Why aren’t there more robots in homes? This a surprising complex question — and our homes are surprisingly complex places. A big part of the reason autonomous systems are thriving on warehouse and factory floors first is the relative ease of navigating a structured environment. Sure, most systems still require a space be mapped prior…
When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March, a flurry of startups rushed to step in to help fill a gap in the startup and venture capital community. One of those startups, Mercury, in particular found itself in the position of trying to meet a sudden surge of demand amidst the panic. “The craziest time was…
Amazon’s planned acquisition of iRobot is now under in-depth antitrust scrutiny in the European Union. The $1.7BN deal for the ecommerce behemoth to pick up the robot vacuum maker, announced just under a year ago, was cleared by competition regulators in the UK last month. But EU regulators are now stepping in for their own…
A decentralized group of safe streets activists in San Francisco realized they can disable Cruise and Waymo robotaxis by placing a traffic cone on a vehicle’s hood, and they’re encouraging others to do it, too. The “Week of Cone,” as the group is calling the now-viral prank on Twitter and TikTok, is a form of…
Here’s a dirty little secret: Consumer electronics can be boring sometimes. Hardware scaling is hard and people love the familiar, both things that have a tendency to disincentive adventurous product design. So it’s worth acknowledging when big companies try something a bit different. From a purely design perspective, there’s a lot to love about the…
YouTube is currently testing a new feature that allows users to lock their screens to avoid accidentally tapping a button and disrupting the video. “Lock Screen” disables touch input, so when users watch a video in full-screen mode, they don’t have to worry about unintentionally pausing, skipping or selecting a suggested video. Users that have…
Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is drawing users at an astounding pace, amassing 10 million signups in just seven hours, according to co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. But the highly-anticipated new service, which requires an Instagram account for onboarding, features an intriguing stipulation: Deleting a Threads account terminates the linked Instagram account. In a ‘Supplemental…
It’s day one for Threads, Meta’s new Twitter clone, and people are signing up in droves. Threads passed two million signups in its first two hours live in the App Store and shows no signs of slowing down. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted the milestone on his Threads account. Threads was available for “pre-order” through…
Fiat is slowly trickling out new details on its upcoming Topolino EV, and it turns out the teeny-tiny city quadricycle will do some trickling of its own. Designed for short trips in and around dense European cities, Fiat’s owner Stellantis said this week that the upcoming electric vehicle will start at $10,735 (€ 9,890) in Italy.…
Meta’s planned Twitter killer, Threads, isn’t yet publicly available but it already looks like a privacy nightmare. Information provided about the app’s privacy via mandatory disclosures required on iOS shows the app may collect highly sensitive information about users in order to profile their digital activity — including health and financial data, precise location, browsing…
