It’s only been a few days since CES closed its doors, but there are still plenty of new gadgets to be had. Some companies, after all, would rather not launch their products into the noise that is the world’s largest consumer electronics show. Seattle-based Wyze is one of these. The company made its name by launching an extremely affordable security camera back in 2017 and while it has since expanded well beyond that (think air purifiers, gun safes and vacuums), its camera offerings remain core to its identity (and, most likely, revenue). Indeed, Wyze’s founders recently promises that in the coming year, the company would go back to its basics and make 2023 the year of the camera. Today, it is kicking this off with the launch of its indoor/outdoor Wyze Cam Pan v3.
The new camera features a completely new design, which also now allows the waterproof wired camera to tilt a full 180 degrees, on top of its 360-degree panning ability.
Image Credits: Wyze
The previous version only had a 93-degree vertical range, but otherwise, the two cameras feature comparable specs. These include Wyze’s HD sensor with color night vision, which works surprisingly well, as well as the ability to track objects and people once the camera detects motion, 24/7 recording on a microSD card and two-way audio. Since it’s a bit more flexible, the new version is also easier to mount inverted on a wall or ceiling. One nifty feature — though not new — is that you can set the camera to continuously monitor a room in a constant pattern by setting 4 waypoints.
Wyze sent me a review unit earlier this month and on top of these basic specs, maybe the most important update here is that the new camera is very quiet. Wyze says it reduced the motor noise by half — and that’s quite notable. And since the camera can now fully tilt down, the company also introduced a new privacy mode that points the camera down and eliminates its field of view. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it’s also quite small, though it feels heavier than you expect and is generally well-built.
Image Credits:
Like its other modern cameras, the new system also supports Wyze’s subscription AI and storage service for automatically detecting and tagging events (this starts at $2/month/camera but even without paying, you get 14 days of free cloud storage). In my experience, this works quite well (I mostly use it to detect people and packages at our front door). I haven’t used it outside yet, but Wyze promises that the camera is waterproof, up to IP65 specs. The company recommends you use its $14 outdoor power adapter, though.
The last version of its panning camera cost $44 (plus about $6 flat-rate shipping) on Wyze.com and about $50 at third-party vendors with free shipping. The new version will cost $34 (plus shipping) when you order direct from Wyze. That’ll likely mean it’ll set you back $40 on Amazon, for example. Given Wyze’s flat-rate shipping rate, you’re usually better off buying direct when ordering more than one unit (assuming you don’t mind the slower shipping). There are cheaper options from the likes of TP-Link brand Kasa, for example, though Wyze may have many of these competitors beat in terms of its software smarts.
Image Credits: Wyze
We would be remiss not to note that Wyze Cam Pan v2 was one of the cameras that had a security flaw that the company took a long time to acknowledge publicly and only finished patching last year (except for the Wyze Cam V1, which it couldn’t patch because of its hardware limitations). A hacker would’ve needed access to the camera’s random ID number through your local network to exploit this vulnerability. Security flaws are almost inevitable (and we’ve seen far more problematic issues with security cameras over the years), but Wyze’s mistake here was to not talk about this one for years. I’d like to think that Wyze has learned from this and has since strengthened its approach to security (and its app supports two-factor authentication), but it’s something worth keeping in mind.
According to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is going to spend most of 2023 focusing on a brand new device — a mixed-reality headset that has been a work in progress for several years.
The new device could look like a pair of ski goggles, based on an earlier report from The Information. It will feature several cameras so that the device can track your movements in real time and see what’s happening in the real world.
Over the past few years, Apple CEO has stated several times that augmented reality is a promising technology. “I think the [AR] promise is even greater in the future. So it’s a critically important part of Apple’s future,” Cook told Kara Swisher back in 2021.
But it sounds like Apple’s upcoming product is going to offer a mixed-reality experience. Users will be able to experience both augmented and virtual reality. Details are still thin about the potential use cases and apps for the headset as it’s easier to control software leaks compared to product leaks.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is currently planning to announce the new device during the inaugural keynote of the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June — Apple could name it Reality Pro. Some developers have already started working on apps for the new Apple platform. The new operating system for the Apple headset could be called xrOS.
WWDC seems like the right stage for this kind of product announcement as a lot of developers working on third-party apps for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch are paying attention to this event. Having popular apps and games for this new Apple platform will be key when it comes to ensuring the long-term success of the Apple headset.
Apple’s 2023 could involve a 15-inch MacBook Air and a new Mac Pro
Mark Gurman also spent some time discussing Apple’s roadmap for 2023. And it seems like you shouldn’t expect a lot of surprises beyond the company’s mixed-reality headset.
For instance, the MacBook Pro, the Apple Watch, the AirPods, the iPad mini, the iPad Air and the base iPad model will only receive better components that should improve overall specifications. Don’t expect major design updates or new features. The Apple TV and iPad Pro aren’t going to be updated at all.
The most significant changes in Apple’s various lineups could be a 15-inch MacBook Air, the return of the big HomePod and a brand new Mac Pro. Apple has yet to update the Mac Pro with its own ARM-based chip — it still sports an Intel CPU. According to Bloomberg, the new Mac Pro would look a lot like the existing Mac Pro.
It will feature the M2 Ultra that you can find in the Mac Studio. Unfortunately, users won’t be able to upgrade RAM due to the company’s unified memory approach. On paper, it’s going to be hard to convince people to buy a Mac Pro instead of a Mac Studio. But that doesn’t matter too much as the Mac Pro has never been a significant revenue-making product.
Of course, there’s one product that is more important than everything else for Apple — that’s the iPhone. According to 9to5mac, iPhone 15 production is going as planned. The Dynamic Island could make its way to all four models — the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
There’s one thing for sure. This year, Apple will comply with EU’s mandate and change the iPhone’s charging port from the Lightning connector to USB-C. And many iPhone users have been waiting for a simple change like this to upgrade their phone.
TechCrunch Live hosted a special, in-person event at CES featuring a long conversation with Ecobee CEO and founder Stuart Lombard. This was our first in-person TechCrunch Live, and I can’t wait to do more. We talked about a lot — how a startup can maximize CES, build delightful products, and how hardware startups can raising money.
Nest loomed large over a part of this interview. While Lombard and Ecobee claim to have produced the first web-connected thermostat, Nest, launched four years after Ecobee, defined the standard. After Nest burst from stealth in 2011, it forced Ecobee to retool its smart thermostat. As Lombard admits, Nest changed the trajectory of Ecobee. “[The Nest thermostat] taught us the difference between wanting to be good and actually being good,” he said, adding later, “It really forced us to retool and think about what it means to be great.”
