A friend of mine was given a pacemaker years ago. While he was grateful for the lifesaving device, he kept telling everyone that he would eventually have to replace the batteries by having a dangerous or complicated operation.
We didn’t know if we should be happy or sad for him. That conundrum may soon be gone forever, now that engineers at Dartmouth College said they have invented “a dime-sized piece of kit that turns the kinetic energy of the heart into electricity that could power a range of implantable devices.”
I’m not exactly sure how to explain this advancement, so I am quoting a post that appeared in Engadget.
They said, “By adding a thin piece of polymer piezoelectric film, called ‘PVDF,’ to existing devices, such as pacemakers, it converts even the smallest motion into electricity, as well as ‘recharging’ an implanted device, the same modules could also be used as sensors to collect real-time health data on patients.” That could possibly mean no more scary operations to recharge internal batteries.
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, may have just found out, that he too, can’t make retail all better. A business friend of mine, Rob Stott, an editor at Dealerscope, a tech trade publication, just discovered in a recent Amazon sales report, that “its physical stores reached $4.4 billion during the fourth quarter, a 3 percent sales decline from the $4.52 billion they did last year during the same period.”
According to Stott, that 3 per cent figure includes sales at the company’s Whole Foods locations as well as its other physical stores like Amazon Go and the Amazon Bookstore locations that have been popping up around the country.
Amazon’s overall quarterly earnings report did have a lot of positive news. Sales are up 20 percent year-over-year, ending at $72.4 billion for the quarter.
Stott read the entire report and found the one little item that gave him a chuckle. “For what it’s worth, physical stores represent a tiny segment of the business that Amazon does as a whole. But the blemish they left on what was otherwise a pretty solid quarterly earnings report shows that even big, bad Amazon is at least somewhat struggling to find a way to make brick-and-mortar work for them. And while they’ve been busy expanding their physical retail presence, competitors are quickly catching up on the ecommerce side of the business.”
Thanks Rob for clueing us in. It’s nice to know that Amazon may be forced to figure out how to make traditional retail stores popular again.
I just bought several new pairs of glasses after having cataract surgery on both of my eyes this past summer. I thought I was done with my purchases until I heard about the Bose Frames. I may want to buy the company’s first pair of sunglasses that incorporate wireless audio. If these smart glasses get great consumer acceptance, then the future fashion trend will be to wear wireless audio without covering your ears.
The Bose Frames are now available for $200. However Cherlynn Low, tech writer for Engadget, explains why you shouldn’t rush out to buy them.
Here’s a quick synopsis.
Pros
• Convenient hands-free wireless audio
• Can take phone calls
• Helpful Siri or Google Assistant integration
• Light
Cons
• No bass whatsoever
• Not loud enough
• Mediocre battery life
• AR and gesture navigation not yet live
Cherlynn explains her reasoning. “I’m fascinated by the idea of the Bose Frames. We’ve seen companies try to do open-ear headphones before — whether it’s AfterShokz with bone conduction or Sony with its Xperia Ear Duo earbuds. The benefit is that you can hear your music without your ears being blocked and therefore stay aware of surrounding sounds. But no one’s nailed the audio quality nor the design for such devices yet. And Bose is no different. I do think the Frames are a step in the right direction though. Bose has a compelling take on the technology that uses speakers and inverse audio instead of bone conduction.”
Be sure to watch the video. It’s very entertaining. Here is the Engadget post.
If you have to ask the price of the new automated indoor dog toilet, then you can’t afford it. Okay, I will tell you. It’s $1,200.
The price to make your dog comfortable around the clock should be inconsequential to pet lovers. The fact that dogs can now relieve themselves when they get the urge, should be of great relief to owners who have to walk them several times a day.
Inubox of Austin, Texas, is the company that created the smart indoor dog toilet. The product was recently shown at CES 2019.
Inubox starts working when your dog steps off the platform. It senses if waste was left behind and closes the platform to start the cleaning process.
The cleaning cycle removes waste from the platform and restores it to a clean surface for the next time. The waste is processed by Inubox and put into a closed bag. Now there is no chance of smell or spills.
Watch the video to see how it works. If you want to learn more about Inubox, check out Kickstarter. The company wants to raise more money for marketing campaigns.
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