Scott Stein

Garmin partners with Verizon for its first LTE fitness watch at CES 2019

There are a good handful of cellular-equipped smartwatches, but no really great LTE fitness trackers. Garmin has joined the cellular fold with a Verizon LTE-ready version of its Vivoactive 3 Music fitness watch, announced at CES 2019. Garmin’s “Vivoactive 3 Music – connected by Verizon” (as it’s called) will use its LTE features largely for …

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How to watch the HTC Vive VR CES press conference, and what to expect

Monday is a massive day of press conferences at CES 2019, and nestled among them is HTC. The company’s livestreaming its press conference on Jan. 7 at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. UK) and CNET will be there. You can watch everything just by staying on this page. HTC has already delivered its own big tease of… …

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Sphero Specdrums let me turn CES carpets into sweet music

Sphero, the company that makes rolling robotic balls and, until recently, Star Wars BB-8 and R2-D2 robots, is back at CES. But this time, it’s relaunching a musical motion-enabled Bluetooth ring, Specdrums, that Sphero acquired last year. The $65 rebranded ring is launching today and shipping January 15. Yes, a ring. Like, one you wear on your finger. I’ve been …

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Matrix PowerWatch 2 uses solar and heat to power GPS, heart rate at CES 2019

If a Fitbit could completely be self-powered and never needed charging, I’d be a happy person. Matrix Industries’ latest fitness watch looks like the closest anyone’s ever come to making that happen. And it looks pretty good on my wrist. The Matrix PowerWatch 2, launching at CES 2019, seems to have all the features I’d want: heart rate, step counting, an …

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Here comes the thermoelectric future: We tried out the next generation of self

I’m in a parking lot in Menlo Park, California, eyeballing a small canister that looks like an Amazon Echo with a fringe on top. It’s a location beacon, but it’s not plugged into a power source. In fact, it’s not powered by anything other than ambient temperature. Despite that fact, it’s showing up on the phone screen, actively pinging external …

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Vuzix Blade test

The Vuzix Blade was promised back at CES 2018: The Alexa-connected smart glasses, which I demoed then, were like an updated Google Glass that promised a larger screen and assistant modes. The Vuzix Blade is now the first product I’ve gotten a chance to test in 2019. So far, what I’ve realized is that smart glasses are really here. Whether …

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How Apple should unleash the iPad Pro in 2019

I’ve written this story before. For years. I sit on a train, in a coffee shop, at the office, on a plane, at a press conference. The iPad is in my hands. I think: this can be my everything. This could be the One Device. And then, something happens. A disconnect, a workflow break, something that makes me go back …

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The most innovative products of 2018

We know what the year’s best gadgets were. But innovative tech is another measuring stick. 2018 moved fast and was full of chaos. And in the world of tech, sometimes products didn’t seem to evolve as fast as you’d expect. But these were the best concepts and tech directions we saw and there’s a good chance they’ll indicate where the …

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Omron’s FDA

Smartwatches check heart rate, but they don’t do blood-pressure readings. This is why Omron’s blood pressure-taking watch HeartGuide got our attention at CES nearly a year ago. The HeartGuide uses an actual inflating wrist-cuff to take readings via oscillometry, the same way standard blood-pressure cuffs work, and can take period measurements throughout the day and night. The watch finally received FDA clearance …

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Fitbit Versa and Ionic 3.0 software update adds more on

The end of 2018 looks like the time for major fitness watches to get key updates before those New Year resolutions hit. First came the Apple Watch S4’s awaited EKG feature. And now, Fitbit just dropped its new 3.0 software update for its Versa and Ionic watches. The update may not be as dramatic, but it adds some overdue extras. …

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