Hasta La Gadget!

Unreal Engine 4’s new $19 subscription option might be real tempting for developers on a budget, unless, of course, they’re hoping to make games for Windows Phone and Windows RT. Although Epic Games’ next-gen engine doesn’t work with the…

Most smartwatches out there act as companion devices. Meaning that they need to be paired up with a smartphone or a tablet in order to tap into most of its features. As much as we would want our wearables to be more powerful and capable of doing a lot more, that’s simply a limitation that doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. Recently Google launched Android Wear, a new SDK for wearable devices. LG and Motorola are both building smartwatches on it. While they look refreshingly different from the current crop, it appears that Android Wear smartwatches won’t really be different from their rivals at least initially.

In detailing what developers need to know about Android Wear, Android Engineer Sagar Seth gives a variety of tips that developers should keep in mind when building for Android Wear powered smartwatches. Seth says that developers should focus on using landscape images, notifications with image in the background and really harnessing the power of Google Now voice commands.

Though he also mentioned that developers need to remember that they won’t be building full-fledged applications for Android Wear, where the application would sit on the device itself. It won’t. It would simply be notifications that would make information available when the user needs it to be. This means that Android Wear smartwatches would also need to be hooked up with a mobile device.

Was this to be expected or is this really not what you would have imagined Android Wear smartwatches to be like? We all love the idea of having a smartwatch that can do all this on its own, but perhaps we’ll have to wait for a bit before they become a reality.

Android Wear Won’t Support ‘Full-Fledged’ Applications , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Gadgets, android wear, Google, Wearable Tech,

Parents would have gone through the motions in the past when it comes to caring for a sick child, and that would include taking down your little one’s temperature whenever there is a fever. Normally, a thermometer would do the trick, and if that happens to be too old fashioned for you, perhaps using a digital thermometer might be your cup of tea. Why not go further with the iTherm? The iTherm happens to be a bracelet which can measure the human temperature using a smartphone, now how about that? In fact, it works great by letting you set alarms to alert you whenever the temperature has reached a certain limit so that necessary action can be taken.

The idea of the iTherm was born when Marcos Oliva, an entrepreneur and founder of the project, saw his firstborn experience the very first cold and fever, with the paediatrician informing him to “Watch out that the temperature does not get too high by giving him antipyretics every 8 hours for 2 days. If there is no improvement bring him back.”

Instead of organizing shifts to watch over the baby’s fever between both parents, the iTherm would step in. Relying on Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a temperature sensor is attached to a bracelet, where placing it in the child’s arm would allow one to monitor the temperature without having to disturb the little one’s sleep. Not only that, this particular system can set alarms to wake parents up should the temperature hit a determined level. Right now, iTherm remains as an Indiegogo project.

iTherm Bracelet Records Your Body Temperature , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Gadgets, crowdfunding,

Much has been talked about concerning the highly affordable Raspberry Pi, and here we are with the Raspberry Pi Compute Module being introduced to the masses. The main role of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module is to target hobbyists who want to incorporate the Raspberry Pi as the core of their own printed circuit boards, where the Compute Module functions as the brains of the Pi, considering how it is well equipped with RAM and 4GB of eMMC Flash memory to get you started.

James Adams, Director of Hardware at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, shared, “We love hearing about what users are doing with their Raspberry Pis, and are constantly amazed at the range of projects, as well as the inventiveness and creativeness of the community.We are also aware that there are a very significant number of users out there who are embedding the Raspberry Pi into systems and even commercial products. We think there needs to be a better way to allow people to get their hands on this great technology in a more flexible form factor, but still keep things at a sensible price.”

Kits that will comprise of the Compute Module and IO Board will be made available from this June onward, while the Compute Modules can be purchased as a standalone device slightly later after that.

Raspberry Pi Compute Module Introduced , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Computers, raspberry pi,

Time and again it has been rumored that SoftBank is shopping around for a major mobile carrier. Over the past few months there has been endless speculation about a possible acquisition of T-Mobile U.S. by SoftBank, and a subsequent merger with Sprint, which it owns. Apparently federal regulators aren’t warming up to the idea, so perhaps SoftBank has started looking elsewhere. There’s increasing speculation that it may be considering a bid for UK-based Vodafone. Though this doesn’t mean that the T-Mobile deal is gone for good.

Vodafone has already significantly reduced its presence in the U.S. It had a 45 percent stake in Verizon, which it has decided to sell back to Big Red for $130 billion. While its not offering itself up for sale, there have been rumors about AT&T considering a move on UK’s second largest carrier. Word on the street is that the carrier may offer as much as $80 billion for Vodafone. AT&T has only recently started downplaying the rumors.

According to analysts, if a Vodafone takeover deal is reached, Japanese banks could provide SoftBank with funding. Its already set to make billions of dollars from Alibaba’s U.S. IPO, SoftBank has a 37 percent in the e-commerce website. Analysts also believe that if Vodafone sells off its European assets, it may simply spin off wireless businesses in markets like India.

SoftBank and Vodafone haven’t commented on speculation as yet, so there’s no indication if talks have actually begun. As far as the T-Mobile deal goes, both companies are said to have held talks, but apparently regulators have warned that they’ll strike down any takeover deal.

SoftBank Reportedly Considering Bid For Vodafone , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, AT&T, softbank, vodafone,