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inPulse and WIMM One: the tale of two smartwatches (video)
We're no strangers to watches here at Engadget, but smartwatches -- tiny wearable computers capable of running apps with SDKs to match -- are still a rare breed. The best known examples are probably Fossil's Meta Watch, Allerta's inPulse Smartwatch and WIMM Labs' WIMM One, all of which are primarily targeted at developers. We recently had the opportunity to spend some quality time with both the inPulse (over the holidays) and the WIMM One (during CES), and despite some similarities, each smartwatch takes a completely different approach to running apps on your wrist. While neither product is quite ready for prime time, both show promise as "fourth screen" devices, even for those of us who don't normally wear a watch. So go ahead -- hit the break and find out how these wearable computers stack up.
RIM's BlackBerry tablet starting to sound suspiciously like a Foleo
So BGR is reporting that it has "confirmed with multiple sources" that RIM's alleged BlackBerry tablet device is very real -- despite Mike Lazaridis' recent downer comments on the subject -- and that it'll have an 8.9-inch screen, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity to hook up with your phone. Oh yeah, about that Bluetooth connectivity: the tablet is being billed as a "companion" device, something to use when you need a little bit more horsepower and screen real estate for multimedia and the like. Sound familiar? Yeah, Palm tried this with famously catastrophic results a while back -- and considering RIM's ultra-conservative policy on product innovation, we can't imagine things going any better up in Waterloo. It's apparently slated for a December release with engineers scrambling to get it released even sooner... and, you know, discontinued sooner, too.