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“Acton is the leading smart, personal transportation company,” says the team on their website, adding that their goal “is to make transportation so fun and intuitive that it feels like a part of your body.”

Of course, “transportation” might not be the first word that comes into your head when you think about skateboards, but the Blink boards will definitely get you from A to B at a clip, with no pushing required over hills.

“The pro mode has very high acceleration,” the Acton team explains. “We recommend starting with the slower modes first to get accustomed to the board.” They also recommend a full complement of safety gear in case you and your board part ways unexpectedly.

You operate the Blink skateboard with a remote control, and when you connect it to the accompanying Acton app via Bluetooth, you’ll be given the option of adjusting its power and other settings. Want to impress everyone with some cool tricks? Sorry, not with the Blink — it’s designed for transit, not flair. In fact, the board’s designers warn that attempting stunts on it will likely damage its engineering components.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWTGTSEmpc4

The Blink “S2” model has a dual-hub system and three different riding modes, the highest of which allows you to get up to 18 mph. That’s pretty fast when you’re not inside a vehicle! You can tease a full 14 miles out of a charge, too, so you can really “go the distance.” The skateboard also has a regenerative braking system (much like some electric cars), so when you brake, all that kinetic energy is stored in the battery.

Want more speed? Take a look at the upcoming Blink “Qu4tro.” Acton has been prototyping this model recently, but it’s on track to start shipping later this month. The price tag is steep ($1,699), but you’re sure to get a lot of bang for your buck.

The Qu4tro has a four-hub system and can take you a whopping 22 miles on a single charge. Plus, it can reach a top speed of 23 mph.

While the Qu4tro may be as top-of-the-line as it gets, Acton does offer a more budget-friendly model with the Blink “Lite”. It has a single-hub system and a range of just five miles, but you’ll still be able to travel at a respectable 10 mph.

Safety LED Lighting is standard on all Blink skateboards, which is an especially important feature when you’re traveling at a decent speed. Just be prepared for pedestrians to shout out questions about your ride!

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1. Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi has backpacks for school and work, as well as hiking and other less bookish pursuits. We love the compact Boma daypack (above), with its sturdy canvas fabric and inside mesh bag to stow all those pens, earbuds, Altoids and other items that are prone to scattering about. A small laptop or tablet will fit in there, too.
Giving is a main priority for Cotopaxi. The company has made a commitment to fight poverty around the world by creating positive social impact. Health, education and initiatives to improve people’s livelihoods are front and center, and Cotopaxi gives targeted grants to projects working on these issues.

2. State

State’s Kane Coney Island bag celebrates the quirky streets of Brooklyn but looks cool enough for non-New Yorkers, too. It has handy organizers to keep supplies in place, a key clip, an iPad pocket, a zippered front pocket and water bottle pockets on the side.
For each Kane bag the company sells, State hand-delivers one of its backpacks stuffed with all the necessary school supplies to an American child in need.

3. Stone and Cloth

The Roll-Top Backpack midsize bag is large enough to fit a 15-inch laptop, which you can even charge safely in your bag thanks to a special vent. And to further pamper your computer, introduce it to the padded laptop sleeve.
This Stone and Cloth backpack is made from wax-coated canvas, and the roll top lets you pack it as high or as low as you want. Need an extra sweater? No worries! This bag can accommodate it.
For each Stone and Cloth bag you buy, the company provides 25 hours of education to children in Tanzania through scholarships.

4. Ethnotek

The Vietnam 2 Raja Pack will protect your laptop with its 840-denier ballistic nylon. Each backpack is one-of-a-kind, with colorful patchwork made from embroidered Hmong textiles. Even better: the embroidered panel is created from recycled scraps of tribal clothing. Once the clothing is made, the extra pieces of scrap fabric are collected and sewn into the material for this collection.
Ethnotek uses ethically sourced handmade textiles for its bags, and the company says purchases help fund employment for hand-printers, weavers and embroiderers in their partnering artisan villages in Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

5. Hiptipico

The Viva is a handmade unprocessed-leather backpack stitched and finely detailed in Guatemala. The company says its Hand-Crafted Collection showcases the local artisanal leather hand-stitching method and preserves indigenous culture.
Ten percent of online sales go to Hiptipico’s ‘Backpacks that Give Back’ scholarship program, which helps the children of its artisan partners attend an international preparatory school in Guatemala.

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The Xogo is currently compatible with the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3 gaming consoles, but the company hopes to expand this list very soon. It can also connect to TiVo, most cable boxes, and toys like the Sphero BB-8 Star Wars droid.

