U.S. fashion label Michael Kors is proving that technology can be both glamorous and effortless with the introduction of the Michael Kors Access smartwatch. The traditional watch industry saw a challenge when smartwatches went to market, but brands that meld wearable technology with analog design will likely see an uptick in interest from consumers yearning for the most talked about gadgetry in current memory. 

Mozilla is laying off a portion of its Connected Devices team, which worked on Firefox OS and Firefox phones before recently shifting over to more experimental products. When asked about layoffs by The Verge, Mozilla's senior vice president of Connected Devices, Ari Jaaksi, confirmed that the company has "made the decision to reduce the size" of the team. Jaaksi says that a "small" number of employees have been impacted, some of whom may be moved into positions elsewhere in the company. The layoffs follow Connected Devices' move away from Firefox phones, which failed to gain traction and were ultimately killed in December. Mozilla has …

At Bluetooth World, an annual Bluetooth technology conference held last week in Santa Clara, Calif., the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) offered details about its plans to introduce Transport Discovery Service (TDS), a new specification designed to enable IoT devices to communicate more energy-efficiently. The TDS provides a means of triggering the transmission of data between a wireless device and a client, even if the intended means of transmission is not active. For example, a wireless device that is battery-powered, and which only needs to send data over Wi-Fiperiodically, could use the TDS to conserve battery power. In this scenario, the Wi-Fi radio would enter dormant mode …

Amazon became Washington's fastest growing tech lobbyist in 2015, according to the New York Times. The biggest lobbying push is in the drone space, with Amazon vying to get drone delivery off the ground – pun intended – while others aim to keep them grounded. Amazon spent $9.4 million on lobbying in 2015, nearly doubling its 2014 spending. This includes money spent on easing regulations on drone use, as well as better roads, bigger delivery trucks and a stronger relationship with the U.S. Postal Service.

It started when Wenyao Xu was sitting in a meeting and someone behind him started eating chips, loudly. Xu, a computer science professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, was inspired rather than annoyed. He realized that if he could recognize what someone was eating without looking, so could a computer. Working with a team of researchers, Xu designed AutoDietary, a necklace-like wearable that uses the sound of someone chewing and swallowing food to recognize what they're eating. The goal is to have a simple and convenient way to track someone's nutrition over time.

The Swachh Bharat campaign could soon get a digital accessory. The Centre may use its Digital India project in conjunction with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to have solar-powered trash cans like in many US cities which send alerts to sanitation crews once they are full. If this happens, the question on when to empty trash cans will not remain a guessing game. Such a solution, which combines solar energy and information technology was launched in the US and 47 other countries by a firm named Big Belly, which was named the 'Top Smart City' application in the 2015 Internet of Things Awards.

More than just a fad, wearable technology (WT) can change the way we work and give us 'super powers' -- according to a new study in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education. Deepika Raj and Jung E Ha-Brookshire of the University of Missouri interviewed people employed in the WT industry -- with its unique collaboration between apparel and technology specialists -- to find out how creating the devices changed the way they worked. They also wanted to find out what the designers themselves thought of the items they were creating.

British automaker Jaguar Land Rover is showing its customers what great service means with its new wearable technology offerings. At the Wearable Technology Show 2016, which took place in London March 15-16, the automaker revealed its new Android Wear watch application, giving consumers an unprecedented level of control over their vehicles from afar. Wearable technology is still a fledgling sector, but helping to blaze a trail could give Jaguar Land Rover credibility with a tech-savvy crowd.

The Federal Trade Commission has sent warning letters to 12 Android app developers apparently using controversial "SilverPush" ad software. When used, the software can detect so-called "audio beacons" inaudibly emitted by devices like televisions, giving third-party advertisers more information on viewing habits. The FTC does not name the app developers, but says the developers were sent warning letters after it was determined that their apps on the Google Play Store were apparently using SilverPush code. Although, as the FTC notes, the creators of SilverPush say the software is not yet used in the United States, the warning letters say the …

The sharing economy has changed the way we rent cars, and if Robin Chase has anything to say about it, it will soon change the way we use our phones and computers. Chase, cofounder and former CEO of Zipcar, is credited with helping create this new business model, which has since spawned the likes of Uber and Airbnb. The Boston-based transportation entrepreneur is now applying some of the same principles that made her car-sharing company a success to data distribution using Veniam, which is creating what she calls “an Internet of moving things.”