Month: October 2020

watchOS 7: Exploring the Apple GMT Watch Face

Emilee Geist 51 mins ago

Apple’s new watchOS 7 introduces some new watch faces. One of them is called GMT watch face. It’s about time we took a look at that one.

Apple Watch GMT Face

First of all, Apple did not just make this up, in name or design. There is a pre-existing “GMT watch” design that was previously created for specific travel/aviation/astronomy needs. See: “What is a GMT Watch and How Does it Work?”

From the above article:

The GMT watch function is just a second hour hand on the same watch face that’s geared to rotate once every 24 hours — or exactly half as fast as the other hour hand. The second hour hand points to a second time scale that reads to 24 instead of 12, typically located on the innermost portion of the watch dial.

Here’s a look at a physical GMT watch. The red hour hand points to

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Meet Anubha and Emi, winners of the sustainability and sports & denim categories in the first ever online global design graduate show

Emilee Geist 3 hours ago

In 2020, sustainability and ethical, considered production within the fashion industry, has become more important than ever. With the judges having made their decisions for the winners of the fashion categories — supported by Gucci — of the i-D x ARTSTHREAD Global Design Graduate Show, both the chosen projects in the sustainability and the sports & denim categories are by designers who are working to make the industry better for the future.

Winning the sustainability award is Anubha Sood, a 28 year old MFA graduate in Textiles from Parsons, New School of Design in New York. For her project, ‘Between Salt & Water’, she collected seagrass from the Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans — foraged from Coney Island, New York; Galway in Ireland and Koh Tao in Thailand — and dyed, softened and wove them into her own fabrics.

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Anubha tested various methods of textile creation with the collected seaweed.

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Accessible Custom Furniture And Decor Is The Next Big Interior Design Trend

Emilee Geist 5 hours ago

2020 has been a year of collective realization about the importance of our living spaces and interior design. Not only are we all spending more time at home, but most of us are renovating, redesigning, and refreshing our spaces to fit the new normal. Because the pandemic has limited our choices in many ways, the appeal of custom, made-to-order furniture and decor has increased significantly. 

While major players like Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Restoration Hardware have offered made to order furniture for years, buying truly customized and bespoke pieces used to require using an interior designer or knowing the right place to have something commissioned. This also meant visiting a brick and mortar location.  

But now, smaller, direct to consumer and online-only retailers are leading the way in this category for both industry and regular consumers

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The National Esports Association is paving the way for aspiring gamers while fostering inclusivity

Emilee Geist 6 hours ago

As gaming becomes an increasingly popular career option among Gen Zers and millennials alike, one nonprofit organization is rolling out a number of initiatives designed to help its students make a transition to esports.

Based in Rochester, N.Y., the National Esports Association (NEA) offers several programs that provide “pathways to success for aspiring esports athletes,” according to its website.

Working in conjunction with several colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada, the organization develops on-campus esports programs and arranges tournaments to gauge student interest. One of those tournaments, for example, centers on the popular Nintendo game Super Smash Bros., where students compete in a one-versus-one tournament bracket.

NEA also hosts students at its own facility, where they train with expert gamers. Certified teachers from Twitch, for example, teach Minecraft players how to design their own virtual communities.

“For practice-wise in the studio, what [the students] are doing is playing

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Who Plays Borat’s Daughter in Borat 2? Introducing Maria Bakalova

Emilee Geist 6 hours ago

This piece contains spoilers for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

When the trailer for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm made its debut this month, viewers had one seemingly unanswerable question about the follow-up to Sacha Baron Cohen’s transformational 2006 comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan: Who plays Borat’s daughter in the film?

According to press materials, the character—Borat’s sidekick, whose presence allows Cohen to infiltrate events and interview unsuspecting marks despite his fame—is played by an actress named Irina Novak. But it didn’t take long for online sleuths to realize that this name was a red herring. There is an actress named “Irina Novak,” but she bears a scant physical resemblance to the woman playing Borat’s daughter. Before the trailer even made its premiere, a fringe site alleged instead that the character was played by an actress named Maria Bakalova. 