The best part is, you can customize Xogo to match your exact needs and preferences. If you want to use it to replace every control on a standard controller, you absolutely can. “Having trouble reaching the right trigger and moving small joysticks? Use a push button and large joystick instead,” the developers say. “There are unlimited ways you can customize your setup.” The adapter has a user-friendly interface, making it a snap to configure and connect it to the console of your choice. Just choose the type of controls that work best for you, and you’re ready to play. The Xogo will even allow you and a friend to share the same set of controls and play as a team!

Team Xogo is constantly working on new ways to make technology more accessible to disabled users, but the company has made it very clear that gaming assistance is one of its top priorities. The Xogo website reads: “Ideally, gaming offers a universally available environment to explore, compete and express oneself without restraints, where you can build castles, fly through space and save the day alongside millions of peers, and where no one sees a chair or a brace, but only the skill, courage and teamwork available to all.”

The adapter is still in its beta testing phase, and the company is currently looking for volunteers to try it out and provide them with feedback. Talk about being inclusive!

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Award-winning designer Michael Chijoff used materials you’d expect to find in military and space projects to create his Tactica multi-tool. This gadget is both light and strong, and it’s hard-wearing enough to hold up to any adventure.
The Tactica magically fits a slew of handy tools into its sleek, portable frame, including a bottle opener, a package opener, wrenches (metric and imperial), hex sockets (metric and imperial), rulers (metric and imperial), and Phillips and flathead hex bits. You can even store two of the swappable bits inside.
Travel a lot? The Tactica is TSA-compliant, weighs just 1.6 ounces, and won’t scratch the phone in your pocket.

Ringtool

Originally designed for urban cyclists, the Ringtool is a great stocking-stuffer for anyone who might need to make repairs while on the go. Add it to your keychain, or throw it in a pocket or the glove compartment. After all, it only weighs two ounces and measures a mere two-and-a-half inches across.

The Ringtool is available in black and silver and is made from nickel-plated stainless steel. It’s so sturdy that the makers deliver it with a lifetime guarantee.

So what tools has it been equipped with? You get a bottle opener, two screwdrivers, five different-sized Allen wrenches, and a T25 Torx Head screwdriver.

Brass Capsule Multi-Tool

The design team at Garret Wade fell in love with “an early version of this clever little vintage pocket multi-tool at a flea market in London.” They’ve since updated the capsule, and now you can fall in love with it, too.
This three-inch, three-ounce container hides five handy tools. More specifically, there are two screwdrivers (one Phillips, one flathead) a corkscrew, a knife, and a drill bit/gimlet with a screw starter tip. Using the multi-tool is simple: “Just unscrew the two halves at the knurled center joint, select one of the five steel tools inside, slide it into the reinforced brass slot, reassemble the halves, and put it to work,” the designers explain.

SwissTool Spirit X

This device puts the “multi” in “multi-tool.” We’re talking a whopping 27 items! While we don’t have the space to list them all here, Victorinox Swiss Army has provided everyone with this handy reference chart (pictured above). Personally, we love the scissors, the unusual bottle opener, and the knife. Pliers and a can opener also make this a great tool for hiking trips and travel.
While it weighs eight ounces, it’s just over four inches long and comes with its own carrying pouch for your belt.

Zootility Tools PocketMonkey

If you have a wallet, you’ll always be able to have the PocketMonkey on hand. This flat tool is cleverly designed to take up next to no space while offering you plenty of fix-it options. It acts as a ruler, a straight edge, an orange peeler, a letter opener, a bottle opener, and it of course includes a couple of hex wrenches and screwdrivers. In a tech-based twist, the PocketMonkey’s design also allows you to wrap your earbuds around it to keep them tangle-free, and you can even use it as a handy stand for your cell phone.

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Vincent specializes in all things stringed: mandolin, guitar, yukulele, banjo, lap harps, you name it. He’s mostly self-taught as a craftsman and says he feels a connection with every custom project. Because every musician is unique, he works with customers to build their perfect instruments, deciding on whether it should be acoustic or electric, fretted or unfretted, and determining string and size preferences.
“Each one of these instruments is like a painting with nature exploding out of it,” he says. “The woods I have chosen and the flow of things will determine the final look and sound of the instrument.”
Aromatic cedar, walnut, rosewood, mahogany, cherry, maple and oak are just some of the woods he enjoys working with.

One customer raved about his custom Root 5 (see photo below):
“You play it with the pick and you get into some ancestral, medieval state, in between Irish echoes, dusty Mid-Eastern locations and Indian courts. Once you start playing with the bow, you fluctuate between India and Europe.”

Using reclaimed leftover wood, Vincent ensures that his process is eco-friendly, and also that each piece in genuinely one-of-a-kind.
“I want the buyer to instantly feel this connection to the instrument through the creativity I have put there, so when they play, they feel alive with all the tones of the instrument,” he explains.

