Kalakshar US

Valencell, best known around these parts for making optical heart rate sensors for fitness tech, has turned up to CES with something new. The company is showing off a new fingertip monitor that, it says, will offer “cuffless” blood pressure monitoring. Rather than inflating a sleeve around the top of your arm, you’ll be able to monitor your blood pressure with a fingertip clip. That’s currently commonly used to measure your heart rate both at home, and in medical settings.

The as-yet unnamed device is pending FDA clearance, but Valencell has explained that it uses PPG sensors to measure blood flow patterns. This information is then run through an algorithm which calculates the movement against both a dataset containing 7,000 patient records. That’s then run up against the user’s age, weight, gender and height to produce a blood pressure measurement. And you’ll get both Diastolic and Systolic results presented on the device’s built-in screen, and pushed to the companion mobile app.

Much as Valencell say its work is unique, we’ve seen at least one other system that uses PPG and algorithms in place of a cuff. At the start of 2022, the University of Missouri showed off its own finger clip that harnesses a pair of PPG sensors, one on either side of the finger. That system was, by its creators own admission, far less accurate for diastolic measures, given the need to control for a person’s age, gender and weight.

Valencell seems to suggest that it has solved those issues with more data, to the point where you won’t need to calibrate its monitor with an initial cuff reading. That’s either some staggering bravado, or a sign that we’re getting better at the nitty-gritty of healthcare monitoring. The company says that it could offer a new weapon in the war against hypertension, and it hopes to offer it for use in clinical settings for remote patient monitoring or chronic care management.

But that’ll all have to wait until the FDA has run its cautious eye over the hardware — which could take much of the year — but if it offers its blessing, Valencell says it’ll sell the product for $99.

 

L’Oréal has returned to CES to unveil two makeup devices. HAPTA is a handheld, motorized applicator that the company created for people with limited hand and arm mobility. L’Oréal’s Lancôme brand will pilot the system this year with a lipstick applicator. Support for more makeup applications is in the works.

HAPTA is based on tech from Alphabet-owned Verily that levels utensils and keeps them stable to help people with limited hand and arm mobility eat independently. The system has smart motion controls and customizable attachments to enable precise application with the help of 360 degrees of rotation and 180 degrees of flexion, L’Oréal says.

The attachments are connected magnetically, with users being able to click them into place. The company added that HAPTA allows for “increased ease of use for difficult-to-open packaging.” Users will get an hour of use out of a single charge, which should be good for 10 or more applications, according to L’Oréal. It’ll take three hours to fully recharge the battery.

“For years, Lancôme has sought to provide every woman with beauty solutions adapted to their needs. Beauty tech has enabled us to fulfill this mission in an even more powerful way, revolutionizing the way we develop beauty products and services and enabling greater personalization,” Françoise Lehmann, global brand president of Lancôme, said in a statement. “With HAPTA we are going one step further by making beauty more accessible to use, because everyone should have equal access to it.”

L’Oréal had another makeup applicator to show off as well. It says that L’Oréal Brow Magic can help folks to achieve a personalized eyebrow look based on their facial features and natural brow.

To create the handheld device, L’Oréal worked with a company called Prinker, which offers printed, temporary tattoos. L’Oréal Brow Magic has 2,400 small nozzles and a printing resolution of up to 1,200 drops per inch. It can seemingly apply a precise brow shape in seconds. Standard remover will take the makeup off.

L’Oréal says the system is based on its Modiface AR technology. Users will need to scan their face using an app and choose their desired shape, thickness and effect — the app will offer microblading, micro-shading and filler recommendations. After the user applies a primer, they’ll need to sweep the device across their eyebrow in a single motion, then add a topcoat. L’Oréal Brow Magic should be available later this year.

 

CookingPal has revealed what it claims is the smartest and safest pressure cooker on the planet. Pronto is an eight-in-one device and, according to CookingPal, it’s the first pressure cooker with a fixed, hinged lid, an auto pressure release system and an air fryer attachment.

