Category: Technology News

Smartwatch device designed to track spending is released

A new wearable device monitors the budget of the wearer.

Smartwatches are known for providing many convenient features to those who wear them, such as monitoring health, fitness tracking, texting, making phone calls etc., and now a new device called the Cash smartwatch has been designed to help user’s track their budget, so they can know when it’s all right to spend and when they should hold off from making a purchase.

The new wearable is not trying to compete with Apple Watch or Samsung’s Gear S.

Designed by Nicole Lapin, a financial correspondent and former correspondent for networks like Today and MSNBC, the Cash smartwatch is not like other smart watch tech on the market. Users will not be able to make a phone call or check their email with this device.

Its primary purpose is to encourage consumers to think about their impulse purchasing habits. Each time a wearer of the device buys something they tap the price into the interface and put it into a category that corresponds with their purchase (ex. food, clothing, and so on).

Users set up a monthly allowance. Lapin, who is known for using simplified and language-friendly budget tips, provides recommendations on how much free spending money a person is allowed during a monthly period.

When the user goes over their budget or they are getting close to their limit, they will know because it will be displayed on the watch’s home screen. Users can keep track of what they are spending in all categories. A green line indicates how much money is left for the month and a red line grows the more that they spend.

Lapin said that while learning about finances is intimidating, “you don’t have to know any of the jargon in order to budget and save.”

The smartwatch is also fashionable.

Even though the target market for the wearable device is young women between the ages of 18 – 34, there are three different strap options, so it can also appeal to men. The different straps, which include a patterned silver, black silicone and white crocodile style, give users the chance to dress the watch up or down.

The Cash smartwatch will sell for $139 and can be purchased online on its official website starting today, October 1, and will later be made available through HSN later on in the month.

Technology news made as Intel invests $1.5 billion in China

The chipmaker is stepping into a mobile venture for which it will hold a 20 percent stake.

In recent technology news, Intel is going to pay as much as $1.5 billion in order to grab hold of a 20 percent stake in a venture in china that will have the company designing and manufacturing chips under the company’s brand for mobile phones as well as other types of electronic devices.

This is the latest step in Intel’s attempt to move away from the shrinking growth of the laptop and desktop market.

At the moment, Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd, a state owned organization that receives its funding from Beijing’s Tsinghua University, is the controller of the chipmakers in China, RDA Microelectronics, and Speadtrum Communications. Intel is seeking to make technology news by becoming a more important and stronger competitor in the mobile chip business, in which it has struggled to be able to achieve any level of dominance as is the case in laptops and desktop computers.

Intel’s technology news shows its drive to grasp onto a larger portion of the rapidly growing mobile market in China.

Technology News - Investment in ChinaThe Chinese mobile market has already become the largest on the globe. This, therefore, presents a massive opportunity for Intel, if it can manage to reach in and take a large piece for itself. This particular effort has recently taken on a greater level of urgency as sales growth has started to decline in traditional computers as people look to smartphones and tablets for many of their computing needs. As that more traditional tech category had been Intel’s bread and butter, it has meant that the company has needed to look to other areas in order to ensure future successes.

Recently, the technology news was announced that Intel and Spreadtrum would be working together to create a new family of smartphone chips. Those chips are expected to become available within the second half of 2015. The deal, itself, is expected to close at some point within the first quarter of next year. It represents the second corporate partnership entered into by Intel that is focused on mobile chips, this year.