Sure looks like Microsoft is breaking up the Band. The excellent Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet is reporting that all references to the Band 2 at Microsoft's online store have disappeared, as has the SDK. That can't be good, and Foley reached a Microsoft spokesman who says the company has sold its inventory of Band 2s and has no intention of releasing another Band this year. They … [Read more...]
Panasonic to Ship Flexible LiIon Battery This Month
Flexible batteries -- ones that can be repeatedly flexed without losing integrity -- are nothing new in the lab. But Panasonic now says it will start shipping sample units of a flexible LiIon battery at the end of this month. The batteries, about 0.5mm thick, retains more than 99 percent of its capacity when flexed more than 1000 times, even around a 25 mm radius or twisting … [Read more...]
Android Wear 2.0 Delayed Until 2017
The Android development team at Google dropped a new developer preview of Android Wear 2.0 today, but buried the lead until the very last paragraph: it won't ship until "early 2017." Developer Preview 3.0 adds some interesting features: support for fully round watch faces; on-watch support for a Play Store (important for Wear watches being used with iPhones, which don't run … [Read more...]
WSJ: Qualcomm Wants to Buy NXP
Qualcomm, the chip maker whose business is built almost entirely around processors and radios for mobile applications, is reportedly making a run at buying NXP, which pretty much owns the NFC chip business. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a deal could come before the end of the year. NXP is a public company with a current market capitalization of $28 billion; its … [Read more...]
Is Jawbone Near the End?
It has not been a good year for Jawbone, the once-pioneering maker of fitness trackers and Bluetooth speakers, and it appears to be getting worse. Multiple reports over the weekend say that the company is running on fumes, unable to pay its third-party support vendor and nearly sold out of products. Jawbone had apparently been using the Portland, Maine company NexRep to … [Read more...]
A Rebranded Snapchat Launches Spectacles Wearable Camera
We're somewhat optimistic about Snapchat's Spectacles, which the company (now apparently known as Snap Inc.) dumped on the world Friday afternoon. They're $130 brightly colored shades -- teal, coral, and black -- with a small camera and a couple of radios (and a rechargeable battery) built into the frame. The glasses take up to three 10-second videos and dump them, through your … [Read more...]
Is That a Computer on Your Jeans or Are You Just Glad to See Me?
Spoiler alert: This product is under development, but does not yet exist in the way that most people understand "existence." The Dutch design group Nieuwe Heren (New Gents), basically Erik de Nijs and Tim Smit, have announced a new, well, concept: controlling your laptop by means of a keyboard, mouse, and speakers imbedded in an apparently ill-fitting pair of jeans. OK, … [Read more...]
Female Runners Rejoice: OMbra Smart Bra Now Available
We were impressed with Montreal-based Omsignal’s smart running bra when it first surfaced at CES 2016. It’s well designed, both as clothing and technology, and you can’t help believing that something hugging your chest is going to get a more accurate breathing and heart rate data than something on your wrist. OMsignal recently completed a $10 million funding round, and the … [Read more...]
Flexible Thermocell Battery Brings in the Volts
Batteries are the one part of your wearable device that still seem old school. Although we’ve seen improvements in size and endurance, the chemistry and physics of batteries are just plain hard. A lot of scientists are investigating the alternative of energy harvesting or scavenging; that is, producing usable energy from natural sources, such wind, sun, or human … [Read more...]
Study Finds That Fitness Trackers May Not Help Weight Loss
A study led by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh has found that people who wear fitness trackers may lose less weight than people who don't. As reported in JAMA, the study followed 471 overweight adults between 18 and 35 years old for two years. The group was put on a low-calorie diet for six months, instructed to increase their physical activity, and were counseled … [Read more...]