Charging a phone and a pair of earbuds is easy enough, but sharing that same stand with another phone is a different matter. Peak Design’s new Charging Station addresses that problem with two equally capable magnetic pads and a hinged arm. Stand it up beside your laptop, or lay it flat so two phones can recharge without competing for the better spot.

The shape is straightforward, with a narrow metal arm linking two rounded-square charging surfaces. Die-cast aluminum and zinc form the chassis, while the machined aluminum stem provides the moving structure. Laminated Clarino covers the pads, and a non-slip TPU foot sits underneath. Black and Moon finishes keep the color choices restrained, rather than turning your nightstand into a brightly branded electronics display.

Designer: Peak Design

Two hinges let you adjust the arm and upper pad separately, positioning a phone for a video call or a glance at your calendar. Magnetic attachment supports portrait and landscape orientations, so changing what you’re doing doesn’t require another stand. An earbud case can sit on the lower pad while the phone stays raised, keeping both devices within the same small desktop footprint.

The lower pad gets more interesting when you fold the station flat. Peak Design rates both Qi2.2 pads for up to 25W simultaneously, allowing two compatible phones to recharge at once without assigning one a slower accessory spot. That doesn’t mean every magnetically attached phone will receive 25W, though. The device’s own charging support still determines how much power it can accept.

That folding movement also changes how the charger travels. Packed flat, it measures 6.3 by 2.7 by 0.6 inches, with the arm tucked alongside the body instead of projecting into your bag. At 9.7 ounces, it still adds weight to a travel kit, but you aren’t packing a rigid desktop stand just to keep a phone propped up in a hotel room.

A separate USB-C output makes room for a third device, although this connection is wired. Its 7.5W output is suited to smaller accessories rather than replacing a laptop charger. A watch still needs its own charging cable or puck, so this isn’t a dedicated three-device wireless dock. It simply gives that extra cable somewhere to connect without occupying another outlet on the wall.

The $99.95 price also leaves out the wall adapter. Peak Design includes a fabric-wrapped USB-C cable rated for 100W, but specifies at least a 45W power supply to operate the station and 75W or more for maximum dual charging speed. That makes the adapter part of the buying decision, particularly if your existing charger is already committed to powering something else at home.

The post Peak Design’s Charging Station Folds Flat to Charge Two Phones first appeared on Yanko Design.

Finding a place for a game console usually means clearing a shelf, not making room for a reptile. Microsoft’s Xbox Series X-BITE puts a working Series X inside an artificial alligator measuring more than five feet long. The one-off creation trades a discreet electronics box for something closer to a wildlife exhibit, complete with a controller between its teeth.

The alligator rests on slim posts above a rectangular, wood-grain base, with its legs hanging below and its tail curling toward the floor. Dark, ridged scales and a lighter belly give it the appearance of a mounted specimen. That familiar display format does much of the work, making the oversized enclosure feel deliberately theatrical rather than like an ordinary console wearing a novelty cover.

Designer: Microsoft (Xbox)

A raised section on its back interrupts those scales, with an illuminated Xbox Nexus symbol worked into the surface. It’s the clearest clue that the animal has supposedly swallowed something it shouldn’t. The branding stays small against the length of the body, allowing the fabrication to carry the joke before the glowing logo explains why there’s an alligator underneath your television in the first place.

The head gets a less subtle treatment. Xbox-green irises surround pupils shaped around the Nexus symbol, turning the creature’s stare into another brand reference. Between the open jaws sits a custom Xbox Wireless Controller with artificial bite marks. It gives the sculpture a little unfinished business, as though the console wasn’t quite enough of a meal and the accessories were next on the menu.

The commission went to creature-effects specialists, who used 3D modeling, sculpting, and fabrication to build the animal around the hardware. That process gives a promotional console the attention normally associated with a film prop. Florida supplied the inspiration, according to Xbox, although the animal itself is entirely artificial. No actual alligators were used or harmed in creating this unusually elaborate console enclosure.

For the person who eventually owns it, the obvious challenge is finding a suitable place to put it. More than five feet of reptile won’t disappear into the usual gap beside a television. Its long base asks for a substantial display surface, and the raised mounting makes the whole assembly something to plan a room around rather than tuck away.

There’s also a qualification behind the playable-console claim. Xbox says the Series X inside works, but its fine print recommends the finished creation for display. The announcement doesn’t explain ventilation, access to ports, or servicing inside the sculpted body. That leaves a distinction between functioning hardware and a practical replacement for the console you switch on every evening after work.

Only one Series X-BITE exists, and it’s being offered through a sweepstakes rather than a retail release. There isn’t a shelf price to weigh against a standard console or a choice of less toothy finishes. The appeal is owning the fabrication itself, with a working Xbox as its unlikely inhabitant. The controller has a home, provided you don’t mind the teeth.

The post Xbox Put a Working Series X Inside a Giant Fake Alligator first appeared on Yanko Design.

Camping stoves can be awkward things to pack, especially when the burner and pot supports insist on keeping their cooking shape inside your bag. Easy Cooking approaches that problem with a folding stove concept that tucks its parts into an elongated, rounded case. Developed in 2023, it proposes a smaller package for the trip without making you assemble a kitchen from loose pieces.

The closed body has a sandy beige finish, interrupted by black details and a short fabric loop at one end. Concentric slots near the opposite end echo the circular burner hidden inside, while a field of smaller perforations breaks up the broad face. It’s a restrained way to give camping equipment some character without covering it in rugged-looking armor or oversized branding.

Designers: Hao Kong, Qi Qiu

Opening it changes the relationship between those parts. The burner extends away from the housing, and three serrated pot supports spread around it to create a cooking position wider than the packed form. Folded inward, those supports nest alongside the burner. The proposal concentrates on rearranging what a stove needs, rather than giving a conventional rectangular cooktop a handle and calling it portable.

The fuel cartridge sits lengthwise inside the open housing, keeping the supply beside the burner rather than requiring a separate fuel hose. A large rotary dial occupies the side, and an OPEN label marks a separate control on top. Those familiar physical cues suggest where to begin, although the presentation doesn’t explain the ignition system or the cartridge’s locking and release mechanisms.

That arrangement would make sense for a quick outdoor meal, when you want to put a kettle on without unpacking a boxy tabletop appliance. The enclosure serves two jobs: concealing the burner for transport and accommodating the cartridge once the stove is deployed. Its usefulness would depend on how easily those parts move, especially after grit and food residue get into the joints.

There’s a precedent for this kind of transformation. Snow Peak’s Home & Camp Burner, released in 2019, also folds its burner into an enclosure that holds a butane cartridge during use. Easy Cooking explores that packing problem with a flatter, capsule-like outline. The shared idea makes the details of deployment more interesting than any suggestion that folding a stove is entirely new.

Easy Cooking remains a concept rather than an established retail product. There’s no mention of dimensions or weight figures to demonstrate how much space it saves, and material grades aren’t specified. The folding supports leave practical questions about how a full pot would be held above the ground, particularly when stirring or lifting it could shift the load across that narrow structure.

Heat management matters as much as the folding trick. Snow Peak warns that certain cookware can radiate enough heat toward its canister to create a hazard, a reminder of what’s at stake when fuel and flame share a small footprint. Making the stove disappear for travel is appealing; keeping its fuel from overheating once a pan goes on top demands more care.

The post Easy Cooking Stove Concept Folds Its Burner and Pot Supports Into One Case first appeared on Yanko Design.