The Zefiro is a clever little MIDI controller that plugs into the USB-C port of your smartphone essentially turning it into a playable musical instrument.

Developed by Italian startup ARTinoise, the Zefiro is one of the most ingenious gadgets we’ve seen in quite a while. The small, colorful mouthpiece may look like a vape, but it’s actually a lot more than that. It’s a MIDI controller that plugs into your smartphone’s charge port and relies on an app to turn the handheld into a variety of playable instruments, from the humble flute, to violins and even fantasy sounds. Equipped with lip sensors and an air pressure sensor, the Zefiro sends breath power data directly to the dedicated app, which is then used to adjust the volume, length, and harmonics of the sound. Keys or air holes are displayed on the screen of the smartphone, so you can effectively play the instrument with your fingers, as you low into the mouthpiece.

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Li Jiayue is a talented young artist from China’s Sichuan province who specializes in extremely detailed three-dimensional optical illusions.

Growing up in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, Lia Jiayue has always been passionate about art, and despite majoring in electrical automation, it was no surprise to anyone who knew him that he opted for an artistic career. He focused most of his time on developing unique and eye-catching optical illusions, where he camouflaged various objects like lamp posts, tree trunks, and even large buildings in the background using his expert painting skills. Li made a name for himself on Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin (TikTok), but he has also been featured on mainstream television over the last few years.

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The aptly named IMALENT MS32 Brightest Flashlight is capable of outputting up to 200,000 lumens of light, more than any other commercially available flashlight.

Imagine having the ability to turn night into day in the palm of yourself and you kind of get a sense of what using the world’s brightest flashlight feels and looks like. The Imalent MS32 is so incredibly powerful that the only other flashlight you can even compare it to is the Imalent MS18, the previous holder of the title of ‘world’s brightest flashlight’. And that one was virtually half as powerful as the MS32, with a peak brightness of “just” 100,000 lumens. The LED-powered light beam of the Imalent MS32 can reach as far as 1,618 meters and is the equivalent of 100 car lights in terms of brightness.

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This year, the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) printed its admission letters on an innovative carbon fiber composite material that is just 0.2 millimeters thick but as sharp and strong as a knife.

While most university admission letters are usually put away in a cupboard after students learn they have been accepted, freshmen accepted by the Beijing University of Chemical Technology have been busy using their admission letters as a multi-tool. Many of them have been sharing videos of themselves using the sturdy admission letters to cut all kinds of fruits, even melons, mincing pieces of meat, and holding them over open flames to prove they don’t burn or melt. After several of these videos went viral, a spokesperson from the Chinese university went public to clarify that this year’s admission letters were made out of an innovative material developed at the learning institution.

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Crocs teams up with DC Comics to create a surprisingly cool-looking version of its ubiquitous Classic Clogs inspired by arguably the best Batmobile ever designed.

The Croc brand has always been associated with comfort, but rarely with style. Nevertheless, the company has always come up with ways of surprising its faithful fans, teaming up with various other brands for intriguing collaborations. Its latest such venture resulted in the recently-released Batman x Crocs Classic Clog “Batmobile”, a limited-edition version of its Classic Clogs inspired by the design of the Batmobile featured in the 1989 Batman movie and its sequel, Batman Returns.

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Chinese makeup artist @sakuralusi has been getting a lot of attention for her transformation videos where she turns her elderly grandpa into youthful, anime-inspired characters.

Looking at the photos below, you’re probably having a hard time believing that the guy on the left and the one on the right are the exact same person, especially knowing that they are 66 years old. But that is the power of makeup in the hands of a gifted master like @sakuralusi, a young Chinese makeup artist who has been showcasing her skills on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok. She has been posting makeup-related videos on the popular social network for a while now, but she really started getting attention when she began using her grandfather as a model, turning the 66-year-old man into anime-inspired idols that look at least 3 decades younger than his actual age.

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Designed and built by eight Dutch engineers, the world’s longest rideable bicycle is 180 feet long (55.16 meters), roughly the same length as four double-decker buses.

39-year-old Ivan Schalk had been thinking about building the world’s longest bicycle since reading about it in a Guinness Book of Records when he was a child, but he only embarked upon this project in 2018, as a way to fill up his free time. He knew it wasn’t the kind of thing he could build himself, so he sought the help of like-minded people in his home village of Prinsenbeek, which is apparently well-known in the Netherlands for its tech-savvy residents. Together, they spent about four years –  not counting the two years of interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – working on the world’s longest bicycle, a metal behemoth that needs at least two riders.

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A Southern collegiate baseball team has been getting a lot of attention for hosting “cosmic baseball” games played at night, under black lights, with players using UV-reactive uniforms, balls, and bats.

