Welcome to another And finally, where we mop up all the rumours, murmurs and smaller stories of the week.
Over the past seven days we’ve brought you news that Microsoft HoloLens is coming to the UK, Google’s smartwatch duo are set for early next year, Blocks has delayed its smartwatch (again), the HTC Vive has some new controllers in the works, and that the cancelled Microsoft Band 3 may have leaked. Oh, and this happened too.
But what other grist has there been for the rumour mill? Let’s investigate.
Samsung builds tech for next-gen wearables
And it probably won’t catch on fire! Sorry Samsung, people won’t let that one go for a while. In more positive news for the company that’s currently expecting losses north of $5 billion after the Note 7 fiasco, it’s also produced some tech that will power its next generation of wearables – which we assume will include the Gear S4.
It announced this week that it’s begun mass production of the Exynos 7 Dual 7270, which packs a lot of guts, including a 4G LTE modem, into a smaller package than what’s currently on offer. The result should be slimmer devices, which might be just as well – the Gear S3 is one chunky beast.
Nuimo wants to simplify the smart home
German company Senic has a bold idea: forget the smartphone, opt for something more tactile. The Nuimo is a small disk-shaped device that can be used to control your smart home gadgets. With its touch-sensitive scroller you can stream your music, control your heating, adjust the lighting and so on.
We can see the appeal: sometimes faffing around with finding the right app just to dim the lights can seemingly be more hassle than it’s worth, and Nuimo wants to simplify things – although unlike your phone you won’t carry it around with you.
After an initial successful Kickstarter campaign, and early shipments already in the hands of buyers, the Nuimo has gone on sale in the UK this week through Amazon’s Launchpad, where it can be ordered for £169. More info, including international prices, here.
Feeling strange
What does data feel like? Don’t ask us, but these folks might have the answer. The Interactive Architecture Lab at the Bartlett School of Architecture have come up with a new innovation called Sarotis, which uses soft robotics with depth sensors to let the wearer “feel” their surroundings. The device sees the information and feeds it back with physical responses.
In an example given by Architects Newspaper, the researchers created a 3D maze using Google’s Project Tango tech, and then put a blindfold on participants who had to navigate the virtual labyrinth it using Sarotis. They then successfully reproduce the maze in drawings afterwards.
And finally… would you wear this?
If there’s one problem in VR we don’t see going away any time soon, it’s sweat. There’s nothing worse than being handed a headset from someone who’s just spent an hour in EVE: Valkyrie and feeling their face residue pushing against your pores. Mmmm, lovely stuff. It seems like someone has come up with a solution – if you’re using PS VR. The anti-sweat mask was discovered by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, who posted it on Twitter. We’d laugh at it, but having known the feeling of a sweaty VR headset before, we actually don’t think it’s the worst idea.
SOURCE:http://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/samsung-gear-s4-price-specs-release-date-features-3228
