Samsung Sleepsense tracker coming to Korea
The Gear S2 isn’t the only Samsung device to go around at IFA 2015. Samsung’s new Sleepsense tracker is a disk-like device for tracking your sleep.
The device should be placed under your mattress and will record your activity during the night. The device will automatically sync the data to your connected Samsung smartphone using a new application in the Play Store. It will track details like your heart rate, breathing, movement, total sleep time, the number of times you woke up and the percentage of REM sleep. Samsung has proven the results to be 97% accurate therefore making it great product that you can trust with your data.
In addition, the device can give users tips on how to sleep better and how to maintain a better diet. It also acts as a home automation tool by allowing users to turn the TV off at night, adjust the AC, turn off the lights and more.
Samsung Sleepsense will be launching in Korea shortly, with hopefully more countries to come. The company hasn’t announced pricing for the device yet, but we should find out more in the coming weeks. Is this something you would buy?
Source: Samsung Tomorrow
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Samsung reveals pricing details for its new Gear S2 smartwatches
Samsung recently unveiled the Gear S2 smartwatch aimed at bringing functionality in a beautiful style right at your wrist. The company is currently showcasing the new device at IFA 2015 in Berlin. Today, we received information regarding the device’s pricing and availability.
Samsung has officially confirmed the pricing for the Gear S2 and Gear S2 classic in Finland and Denmark. In Finland it will cost 349 euros for the Gear S2 and 399 euros for the Gear S2 classic. In Denmark the Gear S2 is priced at 2,599kr and the Gear S2 classic is listed at 2,999kr. Both variants of the smartwatch will arrive in early October all over the world.
The Gear S2 includes an all-new rotating bezel for easy navigating, a refreshed Tizen interface, a full round display, a metal design and many options for different bands. It will support Samsung Pay and include an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance. Samsung promises the smartwatch will last a near 3 days on a single charge. It will include a bunch of Samsung’s apps pre-installed such as S Health, Nike+ Running, Music player, Maps and Weather. Here are some pictures of the company’s all-new Gear S2 smartwatch.
Source: Sammyhub
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Rumour: LG’s Nexus 5X coming September 29th with $400 price tag
While news from IFA 2015 is still filtering through, it seems that the one topic that makes the hearts of many Android purists skip-a-beat has reared its head again. Yesterday we learned that Google will announce both the LG and Huawei Nexus devices on September 29th, in San Francisco, and now some new details about LG’s latest Nexus device have emerged.
The details come courtesy of Android Authority, whose unnamed source has informed them that LG’s Nexus handset will probably be known as the Nexus 5X.
While the Nexus 5X will be more affordable than the Nexus 6 initially was, according to the source, it will still be around $50 more expensive than the original Nexus 5. To be honest, if the price tag is accurate, the relatively small increase in cost would be what most people would expect to see, especially considering the bump in specifications. The 16GB version of the Nexus 5X is expected to retail for $399, with the 32GB variant running to $449. It should be noted, none of the leaked factoids have been officially confirmed at this point, thus, a normal sized pinch of salt should accompany these details for the time being.
The same unnamed source dropped other interesting tidbits, including that, as long suspected, and alluded to with the tons of leaked renders, LG’s Nexus 5X carries a fingerprint scanner on the plastic rear panel, with a raised camera sensor and dual-LED flash accompanying it. Colour options include white, black, and light blue. A USB Type-C port is also said to be present, which, I’m sure we all hope, will be the full-featured product, and not the stripped down version that is present in the OnePlus 2.
If, and it is an if, these leaked details all come to pass, the Nexus 5X is bound to find its way onto the want lists of many Nexus fans. Especially considering that, for many, the 6-inch Nexus 6 handset was simply too big and costly. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: AndroidAuthority
Come comment on this article: Rumour: LG’s Nexus 5X coming September 29th with $400 price tag
Griffin Expands Survivor Lineup With Two New iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Cases
Griffin today announced an expansion of its popular Survivor case lineup for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, introducing the new Survivor Summit and the Survivor Journey. Like its existing Survivor cases, both the Summit and the Journey offer military grade protection for Apple’s iPhones.
