Latest Technology

Have you ever wanted an iPhone case that looks like a pair of Crocs? You know, the ugly-but-comfy slip-on shoes covered in holes that you can optionally decorate with colorful push-pins? You haven’t ? Well, apparently some designer at smartphone case maker Casetify saw a pair of Crocs and thought to themselves, wow, that would make for a great iPhone case!! No, we’re not kidding. Casetify this month launched a new series of iPhone cases that look exactly like Crocs shoes, complete with their trypophobia-inducing holes and sets of pushpin decorations that allow you to personalize your phone case with things like flowers, rainbows, smiley faces, and… uhhh …a stick of butter. A piece of toast. A snail. A motel keychain?? I’m sorry, but what the actual **** is going on here? These cases are selling for $52! While TechCrunch doesn’t typically cover smartphone cases or accessories, when we saw this new product line we knew we had to make an exception because of its truly oddball nat...

Sonos has two new speakers going on sale Tuesday, March 28, and they’re both significant new models that occupy a couple of key spots in the overall Sonos line-up: The Era 100 is essentially the replacement for the Sonos One, arguably the ‘default’ starter speaker for anyone looking to build out a Sonos system. The Era 300, its larger sibling, is the first Sonos speaker to support spatial audio, and occupies a place somewhere between the now-defunct Play:3 and the Sonos Five. We took both for a test drive, and found plenty of reasons to get excited about Sonos’ Era era. The basics The Sonos Era 100 basically drops in as a replacement for the Sonos One in the existing product lineup, and it’s got a design to match. Unlike the Sonos One, the Era 100 is a true rounded cylinder (instead of a 3D rounded rectangle like the One) and is slightly taller than the One, but with a more svelte appearance overall thanks to being more narrow side-to-side. Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / Tec...

Framework is one of a few companies leading the charge against disposable electronics, in particular laptops. It just showed off some new models, but also a unique case that you can slot your old parts into to form a new (old) desktop or home media PC. After reviewing last year’s Framework 13 and finding it a perfectly nice, conscience-soothing alternative to the usual suspects, I did begin to wonder what happens to the old parts when you decide to upgrade. New board? Great, slot it in. And the old one goes… where? Their clever answer is this collaboration with Cooler Master : a $40 custom case that works with Framework parts, so as you upgrade your laptop, you also assemble a desktop. Actually it’s small enough that you could tuck it away and use it as a media server or something. Honestly it’s nice just to have a place to store the parts. Image Credits: Framework The new Framework 13 is… not actually a new laptop, exactly, but a new set of parts that you can order all toget...

The European Commission has laid out another piece of its Circular Economy Action Plan today — adopting a proposal to set common EU rules which are intended to make it easier for consumers to get faulty products repaired. The “right to repair” measures are aimed at reducing e-waste by preventing repairable products from being prematurely junked. A Commission proposal last year set out to expand the bloc’s ecodesign rules. The right to repair rules are designed to build on that. The EU wants the full sweep of policies to promote longer tech product lifespans to boost sustainability and work toward its headline goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. (Aka the European Green Deal .) Goods for which EU reparability requirements currently exist include household washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, electronic displays, vacuum cleaners, and servers and data storage. But mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets are slated to soon be added to the list...

After 25 years of extremely detailed reviews of digital cameras and accessories, the irreplaceable DPReview is being shut down by Amazon as the company proceeds with a new round of layoffs. DPReview was founded in 1998 in England, and bought by Amazon in 2010, which relocated the team to Seattle to be closer to its headquarters; I have met many of them over the years as they settled in and around my neighborhood. The team’s knowledge, acumen, and extensive objective testing contributed to reviews that famously reached near-comical lengths at times, but that was because shortcuts simply were not taken: you could be sure that even minor models were getting not just a fair shake, but the same treatment a flagship model received. Its back catalog of camera reviews and specs is an incredible resource that I have consulted hundreds of times. (I actually did a little freelance work for them myself 10 years back but since then they’ve simply been my valued media peers.) This consistency...

For many people around the world, braille is their primary language for reading books and articles, and digital braille readers are an important part of that. The newest and fanciest yet is the Monarch , a multipurpose device that uses the startup Dot’s tactile display technology. The Monarch is a collaboration between HumanWare and the American Printing House for the Blind. APH is an advocacy, education, and development organization focused on the needs of visually impaired people, and this won’t be their first braille device — but it is definitely the most capable by far. Called the Dynamic Tactile Device until it received its regal moniker at the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference happening this week in Anaheim. I’ve been awaiting this device for a few months, having learned about it from APH’s Greg Stilson when I interviewed him for Sight Tech Global. The device began development as a way to adapt the new braille pin (i.e. the raised dots that make up its letters) mechanism cr...

I know at least one TC staffer who is gutted by the inevitable second death of Google Glass. I won’t call them out by name, but will say that I empathize with seeing a tech giant reverse the truck to drive over a beloved piece of technology once again. Is it possible to be ahead of your time twice? Or do you have to admit at a certain point that yours is an alternate timeline? Here’s what we know for sure: The world still wasn’t ready for Glass , even after a product makeover and shift in focus. Google confirmed plans to once again end support for its misunderstood bit of AR tech, writing: Thank you for over a decade of innovation and partnership. As of March 15, 2023, we will no longer sell Glass Enterprise Edition. We will continue supporting Glass Enterprise Edition until September 15, 2023. Not an entirely interrupted decade, of course. Glass celebrated its 10th anniversary last month. The original developer version of the head-worn display launched in February 2013, beginnin...

