At Mobile Marketing were proud to help tech companies showcase their cutting-edge solutions, whether its on our website, in our magazine or at our Mobile Marketing Summits. Giving a platform to companies that are breaking new ground in their market brings audiences one step closer to the ideas and developments that will shape tomorrow.

In that spirit, our Innovation Lab feature takes a step beyond the world of apps, ads and handsets with slightly bigger screens, in order to share some of the tech worlds innovative ideas. They might be interesting, disruptive or just outright strange, but these are the stories that have caught our eye over the past week.

Smart Pavement Puts Superfast Wi-fi Under Your Feet
Virgin Media has installed the UKs first Smart Wi-fi Pavement in Chesham, enabling residents and visitors to access free internet access thats seven times faster than the average UK speed while out and about.

The installation, carried out in partnership with Chiltern District Council, provides unlimited wi-fi throughout the centre of Chesham and even covers part of Lowndes Park, a 36-acre green space nearby.

The high speed internet will enable users to download large video files in a matter of seconds, and the smart pavement, which uses a specially developed resin cover, combines with Virgin Medias high street cabinets to enable access up to 80m away.

“The internet is at the heart of modern life and it is brilliant to have such a cutting edge network in Chesham and to be right at the vanguard of connectivity in the UK,” said the Rt Hon Cheryl Hillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham. “It will keep the community connected, help Chesham people save some money on their mobile bill and could be a key piece of the jigsaw in connected cities moving forward.”

Autonomous Boat Is Eating the Trash in Baltimore Harbour

A year ago, Baltimores harbour would regularly fill up with garbage following heavy rainfall as the Jones Fall river brought polystyrene containers, plastic bottles and more from the surrounding area and dumped them into the scenic Inner Harbour.

However, that has all changed thanks to the Inner Harbour Water Wheel, known affectionately as Mr. Trash Wheel by locals. The autonomous floating platform has removed over 330 tons of rubbish from the water, including an unbelievable 6.6m cigarette butts.

The wheel is sustainably powered by the flow of the river itself, and by solar power on days when the current isnt strong enough. The water wheel drives a conveyor belt that removes the garbage from the river, and can life even the heaviest items out of the harbour.

The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, who are behind the wheel, are hoping to install a second wheel in Baltimores Canton neighbourhood, and the original wheel is so popular it has its own Twitter account and live webcam showcasing its environmental efforts.

Artificial Intelligence Put to Work Writing Clickbait Articles

Software developer Lars Eidnes is experimenting with machine learning AI technology by feeding 2m clickbait news articles into an intelligent software program and asking it to write its own.

Click-o-tron uses a recurring neural network, a form of machine learning that can analyse a data set and derive lessons from it. Eidnes tested it by taking articles from BuzzFeed, Gawker, Huffington Post and other publishers, getting the program to pick out recurring phrases, topics and words, and then produce its own.

The resulting headlines are produced every 20 minutes, and take photos from Wikimedia Commons that supposedly match their content. Some of the articles are nonsensical, but a surprising number are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. So far, the program has produced such gems as “A Tour of the Future of Hot Dogs in the United States”, “12 Awesome Ways to Drink Like a Boss” and “New President is Hours Away from Royal Pregnancy”.

RoboCubes Enable Your Toddler to Build Robots

If you are already worried about todays children outpacing you when it comes to technology, Robo Wunderkind will terrify you, as the new educational toy aims to put the tools to create robots into the hands of children as young as five.

Currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, the modular kit uses a series of motorised cubes that can be used to create plug-and-play robots with a variety of functions. Kids can then program functions into their robots using a simple iOS or Android app that is aimed at young children, and uses tap and drag commands to add and modify behaviours.

The options available to kid creators are pretty advanced, with infrared sensors, laser pointers, accelerometers and E-ink displays among some of the colour-coded blocks available. The right combinations can product robots that can predict the weather, solve mazes or act as remote cameras, and with a full set, the only real limit is your (or your childs) imagination.

Vring Aims to Combine Fashion, Wearables and Voice Commands

While wearables might be all the rage, many of them are still hampered by the control issues faced with trying to fit as many features as possible into a device with small or non-existent screen. Vring, developed by Whynot Tech, aims to reverse this trend with a device that focuses on making smartphone operation more effortless and efficient.

The device uses next-generation voice control technology to connect with a users smartphone and, by extension, any IoT devices that are also connected to the phone. Using the ring, which is also available as a wristband, users can search the internet, find their phone remotely, control household appliances and throw online videos onto TVs using Chromecast.

“The average person spends 90 minutes on their cell phone every day,” said Canner Tang, founder of Whynot Tech. “We developed Vring to give people more freedom to experience life and spend time with family and friends. Our goal is to make life easier, and home smarter by using the latest advancements in voice-recognition technology.”