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Welcome to the first Fast Companys Plugged In of 2026, and Happy New Year to you. More than 18 years ago, as the internet was transforming how we consume everything from news to music, someone called books the last bastion of analog. That someone happened to be Jeff Bezos. And he made the observation in a Steven Levy Newsweek article about Amazons original Kindle e-reader, a device designed to drag books into the digital age. Bezoss comment resurfaced in my consciousness last week, as I read a New York Times article by Elizabeth A. Harris and Alexandra Alter on how the book publishing business fared in 2025. The upshot: It did pretty well overall, and remains a surprisingly analog enterprise. To be clear, the internet in generaland Amazon in particularhas transformed how we buy and consume books. Market share figures for booksellers are tough to come by, but estimates show the company controlling 50% or more of print book sales, leaving chains such as Barnes & Noble and independents to jostle for whats left. Thats before you account for e-books and audiobooks, where Amazons Kindle and Audible platforms are overwhelmingly dominant. Despite that, paper books remain popular, and many people choose to buy them at brick-and-mortar stores. As of mid-December, roughly three-quarters of the 707 million books sold last year were of the traditional, dead-tree variety. In the first 10 months, e-books accounted for only 11% of revenue, down from 17% in 2016. The American Booksellers Associations ranks swelled by 422 new shopsindependent ones, not chain operations. On top of that, we got dozens of new Barnes & Noble locations, with more on their way. All of that suggests that books in their classic form arent just running on fumes of nostalgia or consumer inertia. Much of whats delightful about the whole experience of engaging with the medium is inherently physical, in ways that other mediamusic, movies, newspapers, magazinesare not. I knew that a year ago when I declared that I was going to go out of my way to read dead-tree tomes in 2025, starting with the tower of them stacked on my nightstand. Taking the time to do so was a rewarding experience, and though life interfered with me reading as many as Id hoped, Im looking forward to continuing the quest in 2026 and beyond. As I wrote in that newsletter, Im hardly an e-book hater. Theyre often cheaper than print equivalents. They let you carry your entire library wherever you go. They can be easily searched. For nonfiction volumes being read for research purposesa meaningful chunk of my book consumptionthey beat print as the best overall format. Still, as I also wrote back then, e-books havent lived up to their full potential. Typographically and layout-wise, they remain rudimentary compared to paper. And even when they do things that print cant, they dont always do them well. Thats been my experience with a new AI-powered Kindle feature called Ask this book. Introduced last month for thousands of titles in the Kindle iPhone and iPad apps, it lets you use a chatbot-style interface to pose questions about a books contents. To avoid spoilers, it defaults to its answers reflecting only what youve read so far. The tool has proven controversial, in part because authors arent compensated and cant opt out. But when I tried it with my Kindle edition of Walter Isaacsons Steve Jobs, the big problem was that it was terrible. Its responses repeatedly mangled factual material, from the circumstances of Jobs time at Reed College to the year the iPod was introduced. They also failed to provide any citations, rendering them useless as entry points for additional reading within the e-book. Ask this book does have the potential to evolve into something more interesting and useful. But when it comes to the shopping experience, for both digital and print books, Amazon has been marching in the wrong direction for years. Author Cory Doctorow coined the term enshittification to describe how tech products tend to grow customer-hostile over time. In his new book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, he declares Amazon to have reached a terminal stage of the phenomenon. Indeed, the companys original taglineEarths biggest bookstorenow feels more like a threat than a promise. Even if you cut the company some slack for offering a shopping experience thats relentlessly utilitarian rather than intellectually stimulating, the place is in shambles. Search results are smothered with unrelated sponsored links and blatantly AI-generated junk books. Pages devoted to specific authors may be missing books, or, worse, list ones they didnt write. The search results for John Grisham started with a paperback copy of his 2002 novel The Summons for an absurd $51.76, with an estimated delivery turnaround of up to two weekseven though Amazon also has it for under 10 bucks with free Prime overnight shipping. For decades, the fact that local book shops couldnt compete with Amazons massive inventory seemed like an existential weakness. But the best ones curate their selections in ways that offer a powerful alternative to Amazons unedited sprawl. To my knowledge, no online merchant has replicated the artful serendipity of brick-and-mortar book browsing, where wandering the aisles and stumbling across stuff you never knew existed is part of the point, not a distraction. Recently, I did much of my holiday gift shopping at one of my favorite Bay Area bookstores, Menlo Parks Keplers. A large storebut not a completely enormous oneits a joy to get lost in. I didnt have to elbow my way past AI slop or sponsored chum, and emerged with a stack of books I would never have discovered through online shopping. Unlike Amazon, Keplers doesnt offer discounts off list price. Actually, it tacks on a small surcharge to pay its employees a living wage. I am happy to pay it. The 70-year-old store, which almost went out of business in 2005, doesnt feel like a relic. Instead, like every good bookstore, its an idea too vibrant to be rendered irrelevant by technology. Its heartening to think the publishing industry has settled into a groove that will keep such neighborhood gems viable for years to come. Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on fastcompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompay.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard. More top tech stories from Fast Company Craiglist’s founder has some simple rules for not losing your mindor moneyon the internetCraig Newmark’s ‘Take9’ campaign asks people to pause nine seconds before reacting online. Read More LinkedIn is expanding its AI-powered job search featuresThe platform continues to grow as a hub for seeking jobs and holding professional discussions. Read More AI isn’t stealing your traffic. It’s stealing your authorityAs AI becomes the first stop for information, GEO is how you make sure your version of the story gets told. Read More Yann LeCun: Meta ‘fudged a little bit’ when benchmark-testing Llama 4 modelThe testing sparked internal frustration about the progress of the Llama models. Read More OpenAI enters the connected health space with ChatGPT HealthHealth is already a popular topic area on ChatGPT. OpenAI is now adding physician expertise, and plug-ins for health apps and records. Read More Tin Can phones have been overwhelmed since ChristmasThe company says it’s working to fix a network issue and that paying customers won’t be charged until the devices are reliable once more. Read More 12 CEOs share bold predictions for 2026Market corrections, the rise of sovereign AI, and the first AI-driven attack are among the bold predictions for the coming year. Read More
Category:
E-Commerce
One of Ikeas most popular lamps of the past several yearsnicknamed the donut lampis about to get a smart, colorful upgrade. The original donut lamp debuted back in 2023 as part of Ikeas 20-piece Varmblixt collection with the Rotterdam-based designer Sabine Marcelis. With its glossy orange glass and soft, retro glow, the lamp quickly emerged as a fan favorite: In the three years since its debut, Ikea says one donut lamp has sold every five minutes in the U.S. Its the companys best-selling lamp, both in the U.S. and worldwide. Given the lamps popularity, Ikea has teamed up with Marcelis for a new version, this time featuring a smart function that allows it to cycle through a curated palette of colors. The new donut lamp will be available for $99.99 starting in April, alongside a $149.99 color-changing version of a pendant lamp that also debuted as part of the original Varmblixt collection. [Photo: Ikea] The updated lamps come as Ikea is investing more into its smart products with a new range of easy-to-use bulbs, sensors, and smart plugs that debuted in November. Both the donut lamp and the pendant lamp are compatible with Ikeas smart home system hub, Dirigera, as well as Matter, the smart home technical standard that undergirds the rest of the companys smart home tech. This new integration signals that as smart systems become more central to Ikeas product approach, we might see the company begin to integrate new functions into more of its most popular items. [Photo: Ikea] How the donut became Ikeas most popular lamp Theres a pretty good chance that youve stumbled across Ikeas donut lamp on your feeds. Since 2023, the lamp has gone viral multiple times among design enthusiasts. It’s become so ubiquitous that Marcelis says shes often walked past houses and seen it glowing through the windows. It was pretty wild how viral it went, she says. When designing Varmblixt, I wanted to create timeless pieces that could be interpreted in many ways. The fact that the lamp can be both wall mounted and used as a table lamp already makes it very versatile. It’s a lamp that even if you have nothing else in a room, it works. On TikTok and Instagram Reels, the donut lamp has generated an entire subgenre of videos dedicated to donut lamp hacks that use colorful electrical tape pasted over the interior bulb to darken the hue of the lamp. But with the smart donut lamp, Ikea fans will no longer need to risk overheating tape to curate their own lighting vibe. [Photo: Ikea] The donut lamp gets a colorful facelift To make the smart donut lamp compatible with a range of colors, Marcelis traded the originals glossy orange surface for a matte white exterior that lets the interior bulbs colors shine through. Its soft in texture and void of color, making the internal light source and colors it creates inside the volume glow in a really soft, diffused manner on the shell, Marcelis says. Users can choose to connect the lamp to the Dirigera hub, which allows them to access a full color spectrum of more than 40 hues, adjust light intensity, and fiddle with dimming settings. The lamps default setting, however, is controlled by a remote featuring 12 colors selected by Marcelis specifically for the collection. The sequence moves through different temperatures of white light, into glowing amber and red, followed by soft pink, cool lavender, turquoise, yellow, and back to white. I wanted the presets that you can vary between with the remote to be 12 specific atmospheres that range from alert work-mode light to party mode and all the way to cozy, calm mode, Marcelis says. I’ve had an early prototype in our guest room for the last six months, and this one pretty small lamp can change the hue of the whole room.