Pronto has a six-quart bowl with handles. There are safety sensors and an automatic pressure release with a steam diverter to help protect users. Along with pressure cooking, Pronto can be used for sauteing, slow cooking, steaming, fermenting, sanitizing, keeping food warm and, thanks to its integrated scale, weighing. The air fryer attachment, which is sold separately, adds air frying, roasting, baking and grilling to the list of cooking methods.

You’ll be able to monitor the cooking status and control Pronto using CookingPal’s companion app. Alternatively, you can keep an eye on things and adjust settings with the help of the device’s 4.3-inch color screen. A dedicated tablet called the Smart Kitchen Hub (which comes with CookingPal’s Multo cooking system) provides access to hundreds of recipes with step-by-step instructions and nutritional information, as well as the option to book cooking classes with the company’s chefs.

Pronto is hardly the first pressure cooker that offers remote control via an app — Instant Pot has introduced several such models over the last few years. Still, the auto pressure release system and Smart Kitchen Hub integration could make Pronto a more appealing option.

CookingPal says that Pronto will be available in Q3 this year, which is sometime between July and September. It will cost $279. The air fryer attachment will run you $119.

 

Withings has already made a name for itself as a maker of smart scales and ultra-stylish activity trackers. Now, the French health-tech company is making a foray into the world of medical analysis, building a device to scan people’s urine. It’s initially intended as a way of supporting decentralized clinical trials, the company hopes to offer it as a consumer health-tech device in the future. Say hello to U-Scan.

U-Scan is a pebble-shaped device that hangs from a plastic tab on the side of your toilet bowl, much like a deodorizer block. The hardware, 90mm in diameter, is intended to sit on the porcelain where most people’s pee streams would land. There’s a collection inlet at the lowest point, and a sensor will detect the presence of urine and trigger a pump you pull a small quantity into its body. From there, the sample is pumped into a microfluidic system which triggers a chemical reaction.

Sitting underneath the U-Scan itself will be a cartridge, which contains the specific test that you’re looking for. The company has, so far, partnered with two medical centers in Europe to explore ways of discovering renal lithiasis and bladder cancer. It’s hoped that the system will eventually be used to mass-screen for cancer markers and support medical studies.

In terms of the consumer units, the company has developed U-Scan Cycle Sync, designed to be used for period tracking. The idea is to provide detailed, regular testing to enable fine-grain cycle tracking without the need for calendar apps. As well as predicting your menstrual cycle, the system says it’ll predict your ovulation window, hydration levels and nutrient levels.

The other is U-Scan Nutri Balance, which offers a “detailed metabolic guide to hydration and nutrition.” This will look at your water balance, nutrient levels, fat metabolism and quantities of vitamin C found in your pee. Most crucially, you’ll be able to monitor your ketone levels, as well as the pH of your urine, good for determining if you’re eating a healthy enough diet.

When processed, the results of the tests are shared to a server over WiFi or Bluetooth, and then the cartridge will reset with a fresh test pod. The company says that U-Scan is sufficiently smart to distinguish different users, such as various family members in a home, and separate tests accordingly.

Withings has also said that its system conforms to the highest security standards, and that its data will always be held in France, in a GDPR-compliant setup. It says that U-Scan will run for three months before needing a recharge (over USB-C) and a replacement cartridge.

In terms of pricing, and availability, you’ll expect that whatever date Withings says, it may be delayed due to regulatory approvals. The company says that U-Scan will be first made available in Europe at some point in Q2, 2023, with the Nutri Balance and Cycle Sync cartridges. A starter kit, with one reader and cartridge, will be priced at €499.95 ($530), while replacement cartridges are expected to cost €30 ($31). A US release will take place at some point afterward, whenever the FDA decides to clear the product for consumer use.

 

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has pleaded not guilty to federal wire fraud charges and other crimes. Per The New York Times, Bankman-Fried appeared before a Manhattan court on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after he was granted bail on a $250 million bond, and said he was innocent of charges laid against him by US prosecutors. 

