Letv launches VR headset and Internet-enabled bicycle in India

The company has solidly beaten out all competitors in the Indian VR market, well before any of them have even made an entrance.

Following the launch of their curved-display smart TV in December, Chinese electronics manufacturer Letv has been promising a slew of new products this month. And while earlier rumours suggested we'd be seeing a new line of smartphones today, we've instead got a few new from completely left field. Arguably, they might even be better news than more phones.

At their launch event in New Delhi, Letv had three new products to unveil, the first of which is the Le 3D Helmet. While it may sound like HUD-based driving headgear, it's actually an all new virtual reality display. The 3D Helmet has a 5.5-inch 2K LCD display from Sharp, with a horizontal 70-inch field of view. Built with a focus on moviegoers, Letv says it "feels like you’re 15 meters away, sitting in the 8th row of a cinema". While not much else was revealed at the launch, the 3D Helmet is clearly drawing inspiration from the still to arrive Samsung Gear VR, but with support for all of Letv's Superphone models. 



Next up is the LeMe Bluetooth headset, wireless headphones available in White, Pink Orange ,and Red, The headset feature a seamless teardrop design and are lightweight, though they don't fold away like most other wireless headsets we're used to.



And last, but not least, is a first of its kind product, the Super Cycle. Letv i quick to say this isn't just your average bicycle, "it’s an Internet-enabled, self-powered transport system". The cycle is an IoT machine at heart, with the Super Cycle OS loaded onto the processor in your handlebars. It offers cloud computing, app integration, intelligent anti-theft and even a voice communication feature to keep in touch with fellow cyclists along the way.



The Super Cycle launch is definitely the most zany of the three, but we can definitely see its appeal, especially in metropolitan areas. Traffic, growing health awareness, and a willingness to try anything IoT-related should show at least respectable sales numbers for a first time product, pending the announcement of a sane price point of course. But, more importantly, it seems Letv has beaten every other competitor to the punch, as far as Virtual Reality is concerned. It may look exactly like the Samsung's Gear VR but, seeing as Letv's phones are a hell of a lot cheaper, the 3D Helmet might actually be more popular in India. 

Ford partners with Amazon to connect cars with homes

LAS VEGAS — Ford announced Monday at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show that it is working with Amazon and Internet of Things platform Wink toward granting Ford owners unprecedented access to their connected-home devices from their cars, and vice versa.

LAS VEGAS — Ford announced Monday at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show that it is working with Amazon and Internet of Things platform Wink toward granting Ford owners unprecedented access to their connected-home devices from their cars, and vice versa.

The idea is that a Ford automobile owner will soon be able to use the vehicle's Sync Connect system to use touch or voice commands to open a garage door, check a thermostat setting or turn on home lighting. While at home, that owner could ask a Ford smartphone app what the car's remaining driving range is or even program a time to start the engine.

The voice commands issued at home would be routed through Amazon Echo, a free-standing speaker that interfaces with Alexa, Amazon's cloud-based virtual assistant, similar to Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana.

Information about the status of a homeowner's various Internet of Things devices would be provided through Wink, a venture between General Electric and Quirky. The latter has filed for bankruptcy and has announced it would be selling Wink, whose platform integrates IoT products from companies such as Nest, Philips Hue and Schlage.

"We working to see if we can come up with a product that we can commercialize," Ford CEO Mark Fields tells USA TODAY. Fields is expected to make a variety of company announcements Tuesday morning at CES. "The key is finding the right software protocols, so that the integrations with Amazon Echo and Alexa works. We'll aim to bring it to market as soon as possible."

As cars gradually become little more than rolling computers, automakers are furiously looking for ways to distinguish their brands. These days that means bragging not about horsepower and torque figures, but about connectivity and app integration. Fields acknowledges as much.

"The question we ask is, 'How do we make the Ford ownership experience sticky?' We think we have a holistic approach that is simply about making people's lives easier," he says. "This is just us aggressively accelerating the integration of our vehicles into the Internet of Things."

