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Large-format displays have always posed a spatial question that brightness alone cannot answer: how much permanence does a room owe to its screen? The Hisense 100U8QG, reviewed earlier this year, represented one answer. At 100 diagonal inches of Mini-LED panel, it demanded architectural consideration. Wall reinforcement, viewing distance calculations, furniture subordination. The display became a fixture in the truest sense, its physical presence reshaping the room around it.
Designer: Hisense
The XR10 Laser TV, unveiled ahead of CES 2026, proposes a different relationship between image and architecture. Where the 100U8QG commits, the XR10 suggests. Where fixed panels dictate, projection negotiates.
The fundamental distinction lies not in image quality but in spatial philosophy. A 100-inch television is a decision. Once mounted, its presence organizes the room. Seating angles become fixed. Wall treatments become irrelevant behind the panel. The display asserts dominance over its environment, requiring the space to accommodate its permanence.
Projection operates under different constraints. The XR10 can scale from 65 to 300 inches depending on throw distance and surface availability. This variability represents more than convenience. It represents a fundamentally reversible intervention. The wall remains a wall. The room retains its capacity to be something other than a viewing space. When the projector powers down, the architecture reasserts itself in ways that a mounted 100-inch panel never permits.
This reversibility carries design implications that extend beyond flexibility for its own sake. Spaces increasingly serve multiple functions. A wall that hosts a 200-inch projection in the evening might face windows in the morning, hang artwork during gatherings, or simply recede into architectural neutrality when entertainment is not the room’s purpose. Fixed ultra-large displays foreclose these possibilities. Projection preserves them.
The XR10’s triple-laser light engine achieves output levels that shift the traditional projector calculus. Where previous generations required environmental control, darkened rooms, managed window treatments, controlled artificial lighting, the XR10 can hold its image against ambient conditions that would have dissolved earlier projectors into washed abstraction.
This capability reframes brightness not as a specification but as a design constraint relaxed. The 100U8QG demanded nothing from its environment beyond structural support. It generated its own light, controlled its own contrast, existed independently of the room’s luminous conditions. Projection historically asked more: cooperation from windows, deference from overhead fixtures, submission from the broader lighting design.
The XR10 narrows this gap without eliminating it entirely. Ambient light remains a factor. Surface reflectivity still matters. But the threshold of environmental accommodation drops substantially. A room need not transform itself into a theater to achieve cinematic scale. The projection can coexist with the space rather than demanding its temporary transformation.
The physical footprint of these technologies tells its own story. The 100U8QG, despite remarkably thin bezels and careful industrial design, remains an object of substantial material presence. Its glass surface catches light. Its chassis occupies wall space whether active or dormant. The panel exists as an architectural element even when displaying nothing.
The XR10 operates on different terms. As an ultra-short-throw system, it sits near the projection surface rather than across the room, typically on furniture or a low console beneath the image. The projector itself occupies space, but that space bears no fixed relationship to the image’s scale. A 300-inch projection does not require a 300-inch object. The image and its source decouple in ways that fixed displays cannot replicate.
This decoupling creates interesting possibilities for spatial hierarchy. The 100U8QG is always the most visually dominant element in any room it inhabits. The XR10 can be subordinate, tucked below sightlines, present but not assertive. The image appears and disappears. The hardware remains modest.
Achieving brightness sufficient for ambient operation requires addressing thermal and optical challenges that compound at high output levels. The XR10 employs a sealed microchannel liquid cooling system, an approach that maintains laser stability without exposing internal optics to environmental contamination. Traditional air-cooled projectors draw dust through their optical paths over time, degrading image quality incrementally. Sealed liquid cooling preserves performance across years of operation rather than months.
The optical system centers on a 16-element all-glass lens array with dynamic aperture control. Glass elements maintain dimensional stability under thermal stress better than polymer alternatives, reducing the subtle warping that can soften images at extreme scales. The IRIS system adjusts light transmission in real time to preserve contrast across varying scene brightness, a capability that becomes more critical as ambient light levels rise.
