Coros smart bike helmet comes with bone conduction audio

I’ve always wanted to cycle with a Spotify playlist pounding through my ear canals. In London, though, that’s a dangerous idea given the relentless traffic that threatens to side-swipe you every five seconds. Coros Wearables has a solution: a smart cycling helmet with open-ear bone conduction audio. The promise is that you can listen to music, make calls, and follow directions while still hearing everything around you. The helmet connects to your phone over Bluetooth and promises eight hours of playback on a single charge — enough to last even the longest Tour de France climb.

The Omni helmet will keep you safe in other ways too. Two strips of light on the back will illuminate when it gets dark, and an internal crash sensor will alert your family or friends in the event of an accident. These features are similar to the $60 Cosmo Bike light accessory announced earlier this week. With the Omni, however, you get all of these features — plus the bone-conduction audio — in a single, cohesive helmet design. Of course, it will also protect your noggin should you happen to take a fall. Finally, there’s a handlebar-mounted remote for controlling your tunes mid-ride.

Coros Wearables will launch the helmet for $199.99 later this quarter. (A spokesperson for the company told me it was likely to hit retailers in February.) At the moment, however, the company is running a pre-order campaign on Indiegogo with up to 45 percent off the normal price (the cheapest backer tier at the time of writing is $129). It’ll be available in black, red, white or blue, and come with a detachable visor and bag.

If you’re the sort that likes to track their rides, the company is also touting a GPS watch. The Pace has a heart-rate tracker and will handle your running and swimming sessions too. It’s water-resistant to 50 meters and will last up to 30 hours with GPS turned on. There’s no word on pricing just yet, so it’s hard to know how this matches up with the best from Garmin and TomTom. It does, however, use the same app as the Omni cycling helmet — so if you decide to go all-in, you’ll be rewarded with some added convenience. A spokesperson told me that you’ll also be able to export your sessions to third-party fitness apps such as Strava and MapMyRun.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Somnox’s robotic pillow is designed to snuggle

We’re all having trouble sleeping, and at least one group of researchers in the Netherlands believes it’s because we’re not cuddling enough. That’s the thinking behind Somnox, a breathing robot that’s designed to nestle in your arms and make you think that you’ve got a special friend over. At the same time, the unit will offer up soothing sounds, like a heartbeat, lullabies or nature sounds, depending on your preferences. And, it’s entirely possible that you’ll form an attachment to the giant grey McNugget.

The device is also stuffed full with sensors that, as yet, have yet to be activated, but it’s thought that the system will eventually offer sleep tracking as well. When that information is crunched by the Somnox servers, it’s plausible that you’ll be given insights on how to sleep better than you would otherwise. And the thinking is that what everyone has been missing all these years is to cuddle up with a loved one or pet. Although finding a loved one might be cheaper, since the device has a retail price of $550 without any early backer discount. The company believes that while the initial price is high, it’ll pale in comparison with the cost of sleepless nights.

The Somnox Smart Sleep Robot is currently available to pre-order on Indiegogo, with initial Kickstarter backers expected to receive their units in July, while Indiegogo purchases will be here in September.

Chris Ip contributed to this report.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Source: Kickstarter, Indiegogo

Yarra 3DX soundbar uses an app to shift the audio sweet spot

Our latest audio demo at CES 2018 came from Comhear’s highly-anticipated first consumer device, the Yarra 3DX. While soundbars claiming audio superpowers are a dime a dozen, the Yarra 3DX has been through two successful crowdfunding campaigns (on Kickstarter and Indiegogo) on the strength of its beamforming chops.

With a DSP tied to each of its 12 33mm drivers, the company says this speaker is capable of delivering binaural audio precisely to listeners and can create up to three audio sweet spots, all controlled via its app. We got a peek at the Android version of the app, which can be used for beam selection, presets and more. With a simple slider, the operator could shift the audio focus around a virtual room, and switch the speaker between near or far-field operation.

I had a brief experience with some demo material before the Showstoppers event became too crowded, and came away impressed. Comhear’s claim is that it can deliver a headphone-like localized sound experience and it truly delivered, even in a room not suited to high-quality audio. Its MyBeam tech is also in use commercially, for retail kiosks that have focused sound experiences, but we’re more interested in what it can do for the home.

The demo unit we saw is still a second-generation prototype as production units are still a few months away from shipping. While the Yarra 3DX is suited for binaural audio and sources encoded using Dolby Digital, once it’s on the market users are expecting to see firmware upgrades to support other options as well. Packaged with a subwoofer, the soundbar has a sticker price of $599, however, there are Indiegogo options still available for a bit less.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Source: Comhear

Kodak is jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon

Kodak’s big film revival isn’t working out as well as planned, which leaves it in a tough spot. How is it going to spark interest and raise a ton of cash in a hurry? Easy — hop on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. The former legend has partnered with Wenn Digital to launch a KodakOne image rights platform that takes advantage of KodakCoin, a photo-centric virtual currency. In theory, the monetary format creates a reliable photo economy — the distributed trust of blockchain ensures you get paid instantly and securely the moment someone buys your pictures. KodakOne, meanwhile, continuously crawls the web looking for copyright violations.

