Smart

Smart has unveiled a sweet-looking "near production" preview of its next-gen electric urban cars. The Concept #1 is a compact crossover SUV with a super-slick interior and easy-access suicide doors in back – and it's huge ... for a Smart car, anyway.

There have been a number of attempts to add digital sound processing tech to analog guitars, including the Fusion and Acoustasonic Jazzmaster. The latest hybrid shredder comes from Shenzhen's Mooer Audio in the shape of the GTRS 800 Series.

Learning to play the guitar is hard, and we've seen a number of solutions leveraging digital smarts to help kickstart the process. The latest is a funky X-wing smart guitar that was designed to open up playing to the disability community too.

Amazon has announced that it's adding a smart shopping cart service to its upcoming Woodland Hills store in Los Angeles, California. The Dash Cart registers what you're buying as you shop and charges your credit card as you exit the store.

Voice-activated smart speakers can be handy around the house, but they come with a privacy trade-off. Appropriately named start-up Paranoid has unveiled a set of devices that can make sure smart speakers are only listening when you want them to.

A new startup called Yeeuu Tech has thrown eight different unlocking methods into one device. The S1 Smart Lock can be unlocked through passcodes, NFC, an app, fingerprints, or Bluetooth, among others, and can be fitted into most existing locks.

Nowadays you could kit out your entire house with smart devices – but that bill would stack up pretty quickly. Fingerbot is essentially a remote-controlled finger that can press buttons and flip switches on demand, making existing devices smarter.

An innovative system is suggesting white noise from a smart speaker can monitor breathing and movement in sleeping babies. So far, the prototype device can detect infant respiratory rates with accuracy matching standard vital sign monitors.

Smart plans to become the first automotive manufacturer to switch its entire lineup from combustion to electric drive. The company will do so next year, but is giving the internal combustion engine a final hurrah with special edition cars created by German industrial designer ​Konstantin Grcic.

The marketplace is pretty well served when it comes to clever hydration systems. But Hydrade, the newest player in the space, steps things up a notch offering solar power; a nifty sensor that knows if you're drinking from it or pouring it out and a sip-for-sip partnership with a major water charity.

Over the past couple of decades, the Smart brand has entered various little city car concepts into automotive shows. These have had varying themes, but all have been built off the idea of the Smart car and its tiny, tiny footprint. This year, an all-electric topless car is the concept.

Folks looking for a last mile transport solution have choice-a-plenty nowadays, but the CanguRo offers more than just a comfy ride. The RidRoid robot has some useful smarts cooked in, being able to follow its user around between rides, or make its way to a meeting point on its own.