This week saw potential developments in the world of Nokia Health, hints at third-party Watch faces in the latest watchOS beta and snoring addressed. All part of the week in wearable news.
The Week in Wearables is a news digest, out each week, focused on some of the things that have happened in the world of tech you can wear on your wrist, perch on your head, stick in your ear, sling around your waist, tuck into the small of your back or, well, you get the idea.
Sleep Cycle on Apple Watch App seeks to curb snoring
You have been waiting for this, you know you have. After all, you don't snore, of course you don't, but your significant other not only does but insists that they don't either. At last, you can prove them wrong, thanks to the latest update to the excellent Sleep Cycle app. Zac Hall at 9to5Mac has the story:
The goal is simple. Using the Apple Watch’s Taptic Engine, Sleep Cycle can give your wrist a subtle (and silent) tap when the iPhone app detects that you’re snoring. The tap is subtle enough that it shouldn’t wake you, Sleep Cycle says, but it should prompt you to change positions which can help you stop snoring.
It’s like when you’re snoring wakes up your partner and they prod you turn over and stop snoring, except your partner is Apple Watch and no one has to wake up tired and annoyed.
Read more at 9to5Mac.
Is Nokia selling its Health division?
Paul Lamkin revealed this week that Nokia's Health division may be up for sale (we knew already that the company was conducting a strategic review into the business) and Google's Nest is tipped as a buyer.
Two French companies and one other non-European company are also in the running for the division. It’s believed that the French government are keen on the move as an initiative to boost the country's efforts in AI.
Nokia Health is responsible for products such as the Steel HR hybrid smartwatch, the Body Cardio smart scales and the Home video and air quality monitor. All of these products used to fall under the Withings banner, but Nokia changed all of the branding in June 2017.
Read more from Lamkin here on Forbes.
Help the blind see with VR, AR and Smart Contact Lenses
Wareable has a fascinating feature on how the visually-impaired can find their sight changed by tech.
A handful of companies are currently working on specific ways to use VR and AR to help the visually impaired and partially sighted to see. In fact, New York-based RaayonNova is already building what many considered the "end game" to all of this: smart contact lenses. "There are a number of issues with the existing technologies; they are not discreet," says Aleksandr Shtukater, the founder of RaayonNova. "They're visible to others and the system's control is driven by gestures."
Each lens has an embedded display directly over the eye's cornea, and would include features to help the visually impaired, such an embedded display that uses colour to direct the wearer, or to help magnify street signs or warn the person when they're near danger.
More at Wareable.
Third Party Watch Faces Incoming?
Ars Technica says that the Apple Watch may be more receptive to third-party Watch faces soon.
Third-party watch faces for smartwatches allow users to express more of themselves while also letting them have a bit more fun with their tech. The Apple Watch already has a number of Apple-made watch faces, many of which are customizable, but third-party developers haven't been able to make their own. A report from 9to5Mac suggests that might change soon, thanks to code found in watchOS 4.3.1 hinting at third-party watch face compatibility.
The interesting log message states: "This is where the 3rd party face config bundle generation would happen." It's part of the NanoTimeKit framework in the wearable software beta, which gives developers access to watch face components. While the feature doesn't appear to be active yet, it seems to refer to an inactive developer tool server that may allow communication with Xcode on macOS.
Read more at Ars Technica.
And finally…
Hugh Langley at Wareable has been checking out the improvements to the Samsung Gear Sport in a new update.
Samsung's continuing its round of updates, and the Gear Sport is the latest wearable to get the upgrade.
Samsung's Tizen OS is moving to version 3.0.0.2 on the Sport, and with it comes some welcome improvements to the watch's sports tracking. Firstly, it's improving the live readout during workouts for improved readability, and you'll also now be able to set custom interval notifications. Not enough for you? How would you also like to set some personalized target heart rate zones? Good, you're getting that too.
Samsung's also tweaking the software so you can turn off that alarm that blares when it recognizes you've started moving after a long period of idleness. And on top of that is your standard dollop of performance and stability tweaks.
Read more from Langley at Wareable.
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