Researchers at the Technische Universität Berlin propose a means to add temporary tactile buttons to a touchscreens-- the GelTouch, a display with a layer of gel that hardens with the application of heat.

GelTouch uses a heat-responsive hydrogel. The gel is fluid and transparent at room temperature, but turns stuff and opaque when heated above 32°C. A layer of conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) heats discrete areas of the display via electric current, turning the gel solid to create any number of button layouts.

A 7-inch prototype shows a grid of buttons, a slider and a 1-finger joystick buttons, all usable with applications such as a phone dialler and simple games. Buttons disappear once heat is removed.

Wearables maker Omate announces a pair of updates on the TrueSmart call-capable smartwatch-- the TrueSmart+ and TrueSmart-i, two Android-powered devices packing wifi, 2G and 3G connectivity.

The slightly bulky devices hide the antennas inside strengthened rubber straps. The more advanced TS+ carries a 1.54-inch 320x320 resolution display and has Android 5.5 as OS, while the Android 4.4-powered TSi has a 240x240 resolution display and a camera.

A micro-SIM card slot allows customers to live out the Dick Tracy dream of making phone calls from their wrists.

Reports might suggest Amazon is giving up on hardware, but the online retailer shows this is at least partly not the case as it presents a pair of Fire TV devices and not one, not two but four low-cost tablets.

The Fire TV devices in question are upgrades of the original STB and the Stick HDMI dongle. The new Fire TV feature 4K/UHD resolution and HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) support, as well as more processing power, 802.11ac MIMO wifi and 8GB built-in storage (expandable to 128GB via microSD card slot).

Meanwhile the new Fire TV Stick gets Alexa integration and a companion Voice Remote, giving it nearly all capabilities of the Echo voice assistant.

Qualcomm describes the upcoming Snapdragon 820 mobile device processor as its most powerful yet, as it features the company's "most advanced" integrated modem and Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

The integrated modem in question is the X12. It handles LTE category 12 download speeds reaching up to 600Mbps, beating the previous company record of 450Mbp, as well as speeds of up to 150Mbps. It is also the first to support unlicensed LTE (aka LTE-U).

When it comes to wifi the X12 gets 802.11ac 2x2 MU-MIMO and 802.11ad support, making it fairly futureproof as far as mobile device modems go.