It turns out

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Patricia Altschul Is Adding Some Southern Charm to Your Home – E! Online

Emilee Geist 8 hours ago

We love these products, and we hope you do too. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of the revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not E!.

Ba-ba-doo!

When watching Bravo’s long running series Southern Charm, there one house that stands above the rest. Oh yes, we’re talking about the home of Patricia Altschul.

With help from her friendly butler Michael, the reality star consistently showcases her inviting space filled with unique items. Now, she’s sharing her love for decor with a new HSN collection launching online today. “I would best describe my home decor collection as high end, luxurious, and unique while also accessible and affordable,” she exclusively shared with E! News. 

And with the holiday season quickly approaching, there’s never been a better time to launch a fresh line. “One could do their entire holiday shopping from my

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Designer knows as ‘The Nester’ gives advice on creating a cozy space

Emilee Geist 9 hours ago

For 12 years Myquillyn Smith, known online as “The Nester,” has inspired homeowners to rearrange their rooms to be more welcoming. Smith is a self-taught design-school dropout who took a week-long course so she could be a certified home stager and redesigner. Her newest book is “Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round.”

Smith joined Washington Post staff writer Jura Koncius last week for an online chat. Here is an edited excerpt.

Q: How do you describe the term “cozy minimalist”? Is it similar to the concept of Swedish hygge?

A: It’s quite similar, with the focus being on how it affects what we bring into and edit out of our home. I consider “cozy” and “minimalism” tools, not a specific style. You want a balance of those welcoming codifiers, such as softgoods, cushy chairs, filtered lamp light and simplicity, no matter your style.

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Asus ROG Swift PG259QN Review

Emilee Geist 10 hours ago

It feels like 240Hz gaming monitors just came into being, but manufacturers are already cranking refresh rates higher. Asus’ ROG Swift PG259QN crams a ridiculous 360Hz refresh rate into an IPS panel for serious esports enthusiasts that refuse to make sacrifices. We ran it through some testing to see how it performed.

Asus ROG Swift PG259QN – Design and Features

At $700, the PG259QN isn’t cheap, though its design isn’t quite as high-end feeling as some of Asus’ other ROG displays. It contains the same grey-and-copper swirled base, albeit without the extra embellishments and light-up logo found on the company’s top-tier monitors. It’s distinctly a gaming monitor, though, and the backside contains an etched circuit board pattern alongside a large ROG logo that reflects customizable, Aura Sync-compatible RGB lighting off your wall. The stand contains a built-in cable management hole, and is height, swivel, and tilt adjustable, which means you

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How To Hand Out Halloween Candy During COVID So Little Ghouls & Goblins Stay Safe

Emilee Geist 13 hours ago

Spooky season is here, but you may be wondering if it’ll be quite as fun as usual this year. While every city and county will differ on their safety guidelines for Halloween 2020, those who want to give out candy should think ahead about how to hand out candy safely during COVID. Once your city announces its trick-or-treating rules — and you assess your personal risk level — you can decide the best way to hand out candy this year.

Hershey partnered with the Harvard Global Health Institute to create a resource for parents of trick-of-treaters and those who want to give out candy. Their website includes an interactive map where you can click on your county and learn which “zone” of COVID risk you’re in based on the average number of cases emerging each day. Then, you’ll find recommended Halloween activities for your zone.

However you decide to dole

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Boston’s LGBTQ+ Musicians Are Paving The Way Toward Inclusivity : NPR

Emilee Geist 13 hours ago

The artists of Boston’s queer scene.

Jesse Haley


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Jesse Haley

The artists of Boston’s queer scene.

Jesse Haley

Boston’s music scene has produced its share of rock legends. For decades, the stages within its gritty clubs have given rise to big acts like Aerosmith, The Cars, Pixies and more. With time comes change: Towering, overpriced condos are pushing out the city’s beloved venues, leaving its emerging talent fewer opportunities to perform. But for artists who never fit the mold of what’s expected on those stages (read: white, straight, cis rock), this downsizing phenomenon is an all-too-familiar challenge.

“I have often heard that my music is too threatening, a.k.a. too Black or too political, so people are less likely to book me or support me publicly,” says rapper and local style icon Billy Dean Thomas. “In general, being the new artist on the block wherever you go

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