Technology

Goodyear, Gatik say tire tech is key to bringing AVs to winter climates

January 4, 2023

Cars become an extension of the body when humans drive; we can feel the lack of grip in our car’s tires when driving over icy or wet roads. Autonomous vehicles don’t exactly have the same sensory abilities, which is one of the reasons why most AV testing and deployment happens in sunny climates. Gatik, a […]

Goodyear, Gatik say tire tech is key to bringing AVs to winter climates by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

Amazon’s custom-built ‘Hey Disney!’ voice assistant will become available for purchase later this year

January 4, 2023

Last year, Amazon and Disney announced a plan to develop a custom voice assistant that combined Alexa’s smarts with Disney’s library of character voices and original recordings. Dubbed “Hey Disney!,” the voice assistant was the first non-Alexa assistant to become available on Echo devices and installed at select Disney Resort hotels. Now, for the first […]

Amazon’s custom-built ‘Hey Disney!’ voice assistant will become available for purchase later this year by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch

Pee is the magic number, as Withings puts a urine analysis lab in your toilet

January 4, 2023

Withings, best known for its smart scales, watches, and other health-focused consumer tech, released a new gadget at CES in Las Vegas today. Making a splash in an underserved market, U-Scan aims to help customers track what’s going on in their urine, without having to worry about catching their wastewater in a cup or messing […]

Pee is the magic number, as Withings puts a urine analysis lab in your toilet by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

Holoride launches new device to bring VR entertainment to any vehicle

January 4, 2023

Holoride, the Audi-backed startup, is ready to take its in-vehicle virtual reality entertainment system into the mainstream. The company unveiled Wednesday at CES 2023 in Las Vegas a device about the size of a smart speaker that can be retrofitted into any vehicle to make it VR ready. The product marks a turning point for […]

Holoride launches new device to bring VR entertainment to any vehicle by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch

The Download: the future of batteries, and China’s chips

January 4, 2023
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What’s next for batteries Every year the world runs more and more on batteries. Electric vehicles passed 10% of global vehicle sales in 2022, and they’re on track to reach 30% by the…

Nowatch is a health-focused smartwatch without the watch part

January 4, 2023

Your health is all you’ve got, and you can’t change what you can’t measure, so it’s little wonder that health trackers are everywhere. The problem with a lot of them, however, is that in addition to measuring steps and heart rate and what-have-you, they also deliver a deluge of notifications. Nowatch takes another tack, offering […]

Nowatch is a health-focused smartwatch without the watch part by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch

SurrealDB raises $6M for its database-as-a-service offering

January 4, 2023

There’s plenty of vendors in the managed database services market — and plenty that are well-financed. Take a look at SingleStore, which last October raised $30 million to bring its database tech to new customers. There’s also EdgeDB, which landed $15 million in November ahead of the launch of its cloud database product. Tobie Morgan […]

SurrealDB raises $6M for its database-as-a-service offering by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch