You might recall last year we talked about an “amazon” new product called the Dash, and its cousins the Dash buttons. You can click here to refresh your knowledge.
Having been out for months now in the USA, Amazon has started rolling out its brainchild to the rest of the world and UK has just been added on to its map. Click here to see more.
From your baby nappies, to detergent, or for the careful; condoms. All these items can be ordered straight with the push of a button.
Dash your way into your partner’s heart by keeping the house stocked with the bare essentials!
“Hey Siri, did you know you now have a younger sibling?” Siri might not give you an answer to that but it does have a sibling, called Viv, and everyone is talking about it. Viv was debuted weeks ago in New York and it seems to know how to do a lot more when asked for assistance!
Viv was made to be different from Siri because it doesn’t just spew out internet search results at you, or perform basic tasks, it actually works out what you want and help you get things done! The very makers of Apple’s Siri sat down to create a new virtual assistant – as they are now called- and came up with a software that can rewrite itself to find solutions. Another step towards the personification of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
You can see a demonstration of Viv at work in the video below. if you are more interested in the full talk, you can restart the video from the beginning.
According to one of Viv’s and Siri’s makers: “We’re going to use this technology to breathe life into the inanimate objects and devices of our life through conversation,” This statement sounds scary at first, especially with all the talk of AI taking over the world or our jobs. However we believe this types of technology, when perfected, can be more beneficial than harmful to help machines, i.e electronic devices, better understand and represent our needs!
You might have heard of the Amazon Dash. It is a system to help making shopping on Amazon a tad easier. Now the Dash has got a new cousin, the AWS IoT Button! A mouthful I know, by the time you finish calling its name though, it would have completed its task!
This button unlike the Amazon Dash can be used to do any task programmable rather than just shopping on Amazon!
According to its makers “You can click the button to unlock or start a car, open your garage door, call a cab, call your spouse or a customer service representative, track the use of common household chores, medications or products, or remotely control your home appliances.”
An amazing device for an already connected home! Click on image below to read more!
Literally every electronic “toy” out there is being upgraded with some kind of virtual reality or augmented reality. We are nearly there people! Those Sci-Fi movies that made you marvel with futuristic gadgets are materialising with years of hard work pushing scientific advancement all around us!
Games, movies, phones, TVs, e.t.c. are all being upgraded with headsets that transport you to experience the action as if you were right in the middle of it. It is no surprise cars are also being made smarter. In fact at the time of writing of this article, self driving cars and vehicles are being tested in many countries and is definitely looking more like reality!
Bentley luxury cars – you either want one or own one – has showcased what they call a virtual butler for cars! It not only pops out at your like in the movies, it also takes command on where to drive you to and what to help you with in your luxurious automobile! A thing of beauty!
In no time, this will be the norm, at first in expensive cars, and someday a standard in cars!
In these days of Tech! Everyone is busy inventing devices to make themselves richer under the guise of helping us do more every day! Now and again however, there comes a an idea born from a genuine need to help the people next door.
A student Rebecca Pick was so concerned when a woman in her apartment block was attacked that she brainstormed to come up with an ingeniuos idea.
The tiny GPS Rape Alarm called the Personal Guardian uses your phone to send a distressed signal with the exact location to the Police when activated.
The Personal Guardian Compared To Coins
The website claims “The Personal Guardian can be worn discreetly on a bra strap and concealed under clothes, on a trouser belt loop or clipped to a workers lanyard. When activated, the alarm will send the Police to the exact location of the incident. It will also send a text to pre-determined phone contacts (friends and family) alerting them and also providing the location. Simultaneously, when the alarm is activated, an internal microphone and the microphone on the user’s smart phone will record. This will record all dialogue which can then be used in court to get a conviction.
This alarm can not only stop an attack but also gather evidence to get a conviction”
We still have to wait a while before this becomes a commercial reality. However, we at The Computer Potato think this is another great invention and hope to see more of ideas that will actually make the world safer!
We all like to know what the weather holds in store for us so as to plan how we go about the day. So there is no surprise there are many ways of checking the weather forecast. However, a company has gone beyond the box to bring the rendering of tomorrow’s weather in your living space.
Meet the Tempescope!
The dedicated website claims “The tempescope is an ambient physical display that visualizes various weather conditions like rain, clouds, and lightning. By receiving weather forecasts from the internet, it can reproduce tomorrow’s sky in your living room.”
While many people might not buy into the idea of spending extra money just to get a box that tells you the weather forecast by representing it with some few tricks, we at The Computer Potato think this idea is cute and is true to bring life to any living space!
We at Computer Potato would like to introduce you to the next stage of technological advancement in computing and mobile devices which if put together into one device will change the way we interact with our environment using the electronic devices of the future.
Throughout this article, we will use the word devices to cover anything from mobile devices, to computers (desktop/laptop), to any smart electronic devices found in cars, homes, and anything considered smart today!
Let’s start with the tech giant Intel’s RealSense. Like the name suggests this technology will allow devices to map and represent a real sense of what is actually around them. This means devices can electronically simulate the world around them in real dimensions, leaving your whole body and everything around you interactive with you and with your devices. See the video below.
You can see more and read more about it here. Realsense has already started trickling out commercially in some devices.
