The latest wearable tech news murmurs and blips
Well, we hope you enjoyed all the Android Wear 2.0 goodness this week. Whether it was the official launch, the new LG smartwatches or finding out when Wear 2.0 is coming to your device, there’s been plenty for fans of Google’s smartwatch OS to get excited about.
Away from Wear, Oculus revealed a pair of Rift VR gloves, Swatch is making its own smartwatch OS, Logitech is bringing Alexa to the car and the Atari Gameband will let you play retro games on your wrist.
While those stories were the ones to grab the headlines, we’ve picked out the other wearable news tidbits of the past seven days that you should cast your eye over as well.
Apple explores data sharing wearable
Another week, another Apple patent that may or may not come to fruition one day. The folks at Cupertino have a filing that relates to, “Gesture-based information exchange between devices in proximity”.
It outlines a wearable device where users can use a variety of gestures, like a handshake, hugs or fist bumps to securely transfer data between two portable devices. This data could be social media information, contacts or photos and would store data locally or in the cloud.
Swatch is not happy with Michael Kors
The Swiss watch maker is not happy with Michael Kors as it tries to prevent the fashion label from trademarking the name ‘Michael Kors Access’, which is of course the name of its recently launched Android Wear smartwatch. Swatch believes the name is, “confusingly similar to [Swatch’s own] SWATCH ACCESS trademark and is likely, when applied to the goods of [Kors], to cause confusion, or to cause mistake or to deceive.”
While we’re on the topic of legal wrangling…
Fitbit and Jawbone are still fighting it out
Like two school kids in the playground, Jawbone and Fitbit continue to duke it out in the courts with the UP makers now claiming that Fitbit is under a criminal investigation for stealing trade secrets. Fitbit claims that these allegations have already been dealt with in an earlier investigation, but it’s clear this battle is going to continue to rumble on for some time yet.
Portal done Microsoft HoloLens style
A developer has managed to port a basic rendering of Valve’s puzzle great so that it works with Microsoft’s holographic reality headset. You can’t solve any puzzles, but it’s a glimpse at how fun HoloLens could be one day when it’s finally ready for the masses.
More
Check out the meatier stories of the week on our dedicated news page.