Peruvian chanteuse Yma Sumac is the latest famous figure to get the Google Doodle treatment, with the search giant celebrating the career of the 1950s performer on its homepage.

Sumac was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo in the early ’20s, although there’s some debate over exactly where, and whether she was born on 13 September 1922 or three days earlier in 1923. She first appeared on the radio in 1942. Google has paid its respects Wednesday with a colourful reworking of its logo.

She signed to Capitol Records in 1950, touring Europe and Africa two years later. Sumac worked across genres including exotica, mambo lounge and — later — rock. Her vocal range was just as broad, hitting notes across a whopping five octaves. Sumac died in 2008 in Los Angeles.

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Claw arms hardly make a drone look less terrifying, but they could make it more useful. That’s the promise of Prodrone’s latest hoverbot, the snappily-named PD6B-AW-ARM.

This claw-handed drone can fly up to 6 km per hour and stay in the air for 30 minutes. Using its two five-axis robotic arms, it can lift a whopping 22 pounds, which is half the weight of the drone’s airframe. The Japanese drone-maker says its eerie new toy will have a range of industrial uses, from lifting cargo to cutting cables — but could also drop a lifesaving buoy.

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Perhaps most striking is the drone’s ability to perch, crow-like, on a railing — using its claw arms to balance itself. Check that out in the promo video below, and excuse us while we install anti-claw metal sheeting on our windows and rucksacks.

Update 2:53 p.m. BST/6:53 a.m. PT September 14: This story incorrectly stated the amount of weight the drone can lift. Prodrone says the drone can lift 22 pounds.

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Simplistic wearable gadgets such as fitness bands are triumphing over more sophisticated smartwatches in the wearable war, analysts say.

Gadget-maker Fitbit’s “dominance remains unchallenged” in the wearable industry, according to IDC, which says the wearable market overall grew 26.1 percent between April and June this year.

It’s “basic wearables” such as affordable exercise trackers that are flourishing however, accounting for nearly 83 percent of all wearable gadgets shipped during the period according to the research. More sophisticated products like the Apple Watch are struggling meanwhile, with the data pointing to a 27.2 percent year-over-year decline in the number of wearables that support third-party apps.

Apple’s shipment volumes decreased, says IDC, though says this is primarily due to the lack of a new Apple Watch in the spring, which was the anniversary of the first model. Apple is holding an event tomorrow where the new iPhone is almost certain to be shown off, potentially alongside a revamped Apple Watch.

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Quaking in your boots is about to take on a whole new spin, with Bluetooth-enabled walking gear that vibrates your feet to let you know which way to turn.

Built by Dutch sportswear maker Hi-Tec, the boldly named Navigator boots connect to an app on your phone, where you can enter your walking destination. Insoles in the boots contain buzzing pads to direct you either left or right, prodding you towards your goal until you get where you want to be.

The tech in the waterproof boots comes courtesy of Lechal, whose gadgetry was originally designed to help visually impaired people find their way around more easily.

The Navigator boots will cost £230 or $300, which converts to roughly AU$405.

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British audio company Bowers & Wilkins has crafted a wireless version of its P7 luxury headphones — but you’ll need deep pockets to afford them.

The P7 Wireless, on sale as of today, will set you back $400, or £320 (we don’t have Australian price information, but that converts to roughly AU$527). For your cash you get a chunky set of wireless headphones that receive audio over Bluetooth, and are compatible with the aptX codec too, which beams audio using a different kind of compression for arguably better sound quality. Note that your phone, computer or musical source will also need to support aptX to use that technology.

In our in-depth review we called the wired P7 “one of the best luxury headphones you can buy,” and while we’ve only had a brief ears-on time with the wireless edition so far, first impressions on sound quality were very impressive.

Wireless means your headphones will need regular charging, with Bowers & Wilkins saying you’ll get 17 hours of use before these cans run out of juice. The memory foam earcups have been tweaked too, and felt extremely comfortable and secure in the brief time we’ve had so far.

Wired version gets a price cut

If messing around with Bluetooth and chargers is altogether too much effort, the P7 Wireless could still be good news, as their arrival has pushed down the price of Bowers & Wilkins’ other headphones. The wired P7 now costs $350 or £279 (roughly AU$461), while the smaller P5 Wireless drops to $300 or £229 (about AU$395).

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Samsung says it’s putting a cap on preorder stock of its new Galaxy Note 7 phone in Europe, citing “unprecedented” demand for its new mobile.

As preorder sales of the company’s 5.7-inch gigantophone go live across the continent, Samsung says stock will be limited — a move that it says will ensure there are enough phones left to fill shop shelves when the Note 7 gets its general European release on 2 September.

