The Overlooked Architectural Beauty of Italy’s Courtrooms

Courtrooms aren’t typically places people voluntarily seek out, but they’re often spaces of architectural splendor. This is especially true for many of Northern Italy’s courtrooms, which were recently photographed by Luca Sironi for his series titled “Fragments of Justice.” He ventured throughout his home country to capture the legal chambers while they were vacant and quiet—filled only by natural light. The resulting images depict the …

Use Your Skin as a Smartwatch Interface With SkinTrack

With their project “SkinTrack,” researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a way to expand the interface of smartwatches outside of just the screen and onto human skin. SkinTrack requires users to tie a slim, ring-like device to their finger, allowing a smart watch to track its movement. From there, games like Angry Birds or even just dialing a phone number can be done completely …

Siri’s Co-Founder Unveils a Next Generation Virtual Assistant

At this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt NY, Dag Kittlaus—a co-creator of Siri—unveiled what he hopes to be the next generation of virtual assistants. He calls the product Viv, and it differentiates itself from Siri through its deeper understanding of intent and an ability to program itself to best answer queries. Viv’s strengths also lie in its third-party integration capabilities, which remain at the heart of Viv’s …