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DT Daily: Squirrels love GoPros, Siri vs. Cortana, smart watchband

Today on DT Daily: a squirrel steals a GoPro, Cortana calls Siri fat, and a company that wants to turn dumb watches into smart watches.

GoPros often go where other video cameras fear to tread, and news of their famed toughness has finally reached a very important, and clearly untapped, market. We’re talking about squirrels living in Montreal, Canada, and they’ll resort to theft just to get their tiny paws on one.

In the clip, we see David Freiheit’s GoPro being sized up by a crafty squirrel, before being swiped and carried up a nearby tree. Sadly, the fuzzy thief got clumsy, and fumbled away the camera. It lands on the ground, and Freiheit recovers it. It turns out the encounter wasn’t by chance, and not only was the camera baited with bread, but it was also the third time a curious squirrel had picked up the GoPro and made off with it.

Apparently, Freiheit’s done with filming squirrels, but not with the animal kingdom. Next up, if he can work out a way to tempt them, we could see either a pigeon or a beaver make off with his tiny camera.

It’s handbags at dawn in Microsoft’s latest TV ad, as Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistants talk about their latest improvements.

While Cortana boasts about displaying reminders and warning of heavy traffic conditions, all Siri can say is how she’s now a little bigger than before, referencing Apple’s new 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus smartphone. At first, Cortana ignores Siri’s embarrassing admission, but eventually just can’t hold back. “Don’t worry,” she says, “it happens to everyone at this time of year!” Wow. Really?

Siri keeps quiet, obviously taken aback by Cortana’s hurtful words. Microsoft is actually pushing its new Lumia 830 smartphone in the ad, but we’re not sure whether getting so personal will win it many new fans.//

While many of us may want smart features from our watches, we don’t want to give up the ones we already own and love, particularly because there are so few great smartwatch designs out there.

Kairos is a startup company that’s taken to crowd-funding website Indiegogo to try and change all that. It’s pushing a product called the T-Band, and it’s a smart watch strap, ready to convert almost any regular watch into a smartwatch. There are three choices, a regular model without a screen, one with a hidden display, and a top-of-the-range version with a color, Plastic-OLED touchscreen.

Kairos will sell you different watch bodies too, but it’s the option to take an existing watch and bring it up to date that makes this project exciting. Deliveries will start in June next year if it gets funded, and prices start at $130.

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
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