And the early Ecobee products were not great. “We made a lot of compromises along the way,” Lombard said, showing off Ecobee’s first product to the TechCrunch Live cameras. The differences between the first Ecobee and the first Nest are striking: Where the Nest is constructed out of sleek metal and shiny glass, the Ecobee is all plastic. Sure, it worked well but it lacked the same appeal as the first Nest. He says, in short, as a startup, customers need to love your company and products.
I hear this sentiment a lot on TechCrunch Live. Great products delight in surprising ways. Where the Ecobee offered similar functionality, Lombard admits it wasn’t until the Nest hit the market that Ecobee developed a world-class user experience and design.
I hope you can take the time and watch the show. It’s embedded below, and it’s a must-hear for hardware startups. Trust me, this is one of the best TechCrunch Live events.
Watch the entire show right here.
Show Outline
On CES:
What’s it like for a hardware startup to be at CES?
What should a hardware startup aim to accomplish CES?
Founding Ecobee: Developing a market segment and competing against Nest:
How can a household goal turn into a company?
How does Stuart feel Nest changed Ecobee, and how can founders best utilize competition, especially in marketing?
What does it feel like when your company finally finds product market fit?
How Ecobee is still winning:
Why is it hard for hardware companies to raise capital?
Why Ecobee took a significant investment from Amazon, and what advice does Stuart have for founders talking to Amazon?
How does Ecobee keep up with changing consumer expectations?
Fundraising for hardware
Why Stuart advises startups to look at their customer list for investment opportunities.
Why a company should aim for longevity in fundraising
Why the easiest time to pitch a VC is before you have anything to sell.
Why Ecobee tried to go public through a SPAC in 2020.
Want to get a “text” from your dog when he’s hungry, wants to go outside, or wants to play? The dream of being able to communicate with your dog is coming closer to reality with the launch of FluentPet’s new app-connected talking button system. The new product is an update to the model first made popular by a dog named Bunny, whose 9 million+ social media followers landed the sheepadoodle on Forbes’ list of the top 50 social media creators of 2022.
On TikTok alone, Bunny has 8.2 million followers on the @whataboutbunny account.
Like the first version, the new system involves programmable buttons that, when pressed, speak voice commands. The dog can press the buttons with its paw or nose, while hexagonal, multicolored tiles — which the company called “HexTiles” — hold the buttons in place and offer visual cues for the dogs as to the button’s location. The system can be expanded by snapping together more tiles as the dog’s vocabulary grows.
To use FluentPet, dog owners will record their voice speaking command words, like “water,” “outside,” “ball,” “play,” and others they want to teach their pet to know and understand. Dogs already know words, of course — as any pet owner will tell you — but what makes this system interesting is that the dog can press a button to communicate what it wants. The sound itself emits from a base station with a speaker attached.
Image Credits: FluentPet at CES
Some dogs are smarter than others, and not all dogs will be able to achieve Bunny’s level of success with such a system, of course.
However, the company says that over 70% of dogs using the system will get two buttons within a month — a “play” button and an “outside” button, typically. Then the dog owner may then add on an “All Done” button to signal that a play session has ended. On average, dogs learn up to 9 words with the buttons, the company has found.
Still, the findings from the sales of the original FluentPet system have been eye-opening. Since starting shipping its first-gen product in June 2020, the company has reached over 100,000 households. It surprisingly found that dogs weren’t just able to learn individual words, but were also putting together word combinations to communicate — like “water” plus “bone” to indicate they wanted an ice cube.
“Because we’ve got all of these people that are kind of co-creating this new product category with us, they’re able to communicate to us interesting new things — new button combinations that their dogs seem to use. So this is why we think of it as ‘translation,” explains FluentPet CEO FluentPet CEO Leo Trottier.
Trottier’s background is in cognitive science and A.I., he says — noting he left the Ph.D. program at UC San Diego after doing his undergrad at the University of Toronto in order to build the company that became FluentPet. Originally called CleverPet, the goal had been to build something more in the dog games space. (The other original co-founders have since left).
The data (with users’ permission) is being shared with the Comparative Cognition Lab, and soon, with John Hopkins.
Image Credits: FluentPet
FluentPet’s other co-founder Alexis Devine, is Bunny’s owner — so it turns out, Bunny’s social media across Instagram and TikTok was actually a savvy marketing campaign for FluentPet’s systems.
Work on the updated model began in 2021. This version now introduces Wi-Fi connectivity and a connected mobile app. That means when the sound buttons are pressed by the dog, their message is also sent to the app. If you’re in a different part of the house and can’t hear the sound, the app will alert you.
“There’s app notifications — you can get a ‘text’ message from your dog,” said Trottier. (It’s not really being delivered over SMS, to be clear — it’s from the app.)
The FluentPet Connect system is accepting pre-orders now. The starter pack — aka FluentPet’s “Get Started” Kit — comes with 6 connected buttons, 3 HexTiles and the battery-powered base station with a higher-quality speaker for $159. Original system owners can swap out their old buttons and base station for the new ones, but continue using their own tiles.
The pre-Series A company has raised funding from Republic.com and angel investors; 3 million+ was raised as CleverPet while another 750K came after the pivot.
Elderly people are not typically thought of as early adopters of cutting-edge technology, but there are startups looking to buck that trend, banking on an opportunity to provide them with them with new services like VR, to address the specific needs of elderly consumers, Today one of the bigger startups in the space, Rendever, is announcing an acquisition to expand its business. The company, which builds virtual reality experiences designed to help elderly people feel less lonely and currently has some 600,000 users, has acquired Alcove, a platform developed at AARP — the organization that both lobbies for and provides services like insurance and support to members, who are typically retirees and older people.
Rendever operates as a B2B service — it works with care homes and other organizations to create customized VR experiences that are in turn used those organizations’ elderly residents — but Alcove is more consumer-facing and is currently sold as a service to AARP’s members. It describes itself as a “family-oriented virtual reality app”. Available to use on Meta (Oculus) Quest, the app is laid out as a virtual living room where families can “meet” and look at photos, play games, watch movies or just converse together.
Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed but from what we understand Rendever is paying cash for Alcove, and AARP is taking equity in Rendever as part of the deal.
Rendever and AARP are not strangers. The latter is one of the startup’s investors (others include Mass Challenge and the Dorm Room Fund; it’s also had grants from the National Institute on Aging and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and they had initially co-developed Alcove together before AARP decided that it no longer wanted to invest in developing it in house.
“We at AARP are thrilled to have Rendever acquire and continue expanding the capabilities of such an impactful product as Alcove,” said Rick Robinson, VP & GM of the AgeTech Collaborative at AARP. “We know virtual, immersive experiences can demonstrate tremendously positive outcomes, especially for the socially isolated and we expect Alcove will continue helping even wider audiences under Rendever’s leadership.” The org, he said, is not pulling away from tech, but it will pursue it in collaboration with third parties more in the future.
