Will we ever be able to power electronics with body heat? Matrix Industries is pushing for it to happen, starting with watches and internet-of-things (IoT) sensors. I remember being wowed by the idea of the Matrix Industries PowerWatch a year ago. It was one of the wilder ideas I’ve seen at CES: a perpetually powered …
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At CES 2018, it’s clear technology is expanding health care beyond the doctor’s office. A world of connected devices can track your vital signs, take an EKG or monitor your exposure to UV rays. That data might lead to guidance for patients trying to build up healthy habits, or to insights that help doctors do their jobs. But there’s such …
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Why would anyone want a modular smartwatch? Well, maybe the better question is: Who could use a modular smartwatch? A concept kicking around for years has enterprise and developers in its sights. And maybe that’s where this idea could work. Blocks, a gadget concept, has been crowdfunding and pitching its idea for years. The watch is like one of those …
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Wearable tech is growing like crazy, and French company E-vone is joining the rat race with a smart shoe that features fall detection designed for older adults, workers and travelers. Available in several sneaker, hiking boot and work boot variations, E-vone uses a device in the sole of the shoe to detect falling or abnormal movement. Alert messages are then …
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Smartwatches have become the new iPod replacements, especially for runners. Most smartwatches like Apple Watch, Android Wear models and Samsung Gear can already store music, but in the fitness watch landscape, it’s new territory. Fitbit made its first music-storing watch last year with the Fitbit Ionic, and now Garmin’s first music watch is the Forerunner 645 Music. It’s a GPS running …
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Packing and wearing blood pressure cuffs, if you have hypertension, isn’t easy. I measure my high blood pressure, and wish I had a smartwatch to do it. Omron, makers of medical-grade blood pressure monitors, have a fitness watch coming this year, called the HeartGuide. I love the idea of it. I hope it works as well as promised. More: The …
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If you have one of the many Android Wear watches compatible with Android Wear 2.0 (full list in link), you’re in for a treat. With Android Wear 2.0, and the more recent Android Wear update bringing the platform in sync with Android Oreo, Google redesigned the interface and added new features that are aimed directly at competing with the Apple Watch, and …
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Apple just made connecting to treadmills and ellipticals as easy as tapping your Apple Watch on a piece of gym equipment. GymKit, a feature built into WatchOS 4.1, enables seamless tap-to-connect tech. It’s like CarPlay, but for fitness machines. Apple announced GymKit as a feature for Apple Watch back in June at its WWDC keynote, promising it would arrive this year. It’s just …
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Fitbit wants to go after the Apple Watch. Will more apps help? The Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit’s newest watch that debuted in October, didn’t launch with a lot of apps right away. Now it’s got a number of others, available today via a software update. Earlier this year, Fitbit promised that app development would eventually transform what the Fitbit Ionic could do, …
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The Apple Watch already has a heart rate sensor, and it can even help flag potentially dangerous cardiac conditions. Apple is working on having the heart rate sensor check for heart rhythm abnormalities (atrial fibrillation), and has just launched a heart rate study with Stanford that anyone can opt into and test. But there is a new strap for the Apple …
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