According to Gartner, some 21 billion IoT devices are expected to be online by 2020. Automakers, which traditionally lagged behind when it came to in-car electronics, are stepping up their efforts in the battle for buyers, who increasingly expect inside their cars the same smooth connectivity they experience at home.

That push has even led to some collaboration, as with the news Monday that Toyota is among a number of automakers adopting smartphone software technology developed by Ford, which it has shared openly in order to push for a unified in-car app platform.

Toyota may introduce petrol version of Innova, Fortuner

Toyota Kirloskar  Motor, Toyota's India unit plans to bring in the petrol version of its popular models Innova and Fortuner, considering the Supreme Court order on banning the sale of diesel cars and SUVs with engine capacity over 2000cc in Delhi-NCR region till March 31, 2016.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the company also plans to start manufacturing petrol versions of its future products, in case the ban is extended on vehciles with diffrent engine capacity.

TS Jaishankar, deputy managing director-commercial at Toyota Kirloskar Motor told ET that the company is exploring options to  bring the diesel versions of Innova and Fortuner.  

Enquiries in Delhi have fallen since the ban was enforced. The NCR region accounts for 14 per cent of the company's sales.

The Supreme Court will hear a plea on Tuesday by Mahindra & Mahindra, Mercedes and Toyota seeking modification of its order prohibiting the sale and registration of diesel vehicles with an engine capacity of 2000 cc and above.

Ford Will Expand Self-Driving Test Car Fleet to 30

Ford Motor Co said Tuesday it plans to triple to 30 the size of its fleet of self-driving test cars as part of an effort to accelerate autonomous vehicle development.

In an announcement coinciding with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford said it will begin using a new, lower cost LiDAR sensor made by California-based Velodyne. The high cost of such sensors, which act as the eyes of a self-driving car, is one of the main technical obstacles to widespread commercialization of self-driving vehicles, industry executives say.

Ford said it will be the first automaker to use Velodyne's new solid state "hybrid Ultra PUCK Auto" sensor. The compact device replaces the spinning scanners mounted on the rooftops of some autonomous test vehicles. Ford said two of these sensors could replace four current LiDAR sensors. The Ultra PUCKs are small enough to mount on a side-view mirror, Ford said.

Ford said it will add 20 hybrid Ford Fusion sedans to its existing 10-vehicle self-driving car fleet, and test them on roads in California, Arizona and Michigan. Rival automakers are also testing fleets of self-driving cars on and off public roads. Alphabet Inc's Google has been testing self-driving cars of various kinds, including some of its own design, since 2009.

Separately, Ford said it is exploring ways to link in-home automation devices such as Amazon Inc's Echo to the Sync communications systems in its cars to allow consumers to control lights or thermostats inside the home from the car, or start up cars and check fuel levels from inside the house.

In a third technology-related move, Ford said it will collaborate with drone maker DJI to sponsor a contest to develop drone-to-vehicle communications systems using the connectivity systems on a Ford F-150. Contestants would design a system that United Nations workers can use to survey disaster areas, Ford said. The winner would get $100,000 (roughly Rs. 66 lakhs).

Motorola Moto 360 (2nd Gen) Men’s Collection launched; prices start from Rs 19,999

Motorola has launched a new Moto 360 smartwatch collection based on the same Moto 360 (2nd Generation) which was launched in December last year. The new Men’s Collection now features more options such as cognac leather, black leather and black metal variants that have gone on sale via Amazon. In addition, one will also find a larger Moto 360 with the 46mm case in the cognac leather variant which is exclusive to Amazon.

The bigger cognac leather with a 46mm case is priced at Rs 20,999, while the standard version sells for Rs 19,999. The other variants include a black leather version priced at Rs 19,999 and an black metal version priced at Rs 23,999.

Launched on 1 December 2015, the Moto 360 (2nd Gen) packs in better internals compared to its predecessor. The device packs in a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 with a backlit LCD display that packs in a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB of RAM. The smartwatch packs in 4GB of internal storage, runs Google’s Android Wear and is IP67 dust and water resistant.

