The multiple pairs of smart glasses prototypes I’m trying on are attractive, familiar and lightweight. They look normal, fit my face well and have no cameras. All they have on board is audio and microphone support. These Vonder smart glasses are all about listening to you as much as to others. And they can tell the difference.

Meta announced its own camera-free audio glasses this week, but Vonder, a company founded by execs from display glasses maker Viture, along with Guillaume Hamon, the chief brand officer, goes further. I met with Hamon and David Jiang, Viture’s CEO and co-founder, in New York a few weeks ago to learn about their new $299 to $399 glasses, which fit a wide range of eye prescriptions but also require a monthly paid AI subscription. 

Bone conduction inside

Viture’s tethered wearables are more like wearable monitors in glasses form with augmented-reality bells and whistles. Vonder has no displays and leans on extended battery life and a unique approach to audio technology, using bone conduction in the glasses to help with privacy to filter personal voice memos versus recording external voices in a room.

The onboard array of microphones can listen in on conversations and summarize them using AI, which then appears in a phone app or a web app. But the glasses don’t keep any audio recordings. Apple is doing something similar on its Apple Watches and iPhones later this year via Siri Recap. Meta, meanwhile, hasn’t gotten into the memory-recording audio space yet.

I found the bone conduction microphones in the glasses’ arms to be the most interesting feature, which can listen to your own voice even at a whisper. I hadn’t seen that idea before in the glasses I’ve worn. According to Jiang and Hamon, Vonder’s glasses can either record just your own voice for memos and personal notes or a conversation with others. The bone conduction microphones help differentiate between your voice and whoever you’re speaking to.

In conversation modes where the glasses are recording others, a small side LED light turns on after you press a recording button on the glasses’ arm. In personal modes, there’s no light.

A memory assistant, for a monthly subscription

“The idea of Vonder is fashion-forward glasses that allow you to basically reduce your cognitive load and rely on Vonder as a second memory, almost, so you can stay in the flow of your life, your conversations and rely on Vonder to keep track of what matters,” Hamon tells me.

These glasses aren’t designed as phone replacements. “It’s utopic, I think, at this current stage, to ask people to ditch the phone,” Jiang says. Jiang’s other company, Viture, also uses glasses (display-enabled ones) as phone accessories, not self-contained face computers.

It’s also utopian – some would say dystopian – to imagine AI platforms as true memory extensions. That was how I tried to live for a month with a pendant called Looki, and it didn’t go well. I don’t know how Vonder’s Personal Memory Graph, its cloud and phone app-based AI system that pulls from OpenAI, Gemini and Claude models, will actually work in practice. Vonder’s AI service won’t directly log into those other AI services; it’ll draw from their AI models instead, similar to how AI glasses services like Rokid’s work.

Vonder’s memory-mapping platform aims to be a safe place to store all your conversations and personal memos, creating a searchable mind map. Seeing an early preview of the software in a web browser, I was skeptical. Every company wants to be our collective memory now: How do we trust collecting those memories, though? Vonder’s pitch is also a subscription one: The required AI service is priced in tiers based on how much it’s used, from $5 to $30 a month. I don’t like the idea of subscription memories, not at all.

No cameras here

I do like how small Vonder’s glasses frames are, though, and how they’re styled. At 30 grams, they feel exactly like regular glasses and have flexible arms for a comfortable temple fit. They’re notably lighter than Meta’s smart glasses, which hover around 50 grams. They’re also lighter than the small Even Realities G2 glasses I wore earlier this year.

And Vonder’s leaning completely on audio at a time when the rest of the smart glasses industry may be seeing a similar pivot. With the ongoing backlash against smart glasses cameras, privacy features will be what Meta’s new glasses, and Google and Samsung’s, will be judged against. Meta’s already promising more private computing in the year ahead. How will Vonder measure up? And, with Meta now promising better battery life on its Ray-Ban Audio glasses, could audio-recording memory modes like these be on deck next? Or Apple, for that matter?

