It's hard to imagine a more challenging work environment than the International Space Station. During her 24 years as a NASA astronaut, including a six-month stint on the ISS, Cady Coleman learned pivotal lessons about everything from managing stress and assessing risk to cross-cultural communication and navigating bias. She shares how the skills she picked up can be applied in all kinds of careers. Coleman is the author of the book Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission Wonder and Making Change.

Are you the sort of person who works really hard, hits your deadlines, runs successful projects, wins over clients... but never seems to get noticed for all that diligence, much less promoted? Especially if you’re on the quieter and more understated side, working in an organization where the loud and showy get the most recognition, this can be frustrating. But there are ways to get noticed while also staying true to yourself, says Jessica Chen. She's a former TV news reporter and the founder of Soulcast Media, a communications consultancy, and she shares lessons about more effective communication and self-promotion. Chen wrote the book Smart, Not Loud: How to Get Noticed at Work for All the Right Reasons.

Generative artificial intelligence is here to stay, and that means employees and managers need to think even more carefully about how to make the most effective use of it. Accenture's H. James Wilson, global managing director of technology research and thought leadership, and Paul R. Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, argue that we all need to build what they call "fusion skills." They include intelligent interrogation (using research-backed prompting techniques to deliver better results), judgment integration (ensuring there is a human in the loop when necessary), and reciprocal apprenticing (training ChatGPT, Claude, Co-pilot or proprietary tools to improve while we get better at working with them). They offer advice on how to hone all three. Together, they wrote the HBR book Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, now available in a New and Expanded Edition as well as the HBR article “Embracing Gen AI At Work.”

What if the key to efficiency in a world increasingly powered by AI wasn't quantity, but quality? Neuroscientist Mithu Storoni has looked at how and when our brains are the most creative and truly productive at knowledge work. As automation and AI take more rote takes off our plates, she shares how we can train our brains to be more effective at doing work that really matters. She explains how our brains tackle different kinds of work, how we can better schedule our days to align with those states of mind, and what this all means for managers and organizations. Storoni is the author of the new book Hyperefficient: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work.

The worlds of business and politics might seem worlds apart, but executives can learn a lot from the most successful political communicators. Terry Szuplat spent several years on the speechwriting team for President Barack Obama, helping to carefully craft his messages and win over audiences. He has gone on to coach business leaders including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and he says that many of the same principles for good speechwriting and delivery apply - whether you’re giving a presentation to your team, pitching a client, or making comments in a moment of crisis. He explains the importance of authenticity and personal stories, structure, language choice and presence. Szuplat is the author of the book Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience.

We live in a world that seems more divisive and polarized than ever, and it’s common to describe this phenomenon as tribalism. But Michael Morris, professor at Columbia Business School, says that term is often misunderstood and that tribal instincts can in fact be very positive influences in society and at work. He uses the lens of cultural psychology to explain the deep-seated instincts behind the human need to join and identify as a group. And he breaks down how team managers and organizational leaders can leverage tribal instincts in positive ways strengthen workplace culture. Morris is the author of the new book Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together.

There was a time when business leaders and managers didn't worry so much about psychology or other social science research. Malcolm Gladwell's writing played a big role in changing that. His popular exploration of tipping points — the phenomenon where small, incremental actions can suddenly fuse into a full-blown social behavior — brought research insights to life and made them mainstream. Now he's revisiting tipping points, this time looking at how they can be used for damaging results. In this episode, HBR editor in chief Adi Ignatius speaks to Gladwell about how the author’s ideas have changed, the importance of social science and journalism in today's world of virality, and the unexpected ways leaders should consider human behavior. Gladwell is the author of the new book Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering.

Managing is a tough job, sometimes a seemingly thankless one where you can feel squeezed from all sides. But for team leaders who are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed with their job, Daisy Auger-Domínguez has advice on regaining your joy at work. She recommends various techniques to incorporate optimism and well-being into your management role. They include remembering your purpose, embracing a beginner’s mindset, keeping a folder of positive feedback as inspiration, and celebrating the contributions of team members. Auger-Domínguez is a workplace strategist and the author of the HBR article "Finding Joy as a Manager — Even on Bad Days."

