It's not actually shipping, except to some selected blessed few. It costs about as much as an annual gym membership. It makes you look like a dork, and it doesn't actually do very much. So how can Google Glass be called a Product of the Year? Because in many ways to many people, fairly or unfairly, Glass defines wearable technology in 2013. From most companies, something … [Read more...]
Pebble Watch: Product of the Year — Part 2
The Pebble watch may have been the first big hit of the consumer wearables space and the first big hit of Kickstarter. When Pebble's campaign hit in 2012, it was hugely oversubscribed -- a big vote for a technology and product that was, well, kind of uncertain. People put down their money anyway. The watch shipped in early 2013, and it was ... OK. A geek totem, certainly. … [Read more...]
Fitbit Force: Wearable Product of the Year — Part 1
The Fitbit Force is the fitness tracker that the earlier Flex should have been: more solid, with an actual (hi-res) screen and a switch that allows for user input. But what puts the Force ahead of its competition (particularly the Nike Fuelband) is its companion software. Where most mass-market wristwear is content to simply track movement, Fitbit's software tries to get at … [Read more...]