It’s getting nigh on Holiday Season and how better to celebrate the old Yule log than with a nice herbal vaporizer. The Firefly 2 is a very clever and very well-built convection vape that creates a smooth, flavorful draw and can extract the maximum in herbal pleasure out of a …
Read More »Real-time motion capture system from Disney Research uses as few sensors as possible
Serious motion capture setups often involve dozens of optical markers, inertial sensors or both, making them a pain to set up and tear down, and producing a ton of data. This Disney Research project produces high-quality results from just a handful of sensors by making some smart assumptions about how …
Read More »Cortana could live throughout the connected home with Windows 10 Creators Update
Microsoft’s virtual assistant might soon appear in a whole lot more places — wherever there’s a screen and the ability to run Windows 10 IoT Core, the lightweight version of Windows 10 that’s designed for things like refrigerators and connected thermostats. At a recent event as detailed by MSPoweruser, Microsoft …
Read More »Velodyne’s latest solid-state LiDAR design keeps costs low for production at scale
Velodyne has a new LiDAR sensor design that could help bring an autonomous-driving future closer than ever; it’s a small, solid-sate design that has a cost of less than $50 per system (when purchased at the kind of high-volume rates needed for mass manufacturing). LiDAR’s cost has been a limiting …
Read More »These custom 3D-printed topographical maps could make nice stocking stuffers
If you intend on delaying your gift-buying to the degree that you have to 3D print a few just before go time, you’re in luck. This easy to use little tool lets you quickly select, customize, and print out a tiny topographical map of anywhere in the world. TopoTopo, as …
Read More »Microsoft to open Cortana virtual assistant to third-party devices and apps
Microsoft is making Cortana available to third-party device makers, and opening up the platform to third-party developers, too, so that they can integrate their own services in Cortana-powered devices. The news comes after an earlier revelation that Cortana would be coming to some IoT devices via next year’s Creators Update …
Read More »The International Space Station’s network bandwidth will be doubled by new upgrades
The internet connection on the International Space Station and other platforms in orbit is getting a serious upgrade that will double its capacity, NASA announced today. But they aren’t sending up a new router or satellite; the improvements are mainly terrestrial. The ISS and dozens of satellites rely on the …
Read More »Tinder now has an Apple TV app
Tinder’s latest app is actually designed for collaborative consumption. The practice of Tindering for friends is hardly a secret, but now the dating app-maker is acknowledging that impulse and making it easier to group swipe with a new Apple TV app (built into the existing iOS one) that puts …
Read More »The Daily Beast brings Cheat Sheet news summaries to its mobile app and Alexa
The Daily Beast launched a new version of its iOS app today, incorporating one of the IAC-owned news site’s main features — the Cheat Sheet, which provides brief (150 to 200 word) summaries of the day’s top stories. The Cheat Sheet gets prominent placement in the app. In fact, it’s now …
Read More »Snapchat introduces Groups with up to 16 people, plus new creative tools
Snapchat has added some new features, including Groups, a new group chat that lets up to 16 friends share conversation and media. Group chats self-delete after 24 hours by default, and Snaps sent within a group can be opened only once, and replayed only once, by each member of the …
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