Brian Heater

Hardware Editor, TechCrunch

Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Juniper.

Brian Heater

The keynote kicks off at 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday and will offer glimpses into the latest versions of Android, Wear OS and Android TV.

Google I/O 2024: How to watch

You can expect plenty of AI, but probably not a lot of hardware.

Google I/O 2024: What to expect

iRobot has announced the successor to longtime CEO, Colin Angle. Gary Cohen, who previous held chief executive role at Timex and Qualitor Automotive, will be heading up the company, marking a major…

iRobot names former Timex head Gary Cohen as CEO

We’re still well over a month out from WWDC, but Apple went ahead and snuck in another event. On Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET, the company…

Apple iPad event 2024: Watch Apple unveil new iPads right here

Google, it seems, couldn’t wait until I/O next week to show off the latest addition to the Pixel line. For the past several years, the company has used its annual…

Google’s budget Pixel 8a delivers updated silicon, Gemini access for $499

When we reviewed the Pixel Tablet roughly this time last year, we noted in no uncertain terms, “It’s all about the dock.” It was, after all, the one thing that…

Google’s Pixel Tablet is now available without the thing that makes it interesting

Researchers at MIT CSAIL and Project CETI believe that they have unlocked a kind of sperm whale alphabet with the aid of machine learning technologies. Results from the study, which…

Machine learning aids in discovery of sperm whale ‘alphabet’

Shocking as it may seem, it’s been nearly a decade since the first Apple Pencil was announced, way back in 2015. The stylus hasn’t seen much in the way of…

Apple’s $129 Pencil Pro arrives with a squeeze sensor and Find My functionality

As anticipated, Apple’s iPad Pro was the star of Tuesday’s “Let Loose” event. The arrival of the seventh-generation device marks the first major upgrade to the premium tablet since 2022.…

Apple iPad Pro gets an M4 chip and OLED display

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Apple iPad event: What to expect

So far, the biggest surprise about May 7’s “Let Loose” event is that it’s happening at all. We’re just over a month out from Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference, and yet the company determined there was enough news to warrant a stand-alone event. iPads (including the iPad Pro and iPad Air) will be the focus,…

3:12 pm PDT • May 6, 2024
Apple iPad event: What to expect

The first bit of news out of the Automate conference this year arrives by way of Alphabet X spinout Intrinsic. The firm announced at the Chicago event on Monday that it…

Alphabet-owned Intrinsic incorporates Nvidia tech into robotics platform

Apple on Thursday reported a 10% drop in iPhone sales for the second fiscal quarter, dropping from $51.33 billion to $45.96 billion, year-over-year. The slowdown was fueled, in part, by…

Apple earnings see 10% iPhone sales drop, massive buyback fuels stock jump

Microsoft, it seems, is hedging its bets when it comes to general-purpose robotics AI. At the end of February, the Windows maker spearheaded a massive $675 million Series B in…

Microsoft taps Sanctuary AI for general-purpose robot research

A harsh truth: As bad as North American wildfires have grown over the past several years, things are only going to get worse. Climate change continues to accelerate the issue,…

CMU is developing low-flying drones to map wildfires

The Federal Trade Commission hit Razer with a $1.1 million fine Tuesday. The order claims that the gaming accessory maker misled consumers by claiming that its flashy Zephyr mask was…

Razer hit with $1.1M FTC fine over glowing ‘N95’ mask COVID claims

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Humanoid robots are learning to fall well

The savvy marketers at Boston Dynamics produced two major robotics news cycles last week. The larger of the two was, naturally, the electric Atlas announcement. As I write this, the sub-40 second video is steadily approaching five million views. A day prior, the company tugged at the community’s heart strings when it announced that the…

1:15 pm PDT • April 28, 2024
Humanoid robots are learning to fall well

Sanctuary AI often isn’t mentioned in the same breath as humanoid robotics firms like Boston Dynamics, Agility, Figure and 1X, but the Canadian company has been operating in the space…

Sanctuary’s new humanoid robot learns faster and costs less

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Rabbit’s R1 is a little AI gadget that grows on you

If there’s one overarching takeaway from last night’s Rabbit R1 launch event, it’s this: Hardware can be fun again. After a decade of unquestioned smartphone dominance, there is, once again, excitement to be found in consumer electronics. The wisdom and longevity of any individual product or form factor — while important — can be set…

1:05 pm PDT • April 24, 2024
Rabbit’s R1 is a little AI gadget that grows on you

When Trace’s future co-founders Greg Tran, Martin Smith and Sean Couture joined Magic Leap in spring/summer of 2015, it was about as hot as startups come. After years of secrecy,…

Former Magic Leapers launch a platform for AR experiences

Apple just dropped an invite for its next event. Scheduled for May 7, the “Let Loose” presentation appears to be happening exclusively online — something that became standard fare for…

Apple’s next iPad event is May 7

Framework Computer was ahead of the curve. The company was founded in 2019, as 20 U.S. states began exploring potential right to repair bills. It delivered its first product, the…

Framework’s repairability philosophy is set to expand beyond the laptop

A few weeks back, TechCrunch ventured out to New Jersey to pay an early visit to HAX’s Newark offices. As much as I complained about the 90-minute commute in from…

Here are the 30+ startups showcasing at HAX’s May 1 Demo Day

Amazon confirmed it is ending Prime Air drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California. The Central California town of 3,500 was the company’s second U.S. drone delivery site, after College Station,…

Amazon ends California drone deliveries

Oura on Monday announced that its smart ring will be available in select Target stores in the U.S. The deal, which also brings the wearable to the retailer’s site, follows…

Oura’s smart ring hits Target stores

Much has been (and will continue to be) written about automation’s impact on the jobs market. In the short-term, many employers have complained of an inability to fill roles and…

Robots can make jobs less meaningful for human colleagues

Nothing today announced a pair of refreshes to its earbud line. The naming conventions are a touch convoluted here, but the Nothing Ear is an update to the Nothing Ear…

ChatGPT is a squeeze away with Nothing’s upgraded earbuds

The world is on fire. Quite literally, much of the time. Predicting such disasters before they get out of hand — or better yet, before they happen — will be…

Alphabet X’s Bellwether harnesses AI to help predict natural disasters

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Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot goes electric

Atlas lies motionless in a prone position atop interlocking gym mats. The only soundtrack is the whirring of an electric motor. It’s not quiet, exactly, but it’s nothing compared to the hydraulic jerks of its ancestors. As the camera pans around the robot’s back, its legs bend at the knees. It’s a natural movement, at…

6:07 am PDT • April 17, 2024
Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot goes electric

This month marks five years since the release of the Form 3, Formlabs’ last major 3D printer refresh. To celebrate the occasion, the MIT spinoff has unveiled the long-awaited Form…

Formlabs says new 3D printer ‘rivals injection molding’

Mentee Robotics hasn’t been in stealth, exactly. The Israeli firm caught a small wave of press at the tail end of 2022, following Tesla’s initial humanoid robotics announcement. As that…

A humanoid robot is on its way from Mobileye founder