Category:
E-Commerce
Resilience is not an inherited trait. It is a disciplined practicea way of showing up that is cultivated over time through deliberate training of the body, mind, and spirit. In high-stress environments, whether on the battlefield, in the boardroom, or in the quiet turmoil of daily life, the ability to remain steady amid volatility is what separates reactive living from intentional leadership. What many discover, often through hardship, is that resilience is less about bracing against impact and more about widening the internal space between stimulus and response. That spaceViktor Frankl called it the foundation of freedomallows for clarity, intentionality, and courage. For decades, both in SEAL training and in my work with leaders, Ive observed that individuals who perform well under pressure share one common characteristic: they have learned to work with their minds rather than be ruled by them. This does not happen in moments of crisis. It is forged through consistent practices that strengthen attention, emotional steadiness, and a grounded sense of purpose. These are the pillars of mental toughness and well-being, and research continually affirms their effectiveness. “Meeting the Witness” Mental toughness begins with self-awarenesswhat I call meeting the witness. Before a person can regulate emotions or reframe challenging situations, they must learn to observe their inner world without being consumed by it. In Unbeatable Mind, I describe how an untrained mind behaves like a restless monkey, leaping from fear to fantasy, often amplifying stress rather than resolving it. Neuroscientific research supports this observation: studies from Harvard and Yale show that mindfulness training decreases activity in the brains default mode network, the system associated with rumination and self-critical thought. This reduction leads to greater emotional stability and improved executive control. Breathe Once awareness is established, the next layer of resilience comes through breath control. Box breathinga cornerstone practice in SEAL traininghas profound physiological effects. Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman has highlighted that controlled exhalation slows the heart rate by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting calm and clarity. Additional research from the National Institutes of Health demonstrates that slow, diaphragmatic breathing lowers cortisol levels, improves heart-rate variability (a key marker of stress resilience), and enhances cognitive performance during demanding tasks. In intense environments, breath becomes an anchorrestoring coherence when chaos presses in. Emotional regulation is equally essential, and scientific literature is increasingly clear that avoiding difficult emotions weakens resilience. Psychologist James Gross, from Stanford University, has shown that emotional suppression increases physiological stress, while emotional awareness paired with cognitive reframing reduces anxiety and improves overall well-being. Modern culture encourages distraction, numbing, or avoidance when emotions feel overwhelming. Yet true strength emerges when we turn toward discomfort and understand its message. Emotional awareness is not indulgence; it is intelligencedeeply connected to sustainable performance. Self-compassion Working with emotions also requires cultivating a compassionate inner dialogue. Research from Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer demonstrates that self-compassion reduces stress and anxiety while increasing resilience and perseverance. Many high performers assume harsh inner criticism fuels achievement, but studies continue to show the opposite: people who practice supportive self-talk persist longer, recover faster from setbacks, and perform better under pressure. This aligns closely with the warrior ethosdiscipline married to self-respect. The Five Mountains Another pillar of resilience is adopting an integrative approach to growththe Five Mountains framework. A person cannot expect to perform well under pressure when their physical, mental, emotional, intuitive, and spiritual domains are misaligned. The scientific community increasingly recognizes this integrative model. The American Psychological Association notes that resilience is multidimensional: physical fitness improves stress tolerance; emotional intelligence enhances decision-making; and spiritual or purpose-driven frameworks improve long-term well-being and post-traumatic growth. These capacities reinforce one another. Neglect one domain, and the others are forced to absorb its weight. Purpose and rituals Purpose also plays a critical role. Research from the University of Pennsylvanias Positive Psychology Center shows that individuals with a strong sense of purpose experience lower stress, recover more quickly from adversity, and maintain higher levels of long-term motivation. Purpose acts as a stabilizing forceturning challenge into training rather than threat. When we reconnect with our deeper why, stress stops feeling like something to escape and becomes an arena for mastery. Finally, resilience requires consistent rituals. In SEAL culture, the saying earn your trident every day reflects the