Alibaba announced its new robot butler, saying they will be delivering meals and laundry to hotel guests this year. Guests can talk to the robots, which come equipped with its Alexa-like voice assistant, AliGenie. The AI-powered voice assistant already appears in its Tmall Genie, a US$70 gadget designed for the home. Alibaba claims that Tmall...
Think of it as Alexa for your health records. Through the Apple Health app, which is undergoing pilot testing, patients can aggregate their health records from a variety of institutions to create a more comprehensive view of their health, due to the collaboration between Apple, healthcare organizations and EHR vendors. Data from EHRs can...
Fitness trackers can tell you a lot about your body — your heart rate, your steps, even your REM cycles. Now, they can potentially track the environment around you, helping users understand the impact our surroundings have on their health. Researchers at Rutgers University have developed a wristband that tests the air around it for harmful...
The fad around cryptocurrencies seems to have faded away, but the larger trend is that cybercash is not going away, but getting ingrained in our culture. To wit, Swiss watch company Hublot has announced the launch of a special limited edition its Big Bang watch that can only be purchased with Bitcoin. The special edition has been created to...
Today's talented job-seekers are not just looking for money, they are looking for a position that fits their lifestyle and beliefs. According to a new job-matching platform, WorkValues is the first talent platform that enables skilled talent to discover companies by culture-fit, scientifically proven to increase your job satisfaction. "Our...
The FDA has cleared a direct-to-consumer hearing aid, developed by speaker manufacturer Bose, potentially opening the door for other consumer-focused electronics companies. The de novo clearance makes it the first hearing aid authorized by the agency that allows users to fit, program and control the device on their own, without help from a...
Expedia continues to bet on voice-based search as it debuted hotel search, booking, cancellations, and loyalty point access on Google Assistant through a new Expedia Action. The move is similar to Expedia’s capabilities on other virtual assistants, Amazon Alexa devices, which debuted in 2016. With the new Expedia Action, in addition to hotel...
There are a wide variety of biometric tools available, including fingerprint scans, iris scans and facial recognition. Now, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi have developed a biometric system based on footsteps.The new system uses a geophone. This is a transducer that converts ground movement into electrical signals...
Can technology protect you from the jaws of a one-ton great white shark? Several Australian tech startups say yes. They’re using artificial intelligence, drones and electric force fields to try and prevent sharks from eating human bathers. In January, the Ripper Group, which operates search and rescue drones in Australia, launched SharkSpotter...
Think of it as a non-digital wearable device. While exposure to some sunlight is necessary for the body to produce Vitamin D, we all know that getting too much sun is not a good idea – among other things, it can cause sunburn, skin cancer and premature aging of the skin. With that in mind, a cheap new paper wristband has been designed to let us...