Health and sports performance monitoring are benefiting from new forms of connectivity, as apps and devices record our activities and vital signs, and link them to a variety of analytical services. This week a heart monitor, weighing scales and a bicycle camera are the focus of a fitness gadget workout.
A Leap into the future with 3D gestures
It’s an unimpressive-looking black oblong, no bigger than a packet of chewing gum, but Leap Motion’s new gesture-control device, unveiled today, could change the way we interact with computers.
Imagine touch-typing or playing a piano in the air, moulding virtual clay with your hands or simply scrolling effortlessly through web pages. The Leap can handle all this by sensing finger and hand movements and translating them to a computer and its display, reducing the need for keyboard, mouse or touchscreen.
A sign of a hot Android product is when Google gives thousands away to reward developers at its annual conference. The HTC Evo 4G smartphone was the freebie in May 2010 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet was last year’s. Updated versions of both went on sale this week. But are they a match yet for the latest iPad and iPhone?
AMD bridges Ivy gap with Trinity
Intel told its investor day last week it would be producing 2m units a week of its latest “Ivy Bridge” processors by the end of June, but the chipmaker faces fresh competition from Tuesday’s consumer and business announcements by rivals AMD and Nvidia.
AMD launched its second-generation “Trinity” processors, touting longer battery life and lower prices than Intel’s offerings for notebooks and PCs, while Nvidia threatened to challenge Intel in the data centre and enterprise with the unveiling of its VGX graphics processing unit (GPU) platform.
©Thor SwiftConsider office work a slog? Feel like you’re on a hamster wheel? Then perhaps the addition of a treadmill desk to your work environment may not appeal. However, some of those who feel office life is too sedentary and unhealthy are turning to the treadmill-desk concept. LifeSpan TR 1200-DT Treadmill Desk: 4/5
Sleekbooks make HP debut
HP has announced a new line of “Sleekbooks” - a variation on Intel’s Ultrabook category that adds processors from its rival AMD and achieves lower price points.
The leading PC maker also unveiled Ultrabooks under its Envy brand name including a new model of the Spectre, the premium ultrabook it introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
EA slams Zynga, backs next-gen consoles
Electronic Arts has criticised its social gaming rival Zynga for paying high prices for “instant one-hit wonders” that give it a “temporary lead” in the charts.
John Riccitiello, chief executive, also used EA’s quarterly earnings call with analysts on Monday to argue the success of EA’s own digital and social strategy, defend falling subscriber numbers for its Star Wars online game and announce a big investment in next-generation console games. Details after the jump.
Spotify iPad app has touch of class
Spotify, the music streaming service, has followed rivals MOG and Rdio and finally released an iPad app, but it’s been worth the wait.
The app features fast switching between different tracks, almost full-screen album art and intuitive navigation for swiping through information about artists and opening panes on similar artists.
Big Jambox offers larger wireless sound
Jawbone, which has the best-selling speaker in the US in the Jambox, has come up with an even bigger seller – at least in size – Big Jambox.
As the name suggests, this is a big brother to the original Bluetooth wireless speaker, with a much larger frame and sound, plus added features, as I discovered in a few days of testing.
Apple has accumulated 125m users of its iCloud service just six months after the launch. But while it does a great job of saving and moving photos and music between different Apple devices, it is less agile with documents, video and non-Apple products – a weakness that three updated services are exploiting.
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