Bluetooth SIG formally adopts the full spec for Bluetooth low energy that will create a new ecosystem of innovative products and apps that will change the way we think about the things around us.

Bluetooth low energy is not just a variant of the existing Bluetooth spec: it’s an entirely new standard optimised for low power and internet connectivity. It marks a change in short range wireless, providing a new short range connection for a new decade.

Anything that we touch or use can employ Bluetooth low energy to send its data to the net. Think fitness devices, personal healthcare, watches and more...

Go Bluetooth Version 4.0

Another example of USB universal docking stations gaining momentum in the market.

DisplayLink enables Diamond Multimedia's BVUMD3 USB HD Display Adapter Plus to provide plug-and-play capabilities for additional displays to laptop or desktop computers, while providing additional USB ports for peripheral connectivity.

"DisplayLink's DL-165 USB virtual graphics chip has enabled us to offer our customers a means to connect multiple monitors to a single device, along with many other multimedia capabilities," says Louis Kokenis, the Product Engineering Manager for Diamond Multimedia. "The BVUMD3 also uses 80% less power than a discrete solution."

Go Diamond Multimedia

Martijn Hoogeveen, CEO for ICEcat, says their e-catalog analysis after the first 4 months in 2010 shows 10 brands who out-perform others in the Top One Hundred online channel brands. The top three are Dell, Trust and Brodit.

"Brodit is a surprise. It is a Swedish mobile phone accessory provider, which data has become available for online channel partners. Especially, its compatibility table (shows which holder fits which mobile and which car model) is gold, and makes the company the Kingston of mobile accessories," says Hoogeveen.

Go Brodit

European retail industry got a sneak peak of the augmented reality Wrap 920AR video eyewear from Vuzix, a Rochester NY company.

Calling it "the world’s first augmented & mixed reality sunglass-style video eyewear with integrated stereo cameras," Vuzix brought samples toRetail Vision 2010. “The Wrap 920AR offers the world’s only sunglass styled Augmented Reality experience” says Vuzix CEO, Paul Travers. “This state-of-the-art video eyewear, offers consumers an AR solution only available in handheld devices or expensive broadcast video equipment to date, merging the real world with the digital in a pair of glasses makes for world changing experiences from industry to gaming.”

Augmented reality is fast becoming a part of the marketing and sales plans of many big , from producing boxes which ‘show’ content in 3D to adding a new dimension in online sales tools.  The Wrap 920AR visualises the real-world environment and computer-generated imagery together (without the need of a webcam); allowing brochures, maps, magazines and books to ‘come to life’. 

Through its Wrap 920AR glasses (available later in the year) Vuzix wants augmented reality to be a mass market technology that benefits organisations and consumers alike. Retailers, says Vuzix, who stock Vuzix 920AR glasses will be those who can prove they are at the forefront of technology.

While Rochester NY is best known as the home for Kodak and Xerox, Vuzix is putting the upstate New York on the map for Augmented Reality.

Go Vusix