Will.i.am made these vinyl-inspired earbuds you can only buy from Apple
Ever want a pricey pair of Bluetooth earphones that are designed to look like vinyl records?
Well, now’s your chance… Musician Will.i.am has released a pair under his “i.am+” tech brand. They’re called EPs, and initial sales of the earphones are exclusive to Apple’s online store and physical retail stores. The buds feature a circular metal design rather than being made from plastic – because, as described on the i.am+ website, “tech doesn’t have to look like tech”.
That said, the new EPs do look like a necklace. When they’re not sitting in your ears, the circular buds magnetically come together to form a ring around your neck. As for specs, the EPs feature 14mm drivers, an aptX sound engine, and internal batteries that charge via a microUSB cable and last 6 hours per charge. They also support A2DP controls and an integrated remote with a mic.
Apple
For all that tech and fancy materials, all you need is $229.95. Will.i.am is apparently targeting only the rich with these headphones. But for that steep price, you do get a colour choice: gold-on-black, or black-on-black. Keep in mind these EPs follow the launch of Puls and Dial, two wearables that Will.i.am also released under his i.am+ brand. They failed to make any impact, however.
Also, Will.i.am is rumoured to be working on an original TV series with Apple, so it’s not too surprising to see the artist exclusively releasing his new earphones through the Cupertino-based company.
Apple
Samsung denies giving up on Android Wear for smartwatches
Hold your horses, folks: Samsung hasn’t officially broken with up Android Wear just yet. A recent report from Fast Company cited unnamed Samsung executives who said the hardware giant wasn’t working on any Android Wear smartwatches, and didn’t plan to develop any new ones either. Sounds like a pretty emphatic answer, but Samsung disagreed when asked for comment:
“We disagree with Fast Company’s interpretation. Samsung has not made any announcement concerning Android Wear and we have not changed our commitment to any of our platforms.”
Yeah, not exactly the most compelling response, is it? Still, it adds a little color to what seemed like a black-and-white situation — Samsung hasn’t officially given up on Android Wear yet, but it might not make another Wear watch, either. The future, as they say, is still unwritten.
Of course, what made Fast Company’s report so compelling is just how plausible it was. After all, if you’ve been keeping tabs on the rise of Android Wear, Samsung bailing on the platform wouldn’t be a stretch. The company launched its first (and only) Wear watch at Google I/O two years ago, and it immediately failed to capture people’s imaginations the way wearables like the Moto 360 did. Even when it was brand new, the Gear Live felt more like an experiment than anything else — Samsung launched three Tizen-powered watches before it, and went full speed with Tizen after. Hell, the relatively recent Gear S2 actually wound up being pretty impressive. Didn’t see that one coming.
Tizen offers its share of advantages — those unnamed Samsung execs said it was more power-efficient, and would bring some cohesiveness to the company’s wearables lineup. More importantly, though, Tizen gives Samsung something it lacks with Android Wear: control. While the Android Wear 2.0 update packs some long-awaited improvements, device makers still can’t customize a Wear watch’s software as extensively as they can Android on a smartphone. That means Android Wear’s core aesthetic remains out of their reach, making hardware design and component choice the main differentiators between models. With Tizen, Samsung has fuller control over hardware and software, and it’s that unity that might — might — give Samsung something of an edge as the wearable war rages on. Then again, Android Wear enjoys much more popularity as a platform, and Samsung might not be done trying to capitalize on that yet. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Foursquare’s new bot texts food suggestions before you’re hungry
Foursquare is more than a friendly food finder and gentrification-tracking app — the company is now in the bot business with its latest tool, Marsbot. The bot analyzes users’ locations and past preferences to make proactive recommendations via text on where to eat or grab a drink next. Marsbot isn’t a chatbot, meaning users won’t ask it for suggestions; instead (and ideally), Marsbot will predict when you’re ready to try something new and nudge you toward places you should enjoy.
“Like my bestie, Marsbot learns that I’m into pistachio gelato and I spend most of my time in The Mission,” Foursquare product manager Marissa Chacko writes. “Like my bestie, Marsbot texts me when it discovers a new chai spot opening around the corner from my office. And like my bestie, Marsbot isn’t perfect, but is always full of good intentions.”
Marsbot is available for iOS devices, but only in New York City and San Francisco for now. Marsbot is still a work-in-progress, but as it’s tweaked and updated, Foursquare will slowly open up the app to people on the waitlist.
Foursquare decided to build Marsbot as a separate service, rather than integrate it into the main app, so it wouldn’t get lost among Foursquare’s other features, Chacko says.
