Tech

RIP Your Dreams of Never Folding Laundry Again, the Laundroid Is Dead

The next time you find yourself worried about the robot apocalypse, remember that after years of development this little robot couldn’t even fold laundry.Read more...
Tags: Gadgets, Science, Clothing, Tech, Ces, Robots, Laundry, Consumer Tech, Seven Dreamers, Laundroid

Alexa, how is smart home technology changing the way we live?

We want to see the future, and it wants to hear from us. Voice assistant speakers like those from Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant now dominate the smart home market, and the reason isn’t complicated: voice control is the simplest, most seamless way to make all of your smart home devices play nice and work together. With these smart speakers and hubs, you can say just a few words and the coffeemaker starts in the kitchen, lights turn on, window blinds go up, the TV flips on and the dog gets foo...
Tags: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Technology, Samsung, Siri, Sport, Cta, Ces, Things To Do, Soccer, Brookfield, Faa, Boeing, Voice

How Nuro plans to spend Softbank’s $940 million

Autonomous delivery startup Nuro is bursting with ideas since SoftBank invested nearly $1 billion in February, new filings reveal. A recent patent application details how its R1 self-driving vehicle could carry smaller robots to cross lawns or climb stairs to drop off packages. The company has even taken the step of trademarking the name “Fido” for delivery services. “We think there’s something neat about that name,” Nuro founder Dave Ferguson told TechCrunch. “It’s friendly, neigh...
Tags: Google, Amazon, Transportation, Lyft, Uber, Texas, California, China, Softbank, Tech, E-commerce, Ces, Cruise, Automotive, Automation, Arizona

How Oracle inadvertently helped Nvidia spend $6.9 billion to win a deal away from Intel (INTC, ORCL, NVDA)

Chip maker Nvidia announced the largest acquisition in its history on Monday when it said it planned to buy Mellanox for $6.9 billion cash. It's a big win for Nvidia which reportedly jumped into the bidding late and pulled the company away from Intel. But the roots of the deal may have actually happened in 2018 when Oracle sold off its shares in Mellanox. Chip maker Nvidia announced the largest acquisition in its history on Monday with its plan to buy Mellanox for $6.9 billion cash. Mellanox ...
Tags: Google, Facebook, Supreme Court, Samsung, Trends, Cisco, Intel, Ces, Nvidia, HPC, Ibm, Oracle, Mellanox, QLogic, Microsoft Intel, InfiniBand

Talking Tech, Gender, Pleasure and Politics With Lora DiCarlo’s Founder

"Hold the phone, did you just call women's sexual health and wellness 'profane?'"
Tags: Politics, Design, Interviews, Sex, Sexism, Tech, Ces, Feminism, Nsfw, Lgbtq, Sex Toys, Tech Industry, Inclusivity, LGBTQ Community, Pleasure Objects, Lora DiCarlo

Weekly Roundup, Friday 22 February 2019

Enjoy the good life in the beautiful towns and villages of France’s Loire Valley this September. See details below. Good morningThere’s more craziness this week than I can remember for a long while, and much of it gleefully commented on in the last couple of items below.I prepared a review of a fun little gadget that I’d got prior to Christmas, and was going to present it to you this morning.  But I checked and could no longer find the gadget on Amazon, or on the official supplier website either...
Tags: Travel, Google, Amazon, Europe, England, London, California, France, Scotland, Trains, Miscellaneous, US, Samsung, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Newsletter

Twitter opens applications for its ‘prototype’ program, first tests to focus on fixing conversations

Twitter today is opening up applications for its new testing program, first announced at CES in January. The program potentially can cover any and every aspect of the Twitter experience, but the first set of tests will focus on how interactions between people, and specifically replies, appear on Twitter. They will include a new design for replies to make it easier to follow a conversation; rounded shapes on reply tweets; indents to follow responses; hiding engagement and sharing behind a tap ...
Tags: Social, TC, Apps, Twitter, Tech, Ces, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Haider, NDA, Kara Swisher, Sara Haider, Twitter Rules

Twitter opens applications for its beta program, first tests to focus on fixing conversations

Twitter today is opening up applications for its new testing program, first announced at CES in January. The program potentially can cover any and every aspect of the Twitter experience, but the first set of tests will focus on how interactions between people, and specifically replies, appear on Twitter. They will include a new design for replies to make it easier to follow a conversation; rounded shapes on reply tweets; indents to follow responses; hiding engagement and sharing behind a tap ...
Tags: Social, TC, Apps, Twitter, Tech, Ces, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Haider, NDA, Kara Swisher, Sara Haider, Twitter Rules

