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Lilbits: Checking in on Amazon’s Astro robot and Echo smart speakers could become a WiFi range extenders

Amazon’s next-gen eero mesh WiFi routers are expected to bring new features including support for WiFi 6E on at least some models. But they could also bring tighter integration with other Amazon hardware: Steve Moser reports that they’ll allow you to use an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot as a WiFi range extender. In other recent tech […]

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This watch measures emotional responses to spoken conversations

There are plenty of gadgets on the market that listen to your voice to let you play music or videos, get answers to questions, or control smart home devices like light bulbs or thermostats. But researchers at MIT have developed a wearable gadget that listens for another reason: their prototype watch can determine the mood […]

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Report: A lot of US e-waste “recycled” ends up in landfills

Have an old phone, computer, printer, or TV that you don’t need anymore, but which isn’t new enough to fetch a decent price on eBay? Then you may want to recycle it. In fact, some communities have laws that require you to recycle it rather than putting electronic items with toxic components out on the curb […]

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NailO is a thumbnail-sized Bluetooth trackpad (that you wear on your thumbnail)

Say you’re cooking dinner while reading a recipe on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone. You want to scroll down the page to see the next step, but your hands are tied up prepping food (or so messy that you don’t want to touch the screen and leave smudge marks all over it). Researchers at the […]

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Display tech could make eyeglasses unnecessary (when viewing a screen)

Researchers are developing a new display technology that could let folks who wear glasses see a screen clearly without wearing their spectacles. The technology uses your eyeglass prescription to adjust a filter in front of the display so that you see a sharp image even if you’re normally blind as a bat (or blinder, since […]

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Abandoned by Google, App Inventor for Android is now open source

Google started out in search, but the company has expanded into a wide range of businesses over the years, starting with advertising and continuing with email, document creation, mobile operating systems, and even image editing. But every now and again Google decides to shutter some of the projects its developers have been working on to […]