Wearable Archives - Argyll Free Press

Project Aura is Google’s new Glass team name. This time around Google is looking mostly at business rather than focusing on consumers.

The Project Aura team has been hiring straight from Amazon’s Lab126. Software developers, engineers and even project managers are being swooped over to Google’s side – It is unknown at the moment if there were cookies involved or not.

Regardless, Google capitalized on Amazon’s phase 1 of laying off staff members. Due to their Fire smartphone failure, Amazon fired more than a dozen engineers.

Ivy Ross will be in charge of Project Aura. However, she still reports to Google’s head of connected-home business Nest Tony Fadell. There hasn’t been any significant change in the hierarchy that comprises the Glass team. Ross previously ran the project.

While Project Aura is working hard on the new iteration of the Glass, the team is also meddling with other kinds of wearable technology. This is according to job descriptions found on LinkedIn.

One software development manager that worked on Lab126, and later on joined Project Aura in August of 2015, described the project simply as Glass and Beyond. He also noted on his LinkedIn profile that the team is developing cool wearables.

Dimitry Svetlov, the manager in this case, didn’t quickly reply to a message seeking answers on LinkedIn, the Wall Street Journal adds.

Unfortunately for Google, their first try at selling the Glass failed, miserably. Partly do to the whole NSA scandal and because it featured a more than hefty price. Their first iteration of Glass retailed at $1,500.

People across the US were seeing Google’s Glass as a devilish thing that someone can use to record them in public places without nobody noticing.

Google couldn’t handle the backlash. They stopped selling the Glass in January and the company’s execs confirmed that their device was clearly not ready for consumers.

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman at Google, noted earlier this year that the big G won’t give up trying to develop and market the Glass because they see this kind of technology as having a huge potential.

It’s a new market that doesn’t yet have a standard of quality imposed.

In the last couple of months, Google has been spreading Glass 2.0 to select few companies in the energy, health care and manufacturing industries.

Project Aura won’t have a consumer release this year, and rumors have it that they probably won’t have it ready even for 2016. What we do know is that it’s going to be released sometimes in the near future.

Will you give it another go when the time comes? Do you think people will forever hate the Glass?

Image Source: 1, 2

The Pebble Time was already a major hit in US, and European markets, but it seems this isn’t enough for the record-breaking company – their Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is the most funded project to date. So where to now?

The Pebble Time Steel Edition is like elegance wrapped around your wrist. No matter what you’re wearing, the Time will make sure you’re emitting that simple, and respectable vibe.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room first – the Apple Watch. Can Pebble Time compete with Apple’s wearable? Or is it doomed from the get-go? The huge amount of popularity it has garnered over the past couple of years makes the Pebble smart watch more than a worthy challenger.

It’s way cheaper than Apple’s device, about $249, and most important of all, it doesn’t scream Look At Me. It doesn’t have anything that will make others think you are wearing a smartwatch – and this is the exact thing that Pebble Time fans are looking for, as in not looking like a big show-off.

Pebble Time Steel Edition - Elegance and Simplicity Wrapped Around Your Wrist

Pebble Time VS. Pebble Time Steel

The Pebble Time Steel, like Pebble’s other smartwatch models, doesn’t have a touchscreen, and nor does it feature a heart sensor. It simply pushes notifications on your wrist, amongst other things. The thing is, any Pebble wearable can do this, but the Steel Time edition is the better looking of the bunch.

Stainless steel envelopes the watch’s mechanism, and leather straps latch onto you wrist making you look all grown-up, instead of a man-child wearing a toy-watch.

It has a 1.25-inch display, which is amplified tricking you into thinking that the watch’s display is way larger than previous models – which clearly isn’t.

But it’s not just a more design-polished smart watch. It actually does feel better on your hand, and using it is simple, intuitive, and downright fun. I don’t know if this is the Fata Morgana of the modern tech age, but making something look better, ends with it tricking the user into thinking it actually is better.

But the over-sized bezel is a little bit off-putting, and it may seem like you’re wearing a 90s calculator, but that depends on what model you own. Also, the display gets easily scratched, and more worrying, it can get seriously dented if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings – those awful morning hangovers have received yet another reason for humanity to get off of its ass, and find a cure for, uhm, drinking I suppose.

Expect the Pebble Time Steel Edition to be delivered some time between six to eight weeks.

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

Google Glass Team Re-Branded as Project Aura, Not Ara

Pebble Time Steel – Elegance Wrapped Around Your Wrist

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