The best rumours and tittle-tattle of the week
Welcome to And finally, our weekly round-up of a smaller and less credible stories of the week.
We’re so busy here at Wareable reporting all the major happenings in the world of wearables, that we often find ourselves with leftover news at the end of the week. And that’s what you’ll find here.
This week we look at Jawbone’s secret dealings, a smartwatch that never was and a pair of porno specs. What better way to spend your Sunday?
Jawbone acquires mobile health firm
Last month the word on the street was that Jawbone was about to pull out of the consumer wearables market for good. Despite confirming that it had no intention of selling off its wearables division, this week’s news of a secret med-tech acquisition shows that perhaps the long term future of Jawbone lies in hospitals, rather than gyms.
Mobihealthnews reports that back in 2015 Jawbone snapped up Spectros, an 11-year-old “start-up” with patents for non-invasive reading of “pulse oximetry, and detection of perfusion and ischemia.”
Fitbit launches gun metal Blaze
Fitbit quietly sneaked out a new Blaze colour this week, with the popular fitness tracker now available in gun metal, alongside the silver standard silver bezel. It’s pretty snazzy, but disappointingly there are no matching gun-metal link strap options quite yet. You can, of course, check out our round up of the best Fitbit accessories for most of its trackers.
Hive to release smart lighting
What illuminating news is this? All will be revealed 13.06.16 #HiveControl https://t.co/JjcH4YZqFF
— Hive (@hivehome) June 10, 2016
Fresh from releasing a super-exciting stand for its thermostat this week, Hive has taken to Twitter to tease a possible new smart lighting platform. The video is a 30 second loop of some flashing lights, in a not-so-subtle hint as to what its next smart home venture might be.
OnePlus teases canned smartwatch
The tech world was all a-chatter about the OnePlus smartwatch before it was canned last year, and now CEO Pete Lau has released an image of the fully designed device. Looking much like the Moto 360, the back of the watch looks the part, but in an interview with the WSJ, Lau explained why they scrapped the device:
“We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it,” Lau said. “We have to be focused.”
While there’s no evidence that OnePlus would have changed the game, it’s a shame to see such a promising looking smartwatch put out to pasture before it even made it to our wrists.
Magic Leap gets more cash money
Darling of the VR movement, Magic Leap, has secured a mammoth sum of Chinese investment from Chinese media group Zhejiang Huace. The company is sticking $303m into multiple US ventures including Magic Leap, which is already backed by pretty much every tech giant going.
A patent for the mysterious mixed reality headset – which projects VR graphics straight onto the wearer’s eyeball – was outed this week and shows off a probable design. Spoiler alert: it looks like a VR headset mixed with a Rebel Alliance pilot’s helmet. Check out our guide to everything you need to know about the Magic Leap project.
VR headset for porn hits Indiegogo
Newsflash: porn is going to be a big part of the VR world, which is perhaps the inspiration behind WeVeer, a pair of VR specs made for watching 360 degree smut in private. Maybe we’re too innocent to know why the name WeVeer fits a pair of grotty grumble goggles, but it features a decent 120 degree FOV and is compatible with 4-6 inch smartphones. What’s more, purchasing the headset gets you a three month subscription to shed load of VR porn.