Platform makes any part of a video clickable
Spotted: Shoppable video specialist Smartzer uses a customisable overlay to make anything in a video clickable. This means social media content can earn money like never before. The overlay helps create more seamless connections between audiences and additional content. Product attachments can be added as links. The overlay is fully customisable and responsive. This allows…
Graduate designs chair that transform into coffin
Spotted: Coffin chair, designed by London-based industrial design graduate Yeyang Liao, serves as a piece of furniture in which the owner can later be cremated. Traditional coffins contain metal components, preventing them from being cremated. Coffin chair is made entirely from wood, so it can be cremated. The idea is to appease the Chinese ritual…
Tech Explained: Big Data
The speed of data creation continues to climb. In May 2018, 2.5 quintillion (that’s a 1 followed by 18 zeros) bytes of data were created every day. And the pace of data collection is set to continue this meteoric rise. By 2020, there are projected to be 200 billion smart devices in use – each…
More efficient solar battery panels for recharging vehicles
Spotted: Toyota, together with Japanese national research organisation NEDO and the Sharp Corporation, has recently begun road trials of a car equipped with solar batteries. The solar-powered Prius PHV, which only sells in Japan, has been fitted with newly designed solar battery panels on the roof, hood, and rear hatch door. The panels are more…
Influencers wanting freebies hit a roadblock
Spotted: A Los Angeles ice cream truck owner, who had enough of being pestered for free ice cream in exchange for social media exposure, decided to double the price on his cones to anyone asking for freebies. The owner of CVT Soft Serve, Joe Nicchi, made an “Influencers pay double” sign and posted the new…
Startup brings low-cost braces to Singapore
Spotted: Singapore startup Zenyum has created low-cost, invisible aligners for teeth. Unlike typical braces, or “railroad tracks”, the Zenyum aligners are custom-designed, based on a 3D scan of the patients’ teeth. The braces focus exclusively on making aesthetic improvements, primarily to the front teeth. Prospective patients send Zenyum images of their teeth. If the company…
Industrial headset gives workers’ onsite AR access
Spotted: US-based RealWear has created a wearable industrial headset that connects workers to augmented reality (AR) programs on worksites. The heads-free is the first of its kind in the industry, according to the company. RealWear says the wearable improves productivity and safety in the workplace. It offers three different types of headsets, which snap on…
WeChat mini-program helps Chinese tourists in Finland
Spotted: In order to increase Helsinki’s appeal, the city has launched a custom WeChat app called MyHelsinki to help Chinese travellers navigate their way around the sights. Helsinki has become increasingly popular among Chinese tourists in recent years while WeChat has become China’s most popular ecommerce and payment platform, with more than 1 billion active…
Seattle installing public clean-air shelters
Spotted: Seattle, Washington, is instituting a new program to install air-filtration systems in public sites around the city. The sites will become “clean-air shelters” during times of high pollution for those considered high-risk, such as seniors and asthmatics. These individuals will be able to move indoors, into highly-filtered air. Over the past couple of years,…
App allows for collaborative approach to filmmaking
Spotted: Video creation platform Seenit enables groups of people to create a single, multi-perspective film. The online Seenit studio, powered by WeVideo, provides all the necessary video production management tools from beginning to end. Users start by creating a project brief and shot lists. Once a project has been set up in the Seenit studio,…