That shift — along with this piece of M&A — both underscore part of a bigger trend that is being played out in tech. Not only has the bear market led to startups having a harder time raising money right now; but similarly organizations and reining in budgets for tech projects (if not completely killing them off) if those projects are not showing a strong return or quick path to profitability. This in turn is spurring more M&A activity as a means to giving those startups and those projects a lifeline in these leaner times.
The fact that the asset in question here is focused on elderly people is also significant. Technology is now part and parcel of how we interact with each other, something that became ever more the case in the peak of Covid-19 as people had to isolate more from each other and travel got curtailed. Although there are a lot of older consumers who resist a lot of tech — they may not have mobile phones, or can’t solve simple glitches on their computers, or they don’t use any kind of social media — that population is evolving as more digitally-savvy consumers age.
All of this will lead to a bigger market and a bigger demand for services and devices aimed at older people’s specific needs and preferences. (And this week at CES, building for that population, not just VR like this but gadgets like hearing aids, is forming a big part of what might more generally be described as “accessibility” tech but could just as accurately be seen as more sophisticated approaches for specific audiences.)
The idea that there is an untapped market of users, but those who could be a perfect audience for VR, formed part of the premise for Rendever getting started in the first place, CEO and co-founder Kyle Rand said.
“We had the idea of bringing VR into senior living communities to address social isolation,” he said of the original idea for the startup in 2016. At the time, most were skeptical, he said.
“Back then, when we told people this idea, and we provided some demos, we got laughed at. No, they said, you’re going to use this technology with this demographic [because] they must be tech averse. But what we found was that if you can make it easy to get somebody into the experience, and provide something meaningful and joyfus, the opportunities were just limitless.” He said when users come into virtual rooms for the first time, or use them to “travel” back to their childhood neighborhoods using Google Maps and Street View, people would “light up.”
Although providing ways to ease social isolation might have previously been seen as a nice-to-have, the premise took on a different urgency during Covid-19 when so many were isolated out of caution and sometimes actual public health regulations, and people started to understand just what toll isolation could have on mental health, regardless of the age. Today, the startup works with some 500 senior living communities in North America, and it has to date delivered more than 2 million VR experiences to older adults.
Rendever is largely bootstrapped — it has raised less than half a million dollars in the last eight years — but it’s now using the fact that it is profitable and growing while addressing an evolving market to go out for its Series A. we’ve delivered over 2 million experiences in VR to older adults.
At CES, Amazon today announced that a number of new devices from four manufactureres will soon join its Sidewalk network. Sidewalk, Amazon’s long-range, low-bandwidth IoT mesh network that is powered by sharing a small portion of a user’s bandwidth from devices like the company’s Echo speakers and Ring cameras, currently supports the Tile tracker, Amazon’s own Ring cameras and sensors, as well as Level smart locks and CareBand’s senior-care systems. Now, you can add sensors from Browan and New Cosmos, Meshify and Deviceroy’s Aria to this list, though only the Deviceroy system, which will connect solar inverters to the internet, is currently available, with the rest launching later this year.
For the most part, these four new partners are not exactly household names. Amazon’s Tanuj Mohan, the company’s GM and CTO for Sidewalk, however, told me that a number of new partners will launch over the course of this year. More importantly, he also said that Amazon plans to open up the Sidewalk network to developers in the first half of this year. This, he noted, will enable virtually anyone who wants to get started with building IoT products to order a reference kit from Amazon’s partners and get going in days, all without having to worry about connectivity.
“Anybody who has an idea should be able to go to an AWS website, find a hardware kit from Silicon Labs, TI or from somebody, order the kit and be able to get this kit flowing data via AWS into an application,” he explained. “They can start writing literally as soon as the kit is in their hands. So that is what we expect [when we] open for developers. My vision is that with some of these kits and devices, they could actually try building something real out of it and maybe even in low numbers for proof of concepts to prove their business case in a timespan that was never before possible.”
As Mohan noted, one of the major challenges for the Sidewalk team is to get people to change the way they think about IoT connectivity. “The market doesn’t fully appreciate why sidewalk is different,” he said when I asked him what his team’s hardest challenge is. “They have heard that, oh, Matter solves everything, or ZigBee solves everything, or we have had this forever. But not really. You haven’t had a network that’s just there and a device that ships to your house that you power on and it’s on. Yes, maybe a cell phone with a SIM card does that. But nothing else.”
Some manufacturers may have gotten started with ZigBee or WiFi to add smarts to everyday devices like a faucet, he noted, but then learned that people didn’t have a ZigBee hub or just wouldn’t configure it. “It was an investment that wasn’t worthwhile,” he said. “If you look at the percentages of some of these smart things that smartness was forced on, a very low percentage of them got ever got connected.”
Ideally, that’s not a problem with Sidewalk and while Matter is trying to solve some of these problems, Mohan argued that Sidewalk may actually help Matter to grow because it can provide the initial networking capabilities for the Matter network to allow for setting up new devices.
When Apple’s AirTag came onto the scene in 2021, competitors like Tile were quick to bash the tech giant for antitrust issues, saying smaller companies had no chance of competing with Apple’s massive network of a billion iPhones. As it turns out, that’s not how another rival sees the situation. Chipolo, the 10-year-old maker of similar lost item location devices, has remained self-funded all these years, having sold 3.5 million devices and growing its revenue to the double-digit millions.
Instead of fighting Apple, Chipolo has opted to work with the Cupertino tech giant — and even credits Apple for helping further grow the item tracker industry. The team also sees the opportunity to integrate with the Find My app as a better consumer experience compared with its much smaller first-party finding network, which today is around 1 million monthly active users.
Without a large network, explains the company, it may take much longer for a device to alert its owner to its location when it’s misplaced and outside of Bluetooth range.
“It just comes down to do you want the customer to be happier with the bigger network?… We decided this is better,” said Chipolo co-founder Domen Barovic, in a conversation with TechCrunch at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “It’s easier to replace this,” he said, referring to Chipolo’s original non-Find My-integrated product, “than to try to build a huge network. We’ve seen that, actually, it’s really hard to do,” he added.
Image Credits: Chipolo
Tile, for comparison, is going a different route — it teamed up with Life360 by way of an acquisition — to combine their respective networks in order to compete more directly with Apple. Tile also sat down with the Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers, who are now building an antitrust case against Apple, to register its complaints about Apple’s entry into this market.
Tile repeatedly stressed how Apple has the advantage of its sizable customer base and platform. Meanwhile, Tile would have to give up its direct relationship with its customers through its own app, as well as pay a commission on any subscription sales or other services made through in-app purchases. In addition, Apple hasn’t yet allowed third parties to access its U1 chip (ultra-wideband) chip for precision finding, giving AirTag a competitive advantage on that front.
