Hasta La Gadget!

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,

The Apple iWatch has been rumored about for quite a while now. In fact we have been hearing about the rumored device for more than a year now so we guess it’s either the device is fake and does not exist, or it could be that it is nearing its official reveal.

In fact according to supply chain sources (via Taiwan’s Economic Daily News), it seems that the device could be launched as soon as Q3 2014, which coincidentally enough is also around the time that Apple could launch their next-gen iPhone, assuming that Apple keeps to schedule, of course.

The report goes on to claim that Quanta Computer will be manufacturing the watch, while companies like Richtek Technology and TPK will be supplying the chips and sapphire touch panels that will be used in the watch respectively. This recent report seems to contradict earlier claims that Quanta would be manufacturing the device in time for a Q2 release, while TPK will be supplying flexible AMOLED panels, and not sapphire touch panels.

Then again these are merely rumors so safe to say that we have no idea which is real and which isn’t, or it could be that both rumors weren’t even real to begin with. That being said if there’s one thing that the rumors all seem to suggest, it is that the iWatch will be focusing on health. In fact rumors about iOS 8 hints that there will be health-related apps, like Healthbook for instance. The latest rumor about the iWatch also hints at possible UV exposure sensors.

In any case take it with a grain of salt for now, but with companies like Google, Samsung, LG, and Motorola making the smartwatch push this year, we expect Apple will want to get something into the market before it is too late.

Apple iWatch Rumored For Q3 2014 Launch , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, Gadgets, Rumors, iwatch, smartwatch, Wearable Tech,

Another day, another connected toothbrush… the Grush one is slightly different from Kolibree, the first electrical connected toothbrush, because it will feature a few games at launch and it is not electrical. Note that the Kolibree team talked about adding games in the future but we have not seen one yet. For now, Grush is merely an early stage prototype that has been developed by cofounders Ethan Daniel Schur and Dr. Yong-Jing Wang.

(more…)

Grush, Connected Toothbrush with Games original content from Ubergizmo.

During GDC 2014, Sony unveiled Project Morpheus, a virtual reality headset of their own making. This was followed shortly after by Facebook announcing the acquisition of Oculus VR. There have also been talks about Microsoft entering the VR space as well and with all this attention, it definitely sounds like VR could be on track to become the next big thing in gaming.

There are some, like Ubisoft, who expressed some reservation regarding the wide appeal of VR headsets and it seems that they’re not alone in that reservation. Speaking recently at a Yabbly “Ask Me Anything” session, the Xbox’s co-founder, Ed Fries, expressed his own skepticism that virtual reality could have a wide appeal. (more…)

Xbox Co-Founder Skeptical About VR Tech, Compares It To 3D TV original content from Ubergizmo.

When Facebook announced that they would be acquiring Oculus VR, not only were many people surprised, but many were apparently outraged as well. We’re not sure where all the anger is coming from, perhaps it could be that they’re worried Facebook might attempt to monetize the Oculus Rift through ads, perhaps they feel that Facebook might be trying to invade their gaming space, who knows?

All we know is that for the most part, most people just aren’t too happy about it. But could their unhappiness of the acquisition be warranted to the point where death threats are issued? According to Oculus VR’s founder, Palmer Luckey, he claims that he and his team have received death threats following the acquisition. (more…)

Oculus Rift Team Hit With Death Threats Following Facebook Acquisition original content from Ubergizmo.