“We wanted to try out a new app and a new communication style,” she says. “Notifications (esp on iOS) tend to go into a black hole, plus there is little interaction you can have with them.”
Marsbot is a nickname and the character is me as a child. It’s cool to see a part of my legacy live on in Foursquare.
— Mari Sheibley (@mari18) May 24, 2016
Source: Foursquare
GoPro makes a seemingly inevitable deal with Red Bull
Red Bull’s extreme sports adventures are practically tailor-made for GoPro’s action cameras, so it would only make sense if the two got together, right? Sure enough, that’s what happening. GoPro has announced an exclusive deal with Red Bull that will have the two partnering on distributing and selling content. They’ll share rights on co-produced content and share it across both of their online and TV channels. Also, each company gets a distinct perk: GoPro becomes Red Bull’s sole action camera provider, while Red Bull gets equity in GoPro.
.@RedBull + @GoPro are bringing a new POV! @PaulRabil knows what’s up! Where should we put a #GoPro next? #RedBullhttps://t.co/NrEaGkk1To
— GoPro (@GoPro) May 24, 2016
You probably won’t see too much in the way of immediate impact, but it could help GoPro in the long run. The company isn’t in the best of shape; giving Red Bull a financial stake could both help its bottom line and give it a partner with a vested interest in helping it succeed. That’s particularly important when GoPro has delayed its first drone and can only rely on its action cam business until the fall. For Red Bull, this is more of a nice-to-have agreement — it increases the energy drink maker’s already wide reach.
Via: Reuters
Source: GoPro
Netflix comes full circle, creates virtual video store
First Netflix replaced tedious trips to the video store by mailing DVDs directly to your home. Then they replaced tedious trips to the mailbox by streaming movies directly to your laptop. Now, Netflix engineers have completely closed the loop by creating a virtual video store you can step into without ever leaving your living room.
Created as part of the company’s most recent hack day (and thus, unlikely to ever see a real release), Netflix Zone is a blocky representation of your old school VHS emporium, except you peruse the stacks with an HTC Vive instead of driving to a Blockbuster in a nearby strip mall. Unfortunately there’s no esoteric “Staff Picks” section, but the organization in the virtual store does reflect the user’s Netflix recommendations and the whole place turns into a screening room when a user picks up a title for closer inspection. To play a title, you apparently pick it up off the shelf and just chuck it at a wall.
While the idea of re-living the video store experience is enticing, some of the other hack day projects are a little more practical. Take for instance a drag-and-drop homepage interface that allows you to pin categories to the top, a “Family Catch-Up” feature that reveals how far along in a series the other profiles in your account have watched, and a “QuietCast” feature that turns your phone into a wireless headphone adapter while streaming the video to your Chromecast. While, Netflix has been adding new and convenient features at a pretty fast pace recently, there’s no word yet on whether or not any of these will ever actually make it into the final product.
This sweat monitoring patch can tell how hard you’re working
A group of scientists at UC San Diego are responsible for creating a tiny flexible monitor that can stick right to your sternum. Its purpose? Tracking your sweat.
The Chem-Phys, detailed in journal Nature Communications, was created to track both heart rate and chemistry information that can be gleaned from your sweat. It’s comprised of three sensors on a two-inch polyester sheet: one to capture lactate from sweat, which studies have shown exemplifies a more intense workout, and two to mesaure heart rate. Wired to a Bluetooth chip powered by a lithium ion battery, the patch transmits the data to a computer.
The scientists affirm that the Chem-Phys is one of the first times both sweat and heart rate information has been gleaned simultaneously from test subjects, such as the three men on stationary bikes participating in an experiment funded by Samsung, but it’s not the first to track sweat. Ali Javey of UC Berkeley, also made a breakthrough back in January with a small flexible device that relies on a printed plastic sensor array that can also detect glucose, lactate, potassium, sodium and body temperature. Another lab in the University of Cincinnati in Ohio has been hard at work developing wearable sweat sensors as well.
There’s an abundance of work being done in the department of wearables. Unfortunately, you can’t purchase the Chem-Phys or any of the other sweat trackers currently being developed just yet, though that’s absolutely going to change in the future.
Source: Popular Science
The Strong Museum opens a DICE Awards exhibit
The Academy of Arts and Sciences (AIAS) holds its annual DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) awards to recognize outstanding video games and the individuals who bring them to life., Basically, they’re like the Oscars of the gaming industry. Today, they’re opening an interactive exhibit at The Strong’s National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY to showcase winners and significant titles across gaming history.
