BBC Knowledge April 2017

SPOT ON

NVIDIA SPOT

Users of Nvidia’s SHIELD Android TV
set-top box will soon be able to add this
$ 50 microphone/speaker combo, which plugs
into any available wall socket and works
in a similar way to Amazon Echo and Google
Home. Powered like the latter by Google Assistant,
you can use it to control smart home/IoT devices,
navigate YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, Google
Play and Vudu using voice commands, search
the web, order takeaway food, and more
($ 50; http://www.nvidia.com)..)

SMART

SWIMWEAR

NEVIANO UV CONNECT

This high-tech bikini features a built-in UV

sensor that connects via Bluetooth to an app

on your iOS or Android smartphone.

Select your skin type within the app

and it will send an alert to your phone

whenever you’ve been out in the sunshine

too long, thus avoiding both sunburn and

the rather more serious problem of

malignant melanoma. You can even have

it send an alert to your partner’s phone,

to tell them you need some more sunscreen

($ 142; http://www.spinali-design.com)

TALK TO

THE ANIMALS

TOYMAIL TALKIES

It may look like just another cuddly toy, but what you see

here is actually a state-of-the-art communications system

for under-10s. Toymail made its name with cutesy devices

for kids that sent and received voice messages to and

from their parents’ smartphones; now its latest product

comes as a stuffed toy, and youngsters can

use it to talk to each other as well as Mum and Dad.

A Talkies app store will also let parents send songs

and stories to the toys ($ 59; http://www.toymail.co).

I T ’ S

G O O D T O

TALK