There’s just no sugarcoating it; the Fasetto Link isn’t pretty. Nonetheless, it’s a novelty among wearables — even at CES 2015 — allowing you to quickly strap a compact solid state drive to your wrist with up to a terabyte in storage.
The silicon band, which will be available in melange of capacities if successfully funded on Indiegogo, functions as a wireless hard drive on which you can store photos, videos, music, and more without the aid of the Internet. The bulky device can then stream that content to your smartphone or tablet for up to 12 hours over Wi-Fi and grants access to your files through a standard Web client or using a dedicated app available for Android or iOS systems. Moreover, it communicates strictly with the mobile app, meaning it leaves no digital trace on your device.
Surprisingly, read and write speeds are impressive. The latest prototype clocks in at 530 megabytes per second and 470Mbps, respectively. It also offers standard encryption and layers on top of it an authentication scheme that must be used whenever you pair a new device with the Link. The added protection is welcome considering the likelihood of misplacing the device, though it might be a hassle if you intend to pair it with the maximum of 20 devices.
The Link isn’t just unconventional in terms of purpose, either. The device’s waterproof design incorporates a wireless dock opposed to relying on standard charging cables. The standby time supposedly pushes two weeks. Health-tracking features for counting your steps are included, too.
Sadly, solid state drives rarely come cheap. While you can currently pre-order the terabyte model of the Link for $800 on Indiegogo and the baseline 128GB model for $200, the prices are set to increase after the campaign runs its course. It’s a hefty price for storage, especially with cloud storage so accessible, but the Link may be just the right fit for those with shoddy — or nonexistent — Internet service. It happens.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.