The Survivor Summit is Griffin’s most protective Survivor case yet, featuring a sealed weatherproof design that’s resistant to dust, rain, mud, and snow. It includes a screen shield that both serves as a stand and protects the touchscreen and home button from grime.
With rubber bumpers and a built-in impact resistance system that suspends and cushions the iPhone within the case, the Summit can survive 10-foot drops onto concrete. According to Griffin, despite the high level of protection, the Summit is “slim enough to easily slide into pockets.”
The Survivor Journey is not as protective as the Survivor Summit, but it’s thinner and sleeker. Described by Griffin as “ultra-thin, ultra-tough,” the Journey is a one piece snap-on shell that deflects and absorbs impacts to survive a 6.6 foot drop onto concrete.
The Journey includes Griffin’s “Impact Dispersion System” that includes multiple layers, housing the iPhone inside a rigid, shatterproof shell coated in a material that’s easy to grip.
Survivor Summit and Journey take our best-selling case line to a whole new level with sleek, slim designs that continue to offer the extreme protection users have grown to love from our Survivor cases,” said Aaron Jones, Survivor Category Manager at Griffin Technology.
The Survivor Summit is available from Griffin.com in black/blue, black/clear, black, and pink/gray. It’s priced at $49.99 for the iPhone 6 and $59.99 for the iPhone 6 Plus.
The Survivor Journey is available from Griffin.com in black/blue, black/white, black/gray, and pink/gray. It’s priced at $29.99 for the iPhone 6 and $39.99 for the iPhone 6 Plus.
Samsung introduces new SmartThings portfolio
IFA is always full of new and exciting products, but Samsung is taking a different approach with their newly-acquired SmartThings brand. Samsung announced an updated version of the SmartThings Hub at IFA, along with some new devices — called “things,” of course — that can be paired with the hub. The new hub, which is available now direct from Samsung, is sporting an ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1GHz, a faster chip than we found in the older hub. The new processor means the hub can now handle video streaming, so users can view live feeds on their smartphone from a connected camera. The hub will also send users event-based notifications when smoke, fire, leaks, or floods are detected. New features also include a battery backup that allows the hub to continue functioning for up to 10 hours on its own, in the event of a power outage.
Samsung isn’t stopping with the SmartThings family, as it introduced a few new devices at IFA as well. SleepSense, a flat disk that users place under their mattress, monitors sleep patterns, heart rate, and respiration. It also recognizes when a user falls asleep, turning off a connected TV and adjusting the heating or air conditioning.
Along with SleepSense, Samsung is bringing more content to users via partnerships with Netflix, VoD, Amazon, and even GameFly. The push is to get users to buy more Samsung televisions, so they have access to such great content and features. Along with digital content, Samsung also announced a new Blu-Ray player, which is supposedly capable of upscaling content to UHD resolution. This will be a nice addition to the Samsung family for Blu-Ray fans.
Appliances also made an appearance at Samsung’s IFA showcase, with the announcement of AddWash, a new line of washing machines from Samsung that aims to make laundry a little less frustrating for users. The WW8500 AddWash is the first washing machine in the line, and Samsung claims that it’s the first washing machine that allows users to add laundry at any point in the wash cycle with the push of a button that unlocks the door. It also pairs with a companion smartphone app that gives users notifications and allows them to monitor laundry during the cycle.
Finally, Samsung is teaming with BMW to integrate the SmartThings hub into cars. This will enable drivers to lock and unlock the car via their smartphone, as well as check the technical status of their BMW. Volkswagon is also working with Samsung, creating the Car Mode for Galaxy app, a competitor to Android Auto. The app essentially does many of the things that Android Auto does (navigation, music playback, etc), but connects to cars that support MirrorLink. Users can then control functions in the app through steering wheel controls or their on-board display. The companies are also introducing an app for the newly announced Gear S2, which will allow owners of certain Volkswagon cars to control some functions from their watch.
