New iWatch Concept with Flexible Display, IOS 7 in News

Ciccarese Design has posted a new gorgeous iWatch concept featuring flexible touchscreen display and is 7 UI design.

Federico’s iWatch concept is more realistic with flexible display and running IOS 7. Take a look inside for iWatch concept photos & video.

iWatch Photos

iWatch Video

Last Year, Google Made An Acquisition That Could Help It Rival Apple's iWatch

If you thought Google’s foray into wearable technology starts and ends with Glass, think again. Because it’s just been discovered that in the summer of 2012, the Mountain View, Calif. The company made an acquisition that could help it develop a product to rival Apple’s anticipated iWatch.

The company Google bought was WIMM Labs: an early entrant into the smart watch arena, who in 2011 made an Android-powered smart watch, WIMM One, which didn’t do well. This product did, however, capture Google’s attention, and in the summer of last year, WIMM closed its doors, stopped sales, and announced that it had signed an “exclusive” partnership deal with an unknown company.

WIMM One.

GigaOM has now revealed that this “unknown company” was, in fact, Google, and explains:

At Google, WIMM’s employees are working with the Android team, which may seem natural since WIMM’s platform was based on Android, but it is actually a pretty good indicator of the role this acquisition is playing for Google. The company chose not to turn its smartwatch efforts into a Google X moonshot project that may take years to see the light of day, but instead brought it to the division that is making the world’s most popular Smartphone operating system. In other words: In the nascent world of smartwatches, Google means business.

As a reminder, Apple is said to have been working on its own wearable smart watch product, nicknamed “iWatch,” for some time, and recent analysis indicates that the Cupertino, Calif. The company could launch the product as early as 2014. That being said, long-time Apple rival Samsung is rumored to be announcing its own 2.5-inch, OLED smart watch next week, suggesting that Apple could be behind the times before the iWatch even hits Apple Store shelves.

Let’s just hope Google, too, doesn’t beat the iWatch to the punch.

In the meantime, see: Kitty Cat High Five: UK Carrier 3 To Launch Less Expensive 4G LTE This Year, Cydia Tweak: Celeste 2 Launches For Jailbroken iDevices, and Hacker Claims To Have Untether Binary For iOS 6.1.3.

Apple iWatch Rumors: $149 Starting Price, Could Replace iPod

New projections from an analyst suggest that the iWatch could hit stores in the second half of 2014 for between $149 and $229. This would mean that the iWatch may be released an entire year after Samsung’s Galaxy Gear watch.

The analyst with CIMB Group says that consumers will purchase the iWatch largely to replace their iPods, at least according to Digitimes. The Taiwanese website has a mixed track record when it comes to predicting product launches, was been correct when reporting that the iPhone 5 would begin shipping in September 2012.

The alleged price points for Apple’s iWatch do align with the analyst’s predictions that the smartwatch could serve as an  iPod replacement. Apple’s current generation iPod Nano costs $149, while the fifth-generation iPod Touch costs $229.

If Digitmes’ source is accurate, we wouldn’t be surprised to see something along the lines of a wearable iPod Nano, although Apple’s wearable tech patent details a device that sounds different. In the company’s patent for a “bi-stable spring with flexible display,” the document’s language describes a snap-bracelet gadget with a flexible display that would make it seem like the display runs seamlessly around one’s wrist.

Apple has yet to confirm or deny that it has a smartwatch in its pipeline, but CEO Tim Cook did say that wearable tech is “ripe for exploration” at this year’s D11 conference in May. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company also recently filed a patent for the term “iWatch” in multiple countries, although we’ll have to wait for an official announcement to find out more.

• 10 Killer Features for Apple’s iWatch
• Smartwatches: Why Their Time Has Finally Come
• 25 Best iPhone 5 Apps

Tags: Apple, iWatch, smartwatches, iPod, wearable tech

Report: Apple 'Aggressively' Hiring for iWatch Project

BY STAN SCHROEDERJUL 15, 2013

Apple is on a hiring spree to solve iWatch design issues, Financial Times reports citing people familiar with Apple's plans.

