The Sniffer

In this podcast, Cathi Bond takes a look at the story coming out of the recent CES extravaganza, and the dominant role played by Amazon Echo in building a smart home hub (see, for example, CNET's writeup . Nora Young talks about cute home robots (via Technology Review ). There's Kuri , which can control things in your house, but can also roam around and check on different parts of your home when y...

In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about architect Vincent Callebaut's cool, sustainable, luxury condo project . Will this be the way of the future for condos that aren't on the luxury end too? See more of Callebaut's projects here . Nora Young talks about new research suggesting just how good - and fast - humans are at visually distinguishing reality from unreal images. What does this mean for vir...

In this podcast, Nora Young talks about this Motherboard story on the environmental cost of "fast fashion".  Cathi Bond picks out some of her favourite Christmas gifts from Gizmodo's gift guide  for the hermit on your list. Nora's favourite is one she also saw at Technology Review: Cozmo the cutie robot ! Happy Holidays!  

On this podcast, Nora Young mentions research out of Carnegie Mellon into creating chatbots that can respond to humans with more emotional intelligence, picking up on our subtle social cues (via Technology Review ). You might want to check out this interview with Jerry Kaplan on her show, Spark. Cathi Bond talks about Habit, a startup that aims to create custom meal plans based on your nutritional...

On this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about this study on racism and sexism with ride-hailing services Uber, Lyft, and Flywheel (via Jalopnik ). Is this something you have experienced? Nora Young talks about the Rochambeau Bright BMBR smart jacket, which comes loaded with digital "tags" that give the wearer VIP access (via Read Write ). It ties into several trends, including products that incorporate...

This time around, Cathi Bond talks about a Google AI project. The AI was trained on 11,000 genre fiction novels in order to chat more naturally. Cool, but the hitch is that some authors are ticked off that their fiction is being used as training data, and they're not being compensated (via The Guardian ) Meanwhile, Nora Young mentions the Tube Chat project, where London commuters were urged to tal...

On this podcast, Nora Young talks about Seven Rooms (via Fortune ), an online reservation service that also stores data about diners and club-goers. Is the reputation economy coming to the hospitality sector? It reminds Nora a bit of Super Sad True Love Story . Meanwhile Cathi Bond talks about Zume, a roboticized pizza system that aims to complete the cooking in the delivery truck, solving the pro...

On this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about recent awards for futuristic skyscraper concepts, handed out by Evolo architecture magazine . The winning design was, literally, a "hole in the ground" but other designs include The Hive, a drone-docking tower, and a super tall data centre (via New Atlas ). Cathi and Nora chat about the near future of skyscrapers. Nora Young looks at Explain to Me , a tool t...

On the podcast this time, Nora Young talks about India's plan for a Unified Payment Interface, or UPI. The idea is to connect Indians who are currently "unbanked" with a mobile payments system, using phones and their national biometric-based ID system (via Mashable ). Cathi Bond gets why they're doing it, but still thinks it sounds creepy and Big Brother-ish. What do you think? Meanwhile, Cathi lo...

In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Continuum Infinitum, a supercool continuous video loop (via Gizmodo ). Watch the video here . She also mentions Snarg. Cathi and Nora talk internet art. What do you think defines it? Nora mentions Grocery Trip , and the work of Darius Kazemi . Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about this Fast Company article  by Veronique Lafargue on how the folks at Google brains...

On this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about a soft, lightweight "exosuit" created by the Wyss Institute at Harvard, and ReWalk Robotics (via Gizmag ). Unlike other experiments in exoskeletons designed for people who can't move their legs, this is a support for people with some mobility impairment. Nora mentions this segment on her show, Spark. Meanwhile, Nora Young talks about Smart Slab, a design for...

Nora Young talks about new research into creating an AI that can read and 'understand' a news article with greater accuracy than Google's DeepMind had previously been able to do (via New Scientist ). What does it mean for the future, now that AI is getting so good at recognizing and interpreting text, images, faces, and speech? Cathi Bond continues on the artificial intelligence tip with research...

In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about the Adobe Experience Manager, which uses aggregated data to give retailers the inside track on what a customer might be interested in. Read more at PSFK . Nora Young talks about Imzy , a new online community (currently in private beta) that has strategies to try to make sure it is a "nice" place (via Ars Technica ). Is bad behaviour something that can be sol...

