Twice a month we invite one of the Design Milk team members to share five personal favorites an opportunity for each of us to reveal the sort of designs we love and appreciate in our own lives from a more personal perspective. Associate Editor Aria Lee returns this week for our Take 5series.1. Khartoum II Bangle in Gold Vermeil by KHIRYKHIRY is an Afrofuturist luxury brand specializing in sculptural jewelry pieces, uplifting Black voices and culture in an industry that has systematically excluded them. Gestural form and clear design communication take center stage, led by founder Jameel Mohammeds talent for narrative. Launched in 2016, his expertly polished, referential forms are highly sought after, clientele including Michelle Obama, Megan Thee Stallion, and artist Kelela. Expanding into experimental garments in 2021, keep an eye out as KHIRY is just getting started.2. Eclipse Chair by Elisa UbertiCeramicist by trade, Elisa Uberti works in multiple mediums to promote a fanciful side of product design, utilizing chunky accents and hyper-visible joinery that is approachable and charming in scale. There is a tactile, blocky quality to the pieces, reminiscent of Bauhaus or Postmodernist styles.3. Disguise Series 00 by Esto EstudioThese red-hot chairs, simultaneously aflame and soft to the touch, are a delightful example of artistry in action. The organically placed licks of fabric fire rip up the form of the chair in quick succession, almost reading as tufts of fur from far away. By nature of construction, these chairs are carefully handmade, grafting the custom cover on to the specific dimensions of the chairs with deft precision.Photography by Simon Vogel4. Untitled KC 0002 and Untitled KC 0004 by Kristi CavataroAs much creature as they are static, stained glass artist Kristi Cavataro inspires delight with her industrial-adjacent sculptures. They wend and weave amongst each other, organically compound forms giving way to rigid, strict tubes, protruding proudly from their systems. Layers of transparency mounted in cathedral-like formations captivate, a new view from every angle.5. These Hands by Tabitha ArnoldActively fighting against the modern news cycle where art is picked up and discarded like last weeks clothing, fiber artist Tabitha Arnold says it best When I brought my tapestry to the union hall, I realized this was the piece I was missing. I make artwork for working-class people in the labor movement, and I got to show my new tapestry to these eyes before anyone else in the world.

Even when on social media, you might not feel like being particularly sociableeven with family and friends who you're actually quite fond of. Maybe you don't want parents (or kids) snooping on your activities. Perhaps you'd rather not have long-lost school friends looking you up. Or maybe you just want to keep an online space that's separate from your offline life.For these reasons and any others, you can make your social media profiles less discoverable than they would otherwise be. The big networks give you control over who can find you and who can't, so you're less likely to pop up in the "people you may know" feed of your uncle or your neighbor from down the street. Here are some tips for making yourself less findable on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites.General tips for any social media network Most social networks give you visibility options. Credit: Lifehacker Generally speaking, there are a few rules you can follow on whatever social platform you're onthough obviously you'll need to work within the platform's policies on user ID verification. First, when you sign up, offer up as little accurate personal information as you can get away with: You might want to use an alternative name, for example, and an alternative profile picture that's something other than your face.Social networks often suggest connections based on who's in your phone contacts, so if you can avoid giving your phone number, do so (or use an alternative number, if you have one). You'll almost certainly need to supply an email address, but you can enter a secondary one that no one else has, or use one of the many burner email address services that are now available (such as Apple's Hide my Email).Decline any prompts to find connections and contacts when you sign up, and don't give the app permission to scan your phone's contact lists. If you have to choose a handle, avoid your real name or anything that would identify you. What's more, on most networks, there's nothing to stop you creating a second account, if you want to. If you've already got a "real" account in place, then add an extra one with different personal details that you can use on the down low.How to stay hidden on Instagram You can make your Instagram account private. Credit: Lifehacker You can of course make your Instagram privateso zero other people can see your posts unless you approve their request to connect. You can choose the private option during account setup, or switch to it later in the app by switching to your profile tab, tapping the menu button (three lines, top right), then choosing Account privacy > Private account.On the same screen there's an Allow profile picture expansion toggle switch: Turn this off to prevent other users taking a closer look at your profile picture. Back on the main menu, you can choose Tags and mentions to control who else is allowed to tag and mention you on the platform. You're able to disable this entirely, restrict it to only people you follow, and switch on manual tag reviewing if you want.There's another option to talk about, but it's not in the mobile appsyou have to head to Instagram on the web to find it. Click Profile, then Edit Profile, and you'll find a toggle switch labeled Show account suggestions on profiles. Turn this off, and other accounts won't be recommended from your profile, and you won't be recommended on anyone else's profile either.How to stay hidden on X (formerly Twitter) X gives you plenty of options for discoverability. Credit: Lifehacker Since we last wrote about stopping people finding you on Twitter, the site has changed its name to X and Elon Musk has started running the showbut a lot of the same settings are still in place. As with Instagram, you can make your profile private (for approved connections only). This can be done either during setup or through the app by tapping your profile picture (top left), then Settings & Support > Settings and privacy > Privacy and safety > Audience and tagging > Protect your posts.From the Privacy and safety menu you can also choose Discoverability and contacts. There are three key features you can turn off on the next screen: Allowing other people to find you via your email address, allowing other people to find you via your phone number, and syncing your phone contacts with X to suggest connections. Disable all of them and you'll be much harder to find.It's also a good idea to head into Direct messages from Privacy and safety, and get everything here set up as you want it. The X platform gives you plenty of control when it comes to who's allowed to message you and call you, and you can shut down these features entirely if needed. It's another precaution that reduces the chance of someone you don't want to speak to getting in touch.How to stay hidden on Facebook Facebook lets you choose who can find you on the platform. Credit: Lifehacker You can't make your Facebook profile as private as you can on Instagram and X, but you still have options. From the mobile app, tap the menu button (three lines), then choose Settings & privacy > Settings > How people can find and contact you. There are a whole host of options here, covering what's visible on your profile, who can message you, whether or not you appear in searches, and more.If you're looking to stay hidden from people who know you, use the People with your email address and People with your phone number options: Here you can control who sees you as a friend suggestion, from no one at all, to friends of friends with your contact details. There's also a Who can send you friend requests option, which lets you limit the people who can try and connect with you.Beyond that comprehensive page of contact options, you can also take granular control over what's visible on your profile (so people might be able to find you, but won't be able to see your photos or friends). Tap Profile details and Posts from the Settings screen to lock down the information you're sharing, so it isn't visible to anyone who isn't already your friend.

