Bloomlife’s baby bump wearable tracks your contractions

While there are several ways to entertain your unborn child with the latest chart toppers, the kind of technology that’s invaluable during pregnancy is typically reserved for hospitals and clinics. But a company called Bloomlife wants to bring one key piece of monitoring kit into the home. It’s created a “pregnancy wearable” — a small device that sticks to your baby bump — which measures contractions by reading the electrical activity of uterine muscle. A companion app for iOS and Android receives this data, timing contractions in real-time and promising a much more accurate reading than existing contraction calculators.

False alarms known as Braxton Hicks contractions are common during pregnancy, but any new sensation can be alarming when you’re carrying a little one around. Bloomlife’s wearable doesn’t offer diagnoses of any kind, but by capturing the frequency and lengths of contractions, it’s intended to help you learn more about your body and perhaps save you an unnecessary trip to the hospital. The app lets you look at past monitoring sessions too, so you should have a better idea of the difference between a false alarm and the more regular contraction patterns associated with labor.

Bloomlife has been testing its wearable for most of the past year, both with pregnant women and in clinical studies to ensure the device is comparable to hospital-grade equipment in terms of accuracy, safety and reliability. And now the company is ready to start offering pre-orders. Because the wearable is only useful for a limited time, the company is leasing the product instead of selling it. A one-month rental will set you back $149, with two- and three-month leases costing $249 and $299, respectively. The first deliveries are coming within the next few months, and expectant parents will be able to schedule an order so they only start paying when they need to.

Bloomlife didn’t just develop the wearable for “peace of mind,” though. The company hopes that the data these devices collect could be used in the future to identify the early signs of complications during pregnancy, which could make the monitor much more valuable in the long run.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Source: Bloomlife

Netatmo adds a connected smoke alarm to its smart home range

Netatmo is known for connected home products like the Presence AI-assisted security camera that can tell crooks from coyotes, but for CES, it’s expanding into a new niche: built-in products. On top of a new smoke alarm and siren, the company has teamed up with French companies Velux and Legrand on AI-equipped in-wall smart switches, power outlets, skylights and blinds.

On the consumer side, Netatmo launched the Smart Smoke Alarm (above) as an addition to its home security and monitoring lineup. Much like the Nest Protect, it sounds an 85 decibel alarm when it detects smoke, but also sends a real-time alert to your smartphone. That’s accompanied by a message like “smoke detected in the kitchen,” telling you where, exactly, the problem is. If triggered in error, the alarm can be switched off either manually or from the app.

The battery lasts 10 years and notifies you before it needs changing, and it also sends you weekly self-check report. It’s compatible not only with Netatmo’s own security app (and others via IFTTT programming), but also with Apple’s HomeKit platform, Netatmo says.

Additionally, the company revealed the “Indoor Security Siren” as a WiFi and Bluetooth LE accessory for the Welcome face-recognizing indoor security camera. If the camera spots someone it doesn’t recognize (or if an alarm is triggered via Netatmo’s Tags), it’ll wail at a screeching 110 decibels and send a real-time notification to your smartphone, like “movement detected on garage door” or “unknown face seen.” Thanks to a vibration and impact-detecting tamper-proof option, it’ll also go off if someone tries to disable it.

As with the smoke detector, the siren works with Netatmo’s security app or via IFTTT programming. Both devices are coming in the second half of 2017, but there’s no word on pricing just yet. (For reference, the Nest Protect smoke alarm costs $99.)

The announcement that’s arguably more interesting is about products aimed at contractors, not consumers. If you live in Europe and are building or renovating a home, you’ll be able to have Netatmo products built into your house thanks to a partnership with French companies Velux and Legrand.

The first, “Celiane with Netatmo,” is a range of smart switches and power outlets (above) that let you control lighting, rolling shutters and any other appliances or smart devices plugged into them. The system will be compatible with Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa, meaning you’ll be able to control lights or, say, a coffeemaker using your voice.

And while you may not have heard of Velux, the word pretty much means “skylight” in France. The “Velux Active with Netatmo” system (below) will allow “automatic, centralized and remote control of your roof windows, blinds and shutters.” Using sensors that measure light, temperature, humidity and air quality, it’ll automatically open and close the shutters, blinds and skylights to keep the optimal indoor environment.

Products from those two partnerships, coming in the second half of 2017, are mostly aimed at European customers. However, the company said it will announce more team-ups later this year, so if you’re doing a renovation project or building new home on the other side of the Atlantic, there might be more news coming soon.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Oh hey, they have smart hairbrushes now

L’Oreal has been gently getting into the technology game, first by partnering with Dr. John Rogers on a skin damage-tracking tattoo. Now, the cosmetics giant has hooked up with Withings to develop a smart hairbrush that’s designed to keep your scalp at its best. The Kérastase Hair Coach, as it’s called, was apparently inspired by people’s apparent propensity to brush their hair too forcefully, causing long-term damage.

In order to combat this, Withings used its engineering know-how to cram the brush with tech. That includes a microphone that can listen to the sound of your hair to offer insights on frizziness. In addition, a gyroscope is capable of analyzing your brushing patterns to measure the force that you apply when unknotting your mane. Finally, a conductivity sensor helps determine if your hair is wet or dry (in case you weren’t sure yourself).

