Moto has no plans to release a smartwatch soon

If you liked the Moto 360, don’t think you’ll be getting a follow-up from the Lenovo-owned company any time soon. TechCrunch reports that a Moto executive confirmed the news. According to Shakil Barkat, head of global product development for Motorola, “We don’t see enough pull from the market at this point to put out a new product.” He claims a lack of broad appeal for the smartwatch space. There might be a Moto smartwatch somewhere down the line but in the meantime, don’t expect much.

This proclamation can be seen as a direct threat to the longevity of Google’s Android Wear operating system. The Moto 360 is considered one of the best interpretations of the OS and if Motorola abandons it, we’re not sure what the future holds for Android Wear. With Wear 2.0 being delayed to early next year, that doesn’t help the case either.

Source: TechCrunch

Box files are now accessible for Microsoft Office on Android

Box builds on its partnership with Microsoft and gives mobile users on Android access to their files and easily edit them on mobile versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. And this update comes months after Box was named to be part of Microsoft’s Cloud Storage Partner Program. If you use Box on your Android device, you can select that as the default cloud service in Office for Android. It takes away having to save files on your device before getting access to them. It also lets you assign tasks to your collaborators on Box.

 Source: Venture Beat

Rovio’s spinoff Hatch to bring streaming game service to Android

Hatch, a new company that spun off from Angry Birds’s creator Rovio, is hoping to become the Spotify for mobile gaming. The new company is looking to let Android users stream and play games without downloading games onto their phones and have added “unique social features.” It’ll give anyone with an Android device free access to games without any updates or in-app purchases. The service and developers will supposedly get revenue from “integrated, unobtrusive advertising and brand storytelling.” Hatch is also planning to offer a paid subscription option to give gamers additional features. These features haven’t been specified at the moment.

Hatch partnered with Huawei Technologies to use its cloud-based servers. The service will let players compete or even help while playing online games as well as broadcast gameplay footage. Hatch says that even single-player games can be changed to have you receive online assistance from other gamers. Some of the 100 games expected at the time of launch include Badland, Monument Valley, Pac-Man CE DX, and many more. There will also be Hatch-exclusive games like IslaBomba: Ready To Boom. The company plans to launch the service via an invite-only beta sometime in the first half of 2017.

Source: Android Authority

Of course your phone needs a bed, too

We’ve seen a lot of weird gadgets and accessories in our time but this one has to be one of the stranger ones. Introducing Phone Bed—a bed to put your phone on at the end of the day. Nope, it’s not a charging station. It’s simply a bed for your mobile devices. You can place your phones on top of the bed’s satin linens and tablets inside the velvet lined compartments. While you think this might be a joke, it’s a real product sold on Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global site. And how much will it set you back? Well, US$100.

As described on the site: “The phone bed makes putting our smartphones to bed a regular part of our nightly ritual. First we tuck our phones in, and then ourself. By giving our phones their own bed, we can say goodnight to our day and get the sleep we need to wake up fully recharged.” Okay. We’re not sure what to make of this. But if you’re looking for a funny gift this Christmas. This should be on that list.

Source: The Verge