Intel’s Basis Takes Second Stab at Health Watch, With Peak

Intel’s Basis Takes Second Stab at Health Watch, With Peak

Lauren Goode

Re/code

Another day, another new wrist-wearable in gadgetland. But this one sounds … pretty compelling.
Basis, the Intel-owned maker of a health-tracking watch called the B1 Band, is introducing a new high-quality wristwatch that combines key elements of a health monitor, including step-counting and more accurate heart-rate tracking, with some features of a smartwatch, like phone notifications.

The new Peak watch is made of anodized aluminum and Gorilla Glass 3, and comes in two models — matte black and brushed silver. It has a touchscreen display, unlike the B1 Band, which has four tiny touchpoints along the face of the watch for toggling through display options.

The Peak also has a faster processor and an improved optical heart rate sensor. The previous B1 Band has an optical heart rate sensor, which infers your heart rate by shining light through your blood and capturing minute changes in the blood flow, but in my experience with the B1, the continuous heart-rate tracking wasn’t always accurate. Basis’s general manager Jef Holove says the optical heart rate sensor on the new Peak should be powerful enough to replace a heart-rate chest strap.

Notifications sent from a smartphone will eventually work on the Bluetooth LE-enabled Peak watch, although that feature won’t be available initially. And finally, the company’s compatible Basis app has been redesigned to support Peak. One of the new features of the app is that it will smartly reorder activities based on which goals are actually attainable for the wearer on any given day.
“We’re not trying to be a full-on smartwatch, but we will be able to do some of the essentials users want,” Holove said in an interview.

The new Peak watch will have the same price as the B1 Band — $200 — and will begin shipping in early November.

As Bonnie Cha and I wrote in a previous story, there has been a flurry of new watch and/or activity-tracker announcements in recent weeks, as hardware makers look to get their goods out there in time for the holiday season. Or, you know, before Apple’s watch comes to market.

But the Basis Peak watch certainly checks off a few feature boxes that the Apple Watch doesn’t (at least, from what we know about it right now). Work with both iOS and Android? Check. Claims four days of battery life? Check. Waterproof for swimming? Check. Tracks sleep? Check.

And Basis, which was acquired last March, now falls under Intel’s New Devices Group, which has made it clear it wants to stake its claim in the wearables market and not miss out as it did in mobile.
“Intel is working on a lot of stuff, from processors to IP, that will help us a lot in the future,” Holove said.

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'Doctor Who' skins for 'Minecraft' hit Xbox 360 this Friday

'Doctor Who' skins for 'Minecraft' hit Xbox 360 this Friday

Timothy J. Seppala

Engadget

Fancy yourself a master of the Sonic Screwdriver? Well, in a few days you can put those skills to the test... in Minecraft, that is. Whether you're a timelord fanperson or a Dalek-sympathizer, you'll be able to show it off once the Doctor Who skin pack hits the Xbox 360 version of the pixely build-your-own-adventure on Friday. As if you needed another reason to look forward to this weekend, yeah? PlayXBLA (Microsoft's official blog for Xbox Live Arcade news) still doesn't mention any word of an Xbox One release, but considering that the company recently paid $2.5 billionfor the game's developer, Mojang, we expect to hear it break the, ahem, silence on that soon.
Source: PlayXBLA

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Premier Inn's new smart hotel lets you book, check in and get cosy with an app

Premier Inn's new smart hotel lets you book, check in and get cosy with an app

Matt Brian

Engadget

More than four years in the making, Premier Inn has taken the wraps off its first smart hotel rooms. The UK's biggest hotel chain has embraced mobile with both hands, letting you book your stay, check in and play with various room settings using its official iOS or Android apps. The 123 square-foot rooms in its flagship "hub" in Covent Garden (which opens in November but is now available to book) come furnished with a 40-inch smart TV and as much free high-speed WiFi as you can guzzle. With an app that can seemingly control everything, including the room temperature and what's on the box, we wonder if London's street performers will notice a sudden drop in donations as guests decide to ditch sightseeing for some technology-enabled R&R.
Source: Hub (App Store), (Google Play)

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Wii U now has folders to help organize your massive game collection

Wii U now has folders to help organize your massive game collection

Aaron Souppouris

Engadget

Having too much software isn't a problem many Wii U owners are complaining about. Nonetheless, perhaps in anticipation of brighter days ahead, Nintendo is updating its troubled console with an improved UI for organizing games and apps. After installing the update, a long press on any of the Wii U menu's empty squares will bring up a prompt to create and name a folder that you can fill to your heart's content. The update additionally lets you choose which games and apps appear in the console's new Quick Start Menu, and also comes with the usual bug fixes. Now, if only Nintendo would hurry up with Super Smash Bros, we might have a reason to take advantage of all these new features.

Source: Nintendo of America

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Samung Gear VR demo units start showing up in Best Buy

Samung Gear VR demo units start showing up in Best Buy

Mariella Moon

Engadget

Samsung still hasn't announced Gear VR's pricing and release date, but at least a couple of people have already seen demo headsets in certain LA Best Buy stores. Redditor hackertripz and Matthew Terndrup from Yourift have recently spotted demo units out in the open -- the bad news is, nobody can use it yet. Both of them reported that the headsets on display don't contain Galaxy Note 4s, which slot into the eyepieces to act as the devices' screens. 

