The humble coffee table. One of the most recognised pieces of furniture there is. Everyone’s living room has one, I’d wager; and whether it’s used to put your coffee and biscuits as you watch TV; as a decorative item; or as something to put your paperwork and other junk on, it’s fair to say that they’re not the most inspiring parts of a room or the most useful. Now, a New York-based firm called StoreBound thinks it’s time the coffee table got a 21st-Century upgrade.

"Designed for a digital lifestyle… the furniture of the future." Thus starts the IndieGoGo pitch for Sobro, a smart coffee table designed to support your connected lifestyle, which at the time of writing has already thrashed its modest $50,000 funding goal, raising $838,055 at the time of writing with a month of the campaign still to run. “We’ve elevated the coffee table from a piece of wood that props up unopened large-format books, to an all-in-one center that connects your powered up life.”

So what IS Sobro?

At its heart, Sobro is a coffee table with an integrated refrigerator drawer, designed to allow you to keep beverages chilled and snacks fresh while still allowing you to use it as an actual surface like a regular table. There are also two side drawers, for storing items that don’t need to be chilled. The top surface of this chunky furniture item is tempered glass, which StoreBound claims is durable and easy to clean, making coasters a thing of the past. But Sobro is more than just a glass-covered work-top with a fridge – this is a true techy delight.

To the left and right sides, the Sobro is equipped with dual Bluetooth-connected speakers, allowing you to pump music into the room from any Bluetooth-connected device with a rich bass and high-quality sound. This can be combined with configurable LED lighting on the underside of the Sobro in order to create a real sense of atmosphere, or bring life to a party. Speaking of configuration, the bottom-right side of the Sobro’s top surface features touch-sensitive controls, through which one can control the Sobro’s audio, lights and drawer temperature; and its Bluetooth connections right from the tabletop – no need for a smartphone and companion app.

Speaking of which, do you find that your smartphone or tablet runs out of juice far too quickly? The Sobro has you covered. With two USB ports on its side, the Sobro can charge two USB-powered devices at the same time. The Sobro also contains two standard power outlets, so even traditional electronics can be plugged in – why not keep your laptop plugged in while you use it? The Sobro gets all its power from a single plug which can be plugged into a wall socket and concealed underneath, allowing you to split a single socket into four seperate power solutions.

StoreBound claim the Sobro’s dimensions and stylish appearance will allow it to fit in wherever you might normally find a coffee table.

Unfortunately, because the Sobro uses 110-Volt American-style outlets, the Sobro is currently only planned to ship to America and Canada. This restriction, however, doesn’t seem to have hampered the product’s reach, with the connected coffee table being backed by almost 1200 IndieGoGo users at the time of writing. Currently, a pledge of $649 or more will buy you one Sobro, but slots are already filling up and once 200 people have claimed this perk, the price will rise to $899 for everyone else. Even this, however is still a 40% saving on the product’s expected retail price of $1499 – so if the sound of a connected coffee table appeals to you, and you live in the USA or Canada, don’t miss your chance!

While Solid State Drives may slowly be taking over the world of computer storage due to their fast speeds and lack of spinning parts, if you're looking to store lots of things – maybe you work in a job where regular backups are key, you edit videos a lot, or you're a heavy gamer – or you want reliability, there's still no better than a traditional Hard Drive. And now Seagate is making it easier to get lots of storage for very little outlay – how about 4 Terabytes for $105 (roughly £85.20)?

That's how much Seagate's 4TB Barracuda drive is on sale for at Amazon's US site, and at NewEgg, which claims the price will stick until Wednesday. At a price that equates to roughly 2p ($0.03) a Gigabyte, this price pitches the Barracuda even cheaper than the cheapest SSDs.

Take note that the Barracuda line is intended for "general purpose" storage, and thus doesn't have the highest speed when compared to more performance-focused lines like the Barracuda Pro. That said, when the drive is rated to deliver read and write speeds of 146MB/s on average, with a maximum sustained data rate of up to 180MB/s, in most general situations you're hardly going to complain. The 4TB model also sports 64MB of cache, meaning it should get going quickly for your more regular tasks; and also has a SATA 6Gbps interface.

