Volkswagen Reaches $14.7 Billion Settlement In Emissions Cheating Scheme

Volkswagen agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle major claims in the U.S. against the company over its emissions cheating scheme.

A House of the Future You Might Actually Want to Live In

Sharing much more than the rent with speculative housing models. The post A House of the Future You Might Actually Want to Live In appeared first on WIRED.

We Went on the VR Field Trip of Tomorrow. Here's What We Saw

This is the field trip of the future, as imagined by Google's Expeditions Pioneer Program. The post We Went on the VR Field Trip of Tomorrow. Here's What We Saw appeared first on WIRED.

Sphero's Ball-Bot Teaches Kids How to Roll Their Own Apps

The second-generation Sphero SPRK+ is an educational version of the robot that's gaining steam in STEAM curriculum. The post Sphero's Ball-Bot Teaches Kids How to Roll Their Own Apps appeared first on WIRED.

Mathieu Lehanneur adds pink light fittings to interior of Louvre's Cafe Mollien

French designer Mathieu Lehanneur has renovated a cafe inside the Louvre in Paris, adding modern pink acrylic light fixtures that contrast with their historical surrounds (+ slideshow). (more…)

White Arkitekter wins housing design contest for the Faroe Islands

Swedish firm White Arkitekter has won a competition to design a sustainable housing development on a sloped, uninhabited hillside in the Faroe Islands. (more…)

Here's What Happens Inside the Mind of a Filibusterer

What happens to a person who talks for hours on end? The post Here's What Happens Inside the Mind of a Filibusterer appeared first on WIRED.

Google Fonts unveils huge redesign

Google Fonts is the latest Google service that's gotten a design makeover. The directory of free web fonts makes it a cinch for designers to customize fonts, share fonts with their colleagues, and even collaborate on fonts with the original designer.

In a tweet on its official Twitter stream, Google Fonts announced that it had debuted a new look that would streamline browsing for new fonts. People who need fonts for their sites or applications now have a much more accessible service to use.

When you compare the old version of Fonts to the new version, the contrast is notable.The new design is defined by less clutter, more colors, and a cleaner user experience.

The new design is defined by less clutter, more colors, and a cleaner user experience

Whereas the old version showcased typefaces in rectangular boxes from left to right, the new version makes sensible use of card-based design to both organize and show off Google's family of open-source fonts. The overall result is a presentation that has to contend with less clutter, which makes it easier for designers, developers and users to navigate through the site to find fonts they like.

The shift of the main content to the center of the page allows the use of white space to be really effective. In the old design, white space was unfocused as different page elements competed for attention.

Minimalism

The new design features less navigation than the old design. Whereas there was a navigation bar that let designers see various typefaces in action based on words, sentences, paragraphs and poster tabs, all of this has been removed in the new rollout. Instead, designers now only get to see the display choices when they hover their cursors on the actual font cards; there, they'll be greeted with different drop-down boxes for the preview text and styles.

The size-selection dropdown box has been removed and is now a single slider in every card. Further, the filters dealing with different categories and how to sort all the fonts have been moved from the left sidebar to the right sidebar.

Color

Perhaps in keeping with its Material Design sensibilities, Google has also introduced more color into its Fonts service. The old design only featured blue and white, which made the use of white space ineffective since most of the page was white anyway.

The new design allows users to pick their color scheme: Clicking on the “change background color” icon will let users choose between pink, black, blue and yellow for the background. All display good contrast, but some background colors work better than others.

A welcome sight for designers who want a hassle-free experience

UX

The UX is really what matters most at the end of the day. Google Fonts' redesign has improved the UX to maximum efficiency. When designers are interested in a font, they can click on “see specimen” to arrive on a new page that tells them all the font particulars as well as info on the typeface designer. The old version actually used popup windows to present the same info.

Users also have the option to hide the search bar, which the old design didn't allow.

All in all, the Fonts update should be a welcome sight for designers who want a hassle-free experience in choosing a new font for their web projects. The clean design helps deliver an improved UX that makes navigation easier.

Learn to Master Framer JS and Add Interaction to Your Static Designs – only $27!

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Barefoot Networks' New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry

Barefoot is building a chip that will let the world's biggest Internet companies program how traffic moves through their data centers. The post Barefoot Networks' New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry appeared first on WIRED.

Circle June 23. A Vote That Day In The U.K. Could Affect Your Wallet

Most economists say an upcoming vote to determine the United Kingdom's role in the EU is a big deal. The so-called Brexit vote might upset trade deals, financial markets and currencies, they argue.

Freebie: Soccer Icon Set (13 Icons AI, EPS, SVG, PNG)

Some folks love it, some hate it. Today's icon set, designed by Manuela Langella, is dedicated to both lovers and haters of... football! That's right, the 2016 UEFA European Championship starts tomorrow. Clink! Clink! Let the games begin!

You may modify the size, color or shape of the icons. No attribution is required, though reselling bundles or individual pictograms isn't cool. Please note that this icon set is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. We'd kindly like to ask you to provide credits to the creator and link to this article if you would like to spread the word about the freebie.

The post Freebie: Soccer Icon Set (13 Icons AI, EPS, SVG, PNG) appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Culture Podcast: Turn Off Game of Thrones and Grab a Book Not About Thrones

On this week's WIRED Culture podcast we're talking about turning off the screens and opening up some books. The post Culture Podcast: Turn Off Game of Thrones and Grab a Book Not About Thrones appeared first on WIRED.

This Was Louise's Phone

Experience the hell of cyber bullying and join the fight.

Adjaye and Henning Larsen reveal shortlisted designs for Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art

Adjaye Associates, Henning Larsen Architects and Caruso St John are among the seven shortlisted teams that have today unveiled their designs for a major new art museum in the Latvian capital (+ slideshow). (more…)

Game|Life Podcast: The Future of Plastic Gaming Toys

Skylanders, Rock Band, Mirror's Edge, and Minecraft are the topics of the day on WIRED's gaming podcast. The post Game|Life Podcast: The Future of Plastic Gaming Toys appeared first on WIRED.

Documents Reveal High-Pressure Sales Environment Inside Trump University

A federal judge released hundreds of documents related to Trump University, which is being sued for fraud. They show a high-pressure sales environment where employees were taught how to keep selling expensive packages of real estate classes, even when customers balked.