This time, Nora Young talks about AltspaceVR, a new, social network using Virtual Reality. Read Motherboard's hands-on coverage here . Cathi refers back to our chat about holoportation . Cathi Bond looks at the HET Health and Environment Tracker (via Gizmag ). It's a combination wristband and chest patch for people with asthma. It monitors both the wearers biometric data (including signs of wheezi...

In this podcast, Nora Young talks about this study suggesting that the more popular an "influencer" is on Instagram, the less likely her or his posts are to generate engagement such as likes or comments. It points to the potential, instead, for "micro-influencers" (via Digiday ) Cathi Bond talks about the use of ADHD medication to increase focus for a generation having trouble focusing at school,...

On today's podcast, Cathi Bond has been on the hunt for the e-reader that can trump the experience of the good old paper book. She surveys reviews of the new Amazon Oasis, and thinks it may be the killer tech for e-books - for a price.  Meanwhile, Nora Young points out this terrific story The Guardian did on how Uber approached taking on the London market. Regardless of what you think about Uber,...

This time, Nora Young and Cathi Bond are talking shopping. Cathi Bond looks at this profile of retail design company, The Science Project. It seems to take a page from user experience design to create a shopping experience that's data-driven, supported by digital, and very flexible. Nora mentions Frank and Oak's approach to offering a number of experiences in-store besides shopping. Meanwhile, Nor...

On today's podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Microsoft Research's "holoportation" technology, that uses 3D video cameras to capture a moving image of a person in one location and send that image to a person wearing the "Hololens" headset, anywhere in the world. (via Gizmag ). Check out the video below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments! Cathi also talks a bit about the legacy of Zaha Had...

In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about this home ECG monitor , the mobilECG. It promises "open source electrocardiography". Nora Young talks about this Spark interview with Joe Cafazzo from the University Health Network in Toronto.   Continuing the self-tracking trend, Nora talks about Neumitra , a start-up that aims to help individuals monitor their stress levels (via Kernelmag ). The intriguing...

This time, Nora Young looks at the urban agriculture trend. According to a new study, the majority of people doing small scale urban agriculture (eg, rooftop market gardening) in the U.S. generate less than $10,000 in sales. This calls into question the sustainability of the urban ag trend (via City Lab ). In a bit of good news, though, Modern Farmer looks at a really cool idea: mobile urban farm...

This time, Cathi Bond talks about the Neuroon , an instrumented sleep mask that gives you analytics and suggestions for a better night's sleep, or restorative naps during the day. Nora Young mentions a couple of ways to reduce blue light exposure before sleep, including F.lux , and the Night Shift mode in the iPhone. Meanwhile, Nora talks about this intriguing study designed to learn more about ho...

On this podcast, Nora Young talks about Apple shuttering its iTunes radio service (via Tech Crunch ), and Songza being folded into Google Play Music. What does the future hold for streaming music services? Will we start to see artists making exclusive deals with services and distribution platforms as this article suggests we might? On the next edition of Spark , Nora will do two interviews on a re...

In today's podcast, Cathi Bond talks about the Nano Membrane toilet , designed for use in situations where there are currently no toilets. It's an inexpensive solution that doesn't require water, and yet produces (grey) water and power (via Gizmag ).   Meanwhile, Nora Young mentions the MyMe camera and personal digital assistant , a sort of Siri-meets-Google-Glass device that you wear unobtrusivel...

Happy New Year! This time, Nora Young talks about what she observed on a holiday trip to New York, including bathrobe chic (hello Julian Schnabel !), visiting the new Whitney at the foot of the High Line . She also mentions the current obsession with Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying-Up . Cathi Bond discusses Mark Zuckerberg's New Year's Resolution to build an intelligent personal a...

It's a holiday tradition here at The Sniffer: our picks for super cool Christmas treats we'd love to have. This year, Nora Young picks this fantastic dining pavilion  by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher (via Design Boom ). It's one of a series coordinated by a developer named Robbie Antonio. Check out the whole series here . Cathi Bond, meanwhile, has her eye on a special drone which can be used o...