The Japanese may not have a monopoly on quirky wearables, but they sure seem to have a handle on high concept. We're hearing today about the Wearable Womanliness-Boosting Bra from manufacturer Triumph International Japan. The idea -- and this is not ever going to be a real product -- is that the bra will respond to a woman's voice with confidence-inspiring compliments. Kind of … [Read more...]
New Wearable Tech Podcast Posted
Looks like we've got a Thing going: the third episode of the Wearable Tech Insider podcast is live. This week's edition includes chatter about Jawbone's funding, Basis Peak, and the Apple Watch; HealthTech stories include one about how 3D printed splints save babies' lives. And who doesn't love babies? You can listen to it through the link below, or subscribe on … [Read more...]
Basis Adds Health and Fit Ecosystem Support, and What That Means for Apple and Google
Unanimity among tech users is hard to come by, but a lot of athletes we know are big fans of the Basis Peak fitness tracker. A new software update now lets the Peak share its data with both the Apple Health and Google Fit ecosystems. The Peak is known for the comprehensiveness of the data it collects. By joining with those widely used ecosystems, Basis data can now be tied … [Read more...]
Wearable Patch Market to Reach 12.3 Million Units by 2020: Tractica
The market research Tractica has a new report out, projecting that sales of connected patches for medical applications will grow from 67.000 last year to 12.3 million in 2020. It puts the size of the market at $3.3 billion. The company includes in its count skin-worn devices with wireless connectivity -- patches, tattoos and the like -- and not implantable items such as … [Read more...]
Jawbone’s Latest $300M Funding Was Debt, Not Equity: Bloomberg
Jawbone's been having some problems both with product and with press lately, and those difficulties appear to be extending to corporate finance. Bloomberg reports that the company raised $300 million late last month from the private equity firm Blackrock, but that the round was debt, not equity. It makes a difference. The loan is secured by Jawbone's assets: intellectual … [Read more...]
Wearable Tech Insider Podcast for May 13
New podcast posted. Listen to it below, get the RSS feed, or subscribe on iTunes. Enjoy. … [Read more...]
Samsung SDK Tips Features of Next-Gen Smartwatch
Samsung today released the software developer kit for a smartwatch dubbed Project Orbis. From the docs shown on SamMobile, this round-face device is very much not an Android Wear device. Chief among the specs is a rotating bezel, used to navigate through software. The SDK also indicates that the watch -- which may be called the Gear A when it's introduced at the IFA show in … [Read more...]
Researchers Say They Can Embed Graphene Electrodes in Fabric
A team of researchers say they have developed a technique to weave conductive graphene threads into fabric, using those threads as flexible electrodes. Fully flexible wiring embedded into fabrics, of course, would be an immense breakthrough. Graphene is material that consists of a single-atom thickness of carbon. It has many interesting characteristics, among them … [Read more...]
Inside the Fitbit S-1, Worrying About What’s Not Said
Deconstructing financial documents is a particular skill, and RockHealth gets very deep on Fitbit's registration to go public. One of the major points that Fitbit avoids talking about, RockHealth notes, is anything about user engagement and churn. Because product sales have been increasing so fast, it's hard to get a handle on how fast Fitbit trackers are hitting the junk … [Read more...]
Why Apple Watch Software Will Get Better
It seems to be a growing consensus that the first generation of apps for the Apple Watch left quite a bit to be desired. Disappointing as that may be, it's not all that surprising. Programmers had only simulators to code to and the hardware itself uses new types of interactions that could not have been well understood without having the hardware in hand. Many of the apps turned … [Read more...]