We live in an age of data. But having powerful tools to gather employee feedback doesn't mean you’ll get powerful results. It’s challenging for executives to turn that feedback into substantive action. New research from Ethan Burris, professor of management at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, sheds light on how to weed through all the data, make sure workers feel heard, and turn employee insights into real results. Burris is a coauthor of the HBR article "What Companies Get Wrong About the Employee Experience."

Let’s face it: real estate is a loud industry. The competition is fierce—and it’s everywhere. But contrary to popular belief, this isn’t a bad thing. With the right strategies in place, you can build a brand that stands out from competitors, earns you more market share and attracts new buyers and sellers in your area.…

The post How to Cut Through Your Competitors’ Noise as a Real Estate Brokerage appeared first on RISMedia.

Universal Consulting Opportunities (UCO), a subsidiary of Stellar MLS, has announced an agreement with Arab MLS to enhance its real estate practices across the Arab region and beyond. UCO will advise Arab MLS to further drive efficiency, transparency, user experience and the way people connect with properties, starting with Egypt, Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and…

The post Stellar MLS Subsidiary Working With Arab MLS to Enhance Practices in the Arab Region appeared first on RISMedia.

Why do so many brokerages pursue a costly and outmoded “best-in-class” tech strategy when it rarely delivers on its promises? Despite good intentions, assembling a patchwork of standalone tech tools creates a fragmented mess that hinders productivity and drives up costs. The allure of having the “best” often blinds broker/owners to the inefficiencies and frustrations…

The post How Much Does Your ‘Frankenstack’ Tech Strategy Cost? appeared first on RISMedia.

Staged listing photos have been an effective—and expensive—tool meant to pique the interest of inquiring home seekers. But given the ever-growing landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) in real estate, that hurdle could soon be a thing of the past.  At least, that is where things are headed for Palazzo, an AI-driven interior design platform that…

The post Startup Palazzo Seeing Success Expanding Its Virtual Staging Offering to Brokers appeared first on RISMedia.

Leading global fashion brands are looking to Asian markets beyond China, with 67 per cent of respondent fashion executives citing promising growth prospects in India in 2025, The State of Fashion 2025 report says. Japan’s luxury boom will likely continue into 2025. But next year will be turbulent for global fashion and a deep sense of uncertainty persists amongst fashion industry executives.

The Buckle, Inc has reported net sales of $293.6 million in the third quarter of 2024, down by 3.2 per cent from $303.5 million in the previous year. Comparable store net sales declined 0.7 per cent in Q3. Year-to-date (YTD) comparable store net sales dropped 5.4 per cent, and total net sales for the 39-week period decreased 4.6 per cent to $838.5 million from $878.7 million last year.

In the competitive realm of real estate, recruiting agents is a pivotal task, and the fortune often lies in the art of follow-up. Changing brokerages is a significant decision, and acknowledging the weight of this transition can make all the difference.  Culture beyond words Show don’t just tell. Use the follow-up process to immerse potential…

The post Unlocking Success: The Power of Follow-Up In Recruiting Real Estate Agents appeared first on RISMedia.

The recent antitrust lawsuit inadvertently highlighted something interesting during the trial. The plaintiffs’ attorney successfully argued that the whole real estate industry engaged in collusion and price-fixing. As real estate professionals, we know that isn’t true, right? Here’s the interesting part: Those attorneys who will be paid on contingency literally make their money in exactly…

The post Taking a Closer Look at Attorney Contingencies Vs. Agent Commissions appeared first on RISMedia.

Coaching is a valuable tool that offers numerous benefits to agents and brokers, let alone teams. Working in real estate requires constant education and development to be at the top of your game, and coaching provides an easy way to pursue this. Hiring a coach can allow team members to grow and flourish within their…

The post Team Tactics: Taking Advantage of Team Coaching appeared first on RISMedia.

Staying motivated in the real estate business can be a challenge, especially when it comes to prospecting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or uninspired, but staying on track is crucial for your success. Whether you’re a seasoned agent or just starting out, there are strategies you can adopt to keep yourself motivated, even when you…

The post From Doldrums to Deals: Keeping Your Prospecting Spirits High appeared first on RISMedia.

