News by Maddyness
17 January 2020
17 January 2020
Temps de lecture : 4 minutes
4 min
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3 stories to start your day: Megxit, CES20 & Foodtech

Maddyness provides you with a quick digest of three news items to keep you up to date with the startup scene, emerging trends and other noteworthy stories. Here's what's going on at the back end of this week.
Temps de lecture : 4 minutes

'Megxit': Meghan and Harry, tech innovators and royal disruptors

After announcing their plans to step down as senior royals last week, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have entered discussions with the Queen to ways to re-define their roles in the royal family. Their intention to become financially independent and split their time between the UK and North America are subject to urgent meetings. They have been branded "disruptors" and the world is scrutinising their every step.

The couple attended a meeting with their team earlier this week, where they lined up their engagements up until June. They have also been warned, while away in Canada for six weeks, that the Royal Family's focus in the future would be on those at the top of the line of succession.

CES Las Vegas digest: what were the coolest tech trends presented?

With thousands of new products showcased at CES20, it's easy to get lost. If you weren't there, this is your opportunity to discover the biggest trends in technology that exhibitors were showing the public.

Woven City, a town by Toyota with no human drivers

This ingenious prototype from Toyota presents a community of the future to be built near Mount Fuji in Japan. The 175-acre site where Toyota will build this city was home to a former and now derelict manufacturing plant. On this land, Toyota will build an experimental laboratory for future technologies including self-driving vehicles run on hydrogen fuel cells, robotics, smart homes and innovations in personal mobility.

For this project, Toyota wanted to imagine a city built around a sustainable and environmental-friendly public transport system. What's amazing in this experiment is that ultimately people will be able to call Woven City home and live in the experiment.

More data from more powerful health sensors

Along with apps and software, more health sensors are coming to consumer products so that you can better understand your body and run your own health checks. The level of understanding we can get from today's consumer health products would have cost thousands of dollars and numerous hospital visits just five years ago.

For instance, the Withings ScanWatch now includes an electrocardiogram, photoplethysmography for optical heart rate, SpO2 for blood oxygen and deeper sleep analysis that can successfully detect sleep apnea. Another innovation, the GoBe3 can track calorie intake as well as your stress levels based on skin readings using similar technology to what has been used in lie-detector tests.

Tech getting more stylish

One of the other trends at CES20 was technology that is more discreet and better blended into their environment. UltraSense, Sentons or Mui Lab showcased great examples of this. UltraSense and Sentons use sound waves to create touch interfaces out of plain surfaces made of plastic, metal, wood or other materials.

This sound-wave technology can make the side of the phone a seamless virtual button. With these innovations, using your phone can become even smoother, for example, holding one spot could activate a power button, sliding one finger up and down one side to change the volume, squeezing the phone to take a selfie, etc. Both companies are also working on bringing this technology to other touchpoint that would have once required buttons like steering wheels, window panes, or kitchen appliances.

What happened to the new year diet?

It wouldn't be a new year without resolutions and diets, but experts are now strongly encouraging us to rethink this ­annual need for a diet. Of course, it is always a good time to make positive changes in the way we eat. However, experts observed diets are inefficient in the long run as 80% to 95% of people regain most of their weight within five years after ending their diet. Instead of wasting money, time and energy in pointless detoxes and diet trends, focus on vegetables, fibres, and everything plant-based to feel healthier overall. It's not so much how we eat, but what we eat that will make a lasting difference to our bodies and the planet.

Eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is an excellent start to your "new you". Then, a 30g daily intake of fibres is highly recommended, as well as taking in good gut bacteria which also has a positive impact on mental health (kefir is a good place to start). Finally, include good fats (not the saturated ones in processed meats, pastries and fried food) in your daily meals such as olive oil, avocados, nuts and oily fish.

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