Remotely Possible

In Finnish, HUMU means ”humming” or ”commotion”. It's also the name of a new "augmented audio cushion" that the company, Flexound Systems (a Finish tech startup), says is "the first consumer product to add the sense of touch to entertainment."

Quirky's new SwitchFlip system takes a standard, switch-controlled outlet and turns it into a single-room, multi-fixture smart lighting system.

I met Robbie Cabral, the Inventor/CEO/Founder of BenjiLock, at the end of the final day of CES 2017 while we were both eating along at our respective tables in the middle of the Johnny Rockets at the Excalibur Hotel. (The finest of lodging and dining facilities if there ever was one.) Still unbelievably energetic after spending a week at CES, Robbie stopped by my table and we spoke at some length about tech journalism, what it's like being a startup company, and—of course—why the hybrid padlock, the BenjiLock, he (and his wife, Brach) had invented was so cool. I gave him my card and expected never to hear from him again. I didn't. Well, I did—sort of.

"No Vomiting For Me!" isn't the catchiest of slogans to see on a press release at CES 2018. (Considering I had the flu for the first three days I was here in Las Vegas, I understand just how "catchy" vomiting can be.) Reliefband Technologies, though, is actually in the business of keeping people from throwing up—or, at least, doing the best it can to minimize the nausea that many people experience as a result of motion sickness or chemotherapy.

If you’re still shopping for a Christmas or other holiday gift, you know time is of the essence right now.

Televisions are one of the most popular items to purchase during the myriad Black Friday sales extravaganza that’s already begun—even though it isn’t Friday, yet. Last year, for example, Target sold 3,200 televisions per minute in first hour of opening on Thanksgiving. With prices coming down on 4K UHD TVs with HDR, you can bet that TVs will be as big—if not a bigger—a sales success.

You wouldn’t expect to see a high-end, 17-seat “microcinema” in the middle of an airport, but that’s exactly what I found at Oregon’s Portland International Airport (PDX) after I’d landed there in late July of this year. After being in the air for hours, scurrying through DFW to make a connection in a different terminal, and then spending more hours in the air, I was in no mood to explore anything other than the baggage claim carousel once I finally shuffled off the plane. So, despite glancing at the 30-feet wide, neon-emblazoned Hollywood Theatre marquee as the moving walkway carried me passed it, I remained blissfully ignorant as to the who, what, why, and how of the whole thing. (Even in my air travel-induced stupor, I was able to deduce the “where” part…)