The initial coin offering debuts on January 31st for accredited investors in the US, Canada, the UK and a handful of other countries.

There is a practical advantage to Kodak’s approach. Ask any pro photographer and they’ll tell you that they hate waiting for payments. However, it’s no secret that many companies have been using cryptocurrency as a short-term cash grab that keeps them afloat, whether or not the business model is sound. You just need to look at Long Island Iced Tea: it tripled its stock price after it announced plans to mine bitcoin (by using stock offerings, of course) and renamed itself as Long Island Blockchain, but it just dropped the offering and now can’t guarantee that its bitcoin mining will go forward.

KodakCoin won’t necessarily suffer the same fate, but it’s not just a happy accident that Kodak’s stock price more than doubled on the news. The challenge will be proving that there’s actually a long-term strategy, not just an attempt to capitalize on a flash-in-the-pan trend.

Source: BusinessWire, KodakCoin

Logan Paul may face ‘further consequences’ from YouTube

Earlier this month, YouTube star Logan Paul was hit with a wave of criticism over his decision to post a video showing a suicide victim in Japan’s Aokigahara forest. Posted to his YouTube channel, the video showed him and his friends entering the forest, — well-known for being a place where many choose to end their lives — coming across a body and laughing while they made jokes and moved in for closeups. The video was removed, but many have called for YouTube to do more, both with Paul specifically and with how it manages the content that goes up on its site. The company has been fairly quiet since the incident, but today, it has finally released a statement.

On Twitter, YouTube started a thread by saying, “Many of you have been frustrated with our lack of communication recently. You’re right to be. You deserve to know what’s going on.” It goes on to say that those at the company were upset by Paul’s video, adding, “Suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views.” While YouTube didn’t provide any details, it said that Paul’s channel violated its community guidelines when the video was posted and that it was “looking at further consequences.”

Like many others, we were upset by the video that was shared last week.

— YouTube (@YouTube) January 9, 2018

Actor Aaron Paul and YouTuber Laci Green were among those that spoke out against Paul and his video as was Anna Akana who tweeted, “You do not walk into a suicide forest with a camera and claim mental health awareness.”

YouTube concluded its statement by admitting it had taken a long time to respond to the issue. “We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we’ll have more to share soon on steps we’re taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.”

If you or a loved one is considering suicide or would like emotional support, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free and confidential resource available to you. You can call the Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or for Spanish speakers at 1-888-628-9454. The deaf and hard of hearing can call 1-800-799-4889.

Source: YouTube

Samsung’s Bixby-powered Family Hub fridge is great at blasting tunes

The company is eagerly trying to squeeze Bixby into just about everything, and its latest Family Hub fridge is no exception. Now, this isn’t the first time we’ve had the opportunity to yell at a refrigerator — that was last year — but Samsung promises we’ll be able to ask for daily rundowns and control SmartThings-compatible gadgets like connected lights and thermostats. In other words, you can expect the full-blown Bixby experience, not just the limited list of voice commands we got last time.

Unfortunately, when we moseyed over Samsung’s massive booth, we discovered the software powering the fridge was far from finished. (No wonder Samsung only committed to a vague spring launch window.) Rudimentary commands like asking Bixby to show us what was inside the fridge — as relayed by a Samsung staffer with a headset mic — worked fine, as did requesting to see which food items inside the fridge were close to expiring. So far, so good.

Too bad that this early version of Bixby commands sometimes flubbed requests and seemed susceptible to cross-talk — having multiple people talking in the demo room led to meandering, mistaken commands because Bixby couldn’t tell when to stop listening. You’ll be able to create up to six user profiles, and Bixby should be able to distinguish between commands each of the people associated with them, but we sadly couldn’t check to see if Bixby could tell me apart from intrepid reporter Jess Conditt.

If nothing else, the AKG speakers embedded below the touchscreen sound excellent. We turned up the volume on some Beyoncé in the demo room, and it was more than loud and crisp enough to momentarily transport us outside that hot, small, glass cubicle. Who knew fridges could be so fun?

So yeah, this Bixby fridge is still a work in progress. When everything worked correctly, though, we got a glimpse of something impressive. Samsung is using Bixby as a sort of connective tissue to ensure that the experience of using a phone won’t differ too much from using Bixby on an appliance. Building those kinds of consistent experiences is key to Samsung’s plan to rule the home, and even though it’ll be a while before everything comes together, the company at least seems like it’s on the right track. With any luck, it won’t be too long before we get to see how well all these insane features really come together in the kitchen.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Volocopter hopes to have air taxis in the sky in five years

In addition to autonomous vehicles crawling the cities without drivers, we should start getting ready for the sky to be taken over by robot chauffeurs. One of the companies working on future air taxis is Germany-based Volocopter. Its 18-rotored human-sized drone took flight at Intel’s CES keynote and was on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center. So naturally, we asked to sit in it.

