In today's competitive consumer products industry, incorporating sustainability considerations into the product design process is not just a buzzword but a necessity. However, for many design firms, achieving sustainable outcomes can feel daunting and unachievable due to preconceived notions of cost or what sustainability "should" look like during the design process. Selecting more sustainable materials tends to be the first path forward that springs to mind, but that’s not the only way to integrate sustainable practices into the product design process. Today, designers are leveraging digital tools to eliminate paper trails, streamline processes, and more. Here, we highlight three companies that demonstrate sustainability is not only attainable but also actively practiced in various ways by product designers today. Leveraging sustainability analytics for informed decisions R&S Robertson, renowned for delivering exceptional lighting solutions for the hospitality and leisure sectors since 1939, recently decided to branch out and design its first lighting collection with the design firm Vivid Nine. The Vivid Nine team utilized the Manufacturing Sustainability Insights (MSI) add-on for Autodesk Fusion to calculate the environmental impact of their designs in real-time, even before prototyping and manufacturing. By selecting different materials, manufacturing processes, and locations, MSI provides a comprehensive cradle-to-gate analysis of the product's carbon emissions. This real-time feedback allows designers to experiment with various materials and processes, helping them identify the most sustainable options. MSI’s analysis highlighted the biggest carbon contributors in the designs, indicating areas for significant improvements through material choice changes or design optimizations. Additionally, the team could compare the environmental impacts of manufacturing in different locations. They concluded that it was more environmentally beneficial to manufacture in Portugal compared to Asia, aligning with R&S Robertson’s manufacturing partner in Portugal.The Vivid Nine team utilized the MSI add-on for Autodesk Fusion to calculate the environmental impact of their designs in real-time . “We can go through each component piece of the light and run calculations of different CO2 values to try and reduce it,” says Jonathan Pearson, co-founder, Vivid Nine. “We can compare different manufacturing methods or different sizes to reduce the number. You can have a load of parts. But, with MSI, it’s easy to see what stands out as a really high value from a CO2 perspective and focus on what to change and impact the overall value.” Reducing the production paper trail Termobrasa, a Portugal-based manufacturer of heating systems, has eliminated its paper trail by designing its products in Fusion and tracking their production with Fusion Operations. Fusion Operations provides real-time insights into materials, production schedules, and inventory levels, facilitating efficient resource planning. By digitalizing their operations from design to production, Termobrasa has significantly reduced its reliance on paper, thereby cutting down on resources and embracing a more sustainable. Easy repairs to support the circular economy Native Instruments, a leading manufacturer of software and hardware for music production and DJing, offers a repair program for its products. This initiative focuses on extending the lifecycle of their products, thereby reducing electronic waste. “Usually, customers ask us to ship a spare part that they need to repair their own instruments,” says Matthias Geserick, senior customer care agent, Native Instruments. “Fusion Manage enables me to just find it directly in the database and send it to the customer with all the specs they need.”This approach aligns with the principles of a circular economy, where products are designed to be reused, repaired, and recycled, ultimately minimizing environmental impact. By focusing on access to easy repairs or replacement parts, Native Instruments can be more sustainable and keep customers sampling, composing, and mixing on their beloved instruments for years to come.By incorporating sustainable practices into the design process beyond just considering material type, design teams can reduce their environmental impact and enhance their reputation in an increasingly competitive market where consumers expect more from their products and the teams that create them. Learn more about Autodesk Fusion here.

