As reported by Engadget. by Aaron Souppouris It’s not like we haven’t seen e-ink watches before, but we’ve never seen one quite like this. FES Watch uses e-paper not only for its face, but its entire strap, allowing the wearer to change its design with a simple button press. By combining different upper- and lower-strap choices with a variety of face designs, you’ll have a total of 24 designs to choose from. This isn’t a…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Natasha Lomas Do we have the Internet we deserve? There’s an argument to say that yes, we absolutely do. Given web users’ general reluctance to pay for content. We are of course, paying. Just not with cold hard cash, but with our privacy — as digital business models rely on gathering and selling intel on their users to make the money to pay (the investors who paid) for the free service.…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Kim-Mai Cutler When I first took a look at Sense, a smart sleep sensor launching today on Kickstarter, it reminded me of two things. Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium and Google’s old, discontinued Nexus Q product. “Those are two of my favorite things,” said James Proud, a former Thiel fellow who went on to found a startup behind the device called Hello. “I wanted to create something that didn’t feel like a piece of electronics that you don’t…
As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS Dropbox for Business is good for collaborating on files stored in the cloud, but it hasn’t had fine-grained permission control — not great if you have a sensitive project you’d rather notshare with the folks in Accounts Receivable. You’ll be glad to hear, then, that Dropbox is introducing some much-needed access limits. You can now say which of your colleaguescan edit or view a given file, and you can both set expiry dates…
As reported on Engadget. BY BEN GILBERT Tesla Motors makes beautiful, quality electric automobiles. Don’t just take it from us;Consumer Reports rated the Tesla Model S the “best overall” car in its 2014 Top Picks report (which includes all non-electric cars as well). Yet, despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ongoing effort to expand his EV empire, state after state in the United States is pushing back. Not because those states are against electronic vehicles, Musk or even Tesla; it’s about the way Tesla wants to…
Asd reported on Engadget BY MATT BRIAN Microsoft today announced that it’s cutting 18,000 jobs, the biggest round of layoffs in its history, as part of ongoing restructuring efforts. In a release, the company says that Nokia’s Devices and Services business, which it acquired for $5 billion last year, will be most affected, with 12,500 “professional and factory positions” expected to go by the end of the year. In an email to employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella…
As reported on Engadget. BY SHARIF SAKR Sure, Elon Musk is giving away Tesla patents, but don’t be surprised if more established manufacturers politely decline his offer. Instead of batteries and electric charging stations, players like General Motors, Mercedes, Honda and Toyota are focusing their efforts on a very different sort of fuel system: hydrogen. Toyota has just revealed that its first commercial hydrogen fuel cell car, a sedan modelled on the earlier FCV concept, will be ready…
As reported on The Verge. By Aaron Souppouris Meet Project LiveWire America’s foremost bike manufacturer is leaving a century of tradition behind with the all-electric Project LiveWire, and it’s inviting the public to help test it. While the company is being coy with details on the bike, it says LiveWire offers “tire-shredding acceleration and an unmissable new sound,” and is capable of hitting 0-60 in less than four seconds. LiveWire is not for sale, and is instead…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Ingrid Lunden Puppet Labs, whose IT automation software is used by the likes of Google, Twitter, Salesforce and AT&T among 18,000 others, is today announcing another $40 million in venture backing, money that it will be investing in “engineering, product and international expansion,” CEO and founder Luke Kanies tells TechCrunch. The funding, which comes from Puppet Labs’ existing top-shelf and strategic investors — specifically Cisco, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Triangle…
As reported on Engadget. BY MATT BRIAN BlackBerry’s plan to cut costs and shift to services is starting to pay dividends. While the company’s latest financial earnings report shows it’s still suffering losses, they aren’t as bad as expected. It certainly wasn’t thanks to its smartphones, which were once BlackBerry’s main source of revenue, as they fell to just 2.6 million units from 3.4 million in the last quarter. This time around, the Canadian smartphone maker didn’t divulge how…