Gadgets

By Darrell Etherington HTC is gearing up to launch something new on March 1 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and we’ve heard from a person familiar with the matter that what’s on tap is indeed the next version of the HTC One. The invites for a special event promising a glimpse of “what’s next”…

By John Biggs A few years ago something called a Kuratas, a robotic mech suit that allowed the wearer to fire a BB Gatling gun whenever they smile at their vanquished enemies. When it appeared in 2012 everyone thought it was a funny joke. Now it’s available on Amazon Japan for $1 million. The robot…

By Jon Russell China’s Xiaomi outed its latest smartphone, the Mi Note, yesterday, and we managed to get our grubby mitts on the 5.7-inch screen device. Read More …read more Source: TechCrunch Gadgets

By Kyle Russell Yesterday I got to play with a pair of augmented reality glasses from Osterhout Design Group, a San Francisco-based company that’s spent the last six years iterating on AR for military and industrial clients. Read More …read more Source: TechCrunch Gadgets

By Anthony Ha Mobile startup accelerator Tandem is announcing that it has closed a third fund totaling $100 million — a big step up from its second, $22 million fund. Tandem has previously backed startups like Bash Gaming (acquired by GSN), lost-item tracker Tile, and PalyHaven (now known as Upsight). It invests $200,000 initially and…

By Gareth Beavis Samsung’s a good brand for trying things out. After the mixed reviews to the Galaxy S5 it needed something big, as the Galaxy Alpha and Note 4 both accelerated the design story while keeping up with the high-power internals. But that doesn’t mean the South Korean giant wasn’t looking to keep things…

By Gareth Beavis Samsung’s a good brand for trying things out. After the mixed reviews to the Galaxy S5 it needed something big, as the Galaxy Alpha and Note 4 both accelerated the design story while keeping up with the high-power internals. But that doesn’t mean the South Korean giant wasn’t looking to keep things…

By Darrell Etherington Apple has a new patent application that describes a pop-up home button which can work as an analog joystick. The patent, uncovered by Patently Apple, describes how the button goes from recessed standard mode to extended gameplay-readiness based on specific types of pressure input. The patent acknowledges that touch screens may not…

By Josh Constine “In five years, the notion of a drone crashing will be a weird, foreign thing” says Adam Bry, co-founder of drone auto-pilot startup Skydio and founding member of Google’s Project Wing drone delivery project. Skydio connects a drone’s cameras to its flight computer so it can avoid obstacles and maneuver on its…

By Jordan Crook Sense360 is still in a quiet beta period, but the company has just picked up $2.75 million in seed funding from FirstMark Capital, with participation by Founder Collective, Qualcomm Ventures, Metamorphic Ventures, Double M Capital, Telenav, David Tisch, and more. Sense360 is looking to leverage the power of smartphone sensors for developers.…

By Darrell Etherington Apple has a new patent published by the USPTO today (via AppleInsider) that shows off a system through which Touch ID information could be collected on a primary device, and then transferred via iCloud to a secondary device for use in authentication, or to set up said device presumably without repeating the…

By Matt Swider There’s an older generation that still prefers to say they’re capturing a “Kodak Moment” and wouldn’t even know what “Instagram it” means, and for them there’s the Kodak IM5. Kodak IM5 is an extremely simplistic Android smartphone from the rebounding photography brand and mobile device manufacturer Bullitt. It’s nothing special, but that’s…

By Matt Swider There’s an older generation that still prefers to say they’re capturing a “Kodak Moment” and wouldn’t even know what “Instagram it” means, and for them there’s the Kodak IM5. Kodak IM5 is an extremely simplistic Android smartphone from the rebounding photography brand and mobile device manufacturer Bullitt. It’s nothing special, but that’s…

By Sarah Buhr Last summer, Skully, the motorcycle helmet with a heads-up display, became the fourth-most popular Indiegogo campaign in history. According to an SEC filing, it’s raised another $1.5 million. The financing, which took the form of convertible securities, was added to existing cash that Skully had raised through its crowdfunding campaign and previous…

By Greg Kumparak “Whose phone charger is that sticking out of the wall? Oh. It must be Ben’s. Ben always leaves his charger at work. Classic Ben!” Alas, it’s not Ben’s charger. Hell, it’s not a charger at all. It’s actually a little spy device disguised as a phone charger, capable of sniffing out every…