Fully Charged: LeapFrog’s wearable tech for kids, new Google Docs and Sheets apps, and NASA’s Tron-inspired spacesuit
The most essential tech news this morning, all in one place
LeapBand is wearable fitness tech… for kids?
We discerning adults have our Fitbits, Samsung Gear Fit, and any number of other wearable tech options to choose from, but LeapFrog is aiming dramatically younger with its new LeapBand.
Targeted at children ages 4-7, the LeapBand activity tracker is a wristband that tracks and encourages movement while doubling as a watch and displaying images of cartoon animals as virtual pets. Being active earns the wearer points, which in turn can be used to play the 50 included activities and tasks.
Are your children ready for wearables? You can find out this August when the LeapBand launches in green, blue, orange, and pink varieties for £29.99 apiece.
[Source: LeapFrog]
READ MORE: Top 10 Wearable tech
Google releases Docs and Sheets apps for Android and iOS
Rather than keep its document, spreadsheet, and presentation creation tools—Docs, Sheets, and Slides, respectively—locked inside the Drive app for Android and iOS, Google has started making moves to split those services into standalone apps.
Google Docs and Google Sheets apps for both platforms launched today, and a separate Google Slides app is also on the way. Within a few days, Google says that it will prompt Docs and Sheets users within the Drive app to begin using the new apps instead.
[Source: Google Official Blog]
READ MORE: Microsoft announces Office for iPad
The Internet makes NASA use a neon blue-tinged spacesuit
NASA recently opened up online voting for the design of its new Z-2 spacesuit, and the results are in: the “Technology” design won out with more than 63% of the tally and nearly 150,000 votes. Said design features multiple grey tones overlaid with garish, glow-in-the-dark neon blue stripes, making it look like something out of Disney’s classic film, Tron.
Sadly, the Z-2 isn’t actually planned to make it into space, but surely the ground testing photos will make for some killer memes once it goes into service this fall.
READ MORE: Interplanetary Internet: NASA tests out space communication by firing lasers at the moon
Saints Row: The Third, Dust free to Xbox Live Gold members in May
Microsoft’s Games With Gold program has largely seemed a pale shadow of what Sony offers its PlayStation Plus subscribers, with the free Xbox 360 games given away to date largely being dated or unremarkable, but this month’s slate looks a lot more enticing.
Dust: An Elysian Tail, a gorgeously hand-drawn fantasy side-scroller, is available free from today until 15 May, while the lovably crass open-world action affair Saints Row: The Third can be snagged without payment from 16-30 May. Both come recommended, so if you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, don’t miss the chance for some gratis gaming in the weeks ahead.
[Source: Major Nelson]