We recommend several Dyson models in our guide to the best cordless vacuums. While the Digital Slim isn't on the list per se, it's still an option perhaps worth considering if you're in the market for a new vacuum not least because that model is half off right now. You can snap it up from both Amazon and Dyson directly for $250. This isn't quite a record low price for this model. The Dyson Digital Slim was $270 off for Black Friday back in November. Still, half off is a decent deal by just about any metric. At 4.4 pounds, the Dyson Digital Slim cordless stick vacuum is about a third lighter than the company's popular V11 model. That should make it relatively easier to handle. On the downside, the Digital Slim will run for about 40 minutes on a single charge. That means it's probably best suited for smaller homes. That said, there is an LCD display that shows how much battery life is left, so you shouldn't be caught unaware before it runs out of juice. The Digital Slim offers three power modes so you can balance power and runtime. The vacuum has a capacity of 0.1 gallons and there's a no-touch emptying mechanism. It also turns into a handheld with a single click for those hard-to-reach places and to help with cleaning the couch or your car. Dyson says the vacuum has a fully sealed, whole machine filtration system that captures dust and seals in 99.99 percent of particles as small as 0.3 microns. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/this-dyson-cordless-stick-vacuum-is-half-off-right-now-153116755.html?src=rss

Rising shadow IT usage exposes broken IT processes, urging businesses to automate and modernize.

Bitcoin extended its rebound on Wednesday, hovering below the $100,000 after another encouraging inflation report stirred risk-on appetite.

The investment arm of Ingka Group, the biggest global IKEA retailer, said it will invest 1 billion euros ($1.03 billion) into recycling companies as it aims to better manage the waste created when IKEA furniture, bedding, or mattresses are thrown away and end up incinerated or in landfill.The investment comes as the European Union is developing legislation that would charge retailers a fee for every textile or clothing item sold in the bloc, to raise money for sorting and recycling ever-increasing amounts of discarded textiles that are overwhelming waste management services.Ingka Investments has earmarked around two-thirds of the money667 million eurosfor new, as yet unannounced investments into recycling companies, with a particular focus on textiles.The rest will be spent on further funding for companies Ingka has already invested in, including mattress recycling firm RetourMatras and plastics recycler Morssinkhof Rymoplast.Ingka is also looking to invest in recycling of wood, a key material for IKEA furniture.The high carbon footprint for most of these materials, plus the capacity shortage for recycling, has motivated us to invest in these categories, Lukas Visser, investment director at Ingka Investments, said in an interview. The circular economy is in the very early stages, so we have to narrow down where we focus.Ingka, which also invests in forests, solar and wind energy, and real estate, has a goal of recycling as many mattresses, plastics, and textiles as IKEA sells, by 2030.Peter van der Poel, managing director of Ingka Investments, said the aim was to announce an investment in textile recycling this year.We feel it is so needed to create scale and volume, not only for IKEAs needs but also for market needs going beyond that, said van der Poel.Legislation could help nudge companies to favor recycling over incineration, van der Poel said, and the EUs planned Extended Producer Responsibility legislation could help level the playing field between recycled materials and virgin materials, which are currently cheaper.Ingka Group is the largest IKEA franchisee, operating IKEA stores in 31 countries and accounting for 90% of global IKEA sales.($1 = 0.9712 euros)Helen Reid, Reuters