As of the time of writing, NewEgg is already out-of-stock, so be sure to act fast when the stock comes back if you want one!

This article first appeared on Technically Motivated

Ever since robotic technology became a mainstream thought, people have imagined a future where robots would deal with all of the housework in the home, or even help clean up in the office environment, so that us humans wouldn't have to. LG Corporation wants to make some of these dreams a reality, today unveiling a trio of intelligent robots at CES in Las Vegas, which together offer attendees a glimpse into a future where robots can help you around the house, make sure you catch a flight on-time, mow your lawn, or clean-up trash at the airport.

The LG Hub Robot
(Image Courtesy LG Newsroom)

The trio of robots are part of the company's movements in developing Internet of Things objects; and are designed to showcase LG’s advancements in artificial intelligence. Leading the pack is the Hub Robot, a robot designed to interact with a household through voice-recognition technology and an anthropomorphic design. Hub's "face" is an interactive display which can show a wide variety of information; and even express emotions using a digitised face.

The Hub Robot connects to other smart appliances you own; then, using Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition technology, the robot can be instructed using simple voice commands to perform tasks such as turning on air conditioning, setting a washing machine, or any other task made possible by the smart gadgets in the home. The robot can also "speak" to guide you through recipes or provide you with information in addition to what's on screen; and the robot can even respond using simple body language like nodding. The Hub Robot also contains a built-in camera; and can be programmed to recognise different family members and respond to them in different ways, for that more personal touch.

But LG isn’t just interested in building robots to help you around the house; and for the second part of its technology triple-punch, the company has unveiled two robots designed for use in the Airport. The Airport Guide Robot is exactly what the name suggests – already being prepared for deployment in Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, this robot is designed to help travellers by answering their questions in English, Chinese, Japanese or Korean; and can offer directions, provide detailed flight information like boarding times or the gate location, scan a passenger's ticket or escort you to the gate itself. It can even tell you what weather to expect when you arrive at your destination.

Joining it is the Airport Cleaning Robot, which LG describes as "a super-sized robot vacuum". Using a combination of smart light sensors, multiple cameras, and sensitive bumpers, the Airport Cleaning Robot offers enough cleaning power to clean everything from carpeted floors to tiles – all while avoiding obstacles and passengers to provide the most effective performance in crowded airports.

On a very similar tangent, the company's final offering is the Lawn Mowing Robot, which uses the same advanced sensors and bumpers as the Airport Cleaning Robot to map out a user's garden and avoid obstacles, hedges and trees as it trims the grass. According to LG, this robot is ideal for all types of yards and uses its fast-moving blade to trim grass safely and accurately.

All of these robots are now on display at LG's CES booth in Las Vegas, alongside other gadgets such as a smart refrigerator with Amazon Alexa voice-recognition tech and a razor-thin television set. Needless to say, 2017 may prove to be a stellar year for technological advances.

This article first appeared on Technically Motivated

I was one lucky fox, when I read that Sony have arranged a Playstation VR UK tour, that was coming to my neck of the woods. I quickly booked my slot at Meadow Hall Sheffield for Saturday 8th October at 9:30am. It meant I wouldn’t have to wait as long as the walk-ins, and guaranteed a thirty minute trial. I was early and the lovely chap at the desk asked me what I wanted to play.
When I stated Batman, I saw him inwardly cringe. “Oh yes Batman. EVERYONE wants to just play Batman. At the moment it is a forty minute wait for Batman.”
“Who doesn’t want to be Batman?” I smirked. I explained I didn’t mind waiting, as I was doing coverage for a gaming site.

The young chap (I am sorry, I forgot your name) was really helpful and offered for me to play Farpoint, whilst I waited on Batman.  I was given a little card with the Farpoint artwork on, and once it was called, I was lead to the booth.

There was another lovely chap (again so sorry, forgot your name too), who asked if I had tried VR before. I explained I hadn’t, and that I was intrigued by it. He explained how the headset would feel. I asked if it would be uncomfortable with glasses, and he confirmed it wouldn’t be. Which was good, as I am short sighted and need my glasses for gaming. He then picked up the Playstation VR gun, with its glowing ball end (Heheheh). He explained that the gun was an exclusive to the tour, and no one from the public had tried it yet.

