BMW is developing a car that can be parked via smartwatch

BMW is developing a remote-control valet parking system for cars that can be operated by a smartwatch.

The sensor-filled BMW i3 car, which will be on display at the 2015 International CES in Las Vegas in January, integrates with smartwatch and can essentially self-park. According to the company, a driver could activate the "Remote Valet Parking Assistant" via an app, which then guides the vehicle to a parking spot all by itself.

The car works with the help of laser sensors that scan the surrounding environment so it can move without running into anything. It will work in tandem with a digital site plan, so the car has a map of the environment, too.



The prototype BMW i3 is understandably imperfect. Previous iterations of self-parking cars — like the one Audi showed off at CES 2013 — worked with lasers positioned in the physical location. The BMW model requires a map of the environment, but it seems that it still occasionally crashes during self-park jobs. (In BMW's news release, the company said there's only a "possibility of entirely collision-free driving.")

BMW has been working on self-driving cars for some time now. The company tested out a "highly automated" in 2009 and again in 2011. The car manufacturer even publicly tested out a self-driving car at last year's CES.

Other companies, like Tesla and Google, have cars with autopilot-like features, too.

We may still be a way's off from sleeping during solo road trips, but big-name companies are working hard to make it a reality.

Stylish Withings Activité watch tracker goes up for pre-order at $450

When we first heard about the Withings Activité watch tracker in June, a price of $390 was on the cards; now that pre-orders have officially opened for the wearable device, the cost has been set at $450. That’s above the price of your average Android Wear smartwatch (the LG G Watch R retails for $300) but you get plenty of style and sophistication for your cash.

If you want something that looks more like a watch than a cut-down smartphone then the Withings Activité might be just what you’re looking for. Encased in scratch-proof touch-sensitive sapphire glass and a stainless steel finish, the watch is water-resistant and uses a standard watch battery — that means it can last for 8 months, at which point you replace it and start again.

There are no phone notifications or email alerts on the Activité — the only smart functions are its fitness tracking capabilities, which can keep an eye on how many steps you take throughout the day and the quality of the sleep you’re getting (there’s a smart vibrating alarm that can wake you up in the morning too). All of this data syncs wirelessly with an accompanying smartphone app that lets you review your progress and set new goals. Only an iOS app is available at the moment but an Android version is on the way.

Other features include the ability to instantly detect when you go swimming and automatic time zone switching when you’re traveling around the globe. If you’re prepared to put your $450 down for a Withings Activité then there are black or white models available. Delivery is promised before the general launch at the end of November, though the wearable device is currently listed as out of stock, so you might have to hang on a little longer.

iHeartRadio: Coming Soon to Your Wrist via Android Wear

The streaming music and digital radio service iHeartRadio has announced it is coming to Android Wear smartwatches on Oct. 15.

That means users who have iHeartRadio installed on their Android phone can control iHeartRadio via the Samsung Gear Live, Moto 360 and LG G Watch.

The coolest part about this integration is that it works using voice activation. That means you can search for a radio station or artist simply by saying the station or artists name.

The app will also allow users to access their favorite stations or shows from the watch, browse tailored recommendations, as well as thumb up or thumb down station and music recommendations.

iHeartRadio is part of iHeartMedia (formerly known as Clear Channel) and is unique amongst streaming options with its breadth of content. The service has more than 50 million registered users and is integrated with more than 35 different devices and technologies.



This isn't iHeartRadio's first foray into the wearables space, earlier this year iHeartRadio support came to the Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch.

For us, the voice support is what makes this app partnership really make sense — especially in the context of a watch. Smartwatches are already great devices for controlling music playback, but to be able to use your voice as a way to call up a station or artist makes even more sense.

G Watch R News: LG’s stunning round Android watch makes its way to South Korea first

LG’s second Android Wear smartwatch, the G Watch R, is about to go on sale. Revealed at the beginning of September, news of the new device’s launch is beginning to spread. Here’s what we know so far.

Updated 0n 10-08-2014 by Andy Boxall: LG has set the G Watch R’s release in South Korea for October 14.

