Half a year after launching the Ionic, Fitbit is back with Versa, a “smartwatch for all.” The new wearable builds atop the same foundation as its predecessor, but offers a lower price point and a smaller frame, addressing two of the main complaints around the company’s first smartwatch. It’s the device the Ionic should have been. Read More
13
Mar
2018
Fitbit’s Versa is the smartwatch the Ionic should have been
Half a year after launching the Ionic, Fitbit is back with Versa, a “smartwatch for all.” The new wearable builds atop the same foundation as its predecessor, but offers a lower price point and a smaller frame, addressing two of the main complaints around the company’s first smartwatch. It’s the device the Ionic should have been. Read More
Fitbit’s first smartwatch had its fair share of issues, including a large size, which made it unwieldy for many wrists. That fact no doubt automatically excluded the product from a big chunk of its potential user base, including a lot of women. Fitbit’s hardly alone among wearable makers in that oversight, of course, but the issue certainly stood out for a company whose products… 
The Ace was inevitable. Sure, Fitbit is leaning into smartwatches with today’s launch of the Versa, but the company’s current line of fitness trackers left a key demographic unserved. The new wearable, which is essential a scaled down version of the company’s entry level Alta tracker, is aimed squarely at kids aged eight to 13. I won’t go into all of the stats… 
Harman and Samsung have entered into a strategic association that will have Harman taking up the SmartThings’ standard and carrying it forward against other Internet of Things products. Announced today, Samsung SmartThings R&D team and HARMAN Connected Services (HCS), a division of HARMAN International, will collaborate on the platform with HCS developing and supporting the… 
Tandem, the U.K. challenger bank co-founded by fintech veteran Ricky Knox, continues to be a shopping spree. Following the purchase of Harrods Bank, the banking arm of the famous luxury British department store, the company is acquiring Pariti, a money management app that has garnered 95,000 users. 
Automaker Volkswagen’s ramping up for its big EV push, with $25 billion in committed battery supplies and plans to outfit 16 factories to build electric cars by the end of 2022, up from three with that capacity in the VW stable right now. Thus far, Volkswagen’s focus is on battery suppliers in Europe and China, its two largest markets, and likely the two that will be most important… 
Kitty Hawk, the company led by the ‘godfather of self-driving cars’ Sebastian Thrun and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, has revealed its Cora aircraft, which is a hybrid vertical take-off and landing design that can take off like a helicopter but fly like a plane. The vehicle can travel at over 93 miles per hour, and has a range of around 62 miles on a single charge.… 
The United Nations has warned that Facebook’s platform is contributing to the spread of hate speech and ethnic violence in crisis hit Myanmar. 
The flying car company led by Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page is breaking cover with a new deal that will see it test its autonomous electric air taxis with the New Zealand government, with the aim of having a commercial network ready to carry passengers within as little as three years, the New York Times reports.
Kitty Hawk, which has so far only… 
Payments company Ripple says it plans to invest in startups and technology companies to develop more uses for XRP, its cryptocurrency that is currently the third largest digital token behind bitcoin and Ethereum based on total market cap. The value of XRP shot up in December and January following a crypto market rally that saw bitcoin reach nearly $20,000 per coin. The collective value of…