Brian Heater
Hardware Editor
The Latest from Brian Heater
Motor City mechatronics
A number of native Detroiters have asked me what I think about their city so far. The simple answer is that I don’t feel qualified to offer much insight yet. I’ve been here for roughly three days
The revamped MoviePass goes nationwide
As promised, MoviePass is returning. After last year’s Labor Day beta/waiting list launch, the movie theater subscription service is open to all in the U.S. just head of the Memorial Day holiday. Af
Sony’s PS5 streaming Project Q handheld will launch this year
Project Q is real, and it’s coming soon, Sony confirmed during today’s PlayStation Showcase event. Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, revealed the upcoming handheld
Apptronik readies its humanoid robot for a summer unveil
Jeff Cardenas pulls out his MacBook. Apptronik’s co-founder and CEO has a slideshow he wants to show, running down the Austin startup’s seven-year history. It does, indeed, take a bit of contextua
Looking Glass taps ChatGPT for holographic cartoon animals
Two things have always felt true about Brooklyn-based 3D display startup Looking Glass. First, their technology is really cool. I’ve seen it in person several times over the years, and it always imp
Dyson upgrades its vacuums and air purifiers
When someone asks for a tech recommendation, we almost invariably answer with one question: what’s your budget? It’s as true with vacuums as anything else. You can get a pretty good one for not a
Going for a walk with Shift’s Moonwalker electric shoe-skates
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised to see someone skate-walking down the halls of Detroit’s Huntington Place convention center. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of interesting stuff hap
Opentrons aims to democratize lab access with its Flex robot
Two words jumped out at me while speaking with Opentrons CEO Jon Brennan-Badal and investor Vinod Khosla: reproducibility and repeatability. These are, of course, important concepts in the world of re
Fetch founder Melonee Wise joins Agility Robotics as CTO
We’ve discussed Agility quite a bit over the last several years. Most recently, it’s been a focus on the Oregon firm’s push to commercialize. There’s no question that the technology is impress
Check out these Boston Dynamics promo LEGO kits
I’m not what one might deem a “swag guy.” I’ve known plenty over the years — video game and comics shows are a particular hot bed. People beg for extra t-shirts, fidget spinners and anyt
Okay, but how about a Raspberry Pi device with a BlackBerry keyboard designed for Beeper?
One thing you can definitely say about Eric Migicovsky: he seems to be having a lot of fun. The Pebble founder left a three-year stint as a partner at Y Combinator to co-found the chat aggregation app
Figuring it all out
First and most importantly: I finally hit Delta Silver Medallion for 2024, courtesy of last week’s trip back to the Bay. Like most of you, I came down with a bad case of wanderlust during the lockdo
Peloton and the CPSC finally agree on a fix for recalled treadmills
Exactly one week ago, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that Peloton was recalling around 2.2 million exercise bikes. The agency noted that 13 people had been injured by the
Mackie finally takes on the Rodecaster with its own podcasting board
I wasn’t alone in loving the Rodecaster Pro when it arrived four and a half years ago. Sometimes a product comes along and just makes perfect sense, comfortably plugging a wide hole in the market. G
Figure’s humanoid robot takes its first steps
Toward the rear of the office, an engineer is working on a metal hand. It looks human enough — roughly the same size with four fingers and a thumb. The Figure team is methodically testing every
Amazon undercuts the Echo Dot with the $40 Echo Pop
You know the old saying: If you don’t like Amazon Echo’s form factors, just wait a few minutes. The company has seemingly attempted everything when it comes to getting Alexa into more homes. S
Beats launches $169 Studio Buds + with a transparent option
Want to get to know a pair of earbuds? Go on a run. A long, sweaty one. One of two things will happen: either you’ll spend half the time fumbling with them or you’ll forget you ever put them in. I
Sanctuary AI’s new humanoid robot stands 5’7″ and lifts 55 lb
I’m not sure I’d call this the golden age of humanoid robots, but they sure have been coming out of the woodwork since Tesla announced its intentions to build one back in the summer of 2021. It’
ANYbotics raises $50 million to help deploy its robot dog
ANYbotics this week announced a $50 million Series B. The round, led by Walden Catalyst and NGP Capital, comes as the firm is pushing to deploy its ruggedized four-legged robot, ANYmal X. That follows