Analyst: iWatch Sensor to Protect You from Sunburn

Wearing a watch protects your wrist from sunburn, but if Barclay's analyst Blayne Curtis is right, Apple's iWatch will be able to protect your entire body. It doesn't cover your body or coat you in sunscreen; instead, he thinks the iWatch will include a UV Temperature Sensor that can help monitor your sun exposure to avoid sunburns.

Silicon Labs recently announced a family of products featuring the industry's first digital ultraviolet index gas sensor. These chips measure UV exposure to aid those with elevated risk of sunburn or just a general concern about excessive sun exposure, and we believe they may be of appealing to OEMs looking to differentiate in a crowded market. To that end, while these products have seen little public hype thus far, we believe SLAB has a win in Apple's upcoming iWatch.

The iWatch is Apple's rumored first entry into the wearable technology market. It's expected to offer health and fitness tracking features much like Fitbit and Nike Fuelband, but with a CO Sensor market changing design. Assuming Mr. Curtis is right, it'll help you avoid prolonged sun exposure, too.

He expects the iWatch will ship some time in late 2014 or early 2015. Assuming it hits store shelves this year, Mr. Curtis thinks it will expects consumers will buy somewhere between 5 million and ten million units.

Apple hasn't confirmed it is working on a smartwatch, but company CEO Tim Cook has expressed a strong interest in the market. Apple has also been on a health and fitness expert hiring spree over the past couple years, which adds a lot to the notion that wearable tech from the company is on the way.

Microsoft Offers Windows Phone 'For Free' To Lower Manufacturer's Costs and Increase Market Share

Let’s start with that phrase, because it’s about to get sliced and diced, it’s about to have a bundle of caveats,and  it’s not going to mean the bill of materials lie that says software will actually read $0.00. But that statement, coming out of Microsoft’s Build 2014 conference, is not only a clear in its intention, but it is also being repeated loudly around the tech reporting circles.

Of course the details count. While the licence will be free, that’s not the only software cost involved in a smartphone. There are patent fees to consider, there are the deals put in place with third party apps and services to have them bundled in the firmware, and there are countless ‘testing and certification’ systems that could easily add to the cost of a Windows Phone licence (and note this deal is any Windows Device with a screen under nine inches, so while Windows Phone is the big winner, smaller Windows 8 powered tablets will also benefitting).


Microsoft Build 2014 (image: Microsoft.com)

industrial product director will be looking at the small print in the contract, but the message is clear. Microsoft is moving towards a cloud-first approach, and their chief concern is to get people into the ecosystem and start using the cloud. That could be through MS Office for iPad, it could be through a new smartphone, or it could be through a cheap Windows 8 tablet.

Will this skew the marketplace for smartphones? Up until now, the choices were either a full licensing deal and the associated costs with Microsoft, or use the open choice of Android and deal with Google Play and the Open Handset Alliance. That choice has shifted now, and I suspect Microsoft will reap the benefit of this over the next year, and beyond.

Some will say it is too little, and too late, to compete with the rush of Android. That remains to be seen. While some territories are now at saturation levels with smartphones, and the easy profit and market-share of North America and Europe already divvyed up, there are huge tract of land and legions of users who have still to get their first smartphone.

That’s where Microsoft’s focus with Windows Phone should lie. Territories where a a $700 flagship handset is simply far too expensive , and the battle is all about the budget smartphones on sale in the $100-$200 range. That means a focus on lowering the bill of materials, and removing the cost of the operating system licence is going to have a significant impact on china Industry manufacturers.

As for Microsoft, they should finish up the purchase of Nokia’s Devices and Services division in the near future, and at that point the will be selling the vast majority of Windows Phone devices (over 92% at the end of 2013, reports AdDuplex). The licence would be part of the internal market, but not affect the bottom line coming out of Redmond.

By removing the licence fee, Microsoft level the playing field for manufacturers, they trade a relatively small short-term profit for a more attractive long-term position, and they create some good news and momentum around the Windows Phone platform.

New space sensor to track global air-quality

The European Space Agency (Esa) and Airbus will develop a new CO2 Sensor to improve air-pollution monitoring from space as part of the Copernicus programme.

The Sentinel-5 instrument to be installed aboard the MetOp Second Generation satellite as part of a €144m (£120m) undertaking will measure the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere globally on a daily basis and identify trace gases such as ozone, sulphur dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide.

A formal contract entrusting Airbus Defence and Space with leading the development of the ultraviolet to shortwave-infrared spectrometer has been signed last week.

“The Sentinel-5 instrument will be very important to continue the monitoring of our atmosphere by an operational system,” said Volker Liebig, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at the European Space Agency (Esa).

The instrument will also measure concentrations of aerosols that affect air quality and climate. The Humidity Sensor readings will not only help to monitor the atmospheric processes but also to differentiate between natural and men-made emissions, providing new insight into how human activity affects air quality, the ozone layer and climate.

The data will also facilitate Temperature Sensor predictions, ranging from near real-time, next-day air pollution forecasts to climate forecasts for the coming decades.

The new instrument will be part of the pan-European Copernicus programme designed to enhance environment monitoring from space.
The programme is about to achieve a major milestone this week with the launch of the first dedicated Sentinel-1A satellite scheduled for Thursday, 3 April.