Speckle suppression addresses the last major optical distinction between projection and panel display. The grainy texture that coherent laser light can produce against reflective surfaces has historically marked projection as visually different from emissive displays. The XR10’s suppression system reduces this artifact to the threshold of perception, bringing projected images closer to the smooth, grain-free character of LED and OLED panels.
The choice between fixed ultra-large display and high-brightness projection ultimately reflects a stance on commitment. The 100U8QG rewards commitment. Once installed, calibrated, and integrated, it delivers consistent, environmentally independent performance. The room becomes better at being a viewing room. The display improves through permanence.
The XR10 rewards flexibility. It achieves similar or greater scale while preserving the room’s capacity for other identities. The wall can be a screen, then not a screen. The space can host cinema, then release it. The architectural intervention remains reversible in ways that panel installation does not.
Neither approach is superior in absolute terms. The design question centers on what a space is asked to become and for how long. Dedicated viewing environments favor the commitment model. Multi-use spaces, rooms with competing functions, and architectures that resist permanent visual dominance may find the projection model more sympathetic to their broader purposes.
Hisense will demonstrate the XR10 at CES 2026, booth 17704 in Central Hall. The company has spent a decade developing laser projection technology, introducing its first laser TV in 2014 and pioneering triple-laser color architecture in 2019. The XR10 represents the current limit of that trajectory: maximum brightness, maximum scale, minimum environmental demand.
Pricing and availability remain unannounced. The competitive landscape has expanded considerably since Hisense established the ultra-short-throw category, with Samsung, LG, and numerous manufacturers offering alternatives. How the XR10 positions against both competing projectors and the fixed ultra-large panels it philosophically challenges will determine its market reception.
The more interesting question may be conceptual rather than commercial. As display technology continues pushing scale boundaries, the tension between permanence and adaptability becomes more acute. The XR10 and the 100U8QG occupy different points on that spectrum, offering different answers to the same fundamental question: what does a room owe to its screen, and what does a screen owe to its room?
The post Hisense XR10 Laser Projector and the Case for Flexible Scale at CES 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.
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You know that thing where you walk into your bedroom at the end of the day and just start emptying your pockets onto whatever flat surface is closest? Keys land on the dresser, wallet gets tossed on the nightstand, watch goes who knows where. It’s a universal ritual of coming home, and it’s exactly the kind of everyday moment that aerospace engineers Javier De Andrés García and Anaïs Wallet decided to redesign.
Their brand, Unavela, takes the precision and intentionality of aerospace engineering and applies it to the mundane objects we interact with daily. The Unavela Valet Tray is a perfect example of this philosophy: it’s a catchall that doesn’t just catch, it elevates the entire experience of organization into something that feels considered and purposeful.
Designers: Javier De Andrés García, Anaïs Wallet (Unavela)
What makes this particularly interesting is the design pedigree behind it. De Andrés García and Wallet aren’t your typical product designers who sketch pretty shapes and call it a day. They come from a world where every gram matters, where form follows function with almost religious devotion, and where materials are chosen based on performance characteristics rather than trends. When aerospace engineers decide to make a tray for your keys, you can bet they’ve thought about it differently than everyone else.
The valet tray sits in that sweet spot between utilitarian and beautiful. It’s not trying to disappear into your decor, nor is it screaming for attention. Instead, it occupies space with quiet confidence, the way really good design tends to do. Think of it as the functional equivalent of that friend who just makes everything run more smoothly without making a big deal about it.
Valet trays themselves have an interesting history. Originally, they were the domain of well-appointed gentleman’s dressers, a place to organize pocket watches, cufflinks, and collar stays. But in our modern world of smartphones, AirPods, car key fobs, and whatever else we’re carrying, the valet tray has become even more relevant. We might not wear pocket watches anymore, but we’ve got more stuff to keep track of than ever before.
