The Jawbone Up debuted last year with big ambitions: A bracelet-like device that you’d wear all the time, tracking how much you move and how well you sleep. Paired with an app, the Up helps you recognize patterns in your habits, empowering you to improve your health. One problem: It wasn’t built to withstand the punishment of being a wearable device. Unlike a cellphone that resides in your pocket or a bag, the Up wraps around your wrist, exposed to the world just as much as your skin is. Many users found it quickly malfunctioned, and Jawbone recalled the Up and issued refunds. After nearly a year of revamping and beta testing, Jawbone is releasing Up 2.0. Although it looks exactly the same on the outside, the internals have been thoroughly changed, built to a new strength that goes way beyond industry standards, the company says. For instance, Jawbone exposed the Up to various chemicals and solvents, tested it, then exposed it again and again. There were also many drop tests. In total, 2.9 million hours of testing went into the second version of the product, the company says. Now the new Up is here, selling for $129.99, or $30 more than the original (those extra man-hours don’t pay for themselves). It comes in three sizes and eight different colors. You can get one, starting today, at Jawbone’s website, the Apple Store, Best Buy and AT&T stores. We’ll have a review after we’ve had a chance to check it out for a few days. What do you think of the Up? And what would convince you to use it? Share your impressions in the comments. Image courtesy of Jawbone Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/13/jawbone-up-new/
One of the world’s leading physicists, prof. Stephen Hawking, hoped for different results from CERN yesterday, which announced the discovery of the Higgs boson with a high degree of certainty. In fact, the announcement cost him $100 dollars, as he made a bet that the results would be different. “This is an important result, and should be rewarded with a Nobel prize, but it is a pity in a way, because the great advances in physics came from experiments that gave results we didn’t expect,’ Hawking said in an interview with the BBC. [VIDEO] “For this reason, I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the next particle wouldn’t be found. It seems I have just lost $100,’ concluded Hawking with a smile. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/04/stephen-hawking-higgs-boson/
Amazon is set to make an announcement this morning at an event in Santa Monica, and Mashable is live on the scene. Photos of both an updated Kindle Fire and a new Kindle Touch with “Paperwhite” display have leaked out over the past few weeks, suggesting that both devices may see an update at Thursday’s event. The Kindle Fire was announced on September 28, 2011. The 7-inch tablet made a splash in the tablet world, primarily for its $199 price tag. In December 2011 customers purchased more than 1 million Kindles each week, allowing Amazon to sell 4.7 million of the e-readers during the 4th quarter. UPDATE: Amazon Unveils Kindle ‘Paperwhite’ | Amazon Drops Price of New Kindle Fire to $159 | Amazon Announces Bigger, Bolder, Kindle Fire HD So, will we see a new Kindle? The first Amazon phone? Something entirely different? Keep your browser pointed here for the events as they happen — starting at 10:30 a.m. PT — with commentary from the Mashable crew. And feel free to jump into the discussion anytime with comments (though not all of them will be published). Amazon Unveils New Products in California 1. Amazon event stage 2. Amazon event stage 3. Amazon event stage 4. Amazon event stage 5. Amazon event stage 6. Amazon event stage 7. Amazon event stage 8. Amazon event stage 9. Amazon event stage 10. Amazon event stage 11. Amazon event stage 12. Amazon event stage 13. Amazon event stage 14. Amazon event stage 15. Amazon event stage 16. Amazon event stage 17. Amazon event stage 18. Amazon event stage Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/06/live-from-amazons-california-event/
The manically paced new music video for Will.i.am and Britney Spears‘s “Scream and Shout” throws in cameos from several gadgets, including an iPhone, an i-limb ultra prosthetic hand and the new Beats Pill speaker. A snippet of the video premiered Wednesday during The X Factor, followed by its full-length release online. It’s no surprise that a Beats by Dre product got some play in the video, as “Scream and Shout” is the song used in the brand’s most-recent commercial, which stars will.i.am and a slew of other celebrities. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/29/will-i-am-britney-spears-scream-and-shout-gadgets/
Image: Mashable, Christina Ascani With a new software update, Google Glass users will now be able to see notifications just by moving their eyes. Usually, when a Glass user receives an alert, the device will sound a chime, but the screen won’t show what the alert is unless the user either nods or taps the touchpad. With the new update, all a Glass wearer has to do is glance at the virtual screen. Image: Google In a Google+ post, Google said the feature was experimental. There’s no question it makes seeing alerts even more convenient than before, although it may end up making them too convenient — Glass has already been criticized for its potential to distract. Making alerts “glanceable” adds a layer of social acceptability, however. If the wearer were, say, in a business meeting or in church, tapping his or her headset or nodding might be distracting to the people around them, whereas a quick glance would probably go virtually unnoticed. Glass owners can enable the feature via a “Notification glance” card in the device’s settings. Like other experimental features, such as “Wink for picture,” the new glanceable notifications may not make it into the final product for the general public, which will reportedly be available this year. A beta version of Glass is currently available to the public. Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/04/google-glass-glanceable-notifications/
