Nike may have fired its FuelBand team because it's working with Apple on a smart band

---

Nike made deep cuts to its digital design team this week. As many as 55 of the 70-person team responsible for FuelBand have been let go, sparking rumors that Nike is abandoning the wearable market. The sneaker giant has since declared that it fully intends to support Fuelband and will launch new colors later this year, but if that's the case, why dismiss so many people responsible for creating the band and its successors? The answer may be that Nike no longer has need of so many hardware experts because it plans to partner with another company that's done pretty well for itself in hardware - Apple.

Geektime claims that it has spoken with two sources who both claim that Nike is set to introduce a smart band that would act as gestural controller and fitness tracker. The band would recognize steps and other aspects of physical activity like the FuelBand, but it would also be able to recognize certain patterns to do other things. For instance, flicking the wrist two times might launch an app or function. The reason Nike comes into play is that Geektime claims Nike is partnering with Apple on the product. The specifics of any rumored deal are unknown, but the source claims that Nike has a "significant part" in the new Apple product rumored to launch this year. If that's true, perhaps it explains why Nike would abandon its own ventures and partner with a company with a stronger tech pedigree. Maybe Nike was afraid of the competition?

source: Geektime

Huawei Ascend P7 debuts with 5-inch 1080p HD and 8 MP front camera

Huawei today announced its new hallmark smartphone, the Ascend P7, that ups the ante for a few features seen in Android smartphones. Like most flagships, the Ascend P7 has a 1080p HD 5-inch display, 2GB of RAM, and a quad-core processor (1.8 GHz). What's not so common is the front-facing camera that can capture images as large as the rear camera on many devices.
The Ascend P7 has an 8-megapixel front camera built for "groufie" - that's a direct quote and the last time you will ever hear me use that term - photos. The larger front camera sensor enables panoramic photos, 1080p HD video, and a beauty mode to take more flattering self portraits. The 13-megapixel rear camera has a quick launch function that can take take a picture within 1.2 seconds of someone double tapping the volume down button. It also includes a "Voice Photo" that adds 10-second audio clips to a photo.
Huawei's Emotion UI is layered onto Android 4.4.2 KitKat on the Ascend P7. Users should be able to enjoy that software for long periods of time thanks to a non-removable 2,500 mAh battery and a power saving mode that stretches 10 percent of battery into 24 hours of standby time. The phone also has 16GB of storage and a 32GB microSD card.
Following the course of previous device launches, the Huawei Ascend P7 is targeted for Europe, Asia, and the Middle East starting this month. There are no public plans to bring the phone to North America. The phone will retail for 449 euros (US $625) and launch in the following countries: China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Serbia, Greece, Norway, Hungary, Denmark, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

Apple steals away one of Nokia's camera experts

 10:59

Nokia struggled mightily to attract new customers once it made the switch to Windows Phone, but one area the company never had trouble gaining praise or attention was smartphone photography. One of the men responsible for that solid track record will be leaving the company to join Apple.

Ari Partinen has announced that today is his last day at Nokia. The senior Lumia Engineer tweeted that he will "start a new chapter in Cupertino" and then confirmed that he will begin working at Apple in June. Partinen has worked at Nokia for several years and was part of the team that developed the well-received PureView oversampling technology. Rather than join Microsoft after the sale of Nokia's handset division, Partinen has chosen to move to Apple.

Apple already receives praise for its camera technology but like any smart business, it welcomes new talent whenever possible. The impact of Partinen's involvement won't be felt any time soon, but his years of experience could help further enhance the photographic capabilities of future Apple iPhones and iPads.