Auto-Lacing Shoe are here...Finally!!!

After the Bluetooth powered shoes finally we have what we all were waiting for. It’s the Auto-Lacing shoes like that of McFly’s auto-lacing shoes as in the “Back to The Future” series. 

But these shoes are not far from us. In fact the plan is to make it available in the coming year. Powerlace, a Canadian company designed a shoe named P-One with auto-lacing capabilities. At present they are running a Kickstarter campaign to fund their project to about $650,000 CAD and have already raised $34,211 CAD as of now. It will cost you about $175 CAD after launch. 

With 56 days left to reach its goal, they would start shipping the shoes in May 2015 if the funding is successful. The Powerlace shoes have a simple mechanism for auto-lacing that doesn’t involve any voice commands, complex chips, apps, batteries or motors. The mere insertion of the foot automatically engages the lacing system's mechanism. The activation of the small lever found at the lower rear end of the shoe unlocks the power system. It's really that simple! The total energy required for the lacing system's mechanism is provided for by the weight of one's body. 

Want that to become a reality, Go Support!!!!

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Microsoft Band - a Fitness Tracker from Microsoft at $199

After all the tech giants jumping into the wearables market, Microsoft didn’t want to be left behind. So they launched Microsoft Band – a wearable that tracks your steps, heart rate, and stride length, all while showing you text, email, and Twitter alerts. 

The Band looks and feels a bit like a prototype, a relatively unadorned wristband with a clever sliding clasp (so you can change how it fits without taking it off) and a 1.4-inch, 320 x 106 display on the front. There are two buttons below the display: one for waking the device, and the "action button," which you use to scroll through data or start and end a workout. I quickly paired it to my iPhone 6 via Bluetooth, downloaded the beautifully minimalist Microsoft Health app, and was off. It automatically started tracking my steps and heart rate, funneling the data back to the app every time I hit sync. 

Microsoft's plan is as simple as it is large: to be the central repository for all the world's fitness data, to develop and distribute the best hardware and the best software for helping people live healthier lives. It doesn't matter what platform you're on, it doesn't matter what app or device you use. Microsoft wants to be everywhere. The company’s plan is to eventually combine your fitness data with your work calendar, or your email, or your location, to start to turn disparate data points into actionable insights. 

The device has 10 integrated sensors – including one to detect UV exposure and a special sensor to measure stress – plus a 48 hour battery life and is designed to be as open as possible to work across all platforms. Rather than just use the accelerometer to count steps, the Band combines that data with your phone’s GPS data and the always-on heart-rate monitor to figure out the length of your strides, which provides a much more accurate measurement of calories burned.  

Microsoft Band will be available from Microsoft Stores in the US for $199. There's no word on international availability yet, but given Microsoft's aspirations for the Band to become the centre of a health revolution, expect global rollout information in the not too distant future. 

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HP and Michael Bastian creates a Smartwatch for Fashionistas

Earlier this year HP announced partnership with Michael Bastian for a designer smartwatch which wouldn’t just appeal to the techie guys. It was more of a fashion statement than a gadget. Online retailer Gilt will be selling the new watch this coming Friday and The Wall Street Journal has gotten a first look at the device. 

Named MB Chronowing, this smartwatch comes in 2 variants and neither version looks like a typical smartwatch — the MB Chronowing wouldn't look out of place in a glass case full of traditional chronometer-style watches. Its 44mm diameter makes it a pretty large watch, and the chunky bezel recalls Tag Heuer more than Dieter Rams Braun. 

It is not a typical smartwatch with touch screen and voice controls. Instead it works by using a black and white LED display for notifications. In addition to an LCD display, the MB Chronowing includes a clock dial for reading the time. The battery is said to last up to seven days between charges and the watch will work with both Android and iOS devices. 

Michael Bastian's watch falls firmly in a category which is different from those of smartwatches we know, so it likely won't appeal to those lusting after a Moto 360 or Apple Watch. But if you want a nice watch that happens to also alert you to new messages or emails, the MB Chronowing could be an appealing choice. 

