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Wednesday 24 December 2025
Voice AI braille printer Nemonic Dot wins CES 2026 Innovation
MANGOSLAB, a spin-off startup from Samsung Electronics, today announced that its AI-powered Braille label printer, Nemonic Dot, has been named a Best of Innovation Award Honoree at CES 2026. This marks the company's second "Best of Innovation" award and third CES award overall, solidifying its legacy of practical innovation.Bridging the Gap: Braille for Everyone Historically, creating Braille was nearly impossible for non-visually impaired individuals due to the months required to learn complex rules and abbreviations. Nemonic Dot breaks down these barriers. Users simply speak or type into a smartphone—e.g., "Shampoo" or "Take 3 times a day after meals"—and the device's AI automatically converts the input into accurate Braille codes in over 100 languages. This empowers pharmacists, caregivers, and family members to instantly create accessible labels without any prior knowledge of Braille.Technological Breakthrough: The 0.6mm Standard While existing portable Braille printers suffer from weak, inconsistent dots (avg. 0.35mm), Nemonic Dot utilizes a proprietary printing engine inspired by automotive and printer technologies to achieve a consistent 0.6mm dot height. This meets global standards (US 0.48mm, Korea 0.6mm) and ensures high readability for the visually impaired.Unlocking Public Accessibility with Metal Braille A key innovation of Nemonic Dot is its ability to print on specialized metal tape. Unlike paper labels, these metal Braille labels offer superior durability and corrosion resistance, making them impervious to harsh weather and frequent touch. This breakthrough allows Braille to be applied to outdoor environments and public infrastructure—such as bus stops, park signage, and handrails—ensuring that accessibility remains intact anywhere, anytime.A Platform for Universal Access Beyond hardware, Nemonic Dot serves as a "Braille Accessibility Platform." MANGOSLAB has developed its SDK and APIs to integrate seamlessly with hospital EMRs, pharmacy systems, and retail POS. This automation solves the critical issue of time in busy environments, allowing prescription information to be converted into Braille labels automatically without manual re-entry.Quotes "Our goal is the 'Normalization of Braille'- where Braille is no longer a special accommodation but an everyday language found on medicine, elevator buttons, and cosmetics," said a representative from MANGOSLAB. "With Nemonic Dot, we are creating a new market for 'On-Demand Braille,' transforming how the world shares information equally."Market Availability Nemonic Dot will be unveiled at CES 2026 in January and is scheduled for global release in the first half of the year.
Wednesday 24 December 2025
InnoPad Taipei to debut in 2026 as Taipei's flagship hub for global startups
The Taipei City Government is rolling out a new phase of its innovation strategy. To advance the "Three Arrows for Startups" policy and strengthen the city's competitiveness within the global innovation ecosystem, the "InnoPad Taipei," located in Nangang and spanning approximately 5,300 square meters, has completed preliminary planning and is scheduled to officially launch in mid-2026. The hub will serve as the first landing point for international startups establishing operations in Taiwan.Nangang: a convergence hub for startups, building a cross-domain innovation networkIn recent years, Nangang has rapidly evolved into a major innovation and technology hub in Taipei. With its strategic three-rail transit convergence and proximity to high-tech industry clusters - including Neihu Technology Park, Nangang Software Park, and the Taipei Bioinnovation Park - as well as Nangang Exhibition Center, the district has become a concentrated center for leading enterprises and talent. Recognizing this locational advantage, the city has positioned InnoPad Taipei as a nexus where enterprises, accelerators, investors, and domestic and international startups converge, fostering an ecosystem for cross-regional and cross-disciplinary innovation collaboration. The hub connects Taipei's complete entrepreneurial resource chain - including incubators, corporate partners, international accelerators, and local startup communities - to build a comprehensive one-stop international landing service system. This will help startups rapidly access local resources, expand business opportunities, and strengthen engagement and collaboration within the global ecosystem.Three core functional zones: meeting diverse startup needsThe hub's interior is organised around three major functional zones tailored to the needs of startups at different stages: Co-working Area: Flexible workspace for early-stage teams seeking quick landing and agile operations.Independent Office Zone: Suitable for growing teams that requires stable, dedicated office space.Meeting and Co-creation Spaces: Supporting corporate partnership discussions, Demo Days, medium to large-scale events, and cross-domain exchanges.What makes the hub even more attractive is that teams signing a one-year contract will receive complimentary company registration services, significantly lowering administrative barriers to entrepreneurship. International teams with a clear landing plan can also apply directly for residency and receive hands-on consulting