At Kaptivo, a company that’s bringing high-tech image recognition, motion capture and natural language processing technologies to the lowly whiteboard, executives are hoping that the second time is the charm. The Cambridge, U.K. and San Mateo, Calif.-based company began life as a company called Light Blue Optics, and had raised $50 million in financing since… Continue reading Kaptivo looks to digitally transform the lowly whiteboard
Category: Gadgets
The Velop AC3900 mesh router offers cheaper whole-home Internet
The whole-home wireless craze peaked and waned last year with the rise of Orbi, Eero, Google WiFi, and Linksys’ Velop. These routers use mesh technology to blanket your home in soft, velvety Wi-Fi, ensuring that everything from the front camera/lamp to the Wi-Fi-connected grill in the back yard are connected to the Internet. I’ve tested… Continue reading The Velop AC3900 mesh router offers cheaper whole-home Internet
Jiobit launches its more secure, modular child location tracker starting at $100
To date, child location trackers have failed to live up to consumer expectations. They’ve arrived as oversized, bulky watches too large for little wrists, and some have even been designed so insecurely, that it would be safer to not use them at all. A new kid tracker from Jiobit, launching today, wants to address these… Continue reading Jiobit launches its more secure, modular child location tracker starting at $100
A friendly robotic arm plays tic-tac-toe to help rehabilitate patients
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel are building a tic-tac-toe game to help patients with their rehabilitation exercises. The game is played on a grid of boxes and includes “embodied” and non-embodied play. Embodied play means a robotic arm will grab and place a marker – in this case a small cup… Continue reading A friendly robotic arm plays tic-tac-toe to help rehabilitate patients
NASA’s InSight Mars lander will gaze (and drill) into the depths of the Red Planet
NASA’s latest mission to Mars, InSight, is set to launch early Saturday morning in pursuit of a number of historic firsts in space travel and planetology. The lander’s instruments will probe the surface of the planet and monitor its seismic activity with unprecedented precision, while a pair of diminutive CubeSats riding shotgun will test the… Continue reading NASA’s InSight Mars lander will gaze (and drill) into the depths of the Red Planet
Watch these robotic soccer players play a nail-biter of a match
As a hater of all sports, I am particularly excited about the imminent replacement of humans with robots in soccer. If this exciting match, the Standard Platform League (SPL) final of the German Open featuring the Nao-Team HTWK vs. Nao Devils, is any indication, the future is going to be great. The robots are all… Continue reading Watch these robotic soccer players play a nail-biter of a match
LG adds more AI camera features and a notch for the G7 ThinQ
LG has done a really terrible job keeping the G7 ThinQ under wraps. But clearly the company doesn’t mind. Building up the hype cycle is clearly more important to the handset maker than any kind of big reveal. In addition to leaked images from nearly every angle, the company has already issued several official press… Continue reading LG adds more AI camera features and a notch for the G7 ThinQ
Smart dresser helps dementia sufferers put their clothes on right
It goes without saying that getting dressed is one of the most critical steps in our daily routine. But long practice has made it second nature, and people suffering from dementia may lose that familiarity, making dressing a difficult and frustrating process. This smart dresser from NYU is meant to help them through the process… Continue reading Smart dresser helps dementia sufferers put their clothes on right
Attack of the clones
Lego – or LEGO – is expensive and kids – my kids in particular – want a lot of it. Our basement looks like the returns department of a major toy store, covered from corner to corner with toys and, most notably, and endless minefield of little building blocks. And we enjoy building models and… Continue reading Attack of the clones
This soft robotic arm is straight out of Big Hero 6 (it’s even from Disney)
The charming robot at the heart of Disney’s Big Hero 6, Baymax, isn’t exactly realistic, but its puffy bod is an (admittedly aspirational) example of the growing field of soft robotics. And now Disney itself has produced a soft robot arm that seems like it could be a prototype from the movie. Created by Disney… Continue reading This soft robotic arm is straight out of Big Hero 6 (it’s even from Disney)