In Berlin, it means “world.” There’s probably something to be read into that, but I’ve been here covering IFA for several days now and quite frankly, I’m coming up short. The gadget made its debut back in CES in January and now it’s kind of, sort of ready for prime-time. Along with its appearance on the show floor, the product has just hit Kickstarter with… Read More
The most exciting part of Samsung’s IFA booth is also its most understated. Somewhere toward the middle of the huge, brightly lit hall are a series of tables showing off non-Samsung products, a perfect microcosm of the ways in which large electronics corporations are reaching beyond their own walls for inspiration. Not that these companies don’t have any connection to the… Read More
As drones increasingly fly through our cities in the coming years — delivering our latest order from Amazon or other on-demand retailers — the regulation of our airspace and the environment in which we co-exist with flying robots becomes more and more present and real. Read More
Washing machines have always felt like a sort of necessary evil. I’m wouldn’t go so far as suggesting that no one enjoys washing clothes – heck, I find doing the dishes kind of cathartic. People are weird. But most washers feel like big, dumb machines. Machines that break down, lose our unmentionables and often ruin the clothes they should be cleaning. It doesn’t seem… Read More
What if I told you that you could hide the shame of carrying around a selfie stick, protect your smartphone and have a free kickstand all in one go? How much would you pay for such a luxury? $10,000? $100,000? $8 million? Try around $40, American. The StikBox is actually a pretty solid idea that seems to work fairly well. It’s a plastic iPhone/Samsung handsets that features a slatted… Read More
It doesn’t take much. For all the bluster around the conversation about Skynet and robotic overlords, we still melt when a diminutive robot flashes the slightest hint of humanity through a small set of blinking eyes – and then does something nice for us. Sony’s Xperia Agent robotic assistant captured the tech world’s attention when it debuted at MWC in Barcelona, back… Read More
They fall off. A lot. And nothing rips you from the escapism of VR faster than having a pair of glasses constantly fall off the bridge of your nose. No sudden movement and you should be fine. I’m not saying never to the idea. I can certainly see a time in the not too distant future when such devices might become practical. For now, however, there are too many wires tethering you to… Read More
Little by little, next thing you know you’re sitting in a massage chair, wearing an Oculus Rift, acting like you’re not in the middle of a crowded German trade show floor. You can let yourself go for a few seconds at a time, and for a few seconds at a time, it kind of starts to work. You vacillate between closing your eyes and keeping them open for the full effect. You know the demo… Read More
Faced with myriad regulatory hurdles and a changing landscape dominated by “too big to fail” banks, investors and entrepreneurs alike have traditionally shied away from Fintech. But that doesn’t at all bother Whurley–born William Hurley–who once exited a TEDx talk on a mind-controlled skateboard powered by an XBOX Kinect. His latest start-up, Honest Dollar bucked… Read More
As biotechnology gains prominence among investors, two hubs have emerged as hotbeds of innovation for the resurgent industry.
While the two-square-mile patch of South San Francisco bustles with over 70 biotech firms, including Genentech, Amgen and Exelixis, an equally influential geography has grown along the Lemanic Arc of Switzerland and into the heart of Basel, where pharma giants… Read More
The EU’s efforts to regulate financial markets has opened new opportunities for global fintech operators looking for universal standards to tap into the lucrative 28-country marketplace. While over-regulation can stifle growth, the fintech industry, in pursuit of consumer trust, has a lot to gain from a clearly defined regulatory framework. Read More
The cloud has become the default for practically every industry, from storage to transportation to communication to retail. But there’s one fundamental space out of which it has yet to take a bite. Ironically, software development — the process of editing, building, debugging and analyzing code that makes everything in the cloud possible — is still primarily done offline. Read More
The Gillmor Gang — John Taschek, Keith Teare, Frank Radice, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Recorded live Friday, September 2, 2016. Waiting for latency can be a lonely thing, but the media march toward live streaming reaches new urgency. Plus G3 with Mary Hodder, Elisa Camahort Page, Francine Hardaway, Lisa D’Apolito, and Tina Chase Gillmor. @stevegillmor @jtaschek @fradice… Read More
I was linked to Revel Systems CTO Chris Ciabarra’s recent TechCrunch piece “IoT’s Killer App is Home Security” by a friend and found myself a bit taken aback by what I was reading. I’m sure he’s a very nice man, but the assertions made about being able to rely on IoT in a home security context are, to put it mildly, misguided and troubling. As you may… Read More
Imagine a five-year-old watching Mum talking to Siri, and Dad talking to Alexa, on a daily basis — what must she think of such interactions? Children nowadays witness computers that seem like they have a mind of their own — and even a personality with which to engage. It can be taken for granted that their perception of machines, and thus of the world itself, differs a lot from… Read More
After a surprise Nigeria visit to meet with techies in Lagos, Mark Zuckerberg took his Africa tour to Kenya this Thursday. There the Facebook CEO visited the iHub innovation space, reviewed the BRCK mobile Wi-Fi device, had lunch with Kenyan ICT Cabinet Secretary Joseph Mucheru, and met with tech leaders Juliana Rotich and Erik Hersman.
Like the Lagos expedition, the trip was unannounced. Read More
It’s been a long day away from outlets, so I reach into my pocket and fish around for a battery module. The zoom camera pack clips out easy, making room for the added battery capacity, which should give me enough juice to get through the evening. I slip the camera module back into my pocket; I won’t need it, since at the party I’m headed to (a six-year anniversary party… Read More
Poor Qualcomm. Always the reference design, never the retail unit. It’s like being the guy behind the guy, the comedian’s comedian, the power behind the product that doesn’t get to reap the pomp and circumstance of a retail displays and big and flashy press conferences. The San Diego-based company did kick off IFA a few days back with its own event, but coverage got buried… Read More
Virtually all companies are doing digital transformation wrong. We’re placing it around the edge, keeping it at arm’s length, like it’s a problem and not an opportunity. If companies are to succeed, we need to rebuild around what’s possible, with the greatest toolkit we’ve ever seen. Read More
Turkey has been having an annus horribilis. For the past year the country has incurred bombings, the rise of extremists, growing authoritarianism and censorship, and, this past July 15, an attempt coup on its democratically elected government.
Still the country’s entrepreneurs and investors soldier on. Aytül Erçil, the founder of the visual recognition technology company Vispera… Read More
