New Atlas

Around The Home Audio available

Narwal robot can both mop and vacuum, and replace its own dirty water

David Nield April 30, 2019

The robot cleaners we have tidying up our houses in the 21st century continue to get smarter and more efficient – such as the Narwal, which combines both vacuuming and mopping in one device, and can even replenish its own water tanks when it's done.

The Narwal can vacuum, mop, and refill its water tanks

Robotics

Assistive robot made to seek out seniors in their home

Ben Coxworth January 14, 2019

We've already seen assistive robots for seniors, which sit in one place in the user's home. A team at Washington State University, however, has developed one that figures out where its user is, then goes to them and offers its assistance when needed.

The robot assists master's student Nisha Raghunath in a medication-taking task

Marine

Furrion parts the seas with AI-powered "world's smartest yacht"

C.C. Weiss January 10, 2019

The Nevada desert is not the place you'd expect to find the world's most intelligent yacht, but that's exactly where she's docked right now. The first ever yacht to appear at CES, the US$5 million Furrion Adonis provides luxury and convenience above and beyond other yachts.

Furrion says the Adonis is the first yacht to ever be displayed at CES

Around The Home

Interview: Crestron makes a push into smart home automation

Loz Blain November 26, 2018

Sitting on the back porch of a giant luxury home in Melbourne's inner East, Crestron's Director of Residential Systems speaks about the switch from commercial buildings to family homes, the state of the art in home automation, and the reasons why he'll always recommend wired systems over wireless.

Crestron's display home in Hampton, Australia is a bit impressive

Around The Home

Smartians can make your dumb tech smarter

Paul Ridden November 22, 2018

We live in a connected world, and our smartphones can control all sorts of gadgets and appliances around the home. But what of your "dumb" tech? The latest project from the Frolic Studio could offer an easy way to teach your old gadgets new tricks.

Smartians can auto-cue the music at the push of an icon on a smartphone screen

Computers Audio available

Intel makes homebrew neural net development faster and easier

Paul Ridden November 19, 2018

At its first artificial intelligence developer conference in Beijing, China, last week, Intel unveiled a second generation neural network in USB form, the Neural Compute Stick 2. Designed to level the neural net development playing field, the thumbdrive-sized device is shipping worldwide now.

Intel says that developers can have AI and computer vision application up and running in minutes ...

Electronics

Amazon has a host of new Echo and Alexa devices to smarten up your home (and car)

David Nield September 20, 2018

In an announcement-packed press show that seems to be becoming an annual event for Amazon, the company has unveiled a host of different Echo-branded and Alexa-powered devices for 2018, including redesigned speakers and a smart microwave. We've got the details on everything that's new.

Amazon has a host of new and improved Echo devices for the holiday season

Around The Home

Study warns smart home devices can be hacked with a simple Google search

Rich Haridy March 14, 2018

With the proliferation of smart devices in our homes security researchers are constantly uncovering vulnerabilities in these off-the-shelf products. A new report has revealed that many of these devices are remarkably insecure and can be compromised easily in less than 30 minutes.

Many smart home devices can be compromised simply because the owner doesn't change the default password

Around The Home

Smart displays for Google Assistant are here, with Lenovo leading the charge

David Nield January 9, 2018

In the ongoing smart speaker battle being played out between the Google Home and Amazon Echo ranges, there was one Amazon product that Google didn't have an equivalent for: the Amazon Echo Show, a speaker with a screen. That's about to change with the Lenovo Smart Display.

The Lenovo Smart Display is the first Google Assistant speaker with a screen

Home Entertainment

LG announces its own Google Home, the smart ThinQ Speaker

David Nield December 28, 2017

With CES happening at the start of January in Las Vegas, LG is getting its announcements in early, trailing a number of new speakers. The company's 2018 audio line-up is led by the ThinQ Speaker, a Google Home-esque smart speaker with Google Assistant on board.

"OK Google, play some music on my ThinQ Speaker"