Samsung is definitely investing in the Internet of Things with these new and updated devices, which makes sense given the company’s desire to have all their devices integrated with the SmartThings hub within the next five years. We’ll keep an eye on Samsung’s new products, which hopefully bring a new level of functionality to homes (and cars).
Source: Android Central (1), (2), 9to5 Google
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Your doctor may soon check your heart with a smartphone
The stethoscope, invented 200 years ago because a French doctor was too embarrassed to put his ear directly against a woman’s chest, is finally getting a digital upgrade. A device called the Eko Core, which attaches to a regular stethoscope, has just been approved for medical use by the US FDA. It amplifies and records the sound signals transmitted by the ubiquitous medical devices, then sends the sound waves wirelessly to an iPhone app. From there, doctors can record the waveform and either listen to it later or compare it to a future visit to test the effects of a treatment. It will also be handy as a teaching too for medical students.
The Eko team has much bigger plans for the Core than that, too. It’s started clinical trials for an algorithm that would compare a patient’s heartbeat to pre-recorded ones and classify their rhythm as normal or abnormal. The doctor would get the final word, of course, but such an app could aid in the diagnosis. Lead UC San Francisco researcher Dr. John Chorba told the NYT that “the question is whether the software can identify pathological heart sounds… as the device gets used, you should get more data and the accuracy should improve.”
The Eko Core is still useful without the algorithm, however, especially for family physicians who may lack the experience of heart specialists. The Mayo Clinic’s cardiovascular head Dr. Charanjit Rihal said “this is probably one of the most important innovations in the plain old stethoscope in recent years.” It’s now on sale in the US for $199, or available with a stethoscope for $299.
Filed under:
Wireless, Science
Via:
NYT
Source:
Eko (PDF)
Tags: approval, Cardiology, Core, Eko, EkoCore, FDA, iOS, iPhone, stethoscope, video
Ricoh’s upgraded its Theta spherical camera in all the important ways
Ricoh’s Theta camera was a novel, but pricey experiment: a stick-shaped camera that took completely spherical stills (and later, video.) There was also the unfortunate problem of spreading a typical point-and-shoot camera resolution over a understandably bigger 360-degree digital canvas, meaning that images were often noisy and low on detail. Ricoh’s Theta S camera, which launches globally next month, looks like it’ll improve on its predecessor in those areas and more. The new camera roughly doubles the resolution of images it can take over the last Theta camera, and an upgraded f2.0 lens (like the optics found on high-end smartphones) ensuring more light and meaning less noise and less blur. (The results of the last model were often lacking when there wasn’t a strong light source.)
The Ricoh Theta S captures spherical images up to almost 14 megapixels, while it can now record spherical video in full HD (1,920 x 1,080 at 30fps) with a maximum recording time of 25 minutes. (The older model tapped out at 5 minutes.) When you’ve captured something spherical, you can now not only share on Ricoh’s own site (theta360.com), but also Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. You can also now share across Google Maps and YouTube’s own 360-degree channel. Ricoh’s also made a new app to complement the Theta S, offering a much-needed remote viewing mode, as well as the ability to manual adjust camera setting from your phone on the fly: that extends to ISO, white balance and shutter speed.
The Theta’s WiFi module has also been upgraded so that image and video transfer speeds that are four times faster than the old model. The camera’s also been decked out in a moody black rubber coating so it doesn’t slip out of your grip during that epic spherical team selfie. It arrives in the US, Europe and Asia in late October, priced at $349.