The iWatch is a rumored name for an Apple smartwatch, which would likely connect and interact with iOS devices.

According to the report, Apple is "aggressively" hiring engineering talent, which could mean that the iWatch project is real and not just an endless string of rumors. However, being an entire new product category, the iWatch reportedly poses "hard engineering problems," which Apple is now trying to solve. There are now several dozen employees dedicated to the device's development.

This new report also confirms a previous rumor which said the iWatch might be launched in late 2014.

Not wanting to be left behind, other companies such as Google, LG and Samsung are also rumored to be building a smartwatch, while Sony is one step ahead of the curve, having recently released a second iteration of its Android-powered smartwatch.

Graphic courtesy of Flickr, Brett Jordan

TOPICS: APPLE, BUSINESS, GADGETS, IWATCH

More details about Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch emerge

Earlier rumors had given us a pretty good idea of what hardware to expect in Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and now the folks over at GigaOM have chimed in with info from their own sources, confirming most of what we knew while also adding in a few new tidbits of information.

It seems the screen will be 2.5-inches in size instead of 1.67-inches as our tipster had reported, though the resolution remains the same at 320 x 320 pixels and you still get an OLED unit that will support the usual tough and swipe gestures but won’t have text input. The dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos 4212 processor and Mali-400MP4 GPU powering the smartwatch are confirmed once again, and so is the inclusion of Bluetooth 4.0 LE for connecting to a Smartphone, including NFC to allow for instant connections by bumping the watch and phone together.

The Gear will also have an inbuilt accelerometer that will allow for turning on the watch when it is brought up towards the eye, a technique no doubt implemented to manage battery power. Apparently there will be enough sensors in the Galaxy Gear to make it capable of competing with wearable computing devices like the Nike Fuelband – with the right apps (Samsung’s S Health will likely be loaded by default), the smartwatch could become your health tracker of choice.

When it comes to the software, GigaOM reports that the developer versions of the watch have been seen running on both Android 4.1 and 4.2, with tight integration between the watch and phones and tablets – for example, if you clear a few notifications on the watch, stop at, say, an email notification and pick up your phone, the phone will display the email message by detecting you were looking at its notification.

Oh, and since it’s a social world we’re living in, Facebook and Twitter will be integrated into the software at launch. Also, a watch manager app on your phone will manage the connection with the smartwatch, and it seems like all the apps that take advantage of the smartwatch’s capabilities will come from Samsung’s app store rather than Google’s, hinting at the company’s plans to slowly move away to its own platform (though unlike what the conspiracy theorists will tell you, Android will still be the OS of choice for Samsung for some time to come).

How much of this is true? Well, with multiple sources saying the same thing about the smartwatch, it would seem that most of what Samsung has to say during the Galaxy Gear’s official unveiling won’t come as a surprise to us. Perhaps the only thing that remains to be seen is how the watch actually works in real life, and frankly, that’s the most important thing that everyone should be looking forward to, while hoping that Samsung doesn’t mess it all up.

Source

Everything you need to know about much rumored ‘Galaxy Gear’ Smartwatch

The year of the smartwatch marches on, and following hardware such as the Pebble, Sony’s SmartWatch 2, and all manner of crowd-sourced alternatives, the next manufacturer expected to reveal such a device is Samsung. We’ve been hearing about a smartwatch from Samsung most of the year, but it’s only very recently we’ve learned its arrival is imminent. So what do we know about the watch? Quite a lot, but not all that much detail. As the announcement draws closer, we’ve pulled all the rumors surrounding the device together in one handy guide.

It's called the Galaxy GearA trademark filing discovered in July linked devices, including watchbands and wrist watches that communicate data with Smartphones, to the name Samsung Gear. The month after, to no-one’s surprise, the Gear name became prefaced by Samsung’s beloved and wide-ranging Galaxy brand name in another trademark application. Finally, this week, a Samsung executive confirmed the Galaxy Gear name in an interview.

