Research Firm: Apple Watch To Capture 50% Of Global Smartwatch Market This Year

It looks like there is a spanking new report that hails from research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), and in this particular report, it cites that Apple would have a strong reign in the smartwatch market this year, but they should look over their shoulders with predictions that Android Wear will catch up at the end of the decade. In the report, Apple is tipped to sell up to 14 million smartwatches in 2016, earning itself 49.4% of the global smartwatch market along the way.

To make matters more interesting, this would translate to an estimated growth of 32.8% year-over-year to 28.3 million units. While Apple has so far declined to share information on the total number of Apple Watch sales, analysts have firm reason to believe that Apple managed to sell 11.5 million units in a matter of 8 months after it was released last year, which allowed it to capture 63% of the global smartwatch market.

Perhaps the second generation Apple Watch will see sales of Apple Watch rising again, after demand for the original Apple Watch declined. The IDC did also gaze into their crystal ball, predicting that Apple will continue to lose market share as its competitors begin to roll out more and more products for the masses to enjoy on their wrists.

As for Android Wear, this particular operating system for smartwatches is tipped to pick up momentum by the time 2020 arrives, which would be far more than what Android Wear has at this moment with a 21.4% smartwatch market share. Not only that, Samsung’s very own Tizen is also tipped to progress all the more this year, with the FCC citing that Samsung’s wearable OS could jolly well ship up to 3.2 million smartwatches this year, which would make it bite a 11.3% chunk from the smartwatch market. Interesting times are definitely ahead for all the smartwatch players – may the best product win!

The iPhone Lumee Case makes perfect selfies, every time

Your phone has a wonderful little light on the back that is perfect for illuminating group pictures or guiding you around at night. However, when you want to take a selfie, there’s not a light on the front, and the forward-facing camera is usually not as great of quality as the one on the back. That being said, having less light and not as great a camera means you’re going to get pictures that aren’t what you’d want them to be.

If you want perfect photos every time, then you’re going to need extra help in the light department. The Lumee Phone Case can help you get the results you want, as it provides you with a bright light that will fill in all the shadows on your face. It thankfully comes with a variable dimmer, which you can change to fit your surroundings by holding down the on/off button.

This light is powered by a lithium-ion battery inside the durable plastic case which can keep lighting up your face for up to 36 hours on the lowest setting. This could also be used as a flashlight if for some reason the light on the back of your phone isn’t enough. Since this was designed by a photographer for the sole purpose of taking amazing pictures, this is going to cost you a whopping $49.95. There are options for black, white, and rose colored cases, and you can get different models at various prices for different types of phones aside from the 5 or 5S.

Acer reveals H277HU monitor that offers sharp visuals and design

Those who work long hours – be it at home or at the office, in front of a computer, would definitely know the value of having a good monitor. After all, your eyes can get tired from all of the light that emits from the monitor after a while, and when you factor in the sheer number of years in which you would be working with computers, it might be a whole lot better if you were to invest a fair amount of dough into a good monitor. Acer has decided to provide another option for those who are on the lookout with the Acer H277HU, which is touted to be one of the world’s first monitors that brings with it support for USB Type-C for fast data transfer, displaying and charging.

In other words, the Acer H277HU will deliver sharp visuals in an equally sharp design, as it boasts of a high WQHD (2560×1440) resolution in a gorgeous zero-frame design with a gold-colored aluminum bezel and brushed-metal stand, making it an aesthetically pleasing piece of comptuer hardware that will find a place in just about any home – or office, for that matter.

The high style will be highlighted by a super slim (.04-inch) hairline aluminum front bezel and middle frame, while the beautiful diamond cut on the metallic arm and base adds to its streamlined look. In a nutshell, it would bring together practical fused with beautiful aesthetics, and courtesy of the zero-frame design, the Acer H277HU will enable near seamless viewing in multi-monitor setups, which further convenience and productivity enabling the viewing of multiple projects at once.

In terms of connectivity options, it will also feature HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2, DVI and a pair of USB 3.1 ports. In order for your visual comfort, it has been optimized to tilt from -5 degrees to 15 degrees where its stand is concerned. The new Acer H277HU will retail for $499.99 per unit if you are interested in picking this up.

Razer reveals spanking new Blade gaming laptop

Razer has long been a familiar name where gaming peripherals are concerned, and you can be sure that they are not going to rest on their laurels anytime soon. Well, it looks like their Razer Blade gaming laptop has just received a boost in terms of hardware and specifications, where the stuff underneath the hood has been improved across the board fromits predecessor, and yet despite the shot of steroids, it will be easier on your pockets than it was in the past.