truth that competence and courage must be renewed continually. Behavioral science supports this principle. Studies from MIT reveal that daily habits built through small, repeated actions create long-lasting neurological pathways, making resilience more automatic over time. Rituals such as breathing, movement, meditation, journaling, and visualization condition the mind and body to return to calmness quickly, maintain perspective, and operate from clarity. When practiced consistently, they create a durable internal foundation long before stress arrives. Becoming whole High-stress environments will always challenge the mind. They compress time, elevate stakes, and magnify uncertainty. But those conditions do not diminish a persons potential; they reveal it. Resilience grows when we learn to work with challenge rather than brace against it. It grows when we cultivate awareness, train the breath, embrace emotional truth, strengthen ourselves holistically, and commit to purposeful living. These practices form the stable internal structure that remains grounded even when the world around us feels uncertain. The ultimate aim of resilience is not to become hardened or invulnerable. It is to become wholeto act from a place of grounded presence, compassion, and courage. When you train your mind, emotions, and spirit in an integrated way, you develop a capacity for calm action that not only carries you through difficulty but enables you to serve others more powerfully. Resilience becomes less of a shield and more of an offering. This is the path of the warrior-leader. It is available to anyone willing to train deliberately, look inward honestly, and step forward courageously. In this work, there is no finish lineonly deeper layers of awareness and growth. Each moment presents a new opportunity to choose steadiness, clarity, and purpose over reactivity and fear. That choice, made repeatedly, builds a resilient mind for life.
Category:
E-Commerce
2025 was a year defined by buttholes and fury. AI companies, fueled by unlimited piles of cash, got in line with the same approach to branding: whats been scatalogically dubbed a butthole logo. The amorphous circles neither propel you forward like a Nike swoosh nor ground you like an Apples apple. Instead they spin you around, hypnotizing you into who knows whats next, just keep staring. At the same time, a polarized America debated its way through a newly political era of designwhat you can see everywhere from the Trump administrations choice of typeface to its decision to weigh in on brand plays from Cracker Barrel and American Eagle. Marketers seized this uneasy moment to snag engagement by overtly pissing us off. So whats awaiting us in 2026? Its a question we posed to several leading brand designers. Of the themes that followed, everyone seemed to agree that in 2026, well see the design worlds response to AIor, perhaps more accurately put, its many responses to AI. At the same time, were hearing early indications of designers who plan to draw more lines in the sand with clients, and take a more active role in this tenuous techno-political moment. Just-Exactly-Not-Quite-Right design Lately, most every conversation about design turns very quickly into one about AI: How will it affect our work? Our creativity? Our livelihood? I am sure we dont yet know the answers, but my hope is that we use these new tools in interesting and creative ways. In the meantime, I think a trend we will see in 2026 will be a renewed focus on humanity in the work we do and the brands we create. (And I dont just mean using puppets to sell iPhones.) I think there will be a deliberateness in the use of the quirky. There will be things that are made purposefully off in design, typography, illustration, and photography. The imperfect will become more interesting and powerful. Capturing the in-between moments, qualities that AI would scrub out. [Illustration: FC] I like to call it just-exactly-not-quite-right design, which suggests a skill and precision in making things look off. The wrong and the weird will be even more interesting and desired. I love the idea of logos that make you uncomfortable while still being beautiful, photography that catches the wrong moment, brand colors that shouldnt go together but somehow do. I look forward to seeing things that will look perfectly wrong in a way that only imperfect humans can makea way to show that we are not robots, yet. And one more thing, if I may: Design and designers need to get more involved. This moment on earth calls for it. Obviously, in terms of using our abilities to make a difference, but also to figure out how to responsibly use this AI that we all cant stop talking about. We need to be part of this conversation. What is our responsibility, in terms of ethics, energy, and ecology? What are the standards and regulations we set for ourselves and our clients? How do we protect ourselves and make the (design) world aware of the deeper implications of the use of AI? I think we owe it to ourselves and to our community to put ourselves in the narrative, because if we dont, someone else will make the rules for us. I believe we will (we must) see that happening more in 2026. Emily Oberman, partner, Pentagram