Kaspersky Lab and WISeKey are jointly developing technology to safeguard financial data exchanged via wearables, the companies said Thursday. The technology will integrate authentication and data encryption into wearables, allowing them to “safely connect, communicate and exchange financial data,” they said. The market for wearables is growing at a 35 percent annual rate, they said, citing Tractica, but many connected devices and the data they exchange are “worryingly unprotected." Security will become more critical as wearables are increasingly used to make payments, they said. Bulgari currently integrates WISeKey’s security software, Wis.Watch, into its smartwatches, enabling a user to securely identify and authenticate a device and connect it to a smartphone to access apps, personal data and cloud storage, said the companies. Under the partnership, Kaspersky Lab’s secure software development kit for mobile devices will be included, adding a layer of security that will lead to “ultra-secure” mobile payments, said the companies, who called the cooperation between them a “breakthrough in IoT cyber-security.” Kaspersky CEO Eugene Kaspersky said millions of devices in use today “were never designed to be secure” and there’s an “urgent need to establish and implement higher levels of security for IoT devices.” The collaboration will be based on WISeKey’s NFCTrusted technology and its Cryptographic Root of Trust for IoT that’s been installed on more 2.6 billion desktop, browsers, mobile devices, SSL certificates and connected devices, said the companies. Existing wearables can be retrofitted with the Kaspersky security layer by adding asymmetric identification at the device level, a WISeKey spokesman told us. The technology will be applicable to other IoT sectors, said WISeKey CEO Carlos Moreira.
MasterCard said it’s partnering with Coin to make credit card payments available on smart watches, fitness bands and other wearable devices. Coin will provide hardware and software tech integrated with MasterCard’s Digital Enablement Service that will allow wearable device manufacturers to implement payment functionality in their devices, MasterCard said Wednesday. Adding payment functionality to wearable devices “makes the products more useful for consumers and enhances the value device manufacturers can deliver to their customers,” MasterCard Senior Vice President-Digital Payments Sherri Hammond said in a news release. Coin’s Payment of Things platform “is a turnkey solution to enable payments for the wearable/IoT industry,” Coin CEO Kanishk Parashar said in the MasterCard news release. “Leveraging Coin’s technology, device manufacturers will benefit from significantly reduced costs and time to market.”
Canadian mobile accessory brand Caseco introduced a Bluetooth-enabled winter hat with built-in earphones. The Blu-Toque ($59) allows users to have phone conversations or listen to music while staying warm, said the company. Users answer calls using a button on the earpiece. The waterproof hat comes with a USB charging cable, Caseco said.
Panasonic developed an insulating polymer resin film “that stretches and returns to its original shape, a feature that is hard to find in conventional flexible materials,” making it deployable in wearable devices, displays and other products, the company said in a Thursday announcement. “Against the backdrop of the development of various wearable devices, there is a growing demand” for materials that “overcome challenges” associated with polyurethane and rubber, including adhesion, heat resistance and their tendency to become brittle, Panasonic said. “Devices implemented on clothing or worn on the body should be made of materials that withstand repeated use and allow no change in mechanical properties even after repeated deformation,” it said. Panasonic plans to showcase the film at the Printed Wiring Boards Expo Jan. 13-15 in Tokyo, it said.
Photos of a new version of the Google Glass Enterprise Edition headset were posted by the FCC, though without any accompanying announcement from the manufacturer. The device is undergoing testing to certify it complies with FCC rules. The 9to5Google website reported Monday that the device is expected to target business users and appears similar to older devices, except it now appears to be foldable with a button-and-hinge system.
Netflix took a playful jab at the wearables market, by giving subscribers step-by-step instructions on how to make their own smart socks that wake up dozing viewers watching a Netflix show. The company doesn’t plan to sell the socks, but it gives a blow-by-blow account of the materials and Arduino programming steps needed to make socks that will alert the TV to pause if viewers fall asleep while watching. “Making Netflix socks from scratch means doing a little knitting and building some electronics,” says the website. The “sleep detection system” uses an accelerometer that detects when a viewer has stopped moving for a prolonged period of time and triggers a signal that tells the TV to pause Netflix. When it detects dozing, an LED in the sock cuff flashes red to warn that the pause command is about to fire off to the TV. Netflix told us it shared the schematics -- a Fitbit hack created at a Netflix Hack Day for company engineers -- as a fun way to “enhance your viewing experience if any would-be makers are inclined to tackle the project.”
A spokesman for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory said Tuesday nothing is unusual about NRAO’s decision to give wrist-worn activity monitors to its staff, even though the monitors are an interference threat to the observatory’s sensitive telescope (see 1512140030). “These devices were provided to employees as part of a program to promote health and wellness among our staff,” the spokesman said. “Our employees have received guidance on their use when near our antenna sites from our interference engineers. Our employees are aware of the importance of avoiding interference to our sensitive telescopes and are accustomed to avoiding the use of numerous electronic devices, not just Fitbits, at our observing sites. This is a well-established practice that dates back to our observatory's founding.”
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, handed out wrist-worn activity trackers to its staff, even though the devices could interfere with the massive radio telescope operated by the observatory, wireless lawyer Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald said in a Monday blog post. “Fitbits are good for radio astronomers,” he wrote. “But not so good for radio astronomy.” NRAO maintains an interference-free zone around the telescope. NRAO tested the devices, Lazarus wrote, finding their transmissions create a signal 10 billion times stronger than international recommendations permit. “The scientists who ran the tests note that a Fitbit can be carried safely if stuffed into a modified metal pill fob," he said. "But we’re guessing that most NRAO personnel, accustomed to measuring the Universe and its expansion with the most sophisticated equipment known to science, will go back to measuring their own expansion with a tape measure and bathroom scale.” NRAO didn't comment.
Target had a double-digit decline in its Q3 same-store electronics sales, CEO Brian Cornell said on a Wednesday earnings call. That performance reflected “the continued softness in tablets, consistent with industry trends,” though the wearables category was a “standout” success with 100 percent same-store sales growth in the quarter, he said. Target is “excited to be one of the few retailers offering the Apple Watch in stores” this holiday selling season, “and we expect this item to be a top gift item in wearable categories,” he said.
Epson soon will offer a consumer version of its Moverio BT-2000 smart headset for professional applications, Valerie Riffaud-Cangelosi, new market development manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told us at the headset’s London launch Monday. The new Moverio BT-2000 has two front-facing 5-megapixel cameras, spaced about an inch apart, and an ambient light sensor, to capture depth with optimal contrast, Epson said. Two 0.42-inch RGB LCDs with 960 x 540 resolution tucked into in the edge corners of the lens frames project a high-quality image into the wearer’s eyes, it said. Depth capture lets the wearer judge distance, and enables automated gesture recognition, it said. The battery-powered BT-2000 runs on Android and connects to other devices by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB, it said. “Many consumer augmented reality headsets have been announced, but few are actually available,” said Riffaud-Cangelosi. The price of the BT-2000, about $3,000, makes it a business tool, she said. “But we are working on a lower-cost consumer version for the near future.” A consumer version “will be ideal for people with drones,” she said. “At the moment, they look at pictures from the drone on a tablet and then lose sight of their aircraft. With this headset they can see what the drone camera is transmitting while looking at the drone in the sky.”