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...
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...
Google’s Eric Schmidt says the “Internet will disappear”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the number of connected devices proliferates the internet we knew and loved is going away, and being replaced by something else, but what should we call it? It’s obvious when you think about it – the end of the Internet is drawing near...
Wiivv paves the way for perfect fitting, 3D printed apparel
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The technology to create personalised, perfectly fitting clothing, or orthopedics, exists and it provides retailers and manufacturers with new market opportunities but the customer experience has to be as frictionless as possible. The proliferation of 3D printing has made it possible to manufacture almost...
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...
Fabric circuits open a door to smarter clothes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new development in material science opens the door for the development of more advanced Smart Clothing. Many of today’s smart clothes, such as those from Adidas, Athos, Nike, Ralf Lauren and Under Armour rely on sensors, such as EMG sensors, woven into the fabric...
Intel cosies up to ARM and stalks Apple
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Intel wants to dominate the next generation of “Things” and it’s joined forces with ARM the industrys’ dominant player. In a move that would have been jaw dropping a few years ago, Intel’s factories are soon going to be churning out chips based on ARM’s open sourced architectures...
Science meets technology at Team USA’s training camp
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everything inside Team USA’s olympic training camp screams technology. Outside it was a beautiful spring day with Pikes Peak looming majestically to the west, but as Desiree Linden pounded out miles on a treadmill in a hermetically sealed room at the Olympic Training Center...
Governments mull replacing citizens wages with an Universal Basic Income
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today it’s already a fact that more and more jobs are being automated by machines, faced with societal unrest and mass unemployment Governments around the world are now turning to the idea of providing an Universal Basic Income for everyone. What would you do...
Bots, disruption and the advent of conversational commerce
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Bots are disrupting businesses and industries by changing the way consumers buy products and services. Take a good look at the people around you. If Governments and Academics are correct then the jobs of between a third to half of the people you’re looking...
The 2016 Griffin Emerging Technology Starburst
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In its second year the 2016 Griffin Emerging Technology Review showcases 178 of the worlds greatest Emerging Technologies and shines a light on some of the industries of the future.
Generation Z, the first immortal generation?
It’s a matter of When, not If we solve Death and Generation Z could be the first generation to experience Immortality in their lifetimes. Today we can reverse paralysis, restore sight, print hearts, eliminate disease and transfer memories, age is a quirk of genetics, nanotech is a game changer and only Darwinism...
Apples new trojan horse
Love it or loathe it the Apple Watch is superbly positioned to help Apple capture three new mass markets Even Apple can’t escape the gravity of centuries of tradition and the Apple Watch is a great case in point. Sure enough it sits on the wrist like a regular watch, looks like a...
In the future everything will be connected
In 400 years time our descendants will look back at our Age in the same way we look at the Stone Age Leonardo Da Vinci was a genius, by combining his observations of the laws of nature with his passion for mechanical invention he managed to conceive early versions of...
Is Adidas on the cusp of being disrupted?
“Adidas have been a household name since 1936 when Adi Dassler got four time Olympic Gold medallist Jessie Owens to wear his spikes but now the company that was started in a Bavarian kitchen risks being disrupted by a suite of new technologies that will fundamentally change the way that...
Wearables, fad or world changing innovation?
With no obvious killer app wearables face a slow rise to stardom Over the past few years the hype around Wearable Technology, or Embedded Technology and Ubiquitous Computing as it’s also sometimes known has steadily but surely reached fever pitch but despite hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of investment...
