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Have you ever turned a light on from a webpage? Well, I have with the Simblee chip connected to this LED, a mobile app, and a connected cloud service. (credit: Sean Gallagher)

Earlier this year, Ars Technica got a demonstration of a technology that seeks to change how we interact with embedded computing technology—tying together Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications, Arduino-style microcontroller technology, and mobile Internet connectivity. The chip at the core of the technology, called Simblee, allows device developers to build and deploy their own mobile applications without having to write iOS or Android code or having to publish their applications through an app store. Eight months have passed, and Simblee Corporation's eponymous chip is now shipping to pre-order customers and is for sale through electronics distributors.

Ars was given an opportunity to work with an early release of Simblee's developer kit. While we haven't yet built a mobile app-controlled, cloud-connected mobile army, we did get a chance to dive into the code that makes Simblee tick. There's still a good deal of polishing to be done—there's currently only a mobile client application for iOS, and the documentation is still being put together. But Simblee succeeds in taking a significant chunk of the work out of developing mobile-connected "Internet of Things" devices, making the technology much more accessible to a broad range of developers.

Simblee was not born out of thin air. Armen Kazanchian, Simblee's founder, also founded RF Digital—the company that created the RFduino (which Ars looked at two years ago). It's also not the only contender for the market of Arduino developers looking to build mobile applications. BLEduino, a crowdfunded product from Kytelabs, also aims to deliver a common mobile client application, though the project is still in development. Tah, another open source hardware project based on Arduino with BLE, is available now through CrowdSupply (though it's functionally more in line with the RFDuino—simply integrating a Bluetooth interface with core Arduino functionality).

(credit: Android Pay)

Android Pay, Alphabet’s successor to Google Wallet and its answer to Apple Pay, is allowing in-app purchases starting today. This is a feature that Apple Pay has had since day one, and it’s a feature that Google Wallet had until late 2014, when Google (now Alphabet) shuttered that feature.

The advantage of including in-app payments through a platform like Android Pay is that developers can add an Android Pay logo to their check-out sections, and users, who ideally have their card information stored with Android Pay already, can check out with a single tap (and then a second tap just to confirm the user’s information). No need for a customer to fumble for their credit card every time they need to buy something in a new app. The hope for app developers is that an easier checkout leads to more sales—there's less second-guessing if you shorten the time it takes to make the purchase.

Android Pay launched in early September, almost a year after Apple Pay launched. Android’s payment platform was essentially a rebranded version of Google Wallet’s original form, allowing users to make payments in select brick-and-mortar stores by tapping their phones to check-out terminals using near field communications (NFC). Today, with the addition of in-app payments, Android Pay becomes a real competitor for market share with Apple Pay.

(credit: Pebble)

Pebble is stepping up its fitness game, literally, with a new software update today. The company announced the release of Pebble Health, the first native fitness-tracking app for its Time series of smartwatches. In late 2014, Pebble watches gained the ability to track steps and sleep via a software update, but Pebble wants to expand on this feature with an actual app that works in the background of your daily watch interactions and integrates with its Timeline layout.

Referencing images provided by Pebble, the health app seems to focus on steps, active time, and sleep. In a statement, the company notes the app is meant to provide "helpful and actionable daily insights" on how to be more active and get a better night's rest. Rather than setting a step goal in the thousands, Pebble Health will learn your routine over time and compare your daily step count to your personal average. Weekly step and sleep graphs are also provided, and the app may suggest an earlier bedtime if it notices you've been a bit lazier than usual. Since Pebble Health works with the timeline layout of the newest watches, you'll be able to see daily sleep summaries and activity summaries at the beginning and end of each day, respectively.

A weekly step report generated by Pebble Health

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Pebble has a history of being very open with its products, and Pebble Health is no different. Developers will have access to the new app via an upcoming API, which the company is hoping will encourage them think of new ways to visualize and use health data. At the launch of the Time and Time Steel smartwatches, Pebble did something similar by allowing developers to make "smart straps" that would add new features to the devices like heart rate monitoring functionality. While smart straps are not a dead yet, we haven't seen many come out either. In addition, Pebble is giving researchers at the Stanford Wearable Health lab access to the app's technology for those looking into "dependable health and medical standard for data collection and study."

(credit: Jaren S. Wilkey/BYU Photo)

In a move akin to Google’s efforts to help you avoid drunk e-mailing, computer scientists are now trying to keep you happy while using the Web—by gauging when you get ticked off.

From three different experiments, researchers found that Internet users who became frustrated, confused, or upset while online tended to move their cursor sporadically and less precisely, instead of in smooth strokes. Perturbed users also tended to navigate their mouse more slowly, not faster as some might expect. The findings, reported in the information systems journal MIS Quarterly, may allow computer scientists or website developers to identify and intervene in real time when users become agitated with the interface or content of a site.

"Using this technology, websites will no longer be dumb," Jeff Jenkins, lead study author and an information systems professor at Brigham Young University, said in a press release. "Websites can go beyond just presenting information, but they can sense you. They can understand not just what you're providing, but what you're feeling."

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UK police said they have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection to the November breach of electronic toymaker VTech, a hack that exposed personal data of almost 12 million people, including gigabytes worth of headshot photos and chat logs for millions of kids and parents.

The unnamed man was arrested in Bracknell, about 30 miles west of London, it was widely reported Tuesday by news outlets citing a statement released by police. He was detained on suspicion of two offenses under the Computer Misuse Act, including unauthorized access to a computer and causing a computer to enable unauthorized access to data. Police also seized electronic devices during the arrest. No more details were provided.

The breach ultimately exposed data for 11.6 million people, 6.4 million of whom were minors. Personal information for children included their names, gender and birthdates, while details for parents included mailing and e-mail addresses, security questions used for password resets, IP addresses, password data, and download histories. The trove also included headshots and logs of chats between parents and their children. The information was stored in a database for VTech's Learning Lodge app store, which is used by the company's electronic toys. Almost half the compromised accounts belonged to people in North America, VTech’s top market.