Here's a quick story about unintended consequences in design, specifically when product capabilities exceed our design specifications.

Voice-commands with audio feedback are becoming a more common user interface for cellphones and digital "personal assistants" like Google Home and Amazon's Echo. Many of these devices are always on, listening for a wake-up word or command. South Park played a prank on Amazon Echo owners by having the cartoon characters shout the Alexa wake-up word and then rattle off an absurd shopping list.

Google Home, what could go wrong?

Why is this dolphin smiling?  Because he just ordered a million bucks of herring through your iPhone's voice interface.

A team of researchers from Zhejiang University in China discovered that it is possible to translate vocal commands into ultrasonic frequencies that are inaudible to people but perfectly decipherable by the personal assistants. They call the hack DolphinAttack. The group was able to generate not only ultrasonic wake-up commands like "OK, Google" and "Hey Siri", but follow-up commands like ordering the device the place a call to a certain phone number, open a website or even perform home-automation tasks like unlocking the front door.

First there was war dialing ("Shall we play a game?"), then there was war driving (naughty Google Street View). Now hackers can just walk around with an ultrasonic speaker blasting, "Hey Google Siri Alexa, call 1-900-PHONE-SCAM".

Ultrasonic signals that pass undetected by users aren't limited to academic stunts. An advertising analytics company called SilverPush turns this excess acoustic capacity into a user-tracking feature, using ultrasonic "audio beacons" to identify people across platforms. Webpage ads or TV commercials that use SilverPush generate a kind of chirp pitched too high for the human ear to detect. When a cellphone app with Silverpush code picks up the chirp emitted by the TV or the computer, it knows that the devices are close together and presumably belong to the same person. Tag, you're it!

It's unlikely that Amazon Echo's designers specified that the microphones and speakers be capable of generating and sensing high-frequency sounds that are inaudible to humans--it's simply excess capacity that the components include "for free". In fact, it's probably more expensive to manufacture microphones and speakers that cannot generate or detect ultrasonic frequencies.

And excess capacity isn't only a problem for audio devices. That innocuous little LED on the front of your computer that blinks whenever the machine accesses the hard drive? The right malware can repurpose that LED as a miniature optical semaphor, transmitting data from your computer even if you've disabled wireless and you're completely disconnected from the internet. "Every blink can spill sensitive information to any spy with a line of sight to the target computer, whether from a drone outside the window or a telescopic lens from the next roof over."

The cute little hard drive LED says: ... - .- -. -.. / -... -.-- / ..-. --- .-. / .- / .-.. .. ... - / --- ..-. / -... .- -. -.- .. -. --. / .--. .- ... ... .-- --- .-. -.. ... (paste to translate)

Why does this matter? The point isn't that we should all channel Gene Hackman in The Conversation, start slapping electrical tape all over our laptop and cellphone cameras, disabling the microphones and yanking out the speakers. Rather, as designers there's a lesson here about how the world will find its own creative applications for unintended capacity in our designs. 

Here's an example from our own experience.  During an early design review with our Otter newborn warmer, someone pointed out our requirement that the bassinet have a seamless interior (in order to be easy to clean) also meant that the device would be water-tight.  Another reviewer then pointed out that a water-tight bassinet meant Otter would make a fantastic heated baby bathtub. Wait, what?  Yikes!

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This "Design Experience that Matters" series is provided courtesy of Timothy Prestero and the team at Design that Matters (DtM). As a nonprofit, DtM collaborates with leading social entrepreneurs and hundreds of volunteers to design new medical technologies for the poor in developing countries. DtM's Firefly infant phototherapy device is treating thousands of newborns in 21 counties from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. In 2012, DtM was named the winner of the National Design Award.

I've seen my share of GIFs, but I've never seen any that were able to make me hear a sound. Take a look at this and tell me what you experience:

Do you hear anything? According to this informal survey, 75% of viewers' brains fill in the audio blanks to provide the repetitive thudding noise of the impact. The poster of this GIF, Dr. Lisa DeBruine of the University of Glasgow's Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, believes this is due to a phenomena known as acoustic reflex, whereby the muscles in the middle ear involuntarily contract in response to stimuli in order to protect the ear from damage--and that it is this contraction that we "hear."

