In 2012, Matthew Walzer, a then high school junior with cerebral palsy, sent a note to Nike: “My dream is to go to the college of my choice,” he wrote, “without having to worry about someone coming to tie my shoes every day.” Sensing an opportunity to create a new footwear category-both for casual consumers who want a simpler way to tie sneakers and for people like Walzer, who need one-Nike dispatched a design team. “You can rest your hand anywhere and totally ignores it and it just reads the Pencil,” wrote Don Shank, an art director at Pixar, after testing the products in September. That combination has already sparked chatter about new ways to create art, animations, blueprints and more. And it works in tandem with the iPad Pro, a tablet faster than roughly 80% of laptops sold in the past year, so there’s no perceptible delay. The Pencil allows users to draw, paint or write on a screen, just as they would a sheet of paper. Reproducing this functionality digitally has vexed computer engineers for years, which is what makes Apple’s latest effort so impressive. Shades get darker depending on how hard you press. In the 450 years or so since its invention, the pencil has become so ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget how remarkable a technology it is. Lisa EadiciccoĪpple Pencil and iPad Pro / $99 and $799+, respectively But convenience comes at a cost: prices range from $350 to $1,700, depending on the brand and its features. “It could evolve as a new form of transportation for cities and colleges,” Yellin says (though British authorities recently caused a stir by outlawing their use on public sidewalks and streets). Maxx Yellin, co-founder of PhunkeeDuck, one of more than 20 companies making versions of the device, sees larger implications. That enables all kinds of fun stunts, ranging from hallway races to motorized dance routines. Once someone hops on, the device uses a pair of electric gyroscopes (one under each pad) to balance automatically, allowing users to speed forward, backward and around by slightly shifting their body weight. Part Segway, part skateboard, the self-balancing scooter-generally known as a hoverboard, even though it doesn’t actually hover-is easily the year’s most viral product, drawing fans like Justin Bieber, Jimmy Fallon and Kendall Jenner.
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