Wearable Computing & Fashion News - Page 30

Jeri Ellsworth has taken to Twitter to announce that the Technical Illusions team is finally shipping their first pair of castAR glasses. You might remember the startup took to Kickstarter to raise $1 million, spearheaded by ex-Valve engineers Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson.

The AR glasses feature active shutter glasses, a camera for input and a projector that displays 3D images onto a surface. The company caalls the device "the most versatile AR and VR system" but it has more strength in its AR side, with its VR side not working until you buy the optional clip-on. We should hopefully have a pair in the coming months, so keep checking back here at TweakTown.

Pebble's smarwatch has just received a version 2.8 firmware update that has seen 80 languages supported alongside notification support for Android applications.

Looking at Pebble's website, you can see their comprehensive list of languages on offer and how some of them are displayed on your handheld interface. But the most exciting update here comes in the form of Android notification support. Available for use with both iOS and Android systems, Pebble was missing the crucial ability to tee up with your Android phone, pushing notifications from this device handily to your wrist watch. Fixed in the latest update, we wouldn't be surprised to see Pebble stocks rise a little in the coming weeks.

Pebble's Vice President of Software Engineering, Kean Wong, released a statement saying: "This new app has been the culmination of months of work by our fantastic Android team to re-build our Android app, focused on notification improvements, increasing stability and performance, and providing a solid platform for the long roadmap of great new features we have planned. Full notifications support, is a significant improvement-one we'll build on to provide more amazing notification features soon."

The Seattle Police Department will move forward to outfit officers with wearable body cameras, after the deal hit a hiccup due to a large number of open record requests by an anonymous programmer. The programmer operates a YouTube video that posts 911 calls, surveillance and police footage, embracing a beneficial open record laws.

"Under the law, they get requests regardless of whether or not I go away, and they view what I do as part of the solution," the programmer said. The programmer dropped the requests as part of an agreement that will have the police department provide him with video footage of police interactions and arrests with the public.

Police agencies are interested in wearable video cameras for officers as a better method to clear officers - and possibly press additional charges - on suspects. The Seattle Police Department has been under federal monitoring for more than two years, due to excessive force complaints against officers.

Sony have just launched their latest offering to the ever-growing smart watch market. Even though originally claiming that they weren't interested in entering the Android Wear market in the beginning, they've decided that they want a slice of the market.

Sony's flagship watch comes with the following specifications:

The Smartwatch 3 is designed in a 'low-key' styling, not meant to be so much as of a fashion statement when compared to the Motorola 360, for example. As you may have noticed, the Smartwatch 3 comes in a few very bright color offerings including pink and yellow - not for the feint if heart. Alongside this, Sony's product comes with a silicone wrist strap - giving the feel that this product is designed for an athletic and/or younger audience.

Nifty has taken to Indiegogo to fund its latest product, the XOO Belt. What is the XOO Belt? It's an actual belt, with a 2100mAh internal lithium ion battery that features either a Lightning connector, or micro USB connector to charge your smartphone.

Your smartphone can be sitting in your pocket while it charges it up, which is a really nice feature. The battery technology that the UK-based company used it actually a flexible battery, placed inside of the belt itself. Nifty explains: "We've hidden six overlapping layers of cutting-edge flexible battery within each belt, giving a base power of 1,300 mAh of charge. Add this to the 400 mAh in each buckle-for a total of 2,100mAh-and you've enough to fully charge an iPhone 6 with some left over".

Nifty is hoping to secure over $50,000 to get the XOO Belt off the ground, and onto your hips, and at the time of writing they had $30,534 of their $50,000 goal, with 29 days left to go. This means that the XOO Belt will receive its funding without a problem, but the two early-bird products are sold out. 'The early-bird belt' had 100 units available, selling them all at $99 each, while 'The early-ish bird belt' is also sold out, at $125 each. The next level is 'the belt belt' which sells for $155.

