Table of contents for October 2016 in Fast Company

A Mozart duo echoes through the dim auditorium of Philadelphia’s String Theory high school, performed by a pair of plaid-skirted violinists reading music off their school-issued iPads. In other classes at the performing-arts-themed public charter school, students use their iPads to plot DNA data, design graphics, and make movies. At first glance, the school is a model Apple education customer, buying into both its hardware and iOS ecosystem. A more complicated reality lies beneath the tablet glass. Teachers at String Theory distribute curriculum via Apple’s iTunes U—but students use Google Docs and Google Drive to complete and submit assignments. “They get the full App Store experience, and they can also use all the functionality of Google,” says Christine DiPaulo, the school’s director of innovation. “It’s the best of both worlds.”…

Making a good impression with a prospective employer often requires little more than a great résumé and congenial personality. But how do you impress an algorithm? That’s the question facing applicants of Facebook, IBM, and a spate of other companies that are starting to incorporate artificial intelligence into their hiring practices. They’re using machines to scan work samples, parse social media posts, and analyze facial expressions on behalf of HR managers. Such practices raise questions about accuracy and privacy, but proponents argue that harnessing AI for hiring could lead to more diverse, empathetic, and dynamic workplaces. Though traditional personalityassessment techniques, such as the Myers–Briggs test, are designed for objectivity, somewhere along the way “managers still inject personal bias,” says Mark Newman, founder and CEO of HireVue, a recruiting-technology company. That’s…

Go wheelchair Unlike most wheelchairs, which look institutional and utilitarian, the Go is ultrastylish—a truly covetable accessory that’s meant, says designer Benjamin Hubert, to “look cool lined up at the club.” And it isn’t just eye candy. Though wheelchairs are used by more than 2.2 million Americans each day, they tend to be one-size-fits-most affairs that ignore how different people’s bodies can be, especially when disability is involved. The Go is custom-tailored to its owner’s shape, in part via a full-body scan and 3-D printing. The wheel rims are lined with hundreds of tiny silicone knobs, which, when paired with specially designed gloves that come with the chair, help minimize rotator-cuff injuries by improving grip and reducing arm fatigue. —John Brownlee…

Nascent ObjectsÕ modular electronics If you’re someone who’d rather invent a new device than get the latest thingamajig at Best Buy, Nascent Objects can help. The California-based company, working with design firm Ammunition, has built a modular system that lets anyone make their own electronics. Using a broad assortment of parts—batteries, cameras, sensors, and so on, as well as software to run everything—makers can snap together products for fun or as marketable prototypes. “We designed the components to have individual value as discrete, smart puzzle pieces that can be easily rearranged into a myriad of devices,” says Ammunition’s VP of product design, Victoria Slaker, who spearheaded the project with Nascent CEO Baback Elmieh. “Iteration can happen quickly and inexpensively.” Nascent has prebuilt a few examples, such as a water-use sensor…

Black Twitter A community of african-american writers, comedians, activists, and entertainers who advocate for social justice (e.g., #blacklivesmatter) as well as lead the conversation around pop-culture icons like beyoncé (#lemonadesyllabus) Must follow: writer and activist Feminista Jones (@feministajones); actor and activist Jesse williams (@iJessewilliams) Trending topics: #oscarssowhite, a critique of the heavily white oscar 2016 nominees that bubbled out of black twitter and onto the red carpet, leading the academy to broaden the diversity of its voting members Media Twitter A collective of journalists and editors that often features discussion and critique of other media people, sites, and articles Must follow: BuzzFeed politics reporter andrew kacynzski (@buzzFeedandrew); The Cut writer and model/dJ gabriella paiella (@gmpaiella); New York Times Magazine editor Jazmine hughes (@jazzedloon) Trending topics: #longform, a hashtag created to showcase…

Lyndon and Jamie Cormack, cofounders of Herschel Supply Co., have begun weaving innovation into their classic bags. With its nostalgia-inspired, casual luxury backpacks, Herschel Supply Co. isn’t the first brand you associate with innovation. But brothers Lyndon, 40, and Jamie Cormack, 42, who cofounded the Vancouver-based company in 2009, are counting on two sleek new product lines to change that perception. SealTech is a lightweight, water-resistant, and self-healing fabric; a double-sided coating enables the material to actually reseal itself from small tears with the heat of your hand. And ApexKnit, a high-density knit, reduces waste and weight by eliminating seams—patterns and gradients are woven into a product, instead of printed or dyed. You’ve turned to technology to give you an edge, but the availability of tech in apparel attracts more…

