearly hoping that this trend will extend to the petro if and when it launches. Given that his government hasn’t had much success improving the value of its tangible money, though, there’s not much hope that it’ll manage virtual cash more effectively.

Source: Reuters

Great heights and spectacular sights: The 16 coolest buildings on Earth

Since claiming dominion over this drifting space rock, we humans have peppered the planet with abodes and edifices both large and small. Over the past century, we scraped the sky with awe-inspiring stacks of steel — but sometimes “bigger” doesn’t always mean “better.” We’ve scoured atlas and encyclopedia alike — and of course the trusty internet — to find the most impressive buildings around the globe. From a flying saucer seemingly afloat in the Hollywood Hills to a Spanish cathedral more than a century in the making, here are our picks for the 16 coolest buildings on the planet.

Heydar Aliyev Centre (Baku, Azerbaijan)

Azerbaijan was previously part of the Soviet Union and much of the capital, Baku — as well as much of the rest of the country — remains dominated by the lingering architecture of the bygone era. Once Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991, the government made it a point to break with the Soviet Modernism style by investing heavily in urban architectural development. Following a design competition in 2007, Zaha Hadid Architects was chosen to oversee the design of the Heydar Aliyev Center. Today, the stunning Heydar Aliyev Centre exists as a true testament to this long-term city planning initiative.

Bosco Verticale (Milan, Italy)

The Bosco Verticale — or pair of so-called “vertical forests” — was completed in the Isola neighborhood of Milan in 2014. The Architecture firm Boeri Studio situated more than 600 tall trees, 500 smaller trees, and 2,500 plants and shrubs along terraces on all four sides of the two buildings. Based on estimates, these plants could remove about 25 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually while adding roughly 130 pounds of oxygen each day. The Bosco Verticale incorporates the number of trees one would find in a 10,000-square meter section of forest, according to the studio.

Benedictine abbey/Mont Saint-Michel (Normandy, France)

Sure, the Norman Benedictine abbey atop the Le Mont-Saint-Michel is quaint, but it’s really the rocky islet itself, Mont Saint-Michel, that pushes this World Heritage site to near the top of our list. Mont Saint-Michel is set just off the coast of Normandy and has been one of the most popular tourist destinations in France for years. During low tide, the surrounding waters subside allowing visitors to wander around the surrounding bay. In 2014, a new bridge connecting Mont Saint-Michel to the mainland was constructed to replace the 135-year-old causeway.

CCTV Headquarters (Beijing, China)

The CCTV Headquarters can be seen from virtually any part of Beijing, seemingly twisting and turning as you move about the sprawling metropolis. The two towers rise from a single platform, gradually leaning toward one another, and eventually merging to form a 246-foot cantilever. Tower 1 serves as the editing team’s home base, Tower 2 is dedicated to broadcasting, and the administration offices are located in the midsection overhang.

For $25, you can create your own voice-controlled origami with Paper Signals

Who says you have to be a tech wizard to create a voice-controlled tool? Certainly not tech giant Google, which is trying to convince us all that we just might be geniuses in our own way with a cute new project called Paper Signals. Somewhere in between origami and computer science, Paper Signals is an open-sourced and extremely affordable way for folks to learn how to build voice-controlled gizmo and gadgets.

To begin your journey as a techie, simply acquire a Paper Signals starter kit, which will set you back just under $25. Included is an Adafruit board, necessary cables, and a micro servo motor that will help mobilize the various parts of your new toys. In addition, you’ll have to supply some basic tools, like an X-acto knife, glue, pencil, and a ruler. Of course, in order to utilize the voice assistant aspect, you’ll also need a Google Assistant compatible device, like a Google Home, or at the very least, your phone.

Paper Signals is part of Google’s Voice Experiments, with the goal to demonstrate “what’s possible when you bring open-ended, natural conversation into games, music, storytelling, and more.” And while you might be a bit skeptical about just how useful a DIY piece of paper technology could really be, some of these Paper Signals seem to have pretty useful applications.

For example, you can create the arrow Paper Signal, which will help you track whether the value of Bitcoin is increasing or decreasing on a given day. Just say, “Track Bitcoin,” and if the arrow points up, it means your investment is appreciating. If the arrow points down … well, don’t panic.

Similarly, there’s a pair of pants that you can make with Paper Signals, which can let you know if it’s hot or cold in New York City. If it’s hot, the pants become shorts. If it’s cold, the opposite occurs.

Sure, none of these gimmicks are the most useful in the world, but they’re an easy and seemingly enjoyable way for folks to begin experimenting with a relatively new (and deceptively accessible) kind of technology. After all, who doesn’t want to be able to say that they built a voice-activated tool over winter break?

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