Skip to main content

Sick? Need more vitamin D? Testosterone? Lick a stick and Cue fills you in

Devices like the FitBit, Nike FuelBand, and Jawbone Up have made it easier than ever to keep track of your personal health statistics, but despite their popularity, they’re still somewhat limited when it comes to gathering medical stats. Today, this changes. Thanks to Cue, a new device from San Diego-based technology company of the same name, we’ll soon be able to go beyond steps and calories to analyze what’s going on in our bodies at the molecular level.

Cue is basically a miniaturized medical lab you can keep on your countertop. Using a tiny microfluidics array and a range of different sensors, Cue can give you metrics on things like inflammation, vitamin D levels, fertitlity, influenza, and testosterone — things that were previously only available through lab tests at a hospital.

“We created Cue as a tool for people who are interested in connecting with their health in a much more direct, intuitive, and powerful way than ever before. People can now keep daily track of measurements that used to be available only on a yearly or bi-yearly basis,” says Ayub Khattak, Cue founder and CEO. “We brought together the best minds and spent over four years creating the most advanced consumer health product we have ever seen.”

Here’s how it works. You start by adding a droplet of saliva, blood, or a nasal swab into one of Cue’s special single-use cartridges. Once you have your sample, you simply place the cartridge inside Cue, where it’s analyzed in minutes with Cue’s advanced microfluidics system. This data is then beamed to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, where it’s displayed in a simple, easy-to-understand format.

Depending on what test you  use, the app will also provide you with suggestions on how to improve. For example, if Cue notices you’re not getting enough vitamin D, it’ll send you push notifications during the day to encourage you to go out soak up some sun. If your blood shows high levels of C-reactive protein –a reliable indicator of muscle inflammation– the app will give you dietary suggestions that shorten your recovery time.

At this point, Cue can only measure the five aforementioned health markers, but the company’s founders reassured us that this is only the beginning. In the future, they plan to expand the device’s capabilities by offering a broader range of tests.

Cue isn’t set to launch until early next year, but the company has opened up pre-orders today. The first 1,000 buyers will get theirs for just $149 — a full 50 percent less than what the device will eventually retail for. After those first ones are gone, the remaining preorder units will go for $199 a pop. Additional testing cartridges cost between $2 and $5, depending on the test.

It’s worth noting, however, that Cue isn’t FDA approved quite yet. It remains to be seen whether the device’s tests are legit, so those early adopters who buy it in the pre-order period will be “invited to take part in a usability study and provide feedback and data as an important part of Cue’s path to FDA clearance.” So, if you snag one of the first 1,000, you’ll get the device before it’s actually released in exchange for being a guinea pig.

If that sounds like fun, you can lock in your pre-order or find more info here.

 
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?'"

Read more
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.

Read more
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.

Read more