Every Ray’s Roots instrument is more than a pretty face, as you’ll learn when you listen to them. But of course there’s no denying their beauty. Luckily, Vincent also makes handsome wall hangers so that you can proudly display your mandolin or banjo and bask in copious compliments.
So, whether you want to delight your ears, your eyes or both, Ray Vincent is definitely your man.

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Lava Mae gets to the heart of important issues, though, providing showers and personal hygiene products to people living on the streets around the world. Dignity and self-worth are the core messages Lava Mae shares as it helps people access these most basic of human needs and comforts.

“Lava Mae brings critical services to the streets, delivered with Radical Hospitality, to restore dignity, rekindle optimism, and fuel a sense of opportunity,” the nonprofit explains on its website. “Our audacious goal is to unleash a Radical Hospitality Revolution around the world.”
CNN Hero Doniece Sandoval started Lava Mae in San Francisco back in 2013. She noticed more and more people sleeping on the streets of San Francisco as the city became an increasingly expensive place to live due to the tech industry boom, which skyrocketed real estate prices and sped up the gentrification process.

CNN reported that Sandoval was shocked when she found that there were less than 20 shower stalls and toilets for the thousands of homeless people in the city. “For the homeless community, it was the equivalent of being in a third-world country,” she told CNN.

The organization converted retired city buses into mobile shower units that could give people easy access to their services, and it also hands out hygiene kits, packs of new underwear, and comfortable pairs of socks.
Now Lava Mae provides outreach in Los Angeles, too, and it’s developed a kit to make it easy for people in other cities and countries to set up their own mobile shower projects for their communities. The “BuildIt” kit provides specifications for building mobile shower trailers and includes talking points to examine before launching a project. Lava Mae even helps connect new service providers with local partners, volunteers, and donors.

“We pilot, test, and refine new programs and share what we’ve learned with the world,” the nonprofit says, adding that it “forges creative partnerships across sectors to radically increase access to services and better meet [its] guests’ needs.”

Human connection and dignity are paramount in all of Lava Mae’s work, and in the list of ways in which people can help, it’s noteworthy that the first suggestion the organization provides is “Acknowledge: Simply making eye contact and even smiling at those you pass on the street is a good first step. It makes a difference when people are seen rather than ignored.”

Other ways that individuals and corporations can help are by donating supplies for hygiene kits like toothbrushes and soap or volunteering at one of Lava Mae’s locations.
In addition to the mobile showers, Lava Mae runs pop-up “care villages” to give homeless people easy access to checkups and treatment from doctors and dentists as well as a good haircut, a clean set of clothes, and the chance to talk with a lawyer if they need legal advice.

Lava Mae has served more than 4,000 individuals, provided 20,000-plus showers on its mobile units, and raised global awareness about the homeless community’s lack of access to basic hygiene.

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1. Magical Thinking Constellation Map Shower Curtain

How can you not love something with “magical thinking” in its name? Urban Outfitters sucked us in the with quirky moniker and held our attention with the swirling design on this star map shower curtain. As you lather up in the tub you can ponder the mysteries of the universe and learn the various constellations and their shapes. The circular design of the map is eye-catching, too.

2. Star Map Duvet Cover

Love to sleep under the stars? Well, now you can do that, without worrying about coyotes or bugs. The Star Map Duvet Cover by Parallelish at Society 6 is a hand-sewn lightweight comforter cover with the constellations boldly outlined and charted on one side and a soft white side in case you want to flip out.
And as a bonus, the same design is available from Society 6 as a throw blanket, wall tapestry, iPhone case, T-shirt, wall clock, shower curtain and more.

3. Glow-in-the-Dark Constellations

Okay, we’ve shown you how to sleep under the stars in your celestial duvet cover. Now you can sleep under the stars and look up at them, too.
This ceiling star map from DeliciousDeals is made of individual constellation decals that you put together based on a map that you are sent. (Hopefully this will be a fun activity and not one that will make you shake your fist at the heavens.)
During the day, the vinyl decals look white, but at night they shine a vibrant green. Sweet dreams!

4. Versace Star Map Backpack

Warning: You may have to be a star to afford this cool carrier. But it can be yours, for just $1,628….
The black polyester backpack has an all-over star map print, handy two-way zips for easy access to your belongings, two zipped pockets, one outside and one concealed within the bag to protect your keys, wallet, whatever. Adjustable shoulder straps make it comfortable to carry, and there are sturdy top handles in case you need to quickly drop and lift it when you’re on a crowded train or bus.

