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<ul><li><keyword id="103425" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mapmyindia" source="Orion">MapmyIndia</keyword> has launched smart gadgets for cars and bikes, starting at ₹2,990.</li><li>The company has launched GPS trackers, smart helmet kit, navitainment systems, and more.</li><li>Here are all the gadgets launched by MapmyIndia.</li></ul>Indian digital mapping and geospatial company MapmyIndia today announced the launch of its Mappls Gadgets for cars and bikes. The gadgets are aimed at offering an enhanced and safer driving experience. The new products include vehicle GPS trackers, a dash camera, an in-dash navitainment system, and smart helmet kits. While the dash camera and in-dash navitainment system are aimed at cars, the GPS tracker and smart helmet kits can be used by two-wheeler owners. Here are all the new gadgets launched by MapmyIndia – <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Mappls in-dash Navitainment System" comment="subhead" text="Mappls in-dash Navitainment System">Mappls in-dash Navitainment System</cmsannotation> MapmyIndia has launched two variants of its in-dash navitainment system – the – <keyword id="16616471" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="icenav" source="Orion">ICENAV</keyword> 7464 and ICENAV 7216. The systems can be integrated into the dashboard and come with an Android-based OS with CarPlay and Android Auto support. <div type="image" title="ICENAV 7216" msid="98177436" hostid="261" sizebytes="25782" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The ICENAV 7216&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Both the systems are available in 9-inch, and 10-inch IPS display options. They come with a steering wheel control, Full HD media playback, smartphone mirror link connectivity, FM tuner, navigation support with live traffic, rear view AHD camera support, and up to 50 watts x 4 channel audio output. The ICENAV 7464 also offers a 360-degree bird-view camera, CarPlay, and Android Auto support. The ICENAV 7216 is priced at ₹23,990 for the 9-inch variant and ₹24,990 for the 10-inch variant. On the other hand, the premium ICENAV 7464 is priced at ₹37,990 for the 9-inch variant and ₹38,990 for the 10-inch variant. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Mappls CarEye dash camera" comment="subhead" text="Mappls CarEye dash camera">Mappls CarEye dash camera</cmsannotation> Dash cameras have become quite important to prevent theft and serve as evidence in case of accidents. MapmyIndia has launched the CarEye, a premium dash camera that offers real-time video of the front and the cabin, insights into vehicle performance, and driver behavior. <div type="image" title="CarEye" msid="98177461" hostid="261" sizebytes="31050" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;CarEye dash camera&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> It analyses data to provide insights into driver behavior, such as harsh acceleration, braking, cornering, and overspeeding. It also offers live vehicle tracking, historical drive data, towing alerts, vehicle battery low alerts, geofencing, and more. The CarEye dash camera has been priced at ₹23,990. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Mappls GPS trackers" comment="subhead" text="Mappls GPS trackers">Mappls GPS trackers</cmsannotation> MapmyIndia has launched four GPS trackers, offering different features for different user requirements. This allows you to track your vehicle or other objects with ease. <div type="image" title="MapmyIndia LxOB12 GPS tracker" msid="98177470" hostid="261" sizebytes="30116" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The LxOB12 GPS tracker&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> They offer real-time location, geofencing, overspeeding, undue stoppage alerts, distance traveled, historical travel data, driving behavior, and more. The GPS trackers are available in four variants – x1, LxOB12, Lx12, and Lx14. They also come with different subscription and warranty plans. The GPS trackers are priced starting at ₹4,490 and go up to 12,990. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Mappls smart helmet kit" comment="subhead" text="Mappls smart helmet kit">Mappls smart helmet kit</cmsannotation> MapmyIndia has also launched two smart helmet kits that can be used with traditional helmets to offer an improved user experience. The company has introduced two kits – Navisor and <keyword id="16616473" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="navaudio" source="Orion">Navaudio</keyword>. The two devices allow users to turn their traditional helmets into smart helmets, offering visual LED and audio cues while driving. <div type="image" title="Navisor" msid="98177489" hostid="261" sizebytes="20838" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Navisor installed on a helmet&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The Navisor uses augmented reality (AR) to provide visual navigation cues. It also comes with crash detection, SOS sensor and offers a battery life of up to 12 hours. <div type="image" title="Navaudio" msid="98177504" hostid="261" sizebytes="24500" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Navaudio&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> On the other hand, <keyword id="16616472" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="navudio" source="Orion">Navudio</keyword> allows users to answer calls, and get audio navigation and on-road voice assistance. Both the devices have been launched at an introductory price of ₹2,990 each, and the combo can be purchased at ₹5,490. