Will Jawbone’s future mean no more wearables? - Despite the popularity of fitness trackers and the spike in exercise wearables, rumors are swirling that Jawbone may be exiting the wearables technology competition. The company recently announced that it has ceased the manufacturing of its UP fitness trackers and is selling off its entire inventory to a third-party seller. But CEO Hosain Rahman has reiterated his commitment to the wearables space since that news broke. See Also: Are these Sam...

Node-RED makes baking IoT Raspberry Pi easy - Raspberry Pi is a natural fit for the IoT world. Do-it-yourselfers and startups especially like Raspberry Pi for its low cost, small form factor, and versatility. There is also an entire library of software solutions that make adding your own unique functionality to a Raspberry Pi system relatively easy. The Raspberry Pi can also run Windows and Linux, and Microsoft has even dedicated an entire section of its website to using Windows with Raspbe...

Ericsson: IoT connections will crush mobile by 2018 - Internet of Things (IoT) connections will surpass mobile by 2018, according to communications giant Ericsson. In the firm’s annual Mobility Report, it said IoT connections will climb by 23 per cent annually for the next five years, hitting 16 billion in 2021. See also: Are insurance devices the next billion dollar IoT market? That’s a much higher growth percentage than mobile, which Ericsson expects to grow at three percent annually over...

Are baby wearables just too much? - In an age where adult fitness and health wearables, such as the Garmin Vivoactive tracker, have become the norm, new companies are introducing wearable baby monitors that connect to smartphone apps. These wearables can provide information to parents about their baby’s breathing, skin temperature, sleeping patterns and heart rate. See also: Soon-to-launch Ayda helps with your baby making Sproutling offers an ankle strap that uses pulse oximetry technology,...

Bezos: “I would never say” no to Amazon wearables - Amazon has shocked us a few times with its hardware announcements, not many thought the Kindle would succeed to the extent it changed the entire publishing industry, Dash buttons offered a new, unique way to reorder items on Amazon, and Echo is one of the most popular Internet of Things (IoT) devices on the market at the moment. The e-commerce giant may be working on another hardware device, if you think Jeff Bezos’ non-answer at Code Conf...

Smart city talk is cheap, but who will pay the bill? - While seemingly every major metropolis is keen to cozy up to the smart city moniker, many are leery of investing the big bucks until tangible benefits become clearer. An article by FCW raises the question of who will pay for the smart infrastructure of the future. And more pressingly, who will make the case to city leaders that investing heavily in smart city technology makes fiscal sense. Dan Correa said at a recent forum that local go...

Ford CEO sees company self-driving itself into future - Mark Fields, the CEO of venerable auto maker Ford, revealed how new technology like autonomous vehicles is playing an ever increasing role in its strategy for the future. As reported by CNBC, Fields recently participated in an on-stage interview at the 2016 Code Conference where new connected technology was the recurring theme. Fields said that Ford is striving to incorporate a startup mentality into its operations, with the 113-year o...

Musk to Apple: Maybe just try to keep up, ok? - Tesla CEO Elon Musk cast further doubt on Apple’s autonomous car project during the Code Conference in California, reigniting the tension started last year between the two companies. “I think they should have embarked on this project sooner,” Musk said during the interview. “I don’t think they’ll be in production sooner until 2020.” The comment comes a few months after a string of reports that Tesla and Apple are poaching talent from one anoth...

Can India pass the smart laws needed for smart cities? - While India’s central government trumpeted plans to develop 100 smart cities around the country, there are concerns about the lack of a legal framework to manage and regulate these transformed cities. An article in the Business Standard raised questions around India’s smart city strategy, announced last year. The complexity of transforming into a smart city largely comes with the difficulty in harmonizing the myriad infrastructure ele...

A Zoox cab ride looks pretty cool - Imagine you’re getting ready to leave a busy restaurant after a long night out with friends. You’ve had a few too many and decide to call for a ride rather than to drive yourself. You pull out your smartphone and with a few taps a car is sent your way. When your car arrives, it looks like something out of a supercar magazine. Opening the passenger-side door, you discover that the vehicle that just pulled up is totally empty. Not just the passenger seat, b...

Accenture sees nearly half of cars autonomous in 25 years - Global consulting firm Accenture has released a report looking at the potential benefits of autonomous vehicles in Australia and what connected industries may be affected by the advent of self-driving. Accenture predicts that by the year 2040, four out of every 10 cars will be autonomous. And it won’t just be consumer cars that use autonomous technology, healthcare, manufacturing, mining, and transportation industries will all move...

Will Tesla go fully self-driving before the Model 3? - Rumors of Tesla’s Model 3 self-driving features have been circling for a few months, in part due to a cryptic tweet from CEO Elon Musk: “Thanks for tuning in to the Model 3 unveil Part 1! Part 2 is super next level, but that’s for later…” Plenty of publications and pundits took that as a self-driving hint, that the Model 3 would come stocked with new features never before seen on the road. That could include Level 4 autonomy, also known...