PLUGHITZ Live Presents (Video)

Skincare is very personalized. We all have different skin problems, and each requires an individualized solution. Lululabs created LUMINI, an AI skincare assistant, that can scan your skin and identify your skincare needs. Don spoke with Yougjoon from Lululab, a spinoff from Samsung Electronics, at CES 2018. The signature product of Lululab is the LUMINI AI skincare system. It is composed of two things: hardware, and software. There is a three step process: scanning, analyzing and recommendations.

The hardware can scan a person's entire face in five seconds. After the scanning, it will analyze up to the inner skin. It examines a person's skin and focuses on pores, wrinkles, acne, sebum, melasma, and redness. Based on the analysis, it will recommend the best possible skin solution for each user. All of this information, including detailed images of a person's skin problems, can be viewed on an app. Lululab licenses its LUMINI AI skincare assistant to businesses (such as cosmetic companies and dermatologists) at a monthly fee of $150.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Up to now, drones have been little more than toys and camera platforms, promising much but delivering little. Working with Directorate General for Civil Aviation, Azure Drones' Skeyetech provides "100% autonomous and 24/7 operational drones" as a "security drone solution." Antoine and Todd talk about the new security guard.

A market leader in France, Azur Drones has developed an airborne surveillance system for the remote monitoring of industrial properties. The system, called Skeyetech, is composed of a smart drone equipped with HD and thermal cameras, and a smart (weather) station which recharges the drones, monitors the weather and provides protection for the craft. Skeyetech drones can be programmed and undertake automated flights, before accurately landing on their docking stations to be recharged.

The docking stations aren't just power outlets, but relay instructions and information from the drones. Consequently, the drones can be controlled remotely making them capable of operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without any human intervention. It comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional video surveillance. Technically, the drones can fly for 35 minutes before needing recharged for 30 minutes. Top speed is 50 mph and they're waterproof to IP56. The drones can be configured to patrol premises on a regular basis, or respond to alerts generated by motion sensors.

This isn't the kind of drone found on the shelves of Best Buy or Fry's. Interested parties will need upwards of $100,000.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

The Amazon Echo Show might be getting all the headlines, but it's not the only show in town. Here we have the Clazio Spark, the most powerful smart speaker on the market - it's a mini-media center with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Todd and Dake discuss getting the right color for the rear of the device.

Previously known as Clarity, the Clazio Spark is an all-in-one smart speaker that combines a 7" Android Nougat tablet with a professionally developed speaker and both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice services. The HD screen (1920 x 1200) is set into a retro-modern design and, when combined with a 4K HDMI out, creates a lovely media center that can play music, show films and make video calls. If you can do it with an Android tablet, you can do it on the Spark, with the additional benefit of Alexa.

The Spark isn't tied to a power cable, as the 4,800 mAh battery gives around 5 hours of music and about half that for video. There's a 5 MP front facing camera for video calls and a microSD card slot for more storage. Is there anything the Spark can't do?

After successfully crowdfunding on Indiegogo in early 2017, the Spark is preparing to go into retail with an expected price of $269. You can still contribute to the Indiegogo campaign with "pre-orders" to get some good deals but the usual caveats regarding crowdfunding apply.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

There are massage chairs and then there are BodyFriend massage chairs. With these chairs, it's not so much getting a gentle pummeling from a recliner as putting on Iron Man's exoskeleton with Jarvis as your masseur. Todd gets a sensational experience with Roy.

The premium BodyFriend chairs provide full body massage including shoulders, arms, waist, legs and feet, with more than a dozen massage modes (depending on model) including brain concentration and digestive massage. The brain massage uses sound waves to soothe the grey matter. There's built-in heating, stereo speakers and Bluetooth.

Most recently, BodyFriend has partnered with Lamborghini for a new chair which is expected to ship in spring 2018. Other BodyFriend chairs are on sale now in the US with prices from $5,000 to $9,000.

BodyFriend have partnered with Marvel for themed hugchairs including Spider-Man and Captain America. Priced at $1,580, these are aimed at children and grown-up kids while providing a massage experience in a smaller, friendlier chair.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

OrCam has a mission to help blind and visually impaired people achieve increased independence. The OrCam MyeEye 2.0 can discretely read text to a person who is wearing the device. Todd spoke with Rafi from Orcam Technologies at CES 2018. Rafi gave a demonstration that shows the range of useful things that the Orcam MyEye 2.0 can do. OrCam 2.0 is the world's most advanced artificial vision device designed to help people who are blind, partially sighted, or who have reading difficulties.

