Last year, Qualcomm and UnitedHealthcare started a pilot program in 12 states to pay people to stay active. This year, the companies say, they are extending it to 40 states and broadening the number of fitness trackers the program works with. Under the UnitedHealthcare Motion program, employees can earn up to $4 per day if they meet distance, intensity, and frequency goals … [Read more...]
The Year Ahead: Wearables in 2017
If you read the consumer tech press or the general interest press, you may have come to the conclusion that Wearables are Over. 2017 will put the lie to that. It's true that last year was challenging, and it's clear that the wristband part of the industry has consolidated and stratified. But what we expect to happen in 2017 has very little to do with form factor and a great … [Read more...]
The Year in Wearables 2016: Toldja So
Last year, in this space, we predicted that the biggest story in wearables in 2016 would be industry consolidation. We saw some prominent financial exits in 2015 – Fitbit chief among them – and Apple’s entry into the market, and realized that smaller and less-committed companies would get squeezed out, closed, acquired, or just absorbed. That’s exactly what happened. The … [Read more...]
Google to Build Its Own Android Wear Watches: Report
The Verge is reporting that Google -- possibly taken aback by the cooling of the smartwatch business and the evident lack of enthusiasm for Android Wear 2.0 -- will build two models of an Android Wear watch early in 2017. Jeff Chang, Google's product manager of Android Wear, told the site that the watches will be sold and branded by a third party, which he did not name, and … [Read more...]
Pokemon Go Comes to the Apple Watch
We're not sure that this is an improvement, and it's not as important as it would have been six months ago, but Niantic has just released its version of Pokemon Go for the Apple Watch. Now, you can see people stumbling around city streets looking at their watches like their parents did, instead of staring at their phones like their kids do. Pokemon Go, in case you've been … [Read more...]
Sensor Makers Combine, as TDK Buys Invensense
If your knowledge of TDK stopped at cassette tapes, your thinking is way out of date. The company is a market leader in magnetic sensors and actuators -- particularly in the automotive and industrial markets -- and is a big player in wireless charging. And today, it bought Invensense, which makes a very popular line of motion and environmental sensors. Invensense is an … [Read more...]
Moto Says No New Smartwatch Anytime Soon
Once upon a time, the Moto 360 was the best Android Wear smartwatch on the market, which is not unlike calling someone "the world's tallest midget." But as Google got busy with other projects and consumers failed to warm to the attractions of the platform, sales appear to have leveled off. A couple of months ago, Google said that the next version of Wear, anticipated for 2016, … [Read more...]
Apple Leads a Flat Smartwatch Business, Says IDC, With Garmin Strong
The authoritative market research company IDC says smartwatch sales dropped 51.6 percent last quarter from the year previous, although it suggests that the results are distorted by Apple's vast success last year. In 3Q15, when the Apple Watch was generally available for the first time, Apple sold 3.9 million units, IDC said, accounting for 70.2 percent of the market. This … [Read more...]
Shirt to Self: Stop Slouching!
The concept of clothes that electronically improve posture might bring to mind a sweatshirt concealing a robotic brace that grabs slumping shoulders and jerks them into place. Or it might make you think of attractive clothing that more subtly and discreetly urges you straighten up; for instance, Dutch designer Pauline van Dongen’s new smart shirt, FysioPal. This is not the … [Read more...]
Cancer and Wearable Technology: Home Visits without the Visit
Cancer treatment has become comparatively easier to live with over the past decades, without actually becoming out and out palatable. And for a lot of patients, the treatment is still worse than the disease. Not that living with the disease is ever a walk in the park. A friend of ours who knows once said that deciding whether to undergo treatment for cancer was like deciding … [Read more...]
