Tag: #132

A remotely operated life-buoy can help avert maritime disasters. Now, a Hong Kong-based startup is focusing on those who want to travel lighter. Its smart wagon, complete with electric hub motors, is remotely operated, has a range of 10 km and can move uphill and downhill at speeds of 2-7 km/h. Thanks to an integrated pocket lamp, it can...

These days, you don't need programming skills to make computer games. In the ‘normal world’ people on the autism spectrum or those with dyslexia face challenges because their conditions are not always understood. Now, an Australia-based lecturer in Games and Digital Media is addressing some of these issues in a new game that presents ‘typical’ scenes from school or...

Thanks to 3D printing, walls could soon be in full bloom. Meanwhile a Toronto-based startup is thinking in smaller dimensions - at least in terms of its new soil alternative. It starts life as a small, 3D-printed sphere, is derived from corn and made for use in hydroponics. The locally produced substrate provides seedlings with nutrient-rich water for at...

Software can detect when video-callers are using sign language. People with speech difficulties relating to Parkinson’s disease, however, often withdraw from conversations, providing the spur for a US-based research team to improve speech recognition software. In a recent study, 211 patients read specially prepared texts or responded spontaneously to questions about everyday tasks. Over 151 hours, 74,467 answers were...

Leftover food can be shared among neighbours. An Ethiopian startup, meanwhile, is promoting group buying to ensure that eggs, meat and fresh vegetables from nearby farms can be consumed at fair prices. Agricultural goods are listed in specific purchase quantities on an app. Users choose the desired product and create a group. Any friends, family or other users who...

Sustainable chocolate uses cocoa hulls rather than sugar, and some alternatives make do without cocoa altogether. Vanillin, meanwhile, is often made synthetically from oil-based materials. Vanilla pods are expensive and their natural habitat threatened by climate change, yet the popular scent is in high demand for many sweets and fragrances. Now, a California-based startup is using biotechnology to produce...