I'm no doctor, but I disagree wholeheartedly. Because when I see the GIF I not only hear the thud, but I also hear the "rope" slapping against the ground. I believe that a lifetime of watching television, movies and YouTube has conditioned me to correlate certain visuals--a sharply-vibrating camera shot, for instance--with an attendant noise, like a crash, and that my mind is simply filling in the blanks.

Anyways, are you part of the 75% that can hear the noise?

On Friday it appeared that an interdimensional portal opened in the sky above a ski resort in Sweden:

Alas, no Norse deities came flying through the breach, nor did any humans get sucked into it from our side. The phenomena is apparently caused by sunlight being refracted through crystals of ice floating in the atmosphere. (Bor-ring.)

UPPAbaby is a manufacturer of high-end baby strollers, carseats and gear based in Rockland, Massachusetts. We are a small but rapidly growing company with a high-energy, fast paced and laughter filled work environment. We are looking for someone who is very proactive, motivated and can find clarity amidst chaos. You will deal mostly with articulating mechanical parts. Our products are not as much about form as it is about achieving a functional and mechanical elegance that conveys a high end, sporty appearance.

With a static blade, cutting through matte board, foamcore, rubber, felt, leather, upholstery vinyl, etc. can require multiple passes and some skill in how much pressure you apply. All of us have screwed this up at some point and ruined the workpiece. But now a revolutionary tool called the WonderCutter promises to make short work of these materials and more by using ultrasound to vibrate the blade. These vibrations cause the blade to slice in place thousands of times per second, taking care of the cutting while our role is essentially reduced to just guiding the tool.

Take a look, and try not to get distracted by the nonsensical ESL product copy:

At $268 the tool isn't cheap, but it certainly looks handy, which is why Kickstarter backers have ponied up: At press time they'd reached $107,000 in funding on a $50,000 goal. They're estimating it will be ready by May of 2018, and the WonderCutter is expected to ultimately retail for $390.

For more than 20 years Michael has been designing iconic products and brand experiences for some of the best brands in the world including Nike, Google, Motorola, Honda, and Hasbro. Located a block from the Pacific Ocean, his studio focuses on industry leading halo projects across autonomous automotive, consumer electronics, travel, mobile devices, wearables, toys and conceptual Hollywood entertainment projects.

Above is a Google Street View image of the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, located in what is now hip NoLita. I pass this building often, and a point of interest for me is this massive iron door that leads into the church grounds.

You might be wondering why a church needs such a substantial and secure portal. Well, this church was built in the early 1800s, and while this is difficult for modern-day New Yorkers to comprehend, at that time Canal Street was the northernmost border of developed Manhattan. Everything above Canal was still wilderness, and this church, just five blocks north by modern standards, was considered "out of town." See image below.

In the early 1800s, this red area was the built-up part of Manhattan.

What drew my eye are the hinges required to hold such a heavy door in place. On the bottom it's a sort of offset strap hinge. The pivot has been mortared into the stone. I'm not familiar enough with masonry, particularly early-19th-Century masonry, to imagine how this was accomplished in a way that was both accurate and secure.

The top hinges have a little something extra, being reinforced with a strap that extends outwards and is affixed to the brick in three places.

If I had to guess, I'd say these brick-mounted straps were added later on, as a fix after the top hinge mounts showed signs of failure. I couldn't capture this in photos, but to my eye it looks like the brick wall has begun to tilt outwards over the centuries, which would add more stress to the top hinges.

I'm also not sure that they'd have had this type of nut in the early 1800s, so I'm guessing this is a 20th-Century fix. But ultimately I guess I'll never know.

Planning on buying your kid a train set for the holidays? That's not very creative. We suggest you ramp things up, literally, by devising some track hacks to make that train do tricks. For inspiration check out this video from 5MadMovieMakers, who typically film Hot Wheels stunts but have digressed here in favor of some Thomas the Tank Engine action:

You can use mallets for everything from the gentle persuasion of parts to tuning up your neighbor's Chrysler because he parked too close to your driveway again. Different applications require different types of heads and shafts, and I've just found a company that makes all of them, the mallet motherlode.

UK-based manufacturer Thor Hammer Company Limited--named way back in 1920 for the Norse god of thunder, not the more recent Marvel comic character--produces every kind of mallet, maul and hammer you can think of in a wide variety of materials: Aluminum, brass, copper, hardwood, water buffalo hide, lead, nylon, rubber and plastic. And in a variety of lengths and weights, too.

I know what you're thinking: Water buffalo hide? Apparently these are prized in the jewelry and sheet metal working trades, as they can transmit the required force without marring the material.

Here's a glimpse of their production process where you can see how they work the buffalo hide:

To chop dovetail waste, I'm currently using a perfectly serviceable English carpenter's mallet made from beech. Eventually it's going to wear out, as hardwood mallets do, and when it does I've got my eye on Thor's copper- or brass-headed mallets. They sell replacement handles too, and I like the idea of a forever tool.

General Motors has begun rolling out Marketplace, a software update to their 2017 models that enables drivers to shop from their cars. And I think this is one of those things that might've made some sense on paper, at least from a business standpoint, but that the real world is going to provide some significant obstacles.

The idea behind Marketplace is that drivers can use their car's dashboard to find nearby gas stations, coffee or chow, and pre-order and pay for services there. That all sounds good enough, and we do it with our phones already. But take a look at how it's implemented:

First off this system should be completely disabled while the car is in motion. Each operation displayed in that video required far too many button pushes for my tastes, and I don't want to be sharing the road--or stuck behind an unmoving driver at a green light--by someone futzing with those buttons.

Secondly, distracted driving concerns aside, is it really that much faster? With the Dunkin' Donuts example, I get that you don't have to pay for the coffee through the window, but how much time are you really saving versus ordering a coffee through the microphone? And the TGI Friday's reservation thing seemed particularly time-consuming; wouldn't it be faster and, more importantly allow you to keep your eyes on the road, to just say to your phone "Call TGI Friday's" and then make the reservation by voice?

As an urban dweller, it's been some years since I commuted by car, so it's possible I'm just out-of-touch with the needs of the modern driver. For those of you who drive daily: What say you to Marketplace?

Thirty years ago, German-born Harald Belker never imagined he would get the chance to work in the US. Today, we chatted to him from his home in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles, about his illustrious career in industrial design.

Harald's career is show stopping. From designing cars for high-end automotive brands, to creating iconic vehicles for some of Hollywood's biggest movies, his portfolio is the envy of designers around the world. Having spent the first four years of his career in automotive design working for the likes of Porsche and Mercedes Benz, it wasn't long before the big screen beckoned, and California looked like it could become a permanent home.

Harald's career in film design took off with a flying start, working on Joel Schumacher's 1997 film Batman and Robin. Over the next eighteen years, Harald added more impressive strings to his bow, designing iconic vehicles for a roster of blockbusters including Armageddon, Transformers and Iron Man.

These days, Harald's design work has become more physical. He now focuses most of his work on product design. One of his most recent successes is Cozmo: a gifted little robot created in his current role as Head Vehicle Designer at artificial intelligence start-up, Anki.

We spoke to Harald about his views on the transformation of an industry, from sketching the Batmobile, to 3D modeling real-life robots using cutting-edge tools like Modo:

You've had an incredible career story so far; do you have any particular highlights?

I enjoy the futuristic element of design, so a highlight for me was designing the cars in Minority Report, and later the work I did for Tron: Legacy and Total Recall. I was often just designing things that destroy other things, but those particular films really stretched the envelope of what you could do, and let you design with the future in mind.

And, of course, I got to design the Batmobile. It doesn't get much better than that!

You've worked across a breadth of sectors; how do they differ when it comes to design?

I've always been involved in product design. I've designed furniture and also worked for a sunglass company for twelve years. Product and automotive typically go hand in hand, but they have their differences.

When designing a product, things work relatively quickly. Designing cars, for instance, takes much longer. With film, what you're creating just has to look good, whereas with product, everything has to be functional. You work closely with engineers to make it work.

