EVERYONE WANTS
TO TALK TO ALEXA
This year’s CES was positively bursting with gadgetry that works with
Amazon’s AI personal assistant Alexa – the Siri/Cortana-like ‘voice’
of Amazon Echo. Ranging from an outright Echo competitor
(the Lenovo Smart Assistant) to Ford’s SYNC3 in-car infotainment
system, via robot vacuum cleaners, security cameras, Huawei’s
Mate 9 phone and ’smart’ light bulbs, plugs and kitchen appliances
galore, there were over 30 such products on display – more than
the number of Siri or Google Home-enabled devices put together.GARDENING
FOR GEEKS
If you fancy growing your own food
but are hampered by not having
a garden, you’ll love this invention
from Estonia’s Natufia Labs. The Kitchen
Garden is an indoor incubator that’ll let
you grow herbs and vegetables inside
a high-tech hydroponic cabinet with
a footprint of just 590 x 580mm.
It’s equipped with an array of sensors
that send data about growing conditions
to a smartphone app, and it even plays
ambient and classical music to the plants
to promote growth.The Intelligent Mobility
Concept car from Nissan
would use SAM,
the car manufacturer’s
Seamless Autonomous
Mobility system
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