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Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Supercharge your iPhone photos and air pollution ink

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. In this column, we cut through all the worthless wearables and Oculus Rift ripoffs to round up the week’s most unusual, ambitious, and exciting projects. But don’t grab your wallet just yet. Keep in mind that any crowdfunded project can fail — even the most well-intentioned. Do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Air-ink — ink made from air pollution

Let’s be honest: Unless you’re the heir to the Bic fortune, there is nothing overly exciting about the way ink is made —  unless, of course, you ask the folks behind Graviky Labs. This group of creatives found a way to recycle air pollution (which causes more than 7.2 million deaths each year) and transform it into something you can write with. The single fluid ounce of ink needed to fill a pen can be gathered from 45 minutes of car emissions. This comes courtesy of Graviky’s proprietary collection process, which was developed while the founders were studying at MIT.

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The team created five different grades of Air-Ink for the project, all of which can be used for everything from fabric and outdoor painting to screen printing, and even oil painting.  It functions as both a neat science exercise and a provocative statement on pollution. As co-founder Anirudh Sharma notes in the campaign, “Each stroke made with Air-Ink arrests particulate matter, which would have otherwise ended up in the lungs of common people. Scaling this is saving lives.”

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Senstone — wearable AI stenographer

Remember the Home Stenographer skit from Chappelle’s Show? The one where Dave carries around a stenographer to record and transcribe everything he says, just in case he ever needs something to be read back for legal purposes? Senstone is basically the same concept, but instead of using a living person, it comes in the shape of a small, lightweight, and discreet wearable.

The idea behind the device is fairly simple. You start by attaching the gizmo to your body somehow — which is pretty easy, because it’s no bigger than a pair of nickels stacked on top of each other. Then, when it comes time to record something, you simply tap on the device’s face and speak. Not only will the Senstone record what you say, but it’ll also use natural language processing to transcribe everything word for word. It also organizes your notes based on time, location, and other contextual cues. All of this is accessible online for your perusal.

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Moment for iPhone 7 — Smartphone lens kit

Moment is a Kickstarter veteran. We first encountered the company about three years ago, back when it was launching its first smartphone camera lens. Now the crowdfunded photography phenom is back with a new product — an iPhone 7/7 Plus case that supercharges your smartphone’s photographic capabilities. Each case sports one of Moment’s amazing lenses (which won’t leave you with any image distortion, chromatic aberration, or blurring around the edges of your photo) as well as a few other features that make it easier to use.

The Moment team added a new quick-attach lens system to this case, as well as improved software and a special shutter button that supports both half and full presses. The latter addition is particularly innovative, since it allows you to lock focus and exposure as you shoot — just like a DSLR. The project is well on its way to meeting its ambitious $500,000 goal, and expects to ship the first units to backers as early as June.

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Tex-Lock — ultra-lightweight bike lock

Bike locks come in just about every shape, size, and configuration these days. There are locks that fold, locks with Bluetooth, and even locks that scare away potential thieves with foul odors. Despite all this diversity, most bike locks suffer from the same drawback — they’re heavy as hell. Because locks by definition should be hardy and tough to break, the vast majority of them are made out of metal, which is inherently rigid and heavy. But what if there was a lightweight, flexible option that still offered the same level of protection against thieves?

That’s precisely the idea behind Tex-Lock. It’s totally unlike any bike lock you’ve ever seen. Instead of bolts, chains, or braided cables, Tex-Lock is made from a variety of high-tech textiles — each with a different purpose. One layer is cut/slash proof. Another is impervious to fire, and others protect it against smashing. There’s even a layer that protects it against acid, so no matter what tools a thief brings along, TexLock has a way to thwart the attack. Despite all this, it’s still super lightweight and flexible. If you don’t already own a bike lock, this one is definitely worth looking into.

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Force Fluid — ferrofluid desk toy

Ferrofluid is one of the best things to happen in the desktop toy scene in years. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a magnetic liquid that arranges itself into a spiky geometric pattern when in the presence of a magnetic field. NASA engineers originally developed it in an effort to solve the problem of pumping rocket fuel in zero gravity, but because it was so damn fun to play with, it quickly found its way into an array of different toys and gadgets. Ferrofluid toys are everywhere these days, and Force Fluid is the latest one to hit Kickstarter.

To be completely honest, it’s really not that much different from the other ferrofluid gizmos currently out on the market. It’s basically a puddle of ferrofluid suspended in water and enclosed in a capsule; but what sets this one apart is the fact that it comes with two neodymium magnets for you to manipulate it with. With two magnets, you’re free to  juggle the fluid between two different magnetic fields, which makes it even more fun and engaging. Sure, you probably don’t need this thing on your desk, but if you’re in the market for a desk toy to fiddle with, it doesn’t get much better than this.

