Category: Gadgets

Smartwatches can be used to control a Tesla

| July 30, 2014

Individuals who own both a Model S and the right type of wearable technology will now enjoy added features.

While the number of people to whom this wearable technology news will apply, at the moment, is rather slim, as it will require them to drive Tesla Model S vehicles and wear smartwatches based on the Android Wear platform, it is still a fascinating development.

This use of wearables could represent a look into the future for many vehicle owners and device users.

The hack of the smartwatches was accomplished by Harth Labs, which found that Wear closely reflects the Tesla app that is available for that auto manufacturer’s Model S vehicle. This makes it possible for wearable technology devices to be able to open and close the sunroof, to unlock the doors, and even to make the horn honk. At the moment, those are all of the features that can be controlled by the high tech wristwatches, but it likely won’t be long before devs are able to work their way into climate control, location data, and even charging commands – should Tesla provide them with the tools that they require to do so.

This could be an indication of the types of things that smartwatches will be used to do in the not too distant future.

smartwatches - Tesla Model SFor the moment, this news is limited to a group of specific early adopters who love their tech. The Tesla Model S does happen to be a relatively popular vehicle among members of the technology community. A Bnotion team have now come up with an app compatible with Android Wear that makes it possible for some features to be controlled through wearable technology.

While some may argue that this isn’t all that useful, others feel that being able to remotely control additional vehicle features – such as shutting the sunroof if it suddenly starts to rain – could be quite helpful as it wouldn’t require the vehicle owner to head out in the rain to do it. That said, others feel that, more than anything, owning both of these pieces of technology and being able to use them at the same time is more about bragging rights than anything else.

The app for the smartwatches is not the first to control the Tesla Model S, as there has already been one for Google Glass that controls the same features in the vehicle.

BlackBerry names its new COO, Marty Beard

| July 29, 2014

The new chief operations officer had formerly been an exec with Sybase and then at LiveOps.

BlackBerry has now announced that it has recruited a brand new COO, Marty Beard, who had previously been the CEO of the LiveOps cloud customer service company, after having worked as an executive for a stretch at Sybase.

Beard will now be responsible for several areas, including BB10 app development, customer care, and marketing.

The new COO is not the first veteran of Sybase to make his way to BlackBerry. Most notable among the recruitments of that nature was CEO John Chen, himself, who had been the chief executive officer at Sybase before he took the same position, as well as the chairman’s seat, at the Canadian handset manufacturer in November 2013.

BlackBerry has become quite the team of alumni from Sybase, including a number of the top spots in the company.

BlackBerry newsMark Wilson, the senior vice president of marketing, also came to the company from Sybase. He had been the head of corporate and field marketing. Similarly, Eric Johnson is now Global Sales President after having left Sybase where he had worn several hats, such as senior vice president, general manager for North America, and general manager for financial services.

The previous COO at BlackBerry was Kristian Tear. Tear left the company only three weeks after Chen came aboard, as a result of a considerable shakeup of the organization’s management. At the same time that Tear left, Frank Boulben, the chief marketing officer, and Biran Bidulka, the chief financial officer also departed.

Many industry experts are now speculating that the similar backgrounds of the new recruits to the company will be quite handy for Chen as he works to change the aim of the business to place a greater focus on its enterprise customers. The next smartphone – the BlackBerry Passport – which has already been unveiled in its prototype form, has already been making technology news with its unique square 4.5 inch screen and its return to the much beloved QWERTY keyboard. This design is meant to make it easier to view documents such as spreadsheets, which could potentially be quite useful to their primary market.