support.Building a city-level accelerator network, connecting corporate needs and global marketsThe hub will host a network of startup accelerators, including general-purpose and corporate accelerators, offering services such as entrepreneurial mentorship, fundraising consulting, technology integration, corporate partnerships, and international market expansion pathways. Together, these will form a complete "startup growth acceleration chain."The city government emphasized that related strategies will be coordinated across departments and continuously adjusted to ensure the hub remains aligned with global innovation trends over the long term.More than a building - a growth engine for Taipei's startup ecosystemThe Taipei City Government stresses that the hub's core value goes far beyond providing office space. Its mission is to build a long-term, sustainable innovation ecosystem.The hub will: Provide comprehensive one-stop landing services, regularly host international startup showcases, organize cross-border matchmaking events and Demo Days, offer corporate networking sessions, entrepreneurship courses, and strategy workshops, and bring together global entrepreneurs, legal entities, incubators, and investors.Through these initiatives, the hub aims to attract more international teams to establish operations, collaborate, and invest in Taipei - further elevating the city's visibility on the global innovation map.Taipei's next leap: becoming a global entrepreneur-friendly cityThe city government stated that "InnoPad Taipei" represents a significant milestone in advancing Taipei's innovation and technology policies. The city is committed to creating an open, welcoming, and competitive startup ecosystem and will continue to promote international collaboration, helping more entrepreneurs realize their dreams in Taipei and expand globally, ultimately establishing Taipei as a truly global entrepreneur-friendly city.
Wednesday 24 December 2025
How Technology Is Changing How We Game Online
Gaming used to mean sitting on a couch with a controller or visiting a noisy, crowded venue. Those days are fading fast. We have moved from simple pixelated screens to massive, immersive worlds that fit right in our pockets. This shift is not just about better graphics-it is about a fundamental change in how we interact with the games we love.Access RedefinedAccess is the biggest difference. No longer do players need to plan a trip or wait for a machine to open up. Many locals in the Sunshine State now prefer exploring Florida's casinos to explore online rather than dealing with the drive to a physical location. The same trend is emerging across countless regions worldwide.Online platforms offer distinct advantages that physical venues struggle to match. They host massive game libraries - often thousands of titles - ensuring players never run out of new experiences. Flexible banking options, including instant crypto withdrawals, deliver winnings in minutes rather than days. And unmatched privacy allows users to play from the comfort of home without anyone looking over their shoulder.Connectivity as the EngineThe rollout of high-speed networks has eliminated the lag that once made mobile gaming a nightmare. In the past, a dropped connection meant losing a ranked match or failing a team objective. That is changing fast. Today, 45% of networks worldwide are 5G compatible, with experts predicting this will rise to 85% by the end of the decade. This evolution guarantees smooth gameplay for everyone, regardless of device.Ultra-low latency now enables streaming 4K video of favorite games from a bus stop - without a hitch. This reliability empowers developers to build complex titles that run seamlessly on almost any device, putting a high-end console experience directly into players' pockets.AI and PersonalizationArtificial Intelligence is transforming the gaming experience. Players may notice their lobby seems to know exactly what they want to play - that's AI at work. Algorithms track history to suggest titles that fit individual styles, ensuring fast-paced shooter fans aren’t bogged down with slow strategy recommendations.But AI goes further. TechCrunch reports that AI companion apps are on track to generate over $120 million in 2025 alone, with downloads jumping 88% in the first half of the year. These apps allow users to converse with custom characters that have distinct personalities, signaling a growing appetite for digital connections that feel human rather than scripted.Virtual Reality and Cloud GamingVirtual Reality is shifting from novelty to necessity. While we aren't at Ready Player One levels yet, modern headsets now let players step into fully realized worlds where they can physically interact with environments and avatars. High-fives, opponent "tells," and shared social energy bring the excitement of a real gaming floor into the living room - solving the isolation problem that online gaming once had.Cloud gaming completes the transformation. By removing the need for expensive hardware, it democratizes access. Processing happens on remote servers, with devices acting only as screens. This shift toward instant, hardware-agnostic play is redefining user expectations across the industry. We expect things to work instantly. We expect them to look good. And we expect them to be fair. Technology is ensuring all three - and it is only getting faster.