Also, a Samsung rep told them that when the stores start letting people take the units for a spin, testers will be asked to sign release forms (likely absolving the company from any liability in case of an accident) and to sit down while using the headset. Is this Sammy's way of assuring us that we won't have to wait years before the virtual reality device hits shelves? Perhaps, but for now, you can read Ben Gilbert's hands-on and live vicariously through him.

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EBay to spinoff PayPal

EBay to spinoff PayPal

Reuters

EBay Inc (EBAY.O) said it would spin off PayPal, its fast-growing payments unit, into a publicly traded company in the second half of 2015.
"A thorough strategic review with our board shows that keeping eBay and PayPal together beyond 2015 clearly becomes less advantageous to each business strategically and competitively," eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe said in a statement.

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Apple Watch makes first public appearance at Paris Fashion Week

Apple Watch makes first public appearance at Paris Fashion Week

Steve Dent

Engadget

Colette is one of those ultra-hip Paris shops that may tempt you with its eclectic toys, clothing, tech and art -- until you see the prices. For Fashion Week in Paris, it's about to have a shiny new bauble: the Apple Watch. The store has announced a one-day only preview of the 1.53- or 1.33-inch wearable so that le public can see it for the first time.
So far, only the press have glimpsed it, though we couldn't try any functions since it was just running a demo program. Apple told us that it'll be a strictly look-but-don't-touch event, with no new details -- and there's no word if Colette will actually sell it yet. If you happen to be in Paris though, you can see it now in it the fancy window display (which resembles the Watch interface) or brave the crowds in the store starting at 11:00 AM.
Source: Colette

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The Four Transportation Systems You'll Meet in the Future

The Four Transportation Systems You'll Meet in the Future

Eric Jaffe

CityLab 

We tend to think of transportation networks as the result of large public works projects—hello, Interstate Highway System—but lately, private hands have been tinkering at the edges of urban mobility. App-based e-hail car services like Uber and Lyft are disrupting traditional city taxi programs. Smartphones are changing the way we wait for and pay for public transportation. And, of course, Google is on the verge of reshaping movement as we know it with the driverless car.

It's time to get the public sector talking again, says Anthony Townsend of New York University's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management. To start the conversation, Townsend and the Rudin Center have released Re-Programming Mobility—a report intended to provoke city officials, urban planners, and the general public into participating in the future of transportation, rather than reacting to it. Otherwise, he says, decisions made in board rooms today will impact the civic arena for decades to come.

"Really, what we're trying to do is provoke a far-ranging discussion that's much less one-dimensional than the kinds of futures we're hearing coming out of a lot of these companies trying to disrupt the marketplace," says Townsend.

Re-Programming Mobility conceives four fictional-but-fact-based urban-mobility scenarios set in roughly 2030. The 15-year window is far enough away for mobility to be uprooted—the US interstates were largely completed between 1955 and 1970, after all—but still close enough to be reshaped by public input. While each scenario feels a bit far-fetched in its own right, together they offer plenty of food for thought to anyone concerned with the future of urban movement.
The whole report worth a read, but brief summaries of each scenario will follow here. (Full disclosure: I received an honorarium to review an early draft of the report.)

Atlanta, 2028

For years, metro Atlanta suffered terrible traffic congestion, brought on in large part by sprawl and decentralisation. In response, Atlanta decided … to sprawl more. This scenario supposes that Atlanta resisted calls for transit and transit-oriented development and instead tried to "grow its way" out of traffic problems. Facilitating this shift are solar-powered roads run by Google—G-Roads—were driverless cars connect commuters to the city at 90 miles an hour. Congestion does fall in this scenario, but exurbs and edge cities expand considerably.

From the report: "Atlanta had become a garden city on a once-inconceivable scale, providing millions of people access to both urban amenities and the countryside."

Los Angeles, 2030
Driverless cars have arrived in the Los Angeles of 2030, but they don't play nicely together. LA roads carry a mix of tiny Google pods, bigger luxury models, and low-cost Chinese knock-offs—each with varying degrees of automation and poor overall connectivity. The result is enormous congestion. (Adding to the problem, driverless cars now circle in traffic to avoid paying for parking, increasing vehicle-miles traveled by 30 percent.) Youth interest in transit has waned, because digital disengagement is just as easy in a driverless car as it was on a train.

From the report: "No one had ever considered the risks of incomplete automation, and now planners everywhere are trying to figure out ways to accelerate the adoption of these technologies and avoid getting stuck in transition like LA."

New Jersey, 2029
Major climate events have crushed New Jersey's road network, but from the wreckage has emerged an incredibly sustainable mobility system based on bus-rapid transit corridors. Commuters can arrange a BRT trip on demand or rely on predictive schedules developed by Big Data. The suburbs have collapsed around BRT hubs situated within walkable areas near bike-share stations. Private cars still exist, but they're heavily tolled to pay for BRT upgrades, and commute time into New York has fallen considerably.
The scenario concludes: "The nation’s most densely populated state, which had reached the limits of sprawl ahead of all others, was now a model of planned, transit-oriented development. By crafting a novel, uniquely American approach to mass transit, New Jersey had preserved its economy and its landscape."

