Yesterday, Facebook revealed that it’s working on a standalone headset with inside-out tracking, which would mean that a user could jump into a full virtual reality experience with only the head-mounted display itself, without needing cumbersome cables attached to a big, expensive PC – and without base stations, too, to bounce IR signals off the headset and help it determine the… Read More
Self-driving cars of the future won’t need to be configured on the inside the way they are now, since things like steering columns won’t be required. Electric drive trains will also help maximize available interior space, so it makes sense that cars will look dramatically different inside and out when the two things combine, as they seem inevitably on track to do. The new… Read More
Google held its biggest ever hardware event on Tuesday, and we got a glimpse at devices that bear more of Google’s fingerprint than anything they’ve done before. Yet most of us here at TechCrunch, including myself and TCBC guest for this week Frederic Lardinois, came away with the feeling that the event was less about hardware than it was about Google’s work with… Read More
Fabricating a circuit board isn’t tough but it takes a while. The back and forth, the bugs, and all of the shipping costs can turn a small project into a big problem. That’s why Botfactory raised $1.3 million to stick a PCB printer on your desk. Founded by NYU grad students Nicolas Vansnick and Carlos Ospina along with NYU professor Michael Knox, BotFactory came about when Vansnick… Read More
At its hardware launch event in San Francisco yesterday, Alphabet showed the sweeping breadth of its ambition to own consumers’ personal data, as computing continues to accelerate away from static desktops and screens, coalescing into a cloud of connected devices with the potential to generate far more data — and data of a far more intimate nature — than ever before. Read More
Skylanders, Amiibo, Disney Infinity – the toys-to-life category got big, fast, but most of the action in the space following Skylanders tended to be mostly derivative, without really pushing the category forward when it comes to the breadth of available technologies. Lightseekers, a new cross-platform action RPG game debuting on Kickstarter today that incorporates physical toys created… Read More
It’s time for Google’s now-annual hardware event. Today, we expect to hear more about Google’s new phones (which will now fall under the Pixel brand), as well as its Google Home Alexa competitor, an updated Chromecast dongle. Maybe we will also see even more hardware in the form of a new Nexus tablet or updated Pixel Chromebooks and tablets. Rumor has it that Google… Read More
Sometimes it’s best to just sit back and feign surprise, as though the lead up to today’s big Google event wasn’t leakier than a rusted out old sieve in a rainstorm. After making several brief but notable cameos on international retailer and carrier pages this week, the company took to the stage at today’s Pixel event to reveal the titular handset – couched by… Read More
Anki is adding large semi-trucks to its Overdrive game. This is clearly an attempt to breathe new life into the platform. And it works. The Supertrucks as they’re called add a new type of game mode and a bit of variety to the race car game. This is the first major update to Anki’s second generation game. The company launched its first game called Drive in 2013 and followed that up… Read More
It’s not the fall, it’s the sudden stop – the effect of an impact has similar negative effects on people and on the sensitive electronic parts of robots. A new research project from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab could help lessen the damaging effects of sudden physical shocks, for both humans and robots alike. The new technique devised by the… Read More