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/noise-and-fire-boltt-entered-in-top-five-in-global-smartwatch-shipments/articleshow/98171390.cms">These two Indian brands have together sold more smartwatches than Samsung in 2022</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mukesh-ambanis-jiocinema-to-take-on-disney-hotstar-and-amazon-prime-with-free-4k-ipl-streaming/articleshow/98150380.cms">Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema to take on Disney+ Hotstar, and Amazon Prime with free 4K IPL streaming</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/four-out-of-five-wireless-earbuds-sold-in-india-in-2022-were-from-an-indian-company/articleshow/98141414.cms">Four out of five wireless earbuds sold in India in 2022 were from an Indian company</a>

MapmyIndia launches GPS trackers, smart helmet kits, dash cam, and more starting at ₹2,990

The country's largest private sector lender <keyword id="6357149" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="hdfc-bank" source="Orion">HDFC Bank</keyword> on Thursday announced that it has raised USD 750 million through a dollar bond sale. The bank said it will be paying a coupon of 5.686 per cent for the three year bonds, according to an exchange filing. The paper, rated Baa3 by Moody's Rating Services and Bbb by S&amp;P, will be listed on the India International Exchange, it said. The USD denominated senior unsecured instruments will be redeemed on maturity in March 2026. The <keyword id="45123" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hdfc" source="Orion">HDFC</keyword> Bank scrip had closed 0.69 per cent down at Rs 1,603.35 a piece on the BSE on Thursday, as against a 0.23 per cent correction on the benchmark. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/mapmyindia-launches-gps-trackers-smart-helmet-kits-dash-cam-and-more-starting-at-2990/articleshow/98177325.cms">MapmyIndia launches GPS trackers, smart helmet kits, dash cam, and more starting at ₹2,990</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/noise-and-fire-boltt-entered-in-top-five-in-global-smartwatch-shipments/articleshow/98171390.cms">These two Indian brands have together sold more smartwatches than Samsung in 2022</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mukesh-ambanis-jiocinema-to-take-on-disney-hotstar-and-amazon-prime-with-free-4k-ipl-streaming/articleshow/98150380.cms">Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema to take on Disney+ Hotstar, and Amazon Prime with free 4K IPL streaming</a>

HDFC Bank raises $750 million in dollar bond sale

San Francisco, Streaming giant <keyword id="128682" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="netflix" source="Orion">Netflix</keyword> has lowered the price of its subscription in more than 30 countries, in an effort to draw in subscribers who have access to a growing number of streaming options. Recent price reductions by the streaming giant include Middle Eastern countries (Yemen, Jordan, Libya and Iran), sub-Saharan African markets such as Kenya, and European nations (Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria), reports The Wall Street Journal. "In Latin America, nations including Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Venezuela have seen reductions in subscription costs, as have parts of Asia including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines," the report mentioned. The cost reductions only applied to specific Netflix tiers in the affected countries. "It definitely goes against the recent trends not just for Netflix, but for the broader streaming industry," John Hodulik, a media and entertainment analyst at UBS Group AG, was quoted as saying. "Some of these cuts on a percentage basis are substantial," he added. Netflix's Co-Chief Executive, Greg Peters, had also hinted during a January earnings call that the company is searching for markets where they might raise rates to support ongoing content expenditures. "We think of ourselves as a non-substitutable good," Peters said. According to him, the streaming giant also has a chance to get new customers in markets where it doesn't currently hold a dominant position. "We know members have never had more choices when it comes to entertainment," and the company is dedicated to providing an experience that surpasses their expectations, a Netflix spokeswoman said. In January last year, the company had raised the price for subscribers in the US and Canada. Later, in March, it bumped up its subscription prices for the UK and Ireland users. However, in November, the streaming giant had added a cheaper $6.99 per month ad-supported plan. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/mukesh-ambanis-jiocinema-to-take-on-disney-hotstar-and-amazon-prime-with-free-4k-ipl-streaming/articleshow/98150380.cms">Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema to take on Disney+ Hotstar, and Amazon Prime with free 4K IPL streaming</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/mapmyindia-launches-gps-trackers-smart-helmet-kits-dash-cam-and-more-starting-at-2990/articleshow/98177325.cms">MapmyIndia launches GPS trackers, smart helmet kits, dash cam, and more starting at ₹2,990</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/noise-and-fire-boltt-entered-in-top-five-in-global-smartwatch-shipments/articleshow/98171390.cms">These two Indian brands have together sold more smartwatches than Samsung in 2022</a>

