Google Glass is a lot of things, but it’s hardly a superstar when it comes to the world of sports. Though we’ve seen proof it is at least water resistant, it doesn’t feel particularly durable and isn’t entirely well-suited to wearing while, say, sweating profusely during a lengthy climb on a road bike. Recon Instruments has what it thinks is a solution: the Jet. It’s a pair of sporting sunglasses with an integrated, Android-powered display that could make things like running and cycling far more exciting — or at least far more information-packed. Join us after the break for our impressions.
Gallery: Recon Instruments Jet hands-on
Filed under: Wearables
At an event in San Francisco at Blue Bottle Coffee, Square debuted a stand built specifically for the iPad, which turns the device into a card-swiping register. 
From an economic perspective, the 
Adobe mobile Photoshop strategy has so far kept more heavyweight editing to tablets with Photoshop Touch, and left the iPhone with Photoshop Express. But today the company has officially released Photoshop Touch for iPhone and Android smartphones, which inherits virtually all of the functionality of the more powerful tablet app, with an interface tailored to the smaller screens.
After the communication breakdown over surge pricing last New Year’s Eve, Uber is taking precautions to make sure users are aware of fare increases next week. Surge pricing has become more common now among Uber users but when fares increase dramatically, it catches consumers off guard. So to prevent any surprises. Uber customers will be alerted to the surge pricing multiple which they have to confirm and accept before making any request for a ride. Uber says that when there are extreme spikes in demand on the evening, customers will also have to take Uber’s “Surge Sobriety Test.” And Uber’s Fare Estimator will give all customers the ability to estimate their fare prior to any ride request. Uber warns in a blog post: It’s going to be a crazy night and Ubers are going to be pricey, so here are a few pointers to keep in mind. The fare estimate feature will only be available for the iPhone app, unfortunately. And all riders will need to accept the fare multiplier before finalizing a booking. uber says the average surge multiple will be about 2 times normal prices, during the worst times (12:30 AM until 2:45 AM), but prices during extreme spikes could cost you $ 100 before time and mileage charge. Uber adds that the most expensive times to take an Uber are 8:30pm – 9:45pm and 12:30am – 2:45am. The best times to take an Uber on NYE are before 7pm, 10pm – 12:10am and 3am on. The company’s CEO and founder Travis Kalanick will also be holding a live chat for any one who has questions about surge pricing on New Year’s Eve. Uber clearly learned its lesson from last year, when users were caught off guard by steep prices caused by surge pricing. For example, one user was charged $ 75 for a two minute car ride. With the sobriety test, and fare estimator, the company is giving users all the information they need to decide if a pricey car ride is worth the splurge. The sobriety test is particularly interesting, and I wonder if this will become more widely used in the app. Ride-sharing app SideCar also warned users today of its surge pricing that will take place on New Year’s Eve.
AngelPad, the startup accelerator program founded back in 2010 by ex-Googler and investor Thomas Korte, held its fifth ever Demo Day at its downtown San Francisco headquarters today. The twelve startups that comprised AngelPad’s Fall 2012 class each took the stage to give their snappiest three-minute pitches to a very packed room full of the industry’s most prominent investors. A bit about the program: AngelPad provides startups with ten weeks full of mentorship from industry veterans that covers all aspects of launching a company along with $ 20,000 in initial funding to help founders get their products off the ground in the best way possible. So far, Korte tells us, the 62 total startups that have passed through AngelPad’s program over the past two years have seen some good successes in terms of follow-on funding, which is the way that incubators and accelerators tend to measure success. Eight of the 11 startups who graduated out of AngelPad’s Spring 2012 class raised additional funding, and those eight took on a total of $ 12.5 million. We were able to pull Korte aside at Demo Day today for a brief talk about AngelPad’s growth overall as well as what trends he’s seeing with this latest batch of startups, and you can watch our entire interview along with scenes from the very busy event in the video embedded above (complete with cameo from his wife and business partner Carine Magescas, who ran into the room to grab a business card for an investor — first things first!) One especially interesting point he made is that this new class is characterized by a stronger focus on revenue-generating applications, such as things with an enterprise bent. Mobile-first consumer apps, for example, took more of a back seat in AngelPad’s Fall 2012 batch, he said. Without further ado, in the order in which they presented today, here are the 12 companies that made up the AngelPad Fall 2012 class: Periscope: Founded by ex-Google and Microsoft Bing product managers and engineers, Periscope is a business data analysis tool that aims to provide a unified, actionable view of data from many different sources. FreedomCP: Founded by engineers and a National Science Foundation fellow with backgrounds in security and networks research, FreedomCP that automates cloud server management, providing modern tools for fully-managed web applications and servers. Kinnek: Founded by engineers from Wharton and Cornell, Kinnek is a B2B marketplace for high-cost
White label social networking platform 
As you may recall, Microsoft recently got into the startup accelerator game, launching its first 
Late last week, San Francisco and Boston-based healthtech accelerator 
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