Augmented reality looks to be gaining some traction thanks to the efforts of companies including Apple and Microsoft, but a few years ago, it was Google leading the charge with its Glass wearable. Of course, that device never really took off with users — but it is making a resurgence in a slightly different form.
Glass Enterprise is now available from wearable specialist Streye. As that name might suggest, it is a slightly reconfigured version of Google Glass that is aimed at businesses who want to employ the technology among its employees.
Pokemon Go provided many people with their first exposure to AR and the general public might associate the technology with gaming, much like virtual reality. However, AR is poised to offer a lot of utility in the workplace, especially when it comes to head-mounted implementations like Glass.
Glass can offer the same kind of information that might previously have been relegated to a computer monitor, smartphone screen, or a tablet. The key differentiator is that the device’s form factor means that the wearer is free to use their hands while keeping whatever content they have on-screen within their line of sight.
The medical profession offers up the most obvious uses for this functionality, like the opportunity for a surgeon to keep an eye on their patient’s vital signs without taking their eye off the task at hand. There are all kinds of uses cases though, as evidenced by Microsoft’s demo of AR being implemented on a construction site at Build 2017.
Glass was a big undertaking for Google that did not really go anywhere, so it is not too surprising to see the hardware being recycled in this manner. The company long since discontinued the consumer version of the wearable, so as it stands this is the only way to grab the hardware if you are so inclined.
While Streye is marketing the product to enterprise users, there’s nothing to stop an individual from making an order — it is just a question of how much utility they’re going to get from their purchase. Glass Enterprise is priced at 1,550 pounds (about $1,820) and comes with access to the Streye Platform and the Streye Light app.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.