Netflix lowers subscription costs in over 30 countries to draw in subscribers

A Mozilla study on Thursday claimed that in nearly 80 per cent of the apps reviewed on <keyword id="6355629" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="google" source="Orion">Google</keyword> Play Store, it found the data privacy labels were false or misleading based on discrepancies between the apps' privacy policies and the information apps self-reported on Google's <keyword id="847216" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="data-safety" source="Orion">Data Safety</keyword> Form. The researchers said that the system fails to help consumers make more informed choices about their privacy before purchasing or downloading one of the store's 2.7 million apps. The study uncovers serious loopholes in the Data Safety Form, which make it easy for apps to provide false or misleading information. "Consumers care about privacy and want to make smart decisions when they download apps. Google's Data Safety labels are supposed to help them do that. Unfortunately, they don't. Instead, I'm worried they do more harm than good," said Jen Caltrider, <keyword id="11154104" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="project-lead" source="Orion">Project Lead</keyword>, Mozilla. "When I see Data Safety labels stating that apps like Twitter or TikTok don't share data with third parties, it makes me angry because it is completely untrue. Of course, Twitter and TikTok share data with third parties. Consumers deserve better. Google must do better," he added. For example, Google exempts apps sharing data with "service providers" from its disclosure requirements, which is problematic due to both the narrow definition it uses for service providers and the large amount of consumer data involved. The study said that Google absolves itself of the responsibility to verify whether the information is true stating that apps "are responsible for making complete and accurate declarations" in their Data Safety labels. For the study, Mozilla compared privacy policies and labels of the 20 most popular paid apps and the 20 most popular free apps on Google Play Store. It found that 16 out of 40 apps, or 40 per cent, received a "Poor" grade, including Minecraft, Twitter, and Facebook. Around 15 apps, or 37.5 per cent, received a middle grade, "Needs Improvement", including YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, <keyword id="691301" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="whatsapp-messenger" source="Orion">WhatsApp Messenger</keyword>, and Instagram. Just six of the 40 apps received an "OK" grade. These apps were: <keyword id="1739317" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="candy-crush-saga" source="Orion">Candy Crush Saga</keyword>, Google Play Games, Subway Surfers, Stickman Legends Offline Games, PowerAmp Full Version Unlocker, and League of Stickman: 2020 Ninja. Three apps, UC Browser, League of Stickman Acti, and Terraria did not fill out the form at all. "Google Play Store's misleading Data Safety labels give users a false sense of security. Honest nutrition labels help us eat better. It's time we have honest data safety labels to help us better protect our privacy," said Caltrider. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/mapmyindia-launches-gps-trackers-smart-helmet-kits-dash-cam-and-more-starting-at-2990/articleshow/98177325.cms">MapmyIndia launches GPS trackers, smart helmet kits, dash cam, and more starting at ₹2,990</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/oyo-plans-to-add-approximately-1800-premium-hotels-in-2023/articleshow/98180189.cms">OYO plans to double premium hotels in 2023 as biz travel surges</a>

Data privacy labels for most top apps in Google Play Store misleading: Mozilla

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Army Futures CommandArmy soldiers equipped with the ENVG-B</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The US Army recently fielded the Enhanced Night Vision Goggles - Binocular, the most cutting-edge technology of its kind fielded to conventional forces.</li><li>But, the ENVG-B also came with other technology, such as the Family of Weapon Sights - Individual that lets soldiers shoot from the hip and around corners.</li><li>By the end of the year, this tech will be linked to the Nett Warrior device, allowing for augmented reality capabilities designed to boost individual soldier and squad performance.</li><li>And down the road, soldiers will be able to see live video feed from operational Soldier Borne Sensor drones right in their goggles. And while the Army has yet to field this tech, it is already thinking about how to build on it.