Apple didn’t respond to questions Wednesday about reports it’s planning to add augmented reality content to Apple TV+ as a way to attract and keep subscribers and boost interest in AR technology. A Bloomberg report said elements of a TV show would be displayed on a viewer’s phone or tablet and integrated into the environment, serving as bonus content that could be accessed from the Apple TV+ app. The AR feature is expected to debut next year, with an Apple AR headset reportedly due in 2022.

Half of MLB’s 30 teams will launch Google Assistant voice capability using Satisfi Labs technology, said the search engine company Wednesday. The functionality will enable fans to ask their favorite teams about statistics, schedules, scores and standings using a Google Assistant smart speaker or display, it said. "Voice is the future of communication, and we believe expanding to Google Assistant will allow fans of all ages to access us on their terms,” said Steve Fanelli, vice president of the Oakland Athletics, one of the 15 teams participating.

CEDIA announced education sessions for virtual CEDIA Expo Sept. 15-17. Eighty online classes cover technical, business, skill-building, hardware and software sides of the business at all skill levels, it said. The early bird rate is $149 through Sept. 2; $199 after. Courses will be available to registrants through 2020. Beginning Sept. 15, many sessions will be available on demand for integrators in global markets; 10 Spanish-language courses will be offered. Course topics include cybersecurity, audio setup and calibration, project management, automation, architectural cinema, best business practices, spatial computing, 5G, virtual and augmented reality and working with architects. Registration is available at the CEDIA Expo website.

Best Buy posted better-than-expected revenue for the quarter ended Aug. 3, but shares tumbled 4.1% Tuesday to $112.64 on second-half economic and pandemic concerns. Total revenue was $9.9 billion vs. $9.5 billion in Q2 2019; domestic sales were $9.1 billion vs. $8.8 billion, said the company. Comparable domestic sales rose 5% vs. 1.9% a year ago. With stores reopened mid-quarter after COVID-19 lockdowns, e-commerce sales jumped 242% as customers turned to Best Buy.com for computers, tablets and appliances, said CEO Corie Barry on a Tuesday investor call. Online sales growth continued to be robust in Q2 after stores reopened in June, with online revenue growing 180% over the same period last year, Barry said. Domestic online sales have remained strong, up 175% in the first three weeks of August, she said, but supply hasn't kept up with demand: “We don't have as much inventory as we would like to have right now,” Barry said in Q&A. Best Buy is focused on the customer experience before fall handset launches, including 5G, and will make it possible to trade in connected devices online. It expects higher revenue than in Q3 2019, but not at the 20% level seen in the first three weeks of the quarter. Barry noted two-thirds of U.S. children are schooling at home in the fall semester, which drove back-to-school demand for computers, networking gear and webcams. The pandemic forced Best Buy to change its operating model, and customer shopping behavior will be “permanently changed in a way that is even more digital,” Barry said. Customers will be in control of how they want to shop; the company’s workforce will have to evolve to meet their needs, she said. Employees in some 200 stores are now doing same-day deliveries, which meets customer expectations while reducing third-party shipping costs.

Fitbit is taking preorders for two smartwatches and a tracker slated for late September availability, including the Sense ($329), billing it as its most advanced health smartwatch. The Sense has an electrodermal activity sensor for stress management, an on-wrist-based skin temperature sensor and an electrocardiogram (ECG) app. When used with Fitbit Premium ($9.99 monthly), the watch can help track heart rate variability, breathing rate, and oxygen saturation using the company’s Health Metrics dashboard, said the company Tuesday. Pending regulatory approvals show the challenging route to digital health solutions for consumer tech companies. The ECG app, not intended for use by people under 22, will be available in the U.S., based on FDA clearance. It hasn’t received a CE mark and “will not be marketed, put into service or made available in the European Union until it receives regulatory approval,” Fitbit said. The Sense’s EDA sensor measures electrodermal activity responses; users place their palm over the watch face to detect small electrical changes in the sweat level of the skin. A stress management score calculates how the body is responding to stress based on heart rate, sleep and activity data, it said. Sense is Fitbit’s first device with an ECG app to assess heart rhythm for signs of atrial fibrillation. Results from a COVID-19 study of 100,000 Fitbit users suggested that changes in some metrics included in the new dashboard in the company’s Premium subscription service -- breathing rate, resting heart rate and heart rate variability -- can be detected by Fitbit devices simultaneously with the onset of COVID-19 symptoms, “and in some cases even before,” it said. Wearables “may be able to play an important role in the early detection of infectious diseases by acting as an early warning system for our bodies, which is critical to slowing the spread of COVID-19 and to better understanding disease progression,” said Chief Technology Officer Eric Friedman. “Our algorithm can detect nearly 50 percent of COVID-19 cases a day before the onset of symptoms with 70 percent specificity." The research could help detect other diseases in the future, he said. Fitbit also unveiled the Versa 3 smartwatch ($229) with GPS and Google Assistant. Also coming is the Inspire 2 tracker ($99) with a brighter screen, heart-rate tracking and 10-day battery life.