Micro-epic: the language of now The micro-epic unfolds in seconds. It is the reel that halts your finger mid-scroll, the meme that captures a cultural mood before you can articulate it. We often view these condensed narratives as a form of manipulation intended to trigger reactions, and, today, to keep us enraged. This skepticism is justified. But criticizing brevity itself overlooks a crucial point: Fitting more into less is not inherently corrupting. This is how stories adapt when attention becomes scarce. History provides us with insight. In 17th-century Japan, Matsuo Bash transformed the initial stanza of collaborative poetry into a stand-alone art formthe haiku; three lines encapsulated entire seasons, fleeting emotions, and universes. Constraint didn’t diminish his artistry; it focused it. Today’s micro-epics can function similarly. A screenshot imparts knowledge. A six-second clip moves us. A sharp edit emits truth. The concise format is a pliable tool. The crucial question is what we choose to make: something true and lasting, or an improved way to sell, enrage, and distract. The grammar of the micro-epic is new, but the choice is old. Forest Young, global design and AI resident, Wolff Olins A renaissance of craft In 2026, well witness the renaissance of craft and detail. A surge of the “How did you do that?!” kind of work, the work that demands serious control and detail-orientedness to execute. A pushback against the ease of automation. A few years ago, when AI started becoming more widely used, optimists (myself included) predicted that the economy of craft would rise as a result, that mediocre work would become even more devalued. My prediction is that this year, we’ll start to see a return on that prediction. Since releasing the ornamental Eternal Research identity, Ive had multiple conversations with fellow design leaders and studio heads who mentioned theyd been attempting similar ideas, which tells me people’s heads are already moving in this direction. I believe this shift will show up across all facets of design, from fashion (see the era-specific details in Chanels recent subway show) to interior design (already having a maximalist moment) to architecture, where Googles top search terms now include postmodern, art deco, and googie. [Images: Fender] How this impacts branding is both a question and a challenge. The strongest logos have notoriously been the simplest ones, and I dont believe that fundamental truth will change. However, we may see more vintage logos redrawn for the digital age (see Mouthwashs Fender), detailed custom typefaces (Ive got my eyes on Sharp Type), and craft that comes forward in design systems and motifs. [Screenshot: Sharp] The real question is whether this resurgence of craft will be a lasting cultural immune response, or if its merely a countertrend. My prediction is that, like all trends, it will rise, peak, and eventually balance out with another trend that fights back (perhaps the return of minimalism in a couple of decades). But whatever is to come, the bottom line is that we are at the very, very exciting beginning of an incredible and mind-blowing design shift, and I couldnt be more excited to witness it. Talia Cotton, founder and principal, Cotton The AI logo apocalypse continues There are more than 212,000 active AI companies worldwide. More than 62,000 are startups. In the past year alone, more than 300 new AI companies launched. The gold rush is real. The money is loud. And the visual landscape looks like a cosmic field of identical swirling apertures paired with bland product interfaces. Call it the AI butthole logo phenomenon. Credit the meme that said what the industry wouldnt. [Screenshot: courtesy Lisa Smith] Despite the anxiety that AI will replace creatives, these companies are still hiring the best ones. Top-tier designers. World-class agencies. Serious budgets. And yet the output keeps collapsing into the same hyper-sanitized aesthetic: abstract gradients, circular vortex marks, glowing rings, vaguely intelligent blobs, and product design so neutral it feels algorithmically flattened. This is branding by autocomplete. Safe. Smooth. Instantly forgettable. This isnt a creativity problem. Its a confidence problem. For an industry obsessed with disruption, AI is remarkably afraid of standing out. Legitimacy is signaled through sameness. Familiar shapes. Approved colors. Visual language thats already been validated by capital. [Screenshots: courtesy Lisa Smith] When OpenAIs sphincter-adjacent logo succeeded, it didnt just brand a companyit branded the category. It quietly set the standard for what serious AI is supposed to look like. Circular. Abstract. Untouchable. Now any AI company that doesnt resemble a glowing anatomical opening risks being written off before its even understood. Innovation everywhere. Originality nowhere. Lisa Smith, global chief design officer, Uncommon Old dogs, new tricks In a disrupted world, new ideas and talent will rise from unexpected places. Incumbents will realize that what got us here will not get us there. As the old guard works to reinvent, many will break away, resulting in unexpected work from unexpected places. It will be the best of times and the worst