It’s always interesting to me to look at product designers that look to create something that’s not usually found in the furniture shop near you. It’s also fascinating if they give you a glimpse behind their design thinking and what they want to be able to create with the pieces they’re designing even if sometimes these designs remain just that. Sometimes, it doesn’t have to be a complex design and we find gems even in the simplest and most minimalist of ideas. Designer: Edoardo Lietti Sisto is a creation by Italian designer Edoardo Lietti that embraces simplicity and versatility while blending Italian craftsmanship with modern aesthetics. Originally branded as a “versatile wood chair”, it has evolved into a “simple piece of furniture” that you can turn into whatever you want depending on how you position it. What makes it stand out is that it is crafted from just six pieces of plywood. This multi-functional piece uses exposed fasteners to hold these butt-jointed pieces of plywood together. This straightforward method not only emphasizes the honesty of the material but also contributes to the piece’s understated charm. Lietti shares that this “functional and sculptural piece of furniture” was actually inspired by the throne, which is normally reserved for monarchs. Using clean geometric characteristics, you can flip the piece around into different positions and its function can change. The positioning of the panels also creates pockets and shelves that lets you store various knick knacks when needed. It can become a low stool, a side table, a bookshelf, a regular table to work on, etc. When you combine it with another Sisto, you can create larger structures that can be used in your home office, actual office, or whatever space you put it in. This flexibility aligns perfectly with Lietti’s design philosophy of creating pieces that are not only artful but also practical and meant to last a lifetime. Sisto represents a refreshing perspective in contemporary furniture design. It champions the idea that functionality and aesthetic appeal can be achieved through thoughtful simplicity. By stripping away unnecessary complexities, the designer has created a piece that is not only versatile and practical but also possesses a quiet elegance that allows it to seamlessly integrate into a variety of settings. Whether you’re drawn to its minimalist form or its adaptable nature, Sisto is a compelling example of how innovative design can arise from a commitment to fundamental principles. Now let’s see if it will remain a concept or if it will eventually go into production. The post Multi-functional furniture system concept uses just six wooden panels first appeared on Yanko Design.

There are objects that quietly reshape how we see the spaces we inhabit. Sometimes, it’s a small lamp that invites you to linger in a moment, captured by its unexpected beauty. Orbyt offers exactly this kind of experience for those who notice details. For collectors and designers, it’s a piece that feels personal. More than a lamp, it’s a reflection of presence and pause. Orbyt’s form feels almost impossible. Suspended, its glowing disc appears to float, held by a slender arc anchored to a grounded cube. The immediate sensation is one of tension: the lamp hovers delicately, seemingly defying gravity, its lines at once structured and free. Something so simple can speak volumes about movement and balance, turning light itself into an element of quiet poetry. Designer: Aleš Boem The story begins with a familiar component: IKEA’s Strimsäv cabinet lamp, usually hidden away in shelves or cupboards. Orbyt transforms this humble light into an object worthy of contemplation. With its Memphis-inspired geometry and soft circular paths, it fits into the designer’s Nothing Else collection, a series that explores the purity of form and the subtle drama of space. Here, geometry is more than visual, it’s actually felt. What makes Orbyt truly special is its invitation to interact. Designed for home 3D printing, it encourages a tactile relationship with light. The central disc rotates smoothly, letting you direct the glow where it’s needed or wanted. Each gentle turn shifts not only illumination but also mood, creating an evolving dialogue between the object and its environment, a rare quality in everyday lighting. Plugged into a USB port or a wall socket, Orbyt bridges the analog and digital with understated ease. Its quiet adaptability means it feels equally at home beside a computer, on a nightstand, or as a sculptural centerpiece. The lamp retains the technical clarity of its origins while incorporating a sense of meditative stillness, inviting you to appreciate the invisible forces shaping both material and experience. Every aspect of Orbyt expresses a delicate tension between presence and absence, between gesture and restraint. It stands as a reminder that even the most unassuming components can become objects of wonder when touched by thoughtful design. For those who collect or create, Orbyt offers an opportunity to experience the familiar anew: an ambient lamp transformed into a meditative, gravity-defying companion. The post 3D printed mood lamp turns an IKEA cabinet lamp into a gravity-defying design object first appeared on Yanko Design.

I pitted the latest Samsung S25 Ultra against my current S24 Ultra model, and I was pretty shocked at the difference.