This USB-C To Lightning Cable Gives Your Apple Device Superpowers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know that the USB-C standard is one of the biggest and best things to happen to consumer gadgets. The port is universal and is capable of doing quite a lot, including both power and data transfer. USB-C can power anything from a smartphone to a laptop, is capable of much higher data transfer speeds, and probably the most important feature yet… fast charging.Companies are eager to jump onto the USB-C bandwagon, with big players like Griffin, Belkin,...
Tags: Apple, Deals, Design, Ces, Macbook, Lightning, Lightning cable, Anker, Product Design, Apple MFi, Cascade Cable, Griffin Belkin, Apple MFI Lightning, Cascade Cable Since Apple, Admiral Galaxy Anchor and Black Magic

Xiaomi schedules MWC 2019 event on February 24, Mi MIX 3 5G expected [Update: Invite]

Update - February 13, 2019: Xiaomi has sent out invites for the February 24 event and has also teased it on social channels. The event starts at 10:30 AM CET (3PM IST). The invite doesn't give any hint on what to expect. Earlier rumors revealed that the company will launch the Mi MIX 3 5G. It will also likely showcase the Mi 9 after it goes official February 20th. Counting the days until #MWC19 Guess the products we're going to release! #MakeItHappen pic.twitter.com/dv9NQVUHMQ — Mi (@xiaom...
Tags: News, Samsung, Blogging, Ces, Xiaomi, Qualcomm, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Mwc 2019, Xiaomi MWC 2019

iRobot’s robotic lawnmower was 10 years in the making

Meet Terra, the latest product line from iRobot destined to be forever known as the “Roomba for lawns.” There are worse names, of course. After all, with the Roomba line, iRobot was able do what countless startups have tried and failed before and after — introduce a truly mainstream home robot. If the Massachusetts-based hardware company is able to do the same for yard work, it will be a truly impressive feat indeed. Like most of what iRobot does, however, work on the lawn-mowing robot has b...
Tags: TC, Hardware, Germany, Massachusetts, Tech, Ces, Honda, Robotics, Roomba, Irobot, Wichita, Terra, Colin Angle, Bedford Mass, Terra Codenamed

Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle debuts at CES

It may have taken five years, but Harley-Davidson’s vision for the electric motorcycle market is here and ready for pre-order. First conceptualized with a prototype in 2014, the production-ready model made its European debut at the Milan press conference of the EICMA show last November and appeared again at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January. The company reports that deliveries on the sleek, speedy ride will ship in the fall, 2019 and the price tag will be $29,79...
Tags: Design, Technology, Milan, Ces, Las Vegas, Bright Ideas, Electric, Charging, Battery, Harley-davidson, Motorcycle, Consumer Electronics Show CES, Electric Motorcycle, CES2019. CES

Could the Future of Skincare Shopping Eliminate the Need For In-Store Beauty Consultants?

If you're invested in skin care - and if you buy skincare products, you know it's often an investment - there's a few shopping options we've all grown accustomed to: purchasing online after reading or watching reviews, deciding to buy after seeing a post (or more likely, #ad) on Instagram, or taking a chance in a store. The latter has been somewhat of an alleged ghost town for consumers; in 2019, we have everything we need at our fingertips. I say "alleged" because many publications like to cove...
Tags: Instagram, Singapore, Los Angeles, Tech, Ces, Beauty, Shanghai, Tokyo, Skin Care, Sephora, Sunset Boulevard, Ulta, Beauty News, Jouer, SK-II, Facial Treatment Essence

Could the Future of Skincare Shopping Eliminate the Need For In-Store Beauty Consultants?

If you're invested in skincare - and if you buy skincare products, you know it's often an investment - there's a few shopping options we've all grown accustomed to: purchasing online after reading or watching reviews, deciding to buy after seeing a post (or more likely, #ad) on Instagram, or taking a chance in a store. The latter has been somewhat of an alleged ghost town for consumers; in 2019, we have everything we need at our fingertips. I say "alleged" because many publications like to cover...
Tags: Instagram, Singapore, Religion, Los Angeles, Tech, Ces, Shanghai, Tokyo, Skin Care, Sephora, Sunset Boulevard, Ulta, Beauty News, Jouer, SK-II, Facial Treatment Essence

Lenovo’s smart speaker also doubles as your bedside alarm clock

Imagine your Google Home Mini grew a screen, and displayed the time. That’s what the Lenovo Smart Clock is, and it’s positioned as the perfect smart speaker for your bedside. With a 4-inch IPS touchscreen display alongside the smart speaker, the Smart Clock accepts voice commands, and replies back to you not just with voice, but occasionally with visual data too. Designed to be the smart speaker that wakes you up and gets you ready for the day, the Lenovo Smart Clock is like a dedicated Google-b...
Tags: Google, Gadgets, Design, Audio, Ces, Lenovo, Product Design, Smart Clock, Google Home Mini, Ces2019

For Immediate Release 172: The double-edged sword of a Facebook meme

Suspicion about the consequences and outcomes of the #10YearChallenge meme on Facebook kicked off discussion in the January episode of “The Hobson & Holtz Report”, aka FIR podcast episode 172. Is it just a harmless meme? Or is it a surveillance nightmare? Shel and Neville weight in. Here’s the line-up of all the topics that caught our attention and prompted lively conversation in this episode: Lost trust in Facebook led to wariness about a user-generated meme.Adobe is bringing part...
Tags: Google, Facebook, Europe, Business, Politics, Technology, Instagram, Adobe, Social Networks, Advertising, Marketing, Communication, Public Relations, Eu, Society, Blogging

FaceID… now for pets too.

