First braille smartwatch

I stumbled across a really interesting article today, which shows someone has finally produced something I've been thinking about for a while...

That's right, a braille smartwatch!  What a genius idea.  And it's called "Dot Watch".

A quote from their website...

Touch the display. Feel the Dots come up and prod at your fingertips.

How many are there? One followed by two Dots on the hour module?

That means that it's now 12 o'clock. Checking for time is that simple.

So are getting notifications. Just wait for your Dot Watch to vibrate - it'll tell you who reached out.

If you want more information, check out the website... https://dotincorp.com/shop/product/dot-watch/

Free Ottega watch anyone?

Ok, this is a bit off topic, but have you seen that Ottega currently has some of their watches going to free, yes that's £0, on their website?

Check it out... https://www.ottega.co.uk/collections/watches

And this isn't even a referral link, I just thought it was too good to miss!  You do have to pay £7.99 postage, but that's a very small price to pay.

Personally, I'm getting the Elite in black...

New privacy policy

Google, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to start having a clear up of older apps, but removing ones which don't have a privacy policy URL defined.  This is fine, but not defining one was clearly an option before, and my apps simply deliver a watch face, and therefore don't really need one.

So I have created a generic one, and here it is...

• This app does not collect any user data, personal or otherwise.
• This app does not collect any payment or financial data.
• This app does not collect any phonebook or contact data.
• This app does not contain any antivirus or security functionality.
• This app adheres to all of the Google Play Privacy and Security stipulations.

Clear and concise?

Unfortunately I had to go through each of the apps and update them one by one!  Hopefully they should all be showing the updated details within a few hours, including my new website... http://www.rik.onl.

New watch faces - Weather

I've been working on a couple of weather related watch faces, which focus primarily on providing a detailed forecast.

Both watch faces show the date and digital time in small at the top, with the current weather icon taking center stage.  Along the bottom is a full forecast for the week, showing the day, min/max temperatures, the forecast temperature and weather icon.  Also displayed are the sunrise and sunset times.

Weather Silver (download from Play store)

The first watch face has sleek silver weather icons...

Weather White (download from Play store)

The seconds watch face has flat white weather icons...

Both of these can be downloaded from the Play store (see links above).

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

New series - Quarts

I've just discovered a series of watch faces that I made a few months ago, and forgot to do anything with.

These are all based on the same premise, which is that no one really needs to know the exact time - do we really need to worry about seconds?  Definitely not!  In fact, I argue you don't even need to know minutes, and just quarter-of-an-hour blocks is all you need.

All the watch faces show the time only, no fuss and bother, nice and simple.  Each hour is represented by an image, split into quarters for each 15 mins.  There is also a smaller image on the left/right to indicate am/pm.

Each of the examples below shows the time is between 10:45am and 10:59am.

Quarts Circle (download from Play store)

Quarts Square (download from Play store)

Quarts Star (download from Play store)

So relax, download one of these watch faces, and don't be hindered by the constant need to know the exact time!  What time are you meeting your friend?  Half past!  No one meets at 1:37 precisely :)

All of these can be downloaded from the Play store (see links above).

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

New watch faces - Hack the planet!

I've been working on a couple of simple watch faces, inspired by the 1995 film Hackers, with the famous line "Hack the Planet!".

Both watch faces show the date, digital time, and both the watch and phone battery levels.

Hack The Planet (download from Play store)

The first includes the slogan and looks like this...

Hack The Planet 2 (download from Play store)

The seconds focuses in on the artwork and looks like this...

Both of these can be downloaded from the Play store (see links above).

View all my watch faces on the Play Store.

Deus Ex becomes FlickTek

Apparently the team at Deus Ex have received a letter from the Eidos lawyer, saying that they are infringing the Deus Ex saga trademark, so they have been pushed to change their name.  They are now called FlickTek! 

They are still using the website AriaWearable.com but are now also setting up FlickTek.com, although there's nothing but a footer there at the moment.

They keep teasing us with updates, but it looks like they might be very close to releasing the units now.  They've said...

We have worked a lot in the last months to ensure you will receive an Aria that could satisfy all our promises and all your expectations. At the end of June we received the first 35 units from the production and although some issues that are delaying the shipments, the devices work better than we expected!  

The recognition rate is top level, the new sensors are fantastic, no other device is even close to what we achieve and the communication is fast and reliable. Please check out this video...

At the moment they're having a little trouble with the on/off button so they're changing the component, and they're switching factory because they weren't happy with the quality of workmanship, so there are some tweaks to be made, and this is causing further delays.  Better to get it right though!

They're also planning to release an iCrap version as well, for those who are so inclined.