Light Start – HP’s new smartwatch, BUDD-e, Musk on Mars, and insurance AI
Brett Venter
HP’s latest take on the smartwatch is aimed at women
When we think of HP, we usually think of printers, or affordable computers (even though they’re fairly high-end these days). Luxury smartwatches are a bit of a brain-bender though, but that’s just what the company has been doing of late. Limited edition, luxury, smartwatches. Their latest is a fashion piece, designed for the female wrist by Isaac Mizrahi, which works with both Android and iOS. HP are making the timepiece water-resistant, adding Bluetooth and an OLED screen behind a traditionally-styled watch face studded with Swarovski crystals. We’re less about the looks than the functionality and this watch will track activity as well as offer up notifications from your phone. They’re claiming a 5-day battery life and it’ll set you back $250 (R4,050, before tax and import thingies) if you have to have it.
Perhaps you saw VW’s concept mini-bus at this years CES event, maybe you missed it. The vehicle, a modular electric conveyance, featured four-wheel drive from one engine per wheel, voice control specific to the seat you happen to be in, impressive range-per-charge, and the ability to specify your interior configuration. And VW is going to be making the concept a reality, according to the UK’s Car Magazine. VW’s Dr Volkmar Tanneberger, speaking to the publication, said “You will see a car that looks a lot like this, on the MEB platform, reach production. I can’t say exactly when, but 2020 or thereabouts.” Sounds like BUDD-e is going to be getting a production version to us.
Elon Musk wants to make Mars by 2020, we’ve got an update coming in September 2016
What you’re going to want to do with the video above is to jump right to 27:45. You could start at the beginning of Elon Musk’s 40-minute talk at the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong and it’ll be worth the watch but if you’re just keen on Musk and SpaceX’s ambitions for Mars, including the reasons we should go, then head to the first timestamp. It’s all very exciting in itself but we also find out the Musk has an annoucement coming at the end of September this year, at the International Astronautical Conference in Mexico. Mars-capable spacecraft and rockets capable of sending some people there, perhaps? He’s not lacking in ambition, certainly. Musk envisions human missions to Mars by 2025, with unmanned missions around 2020. Um… cool.
At least it’s not a call centre – AI will eventually find you insurance deals
First things first, this AI system, from a company called Insurify, isn’t available outside of the States yet so you’re still going to have to deal with Hippo or a call centre or other of those other people who refuse to give up your phone number. But one day you might hand over your insurance-seeking to an artificial intelligence which will then scour the offerings available and return with the choicest bits for you to select from. The AI, called Evia, responds to some natural language queries at the moment and is able to shop around for (American) users using just an image of the user’s number plate. Evia is currently in beta but should get a wider rollout later this year. When it does, call centres and insurance brokers may have to widen their skill sets.
