The Pebble Smartwatch was arguably the first of its kind, and prompted an unprecedented response on Kickstarter when its campaign began in 2012. A year since the launch of the first model, Pebble is back with a vastly different version, the Pebble Steel, comprised of steel and looking every bit like your typical watch. At $249, the new smartwatch as just been unveiled at this year's CES trade show, and with a dedicated app store also in the works allowing users to better find content for their wrist computer, it's clear that Pebble wants to step things up considerably.
History has shown us time and time again that the companies who often provide the best products and solutions are the ones that have experience within the field and industry that they are trying to penetrate. Of course, this isn't always the case, but it definitely does help to have an intricate knowledge of the industry your product is going to be launched in. The OpenWays Group, a company specializing in providing smartphone based door locks to hotels, has extended its range of locking solutions by introducing the OKIDOKEYS, a new smart lock spin off that it hopes will capture a significant portion of the consumer section of the industry.
If you loved Orbotix's Sphero Robot Ball then the likelihood is that you'll be positively thrilled with their latest introduction at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The originally released Sphero was a quirky, fun and innovative smartphone controlled robotic sphere that provided hours of fun and entertainment. The latest edition to the Orbotix family is the Sphero 2B, a new cylinder shaped toy that takes on a slightly different form factor but still manages to pack in all of the fun and innocent glee that you would imagine a Sphero device would have thanks to its "mad speed" and "sick tricks".
Snapchat's little security snafu has made quite the splash over the last day or two. The photo-based social messaging service has grown so popular that even mainstream media outlets have been frothing at the mouth about the hack that has seen 4.6 million users have their usernames and mobile phone numbers stolen and subsequently leaked on the Internet. It's certainly not Snapchat's proudest moment.
In this day and age, it really is a travesty that we still have to carry cables around with us. That won't always be the case though, and thankfully some of the wires in our lives are beginning to become obsolete, or at the very least they're becoming less vital than they once were.
There have been more than enough rumors around the Galaxy S5 already, and perhaps an equal number of reports have also surfaced dispelling all those rumors (not to mention dampening our hopes), but what kind of rumor mill would it be if it stopped already. Despite the claims that Samsung will play it safe with the upcoming and highlight-anticipated Galaxy S5, a new report from iNews24 makes it seem that the Korean manufacturer might actually be looking to toss in a few fresh ideas for its latest flagship Android smartphone when it gets launched in March (reportedly).
If you abstract away the advanced functionality that Google has bundled into the relatively small Glass eyewear - and look past the hype - then you are left with a pair of glasses that actually provide no benefit to individuals who actually need help with their vision on a daily basis. That limitation of Glass will hopefully be eradicated within the next few weeks, with Rochester Optical announcing that Glass compatible prescription frames will be available imminently.
Android Gingerbread 2.3 seems a long time ago, and indeed, in terms of progress, it was. It was the last major smartphone only-release before it joined forces with Honeycomb to bring Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, and while this unified release did offer a plethora of new features, it also took a fair few away. The ability to sync contacts with Facebook was one of them, and although this decision was probably a win for overall security and privacy, many did find it rather useful. Never the kind to leave Android users bereft, the folks of XDA-Developers have brought the feature back from the dead, and you can catch the details after the fold.
It's always been something of a thorn in the side of people who like their Android smartphones. It's all well and good picking up a fancy new phone with (hopefully) the latest version of Android running on top of it. Often the device ships with a version of Android that is already out of date, but while with other platforms this could be easily fixed by downloading an updated version of the software, that isn't quite the case with Android.
Instagram, love it or loathe it, is very much the center of many of our lives. It's how people share photos of their kids, their holiday destinations and their family gatherings. Yes, there are plenty of people who post nothing but photos of their breakfasts or are busy taking selfies at funerals, but for every pointless photo on Instagram, we're willing to bet there are two that are magnificent. Just follow Trey Ratcliff's feed and you'll see what we mean.
