Tech News Around The World

Meant to be used alongside Nintendo Switch system,  Nintendo Labo  comes equipped with modular sheets of cardboard. Kids are able to fold the cardboard into a variety of shapes, such as a piano or handlebars for a motorbike. Called "Toy-Cons," these constructions can be used with your game system to play interactive video games. For example, with the keyboard, you can play a piano on your screen. With the handle bars, you can navigate your own digital bike.  

For people living in big cities, smog and pollution are still a regular problem. Many people are concerned about pollution levels in their communities, and one new device is aiming to warn people when they are in an area with low air quality. This portable device is known as  Flow , and it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Powerful sensors monitor air quality, and Flow will let you know in an instant. Working in conjunction with your smart phone, Flow can show you what routes have the freshest air and which you should avoid.  The device is set to ship sometime before  June 2018 . 

The Homepod  is Apple's latest attempt at changing the way we listen to music forever. These voice controlled smart speakers are the first to be fully integrated with Siri and Apple Music. The speaker hardware itself is cutting edge and uses special sensors to visualize the room it's in and adapt it's settings to emit the best acoustic experience possible. In addition to being a music station, the Homepod is also designed to be an artificial assistant that can answer questions, make schedules, and control other devices in your house. 

Last year saw an explosion of popularity for smart speakers that function as stay-at-home personal assistants. While it seems like very major tech company is pushing the capabilities of these devices even further, only one company is developing a smart assistant that is as adorable as it is useful. This is   Kuri , a tiny robot that has all the function of Amazon's Alexa while having the added benefit of being fully mobile. Kuri rolls around on wheels and can adapt to the floor plan of your house. Her eyes function as cameras that can take both still photos and videos, and a built in speaker means your tunes can travel with you around the apartment.

The  Nutale GPS  device is billed as one of the most compact and accurate trackers in the world. Originally slated for a 2017 release, an unexpected delay means the Nutale GPS is now likely to be released in the first quarter of 2018. The device is compatible with both Android and iOS and works in conjunction with your phone to give you real-time tracking updates. With a 30 day battery life and a memory that goes back up to four weeks, it's unlikely that you'll be losing this device anytime soon.

On January 22, 2018, Amazon opened their first   Amazon Go store   in Seattle, Washington. The store - which one shopper called the "future of grocery shopping" - is equipped with censors and cameras that track which items customers take or put back. This, and the help of a special Amazon Go app, automatically charges customers after they exit the store. This eliminates the need for lines, making shopping a much quicker experience. 

Smart glasses are far from a new invention. The glasses, which project information onto your retina as you go about your day, once came with clunky equipment attached. Cameras, extra appendages, and microphones made the glasses a bit of an eyesore that easily led to unwanted attention directed at their wearers.  Intel's new Vaunt glasses , however, offer a streamline design that's vastly more user friendly. The glasses look exactly like regular eyeglasses and are available in various prescription lenses. This means users can enjoy the benefits of the glasses throughout the day without attracting unwanted stares or having to deal with uncomfortable equipment. 

No one should ever drive drunk, but it can be difficult to monitor your blood alcohol content levels without taking a breathalyzer test. While there are some small breathalyzers ar on the market, they can be clumsy and awkward to use in public.  Proof  is a unique and elegant solution to this problem, as it's a wearable wristband that can discretely analyze you BAC levels through your skin. The makers of Proof managed to earn nearly twice what they were asking for after launching a  successful crowdfunding campaign . The wristband is set to begin shipping at full production capacity in late 2017. 

In 2017, the cinema camera making company RED announced it was working a  smartphone with a "holographic screen."  Consumers were unsure what this meant until September 2017. Essentially, the phone would provide a 3D viewing experience on screen, projecting things like buildings and landscapes in an interactive map. A user could essentially take a virtual tour via the phone screen, looking around, above, behind, or in-between various objects.  The RED smart phone is currently available for pre-order, for the fairly hefty price tag of $1,195. No official release date has been announced, but the company says users can expect to see the product sometime in early 2018. 

Microwaves were a revolution in convenience for people looking to heat up their food in a hurry, but what about when you need something frozen quickly? There hasn't really been an answer to that question until now. In comes  Frigondas , the most amazing home kitchen technology to be released in decades. It can cool and freeze food and drinks in mere minutes, and it even doubles as a traditional microwave. While there is no set release date, it is believed that the device will be available in the US in the  near future .