It seems the silly gaming genre description is here to stay.

Budget mechanical keyboards just keep getting better.

Maximum bass and minimal features make for a beguiling mix from this beautifully made Bluetooth speaker.

Macworld We don’t yet know if Apple’s iPhone 17 Air will be a commercial success when it launches this fall, but the unreleased slimline handset already has one fan. The YouTube channel Unbox Therapy got hold of an early prototype and showed it off in a video this week, describing the phone’s design as “crazy” and “insane” and predicting that, assuming the chassis strength is good enough to avoid another Bendgate controversy, Apple will “sell a boatload of these things.” The initial reaction of the YouTuber, Lewis Hilsenteger, is overwhelmingly positive. “This is crazy. Oh my god!” he says when the device emerges from its container. Struck by the difference in thickness between the 17 Air and a 17 Pro Max prototype sent in by the same supplier, he checks the listed dimensions: the slimline model is 5.65mm at the thinnest point, compared to 8.75mm for the 17 Pro Max and 7.96mm for the 17 Pro. (For comparison with current standards, the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are both listed on Apple’s website as being 8.25mm thick, while the 16, 16 Plus, and 16e are 7.8mm, so the Air is a huge reduction while some other models are getting thicker, possibly to accommodate larger batteries and possibly to exaggerate the Air’s thinness.) But there are important caveats: namely the reference to Bendgate. The unanticipated flexibility of the super-thin iPhone 6 Plus (7.1 mm) back in September 2014 damaged Apple’s reputation for hardware perfectionism for some years after. But Apple will surely be laser-focused on durability this time, and it seems unlikely the company would risk the dreadful PR of a repeat incident. A second caveat added later in the video may be more pertinent: Hilsenteger frets that “this thing’s going to have horrible battery life.” That’s probably going to be true. More pressing, the iPhone 17 Air is likely to be an exercise in compromise. Aside from battery life and the possible risk of bending, the phone is expected to have just one rear camera lens, like the iPhone 16e, and the processor and RAM allocation of a standard iPhone model, not a Pro one. If customers are willing to make those compromises for the sake of a slim body, while paying a relatively high price, we can expect Apple to lean harder in that direction. If not, the Air experiment will die after one or two models like the mini and (presumably) the Plus. It’s important to say, before we get too excited, that Apple won’t officially announce the iPhone 17 Air and its sibling products for another five months, so calling the video a “hands-on” might be considered a little tenuous. This isn’t an actual 17 Air as it will be revealed, but a prototype or dummy supplied by a third-party manufacturer. (The identity of that manufacturer isn’t revealed for obvious reasons, but it’s likely to be an accessory maker with contacts in Apple’s supply chain.) Corroboration with other prototypes inspires some confidence that this one is legitimate, but plans can change and it’s possible the final product will be different. But it’s hard not to watch that video and get excited for the launch. For all the latest leaks and rumors as we lead up to the big day, bookmark our regularly updated iPhone 17 megaguide. Or pick up a bargain on a current model with our roundup of the best iPhone deals.

