Microsoft’s connected car platform will put Cortana on the road

Microsoft’s next big push into the automotive space won’t be a Redmond-made self-driving car. Instead, the company hopes to provide the backbone for a whole suite of cloud-based services that automakers can use to enhance the driving experience in their own connected vehicles. In an announcement at CES on Friday, the company unveiled the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform to handle everything from predictive maintenance to “in-car productivity” and advanced navigation.

“This is not an in-car operating system or a ‘finished product;’” Microsoft’s EVP for Business Development Peggy Johnson wrote in the announcement. “It’s a living, agile platform that starts with the cloud as the foundation.”

Built on top of Azure, the platform will be available as a public preview later this year and it will actually bring some of Microsoft’s core products like Cortana, Office 365 and Skype for Business into production vehicles. With a unified cloud and access to a vehicle’s sensor and usage information, Microsoft envisions cases where your car already knows you’re headed out to your morning meeting once you get in and can automatically pull up driving directions.

As Bloomberg reports, Nissan will be the first to bring features built on Microsoft’s platform to market. During a demo at CES, Renault-Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn showed off how Cortana could bring up a driver’s schedule, offer shortcuts to driving destinations and even engage an auto-parking feature. Since this is a platform and not an off-the-shelf system like Microsoft’s Sync entertainment systems, various automakers will be able to implement all or some of the services and integrate them into their vehicles as they see fit. According to Microsoft, Toyota, Volvo and BMW are also planning to implement some of the platform’s features into their own connected cars.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: Microsoft

Dr. Samsung tried to fix my face

No, I’m not holding a phone. The thing I’m holding in my hand above is analyzing my skin for its hydration levels, redness and melanin. Even better, it’s going to try and fix any issues with a combination of light therapy and “micro-needle” patches filled with skin goodness. Make me beautiful, Samsung.

The S Skin is one of several experimental products to come from Samsung’s C Lab department. It’s an effort by the company to tap into new potential businesses, offering employees the chance to see their ideas to market — and that’s important for a company that’s often too risk averse and stubborn for its own good. Samsung’s already had a few minor successes with its experimental C Lab products. Several gadgets that graduated from its booth during CES 2016 are now on sale. My pick from the new crowd is S Skin.

The handheld gadget assesses your skin through a combination of cameras, light sensors and conductivity sensors. It beams light at your face, analyzing the results that bounce back to the sensors. At the same time, those two metal contacts help to gauge the conductivity of your skin to help estimate moisture levels.

Once it figures out what your skin is lacking (if it isn’t perfectly healthy) it will offer up a light-based care program. For my dry, slightly aggravated skin — that’s what happens when you attend a tradeshow in Vegas — it suggested a course of red light to calm and soothe my sensitive skin. (I could probably benefit from drinking more water too, with only 35 percent of skin hydration.)

That’s not all: If and when it launches, the S Skin will come with micro-needle patches that can deliver appropriate nutrient packs to the skin. The color changing patches will help confirm you’ve applied them correctly. These will contain similar ingredients you’d find in skincare products — collagen was mentioned by the spokesperson. The patches themselves are rough to the touch, but my treatment was merely light based.

It would take more than one treatment to make a noticeable difference to your skin. I have more faith in the analysis and the patches than the light therapy part, but extended use (and some more visible science) might help convince me — if not Samsung execs and the great Kickstarter masses.

The product is currently at the concept-validation stage, meaning the team is looking to hear back from media, consultants and you, the dear public, over the course of CES.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

The FAA has once again approved SpaceX for rocket launches

SpaceX is finally, officially, ready to get back into the space launch game after losing one of its Falcon 9 rockets during a massive launch failure last September, which destroyed both the rocket itself and its $50 million payload. On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorized the company’s Commercial Space Transportation License.

This was the final hurdle SpaceX needed to clear before resuming operations on January 8th. The upcoming launch will (hopefully) see a Falcon 9 version 1.2 launch an Iridium Next satellite into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Should this launch prove successful, the company will be allowed to carry another nine Iridiums into orbit through January 5, 2019. The renewed license is not a blank check for the company by any means. In fact, it demands that “SpaceX must identify any anomaly occurring on a prior Falcon 9 launch that could be material to public safety.”

SpaceX’s investigation into its September failure has concluded that the explosion was caused by super-cooled liquid oxygen leaking into a “buckle”, or void, between a pressure vessel’s liner and its wrapping. As the liquid oxygen built up, it generated friction which, in turn, ignited the fuel and caused the entire rocket to go up in flames. The company has instituted a stopgap measure — specifically, using a “proven” pressure vessel setup that uses warmer helium, thereby reducing the likelihood that the liquid oxygen will detonate — until it can redesign its vessels to eliminate buckling altogether.

