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Chinese tech giants

Jason Hiner at ZDNet

“If you still think Chinese tech companies are only about replicating the innovations that others have made, then you've got some catching up to do. Today's Chinese tech sector is filled with a number of disruptive companies that are not only competing but leaping ahead in the race to build better products and use tech to solve important problems.

I spent a week in Beijing in April, meeting with Chinese companies, talking with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from across the globe, and getting a look inside some of the most important innovators on the Chinese mainland at GMIC Beijing 2016.”

He mentions Alibaba, Baidu, Didi, Hauwei, Tencent and several others. GMIC is the CES equivalent in China

Dell's 43-inch 4K multi-client monitor

Dell's new monitor will pique your interest, with a 43-inch 4K display and the option to run as four separate 1080p screens, without bezel breaks.The Dell P4317Q monitor can show content from four separate inputs simultaneously in full HD (four USB 3.0, two HDMI, one DisplayPort, one Mini DisplayPort, and one VGA port are available), and you can zoom in to any single display to take advantage of that 4K display at will. If you're considering throwing your multi-monitor setup out the window and going all-in with Dell — which the company says will save you 30 percent in energy consumption —prepare to spend some serious cash. This monitor will cost you $1,349 and is expected begin shipping on May 23rd.

The Verge

Wearables at the Indy 500

Worn under Kanaan’s firesuit, the shirt acts as both fireproofing protection and sensor. The fabric of the shirt — not wires or a separate device — senses electrical activity.

“We’re not talking about a bracelet or a separate device; it’s the fabric itself,” said Adam Nelson, vice president, industry solutions, healthcare and life sciences at NTT Data, a Tokyo-based global system integration company. “Because it’s electroconductive polymer, it picks up the heart’s electrical activity. If you position the fabric on certain muscles, it picks up the muscle activity. … It’s a very different type of bio-signal that we capture with the fabric.”

USA Today

Photo credit

GM Mosquitoes

Austin Burt, a professor of evolutionary genetics at Imperial College and the developer of the technology, didn’t set out to commit mosquito genocide. “Our target is malaria, not mosquitoes,” he says. “Mosquitoes are a means to an end.” But once unleashed, Burt’s mosquitoes have no kill switch. They will carry out their mission until there are no females left. To some experts, it’s a small sacrifice. But others worry about the implications of leaving a biological niche empty.

That concern is part of what drove Anthony James, a molecular biologist at the University of California, Irvine, to take a different tack. He’s working to make mosquitoes incapable of carrying malaria and, eventually, other pathogens like Zika. This technique leaves the mosquitoes in place while disarming them. “Nobody likes mosquitoes, but you can live with them if they are not giving you disease,” he says. “Better to fix the ones you have than deal with whoever comes along next.”

Time (sub required)

 

 

Nestle’s pivot

All the large food producers say they’re trying to reduce their financial dependence on sugar. In fleeing the storm, they’ve darted for varying types of cover. Coca-Cola has shrunk soda cans; Mondelēz International, the maker of Oreos, has become a power in the gluten-free movement; PepsiCo has tried shifting toward healthy-ish snacks such as hummus.

Nestlé has chosen a radically different path. It wants to invent and sell medicine. The products Nestlé wants to create would be based on ingredients derived from food and delivered as an appealing snack, not a pill, drawing on the company’s expertise in the dark arts of engineering food for looks, taste, and texture. Some would require a prescription, some would be over-the-counter, and some are already on store shelves today.

Bloomberg

Google Home

Google Home project lead Mario Querioz held the device in his palm, revealing a design that was shorter and wider than Amazon's cylindrical Echo, which is powered by Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa. Microsoft also has its own personal assistant, Cortana, but as yet no at-home device.

Google Home will use its new Google assistant, which leverages Google's search and the contextual queries it's been developing with a decade of research into artificial intelligence. It will be able to play music, complete a range of tasks and answer questions that one would ask of Google search.

USA Today

 

Transforming People into Pixels

At SuiteWorld last week everyone got a Pixmob wristband. It was fun to see the lights change and pulsate with the music throughout the keynotes.

Pixmob also makes colored balls, helicos and pendants.They can turn any gathering into truly immersive event.

 

 

 

UPS and SAP 3D Printing initiative

Someday, the dusty back shelves of America's warehouses could be replaced by UPS and SAP-enabled 3-D printing.

To do that, the package-delivery company and business software company are working with an Atlanta-based company that has Louisville, Ky. production facilities called Fast Radius to do 3-D printing of parts.

USA Today

Injection Replacing Pills

Genetically engineered drugs known as biologics typically have to be injected rather than swallowed because their complex proteins break down in the stomach. Rani Therapeutics is developing a pill that will protect those proteins.

The patient swallows the pill, currently about the size of a large vitamin. The coating starts to dissolve when the pill reaches the high-alkaline level of the digestive tract, mixing its Alka-Seltzer-like components, which create carbon dioxide.

The CO₂ inflates a small plastic-film balloon underneath one or two injector darts made of molded sugar, propelling them into the intestinal wall. The darts dissolve and the medicine they contain is absorbed into the bloodstream.

BusinessWeek

Hot Sauce from GE. Yes, GE

General Electric (GE) is known for creating technologies that can withstand thousands of degrees. To help the world better understand the stress those technologies are under, the company created a limited edition hot sauce called 10³²K, named for the absolute hottest temperature (in Kelvin) at which matter can theoretically exist. The company only produced 1,000 bottles, all of which sold out shortly after it was announced – Popular Science