What’s new with members of our MCP community Hayley Barna PARTNER, FIRST ROUND CAPITAL Last August, Birchbox co-CEO Hayley Barna decided to walk away from the influential beautysubscription-box startup that she cofounded in 2010 (she remains on the company’s board). “What we created with Birchbox was truly unique at the time,” she explains. “I loved it, but it turned out the beauty industry is not my lifelong passion. It’s [exploring] innovative business models.” So, in February, Barna signed on as a partner at First Round Capital, the seed-stage VC firm that has invested in companies such as Uber, Warby Parker, and, not coincidentally, Birchbox. (Meanwhile, Barna’s former company has been struggling, enduring two big rounds of layoffs earlier this year and receiving a $15 million injection of funds from current…

Right around the time in 2014 that Memphis was named the most obese city in the U.S., a local philanthropist approached Kimbal Musk with an idea. If Musk, a social entrepreneur who runs the Kitchen, a farm-to-table restaurant group and nonprofit, could help overhaul the city’s food system, he’d supply the funds. It was a big ask: Memphis is defined by its abiding love for fried chicken and a rich barbecue culture; each summer, it hosts the largest pork-cooking contest in the world. A few conversations later, Musk accepted. After all, taking on outsize challenges runs in the family. Musk was 26 when he and his brother, Elon, sold their first tech company for $300 million. After they founded the startup that later became Pay-Pal, Kimbal went on to culinary…

In a recent series of videos for Adidas, supermodel Karlie Kloss bakes, codes, and practices ballet. Yoga instructor Adriene Mishler takes viewers behind the scenes of a video shoot. DJ Hannah Bronfman goes surfing, boxes, and fries octopus. The lifestyle-meets-athletics campaign, tagged “Here to Create,” represents a change of strategy for the company, which has traditionally relied on ads that feature professional sports figures, usually male, at the top of their game. The videos are the latest installment in Adidas’s campaign to capture an audience it hasn’t often targeted: women. There’s a lot riding on the effort. The company saw its share price drop by 38% from 2014 to 2015; in September 2014, Under Armour overtook it to become the secondlargest sportswear company in the U.S., behind Nike. (Adidas managed…

National Museum of African American History and Culture INSIDE Page 64 Google’s logo revamp Page 68 domino’s Zero click ordering Page 74 Facebook’s oculus Rift, Microsoft’s Hololens, and HTC’s Vive Page 76 Nike’s HyperAdapt 1.0 sneaker Page 77 Airbnb’s mobile app Page 85 Volvo’s concept 26 interior Page 88 Zocdoc’s rebrand Page 90 The full list of 272 honorees in 11 categories For its first 72 years as the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., was a slave territory, and the five-acre tract on which the new National Museum of African American History and Culture sits once contained a slave market. So even before the ribbon was cut or the foundation laid, the building, which opens September 24, was already firmly rooted in the geography of America’s most inhumane and violent institution.…

Domino’s Zero Click ordering Pizza chains have long courted customers with gimmicks like stuffed crusts and meat-heavy specialty pies. And while Domino’s also offers its share of shameless waistline expanders, the company has distinguished itself by emphasizing technology and experience design. The goal: to make transactions as frictionless as possible. “In that instant when our customer is thinking, What should I get for dinner?, an easy ordering experience can make a world of difference,” says Dennis Maloney, Domino’s chief digital officer. Domino’s has been at the vanguard of pizza tech since at least 2008, when it launched its popular tracker function, and lately it has been increasing its digital efforts. In May 2015, it introduced emoji ordering, which lets customers summon dinner by tweeting a pizza icon. Less than a…