What Unavela brings to this category is a fresh perspective. When you look at their work across different products, you see a consistent thread: they’re interested in what they call “functional objects.” Not decorative objects that happen to be functional, but pieces where the function itself becomes the aesthetic statement. It’s a subtle but important distinction. The beauty comes from how well something works, not from applied decoration or styling tricks.
This approach feels particularly resonant right now. We’re living in an era where people are increasingly interested in buying fewer, better things. The whole concept of everyday carry (EDC) has evolved from a niche hobby into a broader cultural conversation about intentionality and quality. People are thinking more carefully about the objects they interact with daily, and they want those objects to reflect thoughtfulness and care. The Unavela Valet Tray fits perfectly into this mindset. It’s not fast furniture or disposable decor. It’s a considered piece that’s designed to be used daily and to improve with that use. There’s something deeply satisfying about having a designated spot for your everyday items, about the ritual of emptying your pockets into a tray that was designed specifically for that purpose.
From a design perspective, what’s compelling is how Unavela bridges the gap between industrial design and consumer products. Aerospace engineering isn’t typically associated with home goods, but maybe it should be. After all, if you can design components for aircraft where failure isn’t an option and weight is critical, you probably have some interesting insights about how to make a really excellent tray. The beauty of good design is that it often looks simple, even inevitable, but that simplicity is the result of countless decisions and refinements. Every angle, every dimension, every material choice has been considered. It’s the difference between something that works and something that works exceptionally well.
For anyone interested in design, tech, or the intersection of engineering and everyday life, the Unavela Valet Tray represents something larger than just a place to put your keys. It’s a statement about bringing rigor and intentionality to the objects we live with. It’s about applying aerospace-level thinking to earthbound problems. And honestly, in a world full of stuff that’s designed to be replaced rather than cherished, that’s a pretty refreshing approach.
The post Aerospace Engineers Just Solved Your Messy Nightstand Problem first appeared on Yanko Design.
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There’s a particular kind of panic that sets in about thirty minutes before you need to leave for the airport. You’ve thrown clothes into a suitcase, triple-checked your passport, and convinced yourself that you’ve packed everything important. Then you arrive at your destination and realize you’ve brought three chargers for devices you don’t own but somehow forgot the one thing that would’ve made your entire trip better. Last-minute travel has a way of exposing what truly matters versus what we think we need.
The beauty of spontaneous trips lies in their unpolished edges, but that doesn’t mean you should suffer through bad coffee, tangled headphone cords, or eating with your hands because the airline meal came with a flimsy plastic fork that snapped on contact. The difference between a trip you remember fondly and one you spent complaining about comes down to a handful of well-chosen essentials that solve real problems. These five designs represent the kind of thoughtful gear that takes up minimal space but delivers maximum impact when you need it most.
Binoculars feel like relics from another era, the kind of thing your grandfather kept in a leather case that smelled faintly of pipe tobacco. Nikon’s 4x10D CF pocket binoculars challenge that entire perception by shrinking the form factor down to something that actually fits in your pocket without creating an awkward bulge. These aren’t meant to compete with your smartphone’s digital zoom or replace professional birding equipment. They exist in a different category entirely, prioritizing the experience of optical viewing over pixel counts and processing power.
The genius lies in recognizing that people don’t carry traditional binoculars because they’re too bulky and conspicuous. Nikon solved that problem by creating something so discreet it almost disappears. The optical quality remains surprisingly sharp for such a compact device, delivering a viewing experience that feels immediate and artifact-free. Whether you’re trying to read a distant street sign in an unfamiliar city or want a closer look at architectural details without looking like a tourist with professional gear, these slip into your travel kit without demanding dedicated space or special protection.
• The form factor makes them genuinely pocketable, solving the primary reason people don’t carry binoculars.
• Optical viewing delivers a tactile, immediate experience that digital zoom can’t replicate.
• The updated colorways transform them from technical equipment into an accessory you want to carry.
