GPS Rollover is today. Here’s why devices might get wacky
The Global Positioning System time epoch is ending and another one is beginning, an event that could affect your devices or any equipment or legacy system that relies on GPS… Read more »
Category: Hardware
MIT’s ‘cyber-agriculture’ optimizes basil flavors
The days when you could simply grow a basil plant from a seed by placing it on your windowsill and watering it regularly are gone — there’s no point now… Read more »
Beats’ Powerbeats Pro could beat AirPods at their own game
AirPods are far and away the leader in the world of fully wireless earbuds. New numbers out this week give Apple’s headphones a commanding 60 percent of the market, and… Read more »
Boeing confirms delay of Starliner’s first test flight
The Commercial Crew program is well on its way to changing the way the world accesses space, but SpaceX may hog the glory this year if rival Boeing keeps putting… Read more »
Bragi sells off hardware business, will focus on licenses and software
Bragi was a promising early contender in the Bluetooth earbud space. The company came to prominence in 2014 with a massively successful $3.3 million Kickstarter. And to its credit, it… Read more »
Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 gets a processor boost
A quiet little update from Microsoft overnight, as the company bumped up a key spec on its 13.5-inch Surface Book 2. The 2017 two-in-one powerhouse is getting a nice little… Read more »
A look at new power banks from OmniCharge and Fuse Chicken
When you’ve been doing this job long enough, you start to develop strange interests (though some might compellingly argue that strange interests are a prerequisite). Lately for me it’s been… Read more »
Apple sells wireless charging AirPods, cancels charger days later
“Works with AirPower mat”. Apparently not. It looks to me like Apple doesn’t treat customers with the same “high standard” of care it apparently reserves for its hardware quality. Nine… Read more »
Mars helicopter bound for the Red Planet takes to the air for the first time
The Mars 2020 mission is on track for launch next year, and nesting inside the high-tech new rover heading that direction is a high-tech helicopter designed to fly in the… Read more »
Apple ‘sorry’ for latest MacBook keyboard woes
Apple’s continued to improve the MacBook line’s butterfly switch keyboards. In fact, the technology is on its third generation, which added a rubberized membrane designed to fix ongoing issues and… Read more »
Mobileye CEO clowns on Nvidia for allegedly copying self-driving car safety scheme
While creating self-driving car systems, it’s natural that different companies might independently arrive at similar methods or results — but the similarities in a recent “first of its kind” Nvidia… Read more »
Drone analytics startup Aria Insights suddenly shutters
Earlier this year, Helen Greiner-founded drone startup CyPhy Works announced a major change. The company was rebooting and renaming itself Aria Insights, a move that arrived with a newfound AI/data-driven… Read more »
Our 9 favorite startups from Y Combinator W19 Demo Day 2
Heathcare kiosks, a home-cooked food marketplace, and a way for startups to earn interest on their funding topped our list of high-potential companies from Y Combinator’s Winter 2019 Demo Day… Read more »
Gates-backed Lumotive upends lidar conventions using metamaterials
Pretty much every self-driving car on the road, not to mention many a robot and drone, uses lidar to sense its surroundings. But useful as lidar is, it also involves… Read more »
Review: Apple’s new iPad mini continues to be mini
The iPad mini is super enjoyable to use and is the best size tablet for everything but traditional laptop work. It’s very good and I’m glad Apple updated it. Using… Read more »
Dyson launches a vacuum with better battery, a desk lamp and a personal air purifier
Dyson’s got a very specific way of doing things. The British company makes super-high-quality products for a world where price isn’t an option. Using their devices is a bit like… Read more »
The 9 biggest questions about Google’s Stadia game streaming service
Google’s Stadia is an impressive piece of engineering to be sure: Delivering high definition, high framerate, low latency video to devices like tablets and phones is an accomplishment in itself…. Read more »
Camera maker Insta360 raises $30M as it eyes 2020 IPO
Insta360, one of the pioneers in making 360-degree cameras, just raised $30 million in a Series C+ funding round from Chinese investors, including Everest Venture Capital, MG Holdings and Huajin Capital…. Read more »
Intel and Cray are building a $500 million ‘exascale’ supercomputer for Argonne National Lab
In a way, I have the equivalent of a supercomputer in my pocket. But in another, more important way, that pocket computer is a joke compared with real supercomputers —… Read more »
Tiny claws let drones perch like birds and bats
Drones are useful in countless ways, but that usefulness is often limited by the time they can stay in the air. Shouldn’t drones be able to take a load off… Read more »
Opportunity’s last Mars panorama is a showstopper
The Opportunity Mars Rover may be officially offline for good, but its legacy of science and imagery is ongoing — and NASA just shared the last (nearly) complete panorama the… Read more »
SpaceX makes history by completing first private crew capsule mission
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule has safely splashed down in the Atlantic, making it the first privately built crew-capable spacecraft ever to complete a mission to the International Space Station. It’s… Read more »
Leica’s Q2 is a beautiful camera that I want and will never have
Leica is a brand I respect and appreciate but don’t support. Or rather, can’t, because I’m not fabulously rich. But if I did have $5,000 to spend on a fixed-lens… Read more »
Hammerhead raises $4.2M to build a smarter operating system for bikes
Hammerhead founder and CEO Piet Morgan is a bicyclist, and he started the company because he wanted a better navigation system. So Hammerhead crowdfunded its first product, the H1, and… Read more »
Samsung finally gets Bluetooth earbuds right
Granted, this news is maybe a bit too late. Samsung’s already sold out of the free Galaxy Buds it was throwing in with S10 pre-orders. That said, the new Bluetooth… Read more »
Koala-sensing drone helps keep tabs on drop bear numbers
It’s obviously important to Australians to make sure their koala population is closely tracked — but how can you do so when the suckers live in forests and climb trees… Read more »
We’re ready for foldable phones, but are they ready for us?
This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. After years of prototypes, the age of foldables has finally arrived. They’re here. I’ve seen them, and even, briefly, touched one. And… Read more »
Korean conglomerate SK leads $600M round for Chinese chipmaker Horizon Robotics
Horizon Robotics, a three-year-old Chinese startup backed by Intel Capital, just raised a mega-round of fundings from domestic and overseas backers as it competes for global supremacy in developing AI… Read more »
Prototype prosthesis proffers proper proprioceptive properties
Researchers have created a prosthetic hand that offers its users the ability to feel where it is and how the fingers are positioned — a sense known as proprioception. The… Read more »
HTC’s blockchain phone can now be purchased with fiat currency
Until now, the Exodus 1 has, fittingly, only been available for purchase with cryptocurrency. Starting today, however, interested parties will be able to pick HTC’s blockchain phone up through more… Read more »