With 200X the range of Wi-Fi at 1/1000th of the cost of a cellular modem, Helium’s “LongFi” wireless network debuts today. Its transmitters can help track stolen scooters, find missing dogs via IoT collars and collect data from infrastructure sensors. The catch is that Helium’s tiny, extremely low-power, low-data transmission chips rely on connecting to P2P Helium Hotspots people can now bu...

Toy maker’s slow progress shows challenge of scaling up bioplastic. Lego A/S has spent the past seven years trying to make its blocks with plastic derived from plants, but it keeps hitting brick walls.Lego tried making pieces from corn, but they were too soft. Its wheat-based bricks didn’t absorb color evenly or have the requisite shine. Bricks made from other materials proved too hard to pul...

Have bad credit? Does Amazon have a solution for you (as long as you have the collateral).The e-commerce giant has a new store credit card targeted at people with less-than-perfect credit scores. In partnership with Synchrony Bank, the “Amazon Prime Store Card Credit Builder” lets people put down a refundable security deposit (yes, like an apartment), which will be used to set the card’s tot...

Uber is gearing up to get into the drone delivery game, and things are set to take off this summer with plans to start a pilot program to offer fast food drone delivery in San Diego, California.Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration selected San Diego as one of 10 cities to test commercial drone delivery. The city then partnered with Uber to test it out, and Uber is working with McDonal...

Japanese studio nendo has unveiled the third product designed for the TEN:TEN watch collection. Cleverly dubbed buckle, this timepiece features only two components, in comparison to a traditional one that consists of three: the watch, the wristband and the buckle that adjusts the straps’ length.Buckle by nendo removes unnecessary parts by fusing the timepiece and buckle together into one singl...

The Internet Trends report — everyone’s favorite slide deck — is back. Bond Capital founder and former Kleiner Perkins general partner Mary Meeker made her presentation onstage at Vox/Recode’s Code Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Tuesday.Meeker first crafted a report of this kind, which underlines the most important statistics and technology trends on the internet, in 1995.This morning,...

Doctors could soon get some help from an artificial intelligence tool when diagnosing brain aneurysms—bulges in blood vessels in the brain that can leak or burst open, potentially leading to stroke, brain damage or death.The AI tool, developed by researchers at Stanford University and detailed in a paper published June 7 in JAMA Network Open, highlights areas of a brain scan that are likely to...

As driverless cars become more capable and more common, they will change people’s travel habits not only around their own communities but across much larger distances. Our research has revealed just how much people’s travel preferences could shift and found a new potential challenge to the airline industry.Imagine someone who lives in Atlanta and needs to travel to Washington, D.C., for busin...

​Hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles have the power to transform the air traffic ecosystem. Learn about the challenges aerial transport faces and how companies can take advantage of new opportunities.A century ago, aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss debuted the autoplane, a three-seat car-cum-aircraft with removable wings.1 Ever since, automobile and aviation enthusiasts...