• Multiple uses, from reading transit signs to appreciating distant landscapes without looking conspicuous.
• The 4x magnification is modest compared to traditional binoculars, limiting long-distance viewing.
• The compact size means smaller objective lenses, reducing light-gathering capability in low-light conditions.
Air travel has become an endurance test for your ears. Between engine noise, crying babies, and the passenger next to you who insists on watching action movies without headphones until a flight attendant intervenes, you need something that creates a barrier between you and chaos. StillFrame wireless headphones approach this problem with a design philosophy borrowed from a time when music felt like a deliberate choice rather than background noise. The aesthetic draws from compact disc geometry, creating a visual language that feels refreshingly analog in an aggressively digital world.
Weighing just 103 grams, these headphones occupy a middle ground between intrusive over-ear designs and in-ear buds that always seem to fall out at the worst possible moment. The 40mm drivers create a soundstage that gives music room to breathe, which matters when you’re spending hours in compressed airplane cabins where everything feels claustrophobic. The combination of active noise cancelling and transparency mode means you can shift between complete isolation and situational awareness without removing them. That flexibility proves essential when navigating unfamiliar airports or wanting to hear boarding announcements without sacrificing your peace during the actual flight.
Click Here to Buy Now: $245.00
• The 24-hour battery life eliminates anxiety about running out of power mid-journey.
• Magnetic fabric ear cushions swap easily, giving you color options that match different moods.
• Dual connectivity through Bluetooth 5.4 and USB-C cable offers wireless freedom or wired stability.
• The exposed circuit board aesthetic celebrates the technology rather than hiding it behind plastic shells.
• The on-ear design may cause discomfort during extremely long flights compared to over-ear alternatives.
• The fashion-forward aesthetic might not appeal to travelers who prefer more conventional headphone designs.
There’s something deeply frustrating about packing perfectly good food for a trip only to realize you have nothing reasonable to eat it with. Plastic cutlery snaps under minimal pressure, full-sized metal utensils add unnecessary weight, and trying to eat noodles with a standard spoon requires patience most travelers don’t have after a long day. The Aero Spork weighs less than a quarter of an ounce but manages to feel substantial enough to handle actual meals. That combination of minimal weight and genuine utility makes it the kind of item that earns permanent residence in your travel kit.
The ergonomic curve gives you a secure grip even when your hands are cold or wet, while the tapered design specifically addresses the noodle-eating problem that plagues travelers across Asia and increasingly everywhere else. The stackable design means you can carry multiple sporks without them taking up more space than a single standard utensil. This becomes relevant when you’re traveling with others or want a backup. The durability factor matters more than you’d expect; these survive being tossed into bags, stepped on accidentally, and subjected to the kind of casual abuse that destroys lesser travel utensils within weeks.
• The 7-gram weight makes it lighter than most travel accessories you’ll forget you’re carrying.
• Stackable design solves the multi-person dining situation without requiring a full cutlery set.
• The tapered shape genuinely improves noodle-eating, addressing a specific and common travel challenge.
• Metal construction means it lasts indefinitely, unlike disposable or plastic alternatives.
• The hybrid spoon-fork design means neither side works quite as well as a dedicated utensil.
• Cleaning can be tricky in the field without proper access to soap and water.
Hotel coffee represents a special category of disappointment. It tastes like regret mixed with lukewarm water, extracted from pods that somehow cost three dollars each. Even when you find a decent café, you’re either waiting in line behind seventeen people who each ordered customized drinks with five modifications, or you’re drinking something that went cold during your walk back to your hotel. MokaMax addresses this problem by building a legitimate pressure-brewing system into a form factor that looks like a standard travel mug. The ridged stainless steel body provides a secure grip while reinforcing the rugged, outdoor-ready aesthetic.
