Shocker: Samsung Wants Piece of Smart Wristwatch Market, Too

Shocker: Samsung Wants Piece of Smart Wristwatch Market, Too -

Sure, Samsung has been in the wristwatch business for years, but they haven't exactly had any better luck making them smarter than anyone else. Feeling a little pressure from those Apple rumors, are we?

Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung has confirmed its intentions to jump into the smart wristwatch market -- a move that's not much of a surprise, considering their rivalry with Apple in the smartphone business.

Of course, Apple has no wristwatch to speak of -- smart or otherwise -- but rumors that Cupertino will be leaping into the market this year certainly appear to be enough to get the copying machines fired up at Samsung.

“We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long,” Samsung Executive Vice President of Mobile Lee Young Hee told Bloomberg. “We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”

The Samsung executive even acknowledges that they're engaged in a race to see whose "smart watch" can revolutionize the market first. “The issue here is who will first commercialize it so consumers can use it meaningfully,” Lee added.

At stake is an industry that will rake in more than $60 billion in sales worldwide this year alone -- and one that Apple has not even publicly acknowledged outside of patent applications that only vaguely point to its interest in such product in the first place.

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

 

(Via Mac|Life all.)

NightSky Review

NightSky Review -

NightSky is the kind of game that drops you into its world without a whole lot of explanation. Start a new file and you'll see a luminescent sphere, your charge that must be navigated over various physics-based environmental challenges. But you don't need much else to go on, really. In the opaque opening, you wonder over the origins of this mysterious object. Is it alive? Is it a crystal? The answer is unknown. You'll soon find out how effective a premise it is for the game’s atmospheric, ethereal tone.

Aside from the levels’ wonderful silhouetted art direction – a great mix of prominent shadow geometry and striking color – NightSky features some impressively nuanced touch controls. Swiping the sphere gets it moving, building speed (or sometimes fighting against friction, depending on the level) as it travels.

(Via Mac|Life all.)

Lunatik unleashes four tough iPhone 5 cases

Lunatik unleashes four tough iPhone 5 cases -

Lunatik burst onto the Apple accessory market in 2010 in one of the early successful uses of Kickstarter, coming out with a pair of iPod nano watch cases called the TikTok and LunaTik. Now the company is introducing a line of iPhone 5 cases that feature rugged designs to protect your investment.

Lunatik designs are the brainchildren of Chicago-based designer Scott Wilson and his design firm Minimal. The company has more than just a handful of Kickstarter projects behind it; Minimal has been involved with design work for Microsoft, Nike and other big-name corporations.

Lunatik provided TUAW with four of their latest iPhone 5 case designs. We'll take a close look at all four, then give you a chance to win one of the cases to keep your iPhone 5 safe and stylish.

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Canon video sensor prototype can see in the dark

Canon video sensor prototype can see in the dark - It's only a research project now, but Canon can see for its super-sensitive sensor in nighttime jobs like astronomy and security. It can record by the light of a crescent moon. [Read more]

(Via CNET News.com.)

Best music and audio apps for iOS

Best music and audio apps for iOS - Whether you're itching to hear a specific song or you want to sit back and let the app do the programming, we've got the music and audio apps for you. [Read more]

(Via CNET News.com.)

Best music and audio apps for Android

Best music and audio apps for Android - Whether you're itching to hear a specific song or you want to sit back and let the app do the programming, we've got the music and audio apps for you. [Read more]

(Via CNET News.com.)

Seagate phasing out 7200rpm mobile hard drives

Seagate phasing out 7200rpm mobile hard drives - Company is going hybrid for laptop hard drives. Gone are the days of the pure magnetic hard disk drive with high rpm. [Read more]

(Via CNET News.com.)