Image Credits: Chipolo
Chipolo, however, feels much differently about this situation. Though the company has had ultra-wideband (UWB) prototypes on hand for a few years, it doesn’t feel it’s at a loss for the lack of support.
“We’re not seeing that ultra-wideband is actually needed for these use cases,” noted Chipolo co-founder Primoz Zelensek — Chipolo’s algorithm focuses on delivering quicker reminders when you leave an item behind, then customers can ring the device to see where their item is located. “The sound is much more important,” he said.
Image Credits: Chipolo
If anything, Chipolo sings Apple’s praises for creating more consumer awareness about the lost item finder market in general with the launch of AirTag. Plus, the company believes Apple has a shared mission.
“They’re solving the problem that we wanted to solve,” said Barovic. “We’re not building a company because we want to build a company, right? We’re building the company because we want to help people. And that’s what Apple is also doing. So actually, it’s good.”
Interestingly, Chipolo shared these same sentiments with the DoJ’s lawyers last year, the co-founders told TechCrunch. The company had a couple of meetings over Zoom about the matter of AirTag and its impact on Chipolo’s business. Its comments, seemingly, could complicate the DoJ’s ability to effectively prosecute Apple. After all, here is a competitor happy to be offered access to Apple’s Find My platform — and one that says its own sales have grown as a result.
The co-founders told TechCrunch that Chipolo’s 2022 revenue topped that of the revenue it generated in its pre-Find My days — though the company clarified it’s not what you’d call “hockey stick” growth.
Still, said Barovic, “it’s going up.”
The device maker is at the Las Vegas trade show to promote its current line of lost item trackers and to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Today, Chipolo sells two versions of a keychain dongle ($28) that work either with its own app or with Apple’s Find My Network, and a wallet card ($35) that is slim enough to fit into a credit card slot. Unlike AirTag, Chipolo fully supports Android phones.
Image Credits: Chipolo
The company differentiates its products by the nature of the form factor — it’s plastic, comes in many colors, and its keychain dongle has a hole in the top so you don’t have to buy a separate accessory. It also costs a little less. The device also has baseline functions –like beeping to help you find your lost item, if nearby, and a finding network of some sort, when the item is out of Bluetooth range. (The non-Find My version, however, will not alert you if someone is trying to use the device for stalking purposes. But with its smaller network, its GPS updates are not as quick or as effective.)
Chipolo believes its feature set, along with what it believes are its better alerts, are what will help it to remain competitive with AirTag in the long term.
The company is also not slowing down development, either, but rather sees Apple’s lack of variety with AirTag as a niche to exploit. In addition to the multiple form factors and colors, it has built prototypes for two more form factors, including a location tracker designed for luggage and a screw-on tracker for bikes. It’s hoping to launch those next year.
Chipolo funds its new products with sales from its existing trackers, despite offers of outside funding.
“We’ve had a few [investors approach], but we didn’t find anyone who actually fits our culture,” said Zelensek. “But, of course, we are always open for new opportunities,” he added.
Last year, Amazon and Disney announced a plan to develop a custom voice assistant that combined Alexa’s smarts with Disney’s library of character voices and original recordings. Dubbed “Hey Disney!,” the voice assistant was the first non-Alexa assistant to become available on Echo devices and installed at select Disney Resort hotels. Now, for the first time, Amazon is showing off the new voice assistant to the general public at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And soon, it says, customers will be able to purchase the Disney Magical Companion voice assistant for use in their own homes, as well.
The launch of the Disney voice assistant has been something of an experiment for Amazon, which has struggled to get its own Alexa users to use its voice assistant for anything more than basic tasks — like setting timers, making lists, or controlling their smart home via their Echo smart speakers and smart screens or other Alexa-powered devices. Unfortunately for Amazon, shopping via Alexa also didn’t take off — nor did other attempts to monetize Alexa through things like in-app purchases or subscriptions to voice apps.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s Disney partnership, which includes access to Disney’s intellectual property, allows Alexa’s technology to be used for a broader range of experiences, while also offering Amazon a potential revenue stream from custom client solutions.
Image Credits: Amazon/Disney
Before today, the Disney voice assistant was available in select Disney Resort hotel rooms, as a free service for the guests. Visitors could ask the assistant for pertinent information like park hours, directions to the park, or where to eat. They could also make guest service requests at the hotel, like ordering extra towels or room service.
And, of course, the assistant is packed with Disney features — like jokes, interactive trivia, greetings from favorite Disney characters, and access to “soundscapes” inspired by Disney films. Supported voices include those from over 20 popular characters from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and more. When you ask for the weather, Olaf from “Frozen” might tell you when it’s cold outside, for instance. The experience itself is guided by the Disney Magical Companion, not Alexa — but some guests have complained the voice is not a known character, like Mickey.
The assistant itself was built using Amazon’s Alexa Custom Assistant (ACA) solution, which allowed Disney to customize Alexa’s technology while also supporting its own in-house tech. To start, Hey Disney! will work with Disney’s interactive wearable, the Disney MagicBand+, which will enhance Disney’s trivia game by turning the band into a game show buzzer of sorts that reacts with lights and haptics as players answer the trivia questions. The band, which is typically used in the park for entry and other things like Lightning Lane access, will also light up and buzz when an alarm or timer the guest sets goes off.
Amazon aided in the development of the assistant, it says, helping Disney to create hundreds of pieces of custom content. It’s also using the platform to introduce voice assistants to consumers who have yet to interact with them by offering hints and prompts about things they can do — like hear a joke or play a game.
“Disney is the master storyteller, and its stories are so powerful for so many people,” noted Aaron Rubenson, the vice president of Alexa, in a statement released during CES. “Now people can keep talking to a character, they can continue with the storyline when they go back to their room at the end of the day, or when they go home after the vacation is over. It’s just gratifying to imagine that we’re a part of literally bringing that magic home,” he added.
Disney and Amazon will make the Disney Magical Companion available to U.S. customers for purchase later this year, but does not have a launch time at this time.
Bird Buddy, the maker of a smart bird feeder that snaps photos of your bird visitors which are collected in a companion mobile app, is out today with another product for its nature enthusiast and birdwatching community. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company is showing off a prototype of its new A.I.-powered Smart Hummingbird Feeder, which is able to take photos and videos of 350 different hummingbird species with wing speeds of up to 60 mph.
Like its original smart bird feeder, the new feeder’s camera is triggered by motion which prompts it to take photos of the bird. Those are then run through an A.I. program to help identify the species, alerting the user to their visitor through the Bird Buddy mobile app.
