Walyou

Monbaby Smart Button Is a Next-Gen Baby Monitor

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:45 PM PDT

Let’s be honest, baby monitors have been long overdue a redesign! Monbaby offers all the important aspects of your baby’s sleep and displays them on your smartphone, provided that you are in this smart button’s range.

Wearable tech now has a new target audience: babies. There are plenty of smartwatches and fitness trackers, already, so the world should probably try to makes some innovations in this compartment. Monbaby looks like an oversized button that collects data while your baby is sleeping and transmits it via Bluetooth 4.0 to your smartphone.

Had it been another kind of device and not one for monitoring children, the manufacturer could have taken into consideration another method of synchronization or another wireless technology for connecting the device to the smartphone. But since it’s babies that we’re talking about, it’s easy to understand why they went for Bluetooth.

You shouldn’t be away from your baby, so the device’s 200 ft (61 m) range is more than enough. However, the data collected by Monbaby is stored in the cloud, so the sleep patterns of your youngster can be easily shared with the other members of the family or with the doctor. Imagine that? A few years ago, such a device would have been unconceivable, and not it has the potential of being sold all over the world.

The device is powered by a coin cell battery that can be easily replaced in case it runs out. Regarding the compatibility of this device to the baby’s wardrobe, you shouldn’t worry. Monbaby can be easily attached to any clothes, and it does not influence the baby or his behavior in any way.

MonDevices, the developers of the Monbaby smart button, are looking on Kickstarter for the funds necessary for mass manufacturing their product. The goal of the campaign is not even that great, being set by the company at $10,000, so it should be easy to reach, especially considering that there are 49 more days to go at press time.

Early birds can secure a Monbaby button for their baby for just $79. The price includes the device itself and the iPhone app. It’s a pity that Mondevices hasn’t considered making the smart button compatible with Android from the start. Developing an Android app for Monbaby is conditioned by the campaign getting to $100,000.

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Lenovo Acquires the Mobile Patents of Unwired Planet for $100M

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:15 PM PDT

Today’s battles between tech companies are won not by who has the best products, but by who owns the most patents, apparently. In this context, Lenovo bought 21 families of patents from Unwired Planet.

Lenovo already had a line of mobile products, even before buying Motorola Mobility from Google back in January. However, when that acquisition took place, the search giant stripped Motorola Mobility of about 17,000 patents, so the Chinese manufacturer had to create new technologies on its own or buy patents from elsewhere in order to bring innovation into its smartphones.

Jay Clemens, general counsel of Lenovo, stated that “This investment is an extension of Lenovo’s existing intellectual property portfolio. It will serve the company well as we grow and develop our worldwide smartphone and mobile PC Plus business in new markets.”

Philip Vachon, chairman of Unwired Planet’s board of directors and head of its intellectual property committee, expressed his excitement regarding this acquisition: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement with one of the world’s leading global technology companies. We wish Lenovo continued success going forward.”

In the recent past, Unwired Planet made itself a few important enemies, as it sued Apple and Google over 20 of its patents that had been used without a license by the two tech giants in the manufacture of their handsets. Considering that Unwired had the patents for 3G and LTE mobile technologies among the 21 families that it sold to Lenovo, it’s not difficult to believe that this company had solid reasons for suing Google and Apple. Now that Lenovo holds these patents, it will probably solve the problems with Google in a peaceful way, given their recent transaction.

Chinese technology company Lenovo Group Ltd will pay Unwired Planet $100 million in cash, and by all means, this is a small amount for a patent portfolio, considering the sums other companies have paid for such benefits. The deal is expected to be completed in 30 days. After that, it will be interesting to see what products Lenovo will launch based on the newly-acquired patents. Or maybe the Chinese company bought this patent portfolio to protect itself against lawsuits in the future, as this is also a strategy that companies buying patents have adopted in recent times.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Lenovo and the transfer of patents from HP to Qualcomm.