Burberry has introduced its first virtual scarf try-on experience in its ‘Wrapped in Burberry’ holiday campaign. Partnering with AR provider WANNA, the immersive experience lets customers view iconic Burberry scarves in real-time, with over 50 styles and two classic options. Available online and in select stores, customers can share images and directly access product pages for purchases.

Maria shares a Tulip Tie-Dye kit perfect for summer vacation crafting!

Kids bored and driving you crazy? Maybe the Fashion Loom rubber band loom is the solution to parental peace!

Maria takes a look at a great crafty holiday gift idea for kids - Duck Tape!

Maria takes a look at more products from the Hot Product Sneak Peek at CHA Mega Show 2016, including the PenBlade and Beadalon's Bangle Bracelet Weaver.

In 2016, Krylon is introducing new spray paint products that are fabulous for both indoor home decor projects and outdoor projects around your home.

Maria shows how she made a custom leather DIY traveler's notebook to fit some journals that she bought that were an odd size.

Here is an easy DIY charm tutorial! I'll show you how to make charms yourself and how to change out charms for your Midori Traveler's Notebook and other traveler's notebooks. This easy how-to project just requires a few supplies and tools to make a personalized planner charm.

Maria uses a half pumpkin to make a Fall door decoration!

It's not too late to decorate your porch for Halloween...this quick and easy Halloween pumpkin diorama will make a great weekend project!

This really easy Christmas Paperclip kids project can be used to decorate their notebooks & planners!

Tariff policy under the new government will indeed be a challenge and will trigger new inflationary cycles if campaign proposals are fully enacted, making apparel expensive for Americans, trade body AAFA recently said. AAFA will continue to push Congress and the Administration to renew expired and expiring programmes like the AGOA, the GSP and the Haiti HELP/HOPE preference programme.

Turkiye’s apparel exports to Germany fell by 8.73 per cent to $1.92 billion in January–August compared to the same period in 2023. Despite this decline, Germany remained Turkiye's top apparel export market, accounting for 17.43 per cent of total exports. Trousers and shorts were leading export items, valued at $415.2 million. Turkiye’s overall apparel exports for Jan-Aug totalled $10.99 billion.

Skirts, spanning casual to formal styles and materials like cotton, denim and silk, are a significant part of women's clothing export market. Notably, skirts saw an 8.47 per cent growth in 2022, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The US and Germany are leading skirt import markets, with the US showing 18 per cent growth. Despite geopolitical and economic challenges in 2024, recovery is expected by 2025.

The Philippines’ apparel exports are projected to reach $1 billion next year, backed by an expected boost from the FTA with South Korea expected to be effective in Q1, the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines said. It believes the FTA will attract South Korean players to set up units in its economic zones and domestic manufacturers can penetrate the zero-tariff Korean apparel market.

Seventy-four per cent of online products in the UK feature green claims, averaging 2.9 claims per product, according to BRC and Provenance research. Nature-related claims were most prevalent, while carbon-related claims were few. To support compliance, BRC and Provenance are launching Retailer Green Claims Forum, promoting transparency in green marketing.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2025. Detailed information about the adjustments and changes to the over 60 tax provisions impacting taxpayers can be found in Revenue Procedure 2024-40. The adjustments described below generally apply to income tax returns that will be filed in 2026 for tax...

The post Looking Ahead: 2025 Tax Inflation Adjustments for Individuals and Families appeared first on Anders CPA.

Guillermo and Brett are joined by Kevin Brooks, CEO of Conception Nurseries. They break down cannabis cultivation, particularly tissue-culture services. Kevin shares his journey from the tech industry to cannabis, emphasizing the importance of tissue culture in providing clean, consistent plant genetics. He discusses the challenges in the cannabis supply chain and the benefits of...

The post The CannaBiz Success Show: Impacts of Tissue Culture on Cannabis Quality and Supply Chain Efficiency with Kevin Brooks appeared first on Anders CPA.

Wednesday, December 11 at 11:00 am CT Remain in compliance with both Section 1071 and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act with an efficient application process. While financial institutions are correctly concerned about how Section 1071 implementation will impact their processes, don’t miss this HMDA refresher to help prepare for the March 1st reporting deadline. As...

The post WEBINAR | Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Refresher – Including What Reporters Must Know Prior to Section 1071 Implementation  appeared first on Anders CPA.

