Month: February 2017

Enlarge (credit: Verizon)

On the heels of Google and LG announcing two new smartwatches running Android Wear 2.0, Verizon is getting in on the action as well. The cellular provider announced it will be selling its own, network-exclusive wearable, the $300 Wear24 smartwatch alongside the $330 LG Sport Watch. While wireless carriers have sold wearables before, this is the first time Verizon has made its own device to entice new and existing customers.

Like the LG Sport Watch, a major selling point of the Wear24 is LTE data. Users can make and receive calls and texts without their smartphone nearby. It'll be attached to your phone number, so all your usual notifications will come to your wrist even if you left your smartphone at home.

At first glance, the Wear24 appears thinner than LG's Sport Watch but will offer many of the general features found in the Sport. According to other reports, it will have a 1.39-inch AMOLED display, an IP67 water resistance rating (so it can withstand being submerged in three feet of water for 30 minutes), and a 450mAh battery, which is slightly larger than than 430mAh batter in the LG's Sport.

(credit: David Megginson)

A recent report from consulting firm McKinsey & Company took a hard look at the electric vehicle (EV) market and found that there are some considerable—but not insurmountable—roadblocks to its success.

The problem is summed up in one notable statistic from the report: in the US, 30 percent of the vehicle buyers McKinsey surveyed reported that they considered purchasing an EV, but only 3 percent actually did so. Numbers were similar for Germany (45 percent considered buying an EV, but only 4 percent did so), while in Norway approximately 22 percent of potential buyers ultimately bought an EV, “due in part to government subsidies,” the report states. The survey was conducted online and involved 3,500 respondents from the US, Germany, and Norway. McKinsey also surveyed approximately 3,500 potential car buyers in China.

The challenge to transform at least part of the global fleet of cars and trucks to electric vehicles is an important one for regulators and automakers to consider as the world becomes increasingly aware of the dangers of climate change. In 2014, transportation made up 26 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, while electricity made up 30 percent. But as more and more utilities incorporate renewable energy into their portfolio, transportation starts sticking out like a sore thumb. In California, for example, only 20 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions come from utilities, but 40 percent comes from transportation. So around the world, governments are pressuring automakers to raise their fleet fuel efficiency numbers to combat the urgency of climate change. Automakers can offset sales of less-efficient SUVs with sales of EVs, but it's a task that’s been made harder in the US as cheap gas has driven demand for SUVs rather than cars with better fuel economy.

Enlarge (credit: Kaléo Pharmaceuticals )

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and thirty of his colleagues sent a letter to Kaléo Pharmaceuticals Wednesday to question the company's price hike of its opioid-overdose-reversing device, Evzio.

As Ars has reported before, Evzio’s price rose dramatically over a short period of time—going from $690 in 2014 to $4,500 currently, according to the letter. Evzio is an easy-to-use auto-injector that delivers a dose of naloxone, a generic drug that blocks and reverses deadly opioid overdoses.

Amid the price increases, the country has been gripped by an epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses. The CDC now estimates that 91 people die every day from an opioid overdose, and some hard-hit areas have even run out of morgue space.