Google and HTC are developing invisible VR headsets
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The best technology is invisible, and Google and HTC hope that this counts. Google used to, I don’t know if they still do, have a saying that the best technology was the technology that was invisible to the consumer. In other words, if you...
New brain reading computer lets paralysed patients communicate by thought
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many people take the ability to communicate for granted, but millions of people aren’t as fortunate, but new computing systems are breaking down the walls. Those crazy researchers at Stanford University have done it again – not content building virtual reality avatars with three arms...
Scientists 3D print an Eagle eye camera that’s smaller than a human hair
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are plenty of devices today that are too small, or lack the computing power to accommodate a traditional camera, new micro-cameras overcome all those issues. It seems that you can’t go anywhere nowadays without a camera tracking you but as ubiquitous as they...
MIT’s newest chip could bring speech recognition to every device
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The way we use and interact with devices is changing, increasingly we’ll be using our voices to control, interact and manage them. The butt of jokes as little as 10 years ago, automatic speech recognition is now on the verge of becoming people’s chief...
Artificial intelligence diagnoses disease by listening to your voice
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Your voice can tell people a lot about how you’re feeling, but now machine learning is taking diagnosis to the next level. Over the past few years technology has been finding a way to produce more and more innovative ways to diagnose disease, but...
Google RAISR sharpens photos and gives you super vision
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Sight is one of our most crucial senses, now one technology promises infinite zoom and super crisp images. Let’s face it – the last thing many of us want it to take what we think is a great family photo only to find out...
World’s best AI robo-hacker takes on Botnets
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Human security experts are having trouble keeping up patching the security exploits in their company’s IoT connected products, now they’re turning to artificial intelligence to do it for them. Last summer the Pentagon, in conjunction with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),...
Norwegian robot learns to self-evolve and 3D print itself in the lab
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF For the first time we are seeing how it’s possible for robots in the future to design and evolve, manufacture and assemble themselves without human input. Experts at the University of Oslo, Norway have discovered a new way for robots to design, evolve and manufacture...
Researchers prove your smart watch can flag when you’re getting ill
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Every doctor will tell you that the earlier you can detect and diagnose disease the better your chances of recovery, and the swifter it will be, now smart devices might know you’re ill before you do. Wearables have been struggling to find a “killer...
New Chinese camera can see round corners
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to photograph and “see” objects that are out of sight have both military and civilian applications. In an age dominated by megapixel counts, a research group from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China led by Bin Bai have designed a one megapixel camera...
Hackers can copy your fingerprints directly from photos
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Unlike passwords you can’t change your biometric ID’s, and hackers are finding new ways to lift them and use them for their own nefarious objectives. Thanks Donald. Can I call you Donald? Now pass me your phone and don’t worry – I’ll take good...
New battery breakthrough could charge devices in seconds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As gadgets demand for power increases charging times will increase, this new thin film battery will charge your gadgets faster than you can make your toast. A new type of battery that lasts for days with only a few seconds’ charge has been created by...
New H2 smartphone puts a lab grade molecular sensor in your hands
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to analyse the chemical composition of products, particularly counterfeit ones, has long been something you could only do in a lab, now the lab’s in the palm of your hand. Smartphones already do a lot of things, in fact, it’s likely that...
QuirkLogic’s new E-Ink whiteboard is a giant kindle for your office
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF E-Ink is one of those technologies that won’t set the world alight, but it’s going through a renaissance and it still has a place in the market Backlit touch screens have, arguably, helped propel smart phone and tablet sales into the stratosphere ever since they...
This scuba mask concept lets divers swim without tanks
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New nanomaterials that can filter and separate out a wide variety of chemicals, organic materials and particulates have many uses, from filtering pollutants from seawater to filtering bacteria from blood. South Korean designer Jeabyun Yeon has unveiled his new concept of a scuba mask...
Nanocrystal discovery turns normal glasses into night vision specs
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New advanced manufacturing techniques, such as nanomanufacturing, are helping scientists create metamaterials that have new, previously unseen properties which pave the way for a raft of new applications Night vision goggles do a great job of countering the human eye’s poor ability to see...
Scientists turn nuclear waste into diamond batteries that last forever
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Nuclear waste is normally buried beneath ground and left forever, this new breakthrough gives nuclear processing companies a new option and a new revenue stream. Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a method to turn radioactive graphite blocks, a waste product of...
ISS SPHERE drones learn to see and fly around in space all by themselves
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This new milestone will help to pave the way for fully autonomous drones, and vehicles, that can navigate their surroundings without the need for any specific maps or navigation aids. During an experiment this week on board the International Space Station (ISS) a small drone,...
New electronics breakthrough lets devices run for years without batteries
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New transistor design scavenges energy and paves the way for ultra low power electronics. Transistors are found in almost every electronic device and now a new ultra low power transistor design from the engineers at the University of Cambridge that lets them operate by ‘scavenging’ energy...
Apples CEO Tim Cook speaks out the future of AI
Apples latest announcements on its plans for AI are, well, boring Pixar founder George Lucas might have given the world the word “Droid” before he sold the company to Apple’s Steve Jobs but now Apple CEO Tim Cook is making no secret of the fact that he wants the company to play...