AirbnbÕs mobile app When you rent an Airbnb, there’s no front desk or concierge, so the company’s app is especially important. It guides guests through the entire process: not just selecting a place to stay, but communicating with the host and discovering things to do nearby. To make that experience as effective and engaging as possible, Airbnb significantly overhauled its app last year, simplifying its interface and introducing thoughtful filters to make it easier to search listings. When it came to creating those filters, “we learned that words like trendy aren’t useful, because they don’t make you think about what you’ll be doing on your trip,” says Airbnb design manager Amber Cartwright, who oversaw the process. “What is useful is a word like lively, which [indicates] what kind of trip…

Revolution Precrafted’s houses Want to live in a house designed by one of the world’s most famous architects? A Manila, Philippines–based real estate developer named Robbie Antonio has tapped an impressive list of big names to each create something for his line of covetable, prefabricated structures that can be easily purchased online. His company, Revolution Precrafted, is set to start shipping the houses and gazebolike canopies this year. Prices average around $300,000, which doesn’t include the cost of the land or site preparation, and superstars such as Jean Nouvel and Daniel Libeskind are working on designs. Antonio provides an early look at three of Revolution’s offerings. —Diana Budds ( 1 ) MARCEL WANDERS Known for his witty tongue-in-cheek furniture, the Dutch designer has now debuted his firstever house, a glass-walled…

PRODUCTS August Doorbell Cam Fuseproject Lust-worthy household gadget Bloque Termodisipador Sumart Diseno y Arquitectura Bricks that circulate cool air Boulding Blocks Boulding Blocks Part puzzle, part art CliniCloud CliniCloud Home digital stethoscope and thermometer Cubetto Primo Toys Wooden toy that teaches coding Cujo Matter Tool that guards against hackers Dojo NewDealDesign Gatekeeper for your IoT gadgets D.light A1 Ideo.org Tough solar light for people off the grid Dyson Supersonic Dyson Highly engineered blow-dryer Futurecraft 3-D Adidas 3-D–printed shoes Google OnHub Whipsaw Super Wi-Fi hub Go wheelchair Layer Customizable, ergonomic conveyance Graava Camera Matter Action camera with AI photo editing Here Active Listening Doppler Labs Augmented reality for your ears HTC Vive HTC Design Pioneer in VR tech Hubb Lifetime Oil Filter Whipsaw Car part that never needs replacing HyperAdapt 1.0…

Twitter lost that auction to Yahoo, which paid $17 million and then delivered a resounding flop: Although Yahoo claimed 33.6 million views, analysts calculated that only 2.36 million actually watched, making it the least-seen game in NFL history. To those inside Twitter, the NFL’s one-game experiment confirmed the distinctive opportunity that they had. It was “the epiphany of ‘We can really own this,’ ” says Twitter’s Noto, who had been a star linebacker at West Point and the NFL’s finance chief from 2008 to 2010. “People are already talking about these games on Twitter,” he says. “They clearly are engaged in conversations with each other while they’re watching the game. How do we create an experience that leverages the great content conversations happening on Twitter with the actual content that…

Kate Unsworth, the cofounder of Vinaya, is creating smart, jewelry-like devices that are as high-end as they are high-tech. London-based Vinaya is dedicated to creating what cofounder Kate Unsworth, a 28-year-old musician and former tech management consultant, calls “conscious technology for the mindful generation.” The design firm’s chic wearables fit right in at luxury and fashion-forward retailers. Two more buzzed-about products are due to launch next year: AltruisX, a collection of rings, necklaces, and bracelets that filter mobile alerts and track smartphone usage, and Zenta, a “biometric” wearable that monitors the user’s physical and emotional well-being. And several designer collaborations are in the works. How do technology and design work together at your company? If you were to pull apart our stones and put our circuit board next to those…

Mizzen+Main, a four-year-old startup in Dallas, features high-tech men’s apparel that combines the comfort and flexibility of athletic wear with the fit and elegance of custom suiting. It’s a new category of fashion, a hybrid that 30-year-old founder and CEO Kevin Lavelle calls “luxury performance.” The snappy, proprietary fabrics, which are wrinkle-resistant, machine-washable, and moisture-wicking, are proving a draw not just for professionals but also pro athletes (Mizzen+Main has dozens of organic endorsements). Where did the idea for a “performance dress shirt” come from? About a decade ago, when performance fabrics were becoming mainstream, I watched a guy in a dress shirt soaked in sweat run into an office building, and I wondered, Why couldn’t you make a dress shirt out of performance fabrics? At the time, I knew nothing…

