Intel continues its sweep into the consumer wearables market, acquiring Recon Instruments for a reported $175 million. Recon is big in the sports segment of the augmented reality market, making the tech guts of an Oakley ski visor, as well as its own Snow2 and Jet glasses and the Engage smartphone app. Intel was an investor in Recon through its Intel Capital wing, and … [Read more...]
Oakley Revs Airwave Goggle, Adds Garmin Camera Interface
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...]
Oakley, Ray-Ban to Sell Google Glass-based Eyewear
Finally, there's a sign that Google really and truly wants to turn Glass into an actual business. The search giant has signed a deal with Luxottica, one of the world's biggest eyewear companies, to develop and sell Glass-based eyewear. It's possible that you've never heard of Luxottica, but you know its brands. Luxottica, an Italian company, numbers among its many luxury and … [Read more...]
Oakley’s Just Getting Started in Wearables
There's a solid adrenaline-soaked profile of Oakley's efforts in the wearables space written up in Stuff magazine's website. Execs brag that the Airwave HUD goggle is just the start of what they're planning (and not really the start either: Oakley says it started with wearables in 2004 with its Thump MP3 glasses frame). On the one hand, the Airwave is just a good Oakley … [Read more...]
Recon CEO on Bloomberg
Dan Eisenhart, CEO of Recon, which makes video inserts for ski goggles, gave an interview to Bloomberg News the other day. He talks about the social aspects of Glass (isn't everybody?) and wearable tech in general. He says he's sold 50,000 units at $350. Not bad. (We understand that the video below isn't rendering for everyone because of Bloomberg's video supplier. We're … [Read more...]
Heads-up Ski Display from Recon
Frequent readers will recall the Oakley ski goggles from last month. Turns out you can buy the technology without the goggle -- and put it into the goggle of your choice. Recon Instruments sells the Snow2 Android-based insert. Onboard sensors measure your speed descent, distance, and so on; it'll interface with heart monitors and cameras, and allow Bluetooth 4.0 connections … [Read more...]
Oakley HUD Ski Goggles
Here's a disaster waiting to happen, but I can't wait to be first in line to have it happen to me. Oakley, the performance eyewear company owned by Luxxotica, has announced the Airwave 1.5 Goggle, a set of ski goggles with WiFi,GPS, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, Facebook integration, and a heads-up display. It connects with your phone, so you can listen to your music and get … [Read more...]