Snapchat ventures into hardware with Spectacles

The social media giant Snapchat (now called Snap Inc.) is moving beyond its ephemeral video and messaging app into hardware territory. The company just released smart glasses called Spectacles that’ll lets its users record first-person, 10-second clips at a time. These clips can then be sent via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to your Snapchat app. Think of it as a more millennial-friendly Google Glass or even something like a more portable GoPro. To record clips, you just tap a button mounted on frames. A ring of tiny lights will light up to indicate that you’re currently recording. The camera-glasses makes use of 115-degree-angle lens that looks similar to the human eye’s natural field of view and can be played back in landscape or portrait on your phone. These glasses come in black, teal, and coral and will retail for US$129.99 (around CA$170). Battery life is expected to last a full day out.

A limited number of these glasses will be released. According to Snap Inc.’s CEO Evan Spiegel, “We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out. It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.”

Source: CNET + The Verge

Review: Apple Watch Series 2 and watchOS 3

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

With the water resistance, GPS and improved battery life the Apple Watch Series 2 becomes an even more personal wearable but more than a gadget or accessory, it can really help keep your fitness goals front and centre if used properly.

Apple Watch Series 2 removes a lot of the ambiguity of its predecessor and is now honed to be a better all-around fitness tracker with a built-in GPS and improved water resistance that should please users who want to take it swimming or go for runs or bike rides sans iPhone or iPhone Plus.

Click to read more ...

Apple fixes bug that shuts off headphone controls on iOS

One of the advantages of Apple having full control over its iOS ecosystem is bug fixes can arrive pretty quickly. A new fix released in version 10.0.2 resolves an issue with Lightning headphone controls getting disabled after a period of inactivity. This bug was reported soon after the iPhone 7 launch last week. And thankfully, Apple addressed the issue rather quickly. The physical controls on the Lightning-connected headphones and earbuds should continue working even after you’ve stopped listening to anything for a while.

Aside from that, this update fixes two other issues: one is regarding Photos closing or quitting when some users switch on iCloud Photo Library and another is regarding “an issue that prevented enabling some app extensions.

Source: The Verge

Google rumoured to be pricing Amazon Echo competitor at US$50 less

There’s a new rumour floating around that Google plans to launch its own Amazon Echo-like speaker during its October 4 event. The big thing about Google Home though is it’ll be US$50 cheaper than the Echo at $129 (around CA$170) when it comes out. It’ll will have personalized base covers, which were first seen at Google I/O back in May will be seen in the final device. This voice-activated speaker is designed to be used across rooms to ask Google questions, stream music, check your schedule, and the like.

Source: Android Police