When the G Watch R was announced, we were told to expect its eventual release to come around October time. Now, the company has confirmed in a blog post it’ll be up for sale from October 14, but sadly, only in South Korea at the moment. Local network Olleh already has the G Watch R on its website, where it has been priced at 352,000 won, which matches early rumor reports.

Initial speculation published by Korean news source ETNews, indicated the G Watch R would be out on October 16, while ZDNet Korea weighed in and said the watch would be on sale on October 7, although possibly restricted to pre-orders through certain retailers.

Both reports stated the price would be around 352,000 won, which equates to approximately $330, making the G Watch R about $70 more expensive, locally, than the first G Watch. In the U.S., the G Watch costs $230, so we could estimate the G Watch R’s price to be between $270 and $300 when it finally goes on sale.

The G Watch R shuns the angled design of the G Watch, and wraps a circular 1.3-inch P-OLED touchscreen in a metal body, complete with a leather strap. This gives the G Watch R a more traditional “watch” look, over the slightly geekily styled examples that have dominated the smartwatch scene over the past year.

LG’s round smartwatch will be the Motorola Moto 360’s first true competitor, coming equipped with Android Wear, a heart-rate monitor, a clever power-saving feature, and a cool style all of its own. We were impressed when we gave it a try at the IFA tech show.

Now all we have to do is wait for an international release date. We can’t imagine LG wanting to wait too long, given the Moto 360’s increasing popularity, and recent UK launch.

Want a ZenWatch? Get in line. Asus may only make 300 of them

The Asus ZenWatch may not get a very wide release when it goes on sale later this year, or even be available in any great numbers, if a new report is accurate. According to Chinese website VR-Zone, the first batch of ZenWatch models may not total more than 300. Yes, you read that right. Not 30,000, or even 3,000. Three hundred. If that didn’t make picking up an Asus smartwatch a rather difficult task, then the article also indicates it’ll only be sold in Taiwan initially.

Revealed in early September, the ZenWatch is one of the new generation of smart watches which takes design seriously, edging away from the basic shapes we’re familiar with, and concentrating on making something stylish and wearable every day. The screen is square, but covered in curved glass and encased in a rounded, metal body, complete with a classic leather strap. It’s understated, and very good-looking.

It’s a shame, then, we may not have much of a chance to buy one. When Asus announced the ZenWatch, we were promised a late 2014 launch date, and a price of around $260, making it even more attractive. There was never talk of it being a limited edition, so it may be that Asus has run into problems producing the high-spec watch. It’s equipped with a Snapdragon 400 processor, a 1.63-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 4GB of internal memory, and the Android Wear operating system.



The Chinese report doesn’t mention an international release, and there’s a chance the ZenWatch may only get a limited release in Taiwan for a short time, with the rest of the world seeing the watch in greater numbers. Android Wear isn’t localized for the region yet, so this is a possibility. We’ll keep you updated.

HOW IFA 2014 RESHAPED THE LANDSCAPE FOR WEARABLE TECH

Samsung Galaxy Gear S

Last week, Europe’s biggest electronics show kicked off in Berlin, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, wearables took centerstage. Nearly all of the major manufacturers present, including Sony, Samsung, LG, Asus and Motorola debuted wearable gadgets. If you’re a big company that makes smartphone and tablets whose name doesn’t rhyme with Snapple, you’ve likely got a dog in this race, and there’s a pretty good chance you were at the Messe convention center in Berlin last week to show it off.

With an Apple event looming in San Francisco tomorrow, it’s important at this late stage to note the obvious: The state of wearable technology could be very different in a matter of a few days. It’s never been a smart bet to underestimate Apple’s aptitude for completely transforming an existing space. Of course, that assumes the company finally unveils the long rumored iWatch this week, and that the hypothetical gadget brings something to the table (beyond simple brand recognition) that has been thus far lacking in the numerous attempts at the space.

So, what do these latest attempts to keep no wrist bared and no eyes un-augmented with a brighter, textier reality tell us about the state of the burgeoning wearable industry at the beginning of fall 2014? Let’s take at some of the proverbial digital trends from IFA to find out.

