The next iPhone could feature a Touch ID sensor on the rear

 Reliable iPhone leaker Sonny Dickson just shared new design schematics for the upcoming iPhone. The most interesting thing is that the leak clearly shows a spot on the rear of the device for the Touch ID sensor. Rumor has it that Apple is going to release three new devices in September — upgraded versions of the iPhone 7 with better specs, and a brand new phone with a new form factor.… Read More

Juicero users find that man trumps machine

 FADE IN: EXT. BOHEMIAN GROVE – NIGHT Two VCs are wearing feathered headdresses and leather breeches. One, Anton, is drinking Soylent 3.0 from a bag, the other, Brad, Chateau Margaux 2009 Balthazar from a bark cup. Another younger VC, Chase, crushes a Juicero with a golf club in the firelight. ANTON: He’s taking it really hard. BRAD: Who? What? ANTON: Chase over there. That’s… Read More

Facebook will license its new 360 cameras that capture in six degrees of freedom

 On day two of Facebook’s F8 conference, Facebook’s CTO Mike Schroepfer showed off designs for two new 360 cameras that the company is going to help push to market. The x24, with 24 cameras, and its little brother the x6, with six cameras, can each capture in six degrees of freedom for more immersive 360 content. Read More

Facebook is building brain-computer interfaces for typing and skin-hearing

 Today at F8, Facebook revealed it has a team of 60 engineers working on building a brain-computer interface that will let you type with just your mind without invasive implants. They also have people working on a way for humans to hear through their skin. Read More

Nature Conservancy gives forest management a digital makeover

 Keeping a forest healthy often means deciding what to do tree by tree and acre by acre. That’s easy enough with a square mile of it, but what about a thousand? The Nature Conservancy is working on tools that will make it easy for park services, fire control and conservationists to keep entire forests alive, thriving and — you know, not on fire. Read More

That fancy smart gadget you put in your car could let hackers turn off the engine while you drive

 More and more devices, from smart dash cams to head-up displays to Bluetooth-enabled diagnostics dongles, are looking to tap your car’s built-in diagnostic (or OBD-II) port for power and data. The problem: this port… really wasn’t built to be used like that. Read More

Crunch Report | Juicero Running Dry?

 Today’s Stories  Juicero users find that man trumps machine Facebook will license its new 360 cameras that capture in six degrees of freedom Spotify’s half-priced student pricing expands worldwide Microsoft to shut down Wunderlist in favor of its new app, To-Do Planned Parenthood enrolls in 500 Startups’ seed program Credits Written and Hosted by: Anthony Ha Filmed… Read More

Scientists are racing nanocars on a solid gold track

 Scientists are set to engage in a frivolous race of single-molecule “nanocars” on, if you can believe it, a solid gold track. It’s the boldest show of academic elitism and greatest waste of taxpayer dollars since the duck penis thing. Oh wait, it’s actually the greatest thing of all time. Read More

GoPro to release prosumer spherical camera in fall 2017

 GoPro today announced the Fusion, a camera capable of capturing spherical video for use in VR and standard video formats through a software solution. The camera will be released this fall. GoPro has yet to name the price. If nothing else GoPro is becoming a camera company again. The Fusion shows that GoPro is going back to its core competency in creating hardware. Action cameras existed… Read More

Juicero CEO promises refunds for any dissatisfied customers while defending the company’s tech

 Jeff Dunn, the former Coca-Cola executive who became CEO of Juicero last year, has responded to a wave of coverage suggesting that the company’s juice press isn’t all that was promised — and he’s offering dissatisfied customers their money back. Read More

Amazon offers Echo’s excellent voice recognition tech to other device makers

 Amazon is making the technology that makes its Echo line of devices so good at picking up your voice commands available to third-party device makers. That includes the microphone array that helps Echo pick up speech even in a fairly noisy room, as well as Amazon’s own proprietary software for recognizing wake words, reducing background noise and cancelling out echoes in large open rooms.… Read More

goTenna Series B fuels vision to make local communication possible anywhere on the planet

 Founded in 2012 with the small goal of enabling connectivity-free communication, goTenna has ballooned to more than 23 employees and delivered real hardware to market in the process. Today the startup is adding another $7.5 million to its coffers in the form of a Series B led by Union Square Ventures. Read More

The Christopher Ward C60 Trident Pro 600 is the sea lover’s mechanical watch

 Christopher Ward is a relative newcomer to the watch scene and has long produced simpler, less expensive pieces for the fashion set. Now, after a bit of a rebirth, the British company is finally releasing pieces a techie would love. Take the euphoniously-named C60 Trident Chronograph Pro 600, a $1,750 watch with a large, thick 43mm case made of stainless steel, a ceramic bezel, and a nice… Read More

Toyota’s new robot leg brace can help those with partial paralysis walk again

 Toyota is introducing a new robotic leg brace called the Welwalk WW-1000 that can help patients with partial paralysis affecting one side of their body walk again. The robotic exoframe is worn on the affected leg, with a large motor component at the knee joint that provides just enough assistance to the patient, letting them recover their own walking ability therapeutically over time. The… Read More

The Ohmni home robot wants to help families stay in touch with telepresence

 Home robotics is an area of intense interest, with many large companies exploring how they might best address the potential market. Bosch subsidiary Mayfield Robotics has Kuri, and automakers including Toyota and Honda have their own approach, which a focus on independence for people continuing into our senior years. Startup OhmniLabs thinks that human connection is what will convince people… Read More

SpotCam connects you to your home, outside and in

 When it comes to home surveillance cams there are two kinds of cams – low-end, highly-motorized, wireless IP cams that are (typically) fairly insecure and higher-end cloud service systems like Dropcam that offer secure but more expensive cameras. SpotCam seems to land squarely in the middle with their SpotCam Sense Pro line. I tested two models and found them more than acceptable for… Read More