AI-enabled point-of-sale kiosks are being rolled out at CaliBurger, a fast-casual chain that CEO John Miller describes as “a tech company that makes great food”. The first time customers order using the in-store kiosks, they’ll be prompted to attach their face to their account using NEC’s NeoFace biometric facial recognition software.As...
Ocean's Table is a new venture aiming to ship the freshest seafood possible. Its based in Gloucester, Massachusetts and part of Community Supported Fishery (CSF). They claim that the moment the vessels arrive at Gloucester Harbor, fish cutters fillet the fish, package it and and ship to customers. There are no stores and no middlemen which...
The world’s first fully electric, emission-free and potentially crewless container barges are to operate from the ports of Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam from this summer. The vessels, designed to fit beneath bridges as they transport their goods around the inland waterways of Belgium and the Netherlands, are expected to vastly reduce the...
Most folks don't know much about art, but do know what they like. Auction firm Sotheby's has embraced that idea with its acquisition of Thread Genius, a company that uses AI to find art based on images of paintings, watches, furniture and other items. Sotheby's said it will marry the tech with data it already stores to help clients find objects...
The British market that is confusingly called Iceland has become the first major retailer to commit to eliminate plastic packaging for all its own-brand products. The supermarket chain, which specialises in frozen food, said it would go plastic-free within five years to help end the “scourge” of plastic pollution. The current plastic packaging...
We may not be living in the age of asteroid mining (yet), but asteroid prospecting has come a step closer with news that Planetary Resources' Arkyd-6 satellite has successfully reached orbit. The six-unit CubeSat lifted off on Friday from the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Center in Southern India atop a Polar...
AR hardware company Vuzix designed a pair of smart sunglasses that are compatible with Amazon’s Alexa. The Vuzix Blade AR glasses were showcased this week at CES. A wearer can ask Alexa for information and have it displayed on the glasses using the augmented reality technology. For example, when the wearer asks for Alexa, they will see a green...
While greywater (from showers, sinks and washing machines) is relatively inexpensive to clean and reuse because of the lack of contaminants, blackwater (from toilets, garbage grinders and dishwashers) takes a lot more effort to make reusable. Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects made the assumption that such recycling and cleaning was integral to the...
British online supermarket Ocado has already made huge strides to automate its operations, using pick and pack robots in its warehouses and trialing self-driving delivery pods in London. Now it's looking to give its human maintenance technicians a helping hand with the SecondHands project, and has just unveiled its first robot assistant test...
Inspired by years of silk scarf collecting, Hermes hound Michael Tonello came up with the idea of repurposing high-end scarf designs into comfortable, handcrafted footwear. Made with upcycled vintage Hermes silk scarves, each pair of these colorful espadrilles is unique. The brand is gaining traction in fancy shops in the USA and elsewhere....