Imagine this. You’ve got more than one pet. Probably a family of cats or dogs or both. You keep separate feeding bowls for each, but when you’re not around, there’s that one dastardly pet that dominates all those bowls. One pet that bullies the others and eats their food. That’s a problem, right? It’s not the most glamorous problem for technology and artificial intelligence to solve, but it’s a problem nevertheless.Showcased at CES 2019 (and also a winner of the CES Innovation Award), Mookkie’...
Tags: Google, Pet, Design, Technology, Pets, Ces, Artificial Intelligence, Bowl, Product Design, Mookie, Ces2019, Mookkie

The Cascade Cables Are The USB-C To Lightning Cable Gives Your Apple Device Superpowers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know that the USB-C standard is one of the biggest and best things to happen to consumer gadgets. The port is universal and is capable of doing quite a lot, including both power and data transfer. USB-C can power anything from a smartphone to a laptop, is capable of much higher data transfer speeds, and probably the most important feature yet… fast charging.Companies are eager to jump onto the USB-C bandwagon, with big players like Griffin, Belkin,...
Tags: Apple, Deals, Design, Technology, Ces, Macbook, Lightning, Lightning cable, Popular, Anker, Product Design, Random, Apple MFi, Charging Cable, Cascade Cable, Eastern Collective

Smart Products Abound at CES 2019

From mirrors to coffee machines, assistants are migrating into nearly every product At this year’s CES, countless products on display promoted their assisted capabilities. Last year’s show delivered us the first glimpses of virtual assistants embedded into everyday devices, but 2019 previewed the phenomenon’s mainstreaming—Google Assistant in a mirror, Amazon’s Alexa taking queries from inside your toilet and more. There is valid skepticism about the possibility of …
Tags: Google, Amazon, Design, Tech, Ces, Devices, Alexa, Consumer Electronics Show, Smart appliances, Amazon Alexa, Smart Tech, Google Assistant, CES 2019

AR startup Meta’s assets sold to a mystery ‘known name’ that will support existing headsets

Augmented reality technology enables us to see things in places where they may not actually exist. And sometimes, that paradigm might also apply to augmented reality startups themselves. Meta, the AR startup that was incubated at Y-Combinator and became the first to ship a set of “end-to-end” AR glasses (including hardware, software, direct tracking optics and SDK) to the market, raising a lot of money and high hopes in the process — only to crash, in recent weeks, into insolvency as it ran both...
Tags: TC, China, US, Tech, Ces, Silicon Valley, Las Vegas, Meta, Magic Leap, Lenovo, Sdk, Blippar, Gribetz, Meron Gribetz Meta, Tencent Dolby Comcast

Testing ZF’s Autonomous Ride-Hailing Taxi

We try out a robo-taxi at CES, and learn where the industry really is at on the road to autonomous lifts As Silicon Valley and the car industry continue to converge, we’re seeing an increasing presence of autonomous cars at the Consumer Electronics Show, including an autonomous robo-taxi that we caught a ride in this year. The ZF Autonomous Ride-Hailing Taxi is a prototype that’s meant …
Tags: Design, Tech, Ces, Silicon Valley, Autonomous Cars, Taxi, Consumer Electronics Show, Autonomous Driving, ZF, CES 2019

OrCam’s MyMe uses facial recognition to remember everyone you meet

Meet the Orcam MyMe, a tiny device that you clip on your T-shirt to help you remember faces. The OrCam MyMe features a small smartphone-like camera and a proprietary facial-recognition algorithm so that you can associate names with faces. It can be a useful device at business conferences, or to learn more about how you spend a typical day. This isn’t OrCam’s first device. The company has been selling the MyEye for a few years. It’s a wearable device for visually impaired people that you clip to ...
Tags: Google, Gadgets, Tech, Ces, Orcam, CES 2019, OrCam MyMe

Streaming TV service Philo to launch a co-viewing feature for watching with friends

Following last year’s $40 million raise, low-cost streaming service Philo is preparing to further differentiate itself from rivals with the launch of a new feature that will allow viewers to watch shows together in real-time. With co-viewing, the company hopes to make a case for choosing Philo that goes beyond its affordability. Instead, the company hopes subscribers will pick Philo simply because it’s a better way to watch TV. It’s only been 14 months since Philo first introduced its take on...
Tags: Facebook, Video, TV, Television, Media, Tech, Ces, Netflix, Showtime, Starz, Streaming, Hulu, Cord Cutting, Streaming Service, Philo, Streaming Tv