Boston, 2032
In this scenario, Boston becomes a dense city to the extreme degree. Freed of possessions by the sharing economy, young people flock to micro-apartments just 135 to 160 square feet in size. The possessions they do own exist in local warehouses, with a system of driverless valets to pick up or drop off items on demand—a sort of "goods cloud." Autonomous bikes thrive, reducing the need for car-ownership and creating streets friendly to pedestrians by day. At night, however, driverless urban freight vehicles take over the roads to replenish and relocate the shared stream of goods.

From the report: "In less than a generation, Boston had splintered into two new cities, living side-by-side but rarely touching—one of people and one of stuff, one existing by day, the other by night."
There's something here for everyone to like (and hate). Townsend says no scenario is intended to be a favourite or ideal, and expects the "real outcome" to be a mixture of each.

 
"Really, the purpose of the scenarios is to try to get people to understand the messiness of the future," he says. "There's not a single technology, or a single decision, or a single economic force that's going to shape the outcome. It's actually the interplay of lots of different forces, including the policy and planning choices we make. That's what we're trying to call people's attention to."

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Photoshop for Chromebooks begins long-awaited beta test

Photoshop for Chromebooks begins long-awaited beta test

Billy Steele

Engadget

If you've been eyeing a Chromebook to replace that Windows or Mac machine, Google's OS is about to get a massive boost in productivity. Starting today, Photoshop is headed to the machines thanks to a partnership with Adobe -- if you meet certain criteria. A cloud-based streaming version of the creative software will be available for Adobe Creative Cloud education customers in beta form, and for now, there's no word on when regular folk will be able to opt in. This version of Photoshop is designed to run on Chromebooks straight from the cloud and packs in Google Drive integration for easy file management. The rest of Creative Cloud is said to follow, however this trial run only includes the popular photo-editing app. As is usually the case with testing phases, there's no clear indication as to when this version of Photoshop will see its widespread release. 

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Google is bringing fullscreen ads to an app near you

Google is bringing fullscreen ads to an app near you

Terrence O'Brien

Engadget

Advertisers aren't always a fan of investing in mobile. Part of that reason is that the ads you see on phones and tablets don't command the same amount of attention that ads do on desktops.

 Google is working on new ad units though that could lure in the big brands, though users might find them somewhat infuriating. Of the four new designs, three are fullscreen ads and some are interstitial ads that would take over the screen at a "logical break point" while you're using an app.

 These ads could even include video or interactive elements, which pretty much turns them into in-app commercials. So, between levels three and four of the next Angry Birds licensing debacle title you could be watching a 20 second ad for Perdue chicken breasts. Or, you could just be blindly skipping by the ads that hijack your screen to sell paper towels, skin cream, or anything else. S

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BlackBerry looking to release more 'unconventional' devices

BlackBerry looking to release more 'unconventional' devices

Edgar Alvarez

Engadget

For better or worse, much has been made about the distinct shape of BlackBerry's new smartphone, the Passport. And, according to Ron Louks, president of the company's Devices division, we can expect BlackBerry to start pushing more out-of-the-ordinary hardware, like its latest, in the years to come. During an interview with Reuters, Louks said BlackBerry can afford to take risks after sorting out its financial situation, adding that the goal is to introduce "at least one unconventional device" every year. "When it comes to design and being a little bit disruptive, we want that 'wow' factor," he said. Louks also stated that BlackBerry is already working on yet another unusual device, and while there were no details revealed on what it is exactly, he did say carriers have had some positive feedback toward it. Whatever it may be, you can definitely color us intrigued.

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HP's $199 Windows laptop arrives alongside a pair of tablets

HP's $199 Windows laptop arrives alongside a pair of tablets

Edgar Alvarez

Engadget

Contrary to earlier rumors, HP's Chromebook-like Stream 14 turned out to be more expensive than people had hoped for when it was announced a few weeks ago. Having said that, today HP is finally introducing its $199 laptop with Windows, staying in line with what a company representative had told us before in regards to the Stream line expanding beyond the 14-inch machine. But there's more, since HP's new, budget-friendly, 11.6-inch laptop isn't the only fresh announcement.

 There's a 13.3-inch model as well, priced at $230, which, along with the $199 Stream, features an Intel Celeron processor and 32GB of flash storage. In addition to this pair of notebooks, HP is also introducing two Windows 8.1 tablets: the HP Stream 7 and HP Stream 8. If the moniker for each didn't give it away, they are 7- and 8-inch slates, respectively, with the former costing a mere $99 and the latter going for $149.%Slideshow-227521%

Unfortunately, HP isn't sharing many more details (like other specs) at the moment. We do know, however, that the company hopes to lure in customers by including a bit of free mobile data every month and access to Microsoft's Office 365 Personal productivity suite, which is definitely a nice bonus. All devices announced are expected to be available in the US by the beginning of November. In the meantime, stay tuned -- we'll be adding hands-on photos and additional info shortly.

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