“Market reaction, combined with extremely positive feedback from our carrier and retail partners, indicates that the Note 7 will exceed our original sales forecasts for the region by some distance,” said Conor Pierce, Samsung’s vice president of IT and mobile for UK and Ireland. “As such, the number of preorder units will be limited due to the unprecedented demand.”

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Clearly Samsung’s stock pronouncement is something of a humblebrag, as the company gets to hammer home the message that its new mobile is already so popular that it can’t build enough units. Selling out and underestimating product popularity aren’t always great business though — had Samsung more accurately gauged enthusiasm for its product, it could be racking up more preorders, and ultimately raking in more cash.

The Note 7 can be preordered through Samsung’s online shop and other retailers, with preorder customers getting a new Gear VR headset thrown into the bargain. As of 10:30 a.m. UK time, both the blue and black Note 7 are showing up as “out of stock” on Samsung’s website.

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Tech fans in Europe and Canada only have to put up with boring regular reality for another month or so, as Oculus has confirmed its Rift headset will be hitting those regions on 20 September.

Preorders in those regions kick off from today, following on from a US release earlier this year. In the UK and Europe the Rift has been slapped with an eye-watering suggested retail price of £549, or €699. Facebook-owned Oculus hasn’t published a Canadian suggested price, but the Rift is up for preorder from the Microsoft Store for CAD$849. There’s a full list of which shops will be selling the Rift in those regions on the Oculus website.

Although Oculus VR (quite literally) kickstarted the current VR trend when it began working on the Rift back in 2012, the scene as it finally goes on general release is very different. Major tech firms like Sony, HTC and Samsung all offering rival hardware that lets customers escape the relentless mundanity of non-virtual life.

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UK residents must have access to better banking apps, a regulatory body has said.

In a new report published today, the Competition and Market’s Authority says that big UK banks aren’t doing enough to compete for customers’ business, and orders a “revolution” in banking mobile tech.

That would see new apps released by early 2018, with banks forced to share customer data with other third parties, so that individuals could manage their accounts or compare what rival banks are offering from their phones, using apps that aren’t solely built by their financial institution of choice.

Dubbed “open banking” by the CMA, banks would have to submit information securely using APIs, in measures that also call for a maximum cap on monthly fees for unarranged overdrafts.

“We want customers to be able to access new and innovative apps, which will tailor services, information and advice to their individual needs,” said Alasdair Smith, chairman of the recently concluded investigation into retail banking. “The reforms we have announced today will shake up retail banking for years to come.”

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Those shelling out for Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 7 will be treated to a “Game Pack” bundle of mobile goodies, including several that will make use of the phone’s support for Vulkan API, software that promises to soup up your game’s graphics and playing performance.

Visually intense slasher Hit is one of those Game Pack titles — another is Need for Speed No Limits. Both support the Vulkan API, an emerging gaming technology that Samsung earlier this year baked into its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones, and yesterday confirmed is also present on its new Note 7 mobile.

Developed by a consortium called Khronos Group, Vulkan offers an updated way for games to to crunch information — one that’s more adept at dealing with the multiple cores offered on most mobile processors, and ultimately spits out better looking games. That concept of digging deeper into what modern phone chips can offer is a similar tack to that taken by Apple, which two years ago debuted Metal, the company’s own-brand graphical standard.

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The Vulkan API isn’t unique to Samsung phones, although the South Korean phone-maker has been perhaps the technology’s biggest cheerleader so far. Earlier this year at Google’s developer conference, the search giant confirmed it would be making Vulkan support a feature of Andr​oid Nougat, the next version of its mobile software. The API can also be found on SteamOS, which is the operating system made by PC gaming bigwigs Valve. That cross-platform prowess could prove to be one of Vulkan’s potential superpowers — it may make it easier for developers to bring games developed on non-phone platforms to Vulkan-capable mobiles.

The Vulkan API is a long way from changing the face of gaming, but with mobile hardware getting more powerful all the time, the gaming industry will be looking for the tools to exploit that tech to the fullest. Stay tuned, gamers.

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In a month’s time you’ll need a TV licence to watch iPlayer, as the BBC prepares to lock down a legal loophole that let Brits watch catch-up programming for free.

From 1 September, anyone watching iPlayer will need to have paid the £145.50 annual licence fee, the BBC reports. Previously a legal loophole meant that only live TV on iPlayer required a licence, meaning if you didn’t own a television and only watched catch-up, you could get away with not paying.

The government confirmed its plans to change that back in March. “The BBC works on the basis that all who watch it pay for it,” said then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, who has since been sacked by new Prime Minister Theresa May.

You can pay for a licence fee online, although those who already have a license fee don’t need to do anything. The licence fee largely goes towards covering the costs of the BBC (and is the reason BBC TV and radio in the UK don’t feature adverts). If you’re curious where the money goes, you can see a breakdown of how the BBC spent its licence fee cash between April 2013 and March 2014 here.

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