Wearable Computing & Fashion News - Page 4

Apple is looking at different ways to beef up the battery life of its smartwatch, according to an interview with an Apple executive, who also hinted that a new Mac Pro is inbound from the company.

The Apple Watch Series 8 (Image Credit: Apple)

Bob Borchers, who is VP of Worldwide Product Marketing at Apple, talked to India Today, and when the subject of the Apple Watch came up, it was noted that battery life is something that could use a further boost.

Borchers admitted that battery longevity is obviously a tricky matter, as there's a very thorny balance to be achieved between adding cool new features - health-related functionality, for example, like the rumored incoming blood glucose monitoring - and keeping battery life at a good enough level.

Google has brought a new feature to its Pixel Watch, namely the ability to detect if the wearer has taken a tumble.

Google is swiftly advancing with the Pixel Watch, adding useful new features like fall detection (Image Credit: Google)

The watch uses its motion sensors combined with AI smarts to determine if a fall has occurred, and can differentiate between a hard fall, and say a more natural jolt or stumble. (It'll also pull in other data from the watch, presumably like your heart rate, which will doubtless spike in a nasty fall).

Then, if you aren't moving after the fall has happened for a certain length of time, the Pixel Watch can automatically call the emergency services, so you'll get the attention you need as quickly as possible.

Sometimes a new product looks a little silly; that's just a fact. And there's nothing wrong with functionality and form over stylish and fashion-conscious. This makes the reveal of the new Mutalk device an interesting case because it does look silly (and sure, that's a subjective take), but it's presented to look like this cool thing you can wear and cover your mouth with.

What is it? The Mutalk is a wireless Bluetooth microphone you wear as a mask to dampen the sound and cover your lips so no one can hear or tell what you're saying. You can see it in action in the video above.

The privacy side of the Mutalk makes it a device for smartphones and PCs, where sensitive conversations can happen anywhere. Plus, VR headsets, and if the picture below the headline is to be believed when gaming online too. There's also the benefit of not disturbing those near you or your neighbors. Regarding high-frequency noise reduction, the Mutalk can muffle the sound by around -30 decibels.

If you are a sneaker collector or know of a sneaker collector in your life that wants a totally next-gen way of showing off your sneaker collections? Then LG has your back, it wants to make Life Good with your sneaker collection with the introduction of its new Styler ShoeCase.

LG's new Styler ShoeCase is a new-look shoebox that has a window to show off your shoes, but better yet: the enclosure protects your shoes from moisture, with LG using filters to protect your kicks from UV light. You can even stack four of them up if you've got the sneakers to display, but it gets even better... if the Styler ShoeCase wasn't already cool enough.

Inside, there's a built-in Lazy Susan that lets you rotate your kicks for the absolute ultimate in showing off your shoes with LG's new Styler ShoeCase. I mean, imagine four pairs of sneakers all rotating with RGB lighting for the ultimate in atmosphere (while displaying your shoes in a totally new way).

A watch manufacturer has revealed RM UP-01 FERRARI, the world's thinnest mechanical watch, valued at nearly $2 million.

Luxury watch manufacturer Richard Mille has unveiled its newest watch, the RM UP-01 FERRARI, and according to Richard Mille, it's now the world's thinnest mechanical watch at just 1.75 mm thick - a US quarter is 1.75 mm thick. For reference, an Apple Watch Series 7 is 10.7mm thick. According to the website listing for the RM UP-01 FERRARI, the watch is comprised of 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% aluminum, and 4% vanadium.

Notably, the watch was birthed out of more than 6,000 hours of collaborative laboratory testing between Richard Mille and Ferrari. The design has been tested to meet "rigorous optimal strength requirements", with the watch reportedly able to withstand 5,000 g's and is also water resistant to 32 feet. The RM UP-01 FERRARI has now taken first place as the world's thinnest watch, knocking off Bulgari's Octo Finissimo Ultra, which was 1.88 mm thick.

