As smartphones continue to grow bigger they become increasingly unwieldy, hard to fit into pockets and purses, but Samsung’s new patent shows they are getting series about a phone for next year that will fold.

A series of bendable joints toward the center of their new patented device let it fold down the center much like a flip phone while flexible-screen technology provides a smooth flat surface when the phone is opened. Also, the folding nature could help the phone comfort to the user’s face for easier speaking and listening.

Rumors suggest Samsung aims to bring a device like this to market next year. They have been working on flex screens for years with demos and concepts of ones that would wrap up like scrolls – those ideas may be a bit further out from reality (especially since some hardware would be hard to roll) but this gadget could bridge the gap.

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Seeing is believing for some VR users, but to truly top off the virtual reality experience one needs to be able to touch imaginary worlds, which the Dexmo exosuit lets users do. Made by Dexta Robotics, this exoskeleton provides tactile feedback in response to what users are seeing and interacting with in virtual environments.

The system also enhances usability, its fingertip-level force working in both directions – users can feel feedback but the game or other environment can also respond more minutely and accurately to user inputs, completing the experience.

The trick behind the tech is to couple fast-acting sensors and a light-touch frame that provides flexibility but also translates inputs precisely. Bonus: the whole system is wireless. For now, the critical limitations are in the software, which is being worked on by the team prior to public market release.

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The smart toothbrush trend that started with sonic brushes is being taken to the next level with upcoming Prophix video toothbrushes letting you see inside your own mouth, live on your phone while you brush.

A small HD camera records high-definition videos and pictures of your mouth, probably giving you a closer look than you ever thought you wanted of everything you’re doing right and wrong in your daily routines.

A series of interchangeable attachments including a picking tip and tiny mirror are aimed at helping you get things cleaner once you see more closely what’s wrong. Having a camera also helps you keep track of changes (hopefully improvements) over time in terms of areas brushed.

At $400, this will be one of the most expensive electric toothbrushes on the market, seemingly more than the app or the camera additions should be worth (twice the price of a high-end Sonicare) but perhaps worth it for people with persistent oral hygiene issues.

The post Oral Fixation: Toothbrush Camera Joins Internet of Things first appeared on Gajitz.

A Harvard professor and serial entrepreneur has released his latest invention, a device that digitally records and then emits individual and combined scents for human users to smell. David Edwards of Vapor Communications has been digitizing all kinds of smells for his growing collection, hoping to commercialize odors through his evolving inventions.

Cyrano, his latest creation, is able to produce 12 distinct smells, but these can also be endlessly remixed and played sequentially, like a composer might with overlapping or ordered musical instrument tracks. The tracks are organized by type: energizing, relaxing or escapist. One could, for instance, select an escapist mix of guava, coconut and suntan lotion, or pep up with orange, ginger and peppermint combinations. People can, of course, also share their favorite playlists on social media. Refillable cartridges, like you might find in a printer or vaporizer, let you refresh scents you are running low on.

His argument is simple: smell is one of our most powerful senses from an emotional perspective, and it makes sense to pair plays of smells along with visual and auditory experiences (like movies, television and music). There could even be health and safety applications, like keeping drowsy drivers awake at the wheel. Users can continue to remix their collections to avoid olfactory fatigue. The current device is being created in a run of 500 and priced at $150.

The post Digitizing Scent: ‘Smell Speaker’ Emits Whiffs on Demand first appeared on Gajitz.

Putting sensors into brains is a difficult and dangerous process, in some cases requiring tethers to keep track of them or invasive surgery (with infection risk) to remove them, hence the development of this small dissolvable device to relay data then disappear when it is done.

The transient sensors can measure pressure, temperature, pH, motion, flow, and specific biomolecules, transmitting their results wirelessly back to doctors. Proposed and tested (so far in rats) by Rory Murphy of Washington University School of Medicine and John Rogers’ group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the system employs a biodegradable, silicon-based material that can be coated with materials that break down at different rates, allowing variable lifespans for sensors.

Currently, the devices can last for days in various biofluids, then dissolve harmlessly when the coatings wear through. Dissolvable molybdenum wires are used to make wireless transmission possible. Next steps include: optimization, further testing and ultimately clinical trials – the creators hope to have these in non-test humans within the next few years.

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