Learning braille is a skill that, like most, is best learned at an early age by those who need it. But toddlers with vision impairment often have few or no options to do so, leaving them behind their peers academically and socially. The BecDot is a toy created by parents ...
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These high-speed ‘nano-cranes’ could form molecular assembly lines
Things aren’t going well down at the ol’ nano-factory. They’re having trouble getting all those tiny workers to synchronize and move quickly together. But leave it to the Germans to get things running smoothly! All it took was a careful application of that newfangled technology “electricity.” Tiny nano-scale machines formed ...
Read More »Tile lays off dozens after a disappointing holiday
Tile, one of the best known item-tracking gadgets out there, has laid off some 30 people and reportedly stopped the potential hires of another 10, TechCrunch has learned. This comes less than a year after the company raised a $25 million B round last May. The layoffs are reportedly due ...
Read More »This small robotic stingray could be the future of biological bots
What do you get when you smush a bunch off live heart cells, specialized biomaterials, and electrodes into a tiny, stingray-shaped package? If you said “lunch” than you’re wrong. Instead, you get the first example of bioinspired robotic systems that can imitate nature using both electrical and organic components. The ...
Read More »The self-contained Fusion electric guitar lets you truly rock out
As a hard-core rocker and roller I find that my gear has to be ready to rock and/or roll at a moment’s notice. There is no telling when I’ll have to lay out a face-melter during jury duty or blast out some Stairway while giving plasma at the local blood ...
Read More »CES should move to an innovative city
CES, the yearly bacchanal of tech and innovation, has outgrown its shell. Las Vegas has been home to the event since the late 1970s and, for better or worse, the city has survived and served the influx of technologists who flock to the event each year to see the latest ...
Read More »39 million Americans now own a smart speaker, report claims
One in six Americans now own a smart speaker, according to new research out this week from NPR and Edison Research – a figure that’s up 128 percent from January, 2017. Amazon’s Echo speakers are still in the lead, the report says, as 11 percent now own an Amazon Alexa ...
Read More »The secret to avoiding CES cynicism is never really going
I’ve been going to CES for almost ten years now, and it amazes me that really, nothing has changed that whole time. The same people are saying the same things on the same stages, selling the same people the same junk with slightly higher price tags. But this year I ...
Read More »Cherry’s new low-profile switches may help bring mechanical keyboards to more laptops
You may not think much about the switches that sit underneath the keycaps of your keyboard, but there’s a large contingent of enthusiasts who really, really care. And for those users, Cherry’s various MX-branded switches are somewhat of a standard. Because they include a number of mechanical parts, though, you ...
Read More »Mercedes-Benz’s new MBUX in-car assistant and smart UI rocks
It’s rare that I pay much attention to automaker infotainment and multimedia system updates at CES – usually there’s too much going on with autonomy, electrification and mobility services to give it much thought. This year, however, Mercedes-Benz had one of the most interesting announcements at the show with its ...
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