of times for creativity. We are seeing change to our industry that we have not seen for 100 years. Holding groups are in decline, creative leaders are being replaced with tech and finance experts, and some of the most prolific creative firms have ceased to exist. This fallout creates incredible opportunity, a leveling of the playing field, where independent agencies will claim their space and usher in a new wave of creativity. What will play out this year is a continued battle ver the use of technology: What is real. What is fake. What is human. We will continue to discuss the uncanny valley of AI advertising and whether brand evolutions done the hard way are good, even if no one can tell. Work has become easier to make and harder to remember. As production tools are democratized, speed and scale are mistaken for value, even as quality, memorability, and persuasion are left behind. Tosh Hall, global chief creative officer, JKR Democratic tools drive differentiation Creative tools are easier than ever to access and engage with. Weve moved from desktop, single-serve software that was often the regard of a fewhidden behind downloads and deep technological know-howto cloud-based creative platforms where everyone gets to play. And now we’ve welcomed AI into the mix. Image generation makes an art director of everyone and vibe coding democratizes code. Everyone gets to be grammatically correct and sharp in their writing. Brand guidelines are checked by machines, not people. AI is bringing people closer to the ability to execute their ideas, which means know-how is no longer enough. So what happens? The expectation of brands, and the standard of their design, rises. Weve seen this before in consumer expectations of the webfor example, compare the aesthetic of Web 1.0 to 2.0. The result of better tools is better practitioners and more experience. Design itself becomes more critical than ever, but is less of a differentiator. Its table stakes. So wheres the opportunity? Taste, ideas, andperhaps most importantlydaring to differentiate from the market and vertical you exist within. In today’s world, where everyone can have great design, the meaningful, strategically rigorous brands that take a strong position on who they are and how they appear will ultimately win. Jowey Roden, chief creative officer, Koto A scarcity of taste AI will continue to pollute the world of marketing and communications, contributing noise, clutter, confusion, and complexity through artificial imagery, videos, messaging, and brand elementssomething the world isn’t asking for and surely doesn’t need more of. If you look at the Jaguar, American Eagle, and Cracker Barrel of it all, these brands made noise, and some were immediately rewarded for it. But they could have seen better outcomes if they committed to answering some essential, tough questions beforehand. We will see more cases like this next year as budgets continue to tighten, and as the competition for attention intensifies. At the same time, well see the opposite from truly great brands making investments in what not to do and where not to show up. As asset creation becomes cheaper, marketing budgets will reallocate to high-quality foundational brand building (clarity, consistency, voice). Since audiences can now smell the faintest BS more easily, smart marketers will ask, What do we actually stand for, and how do we say it clearly? This will give rise to the intermediary expert in 2026. The winning brands will almost appear to play it safe, when in fact they’re just intentional, consistent, focused. Deliberately narrow in their ambition and crystal clear in their positioning. They won’t sound like they were written by the algorithmthey’ll sound like someone who knows exactly what they believe, who they’re talking to, and why it matters. If that sounds simple, it’s because it is. But committing to simplicity, clarity, and authenticity so that your customers get you requires the opposite of what AI offers. It requires taste. Jason Cieslak, global president, Siegel+Gale 2000s Techno-Dystopia and the return of Playstation 1 and 2 Whats resurfacing under the name 2000s Techno-Dystopia is not nostalgia for the early internet so much as a reacceptance of its emotional climate. Metallic sheen, hostile minimalism, moody art direction, synthetic hues, sharp typography. This was an era when technology felt powerful, alien, and immersive. Interfaces didnt bend to legibility, they required you to adhere to their logic. They didnt have best practices. They had vision. They didnt baby you. You didnt customize them. You entered them. What makes this trend different from earlier nostalgia cycles is its lack of comfort. There is no warmth, no sepia filter, no promise of simpler times. This isnt classical retrofuturism, its a new retrofuturism. Cyber Y2K is not about childhoodits about adolescence under fluorescent light. When design has taken out all danger, well, thats exactly what we begin to crave. This brand of Cyber Y2K does not ask to be liked. It asks to be registered. Its surfaces are reflective but emotionally opaque. Typography is narrow, sharp, slightly uncomfortable to read. Motion design favors glitches, flickers, abrupt transitions. There