MB Chronowing will be available with leather, rubber, or nylon straps for $349, or with a crocodile strap and sapphire-glass crystal for a heftier $649. 

Source: WSJ

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Apple's new iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple Pay is here: A round up of what happened at the Apple Event

The big star-studded event at Cupertino saw many new things that Apple introduced to the Apple fans all around the world. These were the new iPhone, Apple watch and Apple Pay. Apple introduced 2 new iPhones – a 4.7” iPhone 6 with a 750p display and a 5.5” iPhone 6 Plus with 1080p display. Both are equipped with NFC giving them the ability to use the Apple Pay “tap-to-pay” system. And lastly the new Apple Watch is there to give a competition to the existing wearables in the market. 

Let’s have a quick recap of all the important announcements from the Apple Event yesterday. 

First here is iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. 

A beautifully redesigned device. 

From the time when the first iPhone sat on the shelves to the current iPhone 6 there has been quite many variations to the design. From the round-back to the flat design in iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 for the first time saw 2 different sizes in the same device. But now the glass front melts into the curved all-metal sides on both models, and they’re thinner than previous iterations, with a significant size bump for even the small model. A camera protrudes slightly from the back, and the display is supposed to be stronger, with a higher resolution. 

Apple into the Phablets 

With the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple ventured into a new area of phablets which was earlier left untouched. iPhone 6 Plus comes with an amazing 5.5” 1080p Retina HD display. The keyboard now carries a few extra keys, including dedicated buttons for cut, copy, and paste. The Plus also gets a new gesture, called reachability: double-tap the home button and the top of the screen scrolls down, letting you reach elements at the top of the screen without reaching with your thumb. Its available starting from $299 on a 2-year contract. 

The new iPhone 6 

Speaking truthfully, it’s a larger than the previous iPhone 5S but still keeps it from the flagship segment of the Android and Windows smartphones which now mostly have a 5” screen size with 1080p resolution. iPhone 6 has a screen resolution of 1334x750. It’s bigger from its earlier brother. Also the new A8 chip gives improved battery life and will be running the latest iOS 8. Its available starting from $199 on a 2-year contract. 

New processor means new powers with A8 

The new iPhones are powered by the new 64-bit A8 and M8 co-processor chips that provide a lot more benefits over the A7. It’s supposed to be 50 percent more efficient with 25 percent faster than A7 and is also smaller in size. Meanwhile, the M8 chip is a huge improvement over the movement-tracking processor Apple unveiled last year with the iPhone 5s.The new version can identify what type of physical activity you’re doing at a given time and even measure elevation thanks to a barometer. 

New Camera 

The iPhone 6 is also getting a slight boost in the photo department thanks to its new iSight 8-megapixel camera. That’s still the same number of megapixels, but Apple says it should still take better pictures thanks to an improved sensor, digital image stabilization and f/2.2 aperture. The company claims you’ll be able to focus in and snap a photo twice as fast as you can with the iPhone 5s. One can now shoot panorama upto 43MP and shoot 1080p at 30fps and 60 fps. Also slo-mo video can now be shot from 120fps to 240fps. iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilization in which camera can move up and down instead of just left and right and works in tandem with the gyroscope to get perfect snaps. 

iOS 8 is available on September 17th 

Apple didn't spend much time talking about any new features in the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 8, but did announce that it will be available as a free upgrade on September 17th, two days before the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. 

Apple Pay 

The iPhone 6 is also one of three Apple devices that will have access to the company’s new mobile payments service, called Apple Pay, thanks to a built in NFC antenna. Along with the iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, the iPhone 6 will let you store credit card data and pay at tons of different stores. You’ll also start seeing Apple Pay buttons pop up on mobile websites all over the place to let you do everything at stores like Disney, Macy’s, Walgreens, Staples, Subway and even in Drive-thru McDonalds. Apple also stressed how safe the new app is thanks to a new secure element that protects your identity and data. Apple will start off in US with American Express, Visa and Mastercard. 