Just what kind of hardware can we find packed underneath the hood? For starters, the new Razer Blade will come with the latest 6th generation Intel Core i7 quad-core processor alongside an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M GPU with 6GB of VRAM. Now that is crazy fast, no matter how you look at it – even more for a laptop. Throw in PCIe SSD technology which boasts of up to three times faster speeds than traditional solid-state drives, a Killer Wireless-AC, and 16GB of DDR4 dual-channel RAM, and you’ve got yourself quite a beast here.

Not only that, all of that processing firepower underneath the hood will be translated to visuals, where all Razer Blade models will also arrive with a stunning 3200 x 1800 QHD+ display. The laptop itself will maintain a thin profile of 0.7” thin, but it now tips the scales at a mere 4.25 pounds, which makes it all the more portable than ever before. As for the screen and internals, those will be housed in a CNC-milled aircraft grade aluminum chassis.

The Razer Blade will also hold the distinction of being the second laptop in the world equipped with individually backlit RGB keys, providing millions of color options for the anti-ghosted keyboard. The Razer Blade gaming laptop will retail for $1,999 for the model with a 256 GB PCIe SSD, and if you would prefer to have a whole lot more value for your hard earned cash, then just forking out $200 more will net you the 512GB PCIe SSD model.

Press Release

Corsair Sabre RGB gaming mouse gets an upgrade

Gamers are a pretty sensitive lot – they would like to make sure that they have nothing but the very best hardware backing them up, just to make sure that no stone is left unturned, so that they will minimize the amount of anything going wrong simply because of less than optimal hardware, leaving only pure skill to separate one from the other. Having said that, there has been many different hardware manufacturers where gaming devices are concerned, and Corsair is one of them. It is nice to see that Corsair has stepped up the game with the Corsair Sabre RGB gaming mouse that has just picked up a spanking new upgrade in the form of a 10,000 DPI optical sensor.

The upgraded Sabre RGB gaming mouse will boast of the 10,000 DPI optical sensor as mentioned earlier, and it will also have a four-zone dynamic multi-color backlighting as well as eight programmable buttons, which in turn would make the Sabre RGB the new lightweight champion of Corsair’s award winning range of gaming mice.

Merging state-of-the-art optical sensor technology alongside lightweight and ergonomic design, the Corsair Sabre RGB gaming mouse will be able to deliver superior tracking speed alongside deadly accuracy. With the 10,000 DPI optical sensor and multi-color DPI indicator, high-accuracy tracking is more or less guaranteed to ensure that every single click counts. It tips the scales at a mere 100 grams, where it has been specially designed to accommodate multiple grip styles, letting Sabre RGB’s sleek ergonomic shape fit comfortably in your hand so that you can enjoy longer marathon gaming sessions without tiring out.

Not only that, Sabre RGB’s 8 programmable buttons can also be fully re-mapped using the Corsair Utility Engine Software (CUE), be it for single keystrokes or complex macros in order to provide MOBA and MMO gamers the edge. With four-zone dynamic multi-color backlighting, users will enjoy virtually infinite color customization, or with CUE Link, match Sabre RGB’s lighting and effects to that of your Corsair RGB Keyboard with the click of a button. The asking price? A relatively affordable $49.99 a pop, actually.

MSI Vortex is the most powerful gaming cylinder to date

Now here is a gaming computer that will definitely up the ante when it comes to gaming computers, and it hails from none other than MSI Computer Corp. MSI’s announcement of the Vortex happens to see it being a VR-ready, high-performance miniature tower which will be able to redefine compact gaming desktops, as it holds the distinction of being the smallest gaming cylinder in the world. In fact, the MSI Vortex comes with a measurement of a mere 10.5” in height, and yet has the ability to run with the best of them thanks to an unlocked Intel Core i7 6700K processor, not to mention having up to 64GB of DDR4 memory, SSDs in Super RAID 4 configuration, and dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPUs in SLI.

Apart from that, the most recent tower from MSI has also been specially engineered for superior upgradability, expandability, and compatibility with a variety of connectors, and among those include Thunderbolt 3 that supports up to 40GBs of data transfer rate. It might be minimal in footprint, but do bear in mind that it has maximum performance. The Vortex will boast of MSI’s 360° Silent Storm Cooling technology that delivers extreme coolness even under the most intense gaming sessions. This particular cooling system will create a vortex-shaped wind path as it captures heat from the bottom of the unit and circulates it upwards, resulting in superior thermals and acoustics. In addition, with a 450W 80 plus Gold power supply that is built into the Vortex, space use is minimized.

Capable of supporting up to half a dozen video outputs for intense multi-tasking and multi-screen experiences, the Vortex is also 4K ready, as it delivers lag-free gaming thanks to Killer DoubleShot X3 connectivity, accompanied by an immersive multimedia experience with Nahimic Military X Gaming, which is the first audio technology adopted by the French Army to vividly reproduce audio in their aircraft training simulators.

