smart planet

SmartPlanet talks to Lytro founder Ren Ng about how the Silicon Valley startup is re-imagining the digital camera with its patented light-field photography technology. Ng also discusses his future plans, including the ability for users to capture images that are more three-dimensional.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline " Inside the Lytro camera, and the start-up's 3D future."

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Gentlemen--ladies, too--start your wristbands.

Although better known for its Bluetooth headsets, Jawbone is venturing into fitness gadgets with UP, a wristband that tracks your activity level, what you eat, and when you sleep. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das speaks to Jawbone Product Management VP Travis Bogard to find out how it works and gets an answer to a common complaint about the product--why doesn't it transmit data wirelessly?

This video first appeared on SmartPlanet under the headline "Can a smart wristband make you healthier?"

Summer is a time of great activity. The sun is shining, the weather is warm, and the kids are (most likely) out of school. Even though the days are longer, there never seems to be enough time to pack all the fun into a single day. Luckily, time-saving measures are easily accomplished: one could pack a picnic the night before a trip to the park or beach, plan day-trips around peak traffic hours, or even just concentrate on the good activities. And of course, let the lemonade make itself.

The Smart Planet ELM-1 Electric Lemonade Maker is a gadget that … Read more

Waffles, being part of a healthy breakfast--depending what you serve them with--have a welcome spot at the dining table. Delicious and sometimes nutritious, the fun food can be prepared in many ways. When hot off the waffle grill, they make excellent platforms for everything from fresh fruit to powdered sugar. They can even be used in more savory applications. The versatile circles of deliciousness not only have endless possibilities in flavor, but they can also be made into finger food.

The concept of snacking on waffles one after the other no longer has to be a fleeting dream. The Smart Planet MWM-1 Rotating Mini Waffle Maker … Read more

In between the Michael Phelps' no-show incident, Smash Mouth, and celebrity talking-head Forrest Sawyer, IBM's Pulse event in Las Vegas was a good microcosm of the state of IT today and where it is going. Here are a few of my takeaways:

IBM's "Smart Planet" initiative previews the future. Within the next few years, all kinds of stuff will be instrumented with RFIDs, IP addresses, and bountiful cheap processing power all connected by wired and wireless broadband networks. Organizations that capitalize on this infrastructure will successfully collect, analyze, and make decisions on this overwhelming global intelligence. … Read more

Thanks to modern technology, we can waste time in ways our ancestors could only dream of, while they were working down the mine, in black and white. Unfortunately our world of gizmos and gimmicks, doodahs and doofers isn't entirely free: Just ask the polar bears.

One way to save money and the planet simultaneously is to ditch the fossil fuels and electrical leash and seek alternative sources of power. That's where our new sister site SmartPlanet comes in: It reviews products on their quality, value, ethics, and greenness, so inconvenient truths are balanced by conveniently thrifty products. We'… Read more