We didn't think they'd do it -- and in truth, it still doesn't make a lot of sense to us -- but Intel and Basis announced today that the former company has bought the latter. No price was stated, although TechCrunch put the price at $100 million. Intel, of course, wants very badly to be in the wearables chip market. Basis makes one of the better heart-rate sensor watches, … [Read more...]
Oakley, Ray-Ban to Sell Google Glass-based Eyewear
Finally, there's a sign that Google really and truly wants to turn Glass into an actual business. The search giant has signed a deal with Luxottica, one of the world's biggest eyewear companies, to develop and sell Glass-based eyewear. It's possible that you've never heard of Luxottica, but you know its brands. Luxottica, an Italian company, numbers among its many luxury and … [Read more...]
Pebble CEO Talks About the Android Wear World
So let's say you're the CEO of a highly touted startup that's just clearing the runway, when Google announces that it's creating an ecosystem in your product category that you're not part of. What do you do? One thing you and your investors do is give an optimistic interview to a publication that's as high on the journalistic foodchain as you can manage. Say, Fortune … [Read more...]
Inside the Moto360 Design Process
There's a nice interview in The Verge with Jim Wicks, the design chief on the upcoming Moto360 smartwatch, the flagship hardware of the Android Wear OS. (Remember: none of this -- hardware or software -- will ship for months.) The team, of course, had a lot of choices: mimic smartwatches that already existed, re-invent the idea of timepieces, or something else. They decided to … [Read more...]
What if the iWatch is … a Ring?
Artisans have been making watches for about 200 years, argues Craig Hockenberry. (Actually, he says they've been making them since the 15th century, but he's wrong.) Does Apple really want to compete with them? Or does it have something else in mind? Of course, there have been billions of bits spilled speculating on what the iWatch is going to look like and when it's going … [Read more...]
Ars Technica Goes Deep on Android Wear
The always excellent Ars Technica site has dug up every screenshot they could find on Android Wear and makes what sound like a lot of good assumptions about what it is and how it will look and work. At its core, as previously reported, is the Google Now interface, which is (roughly speaking) the Android counterpart to Apple's Siri. So if Now doesn't work as expected, Wear will … [Read more...]
Google Enters the Real-World Wearables Market with Android Wear
Now we know for sure: Google Glass was a toy. Google announced today its entry into the practical world of wearables, with Android Wear. This version of the Android operating system will essentially expand on notification devices like the Pebble watch or the Samsung Gear. Where those devices drive information from a phone to a wearable device like a wristwatch, Android Wear … [Read more...]
Credible Details Emerge on Healthbook, Apple’s Coming Fitness Tracking Software
We tend to be skeptics about pre-release speculation and leaks, but 9to5 Mac appears to have gotten the goods on Healthbook, Apple's entry into the fitness tracking (and, by extension, wearables) business. The article includes extensive clear screenshots which show the direction of the iOS software and, presumably, its companion hardware. Healthbook, which looks a great deal … [Read more...]
Feel What The Players Feel
It's the ultimate insider's sport fan gear. Imagine wearing your favorite player's jersey, but clothes being tricked out to receive sensations of what the player is feeling as he's on the field. They're trying it out in Australia. Foxtel and the agency CHE Proximity worked with three Australian Rules Football players -- Scott Pendlebury, Luke Hodge and Trent Cotchin. The … [Read more...]
Researchers Develop LEDs 3 Atoms Thick
Scientists at the University of Washington have developed LEDs out of tungsten selenide that are only three atoms thick. The story from EE Times says that conventional inorganic LEDs are much thicker than organic LEDs, which makes them not especially useful for wearable devices. And it's not clear whether the LEDs in U of W work will have sufficient output for general … [Read more...]