Smaller stories and blips from the week
This week on Wareable we’ve been running, running and running some more. We spent the last seven days delving deep into the future of running – the tech, the big players, the super athletes of tomorrow – while offering some top tips for the runners of today. Be sure to check out the full range of coverage.
We also looked at how wearable tech is being used in PyeongChang for the Winter Olympics, and vented about one of Amazon’s latest ideas.
But what else went down in the world of the connected self? Join us as we voyage through the smaller stories and rumors of the week gone by.
Carl Zeiss joins forces to build smartglasses
German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom is joining forces with Carl Zeiss for a new startup to build smartglasses, reports Bloomberg. The new startup, Tooz Technologies Inc, will be based in the US and will use Zeiss optics to make smartglasses that are lighter and more power efficient.
The plan is to then license this technology to other smartglasses makers, with an eye on surgery, fitness, shopping and other use cases.”We need connectivity with a cloud that’s available everywhere if we want to have real-time applications,” said Deutsche Telekom’s Christian Stangier. Zeiss has also been rumored to be working with Apple for its smartglasses.
Strava disables features in light of controversy
After it was revealed that Strava’s heatmap could be used to identify active military bases, the company has removed its Segments feature. Segments lets users create workout routes that other users can search for and find, allowing them to compete on time. It seems that Strava has disabled the feature as it tries to get itself out of the privacy mess it’s found itself in.
“We are reviewing features that were originally designed for athlete motivation and inspiration to ensure they cannot be compromised by people with bad intent,” said the company in a statement.
HTC Vive Focus may eventually break out of China
We were disappointed when HTC decided to can its standalone Daydream headset, the Vive Focus, for the western market and instead double down on China with a non-Google version. But in a new interview, HTC’s Vive China president, Alvin Wang Graylin, said a launch in the West is possible, depending on how well it does in China.
“It’s something that we’re looking at very seriously, and once we have more clear market data in terms of how things are doing with the Chinese release, I don’t see any reason why we would not release it in the rest of the world,” said Graylin (via Road to VR).