Guillermo Rodriguez welcomes Samuel Fisher, Co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing, to discuss effective marketing and SEO strategies for cannabis dispensaries. Samuel emphasizes the importance of building a dispensary’s own digital assets, such as a well-optimized website and strong Google “My Business” profile, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms like Weedmaps and Leafly. He shares...

The post The CannaBiz Success Show: Essential Marketing and SEO Strategies for Cannabis Dispensaries with Samuel Fisher appeared first on Anders CPA.

With all the complications of running a cannabis business, it’s easy to forget that cannabis is a plant: a living organism with its own genetics that takes care and cultivation to grow. To get all the various strains that now fill our stores, there are things a grower can do to improve those genetics and...

The post Outsourcing Tissue Culture for Cannabis Growers: Eliminate Risk, Boost Yield appeared first on Anders CPA.

To me, the gaming market is a lot like the EDC market: It's fascinating to see what developmental lengths people will go to, to push the UX of some object with highly specific functions. A case in point is this Elitech Protean Space Quick Control Swap Gaming System.

The idea behind it, is that gamers have multiple task-dependent UI's on their desks: A keyboard for typing, a joystick and throttle for playing flight simulators, a steering wheel and a shifter for driving games. For gaming accuracy these need to be mounted, and juggling the mounts is apparently a hassle. So what this design does is, provide a modular platform on which to securely attach different controllers.

The heart of the system is this keyboard base, with two wings.

The keyboard base slides rearwards, revealing aluminum channels.

The wing pieces can be slid towards each other along these channels, adjusted to your preferred width.

The "X" in the top of the wings is stainless steel. This allows you to attach magnetic controllers.

Furthermore, there are clamping attachments that allow you to attach a steering wheel and shifter.

Thus the gamer can quickly achieve the set-up that they want:

This isn't yet in production; the developer is planning a crowdfunding campaign.

When it comes to a true flying car—I don't mean just a VTOL vehicle, I mean something that can both drive and fly—we've seen a lot of wild forms over the years.

The AeroMobil 4.0

The Xpeng AeroHT

The Alef Model A

The LuftCar

The GAC Gove

Notably, one that actually flew was the KleinVision Aircar, which had folding wings:

Another vehicle that successfully flew last year was the Samson Sky Switchblade.

However, Samson Sky reckons that in order to make the design production-ready, both the wings and the massive rear stabilizer, which contains the propellers, must be folded into the body for driving mode. So their latest design envisions this arrangement:

I hate to be skeptical, but gosh that looks like a lot of moving parts! I wonder what the maintenance will look like.

A French mobility company called Mobilize has designed a new type of vehicle from scratch. Two, actually: The Duo, an enclosed two-seater electric quadricycle, and its sibling the Bento, which ditches the back seat for a large storage box.

Both vehicles were meant to be strong urban design statements, and to not draw on outdated references. "The Duo's greatest strength is its unique design," says Jean-Philippe Salar, Mobilize's Design Director. "What we wanted for this vehicle was to avoid imitating a car. It's in effect a little spaceship, a little lunar capsule on 4 wheels."

Not being a car, the diminutive Duo can be driven by folks as young as 14 in France.

The tandem seating arrangement, rather than side-by-side, is to make the vehicle as narrow as possible, the better to slip through traffic.

The gullwing doors allow ingress and egress even in tight spaces.

The charging cable sits in a dedicated compartment in the vehicle's nose. And, surprisingly, the vehicle features an airbag for safety.

The company refers to the single-seater Bento as a micro utility vehicle; it boasts a cargo box on the back that can swallow nearly a cubic meter.

The Bento requires a proper driver's license, as its more powerful electric motor can top out at 80 km/h (50 mph). It's targeted at last-mile delivery services and tradespeople who travel with tools.

Intriguingly, the dashboard of both vehicle was inspired by an icon of 1980s urban culture: The boombox. "The design of Duo et Bento, both on the outside and inside – with its dashboard that refers to boomboxes – deliberately goes against the grain of classic automotive language," says Salar. The designers also decided not to include a screen, reckoning that most people are already carrying one these days.

Both vehicles require half the space to park as a car.

The construction of the vehicles is decidedly un-car-like: "It's based on a metal birdcage structure to which we simply glue plastic panels," says Benoit Abadie, Mobilize's Director of Engineering. "We have around 300 parts in Duo, that's 5 times less than in a normal car, which has around 1,500."