We continue our 21st-Century Architecture: 25 Years 25 Buildings series with a look at Waugh Thistleton Architects' Murray Grove, "the original timber tower".On an unassuming street in the east London borough of Hackney is a relatively small housing block that looks entirely unremarkable.But this building the world's first plyscraper kickstarted a timber revolution.Murray Grove was the most significant building of 2009A blockbuster year for architecture, 2009 saw numerous landmark projects opening around the globe. Highlights included Zaha Hadid's MAXXI in Rome, David Chipperfield's Neues Museum in Berlin and the first section of the High Line in New York by James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.However, the much more low-key Murray Grove would have the greatest impact on architecture in the following years. Described by east London studio Waugh Thistleton Architects as "the original timber tower", it was the first high-rise housing project in the world to be constructed almost entirely from engineered timber."The exemplar project has spearheaded the introduction of CLT [cross-laminated timber] in the UK, and pioneered a wider international movement in its use," Waugh Thistleton Architects co-founder Andrew Waugh told Dezeen as part of our Timber Revolution series."It seems to have really kickstarted a whole tall-timber movement in the US, Asia and Europe it's much more widely known about."The building has an entirely timber structureBuilt at a time before mass-timber was widely used, let alone for high-rise housing, the nine-storey block demonstrated that wood could be a safe and viable structural alternative to steel and concrete.According to Waugh Thistleton Architects, using timber instead of reinforced concrete prevented 125 tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere, while the structural fabric of Murray Grove stores more than 180 tonnes of carbon.It was constructed from CLT panelsBuilt for developer Telford Homes, the block contains 19 private and 10 subsidised apartments. The timber structure acted as an alternative way to meet sustainability targets without using add-ons like solar panels.To enable it to be built, Hackney Council waived the standard London planning requirement for housing developments to have on-site renewable energy generation to reduce carbon emissions.Read: Dibdo Francis Kr's Gando Primary School was the most significant building of 2001From the first floor upwards, load-bearing walls, floor slabs, lift cores and stairs were constructed from CLT on top of foundations and a ground floor made from reinforced concrete.It was built using load-bearing panels made from layers of spruce, which were manufactured in Austria by timber supplier KLH and shipped to London on trucks before being assembled on site.The prefabricated structure was assembled by KLH employees in 27 days, with the whole building completed in 49 weeks. According to a report by the Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA) a concrete building would have taken 72 weeks to build.The timber structure was not visible in the apartment interiorsAlthough the timber structure was highly innovative, it was largely hidden both internally and externally, with the developer concerned that timber might put off buyers.The pixelated facade, which was informed by Gerhard Richter's painting Les gris entre ciel et mer du nord, was made from 2,500 panels made from wood pulp and fibre cement. Inside, the apartments were finished to a standard developer specification.Described as a "game-changer" by the World Economic Forum, the tower drew global attention and proved to many that building tall with timber was possible.Almost more significant than the building itself was the research that surrounded it. While the building won a Judges Special Award at the Wood Awards, a book published about the process won the RIBA President's Medal for Research.The building started a revolution in high-rise timber housingIt prompted multiple countries to reconsider timber as a structural material, with many governments changing regulations to allow it to be used."What's surprising is the lack of precedents to this project in the woodier parts of Europe, principally for regulatory reasons," Oliver Lowenstein wrote in the Architect's Journal at the time."For the moment, the irony remains that the UK, a country with hardly an engineered wood sector to its name, is producing the tallest cross-laminated timber high-rise across the continent."In the UK, Murray Grove was treated as a pilot scheme by the National House Building Council and Building Research Establishment.Read: Ten significant mass-timber buildings that changed the way we think about woodIn the 16 years since it completed, mass-timber construction has become much more normalised. Large buildings often housing with engineered timber structures are regularly being built in numerous countries around the world.If Waugh Thistleton Architects set out to prove that timber could be a viable, low-carbon alternative to concrete and steel, its project has been a phenomenal success.Did we get it right? Was Murray Grove by Waugh Thistleton the most significant building completed in 2009? Let us know in the comments. We will be running a poll once all 25 buildings are revealed to determine the most significant building of the 21st century so far.This article is part of Dezeen's 21st-Century Architecture: 25 Years 25 Buildings series, which looks at the most significant architecture of the 21st century so far. For the series, we have selected the most influential building from each of the first 25 years of the century.The illustration is by Jack Bedford and photography isby Will Pryce.21st Century Architecture: 25 Years 25 Buildings2000: Tate Modern by Herzog & de Meuron2001: Gando Primary School by Dibdo Francis Kr2002: Bergisel Ski Jump by Zaha Hadid2003: Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry2004: Quinta Monroy by Elemental2005: Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa2006: Madrid-Barajas airport by RSHP and Estudio Lamela2007: Oslo Opera House by Snhetta2008: Museum of Islamic Art by I M Pei2009: Murray Grove by Waugh Thistleton ArchitectsThis list will be updated as the series progresses.The post Waugh Thistleton Architects' Murray Grove was the most significant building of 2009 appeared first on Dezeen.