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>The US Army is changing the way it looks at equipping soldiers for battle, shifting from simply adding more and more gear to integrating systems, and one of the best examples is what the service is doing with its new night-vision goggles.With the new goggles, the Army didn't just acquire new night-vision technology. It also integrated other new technologies such as connected weapon sights that turn any soldier into a top marksmen and network devices that allow for the sharing of data across augmented reality platforms.And down the road, the service intends to incorporate the new squad-level mini-drones into the mix while moving everything into a plug-and-play open architecture that will allow for the addition of new capabilities as technology advances."For years, dismounted Soldiers have been overburdened by equipment which, while highly effective, often isn't integrated with other equipment," Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts, Program Executive Office Soldier, explained in August.That's changing."Adding more does not help, but integrating is really what can drive progress," Maj. John Nikiforakis, a former Army platoon leader who serves as the Assistant Product Manager for the new Enhanced Night Vision Goggles - Binocular (ENVG-B) program at PEO Soldier, told Business Insider."We're not fielding just one piece at a time anymore. We are trying to field whole sets of equipment that enable that squad to be more lethal," he added, explaining that while all these systems can be used individually, "when you put them all together, that is when you get the most bang for your buck."<h3>Enhanced Night Vision Goggles - Binocular (ENVG-B)</h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Patrick Ferraris/PEO SoldierA soldier with the ENVG-B during a touchpoint exercise this past summer</div></div></div>In late September, soldiers with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas became the first to get their hands on L3's ENVG-B.A replacement for the AN/PVS-14 monocular night vision device (MNVD) that has been in use for nearly two decades, "the ENVG-B is the most advanced night-vision goggles fielded to conventional forces to date," Nikiforakis said. "There's nothing even close to it."The new night-vision goggles offer improved situational awareness and depth perception for greater mobility, high resolution white phosphor tubes (a significant improvement over the green phosphor tubes), and thermal imaging for improved target recognition in the face of various battlefield obscurrants.The new ENVG-B can be mounted on the Integrated Head Protection System (IHPS), a Ceradyne Inc. product developed as a replacement for the Enhanced Combat Helmet. It was first fielded earlier this year to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.<h3>Family of Weapon Sights - Individual (FWS-I)</h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of PEO SoldierSoldier entering a room with the ENVG-B and the FWS-I</div></div></div>The ENVG-B is wirelessly connected to BAE System's FWS-I, displaying the weapon sight reticle (crosshairs) in the goggles so that the soldier can fire from the hip or around a corner or over a barrier accurately without looking. This development was fielded along with the ENVG-B in September.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/troops-shoot-like-never-before-with-new-night-vision-goggles-2019-9">A Marine tore up distant targets while lying on his back and shooting backwards over his shoulder with the help of this new weapons tech</a>Not only does the FWS-I allow for rapid target acquisition and reduce exposure to enemy fire - because a soldier doesn't need to expose themself to get a visual around a corner or obstruction - but it has dramatically improved soldier marksmanship.Brig. Gen. Dave Hodne, the director of the Army's Soldier Lethality Cross-Functional Team, told reporters last October that he "can't imagine, right now, any future sighting system that will not have that kind of capability."The FWS-I, like the ENVG-B, runs on AA batteries, but the Army is in the process of developing a standardized tethered battery for improved performance.<h3>Nett Warrior</h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">US Army/JRTC Public Affairs2nd Security Force Assistance Brigade training on new Integrated Tactical Network capabilities using the improved Nett Warrior end-user device</div></div></div>The ENVG-B has the ability to connect to the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) software on the Samsung Nett Warrior end-user device carried by soldiers for augmented reality capabilities aimed at providing better squad-level performance.Using the Nett Warrior device, which was first introduced a few years ago, soldiers can pre-plot targets, pre-plot friendly forces, and connect with other service members integrated into the tactical network.Important mission points and objectives, such as a target house, can be digitally marked on a map on the Nett Warrior device and then broadcast into a soldier's field of view in their goggles, and all connected squad members can see the same thing.This capability was actually tested successfully back in April at Fort Drum with the 10th Mountain Division.The soldiers who received the ENVG-B and FWS-I in September do not currently have this ability, but by the end of the year, the Army will have soldiers with full capability sets.<h3>Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS)</h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flir.com/press-tools/image-gallery/product-imagery/">FLIR Systems</a>FLIR Black Hornet III</div></div></div>A next step for the Army may be connecting the FLIR Black Hornet personal reconnaissance drones, which were fielded as part of the Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) program, to soldiers in the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina a few months ago, to the ENVG-B so that soldiers can see live video from these tiny unmanned assets in their goggles.