One of the more interesting products we saw at CES earlier this year was the Fever Scout, a reusable soft wearable thermometer. We held off writing about it because it hadn't gotten FDA approval -- a deficit the company now says has been remedied. We generally like this category: TempTraq, a one-time use disposable thermometer patch was a big hit last year. But VivaLnk's … [Read more...]
Swatch’s Hayek Gets Smartwatch Religion, but Barely
Swatch CEO Nick Hayek is saying that the time giant is working on its own operating system, and expects to have something on the market next year. Cautious as it is, Hayek's comments late last week on the eve of the Baselworld watch show are his company's biggest step yet into the emerging market. Hayek's correct objection to the existing generation of smartwatch OSes -- … [Read more...]
Withings Brand to Vanish as Nokia Takes Over
As one of its lesser-heralded announcements at Mobile World Congress this week, Nokia said it would retire the Withings wearables brand this summer, relaunching the products under the Nokia name. Withings has been one of the longer-lasting brands in the wearables and consumer digital health fields. It was bought by Nokia in April of last year for € 175 million. Nokia, … [Read more...]
Apple Joins Wireless Power Consortium, but Don’t Jump to iPhone Conclusions
9to5Mac noticed today that Apple has joined the Wireless Power Consortium, which controls the Qi standard, and promptly jumped to the conclusion that the next iPhone will feature wireless charging. We're not all that interested in iPhones around here -- at least, not to cover them -- but there may be both more and less here than meets the eye. The Apple Watch uses inductive … [Read more...]
First Reviews of Android Wear 2.0 Don’t Set the World on Fire
If you're in the smartwatch business and were hoping that Android Wear 2 was going to turn around your lagging fortunes, first reviews indicate that you ought to be dusting off your Plan B. The point of Android Wear, of course, is to provide a near turnkey operating system for hardware makers, freeing them up to do what they're supposedly best at. The downside is that the … [Read more...]
EZ Tags for Humans in Transit
Anyone whose commute involves a toll road will attest to the convenience of EZ tags that let your car whip through the toll areas without stopping—or in some places, even slowing down. Garmin and the Chinese company Watchdata Technologies, in conjunction with EZ-Link, have come to the rescue of the footsore in Singapore by adding am NFC chip to their fitness trackers. The … [Read more...]
The e-Skinny on Xenoma’s Smart Shirt
Tokyo-based Xenoma has incorporated its Printed Circuit Fabric into e-skin shirts that can track movement and gestures—bending, twisting, stretching—analyze your breathing and remind you to sit up straight. It also has possibility as a game and AR controller. All this, and it’s machine washable. The shirt’s fabric has flexible wires and sensors hidden in it and the company … [Read more...]
Watch Sales Are Great, Apple Says, Without Showing Proof
Apple reported record sales and earnings earlier this week, having sold 78 million iPhones in the last quarter alone and saying it has something like a quarter trillion d0llars in the bank. The company bragged that the Apple watch set unit and revenue records over the holiday season -- but continued to be shy about just what those records might be. Apple reports watch sales … [Read more...]
LG’s New Android Wear 2.0 Watches Are Rumored
We're starting to see detailed reports about the imminence of the next generation of Android Wear watches. Android Police and TechnoBuffalo are running sneak photos of two versions of the LG Watch Style. (Seriously, can some smart branding person please whack LG upside the head?) There are two versions being tipped: a standard Android Wear 2.0 watch at $249, and an LTE … [Read more...]
Fitbit’s 4Q Disappoints, Lays Off 6 Pct of Workers
If there was any doubt that 2016 was a bad year in the wristwear business, look no further than the 4th quarter results that Fitbit announced today. The company -- widely counted as the leader in the consumer wearables market -- had told stock analysts that it would sell about $725 million worth of trackers in the quarter; the actual number was about $580 million. Rather … [Read more...]