Hasta La Gadget!

According to information obtained by 9To5Mac, Best Buy may begin selling the Pebble smartwatch as early as this Sunday. The outlet’s sources claim management briefed them that their stores would start selling the watches, and one supplied the above image. This picture of Best Buy’s internal inventory system clearly shows an in stock date of July 7th, or, this Sunday, when the firm’s weekly circular goes out and its new sales start. If this news is correct, it would mark Best Buy as the first — and at this time, only — brick-and-mortar retailer of the “appcessory.” Also gleaned from the submitted photo is news that the smartwatch won’t be eligible for home delivery, but we can’t imagine not being able to order online and then pick-up in-store. We’ve contacted Best Buy for more info and will update if we hear back.

Filed under: Wearables

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Source: 9To5Mac

With all this talk of some prominent companies casting their wrists into the increasingly hot world of wearables, let’s not forget the number of folks that have been toiling away in that world for some time now. Companies like TomTom, which is already on the, erm, pulse of the watch world. The GPS-maker announced plans for two new sporty additions to its line earlier this year, and now the Runner and Multi-Sport have found their way to the market. The Runner’s got indoor tracking, a speedy GPS locator, desktop stat syncing, a heart rate monitor, 10-hour battery and waterproof / scratch resistant casing. The Multi-Sport’s got all of the above, plus a bike mount, altimeter, motion sensor for swimming and a cadence sensor. Both are available now in the states, priced at $170 and $200, respectively.

Filed under: GPS, Wearables

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Google might make another foray into living room hardware as it’s currently developing an Android powered gaming console. Since that’s just not enough of a rumor bomb, the talkative “people familiar with the matter” also claim a wristwatch and followup to its “postponed” Nexus Q project are on the way. If you believe the rumors, its reason for jumping into all these categories is to beat products Apple is reportedly developing in the same categories, with at least one of them launching this fall. Finally, the leaks indicate Google’s next major Android update will be “tailored to low-cost devices in developing countries,” and are ready to go in a much wider variety of devices.

That could mean laptops or even appliances running the rumored Key Lime Pie flavor of Android, built by manufacturers like Samsung which is already working on a watch of its own. Also mentioned is HP, which the report goes on to claim is building laptops that run Android. Companies like Ouya, Mad Catz, Pebble and GEAK probably think Mountain View is already late to the party, but official OS-level support and heavily marketed hardware could take these segments to the next level.

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables, HD, Mobile, Samsung, Google, HP

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Starting today, you can pre-order Recon Instrument’s Jet for only $499. That’s a lot cheaper than Glass! [Recon]

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It’d be hard to go hands-on with the WearIT smart watch given that it’s still very much a prototype and its touchscreen is … well, it’s not enabled yet. But we did get a chance to put our hands to the device and snap a gaggle of pictures, highlighting its 1.54-inch capacitive touchscreen and trio of buttons (each of which will correspond to specific applications, we’re told). The concept with WearIT’s watch is that it’s a standalone device — “We’re getting closer to Dick Tracy every day,” a company rep told us. While the device isn’t quite up to Tracy’s standards (no phone functionality, for instance), it assuredly packs more power than the aging detective’s wrist gadget.

A Cortex A8 600 MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM are at the heart of the smart watch, backed up by a 550 mAh lithium ion rechargeable battery. 4GB of storage is embedded inside, along with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth / Bluetooth LE, ANT+, and a USB 2.0 port (when using the charging clip, included with the watch). Oh, and it runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, though it’s pared down considerably for the screen size. We’ll have a much closer look at WearIT’s smart watch later this year — the device is expected to arrive in the US starting in November and will retail for $400.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables, Software

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