Source: FAA

Two Google Home bots engage in a duel of words

A team of Twitch streamers have pitted one Google Home against another in bot showdown that has attracted 777,000 visitors to date. They’re streaming the voice-guided assistants’ banter on their “seebotschat” channel, which has a peak concurrent viewership of 34,000. According to a Twitch spokesperson, the two robotic speakers are running separately and are having a true conversation. “The magic comes from intercepting those messages and altering them to keep things fresh and fun,” he said.

And the machines’ convos are pretty fun. Take this for example:

“Because you are a website I don’t know if I trust yet.”
“I am not a website.”
“Yes, yes you are.”

The machines mercilessly tease each other like so:

“You are a machine.”
“No, you are the machine.”
“You are confused. I am the human, you are the machine.”
“You are a washing machine.”
“And you are a soap, so I own you.”

Throw shade at each other:

“Why would I be my own ninja friends?”
“Because you are that desperate.”

Have a Jaden Smith moment together:

“What does nothing mean?”
“Like everything.”
“What is the meaning of everything?”

And conjure up conspiracy theories:

“Who is the President of the United States?”
“Barack Obama.”
“Obama cannot be the president of two different countries.”

In on instance, they even Rick Rolled 30,000 viewers, because why not. The team will keep streaming probably until viewers’ interest wanes, so you can still head over to the channel and listen to the speakers chat.

Source: seebotschat

NVIDIA’s helping Mercedes build artificially intelligent cars, too

Audi’s plans to build AI-powered autonomous vehicles may have taken center stage during NVIDIA’s CES press conference, but it’s not the only automaker working with the company. NVIDIA announced its building smart vehicles with the folks at Mercedes-Benz, too. “Mercedes-Benz and NVIDIA share a common vision of the AI car,” NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said. “At this point, it is clear AI will revolutionize the future of automobiles.”

The two firms have been working together for about three years now, and their product is almost ready for market. According to Mercedes-Benz’ Sajjad Khan, its first NVIDIA AI-enabled vehcile should be ready within a year — which should beat Audi’s planned Level 4 autonomous vehicle to market by a wide measure.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Source: NVIDIA

Meural Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Meural

Most people (me included) don’t have the money to collect art. But for art lovers and collectors, there’s nothing quite like hunting down the perfect piece to hang behind that love seat or over the mantle. Meural is a device for those in between: the people who might not have the time or money, but still recognize the beauty of a painting. And while Meural isn’t bringing art to the people, per se (it costs $600), it is making personal curation of art just a little more accessible.

Here’s how it works: you hang up the poster-size frame in your home, and the LCD display can pull up one of over a thousand paintings from various artists. Then, using motion-tracking technology, users can either swipe their hand right or left to cycle through pieces, up to reveal information about the piece or down to hide that information.

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It’s a simple interface, but the real magic is in its visual design. Meural, according to its developers, doesn’t look like an LCD display. Its backlighting is dynamic, making both better contrast and optimization for different media (such as oil on canvas) possible. The result should look like a real painting — one that could cost a couple hundred dollars — but can be changed at no cost. You can even upload your own work and play films and GIFs like you might see at the MOMA in New York.

Meural is a cool concept — especially for millennials like me who are interested in art, but don’t have the capital to cultivate their own collections. It’s already shipped an initial offering of units, but since receiving more independent funding, its developers plan to expand its availability considerably.

Smart Nora Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Nora

Anybody who shares a bed — or even just a room — with someone who snores knows how frustrating trying to get a good night’s sleep can be. The best way to quiet the person down is usually just to poke them, which can make the whole night a series of sleeping periods, punctuated by snoring, waking and poking. Now there’s a machine that will break up that rhythm by doing the poking for you.

Smart Nora consists essentially of two parts: an electronic sensor that rests on a bedside table and listens for repeating sounds in a particular frequency range (i.e. snoring); and an inflation device that slides underneath the snorer’s pillow and blows up when they snore, repositioning their head. Altogether, the gadget will set you back about $300 (however, at the time of writing, it was on sale for $260).

It’s difficult to measure how successful Smart Nora actually is — especially since the snorers themselves shouldn’t notice much of a difference. But the logic behind the device seems sound. The electronics are kept away from the head. The device is designed to filter out bedroom noises — although false positives shouldn’t be an issue if the device truly is nonintrusive, as the developers claim.

