Anyone whose commute involves a toll road will attest to the convenience of EZ tags that let your car whip through the toll areas without stopping—or in some places, even slowing down. Garmin and the Chinese company Watchdata Technologies, in conjunction with EZ-Link, have come to the rescue of the footsore in Singapore by adding am NFC chip to their fitness trackers. The … [Read more...]
The e-Skinny on Xenoma’s Smart Shirt
Tokyo-based Xenoma has incorporated its Printed Circuit Fabric into e-skin shirts that can track movement and gestures—bending, twisting, stretching—analyze your breathing and remind you to sit up straight. It also has possibility as a game and AR controller. All this, and it’s machine washable. The shirt’s fabric has flexible wires and sensors hidden in it and the company … [Read more...]
Watch Sales Are Great, Apple Says, Without Showing Proof
Apple reported record sales and earnings earlier this week, having sold 78 million iPhones in the last quarter alone and saying it has something like a quarter trillion d0llars in the bank. The company bragged that the Apple watch set unit and revenue records over the holiday season -- but continued to be shy about just what those records might be. Apple reports watch sales … [Read more...]
LG’s New Android Wear 2.0 Watches Are Rumored
We're starting to see detailed reports about the imminence of the next generation of Android Wear watches. Android Police and TechnoBuffalo are running sneak photos of two versions of the LG Watch Style. (Seriously, can some smart branding person please whack LG upside the head?) There are two versions being tipped: a standard Android Wear 2.0 watch at $249, and an LTE … [Read more...]
Fitbit’s 4Q Disappoints, Lays Off 6 Pct of Workers
If there was any doubt that 2016 was a bad year in the wristwear business, look no further than the 4th quarter results that Fitbit announced today. The company -- widely counted as the leader in the consumer wearables market -- had told stock analysts that it would sell about $725 million worth of trackers in the quarter; the actual number was about $580 million. Rather … [Read more...]
Change Your Address Book: APX Labs Becomes Upskill
APX Labs was one of the first companies into the enterprise wearables market with its Skylight AR middleware. After more than six years in business, the company is changing its name. From here on out, call it Upskill. The idea, CEO Brian Ballard said in an email and blog post, is that industrial augmented reality enhances a worker's skill, helping them perform complex tasks … [Read more...]
Is a Fitbit Smartwatch Coming? Sure Looks Like It: CES
There was nothing explicit about Ftbit's plans at CES, but the dots were there to connect. Fitbit CEO James Park told The Verge at the conference that his company was building an app store, like the one for Pebble, the assets of which Fitbit bought a month earlier. The thing about Fitbit's product line is that there's no product for apps to run on, so Park's comment was … [Read more...]
Osterhout Shows New Enterprise and Consumer AR Visors: CES
When an enterprise company takes funding from 21st Century Fox, it seems inevitable that they're going to produce a consumer product. That's what Osterhout Design Group (ODG) announced at CES 2017. ODG is best known for making heads-up displays for things like fighter jets, and its polished R-7 visor has been a player in the enterprise augmented reality market. Today, ODG … [Read more...]
Lenovo Intros New Glass C200 Enterprise AR Visor: CES
Lenovo, best known for laptop and desktop computers and the owner of the Motorola brand, popped a surprise at CES 2017: an enterprise-class monocular visor it's calling the New Glass C200. The lightweight (60-gram) visor connects to a pocket unit, which is driven by software on a smartphone. Lenovo says the pocket unit connects to the visor with over LTE, but photos provided … [Read more...]
Bodytrak “Hearable” Tracks Temp as Well As Movement: CES
Ear-worn tracking devices are becoming increasingly common. At CES, Bodytrak unveiled the first one that not only senses movement and heart rate, but real-time body temperature as well. It's quite a sensor package (much of it using Valencell hardware): core body temp, heart-rate, Vo2, speed, distance, cadence, as well as retaining audio capabilities. The data is sent via … [Read more...]