fitness

It's hard to hide from the Basis Band's many sensors

LAS VEGAS--A big trend at CES this year is wearable tech, meaning essentially any smart gadget you clip, strap, or pocket to carry around. Part pedometer, heart rate monitor, and sleep tracker, the $199 Basis Band certainly fits the bill.

Like many of the new personal tech products shown at CES 2013, the Basis Band looks like a simple, if large, digital watch at first glance. The device has a soft rubber strap that comes in white and black, though Basis Science promises that more colors are on the way.

Design A small rectangular LCD screen dominates most of the … Read more

Laptopify your iPad: trying out Belkin's keyboard cases at CES

LAS VEGAS--iPad keyboard cases galore litter CES, but Belkin has some nice new models up its sleeve, including a clever one that converts your old Apple keyboard. I gave them a whirl over at Belkin's booth.

The Convertible Keyboard Case (top), announced at the show, costs just $49 and adopts a standard Apple bluetooth keyboard to become a pretty portable keyboard case. The foldable case essentially acts as a wraparound folio/stand, but its design is elegant, finding a way to fold the Apple keyboard's tubular back into the design without adding bulge.

The Ultimate Keyboard Case is … Read more

Track your steps, sleep with Fitbit Flex wristband

LAS VEGAS--Who doesn't need a little more exercise? Fitbit wants to push you to get more active with its Flex wristband, shown off at CES 2013.

It's a colorful pedometer that monitors how far you walk every day, as well as your time spent sleeping or tossing and turning.

The Flex can track steps, distance, calories, and how many minutes you've been active. It also has a silent alarm to wake you up.

You can also set daily goals, which a reflected in flashing LEDs on the water-resistant wristband. As you progress toward your daily goal, more … Read more

How high can you jump? Measure with Vert

LAS VEGAS--One of the more simple fitness-oriented devices on exhibit here at CES 2013 is Vert, billed as the world's first wearable jump measurement system.

Vert attaches to your waistband, belt, cap, or wherever and calculates how high you jump by using a gyroscope and an accelerometer.

It performs more than 50 simultaneous calculations to calculate height with 96 percent accuracy, according to maker Mayfonk Athletic.

Smaller than a matchbox, the device has an OLED screen showing your altitude in inches. It can send the data to your iOS or Android mobile device via one of two Vert apps, which can track multiple user height records and jumping progress. … Read more

Fitbit debuts Flex, first Bluetooth 4.0 tracker

LAS VEGAS--Personal fitness company Fitbit has just jumped further into the wearable tech market. The company unveiled its $99.95 Fitbit Flex device, an activity tracker designed to be worn all day and monitor movement, sleep, and calories burned.

Design The Flex is similar to other competing products in the growing personal fitness category such as the Nike FuelBand, and Jawbone Up. Built to be worn all day long, the appropriately named Flex is a soft bracelet encased in a rubbery skin. The idea is that it's malleable enough to stay firmly wrapped around your wrist but be comfortable … Read more

This small, slick fitness tracker senses your ticker

LAS VEGAS--It seems that many companies want in on the wearable fitness tracker craze, and Withings is no exception. Its new Smart Activity Tracker is a small, light, 8-gram device that records user activity, sleep, and even measures heart rate in real time.

About the size of a USB stick, the Smart Activity Tracker can handle all the typical pedometer duties such as logging the steps you take, stairs climbed, and calories burned. What sets this gadget apart, though, is its heart rate sensor located on back. Just place your finger tip in the right spot and the Tracker will … Read more

RunKeeper 3.0 for iOS gets overhauled interface, new features

I usually hang up my running shoes for the winter, but the arrival of RunKeeper 3.0 for iOS makes me want to brave the cold, ice, and snow (of which there's ample supply here in Michigan).

Let me pause here to note that although the App Store is home to many great run-management apps, I've been a RunKeeper fan -- and user -- since way back in 2009. And I'm not alone in my adoration of the app: It's a regular presence on the iTunes top-10-freebies list.

So what's new in version 3.0? … Read more

How to enable pinch-to-zoom in Gmail on your Android device

Last week when Google rolled out Gmail 4.2.1 to all Android users, swipe-to-delete wasn't the only feature added to the app. Google also added pinch-to-zoom, but it's not called pinch-to-zoom in the settings. Wait, what? Yeah, it's a bit confusing. So here's what you'll need to do to enable pinch-to-zoom in Gmail on your Android device.

Download the latest version of Gmail from the Google Play Store. It should be version 4.2.1. After you're up to date, launch the Gmail app and navigate to Settings > General Settings. Check the … Read more

Episode 24: Jawbone Up vs. Fitbit One

I've had a lot of great adventures producing Always On, but I've had a lifelong dream to see a space shuttle launch, and with this show, I got to get pretty close: I flew down to Cape Canaveral to watch the Falcon 9 rocket blast off with the Dragon cargo capsule on board. It was, as you might imagine, a pretty spectacular sight: and a pretty exciting start to the future of privatized space flight.

This episode also features another pretty awesome day for me: a spin around Ford's test track in the 2013 Shelby GT500 Mustang. … Read more