In addition to a civil suit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, SBF faces a criminal indictment from the Justice Department. Prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of leading a multiyear scheme to defraud investors and customers of FTX. SBF faces a total of eight criminal charges, including multiple counts of wire fraud. He is also accused of attempting to commit commodities fraud, as well as breaking federal election laws by donating more than is legally allowed. 

It’s worth emphasizing the changes against SBF are serious. For context, a federal judge recently sentenced former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years in prison for defrauding investors and patients. Prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of defrauding investors of almost $2 billion, or about twice the amount of money involved in the Theranos case. SBF has previously said that he “didn’t ever try to commit fraud,” and doesn’t believe he’s criminally liable for the fall of FTX.

According to The Times, Bankman-Fried did not speak during the hearing. One of SBF’s lawyers entered a not-guilty plea on his client’s behalf. The trial is tentatively scheduled to start on October 2nd. Bahamian authorities arrested Bankman-Fried on December 12th. He originally planned to fight extradition, but later returned to the US to face federal prosecutors. 

 

Verizon has announced the latest model in its kids’ line of cellular-connected smartwatches. The Gizmo Watch 3 is a $150 children’s wearable that gives them basic smart features while allowing their parents or caregivers to keep tabs on their location.

The newest Verizon watch for tikes continues the company’s goal of “providing a safe smartwatch experience for children that aren’t quite ready for a smartphone.” The new version has a front-facing camera, allowing children to take photos, make video calls and record messages with approved contacts. (Although smartwatch cameras can sound privacy alarms, I see the value for children who don’t already have a smartphone camera.) The new model also lets parents add more safe zones, designated areas that the children can’t leave without the watch notifying their parents. The new model also doubles the number of trusted contacts parents can set up — from 10 to 20.

The Gizmo Watch 3 gets a new processor in the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform. Verizon says the chip helps it add 80 percent more talk time and 20 percent more standby time than its predecessor. It also includes Bluetooth for the first time so that kids can pair the wearable with wireless earbuds or headphones. Additionally, it has new watch faces (including ones that change with the seasons and time of day) and three new games: Tic Tac Toe, Gizmo Says and Puzzle.

The Gizmo Watch 3 will be available through Verizon on Thursday in Blue Clay and Mint colors. Of course, if you don’t want to pay the full $150 upfront, the carrier will let qualified customers pay it off over 36 months. For a limited time, it’s also running a deal where buying one will get you $100 off a second.

 

Five-year-old pool cleaning company Aiper is launching the Seagull Pro, which the company says is the world’s first quad-motor pool-cleaning robot. The flagship vacuum is a CES 2023 Innovation Award Honoree.

The Seagull Pro’s quad-motor system moves the robot around your pool by sucking and quickly exhausting water. Aiper says it can “suck in dirt, sand, leaves, hairs and other particles on the pool’s floor more efficiently than other models.” It can clean in- or above-ground pools (up to 3,200 sq. ft.) for up to three hours per charge and offers three modes: floor cleaning, wall cleaning and auto, which cleans both. Aiper says the device’s WavePath Navigation follows “a unique wave shape” while cleaning to increase its coverage compared to vacuums that wander randomly. The Seagull Pro will cost $900 when it launches in March.

Additionally, Aiper has new cheaper models, including the $400 Seagull Plus. It’s made for pools up to 1,300 sq. ft. and helps reduce its cost by trading the quad motor for a dual-motor system. It lasts an estimated 110 minutes while recharging in two and a half hours. Meanwhile, the Aiper Elite Pro skips the Seagull branding while offering high-end features at a slightly lower price than the Seagull Pro (although one big tradeoff is that the Elite Pro only covers 1,300 sq. ft.) It has a lightweight design, wall-cleaning capabilities and a dual-motor system. It can clean for two hours, the same time it takes to recharge. The Elite Pro arrives this Thursday for $800.

Aiper also highlights the Seagull SE, a budget water vacuum released in November. Although it only supports pools up to 850 sq. ft., it has dual drive motors and can run for 90 minutes (recharging in two and a half hours). The Seagull SE costs $300.

 

Roland may be a mainstay in the electronic music world, but it also dabbles in the occasional creator product, too. This year at CES the company has unveiled an audio interface aimed squarely at streamers and it’s called the Bridge Cast ($299).

