Bro magic:
Goodbye micro-blading. Tata Threading. L’Oreal’s Brow Magic has a face-scanning app that offers a range of brow shapes and essentially prints a non-permanent brow tattoo on your face in one smooth swipe. Imagine when they develop lipsticks, blushes and eye-shadows. The gadget will arrive globally in the second half of 2023.
One inch camera sensor:
Although a handful of smartphones, such as the Xiaomi 13 Pro and Oppo Find X6 Pro, already have one-inch sensors in their cameras, they are becoming more mainstream. Most smartphones have sensors around 1/2.55 inch or 1/2.3 inch. A one-inch sensor allows more light to be captured, providing better image quality. “Phones are getting closer to professional-grade cameras,” notes Shlok Srivastava, aka @techburner.
Project Starline:
To make Zoom calls better (or worse), Google’s Project Starline uses light field technology for an almost 3D version of a video call. Users can feel as if they are sitting around the same table. Project Starline currently requires a booth, a 65-inch display, a depth sensor, cameras and lights to sit on. So it takes some time to go mainstream.
Nosh:
Remember the Jetsons? And how will their food pop up, fully cooked, on the table? Some funny minds in Bengaluru have created a cooking robot named Nosh. (No, not a cooking robot. That’s Richie Rich’s irona). Choose what you want to eat, load in your ingredients and tell it to cook. It is currently available for pre-order.
Smart Color:
Who says fitness trackers are only for humans? France-based Invoxia has created smart dog collars that track health, warn of potential concerns (like if they’re itchy/scratchy a lot and a rash is imminent), and record how much the animal spends walking, resting and eating. There is Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. US sales begin in a few months, with a global roll-out soon, we hope.
Twitter 2.0:
A rival to Twitter’s Meta, a text-based app that doesn’t have an official name, is reportedly close to completion. Use your Instagram ID and password to sign in and post up to 500 characters. Reports say that it will be released by the end of June. Now, if we could just keep the bots away.
Reality Pro:
Apple may reveal its AR/VR headset next month. The Apple Reality Pro, the rumor says, will have an outward-facing display. This means that when you wear the headset, your eye movements and facial expressions will be on display for all to see. How much will it cost? An arm and a leg, at least.
Airstraight:
The Dyson Airstrait promises, like other Dyson offerings, a smooth job for a lot of money. It can dry and straighten wet hair without excess heat damage, because it also controls the temperature. It is only available in the US and Canada but will roll out globally soon.
Eva:
Medical exams are annoying and painful, considering many need to prick a finger every time. Indian start-up BlueSemi has opened bookings (for the third time) for EYVA, a tiny device that measures blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, oxygen levels and average glucose levels in seconds with just your fingertips.
ArtCool AC:
LG unveiled its ArtCool AC earlier this year, hoping to solve AC problems by looking like, well, ACs. It comes with a large digital photo display on the front, and the ThinQ app lets you control the display from presets or customers’ own photos.
From HT Brunch, May 27, 2023
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