Long-time readers know Sensoria, which pioneered weaving sensors into athletic socks. The company is announcing at CES a deal with Vivobarefoot, which calls itself "the leading global producer of barefoot shoes," to build the technology into those shoes. (Note that Vivobarefoot does not make those geeky five-toed running shoes that were all the rage a couple of years ago. … [Read more...]
About Dan Rosenbaum
New Wearable Tracks Pregnancy Contractions: CES
We spent some time on the phone in the weeks before CES with Eric Dy, CEO of Bloomlife, a new company with a wearable monitor that tracks uterine contractions during pregnancy. It's an interesting product and approach, one that's being unveiled at CES. Contractions can be an important indicator of fetal health but are often subtle things and can be missed. There are existing … [Read more...]
Osterhout Shows New Enterprise and Consumer AR Visors: CES
When an enterprise company takes funding from 21st Century Fox, it seems inevitable that they're going to produce a consumer product. That's what Osterhout Design Group (ODG) announced at CES 2017. ODG is best known for making heads-up displays for things like fighter jets, and its polished R-7 visor has been a player in the enterprise augmented reality market. Today, ODG … [Read more...]
K’Track Wristwear Monitors Glucose Without Blood Stick: CES
2017 will bring a flood of health-related wearables that should be able to live up to their claims, and PKvitality's is among the first out of the gate. Its K'Track line of wrist-worn trackers uses microneedles to "taste" fluid just below the skin's surface and analyze it for glucose or lactic acid. The K'Track Glucose and K'Track Athlete use the same mechanism: a capsule of … [Read more...]
Lenovo Intros New Glass C200 Enterprise AR Visor: CES
Lenovo, best known for laptop and desktop computers and the owner of the Motorola brand, popped a surprise at CES 2017: an enterprise-class monocular visor it's calling the New Glass C200. The lightweight (60-gram) visor connects to a pocket unit, which is driven by software on a smartphone. Lenovo says the pocket unit connects to the visor with over LTE, but photos provided … [Read more...]
Bodytrak “Hearable” Tracks Temp as Well As Movement: CES
Ear-worn tracking devices are becoming increasingly common. At CES, Bodytrak unveiled the first one that not only senses movement and heart rate, but real-time body temperature as well. It's quite a sensor package (much of it using Valencell hardware): core body temp, heart-rate, Vo2, speed, distance, cadence, as well as retaining audio capabilities. The data is sent via … [Read more...]
Qualcomm Life and UnitedHealthcare Extend Their Wellness Partnership: CES
Last year, Qualcomm and UnitedHealthcare started a pilot program in 12 states to pay people to stay active. This year, the companies say, they are extending it to 40 states and broadening the number of fitness trackers the program works with. Under the UnitedHealthcare Motion program, employees can earn up to $4 per day if they meet distance, intensity, and frequency goals … [Read more...]
Motiv Introduces Activity Tracking Ring: CES
The wrist has become the most common place to put activity trackers, but it's not the only place. The start-up Motiv has unveiled the Motiv Ring: a simple device that tracks your activity and heart rate with a simple band around your finger. Motiv is hardly the first company to sell a connected ring, but one thing that separates it is the product's discipline. It's not a … [Read more...]
The Year Ahead: Wearables in 2017
If you read the consumer tech press or the general interest press, you may have come to the conclusion that Wearables are Over. 2017 will put the lie to that. It's true that last year was challenging, and it's clear that the wristband part of the industry has consolidated and stratified. But what we expect to happen in 2017 has very little to do with form factor and a great … [Read more...]
CT Band Adds Smarts to Dumb Watches: CES
The idea of adding a sensor pack to regular watches is not new. Nor is the idea of expanding regular watch functions with a smart band quite new. But the French startup RIFFT has what appears to be a particularly smart approach, and they're unveiling it at CES. The CT Band comes in seven colors of leather (stitched or unstitched) and 11 colors of silicone. There are three … [Read more...]