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/army-night-vision-future-goggles-rifles-drones-2019-10">The US Army wants to combine its powerful new night-vision goggles and its new pocket-sized spy drones so soldiers can see the battlefield like never before</a>While there is currently no set timeline on fielding this technology, an attempt by PEO Soldier to explore the art of the possible, the Army has managed to successfully link the two systems."If you were to take it out today and use it, you could see a video feed from the camera on the SBS drone in your night vision goggles without issue," Kevin Brown, the Assistant Program Manager for SBS at PEO Soldier, told Business Insider.This technology works by sending a wireless signal from the SBS drone to the wireless antenna on the ENVG-B, which then relays the data to the Nett Warrior device. The end-user device then broadcasts the video feed in the goggles in real time. The video the drone operator sees can also be shared wirelessly with every connected member in the squad.<h3>What's next?</h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Patrick Ferraris/PEO SoldierA New Hampshire Army National Guard soldier shows her team the route they will take during an ENVG-B touchpoint exercise</div></div></div>The Army doesn't want to just stop there though."The fact that the squad leader can see what the SBS drone sees with their ENVG-B is outstanding," Nikiforakis told Business Insider. "But how come the headquarters element can't see the same feed? How come that same feed can't be sent forward to attack aviation?"That interconnectivity, the ability to send data across the battlefield," he said, "that is where we should be going. Me seeing one thing is great, but what if I can bring in enablers to enhance that lethality and to really not fight a fair fight."The service's ambitions here play directly into the larger plans for every sensor-every shooter connectivity for multi-domain operations that the Army, as well as other services, have been looking at more closely as they prepare for high-end warfare against near-peer threats.The Army is also pursuing an Adaptive Squad Architecture (ASA) system, something loosely akin to the open architecture for app development for smart phones and related products, to permit the seamless integration of new technologies as they become available to the warfighter.PEO Soldier has plans to eventually integrate the ENVG-B and its affiliated systems into the ASA. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-heel-spurs-donald-trump-vietnam-deferments-jacqueline-sutera-2017-8">A podiatrist explains heel spurs, the medical condition Trump said earned him a medical deferment from Vietnam</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The US Army just got its hands on the best night-vision goggles in the world - here's what it can do and what's next

These 58 UK tech startups could soon be unicorns

Getty Images for WiredAndy Rubin at the Wired Business Conference with the new Essential Phone.Andy Rubin is best known as the guy who created Android, sold it to Google, and nurtured it into the most popular smartphone operating system on the planet.But Rubin left Google back in 2014, and now he's on his own.His latest gig is Essential, a startup he runs as CEO that's trying to become a new kind of gadgets company. It starts with a phone, called the Essential PH-1, and the plan is to expand into smart appliances and cars from there.Rubin spoke Wednesday at the Wired Business Conference in New York and shed a bit more light on Essential's plans. After the Essential Phone launches this summer, the company plans to release Home, a voice-controlled hub for all the connected appliances in your house. Rubin claims Home will be compatible with the wide variety of smart home platforms, ranging from Apple's HomeKit to Samsung's SmartThings, even though it'd take a wild level of technical wizardy to pull it off. Many are skeptical he can pull it off. He calls this new platform Ambient OS.Beyond that, Rubin teased that he'd like Essential to tackle the car, which is increasingly coming into focus as an area of growth for tech companies.And questions remain how the Essential Phone, which costs $699, can find success in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung.Business Insider and some other members of the press spoke with Rubin following his Wired talk. Below is a transcript of that conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity. (I've labeled each journalist's question as just "Question" since so many people were in the room asking questions. I put my name on the questions I asked.)<h2>Q&amp;A with Andy Rubin, CEO of Essential</h2>Steve Kovach: I want to talk more about Ambient OS. You were talking a lot about how you're really confident you're going to be able to stitch all these various platforms together.Andy Rubin: I didn't say I was confident. I'm definitely going for it.Kovach: If I'm understanding it correctly, especially with Apple, it's actually impossible. What they allow people to build into now doesn't allow what you want to do. Does this thing fall apart if they say no to you?Rubin: You have to understand this approach. There's a client and a server. And what Apple has with HomeKit is a bunch of individual consumer electronics companies enabling HomeKit with their products. I don't know what the percentages are, but they don't all only speak HomeKit. They speak a whole lot of other stuff as well. And what Apple is trying to do is trying to be the screen that drives these things. And that's excluding anybody in "Android Land" or