LG, Samsung and Lenovo have all been working on stretchable screens for at least two years. It looks like Lenovo will be the first to market; they've announced their ThinkBook Plus Gen 6, a laptop whose screen expands from 14" to 16.7". While that doesn't sound like much, the company says it adds "nearly 50%" of additional screen space."With its rollable screen, the device offers an extended vertical display ideal for applications such as document review, coding, project management, and content creation. Professionals in creative fields and technical roles will appreciate the split-screen functionality that supports multiple window layout without sacrificing screen space."Here you can see the screen unrolling:It's a neat parlor trick for sure, but these days my assumption is that everything will break. Where do you send this thing when the motors conk out? Also, I can't be the only one picturing the motors dying when the screen is in the extended position.There's also the question of how long-lived an innovation this will be; will we be wearing screens in front of our eyeballs in ten years, or still toting laptops around?In any case, Lenovo showed off a working prototype this month at CES, and here Engadget gives it the once-over:They expect to start shipping the $3,500 laptops this June.

I dont have any specific statistics but theres probably a certain number of accidents that have happened near campfires when pieces of clothing have caught on fire. Campers may have fallen asleep near the campfire and they end up burning their clothes or even some parts of their bodies because most of what theyre wearing are probably not fire proof or resistant. Unfortunately, many campers are unaware that their apparel is not fire-resistant, leading to potential accidents. Snow Peak offers an innovative solution with their Fire Resistant Insulated Poncho, designed to address these concerns effectively. The Fire Resistant Insulated Poncho is specifically crafted for those who love the great outdoors. This poncho offers dual benefits: warmth and protection from the elements. Its unique design and material composition make it a standout piece in any outdoor wardrobe.Designer: Snow PeakSnow Peaks Fire Resistant Insulated Poncho is exactly what its name says as its a poncho that you can wear when outdoors that can keep you warm but also protect you from some elements like fire. Unlike traditional jackets, this poncho ensures comfort without excessive heat, making it ideal for varying weather conditions.Crafted from a blend of 95% polyester and 5% aramid, the ponchos construction is both durable and functional. The polyester lining and wadding provide excellent insulation against cold weather. Moreover, the water-resistant outer shell is made from the same fibers found in firefighting suits, offering an extra layer of protection. This ensures that wearers remain safe and comfortable, even in challenging environments.The ponchos design includes side openings, allowing users to regulate airflow based on their comfort needs. This feature is particularly useful when temperatures fluctuate, providing flexibility and adaptability. Additionally, the integrated hood and zippered neck offer further protection from the elements, ensuring that users stay warm and dry in unpredictable weather.For those who appreciate practicality, the poncho includes zippered exterior pockets. These pockets serve a dual purpose: providing storage space and acting as hand warmers. This thoughtful design element enhances the ponchos functionality, making it an essential item for any camping trip. Available in three stylish colorsBlack, Coyote Tan, and Olivethe poncho caters to diverse aesthetic preferences.Incorporating this poncho into your outdoor gear collection means prioritizing safety without compromising on style or comfort. Its thoughtful design and superior materials set it apart from conventional outerwear. For anyone passionate about camping and outdoor activities, the Fire Resistant Insulated Poncho is a wise investment.The post Snow Peaks insulated poncho is fire and water resistant first appeared on Yanko Design.

DLSS 4, Blackwell, neural rendering, digital humans - what does it all mean?