All of this data is pushed to a smartphone app that crunches it alongside the local weather information to give you tips on how to best care for your hair. As you might expect, you’ll also get recommendations for which other of L’Oreal’s Kérastase-branded products you should buy in order to ensure that your mop remains lustrous. It’s unclear how much the brush will cost, but it’s expected to retail for less than $200 and will begin shipping part-way through the year, according to the two companies.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Your next home security system could deploy patrol drones

Security cameras are great, but only when they’re actually pointed at whatever is going on. With Alarm.com’s forthcoming smart security system, however, unexpected events will always be in focus thanks to a veritable swarm of drone investigators.

Alarm has developed a machine learning algorithm, called the Insights Engine, that continually monitors sensors placed around your property to learn how things are normally run and to quickly identify unexpected events — say, a break-in or a water leak — when they occur. If the system does spot something out of the ordinary, it will deploy a swarm of autonomous UAVs built on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Flight drone platform to investigate. These little fliers will swarm over the event site and provide live video feeds to your phone. You can also opt in to share that video data with either Alarm.com’s central monitoring facility or directly with emergency responders. Finally, then, we can stop relying on Lassie to alert us every dang time Timmy falls down a well.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

LG’s Stylo 3 pairs a solid mid-range phone with a mediocre stylus

Now that the Galaxy Note 7 is just a footnote in smartphone history, what’s a person supposed to do if they want a phablet with a stylus? Well, there’s always the LG Stylo 3. It was the most interesting of the mid-range mobiles LG announced before CES officially started, and it’s a testament to how good non-flagship phones can be. Mostly.

The MediaTek name doesn’t mean a whole lot in the US right now, but LG chose one of the chipmaker’s octa-core processors to run the Stylo 3, along with 3GB of RAM. Throw in a mostly clean build of Android 7.0 Nougat and LG’s lighter-than-ever UX 5.0+ and you’ve got the makings of a pretty snappy little machine. I should point that the interface here is identical to the one seen on the LG V20, and at first blush there didn’t seem to be a huge gap in performance either. Swiping around around, launching apps, scrolling up and down through Engadget’s home page — all of that felt smooth, more or less. Then again, these devices didn’t have carrier bloatware or anything, so the conditions are pretty ideal; I’m looking forward to seeing how the Stylo stands up in the real world.

I wish the 13-megapixel camera on the Stylo’s back were better, though. The light in LG’s rented ballroom was mediocre at best, and the Stylo struggled to capture detail or correct colors in just about every shot. It should do better under brighter conditions, but that’s true of any smartphone camera. A sensor’s true character is only really apparent when the going gets dark, and the Stylo definitely falls short. The 8-megapixel selfie camera was mildly better, if only because it proved to be most decent at capturing wide-angle selfies. Images the Stylo didn’t capture, however, looked sufficiently bright and clear on the phone’s 5.7-inch, 1080p IPS LCD screen.

And then there’s the stylus. It’s been a while since I’ve used one of LG’s Stylos, but it’ll feel remarkably familiar if you’re used to Samsung’s Note line. A tiny software window pops up when you pull out the stylus, proffering quick access to memo, doodling, and screen capture apps — just like on a Note. That’s if you manage get the stylus out without swearing in annoyance, by the way.

A few LG spokespeople asked me if I could find where the stylus was stored, and I admit it took a few moments; that’s how well the edge of the stylus blends into the Stylo’s silver plastic frame. If you’re the type who keeps your nails on the longer side, you’ll be fine. Meanwhile, I had a lot of trouble digging the stylus out, to the point where I probably flubbed our video a few times. Once you get it out, though, writing on the screen is actually quite pleasant. The thinner stylus is tougher to hold onto than an S Pen, but LG did a surprisingly good job on the pen’s nib — it does sort of feel like writing on paper. Still, its thin build feels borderline flimsy, and I wonder if I could ever reliably get that stylus out when I need it.

We obviously can’t pass final judgment on the Stylo 3 just yet, but so far it seems like a solid option for people who like the idea of writing on their smartphones. The seemingly small gap in performance between the Stylo and something like the V20 is heartening too, though you shouldn’t fool yourself. As pleasant as the phone is, it falls far short of flagship quality. On the flip side, you most likely won’t have to pay a flagship price — LG hasn’t confirmed pricing yet, but we wouldn’t expect it to break the bank.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

QuirkLogic’s Quilla is a massive 42-inch E Ink whiteboard

Canada’s QuirkLogic wants to see an end to people taking pictures of their whiteboard notes with a smartphone. That’s why it’s launching the Quilla, a 42-inch smart whiteboard that’s built around the world’s largest electronic paper display. Paired with QuirkLogic’s connected writer system, anything that you draw on the display (with the stylus) will be instantly stored for retrieval later.

The product is the result of a three-year partnership between QuirkLogic and E Ink, the company that’s been pushing electronic paper displays for years. The same technology will also be available, from E Ink itself, as a standalone display that can be used by the signage industry where low-power screens are useful.