Windows from driving those things. So the natural effect will be for those companies to support other products as well, and they're the ones that are plugging into Apple's APIs. So the trick that I talked about on stage is: I can produce the same APIs. And I can call it Essential Kit. And those same exact APIs that someone has already developed for their Sonos thing or whatever this point product is, I'm compatible with.Kovach: But isn't that just another product like Samsung's SmartThings?Rubin: No, no, no, no. You know what this is? This is [like] Windows emulation [on a Mac]. This is Windows emulation for IoT. APIs for all these people who are building these islands. And if I emulate eight things and turn it on, I control 100,000 devices.Kovach: And have you been able to do that yet in testing?Rubin: I haven't launched a product. I'm teasing a product, but it's going to be awesome. These are all forward-looking statements.Question: How far in advance are you teasing?EssentialA rendering of what Essential Home will look like.Rubin: We have round LCDs - big ones. What's after that is basically everything that's in a smartphone. Right? There's a bunch of cool things about starting a company today. I have a system in my lobby where I can print badges for people. There's some startup company whose job it is to do lobby registration now. And when I used to start companies, those guys didn't exist. But the other thing that happened, obviously, is smartphones have driven the supply base, based on the volume of the component tree of smartphones. And you'll find those things going into a lot of products like these home assistant products. So it's kind of a new era as far as leveraging the economies of scale of smartphones into these other products.Question: So Essential Home is a touch interface. Is it also a microphone?Rubin: Yeah it has far-field speech recognition. It has an array of microphones. Question: Is there any plan to add video chat to something like that?Rubin: Really good question. So once you do this job of bridging these islands, you kind of rise above all these other UIs, and you become a kind of holistic UI for every other product that might be in your life. So if you think of it purely from a UI perspective: Who is your UI developer? I actually thing developing for smartphones is too difficult. It's almost like you have to go to school to learn how to be an iOS developer or learn how to be an Android developer. The good ones have four or five years of experience, and the industry is not that old. So the reason we created a new OS is to basically solve the UI problem and redefine the definition of who a developer is. I want the guy who owns the home to be a developer, in some regard. I can tell you today, there's a $13 billion industry of <a href="https://www.crestron.com/">Crestron</a> or <a href="https://www.amx.com/en-US">AMX</a> or <a href="https://www.control4.com/">Control 4</a>, and they're drilling holes in your wall and installing screens in your home. That's an outdated approach. But the guys that are doing the UIs for those are the same guys that are drilling the holes in your wall. There's this whole installer thing with these high-end homes which is not a mass-market consumer value proposition. So I need to change who the installer is. And I think we've built enough technology for a consumer to kind of do a drag and drop.Question: There's this argument that's been out there that innovation in smartphones has peaked, that they've already gotten so good and can do so many things. Where do you see things going? Where does it go from here?EssentialThe Essential Phone.Rubin: When there's this duopoly with these two guys owning 40% of the market, this complacency sets in where people are like, "Oh what they're building is good enough. I'll just go to them." And that's the perfect time to start a company like this, when people are complacent and it needs to be disrupted. And the real answer is you guys and the consumers need to tell me if there's enough new innovation in [the Essential Phone].I think the 360 camera and the magnetic accessory bus is a pretty good example of the innovation we're thinking about. And there's gonna be a string of those things. Let me broadly position this: In the era where smartphones were new and everyone was upgrading from their feature phone to their smartphone for the first time, the product cycle was every six months. There'd be some new thing coming out, everyone's excited, there was a bubble kind of feeling that you were involved in something completely new and exciting. And then once everybody who wanted a smartphone got one, we're in a saturated market - at least in the first world. In saturated markets, the upgrade cycle is every 24 months. And the problem with the 24-month cycle, which happens to snap to the carriers' [ownership] of the consumer, is the consumer doesn't get to see the innovation. It's still happening in the background, but it happens every 24 months in these very lumpy onstage announcements. I think there's a way, and the reason we built this magnetic connector to continuously produce innovation and show it to the consumer happening in real time. It's almost like software updates for hardware.Getty Images for WiredRubin and his Essential Phone.Question: Explain how the Essential Phone is different from a modular phone. From the consumer point of view, it's, "I'm getting this phone and I can snap a camera on and I can snap on a better battery." Does