Technology

Hear your unborn baby’s heartbeat with your smartphone

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

Yes, there is now an app for that

Listening to the sweet thumping of your unborn baby’s heart is a magical moment for any parent. With the latest version of Bellabeat, the company behind the iPhone-enabled fetal heart-rate monitor, you can listen to your little one’s heartbeat whenever you’d like.

Bellabeat_Device

Listening to your unborn baby’s heartbat is easy with Bellabeat. Image via Mashable.

The new handheld device is a baby heart rate monitor that easily attaches to your smartphone via cord. You simply plug it in and place it on your belly and information from your womb is sent to the corresponding Bellabeat app. Read More

RFID-equipped go-karts bring Mario Kart to life at SXSW

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

One of Nintendo’s classic video games was turned into a reality

If you grew up playing Nintendo and were a fan of Mario Kart, you’ll be excited (and probably a bit jealous) to know that at South By Southwest (SXSW), a few drivers were lucky enough to strap into go-karts and tear down the track like Mario and Luigi.

Mario_Kart_Reimagined

Mario Kart Reimagined was a Nintendo lover’s dream come true. Image via trendhunter.com.

Pennzoil teamed up with Nintendo, who is about to release Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U, to sponsor Mario Kart Reimagined, where drivers raced karts equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors. Just like in the video game, racers had to either drive over or avoid icons, which were actually decals embedded with RFID tags. Depending on the item the driver received from the icon, kart performance improved with a boost of voltage to the motor or the kart slowed down to a putter for a few seconds. Read More

13 must-see photos from past technologies

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

A glimpse back at wacky technologies from way back when

Radio Hat

Radio_Hat

Created by an American inventor in the 1940s, the radio hat was a portable radio built into a pith helmet that could bring in stations within a 20-mile radius.

One wheel motorcycle

 One_wheel_motorcycle

The one wheel motorcycle was invented by M. Goventosa de Udine. It had an impressive maximum speed of 93 mph. Read More

Hack your car to post on social sites and send texts

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

With one tiny gadget, almost any car in America can connect to social network data

Automatic, a service that aims to help drivers save time and thousands of dollars in wasted gas by teaching better driving habits in real time linked up with IFTTT, a service that lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement. Together the team created a gadget called the Automatic Link, which allows almost any car manufactured since 1996 to connect to one of 82 social services including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SMS, and even your email account. The connection could be triggered when the ignition is started, a destination is reached, or when the check engine light comes on.

Automatic_IFTTT_Car

“Your car is the most expensive computer you’re ever going to buy, and it’s not even connected to the Internet,” Automatic Chief Product Officer Ljuba Miljkovic told Wired. “It could be so much more useful to you if it was connected.” Read More

Millennials want self-driving car features

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

Study shows that Generation Y is pushing for driverless cars

A survey conducted by Accenture found that Millennials, also known as Gen Yers, are pushing for driverless car development. The survey covered 14,000 drivers in 12 countries, including the United States.

Google Self Driving Car

Google’s self-driving car, pictured above, has driven 300,000 miles.

While there is an ongoing debate about the safety of driverless cars, 90% of the survey respondents expressed interest in some autonomous driving options, which were primarily safety-related.

Since Millennials make up about a third of all U.S. drivers and are the rising generation of car buyers, they’re currently the top target for automakers looking for new customers. Read More

Four young technologies that will change the world

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

A look at some of the technologies that will affect the way we live in the near future

While the 20th century was packed with technological breakthroughs and discoveries, the 21st century could go one, or many steps further. In the last decade we’ve seen iTunes turn the music industry upside down, and the social media revolution forever changed the way we communicate, along with the rise of the smartphone. Check out the list below to find out which technologies are expected to affect the way we live in the years to come.

The Internet of Things

TIoT

Image via silabs.com.

