Just a couple of hours after the announcement, there are already a zillion places where you can read about Samsung's new Galaxy S6 phone. We can affirm that it's a nice piece of gear. But what's important for wearables is not the phone itself but one of its features: wireless charging. The S6 supports wireless charging with the two major standards: WPC (the Qi specification) … [Read more...]
MWC: IKEA Embraces Wireless Charging
We don't know if you'll have to put it together yourself, but IKEA -- the Swedish furniture giant -- will be building Qi-standard wireless charging spots into bedside tables, lamps, and desks starting in April. The company will make the Wireless Charging collection, part of its Home Smart initiative, will be first be available in Europe and North America, and will roll out … [Read more...]
Vuzix and Pristine Partner for Enterprise Wearables
Pristine builds telepresence enterprise and healthcare applications around wearable technology. Like many companies, it built its first round of products around Google Glass -- understandable as Google was the best-publicized visual wearable, but an unfortunate choice as Glass has retrenched. There are other (and better) visor solutions, though. With Glass off the market for … [Read more...]
How Silicon Valley Is Helping the Swiss in the Smartwatch Fight
As recently as a year ago, the Swiss watch industry was hoping that the smartwatch business would just dry up and go away. But just as Swatch led the fight against the Japanese onslaught of quartz movements, the Swiss watch industry is now embracing smartwatches, using a common platform from California and its own excellent design sense. It may not surprise you to learn that … [Read more...]
LG Goes Its Own Way With The Urbane LTE Smartwatch
A year or so ago, everyone thought that Android Wear was going to take over the smartwatch category; off-the-shelf software would let hardware manufacturers focus on what they do best. It hasn't really worked out that way. There are a few Wear watches, its true. But Samsung has Android and Tizen watches. Pebble is going its own way. Sports watch makers are sticking to their … [Read more...]
Moto360 Smartwatch To Get the Moto Maker Treatment
Motorola's Moto360 smartwatch is about be customizable the same cool way that you can get a Moto X phone built to your exact specifications. Wired is reporting that the Moto Maker interface that drives custom builds of the Moto X is about to come to the Moto360. In practice, there are to be far fewer options for the watch than for the phone. The watch can be have one of … [Read more...]
Apple Watch Watch Moves Ahead to March 9
Apple has sent out invitations to a media event on Monday, March 9, in San Francisco. This is the first business day after Mobile World Congress and the first business day after Daylight Savings Time goes into effect for 2015. The latter is significant because the invitation is titled "Spring Forward," which the blogosphere has decided means there will be some Apple Watch … [Read more...]
New Pebble Time Watch Hits Kickstarter (Updated)
Pebble today introduced a new color E-ink watch, the Pebble Time; it's taking orders on Kickstarter with promised shipping in May. Early bird pricing is $159 for the first 5,000 units, another 20,000 will be $179, and retail pricing will be $199. The initial $500,000 goal was reached within 20 minutes of launch. [UPDATE: By 6pm Eastern, 8 hours after launch, more than 30,000 … [Read more...]
Improvements to Microsoft Band, But You Still Can’t Buy One
Microsoft continues to tweak the software behind its Band health tracker, Paul Thurott reports, but you still can't actually buy one. The software and gaming giant put a limited number of Band devices on sale at the end of last year as part of what it is now saying was a soft launch. There's no word on when more of them will be available, or through what channels. If … [Read more...]
WSJ: Apple to Make 5 Million Watches, But Not Sure Why
With Mobile World Congress and its attendant blizzard of news about all things mobile coming up in a couple of weeks, Apple is newsbombing the proceedings with leaks about the forthcoming Apple Watch. The Wall Street Journal has carried a couple of interesting pieces in the last day. One article puts the initial production run at 5 million units. The other, more interesting, … [Read more...]