TREND REPORTS
SRI Spinoff SuperFlex Raises $9.6M to Pursue ‘Powered Clothing’
[Investing]
2016/12/21 10:45
A spinoff from the robot veterans at SRI is making a big bet on ubiquitous soft robotics: SuperFlex aims to establish a new product category with what it calls “powered clothing.” The company, which initially split off in April, hopes to have a product to show in a few months, and has raised nearly $10 million to develop it.Powered clothing, or “intelligent wearable strength” as the company...
NASA's New Technology Could Help Track Firefighters for Safety
[Tech]
2016/12/21 10:45
This new electromagnetic tracking device might just make firefighters' lives safer by letting them track teammates' whereabouts inside buildings that block radio signals.While technology has given firefighters such advances as thermal imaging masks and high-tech heat resistant fabrics, it has yet to come up with a satisfactory solution to an urgent problem: How to track and locate first respond...
Big Utility Sees Pathway to $10 Oil
[Investing]
2016/12/21 10:45
The oil industry must brace for five energy “tsunamis” that threaten to drag prices as low as $10 a barrel in less than a decade, according to Engie SA’s innovation chief.The falling cost of solar power and battery storage, rising sales of electric vehicles, increasingly “smart” buildings and cheap hydrogen will all weigh on crude, Thierry Lepercq, head of research, technology and innovati...
(Video) Tokyo Airport Now Has Toilet Paper for Smartphones
[Design]
2016/12/21 10:44
Talk abut some slick marketing. NTTDoCoMo one of Japan’s largest mobile operator has developed a smartphone only toilet paper. These special rolls are installed at the toilets of Tokyo’s Narita airport. Their purpose, well, to clean your smartphone screen and rid the phone of germs. The toilet paper is printed with vital information which include WiFi service instructions, travel information...
(PDF) Pew - Online Shopping and E-Commerce
[Consumer]
2016/12/20 10:21
New technologies are impacting a wide range of Americans’ commercial behaviors, from the way they evaluate products and services to the way they pay for the things they buy.Americans are incorporating a wide range of digital tools and platforms into their purchasing decisions and buying habits, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. The survey finds that roughly eight-in-ten...
(Video) MIT Hyperloop - The Future of Levitating Transportation
[Tech]
2016/12/20 10:20
It might not look like anything fancy, but the MIT Hyperloop Project aims to revolutionize the way we move. Using electromagnetic levitation, it offers fast, efficient and weatherproof travel.The droplet-shaped pod would be capable of carrying 28 passengers. Unlike maglev transit systems which require a large power infrastructure, the stripped-down Hyperloop Project is much less expensive to pr...
(PDF) BCG - How a Digital Storm Will Disrupt the Parcel and Express Industry
[Business]
2016/12/20 10:20
It’s the year 2026, and you’ve just emerged from a tough earnings call with analysts. Revenue was down by 10%, and profits fell twice that. You tried to pin the blame on e-tailers’ price promotions for their delivery options, but the analysts didn’t buy it. They said you would just have to get used to fighting for share against these new rivals with all their momentum and tech buzz. What a...
OneWeb Raises $1.2 Billion to Launch a ‘Constellation’ of Satellites for High-Speed Internet Access
[Investing]
2016/12/20 10:20
OneWeb, a company that’s setting out to launch a “constellation” of micro-satellites to deliver broadband access, has raised a whopping $1.2 billion in private equity funding from Japan’s SoftBank Group, with participation from some of its existing investors, which include Qualcomm, Airbus, Intelsat, Coca-Cola, and Virgin.Founded out of London in 2012, OneWeb is planning to bring high-speed...
Adding Emotional Intelligence to AI - Emotibot
[Tech]
2016/12/20 10:20
Emotibot combines deep-learning AI, image and text-based recognition software to offer an open-source API for more emotionally aware chatbots.The use of AI chatbots is on the rise, whether it’s helping users with recruitment, insomnia or acting as a hotel concierge, and now China-based Emotibot are enabling developers to offer more personable automated user experiences.In collaboration with MI...