Mobilize is a subsidiary of Renault, and both vehicles are manufactured at Renault's factory in Tangiers. "It's an ISO 14001 plant that's working towards carbon neutrality," says Wafa Boujguenna, the company's Industrial Project Manager. "Duo and Bento are eco-designed vehicles, made from 40% recycled materials, battery included, and are 95% recyclable, including the battery."

The vehicles will be sold in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. No word on if these will come to the U.S.

There's a great interview with the design team below, explaining what they were going for:

Dutch company Airback has invented a backpack that can shrink its contents. Their eponymous backpack ($185) features a zippered airtight compartment with a port; once you've stuffed this compartment full, you attach either a household vacuum cleaner, or the company's small electric pump, to the port.

All of the air gets sucked out of the compartment, compressing the clothing within. The company reckons this allows you to cram in 50% more stuff.

The backpack also has a scale built into the handle, so you can avoid exceeding airline weight limits and being forced to check it at the airport.

The overall design is quite intelligent, featuring a passport stash pocket, a locking laptop compartment, bottle holder and more:

Following the popularity of the backpack—which was Kickstarted to the tune of €350,000 (USD ~$380,000), they designed a smaller Airback Go ($152) which fits beneath an airplane seat. This design lacks the scale in the handle.

There's also a larger Airback Max ($361), which boasts rollers and a telescoping handle…

…as well as the Airback Next ($416), a hard-sided carry-on roller.

All of the bags feature a built-in USB-C port, to which you can connect your own powerbank.

The company's separately-sold pump runs $52. One does wonder what to do if either that or the handle scale breaks. For their part, the company says "we've committed to a circular system - allowing you to send your bag back to us when it's lived its life, whereupon we, along with our partners, will give it a new purpose." However, what I'd prefer to see is some mention of repair options.

Kia Design Center America unveiled a funky concept EV van at this week's SEMA show. This PV5 WKNDR is intended to be "an ideal escape pod for extended weekends in nature."

Among its unusual features are a steering wheel that pivots out of the way (sort of), a pivoting passenger seat and a pull-out unit they're calling a "Gear Head:"

The PV5 WKNDR EV VAN features a highly flexible and adaptable modular interior that can be easily and efficiently customized to maximize space and function – akin to a Swiss Army Knife on wheels.

The van's "Gear Head" feature is the first-of-its-kind storage solution that provides an off-board, sheltered storage space for gear when the vehicle is stationary, allowing for maximum utilization of interior space while still offering easy access to gear outside. The "Gear Head" can also be transformed into a mobile pantry for cooking afficionados that want to "Cook with a View".

Truly self-sufficient, the PV5 WKNDR EV VAN features solar panels and unique hydro turbine wheels that can recharge the batteries for many uses. As an example, Kia installed an onboard compressor to handle needs for inflation, from adjusting tire pressure when out on the trail to inflating space efficient mattresses when setting up camp for the night.

Kia's clear that this is purely a concept. "Our vehicles already help people live their active and adventurous lifestyles and it was fun to see just how far we could go with these latest concepts. The SEMA Show acts as a blank canvas for creativity and offers a glimpse into what Kia's automotive future may hold."

Dorel Juvenile is the world's leading juvenile products company. When they wanted to develop a new infant car seat, they turned to Pennsylvania-based ID firm DesignThink.

DesignThink as the Innovation Incubator for the Ultra Lightweight Maxi Cosi Coral XP

A Cold January Day in 2017

The team at DesignThink was asked to visit Dorel Juvenile Group USA to review a "Special Project". The development team at Dorel JG wasted no time introducing us to their latest infant car seat (ICS) project. They were experimenting with the idea of developing a seat that would reduce the struggles parents faced when trying to transition their baby from the car and carry their baby in the removable seat portion of the ICS. The team at DesignThink has designed several car seats over the years and we instantly recognized the unique opportunity, as well as the challenge that this project offered, and were eager and excited to get started.

Our Role as the Innovation Incubator

We partnered with Dorel to act as the innovation incubator to lead the project team through the fuzzy front-end and define the product's overall features and characteristics of use. Upon successful concept definition, the project would be positioned under the Maxi Cosi brand and ultimately transferred to the Maxi Cosi team in Europe and a European design group to carry the innovation to production.

