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Art studio coming to Annapolis Towne Centre

A studio space that specializes in painting classes will be opening at the Annapolis Towne Centre this spring.

Muse Paintbar will occupy a roughly 2,000-square-foot space in the area near Smyth Jewelers and Cleo’s Fine Oils & Vinegars on Towne Centre Boulevard. It is an art studio for all ages…

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Retail changes continue at Mall in Columbia

Two women’s clothing retailers will be closing their doors at the Mall in Columbia by the end of the month, leaving some shoppers wondering if possible rent increases by mall owner General Growth Properties are out-pricing some stores.

Management at the mall’s Chico’s and Kokopelli stores confirmed…

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How To Avoid Making Products No One Wants

Before designing a user experience, try “product thinking” to discern whether the experience is worth using.

The term “user experience” often conjures up simple, beautiful, easy-to-use feature sets that make the user’s life easier. But the core user experience is not a set of features; it is the job users “hire” the product for. Uber’s core user experience is to get a taxi. The countdown, displaying when the taxi will arrive, is a feature that expands this experience. But Uber’s product works regardless of the feature. The countdown, on the other hand, cannot live without the product. There is a one-way interrelationship between feature and product: Features don’t work without the product. This is why designers should think in terms of products first.

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Meet The Booming Design Practice That’s Transforming Mexico City

Architect Fernando Romero tells us what fuels his creative vision, from rapid prototyping to Mayan culture.

Mexico City–based architect Fernando Romero‘s most recent project isn’t a building, but a scintillating orb made from thousands of custom-cut crystals. Illuminated from within, El Sol, as it’s named, features a tessellated surface composed of triangular prisms—a nod to the pyramids that were so meaningful to Aztec and Mayan culture. There’s an aural element to the piece, too: a soundtrack of acoustic waves produced by the sun, which astronomers at the University of Birmingham have recorded since the 1970s. The piece throws light around a room and gives off a disco ball vibe that’s fitting, since Swarovski commissioned it for the tradeshow-cum-social-event Design Miami.

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Donald Trump Says He’d Get Apple To Make Its Products In America

Here’s why that will never happen.

At a rally on Monday, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump vowed that he would get Apple to makes its products in America if he is elected president, Gawker reports. Speaking to a crowd of supporters at Liberty University in Virginia, Trump declared, “We’re going to get Apple to build their damn computers in this country instead of other countries.”

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Apple, Samsung, And Other Tech Giants Accused Of Using Batteries Made With Child Labor

Amnesty International says children as young as 7 are used to mine cobalt, a key component in lithium-ion batteries.

Amnesty International has issued a damning report claiming that Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Sony and car makers Daimler and Volkswagen are not doing enough to ensure that minerals mined by child laborers are not making it into the batteries the companies use to power their products. The report traced the sale of cobalt, one of the main components used to make lithium-ion batteries, from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo where children as young as 7 are used to mine the material.

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Cosmic Couture Is Here With Virgin Galactic Spacesuits By Adidas Y-3

Travel through the space-time continuum in style.

Hollywood often envisions astronauts of the future in bulky, bulbous get-ups—more deep-sea diver than trendsetter—but the new design by Adidas Y-3 for Virgin Galactic looks instead to the sleek, fitted jumpsuits of race car drivers for inspiration. Eventually all astronauts, pilots, operations and maintenance teams, and hosting staff of Richard Branson’s consumer spaceline will don the custom pieces.

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Hard Work Is Overrated

People say they love hard workers but they really love natural talent—a bias with troubling implications when it comes to hiring.

In his 2016 State of the Union address, President Obama spoke of the “uniquely American belief that everybody who works hard should get a fair shot.” It’s a hopeful value we all say we share: rooting for the striver who ascends the corporate and social ladder through years of grit and effort. But it’s also one that past evidence suggests we’re willing to betray—demonstrated by all the companies and colleges that select applicants with natural talent or untapped potential over those who’ve advanced by hard work alone.

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