Blockchain tells you if you’re Thomas Edison 2.0
You have a great idea? Cool! But costs for patents can be very high and more often than not you overestimate your idea’s uniqueness (see also this week’s blog on getting over being in love with your own ideas). Many aspiring founders hesitate to disclose their ideas to others. But they need to find out how “unique and new” their idea really is and what the existing competitive landscape looks like. Loci, a new blockchain powered platform addresses that issue. The platform helps to determine whether or not patenting makes sense and also provides guidance on how to adapt your idea. Read more
Food tastes better with electrodes
Food tastes great and eating salty is particularly enjoyable for a lot of us. Too bad that too much salt is not good for the human body. Even worse: Eating bland food instead. The director of the Multisensory Interactive Media Lab at the University of Maine came up with utensils that have the ability to convey the salty taste – and potentially many more: chopsticks with special electrodes on their tips. With a gentle zap, the eater’s tongue produces the simulated flavour. Still a very early prototype, but this innovation is one of many that hints at how the way we eat – and taste – may change in the future. Read more
The world’s best multi-tasker is your mind
Good news for the ones among us who love multitasking. Researchers at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute in Kyoto (Japan) announced that they built a device that may make our multitasking dreams come true: A mind-controlled robotic arm that fulfils all the tasks you can think of – literally! Such devices could not only make our busy lives more comfortable but have also the potential to give some degree of (physical) freedom back to the ones who are physically handicapped. Read more
