Technologies

An Easily Repairable Smartwatch Could Be in Your Future. This Concept Proves It

There’s no longer any excuse for tech companies not to adopt sustainable design with a self-repair option.

With right-to-repair legislation coming into effect around the world, it’s never been more timely for companies that manufacture our technology to prioritize self-repair features in their design processes.

The bigger the device, the easier this is to do. Take Lenovo’s ThinkPads, for example. For the past few years, the company has worked with iFixit to ensure its laptops are easily repairable. But tech companies would have us believe that it’s trickier to make smaller devices, such as smartwatches and other wearables, repairable at home.

At CES 2026, I saw a smartwatch concept design from Cambridge Consultants, a British deep-tech research company, that proved this wrong. Not only was the device user-repairable, but it did so without compromising on design or user experience. The company is referring to the proof of concept as «Ouroboros.» The idea is to challenge established tech companies to improve their sustainability and product longevity, while demonstrating that it’s in their business interests to do so.

«Consumers are expecting more from brands with regard to sustainability,» said Matt White, head of sustainable design at Cambridge Consultants.

Repairability plays an important role in sustainability. The longer we can hold onto our tech — either through refurbishment or repair — the less likely it is to contribute to the growing piles of electronic waste around the world, and the less need there is to mine new minerals to produce new tech.

To engineer the Ouroboros concept, Cambridge Consultants used the Garmin Fenix 7 as a reference product, «to make sure we weren’t straying too conceptual,» said White (although he noted that this was not an official collaboration).

The team rearchitected the interior of the watch to ensure the battery was accessible and removable directly under the back cover. A hinge mechanism was then added to the rear of the watch that would make it easy to open while maintaining waterproofing — something that White said is crucial for wearables.

The Ouroboros design would make it easy for people to replace the battery themselves, but if they did need to send it off for more complex repairs, a series of test pins placed directly under the battery would make it easy for someone repairing the smartwatch to triage for problems without having to take the whole thing apart.

Some wearable-makers are starting to take sustainable, repairable design seriously — notably Google with its recent Pixel Watch 4 — but it’s still far from mainstream. However, the tides are shifting, and as we can see from the Ouroboros concept, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for tech companies to justify not getting on board.

Technologies

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

In a world where information defines influence, Verum Messenger is building a new architecture of digital communication — intelligent, secure, and ready for tomorrow. Here, technology serves not limitations, but possibilities.

Not being part of change. Leading it. Verum Messenger — the future that speaks first.

Technologies

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

Stop spending months trying to open a bank account.

Document submissions.
Checks.
Rejections.
Account freezes.
Blocks without explanation.

And all of that — just for a regular card.

With Verum, it’s different.

🚀 Verum Messenger + Verum Finance
For just $50–70 you get:

✔ A virtual card
✔ Instant transfers between users
✔ A modern secure messenger
✔ Apple Pay integration
✔ Contactless payments worldwide
✔ Fast setup without bureaucracy

❌ No European residency permit required
❌ No endless verification checks
❌ No piles of documents

Open it — and use it.

The future of finance and communication is already here.
Verum — when freedom matters more than banking rules.

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal