The week’s top hardware news.

March 4th, 2016.

Products

Kiddie STEM Kit

If these are the toys children play with these days, can’t help but wonder what rockets they’ll be building by 7th grade. Take $100 Tio, a STEM kit available on Kickstarter, that features loose tech parts (wheels, pulleys, adaptors) to encourage mini makers to recycle their old teddy bears, plastic bottles and paper scraps and transform them into awesome smart toys.

The Charging Cable to Rule Them All

Could this really be? A cable that finally allows iOS and Android to happily charge together? LMcable is a 2-in-1 connector that works on both micro USB and lightning devices. Sounds too good to be true, but over 4000 peeps on Kickstarter are convinced.

Cook Your Books

Here comes the kind of Sci-fi-esque magic we love to see: Rocketbook Wave is a notebook that not only blasts your notes into the cloud in perfect order, but —thanks to a thermochromic ink, which becomes clear under heat—it can be totally erased. In the microwave. In the microwave!https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dmcf_F84BPY 

Industry

Hot Money is Running Towards AR

Things continue to steam up in the augmented reality corner. Following the massive $793 million raise from Magic Leap last month, here are just a few recent headlines to help you get the picture:

Drones Beware!

As drone technology advances, anti-drone technology is right behind it. Some devices being developed will disrupt the targeted drone’s communications with sound waves. Others will use larger drones to capture small ones. But make way for the man with the bazooka! SkyWall 100 launches a ground-to-air projectile aimed at snatching drones out of mid-air. Boom headshot.https://www.youtube.com/embed/M6tT1GapCe4 

Raspberry Pi 3 Adds WiFi & Bluetooth

Four years after Raspberry Pi came into the lives of tinkerers everywhere, the foundation announced the launch of their first 64-bit computing board that also comes with WiFi and Bluetooth built-in for the same $35. “Yes, this is a PC!”

+ no, it will not halt and catch fire

Smart Mattress Cover Raises $6M

Eight (formerly Luna) has pulled in $6 million in seed funding for their smart, sleep tracking and home-controlling mattress cover. This is great, because from where we stand, the more we can do from bed, the better.