Originally a crowdfunded startup through Kickstarter, Bird Buddy realized it couldn’t rely on open databases to help it properly identify bird photos. So in 2021, it built around 250 test cameras and sent them out to volunteer Kickstarter backers to help it develop its own A.I. tech. The company collected around 3 million photos, then hired an ornithologist and team of interns to manually process over 2 million photos to train its bird identification A.I. That has allowed Bird Buddy’s system to identify around 1,000 birds — now including hummingbirds.
Bird Buddy also comes with a nicely designed mobile app that gamifies the birdwatching experience. In the app, users build out their collection of birds, track birds’ visits over time, learn about their habits, and share bird photos with the community, giving a bit of modern-day flair to what’s often thought of as an older person’s hobby.
Image Credits: Bird Buddy
The company says there are now 100,000 users in the Bird Buddy community who have a smart feeder. A new Heartbeat Map website, also launching at CES, lets others outside of Bird Buddy’s own customer base track the bird sightings in real-time.
At CES, the company demonstrated its new Hummingbird Feeder, noting it plans to build the feeder with recyclable and sustainable materials while also offering new features to cater to hummingbirds, like ports with a lily-shaped red flower that provides access to the nectar the birds will eat. The two-part design snaps together with a seal to prevent mold and leaks, but can easily be unsnapped to clean. And like the original Bird Buddy smart feeder, the new feeder features a swappable camera module, optional solar roof, motion sensors, and A.I. tech.
The company’s original feeder is $199 or $269 with a solar roof and has only been shipping since September. The Hummingbird Feeder isn’t yet priced but will be comparable or maybe a little less, we’re told. The company hopes to launch the new feeder later this year.
Image Credits: Bird Buddy
Longer-term, Bird Buddy’s ultimate success may not be from its feeders themselves but from the data it collects.
“We get timestamps, and we know the species and we know — generally — the location based on the town that you put in,” explains Bird Buddy co-founder Kyle Buzzard, in a chat at CES. “We’re building the largest database of bird visits.”
He says the company wants to open-source this data to allow organizations like the Audubon Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, as well as universities, to have access. The team has also discussed allowing users to photograph and ID birds using just their phones.
In addition to Kickstarter funds the Slovenia- and Kalamazoo, Michigan-based startup raised $8.5 million from General Catalyst and Backed in a seed round last year.
Ecobee started in 2007 when connected thermostats were an entirely different product and nothing like what’s available today. Ecobee released its Smart thermostat in 2008, bringing modern connectivity and usability to the device. I’m excited to host a special irl TechCrunch Live event at CES 2023. We’re filming in the LVCC Grand Concourse on the first day of CES, and hope you can stop by to watch.
Stuart Lombard is sitting down with me to talk about the growth and development of his startup, ecobee. He started the company in 2007 with fellow Canadians to improve household energy use. He raised $159 million to fund the effort and sold the company for $750 million.
At TechCrunch Live, we host conversations with successful founders who took an interesting path, and Lombard journey is filled with twists and turns. The company raised its $2.23 million Series A in 2007, released its first product in 2008, and then in 2011, had to fight for attention after the sleek Nest Learning Thermostat release. Ecobee kept at it. In 2021, Generac Power Systems bought ecobee for $750 million.
This TechCrunch Live will be filmed at CES 2023, and it’s free to attend. Watch the broadcast at booth #60488, located in the LVCC Grand Concourse, at 11:00 on Thursday, January 5. The event will also be streamed live on TechCrunch.com, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
TechCrunch Live returns to its normal, weekly schedule starting on February with Benchmark’s Sarah Tavel and Cambly CEO and co-founder Sameer Shariff.
We made it! Another year (nearly!) complete. Go team!
The end of the year means many things — holidays, food, family, reflection, etc. Around these parts, it also means it’s time for the TechCrunch Favorite Things list.
Each year Team TechCrunch puts together a big list of the things that, when we look back over the last 12 months, stand out as being particularly great. As always, we don’t really restrict the definition of “thing”; maybe it’s a game that ate all your free time, or a gadget that helped you do your job, or a song that lived in your brain for weeks on end. Podcasts. People. Concepts. We’re deliberately very flexible with it, and it tends to result in an eclectic list of very good stuff.
Why do we do it? I’m… not sure! We started doing it one year and had fun, and it’s sort of just become a tradition. And if we don’t do it, people ask why. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe it’ll inspire some last-minute gift ideas; maybe you’ll find something you want to look into for yourself. Whatever the case, enjoy!
Greg Kumparak | Editor
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Image Credits: Nintendo
When my four-year-old expressed an interest in video games, I wanted his first game to be something we could actively play together. A friend recommended Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and it’s honestly the perfect suggestion.
It’d be a fun enough game played solo — a solid, beautifully designed platformer. But for someone playing through with a kid, it’s a masterpiece. Player 1 is Kirby, Player 2 is “Bandana Waddle Dee.” My son always insists on being Kirby and… well, he’s four, so he wins. Fortunately the Player 2 role I’ve been perma-assigned never feels like a tacked-on sidekick; unlike Kirby, you can’t gobble up enemies to take on their powers, but you can kick butt in your own right all while subtly playing guardian angel/healer for Player 1 who doesn’t agree they need a health item and maybe a nap.
Despite playing for months now, we’ve yet to beat the last few levels. We keep playing through our favorites from the first half, instead — he has no interest in the game being “over,” and, honestly, I’m in no rush either.
Kyle Wiggers | Senior Reporter
Steam Deck
Image Credits: Valve
Valve’s Steam Deck is less unobtainable than it once was, and thank the gaming gods for that. I picked one up a few months back and it’s single-handedly gotten me back into gaming, absolutely no exaggeration.
I’ve historically been a console guy for the ease and simplicity of the experience. I briefly went the PC gaming route and, while I’ll admit that it has its appeal, I’ve burned myself out spending hours reseating RAM, messing with drivers and trying to figure out which mods might be crashing my Skyrim install. The nice thing about the Steam Deck is, while it benefits from the wealth of PC gaming resources and tools out there — it’s a Linux-running machine, after all — there’s not much tinkering required to get it up and running out of the box. Sure, you can install mods, custom utilities and the like, but especially if most of your game library lives on Steam, the Deck will deftly handle the various necessary background management processes, delivering a flow that feels familiar to this longtime console gamers.
My one nag is compatibility. The Steam Deck’s compatibility layer for Windows games, Proton, does an exceptional job for the most part, but every so often I run into a fatal error that take eons to troubleshoot. (Recently, it was with Borderlands 3, which refused to launch despite my best efforts.) To Valve’s credit, Proton receives regular updates and Steam has a generous refund policy.
“Crying in H Mart”
Image Credits: Knopf
I’m late to this, but I picked up Michelle Zauner’s “Crying in H Mart” at a community bookstore in Boston recently and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. To pile on the praise, Zauner’s memoire is in equal parts wonderfully and tragically descriptive, relaying her experiences growing up as the daughter of a Korean immigrant mother who receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. Zauner walks us through life in small-town Eugene, Oregon, where her desire to escape from the isolating suburbs fueled her resentment and rebellion against her mother, and through young adulthood as Zauner tries to pick up the pieces before her mother passes.