The exhibit will feature a touchscreen exploring the history of the Academy, which has celebrated achievements in video gaming for 20 years. There will be a Greatest Hits section featuring Game Of The Year winners from Goldeneye to Fallout 4, along with a case full of artifacts and documents pulled up from the museum’s vaults. The Strong Museum plans to keep the exhibit open year-round, updating it annually after each series of awards.
Source: The Strong Museum
Blizzard is offering one free Battle.net name change
Sick of heading into games registered to your Battle.net account as ResidentsLover or BeautifulDarkness83? You’ve got one free shot to make a change on Blizzard with the release of Overwatch.
The official Heroes of the Storm Twitter account announced the news earlier this morning, likely much to the excitement of anyone who thought up a tag years ago for World of Warcraft based on their favorite song lyric at the time or a vampire OC they trolled AOL chats with (not that I’m guilty of that.)
Normally you get one free name change with every BattleTag, ever. Consider this a license to go crazy and change up your style. Just make sure you follow the naming conventions established by Blizzard here and go with something you’re not going to regret later. Again. And then when you’ve changed your BattleTag, remember that Microsoft is doing something similar, freeing up Xbox Live gamertags that you can jump on to give yourself an online rebirth of sorts.
With the release of #Overwatch, you can now change your BattleTag once! https://t.co/xK4nkBwyvk pic.twitter.com/bjn5Ax0t5w
— Heroes of the Storm (@BlizzHeroes) May 24, 2016
Hyundai Releases Software Update to Expand CarPlay Support to Additional Vehicles
Hyundai is releasing a software update that brings CarPlay support to eight new vehicles, including the 2016 Elantra GT, 2015 and 2016 non-hybrid Sonata, 2017 Santa Fe Sport, 2017 Santa Fe, 2015 and 2016 Genesis Sedan, and the 2016 Tucson.
The vehicles gaining CarPlay support through a software update join Hyundai’s previously announced CarPlay models, the 2016 Sonata, 2017 Elantra, and the 2017 IONIQ. Hyundai has not officially announced the news, but dealers were sent a notice about the update on May 19. Dealer information suggests the update is supposed to be available as of today, May 24.
Hyundai owners with an eligible vehicle can download the CarPlay update through the Hyundai website and are encouraged to go through the installation process themselves. A Mac or PC with an SD card slot or an external SD card reader is required to download the software and transfer the update to the vehicle’s in-dash system. Software download times range from 25 minutes for Display Audio to more than three hours for Navigation if a map update is required.
CarPlay took several years to roll out to new vehicles, but there are now dozens of 2016 and 2017 vehicles available with CarPlay support. Apple maintains a list of vehicles that come equipped with CarPlay on its website, which sees updates every few weeks.
(Thanks, Brad!)
Related Roundup: CarPlay
Discuss this article in our forums
Apple Hiring Lawyer With Health Privacy Expertise, HIPAA Experience
Apple is looking to fill a “Privacy Counsel” position with an attorney who has expertise in the health field and HIPAA compliance, according to a new listing on the company’s job site discovered by Business Insider. The job description calls for someone who has “health privacy expertise” and 5 to 9 years of experience as an associate at a top-tier law firm or business, among other qualifications.
Apple’s privacy counsel will help the company navigate U.S. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) laws, which include a strict set of standards for managing the privacy and security of all health-related information. The listing also asks for CIPP certification, the first certification offered for information privacy law, and lists the following potential projects:
– privacy by design reviews and projects
– assist with privacy complaints and breaches
– support compliance and auditing frameworks
– advise on privacy aspects of licensing and procurement deals and corporate acquisitions
– assist with drafting of policies and procedures surrounding privacy laws
Apple has taken a significant interest in healthcare in recent years, introducing the Apple Watch and both ResearchKit and CareKit, two frameworks designed to help researchers and doctors interface with patients and gather invaluable health-related data. Given that interest, it is unsurprising Apple is looking for a lawyer with expertise in these areas, but it does perhaps signal Apple’s intention to further delve into medical research that would require HIPAA compliance.
As Business Insider points out, none of Apple’s current products require federal medical regulation and Apple does not offer a HIPAA compliant database for CareKit developers.
Earlier today, Apple CEO Tim Cook said health is an area where Apple is “very focused.” “We believe that health is something that is a huge problem in the world, a huge issue, and we think it is ripe for simplicity and sort of a new view,” he said. “We’d like to contribute to that.”
Tags: Apple job listings, ResearchKit, CareKit
Discuss this article in our forums
AIVAnet 