Five (impossibly cute) mini gadgets

Unlock Editor’s Digest for Free

Roula Khalaf, FT editor-in-chief, picks her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Screen test

As the average home TV screen size has grown from about 22 inches to over 50 inches over the past 25 years, it’s clear that we’ve collectively bought into the idea that bigger TVs are better. And in a way, they are, but there’s something beautiful happening at the other end of the spectrum, too. The TinyTV 2’s one-inch screen and half-inch speaker are completely absurd (definitely not how Paul Thomas Anderson wanted us to watch It’s going to be bloody there) but it’s a triumph of ingenuity – and what’s more, it’s adorable. People love this thing.

“It’s a joy,” says TinyCircuits founder Ken Burns. “Some people say, ‘What’s the point of all this?’ But others say, ‘I don’t know what I need this for, but I need it.’” The case, which resembles an early-’60s TV with splayed legs, houses a Raspberry Pi RP2040 processor and 8GB of video memory. Once powered up, you can turn the “channel” knob to cycle through the video files stored on it, each turn accompanied by a series of authentic glitches. The left knob controls volume, and the USB-C connector on the back doubles as a charging port and a way to transfer movies from your computer. (A software converter, available for download from the TinyCircuits website, scales MP4 and AVI files to the appropriate size.) There’s no fast-forwarding or rewinding, and there are no other connectivity options. But it seems impolite to point out any supposed shortcomings, since the whole point of the product is to create something amazing within very strict parameters. “We’re riding the wave of advances in consumer electronics,” Burns says. “Raspberry Pi came out with a new processor that was powerful enough to do what we needed to do at a low price.” It doesn’t replace a TV, tablet or phone; it just sits in its own charming little category—and the functional mini remote, weighing just three grams, is the cherry on top.

---

Who is moss?

The Moss Air, with a surface area smaller than a smartphone, is an incredibly compact humidifier—and yes, that may raise questions about its ability to humidify effectively, but let’s talk about moss. It comes with a vibrant green moss tray that sits vertically inside the unit and is softly lit by LEDs. By changing the position of the magnetic metal ball on top, you can switch between terrarium mode (where the moss is automatically humidified every three hours) and humidifier mode (which pumps steam into the room). Moss is known to be one of the best natural air filters; I can’t confirm whether its presence here has any tangible effect on the air I breathe, but the occasional glance at it seems to be a mind-boggling experience.

---

Mac’s Back

It’s a cheeky move to cram a Windows PC into a chassis that resembles a scaled-down 1984 Macintosh, but I appreciate Ayaneo’s rejection of the age-old Mac-vs.-PC platform war and its healthy celebration of retro computing. Plus, this thing is powerful. My review unit came with a fast Ryzen 7 processor, which outshone my (five-year-old) desktop; everything from office apps (it comes with Windows 11) to online gaming ran super smoothly. But it’s the AM01’s small size that makes it so useful: it can be an office desktop, a living room entertainment center, a standalone gaming PC, or a smart home controller. Expandable and versatile, it’s whatever you want it to be.

---

Satisfy your Atari addiction

The slogan accompanying the launch of the Atari 400 in 1979 was “We took a big idea and made it simple.” This was further simplified by British company Retro Games, which housed a 400 emulator in a faithfully recreated, half-size facsimile of the original case, albeit with non-functional keys. It’s powered by USB and connected to a screen via HDMI, and you can play a range of original Atari games straight out of the box (including the hugely influential Miner 2049er) using a full-size joystick, also modeled after the original. All the old, forgotten Atari games you can find on the internet can also be imported to the device via USB. The graphics are angular, the sound is squeaky, and the game is just as addictive as the first time you played it.

---

Instant winner

While Polaroid was embroiled in legal troubles in the early 2000s, Fujifilm’s Instax kept the instant camera flag flying. Its latest all-analog model (no memory card, no USB) shoots on tiny Instax Mini film (photos are 46mm x 62mm) and cleverly includes non-digital versions of the features we, the Instagram generation, have come to rely on—internal LEDs let you shoot in a range of color modes from sepia to washed-out green, while a mechanical vignetting switch on the front softens the edges of your photos. Exposure and shutter speed controls offer additional flexibility—but like any instant camera, you never have complete control over the photos that emerge; its appeal lies in its unconventional behavior.

@rhodri