5. Celestial Chart Stars Northern Hemisphere Constellations Print

This star chart print is based on a map in a 19th-century Spanish book, says Verónica Olivera Gómez, of TheCuratorsPrints. She changed the color from the vintage print, but kept the title and the names of the Zodiac in Spanish.
The star map is a professional digital print on heavyweight matte paper. The frame is not included, so you can choose your own to match the style and color of your room.

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That’s definitely the case with Gi Fly Bike, a new e-bike that’s literally a snap to fold when not in use. It collapses quickly in one smooth motion, having been designed to mimic a wheelie case when it’s folded for easy maneuvering onto buses, trains, and subways.

The bike’s designers were living and working in Argentina a few years ago and found themselves (along with the local people) suffering the consequences of a national public transportation strike. This inconvenience made them take a closer look at the issues that everyday commuters faced, even when public transportation was working. They started wondering which alternative forms of transportation would be the most practical and cost-effective.

“During and even after the strike, we noticed that commuters wanted the kind of independence that is incompatible with public transit,” the designers explain on their website. “They also wanted agility that cars cannot offer, with as little environmental impact as possible. This has been the inspiration behind the design of Gi Fly Bike.”

The Gi Fly isn’t just a one-trick pony, either. In addition to its easy folding, the 55-pound aircraft-grade aluminum alloy bike has also been equipped with three levels of “electric flight assistance” to help you reach a top speed of 15 miles per hour (the legal e-bike speed limit in Europe). You can travel 40 miles on a single battery charge, and it only takes four hours to recharge from empty, so while you refuel with coffee, your bike can also be powering up.

Each tire boasts a set of state-of-the-art disc brakes, and you’ll also be pleased to hear that the saddle has a shock-absorbing system with silicone gel inserts to pamper your rear.

As far as maintenance goes, it’s a cinch. It has a belt drive, which means no more oily, fiddly chain to worry about, and solid anti-puncture tires so you won’t ever have to worry about finding yourself stranded in the dark. LED smart lights can be controlled with the accompanying Gi Fly app, with a set of rear brake lights coming on when you apply the brakes for extra safety and visibility. The app also lets you choose routes that are bike-friendly and share them on social media. To top it all off, you can also record your ride and fitness stats on the app.

Since everyone’s going to be so jealous of your new ride, you’ll naturally be on the lookout for pesky thieves. Fear not. The Gi Fly has an automated locking system that activates when you are more than 10 feet away. You can still lend your bike out to friends though. All you have to do is create sharing profiles and secure access codes for each of them!

One feature we absolutely love? The bike boasts a USB port and phone holster right up front, so you can charge your phone as you commute distraction-free. Sometimes it’s the little things that help the most.

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The designers behind Bundle Beds have removed all the anguish and made it incredibly easy to welcome house guests — or to take a comfy bed with you on your own travel adventures.

One Bundle Bed weighs just 14 pounds, so it’s quite easy to lug around. It includes a comfortable self-inflating mattress (good-bye foot pumps), a warm comforter and cover, a pillow and pillowcase, and a soft jersey cotton fitted sheet.

The bed rolls up easily into a handy carrying roll, and when it’s unrolled and ready for use, it measures six-foot-three-inches long by two-feet wide.

The designers recommend storing your Bundle Bed in its unrolled state so it’s easier to inflate it the next time you need it. Keep it filled with air and in a dry place, like under a bed or behind a sofa. “Because the mattress foam tends to ‘remember’ the shape it holds most often, your mattress will self-inflate faster if it is stored unrolled,” they explain.

While a Bundle Bed is perfect for house guests and your kids’ sleepovers, it can also be toted to a music festival or taken on a hardcore camping trip. Tough terrain? No problem. The bed will even work well on a sandy beach, as the cover is water-resistant, and you can take the whole thing apart to wash it if necessary. Of course, the company does recommend laying a ground cloth under the bed if you’re not going to be sleeping inside a tent. With any luck, this will help prevent sharp rocks or branches from puncturing your Bundle Bed.

If you come from a family of campers, you’ll be happy to know you can purchase different-colored beds so there are no mix-ups. There’s a gray model with teal straps and a matching teal duvet cover, a gray one with orange straps and duvet cover, and a navy bed with yellow straps and duvet cover. Every one of these colorways comes with a white and navy-striped pillowcase.

Each bed is a single, but if you want to snuggle up with a special someone, you can always pull two together using the special Bundle Bed fitted sheet.

Companionship of a different kind was reported in a message to Bundle Beds HQ. New parent Eric explained that his infant son was not sleeping well — which was leaving his wife feeling absolutely exhausted. “I unfurled the bed next to him, and between sleep and feeds every few hours, got my wife that full night’s sleep whilst also getting some myself. Very comfortable and warm in deepest darkest February.” Now there’s a testimonial.

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