Another tech giant Google recently announced many projects they are working on. Some have caught our eye and had to be added to this article
Project Soli essentially does some of the things the Intel RealSense does by allowing you to interact with devices using your body and gestures but even down to minute movements and motions. See below
Project Jacquard on the other hand does let you interact with devices in a “fabricated” way (pun intended). This technology is weaved into the fabric of your clothes, and in essence gives you the power to control your devices by gestures on your clothes. Yeah you read that right!
Lenovo also announced their concept phone with a projector built in. Yes not only is this innovative enough, they made the projected image smart enough to read your input. With this you can get a projected keyboard that you can actually type on. This might mean physical keyboards or touchscreens might actually become extinct. See below
So we have talked about inputting, interaction and controlling devices. How would we then feel or see our controls or how will the devices themselves interact with us?
Not to worry, with many many virtual reality goggles coming out already, we don’t have to crack our brains. Virtual reality as the name implies, is when an electronic device represents reality electronically and animates the simulation of the environment.
One of these goggles is made by another technology giant, Microsoft. The Hololens is a virtual reality goggle like no other announced yet! See below
Now putting all these newer technologies together into the already smart and helpful devices we have today and what do you get? A more immersive experience and interaction with devices on every level much like you see in a scene from Iron Man in the video below.
The best of this is, these technologies are past the research stage and have started appearing on some devices. We at the Computer Potato give kudos to all these companies and their researchers working hard to advance the future, take our money, and make our lives a bit more fun!
The Consumer Electronics Show 2015 saw almost all big automobile manufacturers showcase their latest innovations and ideas for our future driving. Like you would have guessed from the title of this article, most of the cars have systems that are considered smart.
Now, what can they do? They have a lot of features like, calls and text integration, voice commands, parking assist, self driving, and of course infotainment. By now you must have also guessed the hub for all these features is your phone. Many companies are vying to make the standard operating system in these smart cars including Google and Apple, the latter whom has been whispered to be looking into the arena of smart cars too.
As this is only the beginning of officially smart vehicles, don’t throw away your hard earned driving license yet. Self driving cars are not yet feasible for the next few years as their are safety and legal laws and principles that need to be looked into. However, other helpful features like the internet connected car system that can give you up to date traffic information and of course real-time news are already out for grabs in the newest cars.
See below for more!
MyFord Touch
MyFord Touch redesigns the in-car interface, mirroring how consumers interact with most devices in their lives using touch-sensitive buttons, touch screens, thumb-wheel controls and voice recognition.
BMW Self Parking Car
BMW showed us a research vehicle whose Remote Valet Parking Assistant will help park your car
The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion.-540x334
This is a driverless concept car from the car giant Mercedes
Hyundai Motors infotainment syste
Indulge in entertainment with this Hyundai infotainment system.
We at Computer Potato really do give kudos to these car companies and everyone looking into backing this good idea, as this could mean cars would be much safer when it kicks off and no more DUI worries for those nights when you just had a bit more to drink!
We have recently spoke about the smart chopsticks (click here) that tell you of toxic ingredients in your food and how much of a good idea it is. Computer potato is proud to present to you the Hapifork by an inventor Jacques Lépine
The fork tells you when you are binging your food and alerts you to eat slow which can help you with staying in shape, prevent gastric reflux, digestive problems and postoperative operations according to the product’s website..
The Hapifork recently got coupled up with a companion knife and the pair got a new name this year; 10SFork.
We at Computer Potato think this is another innovation that has potential in the realisation of the Internet Of Things (click here) and stay tuned as we bring you more of the future in the simplest form of news!
“The internet of Things” is everywhere. Well it is going to be everywhere, literally. It is becoming a topic everyone is talking about. Do you care about what it means? Well you should, because it is pushed to be what will take over our lives as we know it. The topic is very technical, and even so now that it is still in the development stage. However, like always, the Computer Potato is here to simplify even the most complex technological problems.
Look at it this way; there are so many devices around the world now. Every smartphone, desktop, laptop and even watches (Click to Read about Smartwatches) can all connect to the internet via your mobile network or your home WiFi. So, what if we could connect every single electrical device to the internet? They would be able to actually talk to each other and share valuable information. I am not just talking about your TV, or watch. I am talking your electrical toothbrush, your air conditioning unit, your sewing machine, even your clothes!
How does that benefit anybody do I hear you ask? Well imagine your alarm clock wakes you up and sends information to your heater to start heating your bathing water or make you a nice lukewarm bath, just like you like it. After your bath, the bathtub sends information to your cooker that you have left the bathroom so that it gets the stoves ready for you will soon be making breakfast. After breakfast your house alarm sends information to your car to meet you in front of the house because you are about to leave the house for work. Should I go on? I am sure you get the gist of it already. Even though it sounds like a scene from Bill Gates house in a Marvel studios movie, but today the groundwork for this system is already building up.
If you think like me, I know you are asking “what about security?”. You might be thinking “I will now be getting SPAM in my car, or even my toaster is going to be hacked!” Well all these issues are being looked into and the whole concept of IoT (Internet of Things) won’t be put in place unless the technological giants pushing the idea have come together to iron out any problems
Even though it is an idea that sounds absurd to us today, I am certain the benefits of IoT will be far greater than the issues it brings. And it will help us interact with our environment even more than we can today. We might be putting on more pounds though- and I don’t mean money- as we would all be doing far less!
