Fossil buys wearable maker Misfit for $260 million

Looks like more watchmakers are now ready to enter the wearable space. This time, Fossil Group just announced that they have agreed to purchase wearable maker Misfit for US$260 million. The company plans to incorporate Misfit’s technologies into its products as early as next year. Misfit CEO and co-founder Sonny Vu will become president and CTO of Fossil Group. The company produces watches for brands such as adidas, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, DKNY, and Burberry.

“With the acquisition of Misfit, Fossil Group will be uniquely positioned to lead the convergence of style and technology and to become the fashion gateway to the high-growth wearable technology and connected device markets." Kosta Kartsotis, CEO of Fossil Group said in a statement.

Source: The Verge

iPhone video app developer joins Google’s Photos team

Google’s latest acquisition used to make iOS-exclusive apps. Fly Labs, which has created apps like Fly, Tempo, Clips and Crop on the Fly, will be joining Google Photos team. According to the New York City-based company, “We’re excited to continue on our mission by joining Google and the Google Photos team in Mountain View, California. Google Photos is a home for your life’s memories, powered by Google’s machine learning and computer vision technology. It’s a perfect match for what we built at Fly Labs, and we’re looking forward to folding our technology into Google Photos. We’ll be pouring the same passion into Google Photos that we poured into Clips, Fly, Tempo and Crop on the Fly.”

They didn’t say how much Google bought their company for but their apps on iOS will remain free to download and use but they will not update it and it will be removed from Apple App Store within three months.

Source: Fly Labs | Via: Android Central

Dyson buys battery firm Sakti3

With the latest acquisition by tech company Dyson, we can expect a boost in the battery life of its vacuum cleaners. Dyson just bought battery technology firm Sakti3 for US$90 million dollars. The manufacturing and technology firm previously invested $15 million into Sakti3. According to the company’s founder James Dyson, they plan to deliver new products using Sakti3 technology and build a battery production plant. The advanced solid-state battery technology is expected to be integrated within Dyson’s systems in a year or two.

Dyson and Sakti3 founder Ann Marie Sastry won’t say though if they plan to bring Sakti3’s technology into electric cars. Sakti3 previously claimed their batteries were twice as efficient as Tesla’s car batteries. Dyson isn’t ruling out licensing the technology to other companies. He said the batteries by Sakti3 don’t overheat like other liquid batteries and can charge “in a matter of minutes as opposed to a few hours.”

Source: USA Today

Apple buys Perceptio, startup specializing in advanced smartphone AI

The buying spree for Apple continues. This time, Apple has bought Perceptio. The startup specializes in developing technology to let companies run artificial intelligence systems on smartphones. What differentiates them is it isn’t sharing as much user data in the cloud. This seems in line with Apple’s stance of user data protection. And since this collects less data, they can stand by that idea. Again, Apple won’t confirm details about the deal and just issued the standard: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

Source: Bloomberg