FASHION DISRUPTERS Women from the oil-rich Gulf states buy more haute couture than anyone in the world—a reality that the fashion industry is taking seriously to ensure its next phase of growth, particularly as questions arise about the possible softening of the luxury market in China. Last January, Dolce & Gabbana debuted a year-round line of hijabs and abayas, and Vogue Arabia is launching this fall. Amid this boom, Doha —the capital of the monarchical country of Qatar, which is the world’s richest nation per capita—has emerged as the region’s fashion epicenter. It is home to deep-pocketed companies like Mayhoola for Investments, which bought Valentino in 2012 and Balmain last June, for a reported $548 million. Mayhoola is linked to the Qatari royal family, whose chic matriarch, Sheikha Moza bint…

Designer FASHION DISRUPTERS Since her student days, Dutch designer Iris van Herpen has embraced cutting-edge technology to invent bold new materials that blow past existing notions of “fabric.” She pioneered the use of 3-D printing in fashion, and, in 2015, employed it to create a ready-to-wear collection made from materials including metal powder, rubber, and magnets. At her Paris show this past July, she debuted an ethereal dress made of thousands of handblown glass balls. Drawing inspiration from art, philosophy, and science, van Herpen operates at the height of high concept (that 2015 line was influenced by the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland), which keeps the industry enthralled. Clients include Lady Gaga, Tilda Swinton, and kindred spirit Björk, for whom van Herpen fashioned a “snake dress” made from shiny acrylic…

This month, you’re starring in the TV remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. What drew you to the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania,” which Tim Curry memorably played in the original? I became obsessed with Rocky Horror when I was in college. I connected deeply to the message of the film; the song “Don’t Dream It, Be It” became a personal mantra. And Tim Curry’s iconic performance just transformed me. At the time, I was gender-nonconforming: I had a shaved head, and I wore false eyelashes and makeup, but I didn’t identify as female yet. So this movie and its gender fluidity were everything to me. There’s a lot of singing in this role. How did you prepare for it? I really started working…

I’m trying to listen as Doppler Labs cofounder and CEO Noah Kraft walks me through his company’s new smart earbuds over the din of a crowded restaurant, but the cacophony of chattering diners and clanking silverware is overwhelming. I can’t make out a word. Then, all of a sudden, the background noise disappears. Kraft’s voice comes in loud and clear. It feels a little magical—even though we’re not actually at a restaurant. I’ve been getting a demo at Doppler’s San Francisco headquarters, and all of that background noise was a simulation, pumped into my ears—and then muted—via a cobbled-together tangle of earphones, microphones, circuitry, and other components. In November, Doppler plans to ship a pair of sleek, wireless earbuds embedded with the same technology, allowing anyone, anywhere to neutralize the…

Fairphone’s smarter smartphone Tired of having to upgrade your phone every year or two? Amsterdam-based Fairphone designs devices that are meant to last. The Fairphone 2, released last December, has a modular design that makes it easy to replace the battery, screen, and other components. It’s part of a broader effort to make products that are socially and environmentally responsible. Fairphone cofounder Miquel Ballester lays out how his latest device improves on the smartphone status quo. —Belinda Lanks AN ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACH Fairphone’s catalog of easy-to-install parts makes upgrades simple and affordable. Want the latest camera? Instead of buying a whole new phone, just swap in an updated photo unit. The Fairphone 2 also allows two SIM cards, so you can use separate personal and work numbers. “That has an immediate…

Spring’s accelerator boot camps Startup accelerator Spring, which launched last year, nurtures businesses that benefit adolescent girls in East Africa and South Asia. In 2015, the group organized a design-focused boot camp in Nairobi, Kenya, and similar projects are now set to take place in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Here are some of the businesses that took part in the Kenya sessions. —BL SANIVATION Started by a pair of Georgia Institute of Technology grads, this company installs free toilets in homes that don’t have access to a sewer system (it charges a fee to cart away waste, which it then turns into charcoal briquettes). The Sanivation toilet addresses several issues related to public pit latrines, such as sanitation, privacy, and safety. “We look at girls as indirect consumers who can…