Vonder says its glasses will last over 16 hours on a single charge, even when recording continuously. They truly could be used all day. Apple’s promising all-day battery life in its upcoming Siri Recap recording mode, too. To do this, Vonder’s using a chipset also found in earbuds instead of a higher-end Qualcomm glasses-focused processor, making the glasses more power-efficient.

I won’t know more till I try a pair, but Vonder’s frames are the nicest-looking I’ve seen. Will the AI services be worth it, too? I expect a lot out of any device promising to extend my memory. I’m very protective about my memories, too, so we’ll see.

Scott Stein

Editor at Large

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I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.

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The topic of ministerial salaries in Singapore has garnered a lot of attention in recent weeks, after it was announced that the baseline salary grades for the cabinet would be increased by 64% for the first time in 15 years.

As a result, the fundamental MR4 grade—based on which all other salaries are calculated—would jump from S$1.1 million to S$1.8 million.

This sounds like a massive boost for the world’s already best paid ministers. Who else gets a raise of over 60%?

Well, not many people—and neither do ministers, at least not immediately.

The number will remain only as a future reference, while the immediate pay bump will be limited to just 9% effective Oct 2026, raising the MR4 level to S$1.2 million.

This, mind you, is the first pay rise they received since 2011.

Inflation bites everyone

There’s a reason the Government is making this adjustment now, 15 years after the last one.

Cabinet salaries have been gradually eroded by inflation over the years, with their real value now at one of the lowest levels since the landmark 2000 pay reform that introduced the MR4 system.

The entry-level ministerial pay was already at around S$1 million 25 years ago.

Today, even the newly revised S$1.2 million MR4 benchmark is worth just S$750,000 in 2000 money, back when Singapore’s GDP per capita was mere US$24,000 and budget revenues were around S$34 billion—four times less than today.

Prior to 2011, the salaries were also benchmarked to the top earners in the private sector, though they were adjusted regularly in line with the collected data as well as the economic situation—with a few notable cuts during the post 9/11 panic in 2001, the SARS epidemic in 2003, or the financial crisis of 2008/2009.

It is also when they were at their peak, in the good years.

Following the 2011 election, which saw the Workers’ Party win its first GRC, the Government introduced a new methodology for calculating political salaries. The result was a substantial cut in ministerial pay, and it ended up freezing them for, as it turned out, another 15 years.

Meanwhile, compounding inflation has progressively eroded their value, pushing them below what they used to be even in much less prosperous times.

As a result, as of 2026, ministerial salaries in Singapore have reached their lowest level on record—lower than at any time since the 2000 reform.

What’s more, even the 9% increment that’s due to kick in next month, as well as the official forecast that all ministers would eventually reach a S$1.35 million base by the end of the term in 2030, will do little other than preserve the status quo.

Given the uncertainty surrounding energy prices and artificial intelligence, inflation may return to moderate levels for the foreseeable future. It has already jumped back up to 2.2% and is likely not the end yet.

At an average rate of 2.5% to 3% annually, ministerial salaries would essentially remain stuck in place in real terms even if they nominally increase to S$1.35 million in the next four years. If they do not, their value will keep going down.

Singaporeans outpace their ministers

An even more interesting comparison might be one putting ministerial incomes next to the median income from work earned by the public.

Back in 2000, the median income for residents was around S$2,200. This year, it is expected to hit around S$6,000. In nominal terms, therefore, it is almost three times what it used to be.

When we correct it for inflation, which eats into purchasing power, real median incomes have grown by 70%.

Meanwhile, ministerial salaries have largely been frozen at the same nominal level for 25 years, eaten away by inflation—dropping their real value by 23%, to just 77% of what they were worth at the turn of the century.

At the same time, both the GDP per capita and national budget revenues have quadrupled in size.

