Month: August 2019

Spotted: The European Ocean Observing System (EOOS), bathroom brand Laufen, and the Swiss water research institute (EAWAG) have collaborated to develop a toilet that diverts urine. By doing so, urine can be treated and used as fertiliser. The mechanism could also avoid pollution of the world’s rivers and oceans.  The design involves a “urine trap”,…

Spotted: A small herd of dairy cows is currently residing off-land along the banks of the Nieuwe Maas, a distributary of the Rhine River. Their home is a waterborne vessel in Rotterdam, Holland, that cost roughly €24 million to create.  The purpose of The Floating Farm is to promote a sustainable food cycle. The cows…

Spotted: Fairbnb is launching a platform for short-term rentals aimed at helping local communities. The platform plans to work with neighbourhoods to make short-term rentals sustainable.  Like Airbnb, Fairbnb is a virtual meeting place for hosts and guests to connect. Unlike Airbnb, the cooperative says that it is focused on sustainable tourism rather than profit. …

Spotted: American health startup Seed has established Seed University, which offers a 60-minute course to educate Instagram influencers on the science behind the products that they may endorse. An incident involving Kim Kardashian, who promoted an anti-nausea pill without informing her followers of its side effects, inspired Seed to develop this crash course.  To endorse…

Spotted: The Rotofarm, by Australian company Bace, is a circular home garden that uses improved technology and lighting to produce crops faster. The company’s founder, Toby Farmer (yes, that is his actual name), says that the device has the potential to reinvent how people grow fresh vegetables.  Rotofarm uses rotation and a mix of nutrients…

Part of Opposable Group,  games and VR research and development studio Opposable Games focuses on connected multiple-device gaming. The company’s proprietary OneTouchConnect system allows cross-platform devices to recognise each other. As well as producing their own content, Opposable Games works with a range of organisations to help bring their own material to immersive life. For…

Spotted: In America alone, over 1.6 billion pairs of sunglasses are lost every year. With most losses taking place at the beach, sunglasses contribute to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic that end up in the ocean each year. Because we can’t help losing our sunglasses, the Ukrainian company Ochis Coffee has developed a pair of…

Spotted: American cultural investment app Otis is offering art enthusiasts the opportunity to co-own trendy art pieces and other pricey items that appeal particularly to the millennial generation.  The platform allows users to invest in a curated selection of artworks and other desired items, including sneakers and even comic books, starting at $25 (€22.5) per…

Spotted: Mixed reality experts KageNova help make immersive experiences realistic. The company’s spatial360 software turns existing 360° virtual reality (VR) scenes into fully interactive immersions.  A user’s real-world movements are translated into the virtual world creating true freedom of exploration. spatial360 works through AI processing that runs in the cloud, combined with a (Unity) software…

Spotted: Automobiles that emit unhealthy exhaust fumes could soon be uncovered by an unmanned sensor that is currently in production.  It is being developed by a team at Austria’s Graz University of Technology in conjunction with the European City Air Remote Emission Sensing (CARES) project.  When placed on the roadside, the sensor measures emission levels…