From robots and explosions to self-tying shoes, here’s a rundown of the most-buzzed-about TechCrunch news videos of 2016:
1. Apple Airpods
An obvious, but not necessarily expected, product announcement from Apple this fall, Airpods have a lot going for them. Several TC staffers have spent some quality-time testing them out and have good things to say. In fact, Editor-in-Chief, Matthew Panzarino, listed Apple’s Airpods as one of his favorite things of 2016. After a three-month waiting period, Airpods finally went on sale on December 12th so you can decide for yourself.
2. Tesla Model 3
At a somewhat more affordable starting price of $35,000, you could now opt for a sporty all-electric ride versus an Audi or BMW. It also packs a ton of cool features like 0-60 in under 6 seconds, autopilot hardware built in to the base model, front and rear trunks, and of course that stunning sun/moon/see-everything roof made of a single pane of glass.
3. Nike Hyperadapt
Shoes that tie themselves, need I say more? Nike’s Mags with Hyperadapt 1.0 hit retail this month. And the Back to the Future replicas just take the already awesome achievement to the next level.
4. SpaceX landing and exploding
Earlier this year, SpaceX went on a Falcon 9 launching spree trying to land a rocket with varying degrees of success. After four previous attempts, SpaceX successfully landed on a drone ship in April, which was very exciting. Then a few month month later, we were back to blowing things up. According to a recent article, SpaceX is looking to try, try again. You can find a brief history of SpaceX here.
5. NES Classic Edition
The demand for NES Classic exceeded Nintendo’s expectations making it nearly impossible to get your hands on a system here in the States. The shrunken-down version of the original hardware comes preloaded with 30 classic games and retails for $60. What’s not to love?
6. Viv AI Assistant
Viv is a next-gen AI system built by the makers of SIRI. Demoed live for the first time on stage at TechCrunch’s Disrupt NY conference, Viv can do much more than just answer quick questions. Its AI is capable of writing its own code to accomplish tasks its never done before. A natural competitor to Siri and Google’s Assistant, Viv was acquired by Samsung in October.
7. Microsoft Surface Studio
At their Windows event this October, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Studio, an all-in-one PC with a 28-inch PixelSense display. It’s the thinnest display ever built, according to Microsoft, and it swivels.
8. Spot Mini
Also demoed on the Disrupt stage, Spot Mini is smaller, lighter, less menacing version of the original Spot. It looks like a dog and can climb stairs, open doors and more.
9. GoPro Karma
There was a lot of hype around this quadcopter. Too bad GoPro recalled it after only 16 days on the market.
10. Tesla Solar Roof
Elon Musk announced a new Tesla solar roof product that will give your normal-looking roof solar energy gathering powers. Rather than stashing big panels up there, Tesla will offer high-efficiency glass tiles that closely resemble regular roofing material. Not much detail on how well it works just yet, but It does indeed look great.
