The New York Times has a story about an exhibition of "digital clothing" at the Pratt Institute, a prestigious design college not at all far from WTI's world headquarters in Brooklyn. Billie Whitehouse is (perhaps inevitably) represented by a blazer with haptic feedback and some oddities including a bra with LEDs that indicate -- well, it's not really clear what. As with … [Read more...]
UnderArmour Buys MyFitnessPal and Endomondo, Adding to Digital Health Portfolio
UnderArmour, the Baltimore-based company best known for athletic wear, is sweeping up the athletic community. It announced today that it's bought MyFitnessPal and Endomondo, adding about 100 million registered users to its existing base of MapMyFitness and UA Record users. The company says it now has 120 million registered users of fitness apps. Endomondo, which has most of … [Read more...]
Pebble Teases a Pivot
Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky gave an exclusive interview to The Verge, in which he said that his company has sold 1,000,000 watches, and that 2015 will bring new products and a new software platform. Pebble's in a pretty difficult spot. It more or less pioneered the notification device use case for wearables, and but saw Google wield its sharp elbows in the market with Android … [Read more...]
Could Lottery-Style Rewards Be The Key to Wearables Success?
We're just catching up with an interesting article about wearables in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Doctors Mitesh S. Patel, David A. Asch, and Kevin G. Volpp, all of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, suggest that "concepts from behavioral economics" might be key to getting people to continue involvement with their wearable tech for longer than the current … [Read more...]
Fortune Magazine Takes a Tough Look at Jawbone
Fortune Magazine has a well-reported and cold-eyed look at Jawbone, maker of (among other things) the upcoming UP3 fitness band. It describes the company as a 16-year-old startup that skates from one rapidly commoditized success to another -- Bluetooth headsets, wireless speakers, and now fitness bands. The picture it paints is of an innovative company that hasn't quite figured … [Read more...]
Google to Halt Sales of Glass, But Don’t Write the Obits Yet
Google says it will stop taking orders for its iconic Google Glass next week, and is closing its "Explorer" software dev program. The BBC reports that Google says responsibility for the project is being moved out of the Google X division and into the consumer products division (with Nest) under Tony Fadell. At first glance, this might look like the welcome end of Google … [Read more...]
Little-known Sarvint Sues Tech Clothing Industry for Patent Infringement
A small and little-known Atlanta company is suing leaders in the technology clothing business for patent infringement, claiming that those companies have fallen afoul of exclusive licenses granted by Georgia Tech. Sarvint on Friday filed suit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta against Adidas North America, Victoria's Secret Stores, Ralph Lauren Corporation, Athos Works and … [Read more...]
CES Day 2: LG/Audi Smartwatch Reportedly to Run WebOS
Remember how we said a couple of days ago that Tizen and WebOS were the thin edge of the wedge that would attack Android in the home? Reports started circulating at CES that LG -- home of the WebOS TV -- was working on a WebOS smartwatch that would control some Audi cars. Android Central has clear images of a WebOS smartwatch prototype with Audi markings. The site says it … [Read more...]
CES Day 2: Accenture Survey Says Wearables Are Too Hard to Set Up and Use
Every year, the management consultancy Accenture surveyed about 24,000 people around the world about the state of consumer electronics. We sat down today (a blessing in itself at CES) with John Curran, a managing director with Accenture's Communications, Media and Technology Group, to go over some of the survey's more provocative findings about intelligent devices. Curran … [Read more...]
CES Day 0: Is Android in Trouble at Home? (Updated)
Monday was Press Day at CES: the day that most companies spend setting up their booths and the big boys corral the press at a hotel miles away from the show floors. Press Day is when companies like Samsung, LG and Sony sum up their successes, bury their mistakes, and set their agendas for the year ahead. Wearables, for companies like that, are barely rounding error. As sexy … [Read more...]