Wearable Computing & Fashion - Page 10

It seems that Fitbit is on a buying streak, having previously announced the takeover of Pebble, the company has today announced the acquisition of smartwatch startup Vector Watch, which will further bolster Fitbit's future smartwatch credentials.

Vector Founder and CTO Andrei Pitis told Techcrunch that "the company was acquired for its software platform and design team" and would incorporate their "unique technology and knowhow with Fitbit's experience and global community". However, the purchase won't necessarily mean that its new owners will movie to develop the same high-end luxury watch that Vector is known for.

Vector's customer support will continue to operate and warranties will be honored, but no new software will be developed.

While market leading fitness wearable producer Fitbit has resisted calls to produce a smartwatch for a number of years, CEO James Park has revealed that functionality is indeed coming - and sooner rather than later.

Speaking to Engadget from CES, Park confirmed that the company will actively pursue an app store "as soon as possible". Despite launching the Fitbit Blaze in 2016 with a colour touchscreen, the company hasn't yet launched a model which allows for the loading of third party applications. Instead, users have become accustomed to incremental updates via Fitbit.

Late last year, Fitbit purchased the start-up company Pebble, which launched with a bang on Kickstarter in 2012 but which struggled against competition in recent times. No doubt this acquisition will prove very important to Fitbit as it moves from a stationary fitness wearable to a fully fledged smartwatch.

Google will be unveiling not one, but two new flagship smartwatches in Q1 2017, according to The Verge - who heard it exclusively from product manager of Android Wear at Google, Jeff Chang.

Chang said that the two new smartwatches will be the first flagship Android Wear 2.0 devices that will launch on the new platform. Strangely, the two new wearables won't have Google or Pixel branding, and will be branded by the manufacturers who make them. Chang said that Google is collaborating with the manufacturer, who wouldn't be named, but he did tease that the company has made Android Wear devices in the past.

After the initial launch of the new smartwatches, Google will push out Android Wear 2.0 to existing Android Wear devices, which will include:

We live in a world of smart fridges, smartwatches, and smart other things - but now we're slowly shifting into a world where 'smart' socks are a reality.

Siren Care, a diabetic health tracking startup as developed what I guess we could call 'smart socks' that detect inflammation and injury to your feet, in real-time. The socks use temperature sensors, with type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients being prone to foot injuries, swelling, and other problems that are associated with nerve damage.

This can lead to infections, and amputation if not treated in time - and this is where Siren Care's smart socks come into play. Siren Care founders Ma and Veronica Tran have said that there are sensors woven into the fabric of the smart socks which detect inflammation of any sort, once it's detected inflammation, it will send an alert to your smartphone (you'll need to install the app, obviously) - warning you that you need to check your feet.

In September, Snapchat or Snap Inc. how they are called now announced Spectacles - a pair of sunglasses with an integrated video camera. Snap said that the Spectacles would go on sale for $130.

The first vending machine with Spectacles showed up near the company's headquarters in Venice Beach, California. People waited in line for hours to buy a pair of glasses with a built-in camera. The second vending machine popped up at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in California.

For now, vending machines are the only way to buy Spectacles and Snap Inc. has a map on their website where you can locate the vending machines.

Back in September, Snapchat announced that after five years they are changing the company's name to Snap Inc. because they won't have just one product anymore.

Their second product comes in the form of sunglasses with an integrated camera that can record 10-second clips. Named Spectacles, they will connect directly to Snapchat via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and transfer data directly into the app in Snapchat's new circular video format.

The Spectacles will go on sale later this year for $130, and the device will be available in three different colors - black, turquoise and orange.

Huawei's event in Munich didn't end with two new phones - the Mate 9 and Porsche Design Mate 9. They also unveiled their new fitness tracker, simply named Huawei Fit.

Although it looks more like a smartwatch than a fitness band, the Huawei Fit is here to monitor your heart rate, count steps and track sleep. The fitness band will automatically sense when you are walking, running or sleep, it can monitor the distance, and it will tell you how many calories you burned.

The Fit comes with a 1.04-inch monochrome touchscreen and a 80 mAh battery. According to Huawei, the Fit can last up to 6 days on 2 hours charge. The band is rated IP68, and 5 ATMs for water resistance meaning it can stand submersion up to 50 meters.

A year ago, Tag Heuer introduced its first smartwatch - Tag Heuer Connected. The watch was pretty similar to other Android smartwatches on the market, but the price was set at $1500, which shouldn't be surprising considering it is Tag Heuer.