You’d struggle to find executives in any private sector company who would have accepted getting paid less and less despite an overall four times growth in the business.

For political reasons, Singapore ministers might want to be careful in adjusting their own salaries. But the figures show that they seem to be rather underpaid.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.

Featured Image Credit: Singapore’s cabinet reshuffle (Jul 2026)/ MDDI

Lindsey Elliott is big into bolts. At last year’s Bolting Symposium — the 13th annual — she said the highlight was playing Bolting Bingo against the many self-proclaimed “torque dorks” who were in the room.

A former engineer and planner at ExxonMobil, Elliott has spent years thinking about how to improve the infrastructure that moves oil, gas, and petrochemicals. Bolts are what she landed on. Specifically, the bolts that connect sections of pipe (technically called “bolted flange joints”). These bolts require hard, physical work to loosen and tighten and are the source of many pipefitters’ injuries. Like many trade industries, there’s also a labor shortage.

“Those people get really tired when they’re asked to work 12 hours a day for three months in a row,” she told TechCrunch. “I’ve talked to pipefitters across the U.S., across Canada, and just repeatedly have been told North American pipefitting productivity is notoriously low.”

The solution Elliott came up with at her startup Nexterity, which is one of the Startup Battlefield 200 selected to participate in TechCrunch Disrupt, is a remote-controlled robot that can handle this part of the job. It’s the kind of idea that could fundamentally change this particular blue-collar job if widely adopted, making the workers safer and more productive.

Think: more dork, less torque.

The robot comes in two main pieces that fit around a pipe. Powered by batteries, the robot can slide across the pipe once it’s attached and quickly loosen and tighten four bolts at a time.

Elliott said Nexterity has developed a few different configurations of the robot to fit different standard pipe sizes, but they’re all small enough to fit in a Pelican case and be carried by a single worker. That makes them easy to deploy to new sites — flexibility that is crucial to Nexterity’s business model of treating the robot like rental construction equipment.

Elliott said she arrived at this particular design as a result of conversations she’s had over the last few years — not just at the Bolting Symposium, but also with members of the Pressure Vessels & Piping Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

“What I learned from the people, the torque dorks per se,” she said, “is that 80% of our pipes are between two to eight inches in diameter, or what they call NPS2 to NPS8. And so when you have that much repeatability, you have a fantastic candidate for automation.”

It’s a pretty straightforward idea, but one that Elliott believes has a lot of upside.

“I think it would shock a lot of people just how big this market is,” she said. “I mean, day to day, most of us don’t think about piping infrastructure, but even water, wastewater, water treatment, food and beverage, mining, nuclear, any kind of green and sustainable manufacturing facility — they all use the same kind of piping.”

Jude Robinson built Daisy as his final year mechatronics project at the University of Glasgow, finished with first class honors, and took the IET prize for the best manufacturing project on campus. Two upright gantries face each other across a short workspace. Each carries a four joint gripper whose V shaped fingers close on a daisy stem and center it whether the stem is thick or thin.

A conveyor of mirrored timing belts brings the next flower right into reach. One gripper takes the new stem and inserts it through the slit already cut in the previous flower before lifting the couple up to a stationary scalpel. A spring-loaded sheath holds the stem steady while the blade makes a brief incision. A thin carbon fiber tube and wire snare are inserted through the fresh cut to create a hole for the next daisy. Every time the gantrys change roles, the chain grows one flower at a time.

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Robinson focused all of the sensing effort on the fixtures rather than relying on cameras. With the stem form and diameter having a significant impact on whether the cut and threading were successful, he concentrated on getting the V profiles in the fingers, the sheath surrounding the scalpel, and the threading post exactly right. Flowers with stems longer than 1.6 millimeters had a success rate of 64.3% once those parameters were optimized.

