A survey of runners at the online community Athlete IQ found that peer and expert recommendations were the most important factors in deciding which wearable tech to get -- and that functionality far outtrumped price. The site asked 732 marathoners, triathletes, and steeplechasers about what tech they used and why. About 84 percent said functionality was the most important … [Read more...]
Oral Roberts Students Are Required to Wear Fitbits
Oral Roberts University has long had a fitness requirement for first-year students but a written activity log sufficed until this academic year. Now, all 900 incoming freshmen have to wear Fitbit trackers (which they have to buy) and share the data with the school. The Tulsa World newspaper (Oral Roberts is in Tulsa, OK) reports that professors had previously been required … [Read more...]
Volvo and Microsoft Band Together
The Microsoft Band 2 received generally positive reviews when it first appeared as an efficient way to keep track of your health, email, workouts, and golf game. Now, thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and Volvo, it’s coming to your car. If you have a Volvo. And a Band 2 Those of you who currently fall into the small intersection of Volvo and Band owners will be … [Read more...]
Tech Takes on the Test Audience with “Revenant”
Over the years, Hollywood hype pushers have called movies riveting, thrilling, gripping, insert-your-own -ing here. Now the hypesters have some technology to back up their claims: 20th Century Fox recently used wearable tech wristbands on 100 audience members watching test screenings for the December 2015 release Revenant to gauge audience reaction. According to the … [Read more...]
Dr. Doolittle to Be Replaced by Technology
Anicall, a Japanese firm, has debuted an as yet unnamed pet translation device at the Wearable Expo in Tokyo. The collar, which will be available for both dogs and cats, analyzes 40 movements. Billed as something like a pet telepathy machine, it actually just tells your in-the-immediate-vicinity smartphone whether the pet is excited or happy, relaxed, wanting to play, or … [Read more...]
Apple Forecasts Sales Drop; Doesn’t Break out Watch Sales (Updated)
Apple reported its fourth quarter earnings today -- $18.4 billion net on sales of $75.9 billion -- but said it anticipated its first quarterly sales drop since 2003 in the first quarter of 2016. Overall sales and iPhone shipments fell short of predictions. For the record: the company didn't break out sales of the Apple Watch. [Update: $4.35 billion in "Other" sales … [Read more...]
Consumer Reports Validates Fitbit’s Heart Rate Tracker
The day Fitbit announced the Blaze tracker at CES, a class-action lawsuit harshed the company's buzz. (That, and an 18 percent drop in its stock price.) The claim was the heart rate monitor on the Fitbit Charge HR and Surge were inaccurate enough to cause harm. Fitbit pointed to its disclaimers, saying the monitor wasn't meant to be a medical device after all. Maybe Fitbit … [Read more...]
Juniper Says Fitness Trackers Will Outpace Smart Watches Until 2018
The well-respected Juniper Research is out with its latest wearables report -- this one estimating that fitness trackers will continue to be the largest category in wearables until people figure out a use case for smart watches. That will take, Juniper estimates, a couple of years. But it's in the fine print where Juniper's findings get interesting. In a white paper … [Read more...]
Doctors Develop Dissolving Brain Pressure Sensors
The Atlantic has a really interesting article about doctors in the Midwest working on pressure sensors that can be implanted in patients' brains, and which are absorbed by the body after they're no longer useful. From the article: It consists of a membrane made from PLGA, a polymer regularly used in medical devices, suspended in a frame of silicon and magnesium. The pressure … [Read more...]
Jawbone Raises $165 Million in a Down Round as President Heads Back to Google
If you still think that tech valuations will always grow the sky, you need to start paying attention. Troubled tracker/speaker/headset maker Jawbone just raised $165 million at a valuation about half its previous round. At the same time, the company confirmed that its president, Sameer Samat, was returning to Google. The new funding round valued the company at $1.5 billion. … [Read more...]