Recently, Time magazine published its annual "100 best inventions" in 2021 The list covers many fields - electronic products, food, design, fashion and medical treatment. Those who can be selected by the public and win a place on this list have amazing performance in the key selection criteria - originality, creativity, effectiveness, development potential and influence. But different from the past, the "100 best inventions" in 2021 are also making interesting and meaningful designs. The most obvious embodiment is the cover design, which not only shows the products, but also throws out the latest environmental protection trend - "paper". ▲ cover of the annual "100 best inventions" magazine in 2021 Picture from: time official website The team planning and shooting this miscellaneous list is also quite excellent. The main character is margeaux Walter - ideas are always wild, but the theme is always close to the current photographer. Her name sounds a little strange, but her works may be familiar to everyone. They often appear on the cover of the New York Times and other well-known media, as well as on publicity posters all over the world. ▲ margeaux Walter wrote a series of "colleagues" for the New York Times this year. The left picture reads: "can't a person get a little privacy here?" Image from: instagram @ margeauxwalter The team members also include Kim bubello, Time magazine's photo editor, artists Abby manock and Joshua Scott, and Chen Junjie, who is in charge of props and set design. They all called the shooting play "playing with paper". Margeaux also said, "playing with paper is so interesting!" ▲ photos of invention works selected by Kim bubello, photo editor of time magazine Image from: instagram @ kimbucello Of course, turning to the inside pages of the magazine with interesting covers, there are more interesting and meaningful inventions, such as covid-19 vaccine, apple M1 processor, Samsung Galaxy Z flip3 and LEGO bricks made from recycled materials. Next, let's take a look at the outstanding inventions that represent the future (in no order). ▲ annual "100 best inventions" group in 2021 Picture from: Time magazine official website Not only on the list, but also on the cover of the "top ten inventions" Paper becomes a supporting role. These invention products displayed as "cover people" have their own personal design in an instant, and there is no lack of real invention strength behind the excellent photo display. 1. A toy car for teaching children programming -- sphero indi ▲ Sphero Indi. Picture from: Time magazine official website Sphero is an American commercial robot and toy company dedicated to education, and Disney owns some of its management rights. In "racing Story 3: speed challenge" launched by Pixar in 2017, the little red car of Lightning McQueen is actually a masterpiece of sphero. ▲ movie racing Story 3: speed challenge Picture from: piston cup No wonder sphero indi's toy car is somewhat similar to Lightning McQueen. However, indi is the first robot toy car designed for children from preschool to grade two. The blue indi has a gray face and the logo of sphero is printed on the roof. At first glance, it can't help thinking of beverage queer. ▲ Sphero Indi. Picture from: sphero official website ▲ Sphero Indi. Picture from: yoho As a robot, indi is really a little different - first, it is driven by color and will be equipped with colorful symbolic cards. Second, it does not have a screen. It can also let children learn the basics of programming in games through color cards. ▲ Sphero Indi. Picture from: sphero official website 2. Volkswagen's repairable notebook -- Framework laptop ▲ Framework Laptop. Picture from: Time magazine official website With the launch of framework laptop, the technology website wrote an article entitled "is this the notebook of the future". The new computer, which was launched in July this year, is the first product of the company established in January 2020. Although this product is a PC, which is very different from Apple's hard to disassemble computer, nirav Patel, who founded the company, was a senior employee of apple. ▲ nirav Patel holding the framework laptop Image from: nirav Patel personal website After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, nirav worked for apple and oculus, who made VR head devices. In the process, he found that more and more consumers regard electronic products as disposable products, so he came up with the idea of designing a computer that can be used for ten years or even as an heirloom. During that time, I really saw a very worrying trend in the consumer electronics industry. This is actually a decline in the level of consumer ownership and an increasing number of behaviors that treat products as disposable products. Although these are the most advanced and expensive products, we treat them like a pair of sneakers or a pair of worn jeans that are thrown into the trash can. —— Nirav Patel (founder of framework) Framework laptop is a 13.5-inch flip laptop priced at US $999 (about 6365 yuan), which looks similar to most laptops on the market. ▲ Framework Laptop. Picture from: Framework official website