Oscillating tools are my least favorite power tool, but they're indispensable for certain tasks, like rehabbing windows and sills. I dislike how quickly the blades wear out, and how expensive those blades are."Everyone in the construction trades seems to know that if you want high quality blades, then the big tool companies pretty much have you locked into their high price saw blades," writes Michigan-based inventor Jim Dimond. "Everyone also knows that those same saw blades often have more material left to use if they could only be sharpened."For that reason, Dimond invented, patented and sells this Oscillating Tool Blade Sharpener. You can order it with a diamond grinder if you're using carbide blades, or a CBN grinder for steel or bi-metal blades."It's super fast and easily makes entire rows of properly shaped new teeth on your oscillating saw blades, but it does it in a unique way. This unique patent pending design shapes and sharpens blade teeth in a criss-cross way." "It's much like how you would sharpen a knife using a stone. You sharpen one edge of your knife, then flip the knife over to sharpen the other edge. By sharpening one edge at a time, it forms razor sharp V shape that is the sharp cutting edge of your knife. Our grinder froms one edge of a row of teeth first, then it forms the opposite edge of that row of teeth. This forms an incredibly sharp edge and points on the teeth...just like sharpening your knife one edge at a time. It's a criss-cross way of creating blade teeth."Here's a demo of the machine, and it does indeed look effective:Dimond hand-builds each machine along with two employees. He sells them for $200 through his company, Tigers Teeth.

You'd think you'd seen it all, when it came to the design of water bottles. But this futuristic-looking Modular Bottle actually has some new, perhaps useful tricks:The borosilicate glass insert is the red flag for me; while I understand the appeal of not drinking out of plastic, borosilicate's pretty delicate stuffwill this thing survive a drop? It's not like there's shock absorption on the inside. That said, the ease of cleaning, the ability to increase the bottle's volume, the removable bottom compartment, the reusable straw, and even the different caps all appear useful. I'd use the Flat Cap for driving or other shouldn't-spill situations, and the "Industrial" cap when working outside with gloves on.This was Kickstarted last year, to the tune of $1.8 million. They now retail for $80 to $115, depending on options.

If you happened across the Olympic Air Pistol event for the first time, you might've been puzzled by the competitors' eyewear: So those are mechanical irises. Shooting competitors fine-tune them to bring their gunsights into sharp focus. Here's an example of one by manufacturer Gehmann: And the competition frames they sell, for those who don't wear eyeglasses: If you're wondering why competitors don't just rely on prescription glasses, it's because your eyesight can actually change over the course of the day. You're dealing with both fatigue and changing light conditions. The adjustability of the mechanical iris allows you to compensate for that. Lastly, it's worth noting that Oh Ye-jin, the South Korean competitor who took Gold in the 10 Meter Air Pistol event this year, eschews the irises.

"When one thinks about high-end desktop PCs, what comes to mind are glass panels, right-angle aluminium frame cases and tons of RGBs," writes PC accessory manufacturer Cooler Master. To break that mold, they worked with a case modder called JMDF to create this Sneaker X gaming PC:"Sneaker X, blending the vibrant essence of sneaker culture with high-tech performance. JMDF and Cooler Master are on a mission to redefine the very essence of PC technology, proving that it's not just about function - it's about the thrill, the flair, and the fun."The Sneaker X was originally designed in 2020, but this year they've refreshed the line with new colors:The water-cooled PCs run $3,500 for the "mainstream gaming" version, and $3,800 for a "hardcore gaming" version.

Paul Cohen is a veteran industrial designer who hails from Australia. He's been an iF Design Award jury member for the past decade, and runs his own design studio in Hong Kong. He's reached that point in his career where he can design and fabricate things for himself, like these eyeglasses that have no hinge: The magnets are nifty. That said, it would drive me nuts if I had to assemble and disassemble my eyeglasses every time they went in or out of the case. But these aren't meant for the mass market: As Cohen writes, the glasses are "Designed by me for me."

Brompton Bikes wanted to create their own dedicated bikeshare system. Because their products fold down, this system would obviously be different from dock-based bikeshare programs.The company hired industrial design consultancy SeymourPowell to figure it out."A modular secure locker for hire cycles that makes seamless city travel as easy as riding a bike."?"Brompton, famous maker of lightweight foldable and portable cycles, saw an opportunity to set up a network of unmanned but secure rental stations for its bikes," writes SeymourPowell. "We designed the easy-to-manufacture, high-security docking station and the UI which underpins the system."?? "The core concept consists of an 8-module dock which can be specified with a single solar panel. Additional pods of 4 docks can be added on, if and when demand increases. The solar panel means the units can be completely self-contained and easily installed without having to interfere with local services and utilities." ?"[The outcome is] a stand-alone design for maximum flexibility and efficiency, streamlining the user experience and maximising opportunities for branding and advertising." Brompton Bike Hire has 70 stations spread across the UK, renting the bikes for 5 (USD $6.43) per day.

Clever design: This Camco Curved Trailer Aid allows you to change a flat tire on a dual-axis trailer, without using a jack. You simply drive over it with the wheel next to the one that needs changing, then chock the yellow part in place with the black part, which has a rubber base pad for friction.It provides 6.5" of lift, so even if the target axle sags, you've still got plenty of clearance to get the wheel off. Runs $55.

A startup called Skip says they've absorbed "The UX and industrial design learnings of the consumer tech space about what makes an easy-to-use, good-looking product that helps drive meaningful behavior change." The MO/GO product they've come up with as a result, is pretty unusual: Powered pants, essentially consumer-friendly exoskeletal legs that make it easier to climb and descend stairs or hills.The company calls their offering "movewear," and says it "Boosts your legs by up to 40% on the way up," "Gently supports your knees on the way down" and "Makes you feel up to 30 pounds lighter as you move."Here's a teaser of what the pants look (and sound) like in action:This could obviously be a gamechanger for those with declining mobility, or for those recovering from injury. Skip says they will sell the MO/GO pants for $5,000, and that they're setting up rental locations in the western U.S. and Canada, where you can pay $80 to try the pants for eight hours. There is one caveat I'd like to point out about the mobility assistance products we will start to see come onto the market. I spent years studying and practicing internal Chinese martial arts, and one of the beliefs impressed upon me is that the entire body must work together; in particular, ICMA practitioners reject the idea of isolating muscle groups in workouts. We thus train in whole-body exercises that strengthen the muscles, tendons and ligaments together. Western exercise techniques often seem to focus on the muscles exclusively, though the tendons and ligaments ought be given equal attention.All of that is to say, if you are wearing a device that provides muscular strength that you don't have, I believe it's possible that your tendons and ligaments may be subjected to forces they're not equipped to handle. So I do think we may start to see a rash of injuries as power-boosting devices proliferate.That's just my opinion, I have no medical background. But I do think objects like that shown here would ideally be used to help those with compromised mobility, rather than turning the perfectly mobile into superpeople for recreational purposes.