it matter if it's magnetic or not?Rubin: That's a good question. It's two things. It's kind of the core to the way we designed this from a product design perspective. The first one is what's "modular." <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-project-ara-smartphones-photos-2016-5">[Google] Ara was the definition of modular</a>, which is you can remove a core component of the phone, like its processor, and replace it with a faster one. We're not doing that. You buy a phone, the phone works great as a phone. We're adding stuff onto it. So that's why I prefer accessory bus as an example. So that's modular versus accessory.Now, connectors, in my view, are dumb because they get outdated. So a wireless connector is the holy grail. We're close to that. We transmit power between two pins and everything else is wireless. Actually, the technology we're using is wireless USB 3.0. So it's 10 gigabits a second of USB, and we've built these transceivers that do that. The benefit of having a connectorless connector is I don't suffer from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/moto-z-droid-review-2016-8">what Moto Mod suffered from</a>, which is every phone they come out with in the future has to have that 33-pin connector in exactly the same location so all the accessories you've invested in as a consumer still work. So they've painted themselves in the corner. They can never change the industrial design of their next phone because it has to match all these accessories. Or they have to trick the consumer into throwing away all their accessories and getting the new one that fits this new thing.A completely wireless thing means I can come out with a phone that's invisible. And as long as it has this magnetic area on it I can use this legacy of accessories that I've purchased. Again, this is a pro-consumer brand. It's not easy to articulate. We're trying to do right by the consumer where they don't have to throw away their stuff every time there's a connector change. Or get some weird dongle. True story, I went and bought one of those beautiful new MacBooks with the OLED TouchBar. And that's when they changed to the USB-C thing. And in the IT department in my company I needed to plug in to the Ethernet to get the certificate for the new laptop, and I went to the Apple store and I said, "Do you have a USB-C to ethernet dongle?" And they said, "Oh no we don't have that yet." So I had to buy a USB-C to Thunderbolt dongle, and a Thunderbolt to Ethernet dongle. So I had two dongles plugged into each other. And that's the point where I'm just not feeling too good about being a consumer of those products.Question: Based on the conversations you had today and at the Code Conference, Essential is much more than just a phone company. How do you find that your brand is going to track these consumers?Rubin: It's anti-walled garden. We chose Android because that's a big component of that. We have a team of engineers, a lot of them, doing the job of other people to make our products work with theirs. These other companies, especially the walled gardens, they're sitting here with their ecosystem and they expect people to come to them. And they get to be the toll gate guys and say "yes" or "no." So we're actively going out and making our products work with other people's products because we know that's how our consumers want to live.Kovach: You spoke a lot on stage today about home and the car as major new platforms, but you didn't mention AR.Rubin: There's baby steps into AR, and then there's all-in. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/robert-scoble-google-glass-shower-photo-2013-4">Scoble's all-in is the shower picture</a>… so the glasses might come later. Cellphones have had augmented reality for a long time…What the real question is: 'What is the end product?' What is the developer going to build with augmented reality? And so far I've seen interactive media… movies and game-like movies, where you're both a participant and a viewer, which I think is a little too mixed reality for me. There's a lean back where you're a consumer of this stuff and it happens, or you're a participant like a game. The mixed part of it hasn't been proven yet.I think when consumers are ready to wear things, whether it's a motorcycle helmet that overlays a map… or if it's some goggles that they'll use for a board game… in the end for these big things I think…One of the problems is the price. It's just crazy. It's not ready for prime time. There will be a day where you might have a head mounted display and it costs $199, and you just plug it into your cellphone. And it won't be 'I'm wearing this 24 hours a day.' It'll be, 'It's time to sit down and play Monopoly with the family or something.' It actually might be more social than what you would do with VR.Question: Is that why you started the 360 camera? Because it's a taste of that?Rubin: This is all speculation, but I'm hoping there's going to be a format change in the future. I think I can kind of move the needle a little bit in that format change by taking the world's largest mass-market product and adding something onto it, rather than trying to create something completely new. So it's more of a slipstream approach. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-video-real-world-app-market-2017-6">Watch Apple's video that shows a post-apocalyptic physical App Store</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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