Usually, an article like the one in Wired about the development of the Apple Watch doesn't run until the product in question actually ships. Long reads that focus on how a previously accomplished executive new to a challenging corporate culture overcame huge odds to produce a world-changing product are more effective if the product is in people's hands and is, in fact, … [Read more...]
Playstation Flow: Underwater Wearable Gaming Tech
Yes, it's an April Fool's joke. Besides, we do Xbox One around here. https://youtu.be/9bPUaLpNcMY And, you know, it's not the dumbest idea we've heard lately... … [Read more...]
The Apple Watch App Watch
The flood of updates to iPhone apps to make them compatible with the Apple Watch has started. The first wave came late last week, and included the expected suspects: Evernote, Uber, Twitter, Expedia, American Airlines, Starwood, and others. (You can expect that the first wave of reviews will focus on those apps.) And today, Apple opened the gates to all comers, inviting all … [Read more...]
Why the Apple Watch Sales Process is Overwrought and Won’t Last
9to5Mac continues to have deep coverage of exactly how Apple plans to sell the Watch, treading the fine line between selling a few-size-fits-all product like an iMac or iPhone to something that's more customized and personal. We do wonder, though, if all this fuss is a short-term thing. Think about it: an iPhone 6 comes in two styles (regular and Plus), three colors, three … [Read more...]
New Boutique Watch Company, Olio, Launches Smartwatch
There have been one or two smartwatch announcements over the last year, mostly coming as extensions of already well-established companies. For all the trumpeting, (and with Pebble as a very notable exception), actual new smartwatch companies are pretty thin on the ground. That's one reason that Olio is so interesting. Here's a company, based in Silicon Valley, with roots in … [Read more...]
Connected Health Services Market Will Be Nearly $2B by 2019, Says Juniper
More market projections from Juniper Research today, projecting that the connected health services market in 2019 will be six times what its estimated at today. The report, "Smart Wireless Devices: CE, Enterprise, Fitness, Healthcare, Payments 2015-2019," says that the market will partly be driven by a desire to track someone else's data -- a friend, or a parent, or to share … [Read more...]
Fitbit To Add Cycling Support to Surge, Multi-device Support to Apps
Most fitness trackers don't do a very good job of tracking cycling; you don't move your arms very much while biking, so it's hard to measure with step-based accelerometers. Fitbit, though, just announced that they'll be adding cycling support on its high-end Surge tracker within the month. The Surge will use its GPS to track your ride. The bad news is that GPS sucks power … [Read more...]
Google Glass Just Resting, Schmidt Tells WSJ
The much-maligned much-ballyhooed Google Glass really isn't dead, Google chairman Eric Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal today. It's being readied for the consumer market. The company pulled Glass from the market in January, shut down its "Explorers Program," and moved responsibility for the $1500 project to Tony Fadell's product group, which includes things like the Nest … [Read more...]
Heath Tech Insider About That New York Times Article
It's sometimes hard to ignore dumb journalism, even when it comes from The New York Times. The usually smart columnist Nick Bilton wrote a titanically misguided column last week about the supposed health dangers of wearable tech. We were going to just hope it went away, but this is the Times we're talking about. Besides, Alfred Poor, who writes our sister newsletter Health … [Read more...]
Baselworld: Mondiane Shows The First MMT Platform Watch
Mondiane, perhaps best known for its iconic Swiss Railways watch face, today announced the first fruits of the recent MMT smartwatch alliance that puts technology from Philippe Kahn's Fullpower Technologies into watches that can be labeled as "Swiss Made." The Helvetica No 1 Smart has a brushed steel case, white dial, sapphire crystal, and a soft leather strap. It looks like … [Read more...]