Everyone loves a good plant in their home, but few have the time and dedication to keep it healthy over the course of the year. Changing temperatures and humidity levels paired with vacations or business trips can limit the variety of plant-life that most people can sustain in their homes. That’s where the Grow Box comes in. Developed by former Apple engineer Andrew Pletenetskyy, the… Read More
Razer CEO Min Liang-Tan is speaking at Disrupt SF 2016
The first OSVR headset made its debut at last year’s CES. The wearable wasn’t aimed at Oculus or HTC – nor were its creators looking to take on Samsung’s low cost Gear VR. Rather, the prototype represented the first step in a multi-company effort to build a new, non-proprietary paradigm in the burgeoning world of virtual reality.
And Min Liang-Tan helped lead the charge. Read More
Having conquered Chess and Go, the robots move to master Foosball
We’ve come a long way since the days of selecting a CPU player for the other Pong paddle, tank, or hand-to-hand combatant. Now the computers are taking it to us, in meatspace, and seemingly nothing no tabletop activity is safe from their depredations. The latest to succumb to computer domination? Foosball. Read More
Spotify’s first original videos are boring behind-the-music cartoons
Don’t expect Spotify’s lackluster attempt at original video to help it defeat Apple Music or YouTube. The three-minute clips produced in partnership with new media company ATTN are no more compelling than any freely available videos on the web. Spotify’s first series called “Deconstructed” features animated shorts about outdated national anthems, LGBT rappers,… Read More
SeatGeek moves beyond resale tickets with new ‘Open’ platform
Sports teams and live event venues will soon be able to sell their tickets directly through SeatGeek. The company has focused on resale tickets until now — first by aggregating resale options from other sites, then by launching a marketplace where ticketbuyers can sell or transfer their tickets directly. But SeatGeek also showed its interest in “primary” ticket sales with… Read More
NASA awards companies $65 million to develop habitats for deep space
NASA is serious about going to Mars, and not just for a quick visit, either. It just committed $65 million, spread over two years and six companies, for the purpose of developing and testing deep-space habitats that could be used on the way to — and on the surface of — the Red Planet. Read More
How Apple will convince us to love the dongle
Hi, and welcome to my obligatory hot take on the nearly confirmed no-headphone-jack iPhones we’re about to see rolling out of Apple. I’m not an absolute fan of this idea, but we’ve seen this sort of behavior from Apple before — most notably the move from the 30-pin dock jack that probably caused a bit of an e-waste problem, forcing users and most notably hotels to… Read More
See you tonight in Columbus
I’ll be in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday, August 10, to hold a night of pitches and open mic shenanigans so bring your guitar and pitching shoes. The event will be at O’Toole’s 4796 W Broad St, right off I-270. We’ll start at 7 p.m. sharp with pitches, so get there after work. And at 8pm or so we’ll have an open stage with live music – I’m going to… Read More
Flex, a tampon alternative you can wear during sex, just raised $1 million
The Flex Company, the makers of a disc-shaped tampon alternative, has raised $1 million from Y Combinator, Amplify.LA and several others and acquired menstrual disc competitor Softcup for an undisclosed amount. Flex now owns all of the market’s menstrual disc products, which the company says are ultimately easier to use than tampons and menstrual cups. The discs, which have not… Read More
Robotic legs could power up physical therapy for kids with cerebral palsy
Kids suffering from cerebral palsy may soon have a powerful new physical therapy technique in the form of robotic assistance for their legs. A study is being conducted on the potential benefits of the system, newly adapted for the use of children. Read More