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Innovative skylight uses solar energy to desalinate water for drinking

What if the sun could purify our water? What if it didn’t require human intervention or energy? What if this low-cost solution could empower coastal regions with an abundance of saline water but minimal access to drinking water? Designer Henry Glogau’s Solar Desalination Skylight knocks multiple proverbial birds with one stone. It serves as a no-cost lighting solution for low-income households, while also using the sun to desalinate drinking water. The Solar Desalination Skylight is a finalist of the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2021. Currently in their 9th year, the Lexus Design Awards are on a mission to ideate and innovate…

Facebook smartwatch releasing, and word on the street is there will be very few takers of the new smartwatch

Facebook is building a smartwatch as part of its ongoing hardware efforts, according to a new report from The Information. The new Facebook watch that likely won’t be called the Facebook Watch will hit the market sometime next year. As part of the company’s push into hardware, the watch will be Android-based, but it’s unknown whether it will use Google’s Wear OS. In a market where Apple dominates and major players have their own footholds domestically and abroad, the new watch could be dead on arrival. What to expect The smartwatch is reportedly going to be powered with “an open-source…

When Science Fiction comes to real life: Self-Healing Wearable Turns Your Body Into a Battery

It’s the stuff of science fiction: using your own body to power your electronics. And yet it is finally here. Researchers at University of Colorado Boulder have developed a new, low-cost wearable device. The device, described today in the journal Science Advances, is stretchy enough that you can wear it like a ring, a bracelet or any other accessory that touches your skin. It also taps into a person’s natural heat — employing thermoelectric generators to convert the body’s internal temperature into electricity. The researchers said the resulting device is “a little thicker than a Band-Aid” which can be applied…

Qualcomm, Google and Microsoft opposes the Nvidia-ARM deal, want it halted

Back in September, Nvidia announced that it planned to acquire chip design licenser Arm at the big-ticket price of $40 billion in cash and stock. Microsoft, Google, and Qualcomm have been raising concerns to regulators about Nvidia’s Arm acquisition, according to reports by CNBC and Bloomberg. The companies have approached regulators in the US, EU, UK, and China, reportedly with concerns that Nvidia could change how Arm licenses out its chipmaking technology. Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm asked antitrust regulators to squash Nvidia’s acquisition, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday. The companies reportedly raised concerns that Nvidia’s purchase of Arm could limit their…

Carl Pei’s brand “Nothing” will launch it’s first products this summer

Nearly two weeks ago, Carl Pei formally launched his new company Nothing. The venture is backed by a list of well-known investors including iPod inventor Tony Fadell, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. In a new interview with Bloomberg Carl Pei confirmed Alphabet’s VC capital investment arm Google Ventures (GV) backed $15 million of “Series A” funding into his new company. As the new firm had no products to even tease alongside it, that name seemed appropriate enough. Now, however, the executive has revealed plans for not just one product, but a whole ecosystem of them. Pei…