If you think that's expensive, you are right, but Tag Heuer can do better. And by better, I mean more expensive.

They recently launched a rose gold version of the smartwatch, and it looks like the color is the only difference compared to last year's model. However, the rose gold touch on your smartwatch comes with an insane price of almost $10,000, $9,900 to be precise.

Following its second attempt at a fitness tracker, the Microsoft Band appears to be dead. Both iterations of the product have been removed entirely from the official store, and Best Buy is no longer selling them, although Amazon still has some remaining stock up for grabs. As well, the software development kit has been removed.

Sources indicate the software team intended to bring Windows 10 to Band has been, well, disbanded, and that hardware team members have been moved elsewhere. Additionally, Microsoft is said to be phasing out the devices, with no plans for a Band 3.

The company offered a somewhat vague statement on the matter.

Snapchat gained its popularity for its messaging app and fun filters that many users have embraced. Now they announced their first gadget - a pair of sunglasses with an integrated video camera.

The device, which the company is calling Spectacles, will record 10-second clips. They connect directly to Snapchat via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and transfer data directly into the app in Snapchat's new circular video format.

Circular video plays full screen on any device, in any orientation, and capture the human perspective with a 115-degree field of view. Snapchat introduced the circular video format to resolve the landscape vs. portrait video dilemma.

Hot damn, those self-lacing shoes we all loved from Back to the Future II are nearly here, with Nike set to release their HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes at "select" retailers by appointment only, starting November 28.

Nike had the folks at Wired over to check out the behind the scenes of the HyperAdapt's development, with a massively detailed and great article to read right here. Wired got to try Nike's new HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes on, with the company teasing that "all you have to do is step into it", and once your foot is inside of the HyperAdapt shoes, an "electric whizzing noise" can be heard, and it - as Wired puts it "embraces my foot in a gentle kind of hug".

The team of designers and engineers at Nike have put over a decade of work into the HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes, with the series of sneakers being a breath of fresh air for Nike, which has always been a company that stays ahead of shoe innovation. Wired added that the person trying the shoes on had broken their ankle previously, with their right foot still swollen. Well, after the HyperAdapt 1.0 shoes were put on, the right shoe laces were "visibly looser, but the grip is no less secure".

If you want to add more spy/cyberpunk-esque gadgets to your life, Sgnl has you covered. A "smart strap", it replaces the current strap on your watch and allows you to answer calls by placing your fingertip on your ear and speaking through the microphone on the strap. It's also said to allow for outbound calls. To put it another way, it's a much cooler take on the "traditional" Bluetooth headset.

Sgnl -- created by Samsung spin-off Innomdle Lab -- is discrete in that audio is directed into your ear directly through bodily vibrations, and noise canceling capabilities means you'll be able to hear whoever's on the other end clearly.

It's not hard to imagine a smartwatch company will design a product with this functionality built in before long, especially if Sgnl takes off (and it may very well, with $834,308 raised on Kickstarter in about a week, far above its $50,000 ask). If you don't want to wait, $99 will get you the tech before long.

While the fitness wearable sector has gotten even more competitive in the last 12 months, market leader Fitbit has actually managed to extend it's lead over high powered rivals such as Apple and Garmin in new data published by the International Data Corporation (IDC) in their updated Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker.

Extending it's lead to over a quarter of the entire fitness wearable market, Fitbit managed to extend it's lead slightly with a slew of new models introduced in the last few months such as Blaze and Alta, and bolstered by strong sales of the now end-of-life Charge HR. In somewhat of a surprise, Apple's market share dropped by almost 70%, mostly due to slowing sales for the first Apple Watch (although its successor is now officially on the way) .

Despite smart watches increasingly muscling in on the competitive sector, with Fitbit's Charge 2 and Flex 2 models about to hit stores across the world, it seems the future is bright for the company who focuses on one thing - and doing it very well. We'll have a review of the Charge 2 in the coming weeks.

Apple announced their new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus smartphones alongside a new Apple Watch Series 2 wearable, with some notable upgrades over the original Watch from 2015.

The original Apple Watch was available in the 'Apple Watch Edition' which made of solid gold and cost a pretty steep $10,000 - but during the Apple event, the company didn't mention the new Watch Series 2 being made in an Apple Watch Edition. Instead, the company revealed a new ceramic-based Apple Watch Edition, but it will not be coming in gold.