Macworld The Apple Watch Series 10 disappointed some users last year. After hearing about major design changes for a while, the new Apple Watch turned out to be more or less identical to the one sold over the last few years. The display was just a tad larger and the body was slightly thinner, but overall it was very similar to the Series 9. At this point, Apple’s extremely successful watch is a proven formula and the company isn’t rocking the boat. So what’s in store for Apple Watch Series 11 in the fall of 2025? Here’s what we’ve heard so far about the Apple Watch Series 11. Apple Watch Series 11: Release date For years now, Apple has announced the new Apple Watch together with the new iPhone at a September event, with both products going on sale the following week. We haven’t heard anything to make us think that won’t be the case again this year. The most likely date is the second Tuesday of September, which is September 9. Pre-orders for the Apple Watch Series 11 will probably begin that Friday (September 12) with general availability in stores a week later (September 19). Apple Watch Series 11: Price Ever since the Apple Watch Series 3, Apple has kept starting prices the same for the aluminum Apple Watch and we don’t expect a price hike this year. THis means that the Series 11 will start at $399 and the larger version will cost $429, with an extra $100 for cellular capability and higher prices for various bands. With the Series 10, Apple also offered a titanium case for $699/$749, which includes LTE like the Ultra. Rumors suggest Apple will keep that option around with the Series 11, likely at the same price. However, no discussion of future Apple product pricing is complete without mentioning U.S. tariffs, which are changing rapidly and could have a big impact on pricing. It’s simply too difficult to predict whether tariffs will increase the Apple Watch’s price, the odds are significant. The Apple Watch Series 11 is likely to look nearly identical to the Series 10.Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry Apple Watch Series 11: Design Rumors throughout 2024 told us to expect more significant changes to the Apple Watch design last year, and then the Series 10 debuted and it looked like a very slightly flattened Series 9. This year, there aren’t even any rumors of big design changes. Currently, all signs point to an Apple Watch that is identical in appearance to the Series 10, with the possible exception of new colors, possibly sky blue to match the MacBook Air and iPhone 17. Apple Watch Series 11: New features Apple has been working on incorporating a microLED display on the Apple Watch for several years, according to various leaks and rumors, but it’s not expected to debut on the Series 11 this year. Some think this display shift will come to Apple Watch Ultra first, but even that isn’t expected in 2025. We’re not expecting any new health sensors, either. Apple’s blood glucose monitoring initiative is still years from ending up in a watch, it seems, and while there have been rumors of high blood pressure monitoring, that’s not quite ready to appear this year, either. So what will be new? You can bet on a new S11 SiP (system in package), offering somewhat better performance. Don’t expect a big boost in battery life, though—that has been a near constant 18 hours for nearly the entire lifespan of the watch. Apple Intelligence and the new Siri could be one of the new features of watchOS 12 and the Apple Watch Series 11.Michael Simon/IDG Apple Intelligence is a key aspect of almost every new Apple product now, and rumors suggest Apple is working on bringing some AI features to the Apple Watch. The actual AI models probably won’t be able to run on the watch; rather, the watch will gather data, the processing will be done on your iPhone, and then the watch will display results or notifications. Many of the new AI features will likely debut as part of watchOS 12, but some might be kept as Series 11 exclusives in order to help differentiate the hardware. It’s also rumored that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 will support 5G cellular and satellite messaging, which could also come to the Series 11. Apple debuted a wireless chip in the iPhone 16e, but it’s not clear whether it’s small or efficient enough for the Apple Watch yet. Apple Watch SE: Is something new on the way? Apple hasn’t updated the Apple Watch SE since 2022 and that update was an extremely minor one, bringing a new chip and crash detection with a lower price of $249. It was initially rumored that 2024 would bring a substantial update to the budget watch with a plastic redesign, but that didn’t happen. Then Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that a plastic SE redesign would arrive in 2025 alonside the Series 11. However, a rumor in March claimed that the new Apple Watch SE had run into production issues and was in “serious jeopardy.” So Apple may need to switch to an aluminum design for the new SE or stick with the current model for another year. The Apple Watch SE hasn’t been updated since 2022.Henry Burrell / Foundry The Series 11 is likely to be a ‘Series 10s’ We criticized the Apple Watch Series 8 for being largely the same as the Series 7, and the Series 9 for being almost identical to the Series 8. This looks like it could be another one of those years, where there are only very minor changes to the Apple Watch that you won’t even notice in everyday use. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad watch, or that Apple is in trouble. There is virtually no competition for the Apple Watch, and as long as Apple keeps pressing forward with watchOS software features, it’s likely to keep selling a lot of Apple Watches. But if you’re hoping for a major change to the Apple Watch hardware, you’ll probably have to wait another year or more.