With balls flying toward players at breakneck speeds, baseball isn’t the kind of game that can be played in less-than-perfect lighting conditions, but one Southern collegiate baseball team has found a way to make it playable in the dark. Using massive black light installations and UV-reactive uniforms, balls, bats, and bases, the Tri-City Chili Peppers have been putting together ‘cosmic baseball’ games that look like something out of a Tron movie. Despite the seemingly pitch-black atmosphere, players claim that after a bit of practice, playing under UV lights becomes second nature, as does seeing the ball, no matter how hard it’s hit or thrown.

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Georgeta, a 35-year-old truck driver from Romania, has been dubbed the Romanian Barbie for surrounding herself with the color pink,  which dominates both the outside and inside of her truck.

Female truck drivers are definitely not the norm, but Georgeta really stands out with her pink outfits, pink truck, and very colorful personality. The so-called ‘Romanian Barbie’ went viral in her home country this week after photos of her and her pinked-out trucks started circulating on social media. The young woman has been driving a truck for 12 years, working mostly in Spain, but she recently came home, bought her own truck, and began working for herself. She spends most of her time in the truck, which is why she spent a lot of time and effort turning it into a cozy space that reflects her passion for the color pink.

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Toyota recently teamed up with Japanese artist Masumi Yamaguchi to celebrate the return of the iconic Land Cruiser 70 SUV to the market in a unique way.

SUVs aren’t known for being the lightest of cars, but the one created by Masumi Yamaguchi is probably the lightest ever made. Even though it is a 1:1 model of the legendary Land Cruiser 70, it can easily by lifted by just two people. That’s because this special SUV is actually made of styrofoam parts sculpted and assembled by Yamaguchi. Everything from the body of the car to the windows and the tires is made out of styrofoam and then painted to create the illusion of a real vehicle. The only things that give it away are the reflectionless windows and the unusually matte paint.

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Remember those funny banana hammers we featured a few days ago? Well, they recently went viral in Taiwan and the Japanese manufacturer is struggling to keep up with demand.

Iron Factory Ikeda, a typical precision metal manufacturing plant in Hiroshima, Japan, started making banana-shaped mallets in 2019 and followed it up with steel banana hammers a year later. Over the years, the company developed different variations of the wacky product, including smaller versions modeled after baby bananas. They were popular enough to remain in production, but last month, banana hammers went viral online and sparked newfound interest among consumers not only in Japan but around the world. For example, people in Taiwan are apparently ordering them like crazy…

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In what has been described as a first-of-its-kind medical case, a man in his 30s ended up with a hole in his throat after pinching his nose and pressing his lips shut in order to surpress a sneeze.

The unnamed man was taken to Ninewells Hospital, in Dundee, Scotland, in severe pain, after trying to stifle a sneeze by pinching his nose and closing his mouth shut while driving. Apparently, when you do something like that, the pressure in the upper airways can increase by about 20 times, which can lead to serious injuries including ruptured eardrums, aneurysms, and even broken ribs. However, in this particular case, the unnamed patient ended up with a 2mm tear in their windpipe, which caused excruciating pain. A throat tear, known medically as a “spontaneous tracheal perforation” is a rare and potentially life-threatening injury that had not been associated with sneeze stifling before.

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A Japanese precision part manufacturing factory recently went viral for its bizarre new product – a line of hammers shaped like realistic bananas.

Hiroshima-based Iron Factory Ikeda is not your typical precision metal manufacturing plant. They specialize in precision metal processing for creating original products with the potential to go viral online. Over the years, they created all sorts of geeky products, from anime-inspired robot masks, figurines, and realistic metallic replicas of various fruits and vegetables, from pineapple to broccoli, but their most popular product so far has to be the banana hammer. It has been around for a while but the company recently launched a new variant and it went viral on social media again.

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China’s hospitality sector routinely holds bed-making competitions that both showcase the skill and dedication of hotel employees and motivate others to achieve the same level.

In order to provide guests with the best hospitality services, Chinese luxury hotels require their staff to undergo intensive bed-making training, and the very best of them get to participate in bed-making competitions hosted by the hotel chain, or held at a regional or national level. And these contests are no joke! Participants need to be masters of their trade to stand a chance of convincing the jury that they deserve to win. Apart from speed – the first contestant to finish gets bonus points – competitors have to abide by certain rules and make sure that they pay great attention to detail.

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The Zhuhai Chimelong Marine Science Park in Zhuhai, China, is famous both for its impressive offering of rare marine wildlife from all over the world and its sci-fi-inspired design.

Announced in 2015, the Zhuhai Chimelong Marine Science Park immediately captured people’s imaginations with its futuristic design reminiscent of alien motherships depicted in sci-fi flicks and video games. Described as the largest indoor marine science park in the world, with more than 100,000 marine animals of around 300 species, as well as 100 kinds of living coral split into 10 themed areas. Originally scheduled to open in 2021, after ten years of planning and just over 5 years of actual construction, the giant marine science park only opened its gates to the public this month.

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