Monday was Press Day at CES: the day that most companies spend setting up their booths and the big boys corral the press at a hotel miles away from the show floors. Press Day is when companies like Samsung, LG and Sony sum up their successes, bury their mistakes, and set their agendas for the year ahead. Wearables, for companies like that, are barely rounding error. As sexy … [Read more...]
CES: Lenovo VB10 Wearable Unveiled
There were reports in October that Lenovo (the Chinese company that first bought IBM's Thinkpad line, then most recently swallowed Motorola's phone business) was coming out with an activity monitor. The company officially announced the product today at CES. The Vibe VB10 is essentially a notification device that features an e-ink display, which helps with seven-day battery … [Read more...]
CES: Misfit Gets the Swarovski Crystal Treatment
What fitness trackers apparently need is some bling, and Misfit and Swarovski will give it to you. The companies announced today a new line of Swarovski Shines: a clear crystal model and a violet one that can do solar charging. (Misfit Shines, it should be noted, use watch batteries and run for the best part of a year.) You can pre-order now at misfit.com; retail sales … [Read more...]
CES: LG Announces WebOS2.0, But No New Wearable
Unreconstructed fans of Palm and PalmOS will be glad to hear that LG Electronics continues to build on WebOS. The company's press conference at CES today talked a lot about connectedness among its devices -- TVs, washer/dryers, and phones -- based on WebOS. But although the company showed diagrams of the ability to tell your watch where you're going when you leave the house, … [Read more...]
Vuzix Sells 30 Percent to Intel for $24.8 Million; Will Enter Consumer Market
We've long believed that the visor company Vuzix was better positioned than most to succeed in the enterprise market. Intel apparently agrees: it announced over the weekend that it's bought 30 percent of the company for $24.8 million, valuing Vuzix at upwards of $83 million. Intel is on something of a finished-products tear in the wearables market. A year ago, there were no … [Read more...]
CES: Withings Activité Pop Smartwatch
Withings pretty much created a high-price segment for the smartwatch business last year with its $450 Activité watch. At CES, the company has now moved to claim a piece of the value market with a $150 Activité Pop. The original Activité is an elegant timepiece with a dial that tells what percentage of your daily fitness goal you've achieved. The Pop uses essentially the same … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2014: Nine Top Stories of the Year
Just a year ago, wearables were white-hot. Everyone was talking about them, everyone was writing about them, and they were at the tippy-top of the Gartner Hype Curve. Everyone thought they'll change the world. They will. But not yesterday. It was impossible for the hype to measure up with reality. The hype probably funded a bunch of start-up -- most of which were better … [Read more...]
Wearables in 2014: The Year It Didn’t Ship
Back in February, at a Mobile World Congress session about wearables, one of the panelists made the key observation of the year: "Hardware is hard." Is it ever. Anyone can pull together a Photoshop drawing, build a 3D printed gadget and make a YouTube video. Anyone can get on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and anyone can hire a PR company. Building it and shipping something? … [Read more...]
2014 In Review: Top Stories by Traffic
Readers of Wearable Tech Insider like interesting gadgets (especially when they have to do with breasts) and inside baseball. Here are our top stories of the year, by traffic. 1. DrumPants. Our first story in January about sensor pads that fit inside your clothes and trigger drum sounds was a big hit. Another story about DrumPants -- their failure to get funding on the TV … [Read more...]
Sony Talks A Little About Their Add-On Glass Prototype
Sony is working on a prototype of a visor that clips onto an existing pair of eyeglasses. The working name for the module is "SmartEyeglasses Attach!" (the exclamation point and InterCap are theirs), and they'll unveil it at CES next month. It weighs 40 grams, and uses a 640x400 pixel OLED display that's light-piped to an optical unit that sits in front of the glasses. In … [Read more...]