How have 3D modeling tools like Modo helped your line of work?

Modo has helped massively with the communication of my work. As a designer, I know in my head how a design should look, but communicating that to another person is hard. You think you've been clear, but the final product still comes back different sometimes. Modo reduces the risk of this kind of miscommunication.

With Modo, you can literally make adjustments in five minutes. Someone can request edits over Skype and in no time at all you're able to send back revised designs. It's ridiculous how easy it is.

Before Modo I worked with CAD design tools. With CAD, you had to have a firm idea of what you were doing before moving to 3D. With Modo, things develop more naturally. These days, for everything beyond sketches, I use Modo.

Do you have a favorite tool within Modo?

The Edge Weight tool is my favourite. I use it on almost everything!

Can you tell us more about Cozmo, your AI robot?

Cozmo was three years in the making. He was thought up by Anki's Co-founder Hanns Tappeiner, and partially inspired by Disney's WALL-E. He's built to interact beautifully with humans; the programming is amazing. First and foremost it's a toy, but it's also a device that will help those who use it to learn how to code, which is a wonderful thing.

What was the process for designing such a unique product?

Together, Hanns and I explored what we thought this robot would look like. It had to have arms, eyes and wheels, but the face was the most important thing. I was inspired by the way Disney magically make inanimate objects look human. I wanted to create a robot that people could relate to on an emotional level. 

Overall, I think Cozmo went through about 20 changes in design. Technically speaking, Cozmo was relatively small compared to other products I had worked on. The reason he took so long to create was due to the number improvements that kept coming through. It had to be perfect.

How did Modo help you design Cozmo?

The beautiful thing about Modo is that it's as much a sketch tool as it is a renderer, or 3D modeling tool. You can generate basic surfaces and designs unbelievably quickly. The guys at Anki saw how quickly you can get things done in Modo, and how realistic the end result is. Cozmo ended up looking exactly the way we imagined he would. We were all very happy with him.

Were there any challenges that you had to overcome?

From a design perspective, Cozmo was relatively complex. Overall it came together very naturally. I'd say the main challenge was dealing with alterations to the dimensions and restrictions put in place by the engineers. The robot needed to be functional as well as visually impressive, which meant we needed to make modifications to the design as we went along. Thankfully, in Modo, you can just move things around until they match what is required, which makes the process relatively painless.

How has 3D design changed in your lifetime?

It's changed a huge amount. In the old days, we'd spend a lot of time working up sketches and control drawings for basic scenes and shapes before moving into CAD. I still remember the day a friend told me about Modo, and it completely changed my outlook on design. Suddenly it was possible to manage the entire 3D process with one tool. It made the job so much easier, faster and more enjoyable.

Then there's the technology. I started my career in automotive design, and now I'm building AI robots for kids!

What advice would you give to someone wanting to improve their design skills?

My advice to those looking to improve their design capabilities would be to keep challenging yourself to try different methods and tools. I've always learned new techniques throughout my career, and I'm still learning today. For example, in Modo, I'm spending a lot of time getting to grips with the MeshFusion tools. I love challenging myself with new concepts and I'm always looking to improve, whatever stage I'm at in my career.

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Modo is an award-winning 3D modeling, texturing and rendering tool from visual effects software developer Foundry. Leading artists choose Modo for creating real-time content in product design, games and VR, iterating on concepts and bringing bold ideas to life.

Visit https://www.foundry.com/products/modo to see how designers from all industries are using Modo to take their creative ideas to the next level.

Manhattan's Chinatown is filled with shops, and many of them have outdoor displays. During the day you can't see the actual display unit, just the goods covering them. But early in the morning the displays are visible.

They are functional, and only that. Visually they are horrific-looking. I call it anti-craftsmanship. They are built with no thought to aesthetics, longevity nor pride. The materials used are always construction-grade plywood and dimensional lumber joined with sheetrock screws, and the absolute minimum amount of materials and labor are used. For instance here you can see they did not have enough wood to extend this shelf all the way to the back of the unit, so they've straddled the gap with three small pieces.