Apple kicked off its 25th annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday with a video that serves as a kind of love letter to developers. In the nearly five-minute video, called “Apps We Can’t Live Without,” a series of random users are interviewed about their favorite apps and what they think about the developers behind them. “They make our lives better,” one woman says to the camera. “And they think of things that obviously regular people can’t think of.” Some of the apps highlighted in the video are big names that most users know about, including Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest and Airbnb. An architect praises FiftyThree’s Paper app, while one woman says Airbnb “saved my life.” The video then moves on to several niche apps that get less attention. An ocean advocate discusses the usefulness of Marine Debris Tracker, and a student praises Biosim, an app that works with his bionic hand. Overall, the video is a powerful reminder of the wide range of apps that have popped up in the last six years — and the equally wide range of people whose lives are impacted by them. Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/02/apple-developers-video-wwdc-2014/
If you head up to Lake Monona near Madison, Wisconsin, you might finally be able to have those magical powers you’ve always wanted (or you can at least pretend, anyway). Who wouldn’t want to be able to shoot lightning out of their fingertips? No one, that’s who. The phenomenon known as St. Elmo’s Fire occurs when tiny charges of electricity from an object meet naturally occurring charges in the air. The two forces ionize when they meet if the atmospheric charges are unusually strong, which typically happens after a storm. To see St. Elmo’s Fire in action, check this out. It must have been really interesting to interact with nature like that. Although this guy seems calm and cool on the outside, he was probably freaking out on the inside. Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/fire-lake/
Most people tend to be disgusted by bugs, but some robot researchers are inspired by them. Scientists at Harvard have spent the past five years building robot bugs that can move with the same dexterity and speed as real-life insects. The goal, according to Harvard Microbiotics Lab, is to “create high-performance aerial and ambulatory microrobots,” which can perform tasks such as “search and rescue operations, assisted agriculture, environmental monitoring, and exploration of hazardous environments.” The researchers have designed robobugs that can move as fast as 37 centimeters — the equivalent of more than eight times its body length — per second. One of the bugs is about as small as a penny; another bug is a bit larger and has a built-in battery supply so it can scurry around for longer periods of time. It seems that Harvard has gone bug-crazy. Earlier this year, scientists at the university unveiled a bug-sized flying robots with a 3-centimeter wingspan — and yes, the wings look just like the wings on a bug. Image courtesy of YouTube, MicrobioticsLab Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/06/23/robot-bugs/
iPhone apps are cool and all … but when are we going to see some really powerful tricks? Turns out there’s one way, at least, to give your phone heat vision. So that’s a start. Elliott gives his take on it in the newest episode of Mashable Minute. Earlier this week, we told you how you can use baking soda as a shampoo substitute. Check it out: Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/08/15/super-phone-mashable-minute/
Now you can learn about 42 important historical events from the last century on your home computer through the Google Cultural Institute. The product of a partnership between Google and a number of museums and cultural foundations, the online exhibit combines letters, first-hand video testimonials, manuscripts and more into a multimedia historical journey. “The historical collections are the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, following the Art Project, World Wonders and the Nelson Mandela archives, “ Mark Yoshitake, product Manager for the Google Cultural Institute said in a blog post announcing the exhibitions. “We’re working closely with museums, foundations and other archives around the world to make more cultural and historical material accessible online and by doing so preserve it for future generations.” Wednesday’s release includes a look back at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, D-Day, and the Holocaust, amongst others. Much like other archives brought to the web by Google, you can zoom in on photos in the exhibition to check out details, and search through the archives for something specific such as a particular person or date. Each exhibition also includes a narrative that links the archive material together, such as the story of Steve Biko. The 15-year-old had a political awakening in the midst of the Apartheid movement. Learn how to navigate the archives in the video below. Let us know about your favorite exhibition included in the project in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/10/google-brings-history-to-life-with-online-exhibitions/
