Autonomous cars have arrived — Uber has fleets in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, Google’s parent company is spinning off its driverless car project in a sign it is closer to coming to market, and the federal government has begun to issue guidelines on how the cars should work. How a Car Drives ItselfWhat the Car SeesThe car’s sensors gather data on nearby objects, like their size and rate of...

Productivity growth—output growth that exceeds the growth of the workforce and capital employed—has been the lifeblood of the US manufacturing sector for much of the recent past. From 1972 through 2010, the sector’s output more than doubled, while its workforce decreased by more than 30%. These steady gains in productivity have been a major factor in the renaissance of US manufacturing. Howe...

CB Insights patent search engine identified filed patents relating to autonomous vehicles from insurers including State Farm and The Hartford.This week, Allstate announced a new partnership with Stanford University’s Intelligent Systems Lab to research the implications of connected cars and autonomous vehicles. But according to an analysis of CB Insights Patent Search Engine & Analytics, A...

Paris-based Plume Labs announced today that it has raised $4.5 million to deepen the impact of an air pollution service it hopes will improve health, and even save lives.Launching last year, the Plume Air Report is a free mobile app for the iPhone and Android phones that allows consumers to measure their exposure to heavy pollution and get pollution forecasts. The service plugs into publicly av...

New and exciting virtual reality services just keep on appearing in Tokyo.After the announcement of VR Park Tokyo now comes another virtual reality center. And this time it is sports-themed.Cycle & Studio R will open its first branch in the heart of Shibuya on March 19th, 2017, featuring the VR cycling program The Trip as well as other exercise and training systems that use video and music....

BMW is doing something pretty sci-fi with the interior of its vehicles at CES – it’s showing off a new HoloActive Touch system, which is a touch sensitive display for showing the driver information about music, navigation and more, which appears to float in air, and which also provides actual felt, tactile feedback in response to interactions.The new interactive holograph-style display is par...

Night lights and baby monitors are must-haves for parents and little ones alike. Lümin combines both into one hybrid unit designed to grow up with baby.Controllable via a mobile app, it features an HD camera that you can control remotely. The wide angle lens allows you to take in the whole picture with adjustable zoom functionality.As your baby grows up, it can be taken on your child’s nightt...

TRENDBIRD Quarterly Report (SiliconValley VC Funding Report) - Q4. 2016 Edition Released !TRENDBIRD (What's the Next Big Thing ?). "Crowd-Sourced, Expert-Curated" is a Global Trend Research & Consulting Service that Instantly Delivers Industry Expert Information on Emerging Trends & Future Business Opportunities from Around the World, Ahead of The Curve. Thanks. The Trendbird Team------...

Rokoko has developed the Smartsuit Pro, a suit full of sensors that allows for motion capture to be undertaken without an extensive studio setup.Many modern animated characters owe their lifelike movements to actors in motion capture (mocap) suits surrounded by cameras, but that cumbersome, expensive process might soon be a thing of the past. Danish startup Rokoko has developed the Smartsuit Pr...