The device attaches to the arm on the frame of a pair of glasses. The front of the device has a camera and a light and the back has a small speaker. OrCam takes a photo of text from any device or surface, converts it to audio, and discretely relays that information to the wearer of the device. OrCam 2.0 can also recognize people's faces, identify products by their bar codes, identify colors and discern denominations of money notes. It can also tell the user the time and date.

OrCam 2.0 is available now from the OrCam website for $4,500. You can request a free trial of OrCam by filling out a form on the OrCam website.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Many people find it difficult to lose weight. Counting calories is tedious and you might make mistakes with your math. The amount of calories you consume does play a part in weight gain, but there are other pieces to the puzzle that you may be unaware of. Healbe solves these problems with its GoBe2 - the only complete smart-life band.

Todd spoke with Artem from Healbe at CES 2018. The GoBe2 smart band can automatically measure the calories that you consume, but it also keeps track of your hydration, your activity level and how much sleep you had. Together, all of those factors play a role in weight loss or weight gain. The GoBe2 has an accuracy rate of 85%.

The GoBe2 app can show you your data; at a glance, you can see how many calories you consumed and compare that with how many calories you burned. The goal is to have a negative number at the end of the day. The GoBe2 makes it easier for you to reach your weight loss goals. The GoBe2 is available on Amazon and is priced at $199.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

This week, we are at Gulf Coast Maker and Comic Con 2018. We'll bring you artists, cosplayers, craftsman and more during our 4 hours at the show.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Daniele is a student at Florida Polytechnic University who is studying Computer Science with a concentration in Cyber Security. In High School, she was introduced to the science and technology world through the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), a robotics foundation where students of varying ages can compete through tasks that their robots perform. With help from mentors she met through FIRST, she became interested in programming and developing. Today, Daniele is a special events host for F5 Live: Refreshing Technology and PLuGHiTz Live Special Events and a co-host for both The New Product Launchpad and FIRST Looks.

Today, many people use essential oils as part of their management of a variety of health conditions. Every person is different, and that means what works well for one person might not be the best choice for someone else. Oblend gives people the power to make their own, customized, blend of essential oils. Todd spoke with Nicole from Altoba, where she pointed out all the things that the Oblend device can do. Oblend gives people the power to create a variety of healthy products that include essential oils and botanical oils. Oblend can create vapes, tinctures, culinary oils, massage oils, lotions, drinks, aromatherapies and supplements.

Use the Oblend app to find a recipe that you want to try. You can search the app for specific medical conditions or issues. Select a recipe, and Oblend can blend it for you. The unique thing about Oblend is that you can customize and make your own individual recipes, then save the recipe on the app so you can use it again. If you like, you can share your recipe with the Oblend community.

The Oblend device comes with 24 pre-filled essential oil cartridges that consumers can use to make hundreds of essential oil blends. People who have a specific health related issues may want to purchase additional cartridges of the essential oils they find to be helpful for them.

The list price for Oblend is $949 (which includes the 24 cartridges), though the company does offer discounts and promotions. Those who are interested can enter their first and last name and their email address on the Oblend website to be notified when the Oblend pre-sale begins.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

When people say IoT, they are often thinking about the devices that they use in their smarthome ecosystem. People tend to overlook the other aspects of IoT, including the businesses that are involved in it.

Todd spoke with Keith from the IoT M2M Council. They are a non-commercial trade association that is based in London. The association has 25,000 rank and file members in 24 markets, with 300 new members joining every week. Their mission is to prove the business case for IoT by bringing buyers and sellers together in creative ways. IoT stands for Internet of Things. M2M stands for Machine for Machine. The IoT M2M Council uses those terms interchangeably.

Keith pointed out the industrial side of IoT, which has the potential to really change people's lives in regard to IoT devices. He sees system-level changes happening over time with important things that have a big impact on a person's day to day life. These changes could involve water supply, power grids, the health care sector and more.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Smarthomes can make your life a little easier because they allow you to do things through an app instead of manually. But problems happen when the devices in your IoT ecosystem are not all part of the same system. This could result in multiple hubs in your home, with a separate app for each of them. B.One Hub simplifies your daily living with one hub that can control all IoT products.

Todd spoke with Sridhar from Blaze Automation at CES 2018. The B.One Hub is a multi-protocol gateway, which combines Z-Wave, Zigby, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and more, which means that B.One Hub can replace all your other hubs. The B.One Hub also has IFTTT (If This Then That) protocol, which means you are less dependent on the internet. If your internet goes out, you can still control your devices through the B.One Hub.

With the B.One Hub, you can control different devices, with different protocols, with one action. B.One Hub is currently on the market in Australia and Japan. It will be coming to the U.S. market by March of 2018 and will be priced at $199 USD.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.