$199 Cup Identifies, Tracks Your Beverage Intake

A 13 oz cup costing $199 can tell you exactly what you are drinking and measure your nutritional intake. The technology hasn’t been detailed, but is likely based around a spectrometer. Vessyl’s makers claim it can track the content of anything you drink from it, including calories, protein content and caffeine & sugar levels. An […]

US Military Tests Magic Bullets & Shark Drone

The Department of Defense is working on bullets that can change direction mid-flight. Meanwhile the US Navy is developing a nautical drone disguised as a shark. Long-time readers will already have guessed the former project is the work of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the real life version of Q from James Bond. One […]


Author Neal Stephenson Joins Augmented Reality Project

A company working on augmented and virtual reality tech has appointed sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson as its “Chief Futurist.” Exactly what the company is up to remains something of a mystery though. Magic Leap recently received $542 million in start-up funding from investors led by Google, two of whose executives have joined Magic Leap’s board. […]

Skype Live Voice Translation Gets Public Launch

English and Spanish speakers can now have a Skype conversation without learning the other language or typing. Skype Translator is now available in a “preview” edition to anyone on Windows 8.1. The service had previously been in a limited-numbers preview but has now rolled out publicly, though you will need to sign up to use […]

Wireless Charging Could Soon Get MUCH Faster

A company has unveiled a wireless charging system with three times the power of current models. It’s probably not quite enough for laptops yet, but shows the concept is scalable. At the moment, wireless chargers are usually limited to five watts, which is about the same as you’d get in a dedicated wired phone charger. […]

“Dead” Laptop Batteries Could Light Impoverished Homes

IBM researchers say 70 percent of discarded laptop batteries could be used to power lighting in locations without reliable electricity supplies. They say it could make LED lighting far more affordable than with either solar panels or rechargable batteries. The researchers are based in Bangalore and recently carried out tests using UrJar. That’s a gadget […]

“Gangnam Style” Breaks Youtube’s 32-Bit Barrier

Psy’s Gangnam Style video has long been the most watched clip on YouTube. Now it’s forced a rethink of the site’s “hit counter.” The video recently passed the 2,147,483,647-view mark. Maths and computing geeks among us may already have spotted the significance of that, but for the rest of us, it’s all down to that […]

DARPA’s Cheetah Robot Roams Free At 10MPH

Two years ago a cheetah-inspired robot “ran” at 28.3 mph, faster than Usain Bolt. A new rival model can only manage 10 mph, but does so without any external power cables. Both Cheetah model are funded by the American military’s gadget department DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) but are produced by different firms. In […]