Last year, researchers at the MIT Media Lab shared preliminary research investigating the cognitive costs of using a chatbot for writing essays. Though the study hadn’t gone through peer-review yet – where other scientists check the quality of the work and help spot errors – it still hit the headlines via major news outlets like TIME.
Category: Science
Tags: LLM (Large Language Model), chatbot, Brain, Cognitive functioning, GPT, Features
This extra-wide tiny house takes a considered approach to small living, using its increased width not to sleep more people or squeeze in extra features, but instead to create an open, apartment-like home for two. It also has lots of upgrades available and can be configured to run off-grid.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home
Safety is a double-edged sword on motorcycles. Between the thrill of being on a bike and ensuring you’re safe out on the road, it’s a subtle balancing act. This unique three-wheeled electric leaning motorcycle tries to redefine the boundaries of motorcycle safety.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Electric Vehicles, Electric Motorcycles, Prototype, Trike, Road Safety, urban transport, Tilting-Vehicle
Since 2017, LG's been hard at work perfecting the wallpaper TV, a screen that practically blends into your space with all of its components crammed into an impossibly thin form factor.
Category: Home Entertainment, Consumer Tech, Technology
Founded in 2019 in Seattle, Hest has built a reputation for crafting some of the camping market's comfiest mattresses and sleep systems. Now it unleashes that know-how in memory foam construction into the greater base camp, launching a classic folding camping chair that looks like it might just be one of the most comfortable available. Truth be told, the combination of full-size, multipurpose foam cushioning and heavy-duty frame should bring this chair's comfort level closer to cushioned patio furniture than to the average quad-folding camping chair.
Tags: Camping, Outdoors and Camping, tailgating, Folding, Chair
On April 23rd, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched several satellites into low-Earth orbit including a 10-cm (3.9-inch) "origami" cube satellite with a reflectarray antenna that unfurls, origami-like, to 25 times its size when folded.
Category: Space Systems, Engineering
Tags: Rocket Lab, JAXA, Origami, CubeSat, Folding
Patio season is coming up in much of the world, but living in a smaller apartment shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a good steak at home. At the same time, most indoor cooking devices make you choose between convenience and real grilled flavor. Cozytime Lumo attempts to offer both by combining infrared cooking with AI automation that always picks the ideal settings for different foods.
Category: Around The Home, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Kitchen, Cooking, Food, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, Infrared, Grilling
The appearance of blocky black solar panels hasn't changed much at all in the last several years, and in the case of many buildings and roofs, they can really cramp your style.
Category: Engineering
Tags: Materials, Solar Cell, Fraunhofer
Shipping containers can be turned into everything from tiny houses to art galleries, but they all share one issue: poor thermal performance. The Petti Restaurant mitigates this by covering the containers in mud, creating a striking building that stays a little cooler in India's intense heat.
Category: Architecture, Engineering
Tags: Building and Construction, shipping containers, India, Restaurant
Our closest extinct relatives may have developed a very different growth trajectory from us. While modern humans follow a steady growth pattern, Neanderthals may have reached their physical and brain maturity much earlier in their lives, reports a newly published study.
Category: Archaeology, Science
Tags: Neanderthal, Human
A new injection developed by researchers and an Australian biotechnology company may have a life-changing impact on an estimated nine out of 10 dogs that suffer from serious respiratory issues directly tied to their breed. It has the potential to allow these flat-faced breeds to live happier and longer lives, in a far less invasive way than existing methods.
Category: Pets, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: RMIT University, Biotechnology, Dogs, Respiratory health, Lifespan, Health
The beginner motorcycle segment is a very interesting space – you’ve got new buyers who hardly come with any brand prejudice. They’re open to trying bikes from a number of manufacturers; they’re of course coming with a budget constraint, and most of all, they’re looking at something easy and unassuming to get them started on their motorcycling journey.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: qjmotor, Supermoto, Enduro, Dirt Bikes, Off-road
For anyone who’s into SUVs, they know just how capable a car the Nissan Xterra was in its prime. A proper body-on-frame chassis, four-wheel drive, and a solid overall build quality to take on anything you’d throw at it … a proper SUV indeed.
Category: Automotive, Transport
New Zealand camping badge Zempire has launched one of the slimmest, most portable camp stoves on the US market. The new Stealth-Jet stove series packs down flat and slim for easy transport, even in the most tightly packed micro-campers, firing out up to 10,000 BTUs of cooking power per burner to ensure that weary, hungry road-trippers can sit down to a hot meal in minutes. The Stealth-Jet isn't quite the all-out sveltest car camping stove on the market, but it out-slims the vast majority.
Category: Outdoor Cooking, Gear, Outdoors
In my irascible opinion, there are never enough pockets in pants or backpacks for all the gadgets I need to tote around. With the arc-lighter-equipped Luxo multi-function flashlight however, that’s one less pocket taken up.
Tags: Flashlights, firestarter, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster
Scientists at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), in South Korea, have built a silicone neckband that reads the tiny movements of your neck as you mouth words – and turns them into speech in your own voice, transmitted to whoever is listening.
Category: Wearables, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Postech, Collar, Speech, Artificial Intelligence, Voice
A recently published marine biology study shines a light on yet another damaging effect of the global illegal drug trade.
Tags: Marine Biology, Drugs, Cocaine, Sweden
While collecting fish samples in the field in Africa recently, behavioral ecologist Shun Satoh made an intriguing discovery. When he gazed towards a group of emperor chichlids, the fish seemed to be more alert and aggressive. This personal intuition became the starting point for a study to determine whether the fish could detect when a diver was directing visual attention toward their offspring.
Tags: Marine Biology, Behavior, Fish
Downsizing is always a challenge, but the Knoll tiny house makes the jump more manageable than most. Featuring a spacious layout with plenty of storage, the towable home would be a good fit for a couple or even a small family.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, House, Home, Micro-House