There was an analogue stick to control movement, the trigger to shoot, and another button under the glowing end for grenades. He showed me how to move the gun to change weapons, and how to collect new items etc. So the headset came on, and with a button on the back it moved the eyepiece in a comfortable position for me. Oh my fox ! It was comfortable! Even with my glasses on, I couldn’t even tell I was wearing it. It was very light weight and it didn’t move when I moved my head. He then put on the surround sound headphones on. Then the game began.

I was teleported to a desert looking world, devoid of life, but beautiful. I had to keep telling my legs not to move, as it was controlled by the analogue stick. Honestly this was a struggle. I felt I was really there, my brain kept trying to make my legs move. Then I heard the noises, the scuttling of many legs on rocks. I look around not seeing anything, then a screech sound in front of me. I gasped as I saw a huge spider and shot its face off. Foxy the spider slayer! Good job I am not scared of spiders. I carried on exploring this world, shooting more spiders. There were some annoying ones, who spat green acid from their arses. I had to shoot the balls before they hit me. Moving my head around and seeing the game, as I do the real world was an experience. The technology has come so far, since I tried it as a kid. I unlocked a shotgun, which was great fun. Heard the chap laughing at my comment about foxing kneecapping time, I must have come across as crazy. I got quite far before I was swarmed and died. The gun will become over heated and cool down, before you can use it again. I got trigger happy, my own fault. I then respawned and saw two NPC’s walking through a cave, talking about the discovery. Then the screen went to black and I walked up to a large cave opening. A HUGE spider came out, screeching its head off. At this point I must have actually stepped back, because I felt the chap’s hand on my back. That was the end of the session though, and those thirty minutes flew by. He took the headset off (my hair was a mess), and I saw that I nearly walked into the wall behind me. “Yeah you stepped back a lot there, I had to stop you.” *Insert blushing* “You did really well though, best I have seen so far.” Then I noticed the camera filming me….oh great.

At this point I was quite impressed, and couldn’t wait to try Batman. I went back to the chap at the desk and he gave me a card for Batman, and said it was only a ten minute wait. At this point it was getting really busy. I sat and watched the PS4 Pro gameplay of Horizon: Zero Dawn on a huge 4K TV, which looked very impressive. I was disappointed they didn’t have the PS4 Pro set up, so people could play on them whilst they waited for their VR turn. I feel this was a missed opportunity for Sony, personally.

Batman was called out, and off I skipped to try it out. Now I remember this chap’s name, as he was really lovely and enthusiastic. Matt explained that Batman VR was an introduction into VR itself. He was delighted by the fact that my headphones had bat ears on. (Yes, like Batman’s cowl, they had bat ears.)
He told me to look down, and handed me the move controllers (I still think they are from Ann Summers), and I was transported into the body of Bruce Wayne. Standing in front of a beautiful piano, Alfred walks up to me, tells me off for not sleeping in my bed, and hands me a key to the piano. I looked around and could see the gorgeous Wayne manor and even looked out into the gardens. Using the move controller I unlocked the piano, as though I was using a real key. Then the floor opens up and I am being lowered via lift into the bat cave. It stops and I am prompted to kit out my batsuit…

Now this feature was really impressive to me. I grabbed the cowl, and moving the move controller up to my face, slid the cowl onto my head. Then I was given a grappling hook, which I tested against a target. To unequip this I looked down at my waist, and could see the utility belt. Using the controller I slid the grappling hook into my belt. Looking down again, I could see my batarangs. Grabbing one and throwing it at the targets. I was starting to feel like Batfox! Then this is where the session ended. Unfortunately due to the high demand of the game, it was cut to fifteen minutes. It was out of the two, the most impressive one.

I would have liked to try some more games, as they were happy to let me. But alas mamma fox (who only wanted to go shopping) was getting impatient. I am convinced by VR now, and really happy I was lucky enough to experience it. Perhaps one day, when the price tag lowers I might buy one.

~FoxyFoxlyn