Tech

MIT Media Lab spinoff company Augmental looks to make technology more "human-friendly," pushing the boundaries of how we interact with the digital devices that have become so ingrained in our daily lives. For its first project, the team introduces a new product dubbed MouthPad^ which enables people who've suffered from spinal cord injury and other mobility impairments to handle digital devices more easily.Augmental likens the tongue to an "11th finger," noting its unique precision and dexterity when compared to other body parts. Capitalizing on its special attributes, MouthPad^ attaches a tongue-driven interface, with all of the power of a conventional touchpad, to the roof of the mouth via a custom mold.Compatible with your computer, smartphone, or tablet straight out of the box, MouthPad...

Ahead of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, rumors surrounding the tech company's forthcoming AR/VR headset are beginning to circulate in fast motion. The mixed-reality device, which is expected to be unveiled during the conference, is rumored to arrive with a slate of new features intended for the everyday person, according to a report from Bloomberg.The headset, which could be listed for around $3,000 USD, will reportedly run familiar iPad applications, including Books, Camera, Contacts, Freeform and Mail. Additionally, the device will be able to host "hundreds of thousands" of third-party iPad apps, and users will likely be able to experience sports, news and various video content in immersive settings while using the headset.There will reportedly be a heavier emphasis on ...

In his latest attempt to monetize Twitter, CEO Elon Musk will be allowing media publications to charge users per article. While most news sites operate with some form of subscription service, it’s typically not common practice to have users pay for each individual article.Launching sometime this month, Musk says Twitter users will be able to pay with “one click” for a given article. The basis behind the program is that there are some readers who may not want to pay for an entire subscription just so they can access a single paywalled article.The CEO said that the feature “should be a major win-win for both media orgs and the public.”Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click.This enables users who would not sign u...

Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, a scientist who's known as one of the"godfathers" of artificial intelligence technology has quit his job at Google in order to speak freely about the technology's risks. In an interview with the New York Times, Hinton spoke on his deep misgivings about the technology. "It's hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things," he said. "Look at how [AI technology was] five years ago and how it is now. Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That's scary." Dr. Hinton has been involved in the world of AI since the '70s, when as a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh, he was one of the earliest adopters of a "neural network," a mathematical system that learns skills by analyzing data. In 2012, as a professor in Toronto, Hinton and...

Apple is currently in the process of overhauling its watchOS for the next Apple Watch software update, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The upcoming watchOS 10 will apparently center on widgets as a core feature of the watch’s interface.The Apple Watch rolled out in 2015 with a unique widgets interface dubbed Glances that was eventually phased out in favor of an interface more geared towards multitasking.Instead, one’s notifications took priority over widgets and users would have to open up an app to get the information they need.Apple is now working on an interface that combines the “old watchOS Glances system and the style of widgets that were introduced in iOS 14 on the iPhone,” per Gurman’s report.The new design would allow users to utilize widgets for functions like checking the ...