Watches

I know, right? That’s some stellar reporting right there, Brian. No wonder you managed to score that cush Digital Trends column job with keen observations such as this. And while it’s true that it doesn’t take the cleverest of industry insights to have unlocked this one, it seems safe to say that the world of wearable manufacturers have mostly settled on the wrist as the next major battleground. Basic fitness wearables like the FitBit and Jawbone Up helped reopen the conversation about that bit of realty between our hands and forearms, while Pebble’s wildly successful Kickstarter pushed proved that, at least so far as early adopters are concerned, the long-neglected world of wristwatches was primed for a comeback.

Sony SmartWatch 3

Like the smartphone before it, the smartwatch is less pioneering a wholly new space than it is an attempt to fold new technologies into an existing product. This path of less resistance makes a lot of sense, really. Convincing people to upgrade their existing watches — or, perhaps, return to a simpler era when people relied on such things for the time of day — is a much simpler task than getting them to don, say a pair of VR Googles. And let’s face it, the wrist just feels inherently less ridiculous than smart rings and necklaces. It’s like God gave us the perfect little platform with which to succumb to our screen obsessions.

Android Wear

Obviously a direct continuation of the last point, but it’s fascinating to see just how quickly companies jumped on board with Google’s wearable version of its mobile OS. It’s easy to forget given the company’s massive mobile success as of late, but Google had a fair bit of trouble out of the gate in the smartphone space. In fact, many pundits prematurely announced Android dead in the water in those early days. Chalk it up to existing partnerships, the eagerness for companies to dive into wearables before Apple, or maybe the success and relative robustness of the Android ecosystem, but Wear completely dominated IFA’s wearable announcements this year.

Asus ZenWatch

Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony and Asus were all on board. In fact, Meta’s M1 primarily made headlines this year on the strength of the fact that it wasn’t rocking Wear. What Wear really brings to the table is a great software partner in Google and, most likely, the best chance any of the aforementioned companies have of truly competing with the iWatch, should there, you know, actually be an iWatch.

Style

I hate to say it, but this one is important. Aside from the Pebble Steel, how many smartwatches are there out there that the average person would actually wear on a daily basis? Not early adopters, but regular folk. You know, those people who’ve spent the last few weeks terrified that this 4Chan person was going to break into their iCloud and steal their vacation photos. Those folks have never owned a calculator watch and could never honestly see themselves caught in public with a pair of Google Glass. For them, you’re going to need a smartwatch that doesn’t just look like a smartphone attached to someone’s wrist.

LG G Watch R

LG’s G Watch R is possible the best example of this. The thing looks like a watch that can also receive tweets. In fact, most of the manufacturers are doing a better job these days producing smartwatches that look like things people would want to wear on their person. Unlike your smartphone, you can’t just stash it away in your pocket — well, you can, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of buying a smartwatch in the first place, right? And really, a little bit of the effort that goes into making smartphones pretty should be applied to what is, essentially, a smart fashion accessory.

Size

Or maybe this one is, in fact, an anti-trend. Either way, one quick look at the Moto 360 on the wrist of a normal sized human demonstrates how much we need this one to go in the other direction. And it’s not just a Motorola problem. Have you ever seen a Samsung Galaxy Gear in the wild? For these things to really catch on, we’re going to need manufacturers to focus on smartwatches that don’t include the creeping threat of carpal tunnel in their list of features.

Honorable mentions

A few minor, but intriguing developments to mention at the end here.

Sony Smartband Talk

There’s the Samsung Gear S cellular connected smartwatch. The product fills a small, small, niche, but it’s an interesting one: Do you really want to rely on your smartphone to drive your smartwatch? And more kudos to Samsung for the Gear VR. Maybe the Virtual Boy was ahead of its time after all. As for the Sony Smartband Talk — the marriage of fitness band and E Ink is one that makes a lot of sense, actually. It’s not as imposing as one of those giant smartwatches, but there’s still a built-in display for relevant information.