Apple's new "reimagined" ceramic Apple Watch Edition starts at $1249, which is around double the cost of the Watch Series 2 which comes in stainless steel, and triple the cost of the cheapest aluminum-based Watch Series 2.

At today's event in San Francisco, Apple announced their new products.

As expected, Tim Cook unveiled the new Apple Watch which has new watch faces and should run smoother. Apple Watch now has an SOS feature that will send a message in case of emergency.

Also, Pokemon Go is coming to Apple Watch so you can now play using only your Apple Watch. Apple Watch will be shipping before the end of this year.

Xiaomi isn't known as well as Samsung, Apple, LG or other mobile giants, but the Chinese manufacturing giant has just unveiled something that might catch the eye of people wanting to buy a new smartwatch.

Huami is a brand you would not have heard of, but it is a sub-brand of Xiaomi that has just unveiled a new Android-powered smartwatch, the Huami Amazfit. Amazfit is priced at just $120, which will have instant attraction because of its low price, but it rocks a 1.34-inch display with a 300x300 resolution and a 1.2GHz processor inside. We'll also see 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory, with a 200mAh battery inside.

The new Amazfit smartwatch will have around 5 days of battery life, which is not too bad at all, considering competing smartwatches need daily charging. If you want to keep the GPS enabled, the battery life will dive to 35 hours, which is still not too bad - especially considering its $120 price point.

IFA 2016 - Today at a special separate press conference at IFA 2016 Samsung announced and launched their new Galaxy Gear S3 smart watch. This smart watch is supposed to be a culmination of all of Samsung's learnings over the last 7 generations of making smart watches and as a result comes in two models.

The classic model is more geared towards fashion, style and looks while the Frontier is more aimed at active individuals with a more rugged look, style and features. The Frontier is the most capable of the two watches with built-in GPS capability and even LTE connectivity for a truly untethered wearable experience.

Both watches are noticeably thick and that is because Samsung has opted to integrate a mic and a speaker into the new watch. Additionally, Samsung has claimed to beef up the battery life of the Gear S3 from 1-2 days with the Gear S2 to 3-4 days with the Gear S3. This may also account for the surprisingly thick housing of the Gear S3 because the battery capacity of the S3 is now 380 mA or 50% more than the 250 mAh of the Gear S2.

Activity tracking wearable firm Fitbit have today announced the impending availability of two new models, including a replacement for the company's best selling Charge HR wristband.

Both products will feature an evolution, not revolution of what's come before, with Charge 2 set to rollout new software based features like connected GPS, multi-sport tracking, cardio fitness feedback and reminders to move. Enhancements to the band itself include a larger, easier to use display and the option for replaceable bands. The new display-less Flex 2 is also set to get some new attention thanks it's swim-proof design - a first for the company.

Charge 2 is available in Australian stores right now, with a global launch next month, while Flex 2 will be available both here and abroad in the coming weeks.

Intel has announced a safety recall for its Basis-brand fitness watches, warning consumers that the wearable could blister or burn your arm and that customers should return them immediately. Intel said it was aware of "a small number of customers have reported discomfort, blistering or burns on their wrist under the watch body".

The chipmaker is offering a full refund on the Basis fitness watches, with the recall being voluntarily for Intel, but it doesn't help Intel's image in the werable market after spending $100 million acquiring Basis in 2014. The Basis Peak is the first smartwatch the company built after it was acquired by Intel, and is capable of monitoring your heart rate, sweat output, and physical movements.

But, the Basis Peak overheats and could burn or blister the wearer's skin, which is why Intel has issued a safety recall. Intel noticed the issues last month, and recommended that Basis Peak owners stop using the product as a precautionary measure, reports Business Insider. Intel said on Wednesday that it was issuing a mandatory recall for all of the watches, and will be shutting down the Basis Peak online services by the end of 2016.

Google is reportedly working on two new smartwatches that will be branded as Google, which is a big difference to the Mountain View-based search giant relying on third-party manufacturers to make Android Wear-based smartwatches.

Android Police is reporting that the above image is a "recreated image" of the primary source material, as they want to keep their source anonymous. The site also adds that the smartwatches are still under development, and may differ to what we see above. As they stand, I think they look slick.

The larger smartwatch is based on the 43.5mm "Angelfish", which will reportedly feature a heart rate monitor, GPS, and LTE connectivity so it doesn't rely on your smartphone. It has three buttons, compared to third-party Android Wear smartwatches that usually have one. We should see Google Assistant integration with contextual alerts, thanks to the additional buttons.