A growing number of police agencies are adopting body cameras that officers wear while on patrol, providing a better account of what happens during interactions with the public. The cameras, about the size of a pack of cigarettes and worn on an officer's chest, can record at angles civilian cell phones and police cruiser in-dash cams can miss.

"In a couple of decades... every public safety employee, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, everybody will have them," said Charlie Beck, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) chief. "I think it improves behavior on both sides of the camera, which is our goal."

In addition to police officers behaving more appropriately, citizens - and potential suspects - could behave better if they know they are being recorded. However, there are privacy concerns because police officers are not required to inform people if they are recording.

We are finally learning more about Apple's first wearable, Watch, as the company has released its WatchKit for developers to tinker with. We now know that third-party apps will require a connected iPhone in order to work, as the processing for Watch is offloaded to the iPhone, with the Watch just rendering the result.

Apple's WatchKit also revealed some animations being pre-rendered as an image sequence on the iPhone, before it is blasted up to the Watch for display. We also don't know what will happen if your iPhone disconnects from Watch while you're looking at it, as the Watch apps are installed to the wearable by "your existing app" found on your iPhone. The documentation does state that Apple will support "fully-native" Watch apps in the future, but this won't happen until this time next year.

One thing we know for sure, is that the Watch will come in two different display resolutions; 272x340 for the 38mm Watch, and the 312x390 for 42mm version. Apple won't start selling its Watch until "early 2015", but it could be delayed a little later into the year yet.

The wearable electronic devices market will reach 68.1 million units in 2015, a slight drop from 70.1 million units in 2014, the Gartner research group said. The industry will take a hit as consumers consider a wider adoption of smartwatches, especially devices that can be easily paired with their Google Android or Apple iPhone smartphones.

The five most prominent fitness wearables currently on the market: wristbands, sports watches, heart rate monitors, smart garments, and other fitness monitors. While sport watches and heart rate monitors are common place, newer generation of devices are disrupting the market - but not fast enough to prevent the onslaught of smartwatches that will be released in 2015.

"Smartwatches having retail prices of $149 or more will typically have the capability to track activity and have accelerometers and gyroscopes similar to their smart wristband cousins," said Angela McIntyre, Gartner research director. "The smartwatches differ from smart wristbands in that smartwatches need to display the time and have a user interface oriented around communication. However, some smart wristbands have the ability to display and send text messages. The overlap in functionality between smart wristbands and smartwatches is expected to continue."

Intel previously unveiled the My Intelligent Communication Accessory (MICA) wearable, an expensive and stylish wearable bracelet geared towards women. MICA wearers won't need to carry a smartphone and will be able to connect to Facebook, Google, Yelp, and other online services through an AT&T data plan, and indicates Intel wants to find new ways to connect with consumers.

"We really approached this first and foremost about why would a woman want to wear this everyday, and how can it be incorporated into her wardrobe," said Humberto Leon, Intel creative director. Intel purchased wearables firm Basis earlier in 2014, as a number of hardware companies jump into the wearable market.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich had to claw its way into the smartphone and tablet markets, after losing out to ARM and other rivals, but wants to ensure it is an early adopter in the wearables market.

The Google Glass wearable could be losing support from early adopters and supporters, as Google pushed back a consumer launch. Wearables have a great opportunity for business and military use, but widespread consumer adoption could prove difficult, especially if developers are jumping ship. Nine out of 16 Glass app makers recently said they have dropped Glass-related projects, with three others shifting from consumer to business focus.

"We are completely energized and as energized as ever about the opportunity that wearables and Glass in particular represent," said Chris O'Neill, Google Glass Head of Business Operations. "We are committed as ever to a consumer launch. That is going to take time and we are not going to launch this product until it's absolutely ready."

Whether it's Glass or some type of wrist-worn wearable, the entire wearables market receives a lot of media attention - and analysts expect the industry to develop its success in the coming years. However, software and hardware developers must be ready to invest time and money into wearables, knowing that an immediate return on investment (ROI) is unlikely.