Xiaomi schedules MWC 2019 event on February 24, Mi MIX 3 5G expected

Xiaomi did not introduce anything at the CES earlier this month, but the company has announced an event at the MWC on February 24th next month. It did not say what it will unveil the event, but we can expect the Mi MIX 3 5G that was teased at the Mi MIX 3 event back in October last year. It also said that the 5G version will launch in Q1 2019 and it has on display in Qualcomm booth at CES. The 5G verion of the Mi MIX 3 will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem. Qualcomm at the CES...
Tags: News, Samsung, Blogging, Ces, Xiaomi, Qualcomm, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Mwc 2019, Xiaomi MWC 2019

Electric Mobility Innovation at CES 2019

Beyond cars, some of our favorite one- and two-wheel vehicles At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the attendees were hovering, around many major car brands’ electric vehicles and the numerous future-fantasy aircrafts on show. Audi and Mercedes-Benz unveiled theirs, while Nissan debuted a revision of an earlier debut, and Bell collaborated with Uber. But, some of the most practical innovations on exhibition this year plan to solve …
Tags: Design, Tech, Ces, Bikes, Scooters, Electric Vehicles, Mobility, Segway, Bmw, Audi, Nissan, Harley Davidson, Bell, Yamaha, Mercedes Benz, Personal Mobility

There’s Now a Smart Toilet With an Alexa Speaker, but You Won't Believe What It Costs

Are you frequently underwhelmed by your toilet? The manufacturing company Kohler is right there with you, it seems, as it showed off a brand-new shiny smart toilet at this week's CES 2019 (Consumer Electronics Show), and it certainly grabbed the attention of the media, who were there reporting on the latest life-changing gadgets and robots. The impressive design is like nothing we've ever seen - it plays music (love it), offers completely customizable ambient lighting (because, let's be honest,...
Tags: Religion, Tech, Ces, Cnbc, Bathrooms, Kohler, Amazon Alexa, Numi, Alexa Speaker

Amazon upgrades its Fire TV Stick with the new Alexa Voice Remote

Amazon is giving its Fire TV Stick an upgrade. The company announced today it will now ship the Fire TV Stick with the new version of the Alexa Voice Remote launched last fall. The remote allows users to control other devices besides their Fire TV, thanks to its support for both Bluetooth and multi-directional infrared. However, the upgraded remote won’t impact the Fire TV Stick’s price, which remains $39.99. The new Alexa remote was arrived alongside the $49.99 Fire TV Stick 4K in October. I...
Tags: Amazon, TC, Tech, Ces, Streaming, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV, Voice, Amazon Fire TV, Cord Cutting, Alexa, Streaming Media Player, Voice Assistant, Alexa Voice Remote

Lenovo’s ultraportable speaker is as slim and small as your phone

The Lenovo 700 Ultraportable Bluetooth Speaker is quite literally the most portable one ever. Most portable Bluetooth speakers are portable alright, but they aren’t slip-into-your-pocket portable. Audio drivers tend to have depth/thickness to them, resulting in speakers that may be small and lightweight, but are almost always chunky too, making them ideal for laptop bags, but not pant pockets.Lenovo’s latest offering wants to be the kind of Bluetooth speaker you carry around with you, the way ...
Tags: Music, Design, Audio, Speakers, Ces, Bluetooth Speaker, Nfc, Lenovo, Portable Audio, Ultraportable, 700, Ces2019

The Weird, Bizarre, and Amusing Tech at CES 2019

For all the cool gadgets that get shown off at CES, there’s also a bunch of things that make even the most jaded tech bloggers squint in a mix of confusion and amused befuddlement. Some of it you’ll find on the main show floor, others you’ll find in the nooks and corners at the Sands Expo and Eureka Park.Read more...
Tags: Gadgets, Science, Tech, Ces, Consumer Tech, Sands Expo, CES 2019, Eureka Park Read

There’s Now a Smart Toilet With an Alexa Speaker, but You Won't Believe What It Costs

Are you frequently underwhelmed by your toilet? The manufacturing company Kohler is right there with you, it seems, as it showed off a brand-new shiny smart toilet at this week's CES 2019 (Consumer Electronics Show), and it certainly grabbed the attention of the media, who were there reporting on the latest life-changing gadgets and robots. The impressive design is like nothing we've ever seen - it plays music (love it), offers completely customizable ambient lighting (because, let's be honest,...
Tags: Religion, Tech, Ces, Cnbc, Bathrooms, Kohler, Amazon Alexa, Numi, Alexa Speaker