An "industry leaker" has claimed that Apple is planning on redesigning its Apple Watch to feature flat edge glass panels.

The leaker "ShrimpApplePro" took to Twitter to write that they spoke to a source that said Apple is switching its rounded edge display for the Apple Watch and upgrading to a flat glass display, with the leaker saying, "High chance that this is the front glass for the Apple Watch Series 8". Notably, the leaker said that Apple could also be holding onto the glass for a future unannounced product.

Furthermore, the leaker said that the glass would be going into production around the same time as the glass for the iPhone 14 will be going into production. For those that don't know, rumors circulated last year that Apple would be giving its newest (at the time) Apple Watch Series 7 flat edges. These rumors didn't come true and have now turned into rumors about the Series 8. As with all rumors, take them with a grain of salt as some turn out to be true, and some turn out to be completely false.

Android Central posted an article on Saturday that revealed a prototype Google Pixel Watch has been found, confirming and disproving many of the rumors that have been circulating about the wearable device.

Much like the famous 2010 incident when Apple software engineer Gray Powell left a prototype iPhone 4 at a bar, which was later given to Gizmodo for a full tear down revealing what Apple's upcoming flagship had to offer, Google's seemingly upcoming Pixel Watch has been found at a restaurant. According to Android Central, the source that relayed the images to the publication asked to remain anonymous, but said that the device appears to be a "testing model for the Internal Pixel Team".

Notably, Android Central points out that if the images of the device are authentic, then this marks the first time the rumored watch that featured the codename dubbed "Rohan" has been seen by the public. Previous rumors suggested that the Pixel Watch would have a minimalist design, come in black, and have a rotating crown and two buttons. The source reported that the bottom "looks metallic but feels like it's coated with glass."

I'm sure executives are sitting around laughing at seeing their Apple Watch wearable playing Prince of Persia from 1989, as it was recently ported to Javascript and hacked to work on the Apple Watch.

You can play Prince of Persia on any web browser by checking out princejs, where you can play the 1989 classic on virtually anything: a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or PC. You can't do this easily on the Apple Watch, so software developer Oliver Klemenz's Javascript port runs smoothly in browsers, and even the Apple Watch.

It's not easy to play as you don't have any controls on the Apple Watch to play Prince of Persia, but it is doable. The new flagship Apple Watch Series 7 has a display with a resolution of 396 x 484, while Prince of Persia runs at 280 x 192 -- impressive considering it was originally released for the Apple II back in the day.

Apple actually made a wearable accessory for the Mac back in the 80s called the "WristMac" and it was made by Ex Machina Inc and Seiko, and now one of them is up for auction and could fetch up to $100,000.

The WristMac would've stored phone numbers, and executing or recurring one-time alarms, taking notes, exporting those notes to a text file, and then onto a disk. Users could've programmed their WristMac, and it would've worked -- and been tweaked on your -- Apple Macintosh computer.

NASA actually used the WristMac back in 1991, using them to communicate with a Macintosh Portable and Apple Link software on the Atlantis space shuttle. One of the super-rare WristMac wearables is now up for auction on ComicConnect, where it will be sold for somewhere between $1000 and $100,000 but given how rare the WristMac is, I don't think it will sell for a handful of Benjamins but rather some bundles of Benjamins.

Amazon has officially been granted permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use radar technology that is designed to monitor you while you sleep.

Amazon filed a request to the FCC on June 22 for a waiver to be granted for section 15.255(c)(3) of the FCC's rules that would allow the company to implement "field disturbance radar sensors", or "Radar Sensors" into products. Amazon goes on to say that the radar sensors would be used for "sleep tracking" and would provide "awareness and management of sleep hygiene".

Amazon also states that the radar sensors would be able to assist "persons with disabilities" such as "mobility, speech, or tactile impairments." On July 8, the FCC has granted approval for the technology to be implemented into products, stating that Amazon intends to "use the radar's capability of capturing motion in a three-dimensional space to enable contactless sleep tracing functionalities."