Once upon a time, Intel wanted to establish itself as the go-to chipmaker for wearables. What's more, the company bought the pioneering fitness band company Basis -- its first consumer-facing business in a very long time. Now comes word that Intel has finally and officially killed its wearables business. In truth, it was a long time coming. Intel rarely talks about internal … [Read more...]
Intel Pulls Plug on Basis Fitness Tracker; Will Shut Down Hub at Year End
Intel appears to have thrown in the towel on its Basis fitness trackers, telling all users to send them back and saying it will turn off the server they need at the end of 2016. Basis was an early and fairly successful wearables startup, with a wrist device that was one of the first dedicated to serious athletes. Intel, which had never been in a consumer-facing business … [Read more...]
APX Labs’s Skylight AR Software Now Runs on Recon Jet Displays
APX Labs and Recon Instruments are announcing that Skylight, APX's popular software platform for enterprise applications, is now available for Recon Jet's smart eyewear. The announcement continues APX's strategy of running on as many hardware platforms as possible; Recon -- now part of Intel -- has been focused on sports-related applications: cycling, boating, skiing. But … [Read more...]
Control Your GoPro With Your Ski Goggles
We're told that the snow is starting to fly (here at WTI's nerve center in Brooklyn, it's been 50 degrees in December, so we'll take people's word for that), and that means people's thoughts are turning to skiing and ski gear. Recon Instruments, the Intel company that makes heads-up displays for ski goggles, has a new app that lets you control your GoPro Hero camera -- … [Read more...]
Intel Acquires Recon Instruments
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...]
12 Million Augmented Reality Glasses Will Ship by 2020, Says Tractica
The market research firm Tractica estimates that 12 million units of "smart augmented reality glasses" will ship in the next five years. The company counts everything from Google Glass to Oculus Rift and Magic Leap, so they don't seem to be making much of a distinction based on use case. Nonetheless, Tractica estimates that 114,000 units of AR glasses will ship this year, … [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...]
Afterguard Uses Recon Display for Yacht Racing
Not being besties with Larry Ellison, we at Wearable Tech Insider don't claim to be the world's living experts on big-dollar yachting. But it's worth noting that Afterguard has a new yachting HUD based on Recon Instruments technology. Where ski goggles that use Recon displays put the display inside the glass, Afterguard's puts it outside. It's not unlike Google Glass, … [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...]