Consider the humble smartphone case for a second. It’s something that many users may not feel an emotional attachment to, but these cases generate billions of dollars per year for large brands who mass produce these “computer bumpers” daily. So how can an independent “smartphone case designer” like Bailey Hikawa make a name for herself in such an oversaturated industry? Bailey is a product designer who decided to take the road less traveled and hand-produce smartphone cases for a living. Through her project, Hikawa Studio, Bailey promotes KAME – personalized, elastomer-casted bespoke cases. With her cases costing anywhere from $100 to 200, it might be hard to see how she…

Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Every Monday, we link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you to get your week started on the right foot. Be sure to check in each week for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight…

Researchers have developed an incredibly ingenious new method of 3D printing very strong structures using techniques analogous to nature. Researchers at the University of Southern California were inspired by the material called “nacre”. You haven’t heard of nacre? You probably have, as it is simply the scientific name for “mother of pearl”–the substance mollusks use to construct their very tough shells. Why are they so tough? It turns out the secret is in the microscopic structure of the material. Nacre is composed of small “bricks” of calcium carbonate joined together with proteins. These are set in a sophisticated brick-and-mortar style arrangement that provides tremendous strength. The question is, how could…

Hardware giant Acer just announced their newest product line aimed at professional creators and those who aspire to be one. The “ConceptD Collection” consists of two desktops, three notebook PCs, two UHD monitors, and a mixed reality headset, all of which are focused on increasing productivity with multiple video editing and CAD software programs. Starting with the desktop computers, the ConceptD 900 features dual processors with 40 cores, 80 threads, an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 GPU, and an ECC memory of up to 192 GB. These hardware specs aim to increase render times for animators and designers while also helping AI developers with increased graphics and computing power. The Concept…

These days, you can get just about any computer rig designed to your exact specifications. Whether you’re a RAM-hogging SolidWorks user, or simply just want a powerful workstation, there’s something for everybody. But no standardized hardware mod will ever replace the satisfaction of building your own rig from scratch. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own custom-built PC but didn’t know where to start, boy do we have great news for you. The How to Build a Computer Bundle consolidates five intensive online courses (a total of 126 individual lessons) ranging from how to create a blueprint for your desired desktop or laptop setup to how to overclock CPU…

Ever since it was announced last year, most people have been skeptical about the Galaxy Fold, Samsung’s new folding smartphone/ tablet hybrid. And why shouldn’t they be? When your smartphone’s main feature is to near-seamlessly fold out into a tablet with no apparent split in the screen, you begin to wonder just how long the technology can hold until it quite literally, well, snaps. It’s this specific concern that Samsung wanted to address in its latest promotional video for the smartphone. Rather than the typical hardware launch video consisting of many design process b-roll shots and interviews with developers and engineers, the company’s marketing team instead whiteboarded up an entirely…