Like rival products such as the GoXLR or Rode’s Rodcaster Pro II, the Bridge Cast offers a way to pipe different audio feeds (chat, music, game audio, browser sounds and so on) to different destinations – usually your local mix and the one your audience hears.

As you’d expect, there’s an input for an XLR mic and options for dual/submixes along with a selection of vocal effects. There are four channels with rotary controls for mic, aux, chat and game. Each channel also gets a mute button for quickly removing unwanted audio without diving into settings. An intersting touch is the ability to customize the faceplate so if your channel, stream or team has a logo you could add some branding into your Twitch or YouTube feed.

Deeper control will apparently be available via the companion software to fine tune the mic sound or even the EQ of your game audio.

The streaming space has become a massive opportunity for legacy audio companies, and it’s good to see Roland furthering its commitment to this space. How it stacks up to its rivals though, remains to be seen, but if your new year’s resolution was to finally get that stream off the ground then it looks like you have one more option to consider.

 

As someone who bought an electric toothbrush far too late in life, I appreciate any product that promises to save me from expensive dental care. After debuting a few years ago in Europe, the Y-Brush, a sonic toothbrush that can clean your teeth in 10 seconds flat, is now available in the US through Amazon. Unlike a traditional toothbrush, the Y-Brush features a mouthguard-shaped head with 35,000 nylon bristles designed to clean all your teeth simultaneously. Rather than moving the brush around your mouth for two minutes, you position one side of your mouth inside the Y-Brush, turn on the device and then gently chew on the brush head while rotating it around your teeth. Once you’re done with one set of teeth, you repeat the process on the other half. At most, you can expect to spend 30 seconds brushing your teeth.

Y-Brush doesn’t promise better cleaning performance so much as claiming you’ll do a better job of taking care of your teeth with its products. Since most adults spend about 45 seconds to a minute brushing when they go clean their teeth, most traditional and electric toothbrushes aren’t as effective as they could be if people spent the two minutes they’re supposed to commit to maintaining their pearly whites. Most modern electric toothbrushes try to get around that problem by including timers designed to remind you to move the brush around your gumline and hit different parts. The Y-Brush instead attempts to make the process as fast as possible.

At $80 for the base NylonStart model, which doesn’t include a timer setting (you can count to 10, right?), the Y-Brush is more expensive than your average electric toothbrush. Popular models like Sonicare 4100 will set you back about $50 – though you’ll curse Philips for its pricey and proprietary brush heads. Y-Brush also offers a kids model suitable for children between the ages of four and 12, and a $130 NylonBlack variant that features multiple timer settings and ships with an accessory you can attach to your toothpaste tube to make it easier to use it with the Y-Brush.

 

Meta isn’t the only tech heavyweight making tools to help root out terrorist content. The Financial Times has learned Google’s Jigsaw is developing a free tool to help smaller websites detect and remove extremist material. The project, built with the help of the UN-supported Tech Against Terrorism, makes it easier for moderator teams to deal with potentially illegal content. The effort has the assistance of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (founded by Google, Meta, Microsoft and Twitter), which offers a cross-service database of terrorist items. Two unnamed sites will test the code later this year.

As with Meta’s open source utility, Google’s tool is meant to assist sites that can’t afford to develop AI detection algorithms or hire a large moderation staff. That may be critical when the European Union’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s looming Online Safety bill will both require that site operators pull extremist content to avoid penalties.

Both Google and Tech Against Terrorism see their project as necessary to close a gap in countering online terrorist activity. Extremists and misinformation peddlers kicked off mainstream platforms frequently turn to smaller outlets that can’t always adequately police users. Ideally, this reduces the chances of terrorists finding safe havens.

There are limitations. Some social platforms have been reluctant to moderate content even when app store operators say it incites violence — Google’s tool won’t be very useful on websites that don’t want it. It also won’t stop terrorists from sharing material over well-encrypted messaging services or the Dark Web, where providers can’t easily snoop on data traffic. This might, however, make it harder to jump to online alternatives.