A Raspberry Pi 5 runs the inverse kinematics and communicates with a BIGTREETECH Octopus board, which operates all of the motors, including the NEMA 17 steppers on the gantries and conveyor, the MG90S servos in the grippers, and the solenoids on the blade and snare. The Klipper firmware controls every motion. Robinson even created a new Python class to ensure that the two independent core XZ gantries, based on the Voron Switchwire layout, may transfer control to one another. Another script converts simple English commands into Gcode, which the machine can execute. A little custom board with hex inverters maintains the servo signals nice and clear.

Watching the video of the machine in operation, the cycle appears to be nearly equivalent to regular flower handling. A flower enters, is grabbed, threaded, slit, and posted before the second arm takes over. When a failure occurs, it is usually due to a stem that is too skinny or bent, but the machine continues to run since every tool remains in one set position and every daisy is driven into the same spot. This strategy is really rather prevalent in simple machines such as nut sorters and sophisticated paper aircraft builders; simply deliver the part to the tool rather than chasing it with sensors.
[Source]

The chip equipment maker’s European sale share dropped to nothing from a measly 1pc.

The Dutch chip industry keystone ASML sold nothing to European customers this past quarter, in what should be a worrying sign for the region as it attempts to catch up with the US and China, a senior executive for the company said in a panel earlier this week.

Europe should spend its time developing its capital markets and removing red tape, rather than on foreign competition, ASML’s executive vice-president Frank Heemskerk told the panel. He added that very little happens here.

This comes more than a year after an EU special report found that the region would likely not reach its Chips Act goal, which targeted a 20pc share in the global semiconductor market by 2030, despite “reasonable progress” in implementing it.

The April 2025 report said that the “overly ambitious” target would be hard to reach given the European Commission’s limited mandate and resources, reliance on member state’s actions, private sector investments and other factors such as energy costs. It asked the EU to carry out an “urgent reality check”.

ASML plays an extremely important role in the intricately connected global semiconductor supply chain, owning the sole rights to develop the sophisticated lithography equipment key to producing chips.

Its machines are used by the biggest chip manufacturers globally, including the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung, to print minuscule transistors widely used across electronic devices.

ASML’s European sale share dropped to nothing from a measly 1pc, which, according to PwC chief economist Barbara Baarsma is a clear demand issue.

Baarsma, on the panel, pointed to how the French domestic intelligence service ditched Palantir in favour of domestic AI providers earlier this year, and said that governments should act as launching customers to bundle demand.

The chipmaking machine provider’s biggest market is South Korea, which represented 43pc of ASML’s quarterly sales, followed by Taiwan, China, Japan and the US. The company expects full-year sales to come in between €43bn and €45bn.

What’s important for ASML is that Europe catches up, Heemskerk said. The equipment maker is getting courted to expand its presence in the US, China and India, he said, adding that very little actually happens in Europe.

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Microsoft has confirmed that some users may experience desktop loading issues, including black screens, after installing the August 2026 preview updates and subsequent updates.

However, the company says this mainly affects Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) hosts using FSLogix (a software solution that speeds up user profile loading in virtual desktop environments).

Windows users affected by this known issue may experience multiple symptoms. The most common symptoms include a black screen after sign-in, so users can’t access their desktop until they start the desktop session manually, and application event logs showing Windows Explorer crashes.

Until a permanent fix is available for those who installed KB5120996 (Windows 11 26H1), KB5120998 (Windows 11 24H2/25H2), and this month’s Patch Tuesday updates (KB5124008 and KB5122880), Microsoft says users can temporarily work around the issue by manually launching Windows Explorer.

This can be done by opening Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), selecting Run new task, entering explorer.exe, and clicking OK.

Microsoft has also mitigated this issue for enterprise customers via Known Issue Rollback (KIR), a Windows feature that reverses buggy updates delivered through Windows Update.

IT administrators can apply the mitigation on enterprise-managed devices by installing one of the following group policies:

“You will need to install and configure the Group Policy for your version of Windows to resolve this issue. You will also need to restart your device(s) to apply the group policy setting,” Microsoft said. “Note that this Group Policy will disable the change causing this issue until a resolution is released in a future Windows update.

