Tech Archive

Digital pets have come a long way. From humble beginnings as digital keychain pets, to the simplest two-motion robots, there’s always been something specially entertaining about digital life. But those kinds of robotics are actually deeply primitive compared to what’s possible today. Mechanical robotics is getting better, however, it’s developments in AI which really drive these changes to interesting places. Whether or not the next …

According to the CDC, about one third of Americans are getting insufficient amounts of sleep. Many of the usual suspects are to blame, like hectic work schedules. But the hyper-connectivity of our lives contributes as well. Monitors, smartphones, tablets, and similar devices produce blue light. And in the human brain, blue light signals us to be awake and alert. Lack of sleep causes accidents. It …

Human hands aren’t clean. Over the course of an ordinary day, our hands shed skin, produce natural oils, and interact with hundreds of dirty surfaces. That’s why regular contact with human hands produces grime. You can find visible layers of that filth on essentially any surface that has repeated touch, like computer mice. And with the amount of time we interact with our smartphones, those …

When we were kids, our parents had very few baby monitor options. Baby monitors of the 80s and 90s looked very much like walkie-talkies, except only one end had a mic, and the other had a speaker. They were usually constructed of cheap plastic that would crack under the slightest pressure. In addition, the baby monitors of yore would sometimes pick up your neighbors phone …

Feeling unsafe doesn’t always require an emergency. The mere suspicion of danger can be enough to strike fear in the hearts of men and women alike. There are plenty of safety devices on the market which are very effective at handling life or death situations, but that don’t really offer any support during other anxiety-inducing scenarios. Walking down a poorly lit avenue on the wrong …