Late last week, Google introduced some valuable security enhancements for its Eddystone beacon format. These new features give developers more control over who can access the beacon signal and are also intended to defeat potential hacks. Though not the only indoor location or close-proximity marketing technology, beacons are the most widely deployed and well-known. And Google’s increasing involvement with the Bluetooth Low Energy technology will help further accelerate the market. Indeed, there is an expanding range of documented use cases for beacons. Beyond malls and retail environments, beacons are being deployed at London bus stops to notify commuters of schedules and arrivals. They’re also …

The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League saw a spike in sales through ticketing application Rukkus after it was updated to provide a 360-degree view of venue seating locations. NBA and NHL fans will now be able to get a more comprehensive feel for their seats at sporting events before attending through Rukkus’ new app, which features a virtual reality experience along with updates such as ticket-sharing via SMS and 3D Touch on iOS. the 360-degree ticketing experience comes at a time when imagery is a necessary aspect of purchasing on mobile and digital, and as users become more comfortable …

Online video giant YouTube is expanding into live video territory, by offering the ability to live stream 360 degree virtual reality videos. The live video space has heated up in recent months. Facebook joined the fray with a live video initiative to take on Twitter’s popular Periscope, which was named top app of the year in 2015 by Apple. But with YouTube’s offerings, “It’s not just a live stream, but a stream you can explore in 360 degrees,” says Neal Mohan, YouTube’s Chief Product Officer. Several press reports had speculated that YouTube was preparing …

If the Audi R8 looks good through a showroom window, just imagine how it looks through a virtual-reality space helmet. When shoppers strap on Oculus Rift headsets in Audi showrooms late this year, they will get to visualize the German luxury brand's cars on the surface of the moon, where, of course, they have never been. Sending digital cars to the frontiers of space is a suitable metaphor for the challenge automakers face this year with the consumer rollout of VR headsets. With the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift headsets on sale, marketers want to exploit the technology, but VR …

Anyone with a stake in the Internet of Things (IoT) was likely gratified to see that the most-downloaded free app from the Apple App Store on Christmas Day 2015 was the sensor-laden fitness tracking device Fitbit. It was one more sign that the lumbering but potentially massive market for connected devices for consumers is gaining meaningful traction. Certainly, the proliferation of smart-home devices on display a few weeks later at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (International CES) underlined the rising number of options for connected technology in the home. With wired mats for pantry shelves that signal homeowners when …

Motor Trend has focused on Apple’s Project Titan for its June issue, and published an “Apple Car” concept rendering online. The long-running automotive magazine has published a round-up of rumors and speculation on Apple’s ambitions in the sector, and invited a number of experts to discuss what effect Apple could have on the industry as a whole. The Motor Trend report was written by testing director Kim Reynolds, and floats a number of ideas about what Apple could and should bring to the automotive industry. The tech giant has a chance to disrupt traditional players in the heavy industry.

You’ve heard of smart TVs, fridges and security systems that you can communicate with digitally over the Internet-of-Things (IoT)? Well, now you can add furniture to that growing list. Introducing the Lift-Bit, the first IoT furniture system that you can configure digitally. It’s the brainchild of International design and innovation firm Carlo Ratti Associati and Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra. The project is featured in the Rooms. Novel Living Concepts exhibition organised by the Salone del Mobile in Milan, until Sept 12. A full-size prototype will be unveiled during Milan Design Week next year. So what is Lift-Bit all about?

A KGI investment note seen by 9to5Mac suggests that Apple Watch shipments will fall by more than 25% this year. The note estimates 2015 sales at 10.6M units, and predicts that full-year shipments this year will be below 7.5M units. The fall would be even more dramatic in real terms, as it would be comparing 12 months of sales in 2016 against 8 months of sales last year. The company cites two reasons for the forecast. First, that the wearable device market is still a fledgling one, not yet mature in terms of behaviour. But KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo also believes the Watch itself falls short …

Huawei Technology has entered the mobile virtual reality competition. The Chinese company revealed Friday a VR headset that can be coupled with one of its own flagship smartphones, as is the case with the competing Samsung Gear VR. The Huawei VR headset will be launched in 2016, possibly in late spring, but the firm has not disclosed its pricing. The Huawei VR will be paired with the recently unveiled Huawei P9 or Huawei P9 Plus. Both handsets boast 1080p displays, with the P9 phone’s measuring 5.2 inches and the P9 Plus phone’s measuring 5.6 inches. Each employs a USB-C cable for charging. The phones are geared …

In 10 or 15 years, there will be 50bn connected machines on Earth – all part of the internet of things world – joined together through technologies like Bluetooth, co-invented by Sven Mattisson two decades ago. “It’s when I go to the supermarket and the people who work there have these headsets, that’s when it hits me,” said Sven Mattisson, one of the original team of engineers who invented Bluetooth, one of the enabling technologies that will be the glue holding the future internet of things world of connected machines together.