For what may be the first time, fitness data from a Fitbit appears to be part of a personal injury case being filed in Calgary, Canada. Forbes has the story. The article doesn't say outright that the evidence collected by the Fitbit will be admitted. Plaintiff attorneys in a personal injury case are hoping to use the data to demonstrate that their client is far less active … [Read more...]
Are Glass’s Best Days Behind It?
Reuters noticed late last week that all is not well in the world of Google Glass. Google CEO Sergey Brin recently walked into a high-profile event barefaced, they note. Glass is available on eBay for cheap and the project seems to resolutely to be resisting commercial release despite high-powered commercial partners. Seemingly released by the Reuters piece, bloggers spent the … [Read more...]
Samsung Expands Simband and SAMI Reference Platform
https://vimeo.com/96151557 Back a few months ago, Samsung showed a reference design for wristware called the Simband. Not meant to be a product, the sensor-laden Simband was released to a limited set of developers to see what they would do with it. Today, at a big developers' conference in San Francisco, Samsung expanded the program, allowing new developers to enter the … [Read more...]
Qardio ECG Monitor Wins CES Innovations Award
We like Qardio's blood pressure monitor, a cuff that connects with your phone via Bluetooth and tracks your pressure over time (and location -- a new addition to its app). In particular, the ability to share your results with doctors is exactly where consumer health tech ought to be moving. Today, Qardio announced that its new QardioCore ECG monitor won CES 2015 Innovation … [Read more...]
CubeSensors Help Make Sense of Sleep Data
There's a difference between "data" and "knowledge." Knowing you walked 8,254 steps on Tuesday is data. Without context, however, it's just a number. How can you make that number relevant? How does that relate to any other Tuesday? Did you have meetings outside the office or were you chained to your desk? What was the weather? Did you go out Monday night? and so … [Read more...]
Smartwatch Pricing Tier Emerges As Withings Sets $450 Price for Activé Watch
It looks like smartwatches that put a premium on appearance are settling around a pricing neighborhood: $400 to $500. Withings has started taking pre-orders for its Activé watch -- an attractive timepiece that subtly measures your progress to a daily movement goal -- and pegged the price at $450. That's the same neighborhood as the Michael Bastian / HP watch, and in the low … [Read more...]
Wearables Market Up 40% Year-Over-Year, says Futuresource
The research house Futuresource has released its latest numbers on the wearables market, and they're starting to get interesting. The top-line result is that global shipments totaled 12.7 million units in 3Q14, up 40 percent from the same period in 2013. But what caught our eye was the analysis that the market is breaking down into clear segments with different leaders and … [Read more...]
Fewer than 10M Smart Glasses/Year to Ship by 2017, Juniper Says
Juniper Research is one of the more active research shops in the wearables market, and it's released a report that says that smart glasses aren't taking off the way their adherents thought they would. Google Glass, of course, was the bellwether of the wearable revolution, but never reached the critical mass that its early adopters seemed to think it would. Juniper's report … [Read more...]
Nixie Wearable Quadcopter Wins Intel “Make It Wearable” Challenge
Nixie, designers of a wrist-worn quadcopter, has won Intel's "Make it Wearable" Challenge, pulling down $500,000. Five hundred teams applied for the challenge. They were winnowed down to 10 in the "developer" track and 10 in the "visionary" track, the prize for which was awarded in April. Second prize was won by Open Bionics, a British entrant that designs low-cost bionic … [Read more...]
MPAA Bans Wearables in Movie Theaters
The trade associations of US movie studios and theaters have announced a ban on wearable technologies. No, they're not coming for your Fitbit (although do you have any idea how bad that popcorn is for you?). It's Google Glass they're more worried about. If you get caught recording a movie with your wearable, the new policy statement says there's now "zero tolerance": you'll … [Read more...]