This week, we’ve got a new Boston Dynamics robotics video that’s creeping people out, Starbucks announced a virtual assistant who’ll be able to take your order on their app (and your Echo!) and you could get your very own open-source desktop robot arm!
What an interesting world we live in…
AI With The Best
No matter where in the world you’ll be on April 29th, if you’ve got an Internet connection, you’ll be able to attend this event! The online developer conference, AI With The Best, is a great one and we’ve got discounted tickets at the link above (or use the code WTBVIP).
Cisco Virtual Hackathon for Asia-Pacific
If you’re in the Asia-Pacific, time’s running out but you can still enter the online hackathon and win $5-10k!
Virtual Reality
How to build your own HTC Vive carrying case for carry on luggage
I’ve put together a guide on how to make your own custom travel case for the HTC Vive, very useful if you travel a lot with your VR headset!
Facebook’s Oculus must pay $500m in virtual reality lawsuit
Oculus’ Palmer Luckey was found to have breached a non-disclosure agreement with ZeniMax. Oculus plan on appealing the decision. Luckily it’s nowhere near the $4 billion ZeniMax was hoping for…
Oculus Rift & Touch 1.11 update brings improved touch roomscale & multi-sensor support
The Rift might be able to handle roomscale a bit better with this update.
Unconscious bias training for diversity through virtual reality
Annie Harper and the team at Devika have been doing great work finding a VR solution to reducing unconscious bias around women’s role in the workplace.
3 numbers to know when someone says “VR is a fad”
A comparison of the numbers between Gear VR and early iPhone adoption.
Building inclusive VR experiences
Can we build for diverse audiences with VR? How should we do so?
VR-heavy Windows 10 Creators Update adds WebVR to Edge
WebVR continues its spread into web browsers everywhere! Hooray!
An open-source keyboard to make your own
Looking to add a VR keyboard to your apps? Here’s a new open source one.
VR text input: Split keyboard
A split keyboard for HTC Vive text input that uses the HTC Vive touchpad. Neat concept!
New LCD tech could give us sharper VR displays
This is actually pretty neat and could improve all sorts of displays.
Augmented and Mixed Reality
The AR helmet that pinpoints danger with heat maps
This AR helmet gives you heat map vision. It’s a really good use case for augmented reality and could save lives.
Snapchat’s next Lenses could identify and add to landscapes as well as faces
It will recognise landscapes and augment them in particular, rather than just add overlays like snow or rain. Pretty neat!
Microsoft is piling in patent filings for augmented reality to get the leap on Apple
The battle for AR is heating up, in a more lame way… patent filings!
Apple patents new augmented reality system for future iPhones
Yep, lots of patents.
Here’s what one gym class looks like in 2017
If only we had interactive gyms back when I was in school! Yay augmented reality gyms!
‘VertoStudio’ is a 3D modeling studio for Windows Holographic
Import FBX, OBJ, DAE (and more) directly as holograms into Hololens.
Wearables
Jawbone looks to drop consumer wearables for clinical services
Looks like it’s almost a certainty by this point that Jawbone is leaving the consumer market.
Designing for smartwatches
One designer’s exploration of designing for the Apple Watch.
Apple investigating portable Apple Watch charger with band integration
A patent for charging your watch as you wear it.
MIT’s smartwatch app can track your emotions during conversations
It listens to your conversations and speech patterns… etc.
Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles and Robotics
Boston Dynamics “nightmare inducing” wheeled robot “Handle”
It does look a little creepy, and is especially so considering that these robots are likely to be used in future military conflicts… Here’s another video.
Starbucks unveils a virtual assistant that takes your order via messaging or voice
They are also introducing a Starbucks Reorder Skill for Amazon Alexa.
The many tribes of artificial intelligence
There are a lot of different tribes in artificial intelligence! A crazy amount of them… so many approaches!
Artificial intelligence can spot skin cancer as well as a trained doctor
This could be hugely beneficial over time.
OpenSurgery
A look at building DIY surgical robots to help with healthcare.
uArm Swift is an open-source robotic assistant for your desktop
The open-source robotic arm for your desktop that you didn’t know you needed till now!
Open GApps adds option to enable Google Assistant during installation
If you’re keen to have Google Assistant on an unofficial Android device, this is a way you’ll be able to do it.
Are we destined to fall in love with androids?
Will humankind end up getting intimate with robots?
Internet of Things
What are Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons?
Always been curious but unsure about the whole beacon thing? Have a read!
Animated EV charge cable enlightens us
This charge cable has LEDs that animate in a really neat way!
A Delta 3D Printer built out of a coffee maker
This is incredibly ingenious…
Fake cases for your Raspberry Pi – make sure you don’t end up with one!
There are a bunch of chinese knockoffs, here’s how to spot the difference.
You can now make smart gadgets and IoT devices that use Bluetooth 5
It’s coming to devices soon, but Bluetooth 5 is on developer boards now.
Raspi recipe manager
A Raspberry Pi-powered recipe manager for your kitchen!
How to use inductive touch sensors: TI’s new development board gives a needed update
A bit more technical but could be a neat, new way to do buttons.
The soda locker – vending machine
Got spare space in a locker? Why not make an Arduino-powered soda locker?
Got questions on emerging tech? Feel free to Snapchat me (devdiner), DM me on Twitter or just send me an email and ask! Please don’t hesitate — get in touch 🙂
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Want more?
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Wynd has a new home air purifier that can clean the air in a small home in under 30 minutes and can be paired with a machine learning powered air quality monitor to show you what's in the air around you. I asked Ray Wu, founder and CEO of Wynd, a bunch of questions about it all.
Mixing art with augmented reality in The Unreal Garden
Experimenting with art and creativity in a collaborative piece is a fantastic way to explore augmented/mixed reality! My wife and I visited Onedome's Unreal Garden in San Francisco and I think it's a shining example of combining art and AR in a beautiful way.
Voice interfaces got you confused?
Learn to build for the Amazon Echo, Google Home, Facebook Messenger, Slack & more!