A ring that flashes and vibrates when it gets a notification from your phone. For this, Silicon Valley VCs ponied up $5.1 million. Ringly isn't saying publicly how many units it's shipped, but allows as how they've pretty much sent out all their first round of pre-orders at $145 each. The new pre-orders will go out this Spring for $195. The goods are nice: high quality … [Read more...]
Google to Halt Sales of Glass, But Don’t Write the Obits Yet
Google says it will stop taking orders for its iconic Google Glass next week, and is closing its "Explorer" software dev program. The BBC reports that Google says responsibility for the project is being moved out of the Google X division and into the consumer products division (with Nest) under Tony Fadell. At first glance, this might look like the welcome end of Google … [Read more...]
CES Day 2: LG/Audi Smartwatch Reportedly to Run WebOS
Remember how we said a couple of days ago that Tizen and WebOS were the thin edge of the wedge that would attack Android in the home? Reports started circulating at CES that LG -- home of the WebOS TV -- was working on a WebOS smartwatch that would control some Audi cars. Android Central has clear images of a WebOS smartwatch prototype with Audi markings. The site says it … [Read more...]
CES Day 1: Intel Introduces Curie Wearables Platform
Intel pretty much invented the idea of ever-faster ever-smaller processors; Gordon Moore, for whom Moore's Law was named, was an Intel founder and chairman. Yesterday, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled Curie, a button-sized module that the company hopes will be the intelligence in the next generation of wearables. The Curie is a follow-on to the Edison module, which was the … [Read more...]
CES: LG Announces WebOS2.0, But No New Wearable
Unreconstructed fans of Palm and PalmOS will be glad to hear that LG Electronics continues to build on WebOS. The company's press conference at CES today talked a lot about connectedness among its devices -- TVs, washer/dryers, and phones -- based on WebOS. But although the company showed diagrams of the ability to tell your watch where you're going when you leave the house, … [Read more...]
Vuzix Sells 30 Percent to Intel for $24.8 Million; Will Enter Consumer Market
We've long believed that the visor company Vuzix was better positioned than most to succeed in the enterprise market. Intel apparently agrees: it announced over the weekend that it's bought 30 percent of the company for $24.8 million, valuing Vuzix at upwards of $83 million. Intel is on something of a finished-products tear in the wearables market. A year ago, there were no … [Read more...]
Sony Talks A Little About Their Add-On Glass Prototype
Sony is working on a prototype of a visor that clips onto an existing pair of eyeglasses. The working name for the module is "SmartEyeglasses Attach!" (the exclamation point and InterCap are theirs), and they'll unveil it at CES next month. It weighs 40 grams, and uses a 640x400 pixel OLED display that's light-piped to an optical unit that sits in front of the glasses. In … [Read more...]
Luxottica Seals Wide-Ranging Development Deal with Intel for Glasses; Doesn’t Rule Out Google
Luxottica, the world's largest maker of eyeglasses, has a deal with Google to make Glass-derived products. But that's not keeping the Italian optical goods giant from working with other companies, like Intel. Intel and Luxottica announced today a particularly wide-ranging development partnership. The two companies will establish an R&D lab in California, the New York … [Read more...]
Misfit Lands $40M Series C, Eyes China Expansion
Misfit, maker of the Shine wearable, has closed a $40 million round of funding, including the first US investment from Chinese cellphone maker Xiaomi, TechCrunch reports. Sonny Vu, Misfit's chairman, told TechCrunch that his company didn't need the money; it still has $15 million from its last raise and is breaking even on hardware sales. More important was the partnerships … [Read more...]
DuPont Introduces Stretchable Conductive Ink for Wearables
We write a lot about finished products -- and others that are not-so-finished -- because news about actual underlying technologies are both rarer and harder to explain. But a division of DuPont is starting to talk publicly about inks that are both stretchable and conductive, and usable in clothing. The PE872 stretchable conductor (and what a catchy name that is) can … [Read more...]