Tag Archive for: electronics

8 Interesting Pieces of Tech from CES 2020

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CES 2020 is upon us and there’s some pretty interesting pieces of tech being shown off. We took a look at some of them and picked out 8 of our favourites!

Moxie Alexa Shower Head

Bathroom specialist Kohler are showing off it’s Moxie shower head. This isn’t just any shower head it’s an Alexa enabled speaker and microphone. Listen to your favourite music and podcasts simply by asking it. Plus it’s smart enough to hear your voice over the sound of the water. It may get a few odd looks, but this piece of tech is simply bringing the shower radio to 2020!

Taint Plaster

CES 2020 is getting more adult and allowing risque tech into the show floor. This year includes a taint plaster from Morari Medical. It’s designed to go onto the taint are of a man. A man who is experiencing premature ejaculation issues. It’s an early prototype designed to tackle men who have this problem. It’s discreet and unrecognisable so no worries there. It works by “inhibiting the nerves of the penis, thereby delaying an ejaculation.”

Charmin

Charmin are having some interesting tech ideas at this year’s CES 2020!

First up is the Rollbot from Charmin, a robot toilet roll holder. The little robot which you can summon to you using bluetooth, it uses infrared sensors to help navigate it’s way to you.

The SmellSense is even better. Say someone in the house has dropped a deuce in the toilet before you go in there to clean your teeth in the morning. Well this nifty product uses an electronic sensor which detects the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide found in the air after we take a dump.  It will then notify users via a Go/No Go display. Charmin, saving noses a day at a time.

Smartypans

This one from CES 2020 is for all you cooking fans out there! The Smartypans will check the weight and temperature of ingredients. Before guiding you through whatever you are cooking via it’s app. How cool is that! This is how smart tech should be used!

 

Inirv Smart Cooker Knobs

The Inirv Smart Cooker Knobs which are being shown off at CES 2020 this year look really cool! Inirv are hoping that you’ll swap out your dumb cooker knobs for their smart ones. They let owners turn up the heat via voice command. While also automatically turning off the stove if it is left unattended for too long. No more worrying when you go out!

PantryOn

The PantryOn is a piece of smart tech that aims to make grocery shopping a little bit easier. Especially for the busy family! It’s aim is to automate food shopping lists via smart shelves. As they will monitor when a family’s favourite groceries run low. While this looks cool, current prototypes look a bit bulky. Which means there’s less storage space. Also, we have a question, what if you just forget to put the groceries on the shelf?

Bright Lock

The Bright Lock will unlock your front door by detecting a pattern of light pulses. These lightpulses will be fired from your smartphone’s flash. The idea for this interesting piece of tech? Well you can easily share the light based code with other people. So friends, family or tradesmen who are working on your home may need temporary access. So you share your lightcode with them!

TowNew

This nifty little device will alleviate the trouble of tieing up bin bags. No more heaving at the smell when tieing them up before throwing them outside in the outside bin.  The smart bin will self seal the sacks at the touch of a button! However you’ll need to buy the manufacturers own bin liners. We think that’s a perfect trade off if you ask us!

 

 

The bin self-seals sacks at the touch of a button, but requires you to be locked into buying the manufacturer’s bin liner refills.

(BBC, Gizmodo, Gizmodo)

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Marcus Bronzy

Domestic Robots – Do YOU trust them?

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7 in 10 Americans would totally trust a domestic robot to do their chores, according to Yahoo.

Yet, what about Brits? How do we feel about domestic robots?  

(A domestic Robot is an autonomous Robot that is primarily used for household chores)

Specops Software wanted to find out how we Brits felt about robots doing chores so surveyed 2,424 British consumers. They found out something quite the opposite to our American counterparts.

The survey consisted of the questions based on the characteristics of domestic robots. Specops wanted to identify the elements British people believe would make “ideal” robot for the home.

Some of their findings included:

  • 61% of people do not want domestic robots to read emotion
  • 88% of Brits would like the ability to modify their domestic robot
  • 39% of Brits would be likely to purchase a domestic robot, if available now
  • 82% of people would prefer a domestic robot with gender neutral characteristics
  • 82% of people do not want domestic robots to have access to personal, private data

So it looked like us Brits don’t like the idea of Robots doing our chores for us! With many of the statistics being based around privacy based concerns such as reading emotion and access to private personal data.

So, 77% of Brits do not want human-like robots in the home and: 

  • 61% of people do not want domestic robots to read emotion
  • 88% of Brits would like the ability to modify their domestic robot
  • 39% of Brits would be likely to purchase a domestic robot, if available now
  • 82% of people would prefer a domestic robot with gender neutral characteristics
  • 82% of people do not want domestic robots to have access to personal, private data

Domestic Robots Emotion

The most interesting statistic that Specops found was that 39% of Brits agree that it would be an asset for domestic robots to be able to read emotion. With the most favourable emotions ranking as most favourable to be read:

  1. Stress (60%)
  2. Fear (40%)
  3. Happiness (40%)

Functionality wise, 59% of Brits would like domestic robots to memorise what they see and do. While 41% would prefer robots forgot what they see and did instantly.

Aesthetics

But how do we want our robots to look? Well us Brits want domestic robots to look:

  1. Mechanical (65%)
  2. Be neutral in colour (53%)
  3. Have round, soft edges (29%)
  4. Be small and compact (53%)

While, a whopping 82% of people surveyed would like a domestic robot to have gender neutral characteristics (male 6% / female 12%)

We would also like to be able to modify the domestic robot if it were to exist (88%) most favourable modifications:

  • Ability to change its voice or noises (100%)
  •  Wipe its memory instantly (87%)
  • Download apps to increase its knowledge and performance (80%)
  • Extend or add different parts (60%)
  • Change its “skin” / outer casing (27%)
  • Zap or radiate when touched by something unknown (7%)

82% of us believe that the most effective use for a Robot is for security and surveillance.

Cleaning and use as a personal assistant came in a close second at 76%. Entertainment ranked 3rd at 65%, Cooking 53% in at 4th, companionship ranked 5th at 35%, furthermore guidance and advice 6th at  24%, healthcare  7th at 18% and Childcare came last at 6%


(Specops Software)

 

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US and UK ban cabin laptops on some inbound flights

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According to Sky News, the UK have followed the US in banning users from using electronic devices on in-bound flights from Muslim majority countries.

The details of the UK ban is unknown but it is said to be like the US restriction that bans all electronic devices larger than a smartphone.

The ban which impacts 9 airlines (Royal Jordanian, Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad Airways.) from 8 countries (Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.) across 10 different airports. The reason for this ban is unknown.

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