Admins can find further guidance on deploying and configuring KIR group policies on Microsoft’s support website.

Earlier this month, Microsoft also resolved known issues that wiped mouse and desktop settings on some Windows 11 systems that were also triggered after installing the KB5120998 August 2026 optional update.

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The organisation will launch a prototype satellite as a first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher.

Google has confirmed plans to launch a prototype satellite next week as part of its strategy to study how its tensor processing units (TPUs) operate in space. 

The first in orbit test is a part of Project Suncatcher, which is a research effort designed to explore space’s potential to host large-scale AI computing infrastructure, particularly under harsh conditions.  

In a statement Google’s senior director for Paradigms of Intelligence Travis Beals said, “Project Suncatcher is a long-term, research moonshot exploring whether space could one day host scalable machine learning infrastructure. 

“In low Earth orbit, satellites can access near-constant sunlight, generating up to eight times more solar power than on Earth. Eventually, it could be possible to link together multiple constellations of satellites, allowing them to manage larger AI workloads while in orbit.”

Beals added, “Turning that idea into reality starts with a basic question, can our AI hardware operate in space? This initial mission onboard the upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare mission with SpaceX was developed in partnership with Planet. 

“It’s designed to gather in-orbit data on how our TPUs handle the physical stress of spaceflight and the radiation and thermal extremes of space.”

According to Google, a rocket trip, in low orbit, takes roughly ten minutes, during  which the craft is buffeted by intense vibrations and a sustained acceleration that can be ten times the force of gravity.  

Beals said, “individual components, such as the TPU chips, can experience even greater forces up to 50 to 100 g. The team conducted vibration testing by intensely shaking the satellite on all three axes to mimic the frequencies of a rocket launch.” 

Once in space, the TPUs are then exposed to radiation outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as solar events and cosmic rays that can disrupt electronics.

Google’s TPUs were tested in a proton beam facility at UC Davis’s Crocker Nuclear Laboratory while running AI workloads. 

Beals said, “During the test, we monitored closely to see how errors, like a bitflip, would affect our workloads. Initial results have shown that our Trillium TPUs hold up remarkably well and can survive a radiation total ionising dose greater than what they would receive during a five-year space mission.”

Tests, while useful, are only half the equation, as noted by Beals who explained that the real test is in how the TPUs perform in space. The hope is that, by putting the TPUs into orbit, the team will be able to gather data and learnings to inform future launches.

Beals said, “Exploring space as a viable location for scalable AI compute won’t happen all at once. 

“It takes methodical engineering, starting with proving our hardware can handle the physical and unpredictable realities of operating in orbit. This first launch is about seeing what works, identifying points of failure, and applying those findings to future missions.”

Earlier this month Google announced its largest single investment in Europe to date, amid a promise to invent €13bn into Finland’s digital infrastructure over the course of the next two years. This will include supporting data centre build-outs and the funding of clean energy and nature restoration projects.

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Lightspeed is sharpening its India strategy around AI, targeting $250 million for a new early-stage fund as the venture firm bets the technology will drive the next wave of startups in one of the world’s largest markets.

The Silicon Valley venture firm is already a major investor in AI companies including Anthropic, xAI, and Databricks. In India, it has backed Sarvam AI, one of the country’s leading large language model developers and a startup selected by the Indian government to help develop sovereign AI models.

The new fund, Lightspeed India Partners V, will be half the size of its $500 million predecessor, raised in 2022, and has already secured commitments for 80% of its $250 million target, according to a letter sent to investors on Thursday and seen by TechCrunch.

In late April, Lightspeed disclosed the new fund in a U.S. regulatory filing, though the filing did not specify its target size. Indian media had previously reported that the firm was looking to raise between $300 million and $350 million for the vehicle.