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Drew Prindle
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…
Star Wars legend Ian McDiarmid gets questions about the Emperor’s sex life
Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

This weekend, the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 20th anniversary re-release had a much stronger performance than expected with $25 million and a second-place finish behind Sinners. Revenge of the Sith was the culmination of plans by Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) that led to the fall of the Jedi and his own ascension to emperor. Because McDiarmid's Emperor died in his first appearance -- 1983's Return of the Jedi -- Revenge of the Sith was supposed to be his live-action swan song. However, Palpatine's return in Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker left McDiarmid being asked questions about his character's comeback, particularly about his sex life and how he could have a granddaughter.

While speaking with Variety, McDiarmid noted that fans have asked him "slightly embarrassing questions" about Palpatine including "'Does this evil monster ever have sex?'"

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Waymo and Toyota explore personally owned self-driving cars
Front three quarter view of the 2023 Toyota bZ4X.

Waymo and Toyota have announced they’re exploring a strategic collaboration—and one of the most exciting possibilities on the table is bringing fully-automated driving technology to personally owned vehicles.
Alphabet-owned Waymo has made its name with its robotaxi service, the only one currently operating in the U.S. Its vehicles, including Jaguars and Hyundai Ioniq 5s, have logged tens of millions of autonomous miles on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.
But shifting to personally owned self-driving cars is a much more complex challenge.
While safety regulations are expected to loosen under the Trump administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles. General Motors-backed Cruise robotaxi was forced to suspend operations in 2023 following a fatal collision.
While the partnership with Toyota is still in the early stages, Waymo says it will initially study how to merge its autonomous systems with the Japanese automaker’s consumer vehicle platforms.
In a recent call with analysts, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai signaled that Waymo is seriously considering expanding beyond ride-hailing fleets and into personal ownership. While nothing is confirmed, the partnership with Toyota adds credibility—and manufacturing muscle—to that vision.
Toyota brings decades of safety innovation to the table, including its widely adopted Toyota Safety Sense technology. Through its software division, Woven by Toyota, the company is also pushing into next-generation vehicle platforms. With Waymo, Toyota is now also looking at how automation can evolve beyond assisted driving and into full autonomy for individual drivers.
This move also turns up the heat on Tesla, which has long promised fully self-driving vehicles for consumers. While Tesla continues to refine its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, it remains supervised and hasn’t yet delivered on full autonomy. CEO Elon Musk is promising to launch some of its first robotaxis in Austin in June.
When it comes to self-driving cars, Waymo and Tesla are taking very different roads. Tesla aims to deliver affordability and scale with its camera, AI-based software. Waymo, by contrast, uses a more expensive technology relying on pre-mapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar and lidar (a laser-light radar), that regulators have been quicker to trust.

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Uber partners with May Mobility to bring thousands of autonomous vehicles to U.S. streets
uber may mobility av rides partnership

The self-driving race is shifting into high gear, and Uber just added more horsepower. In a new multi-year partnership, Uber and autonomous vehicle (AV) company May Mobility will begin rolling out driverless rides in Arlington, Texas by the end of 2025—with thousands more vehicles planned across the U.S. in the coming years.
Uber has already taken serious steps towards making autonomous ride-hailing a mainstream option. The company already works with Waymo, whose robotaxis are live in multiple cities, and now it’s welcoming May Mobility’s hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna vans to its platform. The vehicles will launch with safety drivers at first but are expected to go fully autonomous as deployments mature.
May Mobility isn’t new to this game. Backed by Toyota, BMW, and other major players, it’s been running AV services in geofenced areas since 2021. Its AI-powered Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) tech allows it to react quickly and safely to unpredictable real-world conditions—something that’s helped it earn trust in city partnerships across the U.S. and Japan.
This expansion into ride-hailing is part of a broader industry trend. Waymo, widely seen as the current AV frontrunner, continues scaling its service in cities like Phoenix and Austin. Tesla, meanwhile, is preparing to launch its first robotaxis in Austin this June, with a small fleet of Model Ys powered by its camera-based Full Self-Driving (FSD) system. While Tesla aims for affordability and scale, Waymo and May are focused on safety-first deployments using sensor-rich systems, including lidar—a tech stack regulators have so far favored.
Beyond ride-hailing, the idea of personally owned self-driving cars is also gaining traction. Waymo and Toyota recently announced they’re exploring how to bring full autonomy to private vehicles, a move that could eventually bring robotaxi tech right into your garage.
With big names like Uber, Tesla, Waymo, and now May Mobility in the mix, the ride-hailing industry is evolving fast—and the road ahead looks increasingly driver-optional.

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