Robot delivery firm Ottonomy has unveiled a new Ottobot model called the Yeti with a new automated package delivery mechanism. That could allow it to do last mile drop-offs directly to a locker or remove the need for someone to receive a package, TechCrunch has reported.
As shown at the end of Ottonomy’s latest video, the Yeti uses a simple tilting mechanism and rollers to dispense the packages. That would allow it to drop packages onto a doorstep or transfer them to a locker, making it fully independent from humans. It may also allow for easy returns, as TechCrunch noted.
The Brooklyn-based firm operates in multiple cities including Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Oslo and Madrid, with plans to expand across north America and Asia. It recently unveiled the Ottobot 2.0 with modular delivery bins, a navigation engine that merges data from lidar and cameras, and a new four-wheel drive “crab mode” system for extra maneuverability in tight spaces. The company works in partnership with Verizon in the US.
Sony has focused its CES efforts of late on electric cars, now in partnership with Honda, and this year was more of the same. Sony Honda Mobility unveiled its first prototype called Afeela, replacing the previous Vision-S 02. Its laden with sensors (radar, ultrasonic, cameras and more), uses Qualcomm’s new automotive chip and promises “interactive communication between mobility and people” via the so-called Media Bar. Pre-orders will start in mid-2025 with deliveries scheduled for spring of 2026.
Sony also provided a first look at its Neill Blomkamp-directed Gran Turismo movie, revealed that the Gran Turismo 7 game would be getting PlayStation VR 2 support and announced that Beat Saber was also coming to PSVR 2. The PlayStation 5 console has now passed 30 million units sold, and from now on, anyone who wants a PS5 should be able to get one.
Finally, the company revealed Project Leonardo aimed at building controllers that are easier to use for people with limited motor control. Taking a page from Microsoft’s gaming accessibility efforts, it uses a set of customizable circular gamepads. There’s no release date window or price yet.
Though popular with videographers, Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras have always been at a disadvantage to Sony, Canon and other rivals due to the inferior contrast-detect-only autofocus. Now, the company has finally introduced its first cameras with hybr…
Citizen has announced its latest CZ Smart smartwatches that feature a built-in AI “self-care advisor,” the company said. The new proprietary YouQ app was built with IBM Watson Studio and uses NASA technology to show the wearer when they’re at their most alert or fatigued in order to “maximize [their] daily potential,” the company said.
The intriguing idea is that the CZ Smart’s YouQ app uses IBM Watson’s neural networks to learn a user’s “chronotype” (preferred timing of sleep and wake) over a seven to ten day period, by processing sleep data and “alert scores.” The latter are generated from a custom-designed alert monitor test, a consumer version of NASA’s PVT+ test created at the Ames Research Center Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory. The tests are “brief, gamified, and can be taken daily to measure the wearer’s alertness,” according to Citizen.
Citizen
Using that data, the YouQ app can learn your unique rhythms and habits. From there, it creates a dynamic recognition model to recommend “Power Fixes,” or actions and activities to help the wearer reduce the effects of fatigue, improve alertness and promote better habits. Over time, it can increase personalization and presumably the effectiveness of the Power Fixes for each person.
The new technology is only available on the new second-generation CZ Smart watches (the first generation launched in 2020, and the company also has a CZ Smart Hybrid lineup). Those come in 44mm sport and 41mm casual models, with mesh bracelets, links and silicone straps. Technology-wise, they offer 1.3-inch AMOLED displays, Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processors with 8GB of storage, and feature 24+ hours of battery life with “faster charging.”
Citizen
Sensor-wise, you get a gyroscope, altimeter, barometer, accelerometer, heart rate sensor and SP02 ambient light sensor. It comes pre-loaded with the YouQ wellness app, Strava, Spoitfy, YouTube Music and Amazon Alexa. It presumably has its own OS, and works with iPhone or Android devices.
The previous model used Wear OS and was built in partnership with Fossil, but Citizen didn’t specify the OS for the current model. They’ll go on sale in March 2023 in the US, with pricing to arrive at a later date. The current CZ Smart cost $395 at launch.
The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) has unveiled Qi2, the wireless charging successor to Qi that borrows some tricks from Apple’s MagSafe charging. The idea is to create a unified system that (should) work with both Android and Apple devices, the WPC wrote in a press release
Qi2 will replace the current Qi standard that has been around for over 13 years. It’ll be built off of Apple’s MagSafe technology that came along with the iPhone 12, using a similar system of magnets and a wireless charging coil. However, it will introduce something called the Magnetic Power Profile that ensures phones and other devices are perfectly aligned to maximum charging speed and efficiency. It also assures compatibility among brands.
“Qi2’s perfect alignment improves energy efficiency by reducing the energy loss that can happen when the phone or the charger is not aligned,” said WPC’s executive director Paul Struhsaker in a statement. “Just as important, Qi2 will greatly reduce the landfill waste associated with wired charger replacement due to plugs breaking and the stress placed on cords from daily connecting and disconnecting.”
The first Qi2.0 version will launch this year, with support for 15 watt charging, foreign object detection and more. It’ll also provide faster charging for some devices, improve safety and prevent device damage or battery life shortening.
The Magnetic Power Profile standard also makes improvements easier down the road. Future iterations will “significantly” raise charging levels past 15 watts, WPC told The Verge. It could also allow wireless charging for unusually-shaped accessories that aren’t compatible with the current crop of flat charging pads.
