5 Things To Know About Apple Buying Beats

It emerged this week that Apple have finally put an end to all the rumours,  capping off a month-long debate by purchasing Beats.

Apple made the purchase official yesterday with sources claiming the deal has cost around £1.79 billion, which means a very big payday indeed for Dr.Dre and Jimmy Lovine.

This blockbuster deal does mean a few changes though and five of the things you should know include:

1. iTunes and iTunes Radio will be staying
Many people were worried that Beats Music would be replacing the iTunes Store and/or iTunes Radio but for the time being, that’s not going to happen. Beats Music will continue to be a subscription service but iTunes will live as a free option.

2. Love them or Hate them, there’s going to be more of them
Beats headphones have been met with a mixed reaction over the years with people either loving them or calling them ‘overpriced’ or ‘overrated’, but one thing is for sure, they’re going to be in more Apple stores than ever before. Good news for some at least.

3. Dr.Dre and Jimmy Lovine will become Apple Employees
It is not entirely set in stone what these two will be doing at Apple, but we pretty sure it’s not going to be a ‘genius’ in one of their stores. But, according to the Wall Street Journal, Dr.Dre will be doing as much as possible to help Apple during his spare time, whatever that means.

4. This is Apple’s 27th purchase over the last 12 months
Apple has been busy added a string of companies to its cart over the last 12 months and Beats is up there with the biggest. In fact, this is the biggest buy Apple have ever made. A number of the other purchases are much smaller in stature and in price tag, but this does show us that Apple knows what it wants and knows it will pay what it can to make it happen.

5. Although it’s ‘Official’, it’s not a done deal
Although everything seems signed, sealed and delivered, the deal is far from done yet. There is a number of regulatory bodies that will have to pass the purchase before the deal can be finalised but the deal should be completed very soon.

More Wearable Tech Than You Can Shake A Stick At

We’re fans of all types of technology, as we’re sure many of you know, so when we saw this array of technology, we couldn’t help ourselves but write about it.

We have featured wearable technology on more than one occasion but it’s always good to check in with the latest crazy ideas companies come up with. vrAse is one of these crazy ideas and is a 3D experience on your head. Crazy as it may sound, you simply slide your smartphone into the front of this ‘goggle-like’ headset and watch your favourite movies, music videos and games all hands-free. You might not look like the coolest kid on the block but you’ll feel like it.

Another interesting wearable is one for businesses and professionals who tend to scan a lot of barcodes - the BarcodEye. Very similar in appearance to Google glass, this clever piece of kit is looking to replace the standard scanners found in many supermarkets with a pair of specs that do the work for you. Although, apparently this is still in the early stages of development so we could be waiting a while until we see the finished product.

You’ve heard of Dre Beats headphones and other extremely expensive headgear but The Intelligent Headset looks to live up to its name by claiming to be the first headset with 3D audio. We’re not entirely sure how this will work but apparently we will be able to hear sounds differently dependent on how we are positioned. It sounds strange but thanks to the headset’s location-aware technology it picks up on sounds around you and gets louder when it hears louder noises. What’s more, you can even use the headphones for movement during a game too, so when you move left so does the character or object, and vice versa.

With the first day of spring just a couple of days ago, we thought it’d be quite apt to feature the Sunfriend. We probably shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves by saying that it could be a sunny year here in the UK, but we hope it is so we can wear this piece of Intel that lets us know how much sun we’re getting and when we have had enough. Toasty!

A lot of stuff to get excited about this year and not just in the smartphone or tablet world either. Wearables are on the up and we’re all for it!