On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

LaCie announces three storage solutions aimed at "creative, media and entertainment (M&E) professionals" at the 2019 IBC Show-- the Rugged SSD Pro, Rugged SSD and Rugged BOSS SSD.

The Rugged SSD Pro offers high-speed transfers reaching up to 2800MB/s using Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. Inside is a Seagate FireCuda NVMe SSD, and LaCie claims it can handle the playback of 6K, 8K and super slow-motion source files without transcoding, and is the first first Thunderbolt 3 portable storage solution from the company with USB 3.0 compatibility. The device also features IP67-rated dust and water resistance, 3m drop tolerance, 2 ton crush resistance and the ability to survive for up to 30 minutes in 1m of water.

IKEA follows on the launch of the Symfonisk Sonos-powered speakers with a dedicated remote-- a simple puck-shaped controller allowing customers to control the speakers using a single button.

Available in black or white, the Symfonisk remote is, technically, an oversized button. Pressing it once pauses playback, and pressing again restarts it. Pressing the button two or three times skips tracks forward and back, while rotating the dial left or right decreases or increases the volume. Users can stick it on a wall via magnetic mount, or simply place it on any surface.

Wrist-worn wearable shipments, including smartwatches, basic watches and wristbands, total 34.2 million units in Q2 2019, IDC reports, a 28.8% Y-o-Y increase brought about by the top vendors pushing new products and promotional campaigns.

In total, the top 5 vendors-- namely Xiaomi, Apple, Huawei, Fitbit and Samsung-- hold 65.7% of the market, a 12-point gain over Q2 2018. The main driver behind such results is health, since companies are providing actionable insights and prescriptive measures for end users. Mobile payments are also becoming a mainstay, with around 2 out of 5 wrist-worn wearables featuring NFC. Many more can also complete transactions using simple QR codes.

HTC presents the specifications and release date of the Vive Cosmos-- a next-generation PC-powered VR headset promising improved LCD panels, built-in head tracking, integrated sensors and fully-tracked motion controllers.

First announced back at CES 2019, the Vive Cosmos uses two 3.4-inch RGB LCD displays, each with 1440 x 1700 resolution making for 2880 x 1700 combined resolution. The displays are also capable of 90Hz refresh rate and a 110-degree field of view, the same as the original Vive. Interestingly, the headset has flip-out goggles, meaning users can easily take a break from VR without removing the headset. Connectivity comes through DisplayPort 1.2 and USB 3.0, or the addition of a WiGig-based wireless adapter.