Samsung Portable SSD T3 With USB Type-C, Up to 2TB Storage Launched

Samsung has unveiled a new compact solid state drive, the Portable SSD T3, which comes in up to 2TB capacity. The new SSD also comes with a range of other features such as a USB Type-C connector and a shock-resistant metal case. The Portable SSD T3 will be up for display at the CES trade show event later this week.

The Portable SSD T3 is the successor to the last year's SSD T1, the company's first foray into the market. The biggest attraction of the Portable SSD T3 is its 2TB of storage. The T1 was offered in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB storage options. The other highlight of the Portable SSD T3 is the inclusion of USB Type-C port with the USB 3.1 specification. The company is offering a USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable in the retail box.

The Samsung Portable SSD T3 houses a Samsung mSATA 850 Evo drive, which means that it has all of its features. The company claims that the SSD utilises its 3D-vertical NAND flash memory, which is capable of read/write speeds of up to 450MB/s.

For the new SSD, the company has ditched the plastic casing in favour of metal, which while makes the device stronger, also makes the overall setup heavier. The 2TB drive weighs just 51 grams, the company says. The metal case can withstand up to 1,500G of force and survive a drop from up to 2 metres, the company claims. There's also an integrated Thermal Guard which can prevent overheating.

The Portable SSD T3, which supports Windows 7 (or later), OS X 10.7 (or later), and Android KitKat (or later), offers support for AES 256-bit encryption. There is no word on pricing just yet, but the company noted that it will make the SSD T3 available in select regions including the United States, China, Korea worldwide starting February 2016. To recall, the 1TB version of Portable SSD T1 is roughly priced around $600.

Asus ZenWatch 2 With Android Wear Launched Starting Rs. 11,999

Asus on Tuesday launched the ZenWatch 2 smartwatch in India. The successor to last year's ZenWatch, the ZenWatch 2 comes in two sizes: 1.45-inch (WI502Q) and 1.63-inch (WI501Q). The smaller version is priced at Rs. 11,999 while the 1.63-inch variant will cost you Rs. 14,999. Both the smartwatches are available to purchase via Flipkart starting Tuesday. Asus added that at a later point, the smartwatch will also be sold through its ASUS Exclusive Stores.

The Asus ZenWatch 2 runs Android Wear and offers Asus ZenUI integration with a range of software features. For instance, if you want to mute a call, you can do so by simply covering the ZenWatch 2 with your hand. You can also find your smartphone using the timepiece, and control several phone settings such as Wi-Fi among others right from your smartwatch.

The Asus ZenWatch 2 WI502Q, which is available in silver colour option, sports a 1.45-inch Amoled display with a screen resolution of 280x280 pixels (accounting to 273 ppi pixel density). The Asus ZenWatch 2 WI501Q, available in silver and gunmetal colour options, sports a 1.63-inch AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 320x320 pixels (accounting to 278 ppi). Both the variants offer 2-finger touch support.

As for the specifications, both the ZenWatch 2 models are powered by a quad-core QualcommSnapdragon 400 SoC paired with 512MB RAM. Both the Asus ZenWatch 2 models come equipped with 4GB eMMC internal storage and offer support for Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi.

The Asus ZenWatch 2 W1502Q and WI501Q also share the same magnetic charging cable and have IP67 certification, which means that the smartwatch can withstand immersion in water in up to 1-metre depth for up to 30 minutes. The Asus ZenWatch 2 WI502Q has a 300mAh battery while its bigger sibling comes equipped with a 400mAh battery. The company claims that the Asus ZenWatch 2 will deliver two-three days battery life on a single charge. The WI501Q version comes with a 22mm rubber or leather strap. The W1502Q comes with a 18mm leather strap.

"Consumers today wish to use gadgets that make their lives simpler by aiding their hectic lifestyles. The Asus ZenWatch 2 achieves this through its features that make it possible for the users to manage their lives right on their wrists," said Peter Chang, Region Head - South Asia & Country Manager for Asus India. "Combining luxury in a slim form-factor, the ZanWatch 2 furthers our vision of providing high-end products at affordable price points."