There are still some question marks, like whether Qi2 will be backwards-compatible with the current Qi standard or Apple’s MagSafe. It will reportedly also require authentication, which may allow manufacturers to refuse charging from non-certified devices.
Hopefully, device and charger manufacturers will strive to main compatibility. The Qi2 spec should be ready by this summer, and products are set to arrive by the holidays in 2023.
Certain variants of Tesla’s Model Y may not qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit based on the IRS’s latest guidelines, a situation that Elon Musk has called “messed up.” It looks as though the five-seat Long Range version of the hatchback is too expensive as a car and not considered an SUV, so it falls outside the current guidelines. That could change, though, as the rules won’t be finalized until March 2023.
The IRS has divided vehicles into two categories: vans, SUVs and pickup trucks under $80,000, and other vehicles under $55,000. For the first category, the vehicle must have 4-wheel drive or be rated at more than 6,000 pounds of gross weight. It also has to meet four of five other characteristics, most notably front and rear axle clearances of 18 centimeters or higher and a running clearance of at least 20 centimeters (no Model Y meets these specs).
Internal Revenue Service
According to the IRS, only the 7-seat variants of the Model Y qualify as SUVs in the category up to $80,000, while the 5-seat vehicles (Long Range, AWD and Performance) are in the $55,000 section. The 7-seaters comfortably fall under the $85,000 limit, but all the 5-seaters exceed the $55,000 price, so they don’t qualify.
Tesla doesn’t have a specific AWD variant of the Model Y in the US (both the Long Range and Performance models are AWD), so it’s not clear which model the IRS is referring to. The 5- and 7-seat versions cost the same, starting at $65,990 for the Long Range version before destination and order charges.
Critics are pointing out that far more polluting hybrid vehicles qualify for the tax credits, including two Jeeps, the Audi Q5 e Quattro, BMW X5 xDrive45e and Ford’s Escape PHEV. However, if someone buys a Jeep Wrangler with 56 MPGe (23 MPG after the battery is depleted) instead of a Tesla Model Y with 122 MPGe, then the government clearly isn’t doing the most it can to reduce carbon emissions. The IRS has invited consumers to comment on the matter, and Musk encouraged people to do so in a tweet.
Last year at CES, Samsung folded its displays nearly every way you could think of, but this year it’s combining that with another trick — sliding. The Flex Hybrid OLED mobile screen, debuting at CES 2023, can both fold from one side and slide out on th…
Samsung launched its QD-OLED TV lineup last year at CES promising higher brightness than other OLED TVs, particularly its arch-rival LG. However, it was only mildly brighter than LG OLEDs back then, and yesterday, LG unveiled its 2023 OLED TV lineup wi…
CES 2023 is nearly here, which means we’re once again writing about Samsung smart refrigerators. With the Family Hub Plus, Samsung has boosted the touch display size to 32-inches from 21-inches in the previous models, giving you a much bigger canvas to display photos, shopping lists and videos, or control SmartThings devices.
On top of the bigger display, Samsung has added support for Google Photos along with the OneDrive integration seen on past models. That allows you to display family or other photos on the refrigerator, or upload photos to a mobile device from the Family Hub Plus. As before, you can also display artwork from Samsung’s Bespoke Atelier app.
Samsung
The built-in hub can control multiple SmartThings devices, giving you a smart home control center on a very large touchscreen. It also supports six SmartThings Home Life services: air care, home care, pet care, clothing care, energy, and cooking. Samsung has also included Samsung TV Plus, giving US users 190 TV channels for free. You can use it in the vertical orientation for TikTok, Facebook Shorts and other social media content, or employ picture-in-picture mode to view videos and do other tasks at the same time.
Finally, it supports Amazon’s Your Essentials service, letting you order groceries and other products directly from the touchscreen. Samsung didn’t detail any other specs or pricing, but we’ll see it at CES 2023 early next month and should learn more then.
Health company Movano has teased its first smart ring, the Evie, designed for health, fitness and cycle tracking. It looks like a rival to Oura’s latest smart ring and other health-tracking wearables, though the company says it’s “designed uniquely for women.” Movano plans to provide a closer look next week at CES 2023.
The ring made its debut at CES 2022 with no name and a similar design, but Movano has since changed course on price and other factors. It will sell the ring sometime in 2023 at a one-time price below $300 (there’s no exact date or price yet), rather than using a subscription model as it said last year.
It offers many of the health metrics seen on Oura’s ring and wearables from Apple and others. It can measure heart rate, blood-oxygen, skin temperature variability, steps, calories, sleep, period and ovulation tracking, and more. Wearers will can get advice from health experts inside the app and it will meet medical device manufacturing standards, the company promised.
“As a medical device, Evie will go beyond the status quo of other wearables on the market,” said Movano CEO John Mastrototaro. “We are bringing together medical grade biometric data and insights in a comfortable and contemporary wearable.”
With the ability to measure steps, calories burned and specific activities, Evie can also be used as a fitness tracker. However, it’s primary purpose is to give a picture of overall health, “turning biometric data into actionable insights,” Movano wrote in the press release.
The company also promises security and privacy when transferring data to the cloud or health providers. It’s currently seeking all-important FDA clearance, which will dictate the release date. If that takes too long, though, it may come to market as a wellness device at first. The Evie smart ring will only be released in the US to start with, but may come to other markets later — we should learn more about it next week at CES 2023.