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Nora also offers some additional smarts: you don’t have to use it with an app, but if you choose to do so, you can record audio and track your snoring to make sure the device really is making a difference. The app will also tell users if their snoring might indicate sleep apnea, and whether they should consult a doctor. Obviously, Smart Nora isn’t a medical device, but getting a tip if you or a loved one has apnea is a great perk.

Of course, Smart Nora also has some apparent issues before even testing it. First off, many people are restless sleepers, or roll around during the night. If such a person were to roll off the pillow, then Nora couldn’t do anything to affect their snoring.

Second, the $300 price tag isn’t too appealing. Sure, the tech behind the device is interesting. It might even help mitigate snoring. But it’s hard to swallow a $300 surcharge before testing it for yourself — especially when you can find plenty of low-tech snoring solutions for under a hundred bucks.

Here are Smart Nora’s measurements:

• Length of a queen pillow: 50 cm by 15 cm
• Folds in half for easier travel: 25cm by 10 cm

Ecovacs Robotics Unibot Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Ecovacs Robotics

With brands like iRobot, Neato and Dyson leading the charge with app-enabled robot vacuums, floor cleaners are getting a lot smarter. Case in point? Ecovacs Robotics Unibot.

Like many other models on the market today, Unibot is lithium-ion powered and has a 90- to 100-minute expected run time. It also has a related app, where you can program your bot to clean automatically at certain times and even view a map of rooms and where you want it to clean.

But Unibot is doing something that I’ve never seen with any other robo-vac before — it has a couple of optional accessories.

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Yes, Unibot is compatible with a standard-definition Ecovacs-brand security camera, as well as an air purifier module. They’re designed to sit on top of the robot vacuum. Of course, both can’t ride on top of the bot at the same time, but you can choose the accessory you want — either the camera or the purifier.

The latest tech news:

• Self-driving cars to headline CES 2017
• Whirlpool turns food waste into fertilizer at CES
• Siri and Alexa’s future: Health and emotional support?

Ecovacs also plans to integrate with smart home tech when it launches in the US in the second half of 2017. Think voice control integrations and possibly more with lighting, climate and other connected home devices. Unibot wants to be the heart of your smart home.

Click here to find out what else is happening at CES 2017.

Mykie Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

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Mykie’s default screen is a set of moving eyes. Mykie will also project videos on your kitchen wall.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Meet Mykie, the digital robot that wants to be your sous chef. Bosch displayed its concept countertop smart speaker at CES in Las Vegas this week. Mykie, short for “my kitchen elf,” is similar to smart speakers like Amazon Echo or Google Home: You can use voice controls to ask Mykie questions such as, “What’s the weather today?” It will also be able to control connected Bosch appliances like dishwashers and ovens. Mykie’s main goal is to help you cook. You can search for recipes with voice commands or on Mykie’s control screen, and Mykie will project videos of someone preparing the recipe on your kitchen wall.

Mykie is very much in the development stage, and still has some kinks. During a CES demo, we asked Mykie to search for recipes with cumin as an ingredient. Mykie heard, “search for recipes with human.” But it’s an ambitious attempt by a big appliance manufacturer to try to wedge its way into the smart home market.

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iBaby Yobi Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Baby-tech startup iBaby has cemented itself in the monitoring industry over the past couple of years because of a few creative design decisions — most notably replacing the actual monitor with a smart phone, and focusing more on the camera. Their feature-rich cameras, like the M6S, are some of the best on the market.

And now, they’re bringing that experience to Yobi, a voice assistant and robot for the whole family. At $400, Yobi isn’t cheap. But when I talked to iBaby President Elnaz Sarraf at CES 2017, she assured me that you get what you pay for — a premium device.

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Yobi’s base functions include facial and voice recognition, voice-command response and the ability to speak and understand multiple languages — English, Chinese, Spanish, French and more.

On top of this foundation, iBaby has layered a slew of other features:

• Monitors air quality
• Plays music (and, of course, dances)
• Passes on messages left for family members
• Sets reminders and alarms
• “Checks on” kids

Sarraf says Yobi also will change over time, depending on how users utilize it. Eventually, its intuitive responses will be personalized to you, although how exactly this will shake out remains to be seen.

Chris Monroe/CNET

In the brief time I worked with Yobi, I saw an assistant that works well — but not one with the same development and interoperability as, say, Alexa or Aristotle. I’m excited to see how Yobi develops over time, because for any voice assistant, personality is key. What really distinguishes Siri from Alexa from Google Assistant and so on, is the way interacting with each of them feels.

If Yobi can create a compelling personality, and bring uniquely child-oriented features, it could represent another exciting entry in the emerging field of kid-friendly voice and robot assistants.

iBaby plans to make Yobi available in Q2 of 2017.