It’s an emotional roller coaster to be sure, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t spotlight the ethereal-sounding dishes mentioned in each chapter. You see, Zauner and her mother were gastronomes — it’s one of the few passions that they shared in common — and Zauner doesn’t skimp on the depictions of Korean delicacies like jjamppong (spicy mixed-up seafood noodle soup), gyeranjjim (steamed eggs) and san-nakji (raw octopus). “Crying in H Mart” has inspired a few dinners in this household over the last several months, and I’m sure it will continue to for many years to come.
Devin Coldewey | Science Editor
Elden Ring
Image Credits: From Software
Now that this game is comfortably seated among the all-time greats, it seems superfluous to sing its praises, but in a year full of great games this one truly stood out. Awe-inspiring and generous even with its faults, Elden Ring further cemented the potential for games to be truly original and inspired art.
Warhammer 40K novels
Normally I affect the 19th-century western canon aspect, but for whatever reason this year (I was curious about the fan film “Astartes,” as I recall), I picked up a book from the Horus Heresy prequel series to the Warhammer 40K world, a fandom I’ve always disdained. Like a fool! It’s awesome and these books are awesome: tragic space operas with the confidence of decades of established lore. Impossible to find many in print but that’s why I have…
Kobo Libra 2 (+ origami case)
Image Credits: Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch
I have lots of e-readers but this one has become my standby for its great display, highly adjustable light, ease of customization and loading, and a clever folding case that does triple duty as protection, stand and ergonomic grip. I’ve probably read like 8,000 pages on this thing.
This specific weekly desk calendar
Image Credits: Papersource
I’m really bad at tracking time and appointments and meetings, and I’ve tried lots of stuff. I just forget everything. What actually ended up working for me is this weekly paper desk calendar. It’s kind of prosaic, but it’s exactly the size and style I want, and turns out what I needed to get more organized during a very busy year. Plus when I tear off the page I can use the paper for shopping lists and stuff — no need to keep a memo pad around! Apparently this is what I value in life.
Paul Sawers | Senior Reporter, U.K.
Garmin Fenix 5 Plus
Image Credits: Garmin
I was going to include the Kobo Libra 2 e-reader as my recommended piece of hardware, but alas my colleague Devin beat me to it — the Garmin Fenix 5 Plus was next on my list. I actually bought this during the initial lockdown as a replacement for a more basic Garmin watch, but I’ve realized most of its value over the past 12 months as I’ve started traveling again.
While my old entry-level Garmin Forerunner 35 was fine for tracking distance, pace and speed in my runs, the Garmin Fenix 5 Plus allows me to map out a route through the Garmin mobile app and send it to my watch, which then serves up turn-by-turn navigation to ensure I never get lost in unfamiliar territory.
On top of that, I can also download Spotify playlists to my wrist. This means I no longer have to carry a bulky smartphone around with me if I want to listen to podcasts or music. Garmin has a bunch of watches at various price-points with different features, but having directions, podcasts and music on my wrist has been a real game-changer.
“We Didn’t Start the Fire” (podcast)
I’m a big fan of history podcasts, and this was a phenomenal find for me this year.
The “We Didn’t Start the Fire” podcast takes the lyrics from the 1989 Billy Joel chart-topper of the same name, and turns each of the 100-plus historical people and events mentioned in the song into an individual episode that explores the subject matter in detail.
Sure, a history podcast beholden to the words of a single song written more than 30 years ago is somewhat arbitrary, but this is a good thing, as it leads us down paths that we otherwise might never venture down. It is incredibly varied, spanning everything from well-known public figures such as Richard Nixon and Joe DiMaggio, to movies, music, wars and even the polyester fibre known as Dacron.
The presenters also manage to nab an interview with Billy Joel himself for one of the episodes, where they get him to explain why he chose to include certain historical people and events in the song. Although the podcast includes input from subject-matter experts, the dynamics and “banter” between co-presenters Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce is what makes this all work. They’re often tasked with discussing dense and obscure topics, and they bring it all to life.
“Lucifer on the Sofa” (Spoon album)
Image Credits: Spoon
I find it hard to get into new music these days, pretty much always reverting to tunes roughly from the 1960s to early 2000s era. But Spoon rarely puts out a dud, and “Lucifer on the Sofa” was another superb album from the Texas rockers, mixing amazing melodies and hooks to create a fresh, original classic.
“Watermelon” (song from Dinner in America)
I hesitated on whether to include this, as it’s by no means an all-time classic, but it’s a really fantastic little song for many reasons. “Watermelon” is an original composition from the movie “Dinner in America,” which hit theatrical release this year (it’s worth a watch, btw).
The song was written in a day largely by Emily Skeggs, one of the main actors in the movie — up until that point, Skeggs had never written a song before. Watermelon is a chugging two-minute punk ditty that reminded me that songs don’t need huge production or instrument mastery — three basic chords, a melody and a simple repetitive drumbeat that Meg from the White Stripes could probably do in her sleep. It’s a real little earworm that has been whistled in my household for most of 2022.
Natasha Lomas | Senior Reporter
Stranger Things Season 4
Image Credits: Netflix
I wasn’t expecting too much from Stranger Things’ fourth season, with so much creepiness already spent and resonant riffing on 80s nostalgia said and done (and with the kids, er, pretty grown up these days). But the show managed to keep my attention and serve up some cracking new characters, plus a spine-tingling moment or two (injecting a Kate Bush classic into the ears of Gen Z was truly a stroke of genius). No spoilers, but the ending was a little too exposition heavy for my tastes — but, on balance, the series still thrilled. Roll on the fifth and final season.
Mastodon/the fediverse
I’m still not sure what role the fediverse will play in shaping (reshaping?) how humans talk on the internet, but in a year when the world’s richest* manbaby paid an eye-watering fortune to purge Twitter of opinions he doesn’t like, I for one am glad that an alternative like Mastodon exists. One that, by design, is better able to resist capture by billionaires. As someone put it in a tweet (or was it a toot?): Protocols not products!
*On 2022’s plus side, Musk may no longer be the world’s richest human, but there is no doubt he is the Chief Twit.