The Quilla weighs 22 pounds and has a built-in battery that enables it to keep working for 16 hours on a charge. If you’re sufficiently baller, you can even daisy-chain displays together to increase your workspace rather than simply moving to another page.

There’s no word on pricing, although you can expect it to be significantly more expensive than, you know, just buying a whiteboard and writing things down afterward.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Source: QuirkLogic

Island puzzler ‘Rime’ is coming to the Nintendo Switch

It’s been a while since we’ve seen or heard anything about Rime. The whimsical puzzle-adventure title was first shown off at Gamescom in 2013, with a young boy exploring a mysterious, tropical island. At the time it was a PS4 exclusive, however earlier this year developer Tequila Works announced that it had bought the full rights back from Sony. Today, it’s been confirmed as a multiplatform release for the PS4, Xbox One and, most notably, the Nintendo Switch. IGN has all the details, including a new trailer which reintroduces the Ico-meets-The-Witness concept.

Rime is one of the few games confirmed for Nintendo’s new system, alongside Breath of the Wild, Stardew Valley and (probably) Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee. It gives us an idea of what the hybrid system is capable of — the debut Switch trailer dropped a few hints, with Skyrim and a new Mario game featuring prominently, but otherwise its graphical capabilities are a mystery. Rime, while not the most demanding title, has a bright and distinctive aesthetic, mimicking games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Last Guardian. Right now, it’s a rare example of what the Switch can handle both at home on the go.

Source: IGN

Qarnot’s smart space heater has learned some new tricks

Anybody with a desktop tower (or a laptop running Chrome) knows how much waste heat processors can throw off during the course of their computing. Typically that heat is simply discarded, shunted from the processor’s surface through a complex series of tubes and sinks. But French startup Qarnot has better idea — use that energy to heat your home.

At CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the company showed off its latest iteration of the Q.Rad, a home heater that generates its warmth from the heat generated by an array of CPUs located within it. In fact, since 2014, more than 100 French households have been heated by Q.Rads, whose CPUs are remotely crunching data for a variety of companies. The houses stay warm – without the need for heating oil, natch — and the companies have access to a distributed network of processing power. It’s a win-win for consumers and businesses alike — not to mention the environment.

The new version shown off this year offers a host of new and connected features. Each Q.Rad now serves as a WiFi hotspot, monitors indoor air quality, wirelessly charges phones and even serves as an informal security system by notifying the owner when it senses movement in the room around it. The heater is also compliant with both the Nest and HomeKit ecosystems.

Best of all, the rent that companies pay to use the processors fully covers the system’s operating expenses so homeowners don’t pay a dime. They simply have to replace the units every 5 years or so when the processors go out of date. Currently the systems are only available for public and private institutions, rather than individual homeowners.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

CES 2017: Withings Teams Up With L’Oreal for Smart Hairbrush

Withings, Kérastase, and L’Oréal have teamed up to create the world’s first Bluetooth-connected smart hairbrush that’s able to interface with your smartphone.

The “Kérastase Hair Coach Powered by Withings” combines sensors created by Withings with signal analysis algorithms designed by L’Oréal to determine the quality of the hair and “monitor the effects” of your haircare routine.

There’s a built-in microphone that listens to the sound of hair brushing to determine details about frizziness, dryness, split ends, and breakage, plus a feature that measures the force being applied to the hair and the scalp while you brush.

An accelerometer and a gyroscope analyze brushing patterns and count brush strokes, haptic feedback capabilities alert you if you’re brushing too hard, and conductivity sensors can tell if you’re brushing your hair wet or dry to provide accurate measurements.

The hairbrush connects to a mobile app that analyzes the data and the ambient weather to provide a hair quality score, data on brushing habits, and customized product recommendations for different hair types.

“Withings has a track record for empowering everyday objects such as bathroom scales and watches with sensors that provide people with insight into their behaviors, and we’re excited to now bring this expertise to the beauty industry,” said Cedric Hutchings, Vice President of Digital Health for Nokia. “Each time someone uses the smart brush they get rich data they never before had access to, which can improve their overall hair care experience.”

The hairbrush will be priced at under $200 and will be available at Kérastase hair salons, the Kérastase website, and the Withings website in the fall of 2017.

Tags: Withings, CES 2017
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New Android 7.1.1 builds bring Jan security patch to Pixel, Nexus devices

New month means new Android 7.1.1 builds for Nexus and Pixel devices!

Google has released new Android 7.1.1 builds for the two Pixel models and several Nexus devices, including the Nexus 6P, 5X, 9, Player and Pixel C.

The new builds bring the requisite bug fixes that we all know and love, along with nearly 50 security updates bundled in the January 2017 (happy new year!) security patch. Pixel owners should look for Build NMF26U or NMF26V depending on the variant (“V” is for Verizon), while Nexus and Pixel C users can look for N4F26J or N4F26I.

As always, the updates are available in factory images or OTA updates, the latter of which can be easily sideloaded using ADB.

The January 2017 Security Bulletin details a number of vulnerabilities that have been patched, both within Android itself and from third-party vendors like Qualcomm and NVIDIA.

How to download and install Nougat on your Pixel or Nexus right now

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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