This piece has been designed to straddle the sidewalk hatch and allows it to be accessed without displacing the unit. The unit lives outside 24-7, and you can see the plywood has not weathered the elements well. The neighborhood kids have tagged it up for good measure.

This unit is in front of a florist, and each morning they cover it with plants and it essentially disappears.

We are designers, not decorators. That distinction means that we look at a project in the context of the entire space, or the whole, rather than as parts or components. RH designers understand the art and science of lifestyle, environment and taste to create a functional, beautiful and personal space. We provide luxury design services for the reimagining of one room or an entire home, anywhere in the world. Our designers embody the RH lifestyle and a sense of personal style, polished appearance,

Nicole Rendone is the Design Director for Nike Bras & Innovation with more than?12?years of experience designing bras, underwear, swimwear and intimate apparel innovation. A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in Fashion Design; Intimate Apparel, Rendone works closely with designers and innovators within the Nike Innovation Team as well as engineering teams to create new, performance solutions for the most important sporting garment for women. A strong believer that the right bra can change a woman’s life, she is spearheading?Nike bra design to empower women to break barriers with confidence in both sport and in life.

Earthquakes in Japan are common enough that when I lived there, I saw that most folks had braces between the top of their bookshelves and the ceiling. These were basically spring-loaded closet rods placed vertically that prevented the unit from tipping forward, but did nothing to prevent the books themselves from shaking out of the shelves.

Japanese architect Shinsuke Fujii has designed a house with a built-in bookcase that is tilted, keeping the books in place during quakes. It is also floor-to-ceiling and climbable, as the shelves protrude.

As you can see from this exterior shot, the house was designed with this feature in mind.

Clothing brand Columbia has licensed the rights to fashion designs from "The Empire Strikes Back" and, starting on Friday, will be selling the following items:

The officially-licensed, limited-edition Luke Skywalker™ Echo Base Jacket will keep you warmer than a tauntaun while you take on the Empire. This durable cotton-blend, water-resistant jacket and vest combination with a stowable hood is inspired by Luke's original Hoth costume in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and features Omni-Heat™ Reflective insulation to conserve body heat. You'll stay warm and dry whether you're patrolling an ice planet or getting ready for a duel with your father.

When cold weather hits, the officially-licensed, limited-edition Han Solo™ Echo Base Parka will keep you warmer than a hug from your favorite wookiee. Crafted of durable, water-resistant, cotton-blend fabric and insulated with Omni-Heat™ Thermal Reflective, it's a lot like Han—rugged and durable on the outside, warm and full of surprises on the inside. Inspired by the original costume in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the jacket features a faux-fur trimmed hood that allows you to slip past bounty hunters incognito whether you're on the ice planet Hoth or a bit closer to home.

Stand fearless against both the Empire and the ice planet Hoth with the officially-licensed, limited-edition Leia Organa™ Echo Base Jacket. Crafted of durable, water-resistant, cotton-blend fabric and insulated with Omni-Heat™ Reflective, this versatile jacket and vest combination delivers a vintage look, feminine fit, and stylish details. Inspired by Leia's Hoth costume in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, this rugged yet regal combo will help you lead with confidence whether you're battling the elements or staring down a Star Destroyer.

These are limited edition, with the company only producing 1,980 of each (1980 being the year "ESB" came out). Each one costs $400.

"It is TOO eco-friendly. It's not real fur, you stupid droid."

"I really want some of that spaghetti, but I don't want to mess up this outfit."

"I know this base like the back of my hand. My right hand, which I will always have."

The JawSaw by Worx is a very strange-looking chainsaw variant. Take a look at how this thing operates:

It kind of looks like a toy so I wasn't inclined to take it seriously, but it's getting surprisingly good reviews on Amazon.

I'm thinking that if they do another remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," Worx should pay for product placement.

Work in a loose and exciting environment while seeing your ideas come to life. You will generate and develop concepts for Brunswick Boat Group products with a focus on Boston Whaler. Create exciting products through a process that has a strong focus on user centered design through extensive contextual research. You will gain an understanding of how and why people use boats and be able to translate insights, while using your intuition, into industry leading products.