Fashionista has an entertaining slide show of out-there wearable tech that may not be all that out there. Leading the pack is the Tweeting Bra, a bra that sends a tweet whenever it's unhooked. It's not for teenagers' parents; at least that's not how it's pitched. The idea is to remind women to do a monthly breast self-exam. Why this requires a daily tweet is not clear. The … [Read more...]
Open Source Wristwear: the Angel
Hardware is expensive to develop; software is cheap. That's why the Angel sensor, an open source fitness band, has the potential for being extremely important. The Angel is raising money on Indiegogo, and (as of this writing) has raised more than $200,000 of its original $100,000 goal, with 9 days to go. So the thing is a hit. Or, at least, there'll be enough money to get … [Read more...]
Samsung Gear To Play Well With More Tablets
One of the biggest raps, among the many, against the Samsung Gear smartwatch is that it's an add-on device that would only work with one Samsung tablet. Samsung's now fixing that -- a little -- by expanding the roster of devices. When the Samsung Galaxy S4,S III and Note II get their updates to Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean), the company says they'll be able to work with the Gear. … [Read more...]
Intuit’s Pay-by-Glass Prototype
Mobile payments are a pretty obvious application for Google Glass, although the only app that's close to being in the real world just works with BitCoin, so its utility is somewhat limited. But Intuit, maker of Quicken and QuickBooks, is now sniffing around. Investor Business Times reports that Quicken has adopted its GoPayment app to work with Glass. There's an Intuit video … [Read more...]
Guardian Bluetooth Kid Tracker
The Taiwanese company Beluvv has an interesting spin on kid trackers with its Guardian product, due to ship next month for $30. Guardian is a disk that looks to be a couple of inches in diameter that you can clip or strap onto your kid. You can set a geofence around your location using a smartphone app, and the Guardian uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to alert you when the … [Read more...]
Rocket Scientist Builds High-Tech Halloween Costumes
It's the end of October, and what's a publication that can't figure out a holiday news peg, right? Here's a story about an honest-to-goodness rocket scientist who found himself with a booming business making Halloween costumes based on wearable technology. Mark Rober worked for the Jet Propulsion Lab on the Mars Curiosity Rover. Two years ago, he strapped a couple of iPads … [Read more...]
More Wearables from Austin
So, of course, as soon as we posted a piece about the Austin tech scene, we heard about another couple of startups worth mentioning down there: The Atlas wristband is a training tool that not only tracks your workout but can figure out what exercise you're doing: curls, squats, shoulder presses, and more. Because it tracks motion in three dimensions, the gear/software can … [Read more...]
Adidas Joins the Smartwatch Crowd
First Fitbit, then Nike. Now Adidas has announced its own smartwatch, the miCoach Smart Run. As its name implies, the Smart Run is aimed at runners, not a general fitness audience, so it competes more with products from Garmin or Basis than Fitbit or Nike. That would help explain its $399 price. The Smart Run includes a GPS tracker and a heart rate sensor (as well as a … [Read more...]
Nike & Fitbit Refresh Wristwear
Nike on Tuesday revealed the Fuelband SE, a refresh to the original Fuelband. They're taking orders now for release on November 6. From the looks of it, most of the changes are in software -- a slightly updated look, closer tracking of training and intense exercise intervals, and tweaks to the social aspects. The SE hardware now uses Bluetooth 4.0, to update the iOS app … [Read more...]
FILIP: Kids’ first smartphone
Kids are being raised with (by?) phones and pads. Kids, inevitably, want their own way before they're ready. As a parenting tool, they can be useful, as a way to stay in touch and monitor where the kids have gotten themselves to. But only a loon would hand a little kid an expensive phone and expect the phone to survive. FILIP is an interesting middle ground. It's a big … [Read more...]