Gadget Report

Texans aren't so thrilled about new Apple Watch if you believe Twitter

With the highly-anticipated Apple Watch launching just over a week ago, it seems that the gadget is receiving mixed reviews from both consumers and potential ones, especially in Texas.

A study from data mining website CrowdFlower found that just 37 percent of Texas consumers and potential consumers "love the new gadget," falling well below the national average of 55 percent.

The site analyzed more than 30,000 individual tweets about the Apple Watch since its launch on April 24 to conduct the study.

Apple's home state of California tweeted about the new watch more frequently than any other in the country and residents also had the most positive opinions, with 59 percent of residents pleased by the gadget.

The site analyzed more than 30,000 individual tweets about the Apple Watch since its launch on April 24 to conduct the study.

Among other findings: Women are more excited about the watch than men, with 64 percent of women expressing positive feelings toward the gadget and only 53 percent of men giving an overall approval rating. These percentages have dropped since the watch was first announced, when almost 74 percent of women and over 56 percent of men were excited and intended to purchase it.

Those who expressed negative feelings about the features of the Apple Watch most often cited app bugs (22 percent of the time), technical performance (15 percent) and overall design (14 percent).

One of the problems that has garnered significant media attention is the fact that some wrist tattoos interfere with the watch's functioning, specifically with monitoring heart rate. Following numerous reports from users experiencing problems with the new gadget, Apple updated their support page for the watch with a statement:

Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.

Apple says the easiest way to fix the problem is to use an external Bluetooth monitor worn on the chest to track heart rate.

The watch ranges from $349 for the Sport model to $12,000 for a gold-plated model.

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Anchors away

Texas tech company floats plan to build futuristic Gulf Coast shipyard

Rendering courtesy of Saronic

The shipyard of the future could be coming to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Armed with $600 million in fresh funding, Austin-based Saronic Technologies has set its sights on building a shipyard for producing remotely operated military vessels — and the futuristic shipyard could be located along the Texas Gulf Coast.

The shipyard, dubbed Port Alpha, would manufacture unstaffed midsize and large Navy ships known as “maritime drones.” Defense Newsreported that Texas — with the Gulf Coast being a prime target — is among the places under consideration for the shipyard. A timeline for construction of the shipyard hasn’t been set, and a cost estimate for the project hasn’t been revealed.

“A core principle of Saronic is that we design our vessels for autonomy from the keel up,” Saronic co-founder and CEO Dino Mavrookas, a former Navy SEAL, says in a news release. “We will take the same approach with Port Alpha, designing a shipyard from the ground up to produce at a speed and scale not seen since World War II.”

Saronic says Port Alpha would boost the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which is practically nonexistent. Consulting giant McKinsey & Co. reported in 2024 that the U.S. has gone from building about 5 percent of the world’s ocean-going ships in the 1970s to about 0.2 percent today. China, Japan, and South Korea now dominate global shipbuilding.

“The last years have seen a degradation in the capacity for the United States to build ships and to manufacture core needs of the country. I am excited to back Saronic and its focus on revitalizing shipbuilding in America, while also building products to defend those interests,” says investor and tech entrepreneur Elad Gil, who led the $600 million funding round.

The $600 million round, announced February 18, pushes the value of Saronic to $4 billion. Investors in Saronic, founded in 2022, include Gil, General Catalyst, a16z, Caffeinated Capital, and 8VC.

Last year, Saronic raised $175 million from investors, lifting the company’s value to $1 billion. In 2023, the startup collected $55 million from investors.

In the past three years, Saronic has focused on manufacturing three small remotely controlled vessels, or “maritime drones,” for the Navy: the six-foot-long Spyglass, 14-foot-long Cutlass, and 24-foot-long Corsair. Port Alpha would specialize in much bigger remotely controlled ships for the Navy. The Navy has expressed interest in assembling a modern fleet that combines staffed and unstaffed vessels.

Saronic’s nearly 420,000-square-foot factory in Austin manufactures the Spyglass, Cutlass and Corsair boats.

“The velocity and economics of warfare have fundamentally evolved, and several of our own team have witnessed firsthand how unmanned systems became true force multipliers in Afghanistan and in other theaters of conflict,” says Paul Kwan, managing director of General Catalyst.

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