Before it became known as the Galaxy Gear, it was first revealed as the Galaxy Altius, a considerably cooler name, which came along with a series of screenshots supposedly taken from the watch.

September 4 announcement
In the same interview that confirmed the Galaxy Gear name, we also learned the smartwatch will be revealed at Samsung’s second Unpacked event of 2013, which will take place on September 4 in Berlin. It’ll be joined by the Galaxy Note 3 Smartphone-tablet hybrid, a device which may benefit from the functionality provided by a smartwatch, thanks to its inevitably unwieldy size. According to Samsung, it has been working on a smartwatch for some time, so expect the company to make it a big deal.

What will it look like?
Excitingly, this is the area about which we’ve heard the least. Obviously, if it’s going to be worn on the wrist, there are only so many shapes and designs it can have, but pictures showing the device itself have stayed out of the limelight. There have been several concepts spread around the Internet, one of which you can see above, but otherwise, the look of the Galaxy Gear is all set to be a launch-day surprise. If you want to get a hint, here’s one of the best concept videos, even though we now know the Gear won’t have a flexible screen.
Source : Foxnews
Read more: foxnews.com

The smartwatch revolution isn't waiting for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, LG or Intel

Mike Elgan

Shared publicly  -  Jun 26, 2013

 #smartwatch

 

The smartwatch revolution isn't waiting for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, LG or Intel.

In a recent Google infomercial (also known as the movie The Internship), the main characters, played by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, lose their jobs as wristwatch salesmen because “everything is computerized now.” In desperation, they do the only logical thing, which is to try out for Google internships.

Instead, our bumbling heroes should have stuck it out in the wristwatch racket, because watches are about to come back in a major way.

And, yes, everything is computerized now. ; )

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/the-smartwatch-revolution-isnt-waiting-1.html

#smartwatch  

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New Details On That Swiss Smartwatch

Mike Elgan

Shared publicly  -  Aug 13, 2013

 #smartwatch

 

 

New details on that Swiss smartwatch.

I told you Sunday about a new smartwatch coming out of Switzerland called the Hyetis Crossbow. I talked to the watch’s creator and have some exclusive new details for you.

First, the basics: The Hyetis Crossbow is a watch project being developed by a designer named +Arny Kapshitzer. He’s the creative force behind a previous crazy watch called the AK Geneve WARP HMS Automatic from five years ago: http://goo.gl/VPfeJe

The Crossbow combines a regular mechanical wristwatch (which has its own watch battery) with a Smartphone-connected smartwatch (which has two batteries in the wristband, plus a 41-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lenses.

The high lense pixel count is designed for noise reduction, so it won’t produce 41-megapixel images, just very clear pictures at a lower resolution.

The watch connects to a phone with both WiFi and Bluetooth.

It senses the environment (altimeter, light meter, microphone, thermometer and barometer) and health (biometric sensors built into the band).

The watch will weigh between 140-150 grams (between 4.9 and 5.3 ounces).

Kapshitzer told me that the initial run of 500 units will ship in December at a price of $1,200. Once the watches go into full production, they’ll cost $1,500 each.

Pre-orders are expected to begin later this week.

http://www.hyetis.com/

#smartwatch   #hyetiscrossbow  

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2013-08-13

4 photos

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The First iWatch

Apple Now Creates Markets Before It Even Enters

I’ve written a lot about Apple’s ability to create new markets, which may be among its chief contributions to the world.

In several cases, from media players to multi-touch phones to tablets, others in the industry have tried to get a market going without success.Then Apple came along with a bold, killer information appliance and not only dominated the market, but created it.

I’ve notice a new trend lately: Now markets are being created based substantially on nothing more than the expectation that Apple will enter it with a killer product.