The Problem at Hand

By removing the seat from the base that is installed in the car, parents can take the baby with them while running errands or visiting people and places. However, a problem associated with this system is that some removable seats can weigh up to 16 lbs. and the baby can weigh up to 35 lbs. for a combined arm-crushing weight of 50+lbs.!!

We established two primary goals: 1) reduce the overall weight of the seat to lighten the load, while maintaining structural integrity as to achieve a top crash test rating, and 2) develop new methods that enable parents to more easily lift the seat when moving in and out of the vehicle and when transporting the child in the seat.

Our Approach (Decades of Experience and User Understanding Put to Test)

DesignThink is one of the leading firms in car seat development having brought several seats to the market and has a long history of creating break-through innovation, but this project pushed our team in new ways. The structure for the project utilized DesignThink's simplified "DEEP" process;

Define that for which we will solve

Express possible solutions as quick thumbnail stories

Explain the "what – why – wow" related to user needs

Prototype to demonstrate the merits of the idea

How the Project Unfolded

A series of innovation workshops were hosted at our studio to enable the team to think and problem solve with product at hand. The objective was to think in the "ideal" (do not worry about cost and construction initially) and to "fail fast" (explore, evaluate, and evolve). The following provided the high-level framework for how the team identified and pursued their ideas.

Established Design Targets

Led by our usability team, along with team members from Dorel, we hosted a several day innovation workshop at our studio. We began with a collaborative defining of the design targets based on use, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, which we affinitized and moved directly into physical prototyping to address and evaluate how well the concepts improved the user experience during day-to-day interactions.

DEEP: Innovation Workshops to prototype your idea. You are encouraged to be chaotic and messy! Fail fast! Dorel made sure plenty of product was on hand to fuel the innovation.

Inutitive Carry

Enhanced Confidence

Improved Transitions

Development of Design Targets

Role-Play is the Best Way

To truly understand and empathize with users, we role-played, exploring typical use-case scenarios to inform our ideation. Placing ourselves in the same situations helps us quickly evaluate and improve our concepts.

Handle-Carry:

Evolution for improved ease when attaching the seat to the base and removing the child from the vehicle

Cradle-Carry:

Exploration to improve how parents can bond with the baby in a more natural holding position

Cross-Body Strap:

Exploration to provide alternate ways to carry the baby while reducing the effects of weight and fatigue on the parent

Iterative User Evaluation Cycle

Our early thoughts and ideas were evaluated by the team and with parents in our research lab. These ideas were then refined to strengthen the evolving direction. The learnings obtained through this method enabled the team to focus on the most meaningful directions and build their value. Listening, understanding, and empathizing allowed our team to develop new ideas in this category that were previously unexplored.

DesignThink presents the refined design direction.

A series of prototypes and user evaluations enabled us to reach a stage of concept definition for an ultra lightweight car seat that provides parents with improved ways to carry, hold, and secure their baby.

Our Results

User-Centered Insights lead to Market Defining Solutions

Having developed many juvenile products such as car seats, strollers, and highchairs, DesignThink understands the day-to-day challenges parents face, both physically and emotionally. We embarked on this project with Dorel to define a new car seat with features that take into account those challenges and offer relevant and meaningful solutions. Exploring innovation that is rooted in user insights enabled our team to quickly define those solutions and overcome technical hurdles to deliver new experiences to address real problems faced by parents when using an ICS.

Defining the Direction

As mentioned, DesignThink was hired as the innovation incubator in the fuzzy front-end to develop and define a new architecture for this seat. Our work was documented and handed off to the Maxi-Cosi team in Europe. The output of our innovation incubation became the driving framework used by the teams in Europe to create a truly meaningful and relevant solution for parents in this category.

The DesignThink team is very proud to have been selected by Dorel to play such an important "behind the scenes" role in setting the direction for, and contributing to the success of, the Maxi Cosi Coral XP.

It takes a Village to Design a Car Seat

Snapshot of the iterative concept development that led to the final product

You can see more of DesignThink's work here.

Here's what we looked at this week:

Why do humanoid robots move like humans? For efficiency's sake, oughtn't they have their own movement style?