The design spent considerable effort getting those ridges right, balancing functional grip with comfortable handling and visual interest. The flexible rope attachment transforms it from just another mug into something that clips onto backpacks or hangs from hooks, integrating into your mobile gear rather than requiring dedicated carrying. The key advantage over simply buying coffee everywhere you go is consistency and timing. You control the strength, temperature, and exact moment you brew. That autonomy matters when you’re dealing with jet lag and need coffee at 4 AM when nothing is open, or when you’re hiking and want something better than instant crystals dissolved in lukewarm water.
• The pressure-brewing system delivers espresso-style coffee without electricity or complex equipment.
• Single-vessel design eliminates the need to carry separate brewing and drinking containers.
• Ridged stainless steel construction provides grip and durability for genuine outdoor use.
• The rope attachment integrates it into your travel gear ecosystem rather than requiring dedicated space.
• The brewing process takes longer than simply buying coffee if you’re in an area with good options.
• Cleaning requires more attention than a standard travel mug, especially after brewing dark roasts.
Most travelers don’t think they need a utility knife until they’re standing in a hotel room trying to open packaging with their keys, teeth, or increasingly desperate improvisation. The Craftmaster EDC utility knife occupies just 8mm of thickness and 12cm of length, making it slim enough to slip into pockets, bags, or organizer pouches without creating bulk. The metallic construction gives it heft that feels reassuring rather than burdensome, while the rotating knob deployment mechanism adds a tactile satisfaction that pure functionality doesn’t require but somehow makes the tool more enjoyable to use.
The magnetic back serves double duty by letting you dock the knife on any metal surface and providing a home for the companion metal scale. That scale includes both metric and imperial measurements, a raised edge for easy pickup, and a blade-breaker for maintaining the OLFA blade’s sharpness. The 15-degree curvature protects your fingers during cutting tasks, while the 45-degree inclination helps with opening boxes without damaging contents. These details transform a basic utility knife into something that solves multiple problems, from precise measuring for emergency clothing repairs to clean package opening without destroying whatever’s inside.
• The 8mm thickness makes it genuinely pocketable without the bulk of traditional utility knives.
• Magnetic docking turns any metal surface into convenient storage, preventing loss in hotel rooms.
• The included ruler with blade-breaker combines multiple functions without requiring separate tools.
• OLFA blades are replaceable and widely available, extending the knife’s useful life indefinitely.
• The minimalist metal design lacks texture that could improve grip in wet conditions.
• Airport security restrictions mean it needs to go in checked luggage, limiting accessibility during travel days.
The connecting thread between these designs is that they solve specific problems while occupying minimal space and requiring almost no learning curve. You don’t need an instruction manual, a YouTube tutorial, or previous experience. They work immediately and continue working reliably. That reliability becomes essential when you’re already dealing with the stress of spontaneous travel, unfamiliar locations, and the general chaos that comes from not having time to plan properly.
The other advantage is that none of these items are single-use solutions. Pocket binoculars serve navigation, sightseeing, and practical reading purposes. Headphones deliver both entertainment and environmental control. A quality spork handles any meal situation. The portable coffee maker works everywhere from mountain peaks to hotel rooms. The utility knife solves dozens of cutting, measuring, and opening challenges. That versatility means carrying five items gives you solutions to dozens of potential problems, which is exactly the kind of efficiency last-minute travelers need most.
The post 5 Travel Essentials Every Last-Minute 2025 Traveler Regrets Forgetting first appeared on Yanko Design.
yankodesign_feedThe iPhone’s rear cameras keep getting better, but selfies still rely on a smaller, lower-resolution front sensor, and storage upgrades cost considerably more than a microSD card. People who shoot a lot of photos and video feel squeezed on both fronts, choosing between spending hundreds on internal storage or dealing with blurry front-camera selfies. Selfix is a case for the iPhone 17 Pro that tackles both problems at once.
Selfix is a case for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max that adds a circular 1.6-inch AMOLED screen to the back and hides a microSD slot inside. The rear screen acts as a tiny viewfinder so you can use the 48 MP rear cameras for selfies, while the card slot lets you add up to 2 TB of storage without touching Apple’s upgrade menu or monthly cloud fees.