The Vortex can be yours with a starting price of $2,199.99 a pop.

CES Unveiled – a Preview of Things to Come

Today I’m off to the Consumer Electronics Show kick-off event in New York City. Designed to offer up a sneak peek at some of the years most innovative products in the technology arena. A full 2 months before the CES main event to be held in Las Vegas, CES Unveiled will shine the spotlight on some of the latest and greatest tech products, and award winning innovations that might just be making their way to a store near you.

From products designed to simply help you take better social media pictures, and cases set up to conveniently store your ear buds, to high tech keyboards, amazing games and an awesome sounding new portable, wireless speaker system from Korus, that DOESN’T use bluetooth or wireless, has amazing range, and is literally plug and play. Watch for a review coming later this week!

CES has a long history of introducing the world to some of our most exciting technologies. In 1970, CES was the first to showcase the video cassette recorder, and 1981 gave us the first CD player, with a myriad of innovations before and after,  I’m more than excited to see what the future has in store for us now.

Rest assured I’ll be checking out some of the “Coolest-Gadgets” I can find, and tell you everything you need to know, including purchasing and real time availability information. So check back soon, for some high tech stuff you could only dream about…until now.

Bitcoin – Like Spending Cash, Online?

I spent some time today trying to firm up my holiday travel plans. While I perused some online travel agencies, I came across one that just announced  it would now accept Bitcoins as a form of payment for airfare booked through their website. Bitcoins? I think I’ve heard of them, some sort of decentralized digital currency, kind of like cash for the internet, but I believe it’s time to learn more…

In short, Bitcoin is an online network that folks can use to send payments from one to another, in that respect only, perhaps vaguely similar to Paypal. Bitcom is the worlds first “open” financial network. No one actually owns it, or runs the Bitcoin network. It’s actually a peer-to-peer system, with people like us, and our computers working together to process these transactions and, Bitcoin is its own currency, with this monetary unit being called a Bitcoin. Are you guys with me so far?

Because Bitcoin has all these unique properties, the hope is that use of it will allow all kinds of exciting applications that could not be covered by previous payment systems. Evidently, there are quite a few merchants already hopping on the Bitcoin bandwagon and offering up everything from cupcakes to web hosting services for Bitcoin payments. Who knew? Of course it appears that a big draw (to those so inclined) may be the ability to move your Bitcoin around without the taxman knocking on your door.

So what now? It looks like Bitcoin is growing, payments are being made worldwide, people are purchasing Bitcoin as an investment, and yes, some folks are already getting rich off it. People all over the world are already trading hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin every day. Wow.  To learn more, visit bitcoin.org and let us know what you think. Now I have to get back to my plane tickets.

Technology and Tastebuds – Digital Lollipops Could Taste like Turkey

Ah Thanksgiving, I believe it exists not only to remind us of all the things we have to be thankful for, but also to drive home the fact that eating is a wonderful thing. Of course too-much-turkey hangover, and a 5 pound weight gain overnight …not so much. If only we could have all the pleasure of food and snacks, with none of the pesky after effects.

Now, what if you could eat a nice leafy green salad, and have your tastebuds tell you that it was a bacon double cheeseburger with fried onions and extra ketchup? Well, it could happen, in fact, Nimesha Ranasinghe, a Ph.D. research scholar at the National University of Singapore, is in the process of developing a device that actually simulates flavors directly on the tip of your tongue, using a “lollipop” consisting of a silver electrode.

In fact, Nimesha and his team are able to reproduce our most established basic tastes, like, sweet, salty, sour and bitter, and by combining these flavors, a person’s taste receptors are fooled by simply varying the alternating current from the lollipop and slight but rapid changes in temperature. Imagine being able to one day believe you are tasting real food!

Where could this technology take us? I can think of a vast market for such a device. From dieters to diabetics being able to experience foods that shouldn’t be on the menu, to advertisers being able to offer up sample tastes of their next delicious offerings, to entertainment venues like movie theaters, where you would be able to taste what you see on screen. Yup, it could be huge… but for the time being, I’m sticking with my turkey and gravy – and then I’m going to take a nap.

Coin – ALL your Credit Cards in One

Coin – ALL your Credit Cards in One

I have to admit I’m not the most organized gal on the planet. My wallets a mess, I have a gazillion credit cards, none of which are where they should be at any given time. I use one to pay for something, and stick it in my jacket pocket. I use another one, and it goes into my dressy handbag, only to be found 3 months after it expired. I need the cards, but I sure wish they were a little easier to keep track of.