In Amsterdam, a hotel room with an airplane inside of it.

KraussMaffei's ColorForm production method: Injection molding and painting in one production process.

When bad UX is the point: A no-handle coffee mug for rock climbers.

Trusscore: This user-friendly DIY sheetrock alternative requires no heavy lifting, taping, mudding, priming and painting.

This Jetlaser strips finishes in seconds. No chemicals, no mess.

Registration is open for Buildner's Architect's Chair Design Competition.

Industrial design case study: Minimal's solution to combat single-use package design.

Kazuya Shibata's Smartphone Face Shield provides in-bed emergency protection for when you drop your phone on your face.

CycloTech's form evolution of a new type of flying vehicle, designed around six enclosed "CycloRotors."

No one agrees on what a true flying car should look like. But if the folding-wing crowd wins out, these will be complicated to maintain.

The Elitech Protean is a gamer's desktop platform designed for swappable user interfaces.

The Onion's magical election touchscreen provides unique insights.

Two striking urban vehicles: The Duo and the Bento, by Mobilize.

Olight's Baton 4 is a tiny LED flashlight with its own charging case.

Airback: Backpacks and luggage that can shrink their contents with a vacuum.

Kia's funky PV5 WKNDR, an EV camper van concept.

Industrial design case study: An infant car seat by DesignThink.

The message from Autodesk and the many companies that presented and exhibited at Autodesk University (AU) last month in San Diego was clear: for the product design and manufacturing (D&M), architecture, engineering, construction and operations (AECO), and media and entertainment (M&E) industries, AI is a driving force behind productivity.

Autodesk University Mainstage

Data, data, data

AI-driven productivity is customized to the specific needs of each industry, with various generative and multimodal AI models providing solutions for tasks like workflow optimization, manufacturing quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and design visualization. However, the value of AI across these sectors—and beyond—is determined by the quantity and quality of data used.

Quantity matters because more data enables AI systems to learn and improve. Quality, however, is more complex. It requires obtaining relevant data, ensuring data accuracy, and verifying that data usage complies with ethical standards.

Dell demonstrated how their workstations can run generative AI 3D content with NVIDIA Edify trained on Shutterstock ethically sourced content.

Customers are key

The importance of AI and data was evident throughout AU, with presentations and product demonstrations highlighting customer-centric solutions. Hardware providers showcased high-performance workstations equipped with powerful processors, optimized to support AI workloads. Meanwhile, data and asset management providers emphasized AI’s capabilities in extracting valuable information, managing metadata, and monitoring workflows in real time.

Lenovo displayed next generation workstations designed with a customer-centric focus. Partnering with Intel®, NVIDIA and Aston Martin, they offer high-end graphics, memory and processing power.

Autodesk’s Design & Manufacturing team showcased how they are addressing their customers' needs by delivering AI-powered efficiencies through Fusion, a cloud-based, unified platform for design and manufacturing. They also introduced Project Bernini, a research initiative focused on a new approach to generative AI. Unlike many generative models that prioritize the appearance of 3D objects, Bernini emphasizes generating structural 3D data from the inside out, which aligns closely with real-world production needs.

Experimental research project Bernini model generates shape and texture separately and does not confuse or meld those variables.

AI provides a wide range of possibilities based on industry-specific needs. For entertainment and gaming, AI can generate lifelike product and character models, while in manufacturing and design, it lays the foundation for real-world production. With tools like Fusion and research projects like Bernini, Autodesk aims to empower creators and makers to leverage AI for both efficiency and innovation.

Despite some optimism that the US truck freight market would begin to recover from continued downward pressure during Q3 2024, U.S. Bank freight metrics showed challenges remain for motor carriers with shipments and spending softer in Q3. Shipments were off 21.2 per cent YoY, one of the largest drops. The bank’s national shipments index fell by 1.9 per cent in Q3 after a 2.2-per cent drop in Q2.

China’s latest fiscal announcements seem aimed at addressing medium-term structural impediments to economic growth from strained local government finances, but are unlikely to immediately boost or offset deflationary risk, Fitch Ratings said. It expects a budget deficit of 7.1 per cent of GDP this year. It believes fiscal stimulus will remain incremental and responsive to downside risks.