Filed under:
Cameras
Tags: ifa, ifa2015, ricoh, sphericalphotos, theta, thetas
Wacom’s Bamboo Spark offers another option for digitizing scribbles
Do you still prefer the feel of pen on paper but need an easy way to catalog your handwritten notes digitally? Wacom’s Bamboo Spark will do just what. The product is something the company calls a “smart folio” that uses its digital pen technology to capture the scribbles of a real ink pen on A5 paper (5.83 x 8.27 inches). How does it work exactly? With the help of the Bamboo Spark app on an Android or iOS device, the folio’s Electro-Magnetic Resonance board and Bluetooth beam your pen strokes to that trusty mobile device at the push of a button. The Spark can hold up to 100 pages, even while it’s in offline mode, and claims up to 8 hours of use before needing to recharge via USB.
As you might expect, the included pen uses special ink that you’ll need to re-order from Wacom when the time comes (after about three months of use) for $10 per pack of three. If you’re looking to make the leap, the Bamboo Spark comes three ways: with a gadget pocket (for a phone, etc.), tablet sleeve, or snap-fit that’s made just fot the iPad Air 2. All three models include the requisite pen and paper for $160 and are set to ship in October.
Filed under:
Misc
Tags: art, bamboo, bamboospark, design, drawing, sketching, stylus, wacom, wacombamboospark
Google’s new Street View app lets you add your own spherical photos
In the midst of IFA’s volley of tech hardware news, Google Maps has announced a spin-off Street View app that allows you to upload your own spherical photos. Yes, you’re now a human Street View car. The app not only lets you shoot photo spheres from your phone but also connect directly to spherical cameras, like Ricoh’s Theta camera series. The announcement came alongside the latest Theta camera, which is of course compatible with the new feature. It sounds like Street View will turn into a combination of Google’s own photography and crowdsourced spheres. Charles Armstrong, Google Maps Product Manager, said the new app will allow “people all over the world to explore user contributions, Google’s own imagery, and their own published photo spheres through a seamless world map of landscapes, landmarks, business interiors and more.”
From the home screen, you can search for any place in the world and then scroll through a series of tabs such as “Collections” and “Explore,” which contain relevant panoramas uploaded by both Google and other users. Once you’ve launched one, you can hold your phone in either portrait or landscape and swipe around to take in the scene — alternatively, you can press the compass icon to look around using the phone’s accelerometer.
The slide-out menu on the right-hand side reveals two upload options: Camera and Spherical Camera. The former allows you to shoot a regular Photo Sphere, just as you would with Google’s stock Android camera app. It’s then immediately saved in a “Private” tab on the home screen where you can review it and ultimately publish to Street View, allowing others to take it in for themselves. Selecting the “Spherical Camera” option, meanwhile, will connect your device to external hardware, which could be anything from the aforementioned Theta stick camera to the 16-camera GoPro rig spotted at Google I/O.
Additional reporting by Nick Summers
Filed under:
Cameras, Internet, Google
Source:
Google
Tags: google, googlestreetview, ifa, ifa2015, streetview
The latest Nook is based on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2
Barnes & Noble’s partnership with Samsung continues with the Galaxy Tab S2 Nook. And, as you’ve probably guessed, it’s simply Samsung’s recently announced Galaxy Tab S2 jam-packed with Nook apps. The 8-inch tablet hits Barnes & Noble stores today for $400, though if you’ve got a B&N membership you can also knock another 10 percent off that price. It’s still sad to see the book seller move away from its own tablet hardware, but you could do a lot worse than the Tab S2. It’s an incredibly thin and light tablet with a bright quad HD screen (our full review is coming soon). The Tab S2 Nook fills a premium slot for Barnes & Noble, whereas last year’s Tab 4 Nooks are more budget-friendly at $150 and $250. You won’t really gain much with the Tab S2 Nook variant — you get three free books from a selection of 20 titles, along with three free magazines and $5 worth of credit. But really, it’s a tablet meant for people who are more used to strolling around B&N stores than comparing Android tablets online. Slideshow-317039
Filed under:
Tablets, Mobile, Samsung
Source:
Barnes & Noble
Tags: mobilepostcross, samsung
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