One of our favorite bits of wearables is the Airwave goggle from Oakley -- basically an already high-end ski goggle with a heads-up display from Recon inserted in the right lens. Oakley tells us today that there's an upgrade for this year: the ability to control a Garmin VIRB Elite action camera through the Airwave's glove interface. You also can apparently monitor the … [Read more...]
CNET Gets Hands-On with Fitbit Charge; Two Other Products Won’t Ship Until 2015
Details about the Fitbit Charge fitness tracker have been oozing out over the last couple of weeks. CNet briefly got its hands on one, along with word that the Charge HR (with heart monitor) and the Surge running watch won't come out until next year. The Charge is more or less a replacement for the ill-fated Force, which suffered from a hard-to-secure clasp that caused … [Read more...]
Android Wear Update Adds Untethered Music and GPS
For the record, Google has unveiled a new revision of Android Wear. This version ties its users closer than ever to the Google ecosystem, giving them direct access to their cloud-based Google Play music libraries, without the need for a smartphone. (You need offline playing, also part of the update, turned on.) Also, the new rev supports GPS on Wear devices, for functions like … [Read more...]
Why the Puls Is Impressive: An Analysis
In the normal course of business, most product launches are one-day stories. Two days, tops, if they're really big and they're not from Apple or (sometimes) Google. In truth, that's fine; it's the rare product that deserves more. Will.i.am's Puls wristware deserves more, because the thinking behind it is so uncommon. First of all, the Puls cuff is unapologetically … [Read more...]
Forbes Says Microsoft Will Ship a Wristband This Year
Microsoft, by some measures, was the first company to sell a piece of wearable technology: the Data Link watch, developed with Timex, and first put on sale in 1994. Twenty years later, Forbes reports, the company is ready to ship another. The report is strikingly short on details, but does say that the device will be a smartwatch with a heart-rate monitor, will work with … [Read more...]
Details Leak on Fitbit Surge, a $250 Sports Tracker
We wrote last week about the Fitbit Charge line, a pair of fitness trackers that more or less fill the space left by the recall of the Force earlier this year. The Verge is now reporting about the Fitbit Surge, a (comparatively) high-ticket sports watch that includes GPS and goes more directly against products from Basis and Polar. According to marketing materials sent to … [Read more...]
Apple Announces Watch SDK for November
If you want people to develop for your hardware, you'd better have an SDK. Buried inside today's announcements from Apple was word that the company will publish its WatchKit SDK for developers next month. There's still no definite word about a ship date for the Watch, other than "Early 2015." But by inviting the masses for develop for it, Apple is allowing outsiders to beat … [Read more...]
Lumo Updates Its Body App
The Lumo Lift, a posture monitor and coach, has updated its companion iOS app so you can now see how your posture has improved over time (or not). The Lift, a small device with a magnetic clasp, attaches to your clothes and keeps track of the wearer's stance and posture, and will vibrate to remind you to sit straight and stand tall. The new app, version 1.4, lets you … [Read more...]
More on will.i.am Puls Cuff Announcement
The Puls, introduced at Dreamforce, looks like a nice chunk of tech. The Puls is not a tethered device. Unlike nearly any other wristware, it has its own SIM card, with service provided by AT&T in the US and O2 in the United Kingdom. The thing itself looks to be about 1 2/3 inches wide with a curved passive matrix OLED touchscreen of 180x280 pixels. The black band closes … [Read more...]
will.i.am Intros the Puls Wearable
For an enterprise-oriented show, there sure has been a ton of buzz over what kind of wearable the singer will.i.am will introduce -- and why it's coming out at Dreamforce. The product is called the Puls. It's a cuff-style wristband with a very cool curved screen. Pictures from the initial handout are a little hard to distinguish, but it appears to use a touch screen of some … [Read more...]