Ember has been a fascinating company to watch. The Los Angeles-based startup entered the scene with a self-heating mug , only to leverage its temperature tech learnings to enter the cold chain space, where it has developed containers for medical supply shipping. I suppose you could say that the firm has returned to its roots with the launch of its latest product. And frankly, baby bottles actually make sense here. I might even go so far as arguing that keeping milk at body temperature is a bigger need than making sure your coffee doesn’t go lukewarm when you forget to drink it. The Baby Bottle works similarly to Embers various mugs. Place the bottle of the “Smart Warming Puck” and it will raise the temperature to a balmy 98.6. There’s a connected app, as well, because it’s 2023 and you gotta. That allows for remote warming, and also tracks feedings over time. Ember Baby App CEO Clay Alexander cites his own parenthood as the product’s genesis, noting, “”I knew there had to be a ...

There’s no shortage of startups attempting to put drones to work. There is, however, a longstanding question around the efficacy of such plans. Drones — especially the smaller variety — are impressive pieces of technology, but their functionality is relatively limited. A small quadcopter probably isn’t going to prune your trees or walk your dog anytime soon. One thing they can do exceptionally well, however, is imaging. Industries have been cropping up around this functionality in recent years, deploying drones for land management, forestry and industrial inspection, among others. There are also a number of firms, including names like Gather AI , IFM and Corvus , putting these devices to work as a method of tracking warehouse inventory. It’s a business Verity has been in for a long time. The Zurich-based firm was founded way back in 2014, with the promise of an automated solution that can work around the clock tracking products — one of the most time- and resource-intensive tasks in...

The Nest Protect is the single best piece of smart home hardware I’ve ever purchased. Not everything in your home would benefit from being connected, but smoke detectors really do. They go a long way toward providing peace of mind when you’re away from home. Hopefully you’ll never need it, but if you do, it could potentially save lives. Founded in 2020, Torch is bringing some of these ideas to an entirely different setting. The $299 device is mounted onto a spike screwed into a tree, providing early outdoor detection for up to 10 acres. It’s a huge addressable market, and one that — unfortunately — is poised to only grow in the coming years as wildfire threats increase. Climate change is the obvious culprit here, leading to droughts and higher temperatures that provide a perfect environment for devastating fires, especially in the western United States. As NASA recently noted : One study by scientists funded through NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems program, known as NASA EarthData...

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Apple is building a mixed reality headset that’s set to ship this year. The company’s MR (AR+VR) hardware ranks among its longest-lasting rumor cycles. Some (Apple Watch) have borne fruit. Others (that pesky Apple TV set) not so much. The category doesn’t feel like a foregone conclusion for Apple. The road to a successful XR play is littered with the bodies of big corporations and well-funded startups. The underwhelming state of things is certainly not for a lack of trying. It’s also a wholly new product category — something that doesn’t come along every day. There’s an interesting conversation to be had regarding how such a product would play into Tim Cook’s legacy, more than a decade after he took over the chief executive gig. While Steve Jobs’ role at the helm of the company during the development of the Mac, iPhone, iPad, et al. cemented his position as one of the 20 th /21 st century’s leading technologists, it seems entirely possible su...

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could be working on a new HomePod device that would feature a built-in display for 2024. The rumor seems to be based on third-party supply chain companies, such as Tianma, a Chinese display manufacturer. This new product in the HomePod lineup would look completely different from existing HomePods as it would feature a 7-inch display. In other words, it would look like a speaker with a small tablet (or a small tablet with a speaker) like the Amazon Echo Show or Google’s Nest Hub . Kuo believes that Apple is in the middle of revamping its smart home strategy with new devices and features. In addition to the HomePod Mini, Apple recently released a new premium HomePod with a familiar look. It looks like the model that debuted in 2018 but with brand new internal components. There’s a reason why Apple is focusing more on the smart home. Matter , a new smart home standard, is supposed to unify smart home devices — and Apple is one of the launch p...

Drone delivery is one of those ideas that’s been sold as “the next big thing” forever. Regardless of how bullish you happen to be on the technology, there’s undeniably a lot that has to be figured out before we can start having serious conversation about mainstream adoption. Regulator issues are a big box to be ticked, as are some big logistical questions. Alphabet X-graduated Wing today showcased its work on the latter, in the form of a “delivery network.” The company compares the idea to rideshare, bucking the sort of back and forth model we’ve come to recognize by players in the category. In existing configurations, a drone is launched from a business, arrives at its destination and then returns to its origin. It’s a simple path, and it makes sense that most have used it as a starting point. Wing notes in a blog post published this morning: Up to this point, the industry has been fixated on drones themselves — designing, testing, and iterating on aircraft, rather than finding th...

Ring just launched its first doorbell in two years . The $180 Battery Doorbell Plus brings head-to-toe video and improved resolution to the Amazon brand’s lineup. The smart home accessory features a 150×150-degree view that allows you see a visitor’s entire body. The company says the Doorbell Plus has the highest resolution of any of its models at 1536p. The new model has a quick-release rechargeable battery pack. It’s also compatible with a solar panel connection to help keep it powered on between charges. Live view of the front door from the Ring app Image Credits: RingRing notes that with modes like People Only Mode and Motion Zones, the device has an improved battery life versus its original doorbell. But given the first version of the doorbell was introduced ages ago, it would be surprising if the company didn’t make any upgrades on that front. The company also offers additional features like package alerts, as well as video history, sharing and saving under the Ring Pr...