Google Home -- the search giant’s supposed Amazon Echo killer -- went on sale this week for $129. The voice-activated personal assistant is not expected to begin shipping until November 4, TechCrunch reports. “Because Google wants Home to be something you could easily put into your living room, you can choose from bases in different colors that will help you match the Home to the rest of your interior design.”

Sky wants to position itself as the home of immersive virtual reality as it launches its brand new app, Sky VR. The app, free for anyone to download, showcases a range of 360-degree videos. Sky has been building its expertise in VR since 2013 when it invested in Jaunt, the Silicon Valley VR startup. Earlier this year, the company created its in-house production studio, Sky VR Studio, to experiment with creating immersive content.

Oakley, in partnership with tech titan Intel, has just released its latest product, smart eyewear that features a voice-activated coaching system, tracking performance and integrating various data points through a new mobile application that is being released concurrently. The new product, called Radar Pace, combines smart eyewear with earbuds and a microphone that responds to voice cues with the Radar Pace app, which interprets data from various sources and uses it to calibrate a coaching program that personalizes over time. The app, currently available on both iOS and Android devices, can also synchronize data from various external sensors like a …

HTC’s app store for its Vive virtual reality headset expands globally Friday after launching solely in China earlier this year. It’s calledViveport, and HTC says that for the next 48 hours (from 12:00 a.m. PT September 30), it’s marking “several marquee titles” down to a buck a piece. That includes stuff like Mars Odyssey, a normally $8 NASA Lander and Rover infused romp across the red planet, as well as Firebird – La Peri, an otherwise $10 visual fantasy set to French composer Paul Dukas’ ballet.

Panasonic has announced its latest flexible battery innovation, which it will be showing off at CEATEC in Japan next week. When combined with flexible displays, printed electronics, and increasingly small processing packages, this could be the technological breakthrough that bendable smartphone enthusiasts have been waiting for. According to Panasonic, the battery can be bent and twisted up to a radius of 25mm, with a maximum angle of 25 degrees,  over 1000 times, while still retaining 99 percent of its charge. Importantly given recent other battery related problems in the news, twisting the cell is completely safe as well. To obtain these properties, Panasonic has custom …

Toyota Motor Corp on Monday unveiled a doe-eyed palm-sized robot, dubbed Kirobo Mini, designed as a synthetic baby companion in Japan, where plummeting birth rates have left many women childless. Toyota's non-automotive venture aims to tap a demographic trend that has put Japan at the forefront of aging among the world's industrial nations, resulting in a population contraction unprecedented for a country not at war, or racked by famine or disease. "He wobbles a bit, and this is meant to emulate a seated baby, which hasn't fully developed the skills to balance itself," said Fuminori Kataoka, Kirobo Mini's chief design …

Patently Mobile posted a report back in March titled "Samsung Advances Home Automation by Stepping into the Kitchen with a Smart Refrigerator Called 'Family Hub.'" That was the beginning of Samsung's home automation hub and earlier this month the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Samsung that reveals a broader vision for their current Smart TV which is already quite extensive. Some of the advances that are on the way include controlling more devices and home appliances (fridge, laundry, stereo, microwave etc) remotely while broadening the types of apps and/or services that users will have access to. In …

What if Sears introduced a product similar to Alexa, Amazon’s voice controlled shopping assistant and no one noticed? That’s pretty much what happened when Sears released a version called Alfie not long ago. Sears quietly began selling Alfie in June, but the official announcement came earlier this month when it was more widely released. Alfie is a physical device, much like the Dash button, that shoppers can push to order items. Tap. Talk. Done. That’s it, according to the company.

NYC restaurateur, Shake Shack founder, and millionaire Danny Meyer is having a good week. He’s invested in a home-cooked food delivery start-up, introduced paid parental leave for all of his employees, and today almost single-handedly made the Apple Watch — a very expensive trophy gadget at best — relevant. In an announcement made moments ago at the TechTable Summit, representatives from Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group and Resy — the reservation system start-up founded by (Eater co-founder) Ben Leventhal, Michael Montero, and Gary Vaynerchuk — confirmed a partnership that would integrate the Apple Watch into front-of-house restaurant service.

The Fragrance Outlet built its business on outlet malls, but with mall traffic declining it is looking elsewhere for new growth. The discount perfume retailer has 108 locations and all but three are in outlet centers. As outlet mall traffic—and thus Fragrance Outlet’s traffic—has steadily declined, the retailer is following a new path that involves more e-commerce and digital marketing, says CEO Scott Kanter. “Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen a reduction in [store] traffic of about 5-10%, and that’s been happening over the past few years,” Kanter says. The e-retailer launched its first e-commerce site a year ago and at …