If you think the Internet is all about your smartphone and staying connected with friends, you’ll be surprised to know that the Internet is increasingly becoming about objects communicating with other objects. Actuators and sensors are appearing on more devices so they can monitor surroundings, receive instructions, and share feedback. Currently there are over 9-billion devices connected to the Internet, and that number is expected to rise to a trillion in the next decade.

According to the director of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University, Ed Schlesinger, traffic among devices will exceed the conversation among people and between people and devices. Read More

Charge all of your electronics with one device

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

thingCHARGER is a simple way to wirelessly charge all of your electronics

Whether it’s a smartphone, a tablet, or a reader, many of us rely on multiple electronics on a daily basis, and all of them require charging. Since each device comes with its own charger, having them plugged into the same outlet at the same time can become a tangled mess. But with thingCHARGER you can resolve that issue, as it wirelessly charges all of your electronic devices at once.

thingCHARGER

thingCHARGER powers up anything USB, including iPhones, Androids, Kindles, and tablets. You simply plug it into an empty outlet, place your device on top of one of the interchangeable tips (depending on what you’re charging), and you’ll be charged up in no time. Read More

Turn your ordinary gloves into touchscreen compatible ones

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

Liquid solution transforms all gloves into touchscreen gloves

If you own a touchscreen device and wear gloves, Nanotips is the best solution to poking your useless, bundled up finger on your screen. Formulated using nanotechnology, Nanotips is a conductive polyamide liquid solution that transforms ordinary gloves into touchscreen ones by mimicking the touch of human skin.

Nanotips Glove

Not only does Nanotips upgrade any pair of old gloves, it can also be used to restore existing touchscreen gloves, which wear out over time. With enough liquid in each bottle to treat multiple gloves, you don’t have to be limited to the select few that have touchscreen compatibility. Depending on what you use your gloves for, each application of Nanotips can last from a couple of weeks to a few months, and when it wears off, all you have to do is simply re-apply. Read More

Royal Caribbean uses 80-inch HDTVs to create virtual balconies

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

80-inch HD displays show close to real-time video from the front and back of a cruise ship

Booked your cruise too late and missed out on a window suite? There’s no reason to be bummed out, because for latecomers who would like the waterside experience, Royal Caribbean is offering what they call “virtual balcony staterooms.”

Royal Caribbean Virtual Balcony HDTV

Made of 80-inch floor-to-ceiling HD displays, the TVs show close to real-time video from the bow and stern of the ship, shot on RED Epic HD cinema cameras, complete with audio. In order to operate correctly in the sun, heat, salt and water, the cameras are marine compliant and weathertight. Fiber-optic cable carries the video to a server, then to a set-top box that decodes and processes the video before it’s displayed on the screen. Read More

Four technologies that don’t realize they’re dead yet

Posted on by Nicole DiGiose

An article I wrote for Electronic Products.

A look at some everyday electronics that are nearing extinction

Remember the days when you would patiently wait for the fax machine at the office to send over those important documents? Then you’d go home to pop your favorite VHS into the VCR? Though it may seem like it, that wasn’t too long ago, and now a fresh batch of electronics we use quite often are on their way to joining those devices in retirement. They just don’t want to believe it.

Computer mouse

Computer Mouse

Image via Microsoft.

The idea of not using a mouse to navigate your way through a computer was science fiction 10 years ago. Now, due to the use of tablets and smartphones, the mouse is on its way out. It’s predicted that in about five years, the cost of adding capacitive touch capability to screens will be so inexpensive that displays from large-screens TVs to laptops will have it, eliminating the need for an old fashioned computer mouse.

iPod

iPod

Image via dailytech.com.

The birth of the iPod completely destroyed the CD, and now it looks like the cherished music player may be next in line. In the past few years, the iPod has been seeing dramatic falls in its sales—now making up only 2% of Apple’s income. Most smartphones, including the company’s beloved iPhone, make perfectly good MP3 players, resulting in the iPod’s deadly decline. Read More