Siri, Charge My Phone

Remembering Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall, the USPS' long-overdue rebrand, smartphones charged by sound and more in our weekly look at the web

A team of researchers at the Queen Mary University of London, with help from Nokia, has developed a prototype cellphone that charges using sound waves in the atmosphere. The secret is super-sensitive zinc oxide nanowires, which convert those sound vibrations into electrical currents. This means, hopefully in the nearer future, cellphones can be charged—sans cable—merely by the sound of your voice during a phone call, …

Cool Hunting Video: 21 Icons

Photographs of 21 iconic South African figures currently on view in Johannesburg

Returning to Africa for the second Cool Hunting Safari in Zambia, we made a stop in Johannesburg to scope out the up-and-coming design scene. A few of our guests have strong ties to the city, one being wildlife and portrait photographer Adrian Steirn, whose renowned exhibit “21 Icons” was being featured at Johannesburg’s Museum of African Design (MOAD) before beginning its world tour. Adrian gave …

North Korea: Anonymous Country

Disguised as a tourist, photojournalist Julia Leeb offers a glimpse of the isolated society in a new hardcover book

North Korea may be a familiar figure in international news headlines, but even in the age of the internet, the little we know stems mostly from rumors, accounts from defectors who risked their lives to escape and bizarre YouTube videos. Though Korea was a whole body with a shared history for more than a thousand years, since dividing in 1945, North Korea has greatly diverged …