For example, Acer, AGENT, Androidly, Cookoo, Dell, EmoPulse, Foxconn, GEAK, Google, I’m Watch, Intel, Kreyos, LG, Martian, Metawatch, Microsoft, Pebble, Qualcomm, Rearden Technology, Samsung, Sonostar, Sony, Toshiba and Vachen are all in, will be in or will probably be in the smartwatch market, which has struggled for years to get off the ground as a mainstream category.

Why the sudden embrace by so many major companies? I think the reason is that everyone expects Apple to enter it, and by doing so create it. You’ll notice that the majority of press about smartwatches is about a rumored “iWatch” from Apple — a phantom product that Apple hasn’t announced or even discussed significantly in public.

It’s telling that a Google search for Apple iWatch (which has not been announced and does not exist) brings back more search results than Sony Smartwatch (which has existed for a long time and is on its second version). Such is the nature of Apple’s reputation.

For expensive items, the expectation that Apple will enter a market slows slows sales down because consumers hold off on buying until they find out what Apple is going to do. For example, Smart TV sales are probably artificially suppressed by the belief that Apple will announce an iTV some time in the next year or two.

In other cases, the demand Apple creates may be driving sales for competitive products. For example, I believe Apple created both the demand and the market for multi-touch tablets with the iPad. They were first to create widespread demand for retina displays with the iPhone. And they helped Android competitors drive demand for the 7-inch tablet with the iPad Mini.

In the minds of consumers, these mostly Apple-generated expectations and desires culminated in a very widespread demand for a Retina-quality iPad Mini, which many believe would be the perfect tablet and the one they really want. And I think that, to some degree, is sending sales of Google’s recently announced Nexus 7 tablet through the roof. (Android fans will scoff at this notion, but I personally know several people who were intending to wait for a Retina iPad mini who jumped ship and bought a Nexus 7).

A similar phenomenon may take place with the upcoming Sony Smartwatch 2, if it’s a better product than the first version. The same goes for other smartwatches that ship before Apple announces the assumed iWatch.

The ability of Apple to create markets before they enter them is a function, by the way, of three phenomena:

1. Apple’s great reputation. We saw this with the iPad. Before anyone had even seen it, people were already lining up to buy it. People expected Apple to ship a solid, elegant, beautiful device because of Apple’s previous products, and Apple delivered on that expectation.

2. The impossibility of keeping secrets. If Apple had it their way, nobody would be talking about the iWatch and iTV. But it’s impossible to build anything at Apple scale without involving numerous partners all over the world. At some point, people are going to leak and speculate, triggering multiple-source rumors.

3. The slow speed that Apple introduces products. I’m not sure if Apple is slower or if competitors are faster, but there’s a disparity. For example, why can Android companies ship retina-quality, 7-inch tablets so long before Apple does? Why is Sony on their second smartwatch when Apple hasn’t even hinted about a first one? Part or all of the answer may be that Apple tends to wait until technologies are fully baked before releasing its 1.0 products (see point #1). Part of the reason could be that Apple tends to ship at a vastly higher scale for 1.0 releases (see point #2). Or — worst case scenario — Apple has just gotten too slow for an accelerating industry.

Regardless, Apple is probably the only company capable of not only creating multiple markets, but creating markets before they even announce products for those markets.

I don’t see it as a problem. I still believe in this company’s ability to dominate with superior consumer products. When the iWatch, iTV and Retina iPad Mini finally ship, I predict they’ll quickly dominate the markets already in existence.

(Picture courtesy of Fuse Chicken.)

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/237489/apple-now-creates-markets-before-it-even-enters-them/#aTzvPUXq1rTL0jmH.99 

Another Smartwatch? Google Reportedly Acquired WIMM Labs

VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY

There might be another smartwatch on the horizon. Google has acquired wearable tech firm WIMM Labs, according to GigaOm.

"WIMM Labs not only gives Google the talent and technology to build a smartwatch, but actually an Android-based app platform tailored for consumers' wrists," the blog said.

The WIMM Labs website is currently offline, a move that apparently happened last year. For a time, wimm.com displayed a message that said it had "entered into an exclusive, confidential relationship for our technology," GigaOm said, but now it just returns a server error.

