The Wall Street Journal is out with the first review we've seen of the Fitbit Blaze, and it's pretty meh. Reviewer Joanna Stern said the Blaze, a full-face fitness watch announced last month at CES, is kind of big, kind of ugly, and kind of expensive for what it delivers. Its fitness functions are still better than anyone else's, she said, but not enough better to move her … [Read more...]
Runkeeper Bought by Shoemaker ASICS
Adidas has Runtastic, Under Armour has MyFitnessPal and Endomondo. The consolidation in the wearables market continues with the Japanese shoe giant ASICS acquiring Runkeeper. The smartphone app was sold late last week; pricing was not disclosed. Runkeeper, with 40 million users, was the last big independent running app, and ASICS was the last big running shoe maker … [Read more...]
In the Same Vein: New Recognition Technology from Samsung
Fingerprint and iris scanners might soon be old hat in the recognition game. Samsung’s recently published patent “Wearable Device and of Operating the Same” is for a wearable device that can identify a user by an image of her veins. The device takes a picture of your veins via a camera/infrared combination and compares it to a stored image. If they match, the device could be … [Read more...]
Wearable Coffee to Go
You know those jokes about taking your coffee by IV? Maybe they're not quite so far-fetched anymore. Joule is a bracelet with a time-release patch on its underside that releases a cup of coffee’s worth of caffeine over four hours. It's important to note: this is an Indiegogo project, so not only isn't it available yet, it doesn't really exist in the way that most of us … [Read more...]
Apple Watch App Keeps Drivers Awake at the Wheel
Falling asleep at the wheel and driving drowsy are major issues for the transportation industry, and a couple of companies are looking to wearables to alleviate the problem. One, which we've written about, is the SmartCap monitoring system, developed in Australia. Another is an app for the Apple Watch being developed by PeopleNet, a company specializing in fleet management … [Read more...]
Bluboo Xwatch: High Tech, Low Price, Non-Existence?
The Bluboo Xwatch from China is mighty full of possibility. It might run Android Wear. It might cost less than $100. It might look like the picture on Bluboo’s blog. It might be available this month. Then again, maybe not; reliable details are a little hard to get. The possible specs include a 1.2GHz processor with 4GB of storage and a 1.3-inch, 360x360 pixel display. It … [Read more...]
Myo Armband: Armed and Ready for Prosthetics
Thalmic Labs’s Myo Armband, which lets you control various devices by gesture, has been recognized from the beginning as a device with great potential. There are now apps to control electronic devices and services such as drones, Netflix, iTunes, keyboards, computer screens, and menus by hand and arm gestures. It’s not quite full Internet access by gesture and VR that Keanu … [Read more...]
Fitbit Introduces a More-Stylish Alta Fitness Tracker
It seems like just last month that Fitbit introduced a new tracker (wait -- it was just last month), but the company is back with another one -- less functional but easier on the eyes. The Alta is a significant and very intentional departure from the previous Fitbit look, reminding us more of a Garmin Vivosmart or a Microsoft Band than anything that Fitbit has sold before. … [Read more...]
Mattel Snaps Up Sproutling
In the latest sign of consolidation in the wearables market, Mattel, the toy giant that's home to Barbie and Hot Wheels, has bought Sproutling, the wearable baby monitor company. Sproutling makes an ankle bracelet that tracks a baby's heart rate, skin temperature, motion, and position; it works with a camera, base station and app. Price was not announced, but the Silicon … [Read more...]
NPD Says Fitbit Dominates the Fitness Tracker Market
Fitbit sells 8 out of every 10 fitness trackers, the market research company NPD says. By the end of 2015, nearly 33 million trackers had been sold in the United States, compared to 13 million smartwatches -- a figure that might come as a disappointment to the industry analysts who had been predicting global Apple Watch sales of 21 million last year. However, consumers … [Read more...]