And the most awaited Apple Watch 

It’s a smartwatch with inductive charging, a square face, sapphire glass, swappable bands, a heartbeat sensor and a rotating digital crown. Users will be able to choose between six different straps, including a sport band, a leather loop, a classic leather buckle and a stainless steel strap that is easily adjustable. The watch will come in two different sizes and three different collections: Watch, Watch Sport and Watch Edition. It’s compatible with the iPhone 5 and onwards. 

The Digital Crown 

The interface makes full use of the digital crown, and developers will be able to use it for their own apps. The Apple Watch will also be using voice input through Siri. Apple built a cool way to see your photos. You start out zoomed out, with all of your photos showing as minuscule thumbnails. Then you use the crown to zoom in. Pushing it returns you to the device’s home screen. The interface is designed to minimize the hassle of using a small screen – the included messaging app lets you respond using canned replies or spoken ones that you dictate, and the communication system gets its own little dedicated button under the crown. 

Availability 

The new iPhones will be available in India starting from 17th October with the price of the unlocked version still un-announced. The Apple Watch will debut next year but the date is still in folds. Keep an eye on the further updates coming your way.

Explore Further: Apple(India) 

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Asus ZenWatch launched with Killer Looks

Asus took stage in Berlin to reveal several new products but the center of attraction was the new Asus ZenWatch.  It’s no doubt the best looking smartwatch to date maybe giving a tough competition to Moto 360. Featuring a curved 2.5D design on the front and a stainless cover on the back, it’s newly announced ZenWatch emphasizes style above all else. Also the price isn’t so bad. Coming at around €199 it sets a high benchmark for the upcoming smartwatches. 

The super sleek ZenWatch runs Android Wear OS and features a version of the ASUS ZenUI developed specifically for the ZenWatch. The ZenWatch features comes with a rose gold-colored middle layer and stainless steel top and bottom, with a brushed surface around the face. It has a 1.63-inch 320×320 AMOLED display with a slight curve to its surface, and a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, as well as 512MB or RAM and Bluetooth 4.0. But Asus wants to wow you with its looks, not specs. 

Like the Gear Live and G Watch R, the ZenWatch is also capable of monitoring a user’s heart rate.  IP55 water and dust-proofing helps it tolerate accidental splashes, and it has a 9-axis sensor for tracking activity and movement. 

Asus hasn't yet revealed the release date for its first Android Wear smartwatch, but you can see it up close and personal in our photos.

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Sony Smartwatch 3 and new fitness tracker SmrtBand Talk Launched

Apart from Sony Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact and Z3 Tablet Compact, yesterday IFA 2014 Sony also launched a bunch of accessories to be coupled with your device to provide a whole new experience. It includes Sony Smartwatch 3, Sony SmartBand Talk. 

Finally Sony forayed in the world of Android Wear. Sony Smartwatch 3 is Sony’s first smartwatch running Google’s Android Wear. The company says this is the first “specifically designed for the latest Android Wear updates in close collaboration with Google.” 

Equipped with a 1.6-inch LCD Transflective display, Sony’s SmartWatch 3 is capable of acting as a standalone device to a certain extent; with support for GPS. It runs on 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and 420mAh battery. In addition to GPS, it also includes accelerometer, compass and gyroscope.  

You can pick this up in black or lime at launch for about €229 (approx. $300 USD), with pink and white straps coming after launch. 

The company announced another wearable, called SmartBand Talk. The company described it as a “powerful lifelogging wearable, with intuitive features”.  

This model also packs a speaker and mic so that you can use it to field calls from your phone as it supports HD Voice, so you should have no issue hearing with people are saying on the other line and it has a 1.4-inch always-on e-ink display for power conservation and visibility in any lighting. The SmartBand Talk is powered by a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 processor, 2MB of internal flash memory, a 70mAh battery, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and microUSB support. You’ll be able to pick this up for €159 (about $208 USD). 

And also, following the Sony’s waterproof obsession he SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand Talk comes with IP68 waterproof and dustproof certification. 

When the SmartWatch 3 and SmartBand Talk launch later this fall, both devices will be compatible with Sony’s Lifelog app, which is available in the Google Play Store for free.

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