Hooper’s Beta (YouTube Channel)
Climb smarter, get stronger and — above all — avoid injurying yourself by doing dumb or just pointless stuff. That’s roughly the philosophy behind Hooper’s Beta, a dehyping YouTube channel by climber and physical therapist Jason Hooper, who takes a science-focused approach to furthering technique and defusing fitness fads — and typically ends up dispensing far more solid advice (like how to figure out if you have a rotator cuff injury or just a little shoulder impingment syndrome and which strength training exercises might help with that). He is also not afraid to do some slightly ill-advised things to his own body, like eating nothing but Huel for 30 days to find out if that’s good for a climber’s nutrition needs or (er) not, so you don’t have to…
Anna Heim | TC+ Reporter
ABBA Voyage
“Music is back,” sings one of my favorite artists, Chilly Gonzales.
He’s talking about live music, which many of us missed dearly during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. To make up for it, I went to a ton of gigs this year — none of which are exactly relevant for TechCrunch, except for one: ABBA Voyage.
You may have heard that this show uses virtual avatars created by George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), but it is completely different to see them in person. I was wondering if it’d feel uncanny or unethical, but it doesn’t — probably because ABBA’s band members got their say, and introduce their younger, virtual selves in a playful way that also blends in very well with the rest of the show, which also features a live band. The residency has been extended to November 2023, so you still have time to go see it in person if you are in London at some point in the next few months.
AirTags
Image Credits: Apple
Having put an AirTag into my suitcase eased my pain when it got lost in transit recently — the airline didn’t know where it was for days, but I did all along, and was able to retrieve it from a huge room full of lost items. As a frequent traveller, I know I will put one AirTag in each of my luggage items from now on. Spoiler alert to my family: Some of you will find one under the tree this year!
Tim De Chant | Climate Reporter
iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard
Image Credits: Apple
A few years ago, when people started talking about how iPads could replace their laptops, I scoffed. I tend to like my computers full-featured. Though I’ve continuously owned MacBooks of some kind since 2006, I’ve always maintained a desktop Mac as my daily driver, so I figured the iPad-as-laptop trend wasn’t for me. I tested the waters a few times over the years, but found the experience lacking. Then I bought a Magic Keyboard.
Yes, typing is obviously better with a real keyboard. But where the Magic Keyboard has really made a difference is almost everywhere else. I’ve been using a Mac almost daily for the last 22 years, long enough that my brain no longer registers when I’m using keyboard shortcuts — it just happens. To say that my previous iPad experiments were missing command-, well, everything would be an understatement. With the Magic Keyboard, though, I can copy, paste, select text, undo, compose messages, switch apps… you get the idea… all without having to touch the screen.
This year at Disrupt, I decided to redo the experiment, this time with an M1 iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard. I brought my MacBook Pro just in case. I shouldn’t have bothered.
Alex Wilhelm | Editor in Chief of TechCrunch+
Crocs
Image Credits: Crocs
I work from a small building in our back yard, which means that I run back and forth from the house quite often. This means slipping into, and out of flip-flops on a regular basis. Sadly, if the weather becomes even slightly inclement, such shoes are really not the jam. Enter Crocs. After seeing some Bloomberg reporter wearing pink Crocs, I decided to get a pair. So I did. In pink. And now I dash back and forth from the house with my feet better protected from mud and rain and snow and dog shit. Crocs are great. Embrace your ugly self! Wear what’s comfortable!
TechCrunch+
Image Credits: TechCrunch+
You know what’s good? Knowing what’s going on. You know what’s not good? Not knowing what is going on. But it’s also good to know what is going on behind the headlines and news stories. That’s where, I hope, TechCrunch+ can help out. Am I shamelessly plugging our work behind the paywall in what is otherwise a whimsical and fun post? Hell yes. Do I feel bad about it? Hell no. Because media isn’t cheap to build and our subscription services kicks maximum ass. Come check us out!
Amanda Silberling | Reporter
Defunctland’s YouTube documentary, “Disney Channel’s Theme: A History Mystery”
All of my picks for this list are tinged with recency bias: That is, at the time of writing, these are all things I have experienced in the last week. But maybe I just had a really good week in media, which is why I feel pretty confident and not too hyperbolic in saying that the YouTube channel Defunctland’s “Disney Channel’s Theme: A History Mystery” documentary is literally the best feature-length film I have watched this year.
Kevin Purjurer, the person behind Defunctland, makes elaborate, well-researched videos about theme parks gone wrong, yet somehow this hour-and-a-half-long documentary about a four-note Disney Channel jingle also serves as a bizarrely profound look into what makes good art and what duty memory serves in service of artists. I can’t spoil anything (yes, there are spoilers here), but just watch the whole thing and you’ll get what I mean. This is a work of genius. I am not doing a bit, I promise.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a narrative life sim following your character, a teenage exocolonist, if you will. You were conceived during a 20-year space journey from Earth to a new planet that your fellow humans are attempting to colonize, and the game begins when you’re 10 years old and stepping out of the spaceship for the first time. You can choose how to live your life for the next 10 years as you and your friends contend with the fact that maybe it’s actually a bad thing to land on an alien planet and subjugate the creatures that were already there.
See any real-world parallells!?!?!? But what really sold this game for me is that it’s infinitely replayable — I spent the weekend in a manic fugue state (perhaps an exaggeration) playing this game over and over again in an attempt to get the “good” ending. But listen, there are SO MANY ENDINGS. You can be a horrible, fascist soldier! A criminal! A farmer! An astronaut! An engineer who accidentially enables genocide by not asking enough questions! You know, normal things that happen in our normal lives.
If you want a weird mashup of Hades, Undertale and Stardew Valley, this game is for you — but play at your own risk, because I have not been able to stop playing this game — to the point that it’s actually kind of concerning how it has consumed my life. But I just got a “good” ending after four tries, so I think I can calm down and like, clean my apartment now.
Depths of Wikipedia
you know when you’re feeling depressed and then you go see a man play bagpipes in front of a projection of a wikipedia screenshot that says “list of nontraditional bagpipe usage” pic.twitter.com/V1Ydrenrbj
I went to the comedy live show of a Twitter meme account. Yes, that sentence is bizarre, but it gets even weirder the more you think about it, because how do you turn absurdist internet content into a real-life event that actually entertains people beyond just showing them memes on a projector?
Fortunately for us, Depths of Wikipedia creator Annie Rauwerda is a literal genius. The conceit of her meme pages/empire is that she goes down Wikipedia rabbit holes and finds really silly fun facts, like how the Pringles mascot Julius Pringle actually got his name because of a rogue Wikipedia edit that no one caught. I attended one of her shows last week not really knowing what to expect, and I came away watching a guy build a “Pringles ringle” onstage and a professional bagpipe musician exemplify his craft in front of a projector with a Wikipedia article, “List of nontraditional bagpipe usage.” She even got the Philadelphia chicken guy to act out the events of the 1904 Olympic men’s marathon, which… is quite the Wikipedia page to read.
I have never laughed so much at any sort of comedy event in my life.