However, the framework laptop can be easily disassembled. Each part is independent and replaceable. There are separate bar codes from the processor to the keyboard and corresponding maintenance instructions. A special screwdriver is also distributed in the product package. ▲ disassembly method of framework laptop Image from: YouTube @ dave2d ▲ Framework Laptop. Picture from: Framework official website Just as nirav said, "don't build products that are interesting in concept but not competitive in practice", framework laptop strives to approach competitive brands such as apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo in performance, and provides standard and DIY versions to make them repairable, upgradeable and customizable as much as possible. The framework is not only making a cost-effective laptop, but also proposing a new business model - even computers, users should have the right to repair. ▲ Framework Laptop. Picture from: Framework official website 3. Working scene interference free artifact - timechi ▲ TimeChi. Picture from: Time magazine official website Timechi, developed by a startup of the same name, is essentially a gadget to help in-depth work. It was originally designed for employees in an open office environment to shut out unnecessary interference. There is a color display on the top of timechi. You can connect to other devices through WiFi and set it with app or Chrome extension. Once started, the connected mobile phone and computer will be switched to no interference mode immediately. It can also remind others not to interfere and tell them how long they will turn into the idle state of green light. ▲ TimeChi. Picture from: timechi official website ▲ TimeChi. Image from: issue wire In January 2021, timechi was shipped worldwide, with an official selling price of US $130 (about 828 yuan). Sean Greenhalgh, the founder of timechi, was a cancer researcher at the University of Sydney, but his enthusiasm for electronic products, computer programming and 3D printing led him to a research career in science and technology products. ▲ Sean Greenhalgh with early beta timechi Image from: YouTube @ timechi From the early smart light bulb design to a website design that can prevent noise, notification and avoid time waste, he has been continuously studying the issue of improving his focus, which is why timechi can successfully raise public funds in a short time (i.e. raised US $60000 in July 2020) and smoothly move to the global market. 4. Spaghetti made by food blog host in 3 years - sfoglini cascatelli ▲ Sfoglini Cascatelli. Picture from: Time magazine official website After three years of research and development, it was not until March 19 this year that sfoglini cascatelli, a pasta with a new look, was invented by Dan pashman, the host of the famous food blog the sporkful. The name cascatelli means "waterfall" in Italian. ▲ Sfoglini Cascatelli. Picture from: sfoglini pasta official website Cascatelli spaghetti looks a bit like what we often call "macaroni", but this shape has been studied and tested repeatedly. The final product is almost perfect in sauce adhesion, fork eating and tooth chewing. From a distance, cascatelli looks like a semicircular pinion. When you zoom in, you can find that the raised lotus leaf edge on the outer edge creates a guardrail for the noodles at a perfect 90 degree angle. When the sauce comes in, it will be tightly closed, and the entrance will let the taste buds achieve the best experience. ▲ Sfoglini Cascatelli. Picture from: Today In order to achieve such a perfect shape, the spaghetti company sfoglini pasta found the best bronze mold manufacturer to cooperate. After countless failures, it created a special mold that can not only maintain the original design, but also produce on a large scale. ▲ Sfoglini Cascatelli. Picture from: sfoglini pasta official website The four pack price of the popular cascatelli on the official website is US $19.96 (about 127 yuan). Unfortunately, it has been sold out and can only accept scheduled orders. In the words of Dan, who invented cascatelli, "it's not suitable for gourmets. It's for diners.". Meaningful inventions related to food should serve the taste buds of the most extensive public. ▲ Dan pashman holding cascatelli Picture from: Today 5. Help adults and children find inner peace - sproutel purrable ▲ Sproutel Purrble. Picture from: Time magazine official website Purrble is a special doll developed by health research company sproutel in cooperation with the non-profit children's Committee, which is famous for providing social emotional learning programs in schools. Sproutel was founded by Aaron Horowitz in 2012. Before that, he studied mechatronics and user interaction design - essentially teaching people how to get along with robots. Sproutel's office looks like a traditional toy manufacturer, but their design ideas are very different - each doll is born to solve a problem, most of which are related to patients. Before Purrble, Sproutel opened Jerry for children with diabetes, and designed ducklings named The Aflac Duck for children with cancer. ▲ Jerry bear launched by sproutel Picture from: KQED ▲ founder of sproutel