T3 India

Sam Peg

Friendship bracelets make a tech comeback

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Gemio have come up with concept friendship wearable’s that communicate with each other through ‘light up gems’. The bracelets connect to your smartphone using the ‘MyGemio’ app, where you can control the light effects by assigning them to gestures such as a high-five or a handshake as long as your within 50 feet indoors or 100 outdoors.

The social interaction element of these bands means wearables are becoming more and more friendly. Not just designed for kids, imagine sending a light up high five message to someone that you like on the way past you from work? Things could get a bit too friendly.

According to Gemio CEO Michael Bettua, people today want to create their own style and tend to shy away from particular brands.

With interchangeable gems and customisation of the hardware you can configure these bracelets exactly the way you want. If your stuck on ideas of what design to choose, you can go onto the Gemio website and share and discover new designs. Retailing from roughly Rs. 3,900 – Rs. 6,500, these friendship bracelets are a cheaper way to get your hands on wearable tech that’s a bit social.

The band and gems are constructed of a polycarbonate mix and lined with a metal backing, making these bracelets a durable alternative to the plastic, LED light up bracelets that we were used to as kids.

Jaguar Land Rover announce huge investment into autonomous driving

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Autonomous Jaguar Land Rovers could be coming sooner than we thought with the recent announcement that they’ve combined their efforts with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to inject $16.9 million into autonomous driving research.

Like most autonomous projects, the one will look into the use of radio and video sensing to assess the surroundings, but unlike others it will focus on how autonomous driving can be designed to cater for individual needs.

The main aspect of this new research program is determining what distribution to apply to human control vs. autonomous systems, so that the fun of driving isn’t completely taken away from us, but also we can sit back in traffic and let the car do all the hard work.

“To realise the future potential for fully autonomous vehicles, we need to give drivers, pedestrians and other road users the confidence that a car driving around with little or no human input is a safe, viable and rewarding experience. Said Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover.

This research might just give Jaguar Land Rover what they need to start bringing this tech on a mass scale.

Bonjour! Microsoft launches on screen Skype translator in six languages

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On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled its new translating service, which provides real time translation when you’re calling your long-lost pal from China.

Currently Microsoft has rolled out this software capable of translating conversations in six different languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin.

Going by the accuracy of Google Translate and other online translating devices, you’re probably thinking, do I trust computer translation enough to make try and understand what’s going on in an important business call? Yes you should. According to Microsoft, a PHD student trusted this software to unite donors around the world for a non-profit project, – that’s good enough for us.

As you can imagine the service isn’t going to be perfect as it's currently in a preview stage. It won’t always pick up proper names or place names, so expect to have a bit of a giggle at your contacts expense. A bunch of additional languages and improvements to the service are to arrive in the coming months.

You’ll need to download Skype with Translator for your desktop or tablet, and make sure you have a headset with microphone functionality. Once you’ve downloaded, choose a contact to call, click the globe icon and select the languages that you and your contact speak, and your ready to go.

Need a swanky tablet to utilise Skype Translator? Check out our top tablets of 2015. 

Meerkat app: watch live GoPro streams

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Meerkat looks like it might have one up on Twitter-backed Periscope. Both apps aim to deliver live video from someone else straight to your eyes, however Meerkat’s new GoPro integration feature means that seeing your friend’s live stream will be more action packed and crystal clear than ever before.

The process of connecting your GoPro to your iPhone is ridiculously simple. After you’ve connected your iOS device via Wi-Fi, you open the Meerkat app on your phone, give it a good shake and your up and running. You can live stream your adventure from pretty much anywhere whether your bungee jumping out of a plane or surfing the waves, as long as your GoPro camera is within connection of your mobile device.

The only thing that Periscope currently has over Meerkat is that you can archive previous broadcasts, so that hilarious failed stunt your mate just pulled will be able to be replayed over and over. If Meerkat adopts this, and included intergration to Android it will blow the other live streaming competition out of the water. 

Don't forget to check out our guide to the best Android phone. 

New Chrome iOS update targets the Internet of Things

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The days of faffing around with different menus and buttons to navigate your web browser are finally over, with a simple swipe interface. Surfing the web on Chrome has never been so pleasurable. The only slight snag is that the swiping navigation only works if you’re on the same tab.

Also in this version of Chrome, Google has provided support for its physical web project enabling smart devices such as parking metres, bus stops and stadiums to communicate directly with a smartphone without using an app.

Google’s theory is that you should be able to walk up to a vending machine or a bus stop and be able to access info on that device straight away, without clogging up your iPhone with apps you’ll only use once.

It is only a development project at the moment so you’ll have to wait before you can use Chrome 44 with everyday smart devices. The swipe navigation however is definitely ready to roll.