Buzzfeed has noticed that Apple's put out some job postings for people who know about biosensors and non-invasive measurements. Does that mean Apple is planning new products in the healthcare market? Yes. No. Maybe. (Pick one.) CEO Tim Cook told the Telegraph late last year that he doesn't want the Apple Watch to get so sophisticated that it draws the attention of the FDA … [Read more...]
Security and Price Hold Back the Wearables Market, Accenture Says
Every year around CES, Accenture releases a big global consumer survey about the consumer electronics market, asking about things like purchase intent. (We've written about it in years past.) If you're in the consumer wearables business, they say, 2016 may be a bumpy ride. John Curran, the managing director of Accenture's Communications, Media and Technology group, briefed … [Read more...]
Kopin Debuts Jaw-Dropping Noise Cancellation Technology: CES
If you know Kopin Corporation at all, you probably know them as a display technology company. At CES today, it demonstrated a noise cancellation chip with stunning performance. The Whisper Chip is a 4mm x 4 mm chip that draws 10mW and replaces a CODEC; it's agnostic to operating system, supports up to four mics and doesn't require a digital-to-analog converter. It would sit … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2016
We posted earlier today our outlooks on what's going to happen in the wearables industry in the year ahead. For the purposes of consolidation and ease of reading, here are those links: Wearables in 2016: On the Wrist. We predict segmentation and IoT integration. Wearables in 2016: On the Face. We predict rapid adoption by industry and enterprises. Wearables in 2016: … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2016, Part 3: Consolidation Looms
Investors like exits because exits are where they make their money. When a VC drops $5 million into a company, it wants to know that it'll get double, triple, or 10 times that money back, preferably on the sooner side of never. 2015 was the year that funders started to see exits; 2016 will be the year that they'll start to insist on it. Fitbit, of course was the biggest … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2016, Part 2: On the Face
There is no surer bet in 2016 than on the success of face-worn wearable tech, and there is nothing more certain than that it will be primarily in places where most people will never see it. The past year brought an explosion of trials and test runs of visors in industry: warehouses, field service, construction, aerospace, medical. 2016 is the year that tests become actual … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2016, Part 1: On the Wrist
Weather forecasters know that the surest bet is to predict tomorrow; in most cases, it's going to be more or less like today with a few things changing. Only in rare cases will today be snowing but tomorrow be in the 70s. The further out you go, the more likely things will be different. But tomorrow? A lot like today. Technology forecasters know that what you predict for … [Read more...]
VERT: Pro Wearable Game Tech that Includes Fans
There’s been a lot of news this year about wearables and professional sports but the data mostly enlightens coaches and players, leaving fans out of the loop. VERT took that next step, becoming the first wearable tech useds, providing jump height data in the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship games in real-time on ESPN2. VERT is worn around a player’s waist and … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2015: Top Six Stories of the Year
We wrote last week about the most trafficked posts of the year. But these are what we believe to be the most important things that happened last year -- whether they were in a single post or represented an ongoing trend. These are what Wearable Tech Insider believes were the biggest stories of 2015. 1. Fitbit goes public. For all the hype, investment, and noise around … [Read more...]
Kapture Records The Sounds Around You
Do you go through your day thinking, “Wait! What just happened”? Want to preserve baby’s unexpected first word? Something amazing your friend just said? Something you overheard a stranger saying? Take a look at Kapture, a wristband that continuously records your audible world in 60-second loops. A tap on the band and the last loop is saved. Send it to your smartphone and, … [Read more...]