Smartphones aren’t sharing in the successful run on COVID-19 connectivity tech tools, as global shipments declined 20.4% to 295 million units in the second quarter, reported Gartner Tuesday. Samsung experienced the largest decline among the top brands, with shipments down 27.1% from the 2019 quarter, said Gartner: "“The COVID-19 pandemic continued to negatively affect Samsung’s performance in the second quarter of 2020. Demand for its flagship S Series smartphones did little to revive its smartphone sales globally.” IPhone sales were down 0.4% year over year, it said. Though Huawei shipments fell nearly 7% from a year earlier, its 27.4% increase sequentially from Q1 pushed it into a virtual tie with Samsung for top share.

It’s “hard to quantify” the “market chatter” about Chromebook shortages and their impact on sales, as unprecedented consumer demand for connectivity tools shows no signs of abating during the pandemic, emailed NPD Vice President-Technology Stephen Baker Friday. “The fact is that sales results at these levels have been going on for weeks and weeks,” said Baker. “There may be insufficient product available, and current volumes could be higher than what we are doing now with more inventory,” he said. Yet Chromebook unit sales continue through the roof, rising the first three weeks of August “more than 2x higher than they were last year,” and up more than 90% since April from the same 2019 period, he said. A Google spokesperson declined comment Sunday about Chromebook shortages. The COVID-19 pandemic is putting “significant pressure on the supply chain as schools nationwide place orders to try and support remote learning resulting in Chromebook backlogs,” Google told (login required) the International Trade Commission last month, opposing Nokia's petitioned ban on Lenovo Chromebooks. NPD is finding consumer laptop sales “a little more volatile” during the back-to-school buying frenzy compared with the start of lockdown mandates in March, Ben Arnold, executive director-industry analyst-consumer electronics, told an NPD webinar last week. “We’ve seen one or two weeks where sales are up 40 or 50% for notebook PCs, and a couple of weeks where sales have been slightly negative,” said Arnold. “What we’re seeing on that end is some struggle to get product.” Amid the “historic” consumer demand for connectivity tools, “it’s difficult to get PCs right now, for sure,” he said. About three-quarters of the 46 Chromebook models BestBuy.com advertised for sale when we checked Monday were sold out.

Qualcomm Technologies’ “accelerator program,” formed in June with broad tech industry support to help small businesses convert to a post-pandemic “mobile-first work environment” (see 2006110040), picked 33 companies, each to receive $25,000 worth of connected devices and services to suit their individual needs, said the chipmaker Monday. Qualcomm got more than 375 applications to the program, and the 33 businesses it picked “span the healthcare, education, crisis response, arts, environmental services, and other industries,” it said. Most identified as women-, minority- or veteran-owned, it said.

Bose is offering discounts to military personnel through its e-commerce site. Active-duty members are eligible, as are reservists, veterans, retirees, National Guard, surviving spouses and immediate family. Eligibility is confirmed by ID.me. Offers are good on products $199 and higher. Aviation products are excluded.

The smartwatch market will rise at an 11% compound annual growth rate through 2024 to $14.57 billion, said a Friday Technavio report. Year-over-year growth in 2020 is forecast at 4.49%. Some 54% of smartwatch sales growth through the forecast period will come from North America. A key driver will be technology advances in the semiconductor market, it said.