Moto 360 may already be facing production issues

Yesterday's announcement of the Android Wear platform was highlighted by Motorola unveiling its first entry into the new smartwatch market: the Moto 360. The design of the 360 is gorgeous and quite unconventional for a smartwatch. But, a new rumor from the Asian supply chain is saying that the design may be too unconventional and may already be facing production issues.
See, there is a reason why almost all electronics are either square or rectangular; it's because there are a lot of design issues that arise when you break that. The components for electronics are all designed to be angular, like the motherboard, processors, battery, and even the display. So, the striking round design for the Moto 360 is facing challenges because of that round form factor. The rumor has it that Motorola is already facing troubles creating and placing the internal components and also in cutting round displays for the device. 
Given all of the early troubles, the rumor is that the Moto 360 will be fairly limited in terms of availability, simply because Motorola won't be able to make enough in time for the scheduled release this summer. It also means that the Moto 360 may be even more expensive than we have already been assuming it would be, but we wouldn't bank on that. Limited availability is believable, but we can't imagine the 360 being released at a price tag higher than $299 or so. 
Motorola is planning a Google

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castAR's vision of immersive gaming gets closer to final production

Five months ago, Technical Illusions gained over a million dollars in funding thanks to a highly successful Kickstarter campaign for castAR, a projected augmented reality project that company founders Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson brought over from Valve when they were laid off almost two years ago. Ever since the campaign's success, the company has been ramping up prototyping on a rapid scale so that the final unit can be sent off for mass production. Along the way, the company has grown from two employees to 11, and Ellsworth has since moved from Portland to Seattle to be with the team (dragging her collection of 80-plus pinball machines along with her). Ellsworth has also just hired the services of a Japanese company (she won't name which) to provide her with improved optics and thinner circuitry, which she admits is better than the homemade solutions she and her partners have cobbled together so far. This all means, sadly, that castAR is still very much in progress, which is why even though Technical Illusions is here at GDC 2014, we were unable to look at the final castAR hardware. We were, however, able to take a look at castAR's latest prototype that has never before been seen outside of Technical Illusion's office until this week.castAR prototypes

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Crowdfunded Iron Man Suit Project Seeking 5K Pre-Orders For Production Run

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Speaking as someone who’s considered spending nearly $1,000 on a full Stormtrooper costume multiple times, I’m very interested in a new crowdfunding project designed to build and mass produce a complete Iron Man suit with electronic features like an automatic sliding faceplate. The Iron Man Mark III project from Iron Man Factory, which must violate at least 80 licensing agreements, also just looks so damn cool that I’m going to hope beyond hope it somehow gets made.

The prototype in the video is fully 3D-printed, and also features a number of light-up aesthetic features, powered by AAA batteries. It’s lightweight, weighing in at only 3kg (6.6 lbs) and features metal joints with a carbon fiber/polymer body. Anyone under 5’6″ or much over 6’1″ need not apply, according to the specifications, which means even if I want it so badly my entire body burns I’d be taking a risk on not quite fitting within.

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