Designer: Selfix
The rear display mirrors the camera view so you can frame yourself, adjust in real time, and pick any of the rear lenses, from ultra-wide group shots to telephoto portraits. You get the main sensor’s larger 1/1.28-inch glass, Night Mode, and up to 8× optical zoom for selfies, instead of guessing with a cropped front camera and hoping everyone fits into the narrower field of view.
Selfix connects through the phone’s USB-C port and does not need a separate app. You snap the case on, open the camera, and the rear screen wakes up. A dedicated button on the case lets you turn the display off when you are not using it to save battery. The idea is to feel like a built-in second screen, not another gadget that needs pairing, permissions, and a drawer full of instructions.
The case includes a microSD slot that supports cards up to 2 TB, using the same USB-C connection to integrate with the phone. A 512 GB card costs around $50, while Apple’s $200 jump for the same capacity makes swappable storage a compelling alternative. Heavy shooters can archive trips or projects without paying monthly cloud fees or deleting older work to make room for new sessions.
Selfix is made from high-quality TPU and comes in Oat White, Blush Pink, and Midnight Black, sized to match the 17 Pro and Pro Max. It adds some thickness, bringing the total to 17mm, but in return, you get a grippy shell, a second screen, and a hidden storage bay. The design aims to look like a natural extension of the phone rather than a bolt-on camera rig or accessory that screams afterthought.
Selfix is aimed at people who care enough about image quality to use the rear cameras for everything, and who are tired of juggling storage or paying the upgrade tax. A case that quietly turns the iPhone into a dual-screen shooter with expandable memory makes you wonder why the phone did not ship this way, especially when the rear cameras already outclass the front by a significant margin, and storage remains artificially expensive.
The post This Case Fixes iPhone’s Weak Selfie Camera with a Second Screen first appeared on Yanko Design.
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AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don't belong to any particular fandom (also known as "No Fandom" tags). This post overviews some of these upcoming changes.
In this round of updates, we continued to streamline creating new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic "No Fandom" tag announcements.
None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.
In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3's auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.
The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:
While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you're intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you've never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here's a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month's new canonical tags:
While we won't be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about tags we believe will most affect users. If you're interested in the changes we'll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.
You can also read previous updates on "No Fandom" tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:
For more information about AO3's tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.
In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected. If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.
Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Lastly, we're still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
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getting_startedsmartbitches_feedNB: This week, we’re taking a look back at some of our favorite and our most popular pieces of writing this year. We’ve got a week of best-of posts to share, with reviews, cover snark, and more. We hope you enjoy revisiting our archives, and most of all, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday and a happy new year – with all the very best of reading.
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Say hello to the top five Cover Snark posts of 2025! These are the most viewed Snark posts from last December to now! It’s such a joy to put these together and I hope you all get as much joy from reading them.
Let’s count them down!
5. Does Jane Austen Know About This? (September 8)
Classic Jane Austen novels received some modern cover designs that left us all a little perplexed. There’s also a man with a hazardous belly button and a pair of smug bears (the animal kind).
Best reader comment is from Kate Rose:
Wow…nothing about the Northanger Abbey cover says romance with gothic vibes, unless she’s actually trying to strangle him with her hand on his neck. I must not be the target audience – the cover is off-putting and that it’s supposed to be Jane Austin just makes it worse.
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4. What Have They Done to Jude Deveraux (February 24)
This is another case of a well-known author getting cover redesigns that are real head-scratchers. There’s a font that hurts our eyeballs. We also learn a little bit more about rugby and pose the question: Would Dunkin Donuts ever sponsor a rugby team?
Best reader comment is from Empress of Blandings:
Re rugby: there is also a loosehead prop, which sounds messier.
Someone needs to write a romance set in the world of cricket, as I feel there’s potential in several of the fielding positions such as long on, or fly slip. Perhaps less so for square leg or silly mid-on. But you have to respect a game that has built-in tea breaks.
