Gadgets

By Natasha Lomas From gizmos to trinkets: the era of smart jewelry is upon us, with makers and businesses of all stripes and sizes busy mixing electronics and sensors with ‘fashion-friendly’ designs intended to be displayed proudly on the person. Read More …read more Source: TechCrunch Gadgets

By Matt Burns Fitbits are still causing rashes. Some owners of the new Surge are reporting that, like the Force and Charge before it, the new smartwatch activity tracker is causing a rash. Fitbit’s solution? Take the thing off occasionally. Fitbit tells TechCrunch that a very limited percentage of users reported skin irritation and the…

By John Biggs You love books… but you also love places to sit. You’re in a bind. The evil Dictator of your tiny country says you can only one of the two – a book or a chair. What to do? If you have Bookniture, you can thumb your nose right at Generalissimo Alibria’s state…

By Frederic Lardinois Two-thirds of North Dakota will soon be open for drone testing. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced that it has greatly expanded the existing drone test site in the state and, thanks to a second expansion that’s already in the works, the test site will eventually cover two-thirds of the state…

By Darrell Etherington We are fairly proud of our mastery of nature, but occasionally it can remind us that no matter how many billions, nor how many autonomous drone cargo ships we throw at it, it can still thwart our great designs. SpaceX is still aiming to launch DSCOVR, an observatory satellite, later today, but…

By Darrell Etherington Consumers didn’t want for choice in smartwatches last year, but that doesn’t mean they’re gobbling up the devices: Research firm Canalys reports today that only just over 720,000 Android Wear-based devices shipped in 2014, which is around 16 percent of the total 4.6 million “smart wearable band” shipments that occurred overall. The…

By John Biggs Krakow-based RoboCore has just launched on Kickstarter and is looking for a mere $50,000 to help you build better robots. The device is essentially a brain for your robotic projects. It is compatible with LEGO MindStorms and allows you to control multiple servos and sensors. You can also stream audio and video…

By John Biggs One of our absolute favorites from the Hardware Battlefield just launched on Kickstarter and they are, if you’ll excuse the cliché, crushing it. The company appeared on our stage at CES 2015 and showed of an early working prototype. Now, however, they’re ready to take orders and start shipping. The printer is…

By Darrell Etherington The temptation of a smartphone for a thief is dropping, thanks to Apple’s decision to implement a remote kill switch via Find My Phone that can erase and disable a phone once it’s been stolen or gone missing. A new report from Reuters found that iPhone theft dropped by 50 percent in…

By Darrell Etherington Samsung’s next flagship device is going to be revealed in just a few short weeks ahead of this year’s Mobile World Congress, and the head of the company’s camera division is already teasing us about its photo capabilities. In an official blog post, Samsung SVP DongHoon Jang provided a survey of the…

By John Biggs There was a section so common in big name CES tech presentations that it was almost comical. After announcing some widget or the other, a cheerful CEO would stand on stage and talk about how smart everything would soon become thanks to the SmartAppliance Framework or some such nonsense. The television can…

By Natasha Lomas Following a storm of criticism relating to a creepy-sounding privacy policy covering its smart TVs, Samsung has today published a rebuttal and a more detailed explanation of the workings of its under-fire voice recognition feature. It has also edited the wording of its privacy policy to avoid sounding quite so eerily similar…

By Jordan Crook JetBlue has become the first U.S. airline to accept Apple Pay in-flight, meaning customers can use their iPhone to purchase snack boxes, premium items, etc. from the airline. The idea here is that some people tuck their wallets away in carry-on bags, stowed in luggage compartments above, and hold up service to…

By Kyle Russell AI-powered remote control car maker Anki today unveiled Anki Overdrive, the next generation of its play sets that will let kids (and the adults who inevitably have to play with them) create their own tracks from various tiles. Read More …read more Source: TechCrunch Gadgets

By Darrell Etherington Google purchased Boston Dynamics last year, which means it now owns the company’s ongoing robotics projects, including BigDog. Today, the Google subsidiary posted videos of a smaller dog-like robot, aptly named Spot, which weighs around 160 lbs, has an electric powerhouse and can operate both indoors and outside. The robot, as you…