Brands like Whirlpool, Samsung and Bosch are in a race with tech companies like Google and Amazon to get into your kitchen, a room often considered the heart of a home. According to The New York Times, the goal is to get “Internet-connected appliances and cooking gadgets” like “refrigerators embedded with touchscreens, smart dishwashers and connected countertop screens with artificially intelligent assistants that react to spoken commands” into your home first as the promise of the connected smart home comes closer to reality. But these things remain a hard sell with consumers.

Continue reading Household Brands Are Competing to Put Tech in Your Kitchen

Research firm Gartner recently made a number of interesting forecasts related to the Internet of Things, notably that there will be 4.9 billion connected devices in use this year, up 30 percent from 2014. We should expect 25 billion connected things by 2020. The research firm also anticipates that by 2020, connected kitchen appliances will contribute at least 15 percent savings in the food and beverage industry. And Gartner says there will be 250 million connected vehicles with automated driving capabilities within the next five years. Continue reading Gartner Predicts About 25 Billion Connected Devices by 2020

Amazon launched its 3D Printing Store yesterday, which allows users to customize pre-made designs and order 3D printed products. Printing labs such as 3DLT, Mixee and Sculpteo have partnered with Amazon to include their popular designs. Amazon’s store presently features more than 200 designs for games, home decor, jewelry, tech accessories, toys and more that can be altered by color, size and thickness. Users can also add text, their name and other small touches. Continue reading Amazon 3D Printing Store Offers iPhone Cases, Bobble Heads

In an effort to attract more U.S. viewers, Paris-based online video site Dailymotion is pushing new original programming that it hopes will help the service compete with Google’s YouTube. Dailymotion plans to initially commit between $3 million and $4 million to produce up to six series this year that will include leading personalities from industries such as food, music and entertainment. The company is also courting U.S. firms as potential investors. Continue reading Mario Batali to Kickstart New Dailymotion Original Programming

Watson — the computer running IBM’s artificial intelligence technology, famous for beating “Jeopardy” champions two years ago — will soon enter the kitchen in an attempt by the company to turn Watson into a commercially viable product. And it’s not only cooking; IBM is showcasing various uses for the technology, such as developing drugs and predicting when industrial machines need maintenance. Continue reading Watson Takes to the Kitchen: First Step Toward Big Data?