is often a sense that the interface is not meant for you. Or at least not designed with you in mind. This is branding that does not flatter the users self-image as a creative collaborator. It restores a kind of asymmetry: The brand has power; you encounter it. Y2K-era Playstation Ads [Images: Sony] For a decade, branding moved in the opposite direction. Platforms softened their edges, adopted warmth, and borrowed the language of care just as they consolidated control. In the age of AI, that friendliness has collapsed under its own dishonesty. Generative systems speak fluently but impersonally; they produce without intention or empathy. Against this backdrop, 2000s Techno-Dystopia reads as truthful. Cold surfaces, dark and shiny, mirror how technology is actually felt now. This aesthetic always carried sex appeal. Early-2000s futurism framed the body as optimized, sharpened, and slightly inhuman. Slick skin, hard lighting, hyper-controlled silhouettes. Desire was technical, not romantic. That logic converges almost perfectly with the cultural rise of GLP-1 drugs. No discipline arc, no wellness sermon. Just outcome. The body, like the interface, becomes something tuned rather than understood. Together, these forces explain whats to come. 2000s Techno-Dystopia rejects reassurance in favor of intensity. It doesnt promise warmth or fun, but it does have momentum and a strange, polished appeal, not optimistic for the future necessarily, but a pomise to look good getting there. This aesthetic is not anti-capitalist. It is capitalism shedding its friendliness. It reflects a recognition that users no longer believe brands are on their side. And so brands can stop pretending. They become systems again. Brands dont need to feel human to be enjoyed. In an era saturated with friendliness, the cold interface is radical. Chrome reflects, but it does not empathize. That may be the point. Rion Harmon, cofounder and executive creative director, Day Job
Category:
E-Commerce
CES is a show that’s all about the future. Usually, that future is within the next year or two. Companies show off products to kick off marketing campaigns and begin building consumer demand. Sometimes, though, they offer a peek a good bit further down the road. Several prototypes at this year’s CES offered clues about how companies expect the consumer electronics world to evolve. Many, of course, will fall by the wayside. Almost all of them will experience changes before getting anywhere close to market. Despite that, though, they offer a look into a consumer electronics crystal ball. Here are some trends they’re prophesizing for the years to come. Smart watches will get a lot more useful and easier to repair Smart watches already do a lot. They free up users’ hands, letting them check messages, see who is calling them without fumbling for their phone, track health data, and can act as a lifeline if you’re stranded. They’re good for opening hotel room doors, but they’re generally not seen as being secure enough for something like a banking or access system. Cambridge Consultants, however, showcased a prototype luxury watch that also doubles as a digital passkey. The rotary bezel (the rotating ring with markings most often seen on dive watches) utilizes extreme miniaturization to boost security components. At that same demo: a prototype smart watch designed to let consumers repair the device itself without sacrificing the aesthetics. Augmented reality will ditch the cameras Eye tracking, at present, requires a camera. But another prototype being shown by Cambridge Consultants did away with the lens, using a photonics and sensor fusion instead. That could be the push AR needs to gain wider acceptance, as it could make headsets significantly smaller and more comfortable. TVs are about to be a lot brighter This upcoming trend is a lot closer than some of the others. Both Samsung and TCL were showcasing TV sets that blast out the colors, utilizing next-generation backlighting called RGB LED, the latest in the alphabet soup mishmash of backlighting names (which also includes QLED, OLED, LED, Mini LED, and more). The colors pop like never before, but the screens are also significantly brighter to the extent that if you’re too close, you might find yourself squinting. The Samsung prototype reached a brightness of 4,500-nits. That’s about twice the level of current high end TVs. Position sensing could be the next battleground As the robotics industry continues to grow and nudge its way into homes and businesses, it’s going to be crucial for positioning software to be as precise as possible. (It’s fun to watch a robot dance, but a lot less fun when it hits you full force while showcasing its moves.) This year’s CES showed off a number of new position sensing technologies, from Lego’s smart bricks, which incorporate position sensing into play, to a prototype architecture that shrinks the footprint of unidirectional position sensing. That could open the door to adding position sensing to devices where it currently can’t be used — while also ensuring your housebot doesn’t accidentally pop you with a right hook as it takes care of your laundry.
Category:
E-Commerce
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