Sure, your keyboard is good for turning thoughts into words—but couldn't it do more? Some clever scientists from universities in the U.S. and China have concocted an even smarter, more powerful keyboard that could not only enhance your security, but could also be self-powering.

If you were waiting to hear the U.S. Food & Drug Administration weigh in before you strap on a device with a fitness tracker, like a Fitbit, Pebble, or Apple Watch, well, good news: the government agency has released a draft set of guidance for the industry about how it plans on treating the burgeoning market of wearable health devices.

Imagine walking several miles per day, all day, for the course of a week. Now imagine during that time you're navigating through a sea of people that are all vying for your attention, each of them hocking new electronic equipment that will most likely become vaporware. That, in essence, is what attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is like.

A smartphone app may provide a new answer to an old problem for the visually impaired: tree branches at head height.

The remote control has been a crucial part of most of our living rooms for decades. Yet as our home entertainment and automation devices have multiplied, we've been besieged by a diverse abundance of remotes. (I have a basket in my living room to store all of mine, and I know I'm hardly alone.) Universal remotes have attempted to consolidate all your remotes in one place, but they have had trouble keeping up with the breakneck rate of progress, often relying on older tech like infrared while many devices have moved on to newer wireless standards like Bluetooth. Even smartphones haven't proved to be an adequate replacement, with their clunky nature and lack of tactile feedback. Now, an ambitious Kickstarter project named NEEO is tackling this problem head on.

Motorola's Scout5000 is perhaps the most advanced dog collar we've seen yet. Where you might expect a name tag, the Scout5000 has what is essentially a smartphone.