Volocopter began its journey to autonomous air taxis in 2013 and has made some impressive progress in the past four years. It’s been flown not only on stage at CES, it’s taken flight in Germany and completed an autonomous flight in Dubai. It used GPS waypoints during that pilotless excursion.

The drone’s 18 rotors are powered by 9 batteries which power two rotors each. The tiny propellers that share a battery are situated on opposite ends of the aircraft. That way if a battery fails, it won’t seriously affect the stability of the Volocopter.

That powerpack will keep the aircraft in the sky for 30 minutes. Long enough for urban air-transportation according to the aircraft maker. When it lands, instead of plugging the Volocopter in, the rear cone can be removed and the battery packs swapped in about three to five minutes. It’s currently a manual operation, but the company envisions robots taking care of this in the future.

But even with its successful test flights and Intel’s avoidance system on board, it’ll be a while before any of us are taking sky taxis to our destinations. Flight trials with pilots will commence in about two years with autonomous trials about a year after that. During that, the company will also have to navigate the FAA and other regulatory institutions. But it’s hopeful that by the time the technology is ready (in about five years) the government will be as well. Then you might have the option of taking either a self-driving car or autonomous sky taxi to your destination.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Meet the selfie drone that lives in your phone case

Imagine you and a group of friends are at the peak of a mountain after a long hike. It’s sunset and the sky is alight; you want to take a photo. You pull out your smartphone, but instead of flipping it around to take a long-armed selfie, you unclip a tiny drone from the back of your phone, make it hover at the perfect height, and snap a series of photos, no extendo-arms required.

That’s the idea behind Selfly, the drone-in-a-phone-case built by camera and recording company AEE. Selfly is a drone that folds into the back of a phone case, and it includes a camera that can record, live stream and take photos in 1080p and 60fps, using a suite of Sony sensors. The case itself is just under half an inch thick, similar in style to an Otterbox, and it fits recent Apple and Android devices.

The Selfly will be available in the spring for $130, with a separate charging hub available for $30. The Selfly doesn’t charge in the phone case and it lasts about four minutes once it’s fully loaded. It has a hover function that lets users set it up in the air, at the perfect height, and it can take sweeping panoramic photos. Users can control the drone with virtual joysticks or use a point-and-fly method: Point to an area of the screen and the drone will fly there; pinch to zoom and it’ll fly farther out. The Selfly has a range of roughly 45 feet, definitely far enough for the selfie life.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Cauldryn has made the swiss army knife of heated travel mugs

If you thought that the cutting edge of vacuum-insulated coffee mugs was to buy one in a color other than black, then boy have we got news for you. Cauldryn Coffee is showing off its modular coffee cup that promises to revolutionize the way we carry around beverages. At its heart, is the coffee mug itself, which comes with a heating element in its base and a plug for an external battery.

The whopping battery is capable of keeping a beverage hot for up to 10 hours at a time, or charging your smartphone a couple of times. But when you’ve got a battery of that size, there are plenty of other things that you can do with it, like attach a blender attachment to grind your coffee beans. Or cram on a percolator so you can brew those beans fresh every morning, or a little LED temperature sensor to fine-tune your water.

But wait, there’s more, because you can also attach non-beverage related objects to the platform, including a night-light and bug zapper combo. The company is also developing a new version of its heating element that will connect to Google Assistant, warming your fluids when you tell it to do so. It’s certainly got a market with the outdoorsy types, as well as coffee nerds who demand precision with their brews.

The Cauldryn Coffee is available for $129.99, with the wider group of accessories coming down the pipe later this year.

Chris Ip contributed to this report.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Robomart autonomous bodegas will deliver produce to your door

Shopping for fresh produce online has always been a bit of a gamble since you’re not actually selecting the fruits and veggies yourself. Santa Clara, California-based startup Robomarts aims to change that by bringing online produce shopping to your front door.

The company, as part of NVIDIA’s deep learning/AI “Inception Program”, has developed what is essentially an self-driving bodega on wheels. The concept relies on a Sprinter Van-sized delivery vehicle outfitted with an array of LiDAR, radar, and cameras, as well as a CAN motion control system and enough route planning and obstacle avoidance software to notch Level 5 autonomy — that’s the highest level a self-driving vehicle can achieve, requiring no human driver whatsoever. What’s more, the vehicles use a fully electric drivetrain with an estimated 80-mile range, 25 mph top speed and come equipped with the HEVO wireless charging system.

The cargo area of the vehicle will be refrigerated and offer multiple shelves of various types of produce (at least for the initial pilot program). To use the service, shoppers will order the vehicle much like a ride sharing service. Once it arrives, the shopper unlocks and opens the door, then makes their selection. A proprietary “grab and go” checkout system tracks which products are removed from the vehicle, then automatically bills the shopper’s account and generates an online receipt.

The company is currently awaiting its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit from the California DMV but expects to have it soon and plans to launch a pilot program in the Bay Area this summer.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.