San Francisco-based kids’ entertainment startup ToyTalk, founded by former Pixar execs, just debuted its first product, an eight-episode app that lets children chat with Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends as they go on different adventures. The app is the result of ToyTalk’s new partnership with Mattel, which owns the Thomas the Tank Engine franchise. The interactive app, which takes advantage of kids’ familiarity in speaking with virtual entities, debuts just as Thomas the Tank Engine celebrates its 70th anniversary. Continue reading ToyTalk and Mattel Release Interactive Thomas the Tank App

In a wide-ranging keynote at the Augmented World Expo tradeshow this week, Tom Furness, a pioneer in human interface technology, traced his career innovating in virtual reality and announced the formation of the Virtual World Society. Often called a grandfather of VR, Furness’s groundbreaking work includes developing the first VR flight simulator, first VR consumer product and first retina display. His latest vision is for a network of labs where young creatives and technologists turn their talents to solving Earth’s urgent environmental and social problems. Continue reading AWE: Grandfather of VR Seeds an Industry, Calls it to Action

Toy-making company Elemental Path unveiled the first connected smart toy to be powered by IBM’s Watson cognitive supercomputing system. A talking dinosaur is the first in the line of smart toys known as CogniToys. The dinosaur has speech recognition capabilities and it can have conversations with children, answering a wide range of their questions. Elemental Path’s Kickstarter campaign has already more than doubled its goal of raising $50,000 to start producing the smart toys. Continue reading Talking Smart Toys to Run on Watson Supercomputing System

During its CES press conference, Nvidia announced two new computing platforms for automobiles — the Drive CX and the Drive PX, both of which are centered on the idea that future vehicles will require an increased number of screens and great deal of computing capability. The Drive CX is a digital cockpit for powering the infotainment system, based on the company’s new X1 processor, and featuring an advanced visual computing architecture. The Drive PX is Nvidia’s image processing solution for self-driving cars. Continue reading Nvidia Unveils New Computing Platforms for Cars at 2015 CES

Pixar vets Oren Jacob and Martin Reddy launched San Francisco-based ToyTalk, a startup that develops mobile games that enable children to have extended conversations with animated characters. The concept was inspired by a Skype call when Jacob’s then 7-year-old daughter asked if she could speak with one of her dolls. While kids can hear characters speak through movies, games and toys, Jacob began thinking about how to help children better engage with the characters. Continue reading Speech Recognition Tech: Kids Speak with Animated Characters

Belgian 3D vision company SoftKinetic believes the future will include using hand and finger gestures to operate some of your car’s controls, such as the navigation system, radio volume, and air conditioning. SoftKinetic’s system works by mounting a camera with radar-like technology that can recognize the slightest hand gestures, even in complete darkness. With the help of Delphi Automotive, SoftKinetic is hoping to get its product in a production vehicle later this year. Continue reading Operating a Car’s Air Conditioning With the Wave of a Finger

Nvidia offered a sneak peek at its next-generation mobile processor, Project Logan, during the SIGRRAPH Conference in Anaheim this week. Logan is based on Nvidia’s advanced Kepler graphics architecture used for desktop and laptop chips. Nvidia plans to launch Logan next year, and combine its mobile phone and desktop 3D graphics architectures. This will enable new mobile applications such as augmented reality, computer vision and speech recognition. Continue reading SIGGRAPH: Nvidia Demonstrates Next-Gen Mobile Processor