Juniper Research: Robots to reside in more than 1 in 10 American households by 2020

New data from Juniper Research has forecast that over 1 in 10 American households will own a consumer robot by the end of the decade, up from under 1 in 25 this year. At this early stage in the market, shipments are expected to be dominated by so-called ‘task’ oriented robots assigned to take over household chores, such as lawn mowing or vacuum cleaning. 

Devices such as iRobot’s Roomba and Droplet Robotics’ Sprinkler offer tremendous ‘fire and forget’ type convenience for consumers, and despite obvious design compromises, are likely to usher in a new era of housekeeping.

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Google Maps for iOS gets offline navigation

Following updates on Android, Google Maps gets a new bunch of features. These include offline maps support, which lets you save a portion of the map onto your iPhone or iPad. The new update also lets you get turn-by-turn navigation, business hours, and contact details while offline. These maps will stay on your device for 30 days. Unfortunately, mass transit, walking, and biking directions still need to be accessed online.

Maps on iOS update also now gets gas prices and the ability to see when local businesses are busy throughout the week or on a given day.

Source: The Verge | Download: Apple App Store (Free)

Kickstarter investigates US$3.5 million failed project

Kickstarter is taking a look into a massively funded and failed ZANO drone campaign. They hired an investigative reporter to look into why the project didn’t push through. Over 12,000 backers paid over US$3.5 million to fund this small autonomous drone. It was supposed to be released in January of this year but the release date came and went without any word from the company, Torque Group Ltd, and it ultimately shut down last month, leaving backers without any compensation for their support.

Kickstarter hired Mark Harris to get the details. According to Harris, “[Kickstarter] would like to uncover the story of Zano, from its inception to the present…” He’ll also look into Kickstarter’s role in the project and how it could have helped the both the creators and its backers. Kickstarter will see the final story before publication but they have “no right” to make or suggest changes to the story. He anticipates publishing his story maybe mid next month.

Source: Slash Gear

Change your Facebook profile to show you’re a ‘Star Wars’ fan

The marketing efforts for Star Wars: The Force Awakens are relentless to say the least. With the movie coming out this week, Facebook is cashing in on the popularity by letting you change your profile picture temporarily to have either the red Dark Side cross-guard lightsaber or the blue Finn lightsaber. You can just click this link and try it out or check the link on Star Wars’ Facebook page. The direct link seems to be working from mobile for me, in case you want to check that out.

Source: Tech Crunch