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3. How Do Legs Work? (Diagrams Included) (August 11)
We really tried to make sense of some leg placement. Sarah even drew a diagram and turned it into a gif. Now that’s dedication! I was also confused about the title, Pall Mall Peer, as Pall Malls to me are cigarettes.
Best reader comment is from Randall M:
Amanda:
Your question about Pall Mall got me wondering. According to Wikipaedia (which we all know is never wrong), Pall Mall is a fashionable street in London, particularely known in the 19th century for fashion, the War Office, and some Royal Family housing. It also notes, “The cigarette manufacturer Rothmans has its head office at No. 65 Pall Mall”. The name “Rothmans” is a link, clicking on which takes you to the “Rothmans International” page, which has on its “Products and Brands” listing, Pall Mall. That takes you to the “Pall Mall (cigarette)” page, which tells us it was a “premiere cigarette”, named for the street.
And now you know why I’m not allowed to answer questions any more.
Ed. note: We are clearly an educational website.
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2. A 20th Anniversary Cover Snark Retrospective (January 29)
To celebrate the site’s 20th anniversary, Candy and Sarah swam deep into the waters of some vintage Cover Snark, unearthing things that probably aren’t fit for human eyeballs…or any eyeballs for that matter.
Best reader comment is from Jill Q.:
Candy! The scream I scrumpt when I saw you were making a guest appearance! I don’t know if I’ve been reading Smart Bs for the whole 20 years, but I definitely go back all the way to the Candy days and when I was not Jill Q. but Jill some other initial 
It’s so great of you to stop by and I hope life is treating you well.
Meanwhile, yes in all important cover snark commentary, that last lady in the Victoria Alexander looks like she’s thinking “man, I really got to let one rip. Let me position my butt just so in this strategic gap in the holly bushes for maximum effect.”
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1. An Us Anus (June 9)
Confusing choices abound! I have no statistics to back this up, but I feel like fonts, leading, and kerning were some of our biggest Snark offenders.
Best reader comment is from the Jazzlet:
The Lonely Mortician isn’t very professional, while the bottle is labelled CH2O, or formaldehyde, it clearly contains blood. The properties of these liquids are very different, and that cover is a lesson in why you should keep liquids in the original containers unless you have another correctly labelled bottle.
And that’s our top five! What do you think? Did you have any Cover Snark favorites this year?
ysabetwordsmith pennyarcade_feedsilveradept
ysabetwordsmithfuzzyred. It belongs to the series Coracle Shores and follows "The Coracle in the Forest." ysabetwordsmithhelgatwb. It also fills the "Journey" square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It begins the new series Coracle Shores. Its sequel is "The Unicorn Door." ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeedingyankodesign_feed - Hisense XR10 Laser Projector and the Case for Flexible Scale at CES 2026draconis - No darkness lasts forever. Endure however you can.conuly - I'm about ready to say something to the commenters to this ficyankodesign_feed - Aerospace Engineers Just Solved Your Messy Nightstand Problemyankodesign_feed - 5 Travel Essentials Every Last-Minute 2025 Traveler Regrets Forgettingyankodesign_feed - This Case Fixes iPhone’s Weak Selfie Camera with a Second Screenao3_news_feed - Updates to "No Fandom" Additional Tags, December 2025vriddy in getting_started - Do images also get redirected when using a rename token?smartbitches_feed - Cover Snark: Best of 2025ysabetwordsmith - Monday Update 12-22-25pennyarcade_feed - Children In Danger, Part Twosilveradept - December Days 02025 #21: Trollthe_devils_panties_feed - 12/22/2025ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "The Unicorn Door"ysabetwordsmith - Content notes for "The Coracle in the Forest"ysabetwordsmith - Character notes for "The Coracle in the Forest"lassarina - There are just so many things that are happening.ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "The Coracle in the Forest"ysabetwordsmith - Happy Yule