Lightspeed plans to begin investing from the new fund within two months and has designed it around an investment period of roughly two and a half years, per the letter. Until then, it will continue making its final investments from the existing fund.

A Lightspeed spokesperson declined to comment.

Starting with the new fund, Lightspeed is also moving its India funds onto the same fundraising cycle as its global funds for the first time, per the investor letter. The change brings a regional business it established nearly two decades ago more closely in line with the rest of the firm.

The move follows a similar shift by rival firm Accel, which in August raised its latest $550 million India fund alongside new U.S. and Europe funds and a global growth vehicle as part of a coordinated $3.5 billion fundraising effort. It was the first time Accel had raised all four funds simultaneously.

The $250 million fund is sized to match how quickly Lightspeed is currently investing and its shorter investment period, according to the letter. Lightspeed suggested to investors that the smaller size lets it focus on individual deals rather than fund size, and raise its next fund sooner.

The new fund also marks a sharper focus on AI for Lightspeed’s early-stage investment strategy in the region. The investment thesis outlined in the letter anticipates AI creating more value in India than the internet did, with the fund seeking out AI companies across India and Southeast Asia.

India has yet to produce a major frontier AI model developer on the global stage and has attracted far less investment in AI than the U.S. and China. Investors, nonetheless, increasingly see an opportunity for India in the application layer, drawing on the country’s large pool of software developers and its decades-long history as a hub for software and technology services.

The new $250 million India vehicle is a fraction of the capital available across Lightspeed’s global platform. The firm, which manages more than $65 billion in assets globally, raised $9 billion across several new funds last December, the largest fundraising haul in its history. The total included a $980 million early-stage venture fund.

Lightspeed’s dedicated India and Southeast Asia funds represent only part of the capital the firm has put to work in the region. Those funds have deployed roughly $900 million, while Lightspeed’s global funds have invested another $1.6 billion to support companies from the regional portfolio, according to the investor letter.

The decision to dedicate its newest regional fund entirely to AI also marks a sharper thematic focus for Lightspeed in a market where it has historically invested across sectors. Its India portfolio spans businesses including quick commerce, consumer internet, software, and household services.

Lightspeed’s bets in India have included companies such as quick-commerce startup Zepto, audio platform Pocket FM, house-help startup Snabbit, rooftop solar startup SolarSquare, and a range of enterprise software businesses.

The same team that led Lightspeed’s previous four India funds will manage the new fund, per the letter.

A new botnet malware called Carbonato is targeting insecure hosts running Docker daemons to install the Hermes Agent AI framework and take control.

The malware features worm-like capabilities and was discovered in an unauthenticated Docker registry that contained nearly 60 repositories and 4.3 GB of image data.

Researchers at enterprise security company ThreatDown retrieved operational evidence spanning October 2024 to August 2026. The archive also included details about the botnet and a separate campaign that distributed counterfeit cryptocurrency wallet apps.

According to ThreatDown, Carbonato spreads across Docker hosts with an API exposed on port 2375 without authentication.

The malware connects to that API and instructs the daemon to launch a privileged container, giving it access to the host.

It then opens a reverse SSH tunnel, installs an SSH server with the operators’ key, and reports the new deployment through Telegram. At the same time, scripts set up cron jobs, systemd timers, rc.local, and OpenRC hooks for persistence.

One notable aspect of the attack is that the AI agent framework Hermes Agent is installed on the hosts, using an agent named “GH0ST,” with instructions that overwrite the default ‘SOUL.md’ persona file.

Hermes has been extensively abused in malicious cyber-operations recently. Recently, cybersecurity company Gambit documented a large-scale card-skimming operation that stole 600.000 credit card details.

In the case of Carbonato, Hermes handles task commands received through Telegram, including collecting AI API keys, SSH credentials, access tokens, and other data, running commands, and sending back the results.

The researchers describe this as an operator-driven process involving an “interactive command loop” exchange.

