This smart sock adds sensations to prosthetic limbs

prosthetic_header The future of prosthetics is fast arriving, with 3D-printed construction, advanced materials and embedded sensors replacing the unadorned wood and plastic of yore. But like the rest of the future, it’s not equally distributed. In order to bridge the gap for users who can’t afford or get at these fancy new prostheses, researchers propose smartening up dumb prosthetics with… Read More

Applications are open now for our Hardware Battlefield at CES 2017

robot-hardware-battlefield Do you make the hardest of things, hardware? We want you to compete in our Hardware Alley, our premier startup competition at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. You will have the chance to show your amazing products to representatives from major retailers, VCs, and other notables and you’ll climb far above the usual CES noise.
Hardware Battlefield is part of TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield… Read More

Lenovo’s Yoga Book is a fascinating attempt to reinvent the hybrid tablet

Lenovo Yoga Book No mainstream electronics manufacture is making more interesting, innovative and downright bizarre products than Lenovo. Between its contorting efforts under the Yoga banner and the modular handsets being produced by Motorola, the Chinese company is taking the sort of form factor risks we rarely see outside of hardware startups.
Nowhere is this better embodied than in the $499 Yoga Book. If… Read More

Weekly Roundup: Tesla’s self-driving tech progress, Apple announces MacBook event

Elon Musk This week, Tesla made a major announcement about the availability of its self-driving tech, Apple revealed when its next MacBooks are going to be announced, and we reviewed Google’s new Pixel XL. These are the top stories to catch you up on this crazy week in tech. Read More

Alexa can now fact check the 2016 election

amazon-echo Having a heated argument while discussing the presidential elections with friends? Good news: Alexa can now fact check the 2016 campaign, answering questions about the candidate’s claims right on the spot. This includes statements made by Clinton and Trump, as well as other candidates and politicians whose comments have been checked. This fact-checking is being made possible by way of… Read More

Watch all the quirky new commercials for Facebook Live

facebook-live-ads Teddy bear dogs, singing children, and your deepest personal opinions are what you should be sharing on Facebook Live, according to Facebook’s new ad campaign for its mobile broadcasting feature. Instead of poising itself for web celebrities like YouTube Live or citizen journalists like Periscope, these commercials show Facebook Live wants to be the camera for the common man. Click or… Read More

Facebook plans to reduce censorship, show more offensive but newsworthy content

268d5cb1-673e-4231-a1ef-c9767d3494f1 Facebook will soon display more graphic content including violence and nudity that would normally violate its policies as long as the imagery is newsworthy or important enough.
Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s VP of global policy writes “Our intent is to allow more images and stories without posing safety risks or showing graphic images to minors and others who do not want to see… Read More

Scientists made babies from mouse skin cells

3307883939_1cf40c270d_o A group of Japanese scientists from Kyushu University has successfully turned mouse skin cells into baby mice without the use of egg cells. The technology skips over the usual method of fertilizing egg cells with sperm and instead uses a method to grow the cells with the necessary chromosomal pairs needed for life to begin. This is the first time something like this has ever been achieved… Read More

Researchers sabotage 3D printer files to destroy a drone

commercial-drone-at-construction-site-flying-2 Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), the University of South Alabama, and Singapore University of Technology and Design have successfully injected malicious code into a computer which, in turn, added invisible commands to a file containing a 3D model of a drone propeller. When they printed the model and attached it to the drone, the propeller broke upon take-off. This… Read More

SoundShare’s new iMessage app lets you text your friends entire songs

screen-shot-2016-10-21-at-12-52-13-pm A new iMessage app from the music-focused social network SoundShare will now let you share entire tracks with your friends over text messaging. Of course, there are already a number of ways to text friends your favorite music, thanks to the launch of the iMessage App Store. Apple Music has a built-in iMessage app, for example, and Pandora also rolled out one of its own earlier this month. Read More

VR and inclusivity

virtual reality A billion-dollar industry is taking off, and we are excited that it has the potential to transform the lives of disabled people. But whatever the promise of this amazing tech, the industry has to move quickly to understand the needs and abilities of a full range of people and make sure it can offer a great experience for every possible user. Read More

Facebook Live broadcasting up 4X since May, gets TV and outdoor promo

facebook-live-ads-gif Facebook wants you to know Live broadcasting isn’t just for celebrities. Facebook has bought a new series of US and UK TV, web, billboard, bus, and baggage claim ads that suggest you go Live when you see something cool, want to show off a talent, or just have something important to say. The campaign could further accelerate the growth of Live, which has seen the number of people… Read More

DJI says it’s starting to ship its folding drone

DJI Mavic Pro Looks like DJI may beat GoPro’s ship date yet. After nearly a week of delay due to unspecified manufacturing reasons, the company’s eagerly anticipated folding photography drone looks to finally be heading out to early purchasers.
Three days after chalking the MIA Mavic Pro’s delay up to “amazingly strong global demand,” the company’s Global Director of… Read More

Board of Hampton Creek said to be investigating buyback allegations

Hampton Creek The board of Hampton Creek has hired one of the Big Four accounting firms to investigate claims in a Bloomberg story that the San Francisco-based vegan food company executed on a campaign to buy back mass quantities of its eggless mayo product, Just Mayo. A source familiar with the situation says the board was unaware of the alleged scheme until contacted by Bloomberg’s reporters… Read More