WIMM Labs debuted in 2011 and looked to take advantage of the emerging field of wearable tech. As PCMag found at the time, WIMM Labs had built an Android-based platform optimized for a small screen, as well as a small, modular hardware component with a 1.4-inch screen. WIMM suggested users could read email, check the weather, or even use your watch to pay for your Starbucks coffee.

The Apple Smartwatch's Top Competition

VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY

WIMM CEO Dave Mooring is a former Intel executive, and he likened WIMM's approach to Intel Inside, where it was clear who supplied the technology but the product itself was made by a separate party.

That separate party might now be Google. Reports of a Google-back smartwatch got started in March, when The Financial Times reported that the Android team was developing the wearable device. Citing a source "briefed on the project," the paper said the smartwatch would act as a kind of peripheral device for Smartphones. Google made no mention of a smartwatch at its I/O developer conference, however, and has thus far focused most of its wearable computing efforts on Google Glass.

Smartwatches have been in the news a lot lately, with Sony unveiling its next-gen gadget in June, and Samsung set to reveal its own smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, at the IFA trade show in Berlin next week. All eyes are also on Apple amidst reports that an iWatch is in the works, while Microsoft is also apparently taking a crack at wearable tech.

VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY

A week in tech: iPhone 5S release date, Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch and Kinect

The iPhone 5S is expected to be launched in September (Picture: Stuff)

Stuff, the world’s best selling gadget magazine, fills us in on the hottest tech news from the week including the iPhone 5 release date and a Google Nexus 4 price drop. 

iPhone 5S release date slated for September 20

The iPhone 5S and budget iPhone 5C could be released on September 20 according to the latest whispers to come out of the iRumour mill.

The speculated date has arisen after TmoNews’ mystery sources told the site that US T-Mobile employees have been forbidden to go on holiday from September 20-22.

Unbelievable bang for your buck – Google Nexus 4 drops to £160

Price drop: Google Nexus 4 (Picture: Stuff)

Google has dropped £80 off the price of the 8GB and 16GB Nexus 4 models to £160 and £200 respectively.

That’s an insanely good deal for a 4.7in quad-core handset with pure vanilla Android and guaranteed on-the-day updates.

The Nexus 4 earned a well-deserved 5 stars in Stuff’s review, thanks to its gorgeous glass build and super slick performance, and you’d be hard pressed not to snap one up for this price.

Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch to be revealed on September 4

Coming soon: Samsung Galaxy Gear (Picture: Stuff)

Samsung is set to unveil the Galaxy Gear smartwatch on September 4, according to an executive from the company.

Confirming reports that the Galaxy Gear would launch alongside the Galaxy Note 3, Lee Young-hee, executive vice president of Samsung Mobile, has announced that the Galaxy Gear will be revealed at Samsung’s pre-IFA briefing in Berlin.

Apple to invite you and your friends to an iPhone-powered silent disco?

Party time: Apple’s silent disco (Picture: Stuff)

Apple has filed a patent that describes a method of creating, essentially, your very own silent disco using little more than a bunch of iOS devices and some headphones.

Apple’s patent details a system that works slightly differently, because there is no central device acting as the DJ and broadcasting the same tune to every other user. Instead a collection of networked iPhones, iPod Touches or iPads will share tempo information, which means everyone in the group can listen to different music but at (roughly) the same BPM.

Kinect lets you look your Skype caller in the eye

Will you look me in the eye? (Picture: Stuff)

One of the problems with Skype video calls is that you and your counterpart are rarely looking each other in the eye, because you’re gazing at their on-screen image rather than directly into your webcam. It’s all a bit jarring.

A new software prototype from the Computer Graphics Laboratory ETH Zurich aims to change that using facial recognition and the Xbox 360’s Kinect camera. The camera and software isolate the caller’s face and rotate it slightly, creating the illusion of eye contact. Only the face is moved, and done so seamlessly – the rest of the image remains untouched.

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