The Israeli AR visor startup Lumus has closed a $15M funding round from two Chinese companies. We met with Lumus earlier this year, at CES, and were impressed by its technology. The binocular visor -- more like an Epson Moverio than a Vuzix M-300 -- uses optical waveguide technology and is therefore comparatively thin and lightweight. What was particularly impressive, … [Read more...]
Get a Gold Star for Talking
VersaMe has announced the launch of Starling, which is supposed to make your newborn to 5-year-old the next Leonardo da Vinci -- or at least smarter than the average bear. How? By counting the number of words your progeny hears each day and encouraging you to use more of them in the child’s earshot. Science Says 80% of your child’s brain development takes place in that age … [Read more...]
French Startup’s Wearable Not Horsing Around
Horse racing, the sport of kings, is an expensive business for owners, It's also dangerous for the horses; some 500 horses die from racing-related injuries a year in the U.S. and another 150 die in the UK, including Guy Fawkes, a horse belonging to Queen Elizabeth. The French have an answer to this, as they have to so many things. A Gallic startup, Arioneo, has developed an … [Read more...]
New Bluetooth Boosts Range, Ends Pairing Process [UPDATED]
The Bluetooth SIG, the engineering group that controls the Bluetooth standard, today introduced Bluetooth 5, which the group says quadruples Bluetooth's previous range and doubles its speed. More than that, though, an 8-fold increase in Bluetooth 5's data capacity will put an end to the intrusive pairing process that Bluetooth's users are all too familiar with. The SIG says … [Read more...]
Rings To Fight Netflix Infidelity
Cornetto, the UK ice cream brand, has the answer to a particularly 21st century transgression: streaming infidelity. They’ve come up with rings that couples can use to commit to watching—binge or otherwise—TV shows together. Couples register their commitment rings and lock access to the shows they have agreed to watch together; two hearts with but a single screen, so to … [Read more...]
Augmented Reality for Navy Divers: The Next Generation Underwater
U.S. Navy divers will soon be getting new high-tech augmented reality helmets. The DAVD -- Divers Augmented Vision Display, because everything military needs an acronym -- is a high-resolution, AR heads-up display in the diving helmet that will continuously update as the diver goes about their real-time Navy business. The new helmet technologies come from the Naval Surface … [Read more...]
Intel Quits Work on Wireless Power
Intel has stopped work on cordless charging, pulling its employees out of leadership positions in the Qualcomm-backed AirFuel Alliance, Forbes reports. It's been a very long time since Forbes was a reliable source of deep tech reporting, but this piece by Elise Ackerman is a remarkable exception. Ackerman gets very geeky not only about the considerable politics around … [Read more...]
Xiaomi’s CEO Announces Launch for Mi Band 2 — in China
It’s a good news, bad news kind of thing. Good news is that the Mi Band 2 fitness tracker will be available with an LED screen to consumers June 7, according to Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun. Bad news is that it will be available only to Chinese consumers. However, other Xiaomi products have launched China-only and were seen in other markets within months of the Chinese launch. The … [Read more...]
Wearable Technology on the Fly
We’ve covered some pretty outré tech directed specifically at the fairer sex to keep them on top of certain bodily functions that should remain private and unseen. Now there’s a product to covers the ups and downs of that most terrifying male social faux pas: the unzipped zipper. Noti-Fly pants buttons can tell you, via your smartphone, that your privates may be all … [Read more...]
Aricent Announces Kids’ Wearable Platform Based On Snapdragon Wear 1100 Chip
Yesterday, we had news that Qualcomm introduced a low-function chip for simple wearables. Today, we're seeing news about how it'll be used. Aricent announced at the big Computex show the ADAPT wearables platform for children, a reference design that will help companies quickly build products around Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 1100 chip. That chip includes motion detectors as … [Read more...]