Natasha Mascarenhas | Senior Reporter
Hu Chocolate
Image Credits: Hu
You know how we all picked up random hobbies and habits during the early innings of COVID-19? Well, I landed myself a sweet tooth. And I’ve been trying to get rid of it — but also empower it — ever since.
My latest obsession is Hu Chocolate, an organic sweet that would make even the milk chocolate lovers among us into dark chocolate fans. I’ve tried a few flavors, but I stick by their Salty flavor. It’s the perfect little treat to end everyday and feels a little bit more luxurious than the average handful of chocolate chips.
Cardamom coffee
Last year, I recommended Graffeo Coffee beans as a must-have for any java lover. I’m back again with another coffee suggestion: cardamom syrup. I like putting a splash of the Holy Kakow brand in my morning coffee, or a little extra if I want a sweet nightcap. It has stopped me from buying fancy lattes outside everyday, and it’s also just added the right amount of festiveness to my cup any time of the year.
Tooth & Claw: True stories of animal attacks
Image Credits: Tooth & Claw
The host is an expert biologist who knows how to take you through some of the most insane wild animal attacks, and his two sidekicks bring a levity to the show that somehow really works. Best enjoyed on a car trip or flight or long run, but probably not something to have playing around kids or near dinner time.
Taylor Hatmaker | Senior Reporter
“Andor”
Image Credits: Disney+
I’m not a Star Wars diehard by any means, but this show was incredible and everyone should watch it — even if you’re not familiar with the source material.
I won’t spoil anything, but it’s a wild ride that shifts settings and tones often, always deftly, and delivers some really moving performances in the process. “Andor” treats its audience like they’re smart enough to handle subtlety and even some discomfort (think Black Mirror), and the payoff is well worth it. This was some really special, smart and surprisingly inspiring television and these stories will stick with me for a while.
Aisha Malik | Consumer Reporter
“The Bear”
Image Credits: Hulu
There were tons of popular new shows this year, but none of them stuck with me as much as Hulu’s “The Bear” — a comedy-drama TV show that delights with incredible performances, cinematic storytelling and sharp writing. The show does a great job of creating an atmosphere that draws you in almost immediately. Although it can make you feel a little anxious at times, it’s filled with moments of beauty. I won’t spoil anything, but “The Bear” should definitely be your next binge show if you want something that is both funny and riveting.
Bryce Durbin | Illustrator
My Favorite – “Tender Is the Nightshift: Part One”
In the summer, the great indiepop band My Favorite released new music for the first time in six years. The brainchild of Michael Grace Jr., “Tender Is the Nightshift: Part One” kicks off with an eight-minute dance track (“Dean’s 7th Dream”) that features Grace’s characteristic arch, despairing lyrics, delicately balancing chill synths and warm vocals. “Second Empire” (and its “instrumental dub” version) and other tracks round out this compelling EP. Dance away your sadness.
Darrell Etherington | Managing Editor
Universal Audio SD-1 mic
Image Credits: Universal Audio
UA makes a lot of great audio gear, but their SD-1 dynamic vocal microphone might just be their best. Besides the super slick cream color, it’s a dead ringer for the venerated Shure SM7B — both in looks and in audio profile. It’s less expensive, though, and to my ear is better at eliminating any room or bg noise. One of the best deals in audio equipment period.
WANDRD Roam 9L sling
Image Credits: WANDRD
The WANDRD Roam lineup is a killer collection of slings, but the biggest is the 9L version. It has ample room to carry a mirrorless body, a long zoom lens and a fairly large prime as well, plus chargers and batteries. The real reason to buy WANDRD over other competing slings, however, is the neat trick it pulls off to make room for up to a 16-inch notebook: It has a double-zip back pocket with an expandable bottom to accomodate a laptop in one of its sleeves, safely and securely.
8BitDo Ultimate Controller
Image Credits: 8bitdo
8BitDo’s latest Ultimate Controllers (there’s a BT version and a 2.4GHz only version) are as good or better than the first-party controllers they borrow the most from (that’s pretty much the Xbox controller and the Switch Pro controller, fwiw). These come with their own charging docks and customizable back grip buttons on top of everything else.
Miranda Halpern | Data Analyst
Breville Smart Waffle Maker Pro
You know what’s better than going out to brunch? Making brunch at home. I love getting a waffle when I go out for brunch, but I always felt like the ones I made at home were subpar…. until the Breville Smart Waffle Maker Pro entered my life. I originally borrowed someone else’s and I loved it so much that I spent the next two months debating if I should purchase my own; $280 is a lot to spend, let alone on a waffle iron, but this was worth the money. Crisp, thick, fluffy waffles in the comfort of your home for you and all of your friends. You can thank me later.
Nalgene 24oz On-The-Fly Lock-Top Tritan Bottle
If you’re in the market for a new emotional support water bottle, I highly suggest this one. It’s the perfect size to fit into the cup holder of your car, it has a lock top so it won’t spill if it’s in your bag and it’s easy to clean — yes, you need to clean your water bottles.
“Stick Season” by Noah Kahan
Stomp and Holler is back! If you’re a fan of the Lumineers, Vance Joy, Mumford & Sons or The Head and The Heart, I would recommend giving this album a spin.
Kahan entered the music scene with his debut album “Busyhead” in 2019. From there he released the “Cape Elizabeth” EP in 2020, which was his first project dipping his toes in the alt/indie genre, his sophomore album “I Was/ I Am” in 2021 and, most recently, his third album, “Stick Season.” Kahan’s lyricism, which has always been descriptive, reaches a new high as he takes us on the journey of feeling stuck while watching those from your past move on. The theme of nostalgia shows in “Homesick,” “Still,” and the title track, “Stick Season.” Kahan yearns for more — in life and in love — shown in tracks like “She Calls Me Back,” “Come Over” and “The View Between Villages.” If you’re looking for an album to blast as you drive through your hometown during the holidays — this is it.
Remember the Apple Airpower charging mat? Announced in 2017, the device was supposed to recharge three devices simultaneously, but Apple never released it, citing engineering issues. Now, Tesla is giving it a shot with the just-announced Wireless Charging Platform.
Inside the Cybertruck-inspired aluminum casing is a wireless charging platform called FreePower from a startup called Aira. This is the same platform used other multi-device charging mats like the Nomad Base Station Pro. This technology provides up to 15W of fast charging for up to three devices. Allegedly, users can just toss their devices on the alcantara surface, and no matter where they land, they’ll get recharged.
This convenience doesn’t come cheap; the Wireless Charging Platform costs $300.
Aira, the company that developed the recharging platform, was founded in 2017 and has since raised $16.M to date. Its latest fundraising came by way of angel investors in 2019 primarily led by private investors, including Jawad Ahsan, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec. At the time, the company said the funding was going to be used to reach beyond the consumer market, and allow the company to expand into enterprise, automotive, and hospitality.
