Google has published photos of its first “complete” prototype of a self-driving car. It hopes to test it on public roads next year. The first mock-up of the company’s vehicle was unveiled back in May but was missing several key features, most notably headlights. Since then Google has built a range of test vehicles, each […]
This is super creepy. Aptly called the ‘Spider Dress’, this piece of wearable tech features animatronic mechanical limbs that respond to external stimuli while defending the personal space of the wearer. The dress provides an extension of the wearers intuition: It uses proximity sensors as well as a respiration sensor to both define and protect […]
A 13 oz cup costing $199 can tell you exactly what you are drinking and measure your nutritional intake. The technology hasn’t been detailed, but is likely based around a spectrometer. Vessyl’s makers claim it can track the content of anything you drink from it, including calories, protein content and caffeine & sugar levels. An […]
The Department of Defense is working on bullets that can change direction mid-flight. Meanwhile the US Navy is developing a nautical drone disguised as a shark. Long-time readers will already have guessed the former project is the work of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the real life version of Q from James Bond. One […]
A fun “Merry Christmas” video from Autonomous Systems Lab, an organization that is part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. [aslteam]
A company working on augmented and virtual reality tech has appointed sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson as its “Chief Futurist.” Exactly what the company is up to remains something of a mystery though. Magic Leap recently received $542 million in start-up funding from investors led by Google, two of whose executives have joined Magic Leap’s board. […]
English and Spanish speakers can now have a Skype conversation without learning the other language or typing. Skype Translator is now available in a “preview” edition to anyone on Windows 8.1. The service had previously been in a limited-numbers preview but has now rolled out publicly, though you will need to sign up to use […]
A company has unveiled a wireless charging system with three times the power of current models. It’s probably not quite enough for laptops yet, but shows the concept is scalable. At the moment, wireless chargers are usually limited to five watts, which is about the same as you’d get in a dedicated wired phone charger. […]
Check out these robots packaging 9v batteries at PackExpo 2014. There’s just one thing missing from this video: Daft Punk’s song “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” Work It Harder Make It Better Do It Faster, Makes Us stronger More Than Ever Hour After Our Work Is Never Over [Chris Baird]
IBM researchers say 70 percent of discarded laptop batteries could be used to power lighting in locations without reliable electricity supplies. They say it could make LED lighting far more affordable than with either solar panels or rechargable batteries. The researchers are based in Bangalore and recently carried out tests using UrJar. That’s a gadget […]