News: Google has unveiled a new prototype of its modular smartphone with swappable components, which the project's design head Gadi Amit says will allow users to "be the designer of their own phone" (+ slideshow). More about Google takes next step towards Project Ara modular phone launch
Cardiac radiographer and designer Brooke Roberts has used digital knitting technology to create garments with patterns based on MRI brain scans and medical imagery (+ interview). More about Brooke Roberts turns brain scans into knitwear patterns
CES 2015: a bicycle pedal that can notify the owner if their vehicle has been moved was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. More about Connected pedal protects bicycles from theft
CES 2015: the makers of the first popular 3D-printing pen 3Doodler have unveiled a smaller device, which weighs just 50 grams. More about WobbleWorks unveils new pen for drawing 3D objects in the air
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: Dutch designer Teresa van Dongen explains how she created a lamp powered by bioluminescent bacteria usually found on octopuses, in this movie filmed in Eindhoven. More about Teresa van Dongen's bioluminescent lamp is "a new way to create light"
News: luxury watch brand Montblanc has entered the wearable technology market, choosing to add a device to its straps instead of turning its analogue timepieces into smartwatches. More about Montblanc introduces luxury smart strap for analogue watches
News: a company has been set up to work on and deliver Elon Musk's high-speed Hyperloop transport system, which uses magnets and fans to propel passenger capsules through a network of pipes. More about Elon Musk’s supersonic Hyperloop could be built "within the decade"
News: hackers could exploit wireless and internet-based technologies already being used in new car designs to take control of vehicles – creating the potential for a "terrorist-type threat". More about Connected cars face hacking threat thanks to wireless safety features
Speakers that form an "eight-channel robotic choir" bob up and down in response to a singer's voice in a setup by Polish studio Pangenerator (+ movie). More about Pangenerator creates troop of robotic backing singers and dancers
Dezeen's design editor Dan Howarth picks 10 of his favourite gadgets from this year, including a fish that steers its own tank and a vaginal activity monitor. More about Dezeen's top 10 gadgets of 2014
News: Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka has created a see-through case for the latest Firefox smartphone from telecommunications company KDDI. More about Tokujin Yoshioka designs transparent smartphone for KDDI
Not a fan of cold turkey? London product design firm Seymourpowell has developed a conceptual app to "design out Christmas food waste" for a future free from excessive leftovers. More about Seymourpowell's Waste-Free Christmas Dinner Maker is an app to tackle festive food waste
News: autonomous vehicles in urban areas could be up to thirty years away, according to Audi's Thomas Müller, the engineer leading the development of the brand's driverless sports car (+ interview). More about Driverless cars in cities still "20 to 30 years" away, says senior Audi engineer
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: Salomé Galjaard of engineering firm Arup says 3D-printed building components will result in more efficient and diverse architectural forms (+ movie). More about 3D-printed structural components will lead to "new building shapes"
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: engineering student Martijn Lammers, part of the team behind the world's "first solar-powered family car," claims most vehicles could be powered by the sun in future. More about Solar-powered cars could become standard "within 30 years"
Austria-based Livin Studio has created a process to cultivate edible fungi that digests plastic as it grows (+ movie). More about Fungi Mutarium turns waste plastic into edible treats
News: New York's MoMA has acquired a "4D-printed" dress that automatically changes shape, and the technology used to create it, a month after the museum added five DIY electronics products to its permanent collection. More about MoMA acquires "4D-printed" dress
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: in this movie filmed at Dutch Design Week, Essi Johanna Glomb and Rasa Weber of Berlin studio Blond and Bieber explain how algae can be used to create completely non-toxic textile dyes. More about Blond and Bieber's dyes made from algae "don't harm nature at all"
News: Willy Wonka's glass elevator moves one step closer to reality with this new design for lifts that can move horizontally as well as vertically, and which promise to never make you wait longer than 30 seconds. More about Revolutionary elevator uses magnets to move sideways
Global design consultancy IDEO has developed a series of concept vehicles that imagine how autonomous vehicles could transform the way we work, shop and travel (+ movie). More about IDEO envisions a future where self-driving workplaces commute to you