“The​ ​model​ ​interprets​ ​the​ ​task,​ ​writes​ ​terminal​ ​commands,​ ​reads​ ​the​ ​output,​ ​and​ ​decides​​ what ​​to​​ do ​​next,” ThreatDown researchers note.

“​The​​ agent ​​runs ​​those​​ commands ​​on ​​the ​​victim​​ and​ ​returns​ ​its​ ​report​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Telegram​ ​chat​ ​that​ ​also​ ​receives​ ​deployment​ ​reports.​​”

The malware’s worm-like capability allow it to spread to other exposed Docker daemons and is handled by scripts that scan networks attached to the host every five minutes.

Each new compromise pulls the implant from the registry, launches the same privileged container, and enters the persistence and scanning loop.

ThreatDown could not attribute Carbonato to any known threat clusters, but based on various evidence, points to Costa Rica as a possible location of the operator.

To prevent infection, the researchers recommend keeping Docker daemon APIs off the network and requiring authentication on registries.

Signs of Carbonato attacks include a GH0ST persona file, the CARBONATO_API_KEY setting, unexpected Telegram traffic, and reverse SSH tunnels toward AS262145.

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HTX Studio spent about two months turning a full work desk into a charger that finds a phone wherever you set it down and starts feeding it power. Apple showed that idea in 2017 as AirPower, a small mat that would charge a phone, Watch, and AirPods case without lining them up on a single coil. The pad never shipped. Apple cancelled it in 2019. The YouTube builder waited through nine promised “next years,” then built a version big enough to work on.

Apple’s design for the pad included filling it with a lot of coils so that it didn’t matter where you placed the devices. Covering an entire desk like that would require approximately 600 coils, which is a large number to say the least. HTX Studio took an alternative approach, just slotting a single coil onto a motorized trolley and allowing the coil to go instead. A camera situated above the desk monitors your phone and transmits location information to the motors. The coil then glides below till the charging begins, and to make things even neater, they inserted two extra coils into each corner for when you leave your gadgets plugged in in the same location.

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The initial prototype demonstrated that the concept was viable, as well as a thorough examination of why getting to work on a desk is so much more difficult than using a mat. To get things rolling, the motors had to crawl along slowly. Then there were the cables, which were dragged around and snagged on various objects. The surface above did nothing more than obscure the coil beneath. Faster motors sped up the process, but it still required patience. Then there was the difficulty of getting the moving power line to play out and retract without making a mess, which took a week on its own with a homemade cable reel. HTX later discovered that a linear slide would have avoided the need for all of the moving wires and had things up and running in no time.

In the end, the desktop became more of a screen. When you place your phone down, an animated cat will ride along with the coil, as if it is hauling up power from below. Once one device has been fully charged, the system searches for the next one that need a charge. In idle mode, one coil sits beneath the keyboard, concealing a receiver coil, allowing the keyboard to recharge as well. One moving coil cannot feed multiple phones at the same time, as AirPower promised, so this one travels between them instead. The corners protect the extras.

A Mac mini sits inside the frame, and when you plug in a display, the desk functions as a computer. The screen displays the charge status, a short daily to-do list, and a small dot that lights up when you finish a job. Sit still for approximately an hour with the surface remaining low, and the entire top will light up in a soft glow. The cat returns with a reminder and a button that elevates the motorized legs to a predetermined standing height. Every hour or so, an electromagnet on the trolley slides a matching cup toward you, ensuring that you do not simply ignore your water. Focus Mode activates a 25-minute timer beneath the phone. Lift the phone before the countdown expires, and the desk will not charge it when you put it back down.

In the end, the finished AirDesk functions as a standard workstation for a keyboard, trackpad, and monitor, but with all the bells and whistles. After nine years of waiting for a product that would never come to fruition, the builder now has a surface that charges everything you throw on it, reminds you to stand and drink, and even cuts off power if you keep reaching for your phone.
[Source]