Author: Julie Campbell

Evenflo smart child seat aims to reduce heat deaths in cars

| August 7, 2015

The device has been created with a sensor to remind parents that their kids are in the back seat.

In an effort to help parents to overcome the issue of hot car deaths of children, a smart child seat has been made by Evenflo, which will provide a reminder that there is a baby in the back seat of the vehicle.

There is a sensor built into the child seat which can detect whether or not there is a baby in it.

As well intended as the smart child seat from Evenflo may be, it has managed to spark a great deal of controversy about parent responsibility. There are many media reports, blogs, and social media posts that have taken shots at the company, at Walmart (which sells the device) and at parents who think that they would need this product. They have said that if a parent is absentminded enough to forget a baby in a hot vehicle regularly enough that a reminder is necessary, the problems are deeper than what mobile technology can correct. However, there are others that feel that this simple form of gentle reminder is designed to prevent that one time, when a mistake could be made.

The idea of the smart child seat is to help responsible parents to ensure that they don’t make a fatal mistake.


There are clearly two different camps that are viewing this mobile technology very differently. One says that the problem is deeper than a reminder device and that it should be the issue itself, not the symptom that should be treated. The other says that a good parent may be interested in that safety net not because he or she thinks that the child will be forgotten in a hot car, but to make sure that in the off chance it does happen, there will be a backup reminder to stop it from being potentially deadly.

The hot weather that has been experienced by many parts of the country, and the many instances of infants and toddlers being left in hot cars in driveways and parking lots have been terrifying reminders that it takes only minutes for a warm car to become hot enough to kill a baby or a young child. What has yet to be seen is whether a mobile device like this one would actually make a difference in changing that trend.

There have already been dozens of viral videos circulated over social media that have shown that children have been deliberately left in sweltering vehicles by their parents who just wanted to “run in” to a mall or a store, not forgotten out of carelessness. It sounds as though the people who would be most likely to purchase a smart child seat such as this one may be those that are already aware of the potentially deadly choice of leaving a baby in a hot vehicle, which makes it unclear as to whether or not a reminder is actually needed.

Apple Watch sales may not be as hot as they’d seemed

| August 5, 2015

Reports are showing that the sales for the smartwatch aren’t reaching break-even volume for a supplier.

Media reports are circulating wildly stating that an Apple Watch supplier has not even managed to reach the sales figure required in order to break even, which is stated to have been 2 million units per month.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. is indicating that the smartwatches aren’t selling.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Taiwanese supplier that is responsible for assembling all of the sensors and chips of the Apple Watch into its tiny case (called the system in package, or SiP). A subsidiary of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) has told investors that their break even volume is 2 million monthly units, and they have not even been able to reach that level. This, according to a Bernstein research analyst named Mark Li. The subsidiary said that it did not once reach that volume during the second quarter of this year. Moreover, it is not expecting to do so in the third quarter of the year.

This is not promising for the Apple Watch as it is traditionally the third quarter that production becomes busy.

Apple Watch Sales Not as Good As ExpectedThe reason is that producers are typically gearing up for the holiday shopping season when sales will usually spike significantly. However, if this supplier doesn’t expect to hit break-even figures during the months that prepare for the holiday shopping season, then it suggests that the expectations for the sales of the smartwatches are not all that promising. The subsidiary did not say that it expected to reach break-even volumes for the last quarter of the year, but apparently no commitments have been made to suggest that it will, as of yet.

Within a note that was written by Mark Li to Bernstein clients, he found the shortfall in sales of the wearable technology device to be disappointing. He also stated that he’s already had low expectations for the smartwatch, but that even he was very surprised at the fact that it didn’t even manage to reach break-even levels.

This Apple Watch news becomes even more insightful when understanding that companies such as ASE nearly never fail to reach break-even volume, particularly during their third quarter.