A new cellphone design works without any battery. But it has some major drawbacks and would require some major infrastructure work to take off. The phone is the work of University of Washington researchers. Although it doesn’t have a touchscreen or any smartphone apps, it does use Skype technology for voice calls. The energy use […]
Volvo says every new model it sells from 2019 onwards will have at least some electric motor in the engine set-up. It’s calling it “the historic end of cars that have only an internal combustion engine” and is the first major manufacturer to make the step. It’s not quite the death of the combustion engine […]
After successfully launching the Wearhaus Arc in November 2014 and raising over $250,000 for the project, the team at Wearhaus are now back with a new revolutionary product: The Wearhaus Beam, a pair of smart bluetooth earbuds that feature wireless audio technology that allows you to share your music live with your friends. The earbuds […]
Samsung is to re-use parts of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 for a new handset in what it’s billing as an environmental move. As you’d hope, those parts won’t include the battery. The ‘new’ model, known as the Note Fan Edition, will only be sold in South Korea at first. Given the handset’s popularity – […]
On June 11th, 1997, Philippe Kahn created the first camera phone solution to share pictures instantly on public networks. The impetus for this invention was the birth of Kahn’s daughter, when he jerry-rigged a mobile phone with a digital camera and sent photos in real time. In 2016 Time Magazine included Kahn’s first camera phone […]
The notorious traffic of Los Angeles could generate electricity via crystals in the road surface. A pilot study aims to replicate existing set-ups that turn footsteps into power. The study will try to exploit piezoelectricity, which takes advantage of the fact that mechanical stress applied to some materials including crystals will build up an electric […]
Facebook reports that artificial intelligence bots can not only learn to negotiate, but can do so while using what could be described as a “non-human language.” The study from the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab aimed to get chatbots to use conversations to negotiate. One negotiation involved splitting up a set of objects (books, hats […]
Here’s a interesting video from Youtuber “Real Engineering” explaing how GPS technology works and why the US military made it free-to-use. [Real Engineering]
Automation in the Information Age is different. Next step, the universal basic income from Star Trek. [Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell]
Logitech has produced a mouse pad with a built-in wireless charger. One downside is that it’s a proprietary technology. Seeing your wireless mouse run out of battery is certainly one of modern computing’s annoyances, often prompting the realization that you didn’t quite get around to recharging a spare battery and you’re going to have to […]