So I’m super excited to introduce you to Coin, an amazing little gadget that is the answer to my prayers. Coin is a high tech credit card solution that allows you to load ALL your actual credit cards onto one credit card-like device. You accomplish this via your smartphone. A card reader comes with your nifty little Coin, and you just plug it in and swipe away, even taking pictures of the cards for display. Name your cards, and then you’re ready to charge away.

Say you’re at a business luncheon and want to pay with your company card, simply select it from the list, and voila! lunch is on the boss. A birthday present for mom? You might decide to select the card that gives the best reward points. Coin looks like a credit card, it swipes like a credit card, but it gives you all the cards you will ever need in one convenient location. You wouldn’t want to lose a card like that, now would you? No worries. Unlike your ordinary credit cards, your smartphone will alert you if your Coin gets left behind.

All your credit cards in one place, built in loss protection, and, having the coolest high tech credit card on the planet? Sign me up! If you’d like to learn more, or get in on pre-ordering the 55 dollar Coin, visit onlycoin.com and break out your boring old credit card one last time. Hopefully it will ship this summer.

Apple Pay – Making Changes to how you Charge

There are very few of us that don’t walk around with at least one credit card these days. They certainly do have their conveniences. What I find alarming is the sheer numbers of folks that have had their credit card information compromised, or even stolen. It’s gotten to the point where every time I hand someone my plastic, I find myself eying them up with unfounded suspicions. Heck, its almost enough to make me want to start carrying cash! 

If you’ve ever felt the same way, you have to check out Apple Pay, a brand new way of exchanging money that will change how you pay, with this new, cool and contactless payment system. With unique security features that are built right into the devices we all  already have with us every day, you can use your iPhone, Apple Watch, or even your iPad to pay in a safe, easy, and confidential way.

Apple Pay combines Apple’s hardware, software and services to create the unique and intuitive experience you’ve come to expect from Apple. You simply register a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, and the actual card numbers will never be stored on the device, or even on the Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number (or DAN) is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on your device. Then, each transaction will be authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code, instead of using the security code from the stripe on the back of your card.

Apple Pay is easy to set up and you will still qualify for all  the rewards and benefits offered by your credit and debit card companies. Soon you’ll be able to simply hold your iPhone near the contactless reader while keeping your finger on the Touch ID, and you wont even have to look to see that the transaction is complete, a subtle buzz and vibration lets you know the deal is done. Apple Pay is rolling out now in Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with additional markets being announced in 2015. So may stores, so little time.

Sports Performance Meets High Tech

How to athletes keep getting better? Just when we think an athletic feat is unsurmountable, a record is broken. Hits, runs, pitches (the throws…not the grass), bats, bowls, tackles, speeds, heights, goals, assists…the quantities and speeds continue to reach new records. Ever wonder how they keep improving what we believe cannot be improved? Sure, advancements in diet, exercise, training, video and scouting have revolutionized the athlete’s life. But in our ever-growing age of technology you can guarantee the tech involvement in enhancing athletic performance is high. One Australian company has been and continues revolutionizing how technology and human 

Meet Catapult, a global leader in athlete analytics. Decades ago, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) partnered with the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) – home of future Catapult founders Shaun Holthouse and Igor van de Griendt. Through the micro-technology 

advancements of future, the AIS began to deep dive with Holthouse and van de Griendt on athlete performance. Realizing that performance was always different in competition than in training, the ‘wearability’ factor of sensors became crucial to capturing data so as to analyze an athlete’s performance when exerting themselves at high levels.  Their wearable innovations led them to success for the Australian Olympic teams in the early 2000.  Soon after this success, Catapult was founded in 2006.
Catapult systems are ultimately designed to evaluate athlete’s power and efficiency through a number of measurements and give users the ability to easily analyze the data. Teams, clubs and individuals can use GPS-based outdoor tracking or a multilateration indoor system with ‘portable satellites’. All motions, actions, speeds and reactions can be tracked. Their IMA (Inertial Movement Analysis) enables athlete’s performance to be accurate to their own abilities too, factoring out the impact of the force of gravity. And their Openfield platform means the days of crunching performance numbers are gone. An easy to use interface means each coach, trainer or athlete can analyze performance in the way they choose.

To this day the wearable technology produced by Catapult rank them as a global leader. Their client base ranges from big name clubs in the NFL (Dallas Cowboys), NBA (San Antonio Spurs), Football/Soccer (Newcastle United, US Men’s National Team), Rugby (Saracens) and many many more. Global media has responded too, with ESPN calling it one of the best sports innovations since 1998. Visit their website to learn more.

So what does this mean for the average person? Well, rest assured that our favorite teams now have another weapon in their quest to win divisions, leagues and championships. And who knows, maybe these wearable technologies will make it to the consumer side in the future, to help us weekend warriors.