A broad coalition of AI experts, economists, legal scholars, and former OpenAI employees is urging state regulators to keep OpenAI’s nonprofit foundation in control of the company. Their concern: that the company’s planned restructuring would abandon its legally mandated nonprofit purpose and place control of artificial general intelligence (AGI) in the hands of private investors. “We write in opposition to OpenAI’s proposed restructuring that would transfer control of the development and deployment of artificial general intelligence (AGI) from a nonprofit charity to a for-profit enterprise.” the coalition wrote in an open letter addressed to the Attorneys General of California and Delaware, who together are the company’s primary regulators. The letter’s signatories include Nobel laureates Daniel Kahneman and Joseph Stiglitz and AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. They argue that the proposed restructuring would violate OpenAI’s Articles of Incorporation, which explicitly state the organization is “not organized for the private gain of any person.” The coalition is urging California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings to exercise their oversight authority to prevent OpenAI’s proposed restructuring, which they argue would undermine the organization’s original charitable mission. The coalition’s appeal is supported by a separate amicus curiae brief filed by twelve former OpenAI employees in an ongoing federal lawsuit. Together, the letter and brief present a rare, coordinated public challenge to the internal governance of one of the world’s leading AI companies. A legally binding mission OpenAI was created in 2015 as a nonprofit with a single, far-reaching goal: to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity. Its 2018 Charter outlines principles such as broadly distributed benefits, long-term safety, cooperative development, and technical leadership. These values were designed to steer OpenAI’s work even as it began raising external investment. In 2019, OpenAI adopted a capped-profit model, establishing a limited partnership structure under full control of the nonprofit board. This arrangement, the letter notes, was meant to ensure that AGI development would always remain aligned with the public interest. According to the open letter, the company is now seeking to restructure in a way that would eliminate this charitable governance by allowing private shareholders to assume control of AGI development and deployment. The authors argued that this shift is inconsistent with OpenAI’s charitable purpose and violates both California and Delaware nonprofit law. “As the primary regulators of OpenAI, you currently have the power to protect OpenAI’s charitable purpose on behalf of its beneficiaries, safeguarding the public interest at a potentially pivotal moment in the development of this technology,” the letter said. “Under OpenAI’s proposed restructuring, that would no longer be the case.” Former employees validate governance concerns The amicus brief, filed in April 2025, supports claims made in the open letter by offering firsthand accounts from within OpenAI’s leadership and research teams. The twelve former employees worked at the company from 2018 to 2024 and held roles ranging from research scientists to policy leads. According to the brief, internal operations at OpenAI were built around the Charter. Employee performance reviews included assessments of how individuals advanced the mission, and senior leadership—including CEO Sam Altman—frequently referenced the Charter in strategic decisions. But the brief also reveals a gradual shift in internal dynamics. The former employees claim that key governance principles began to erode as commercial interests grew, culminating in efforts to restructure in ways that would sever nonprofit control. “Without control, the Nonprofit cannot credibly fulfill its Mission and Charter commitments, particularly those relating to broadly distributed benefits and long-term safety,” the brief stated. Transparency and legal accountability urged The coalition’s letter closed with a call for legal action. It urged the Attorneys General to demand full transparency about OpenAI’s current and proposed structures. If OpenAI is no longer operating in line with its nonprofit obligations, the authors argue, the state must act to preserve the public mission. “You currently have the power to protect OpenAI’s charitable purpose on behalf of its beneficiaries, safeguarding the public interest at a potentially pivotal moment in the development of this technology,” the letter said. With AGI development accelerating, the outcome of this governance battle may shape not just OpenAI’s future but the trajectory of AI oversight worldwide. At stake is the principle that technologies capable of reshaping economies, labor, and societies should remain accountable to the public—and not be controlled solely by shareholder interests. Whether legal authorities respond to the coalition’s plea could mark a turning point in how the world manages the power and responsibility of frontier AI development.