wearable

Is a smartwatch in your future?

Maybe it's the arrival of the dog days of summer and a respite from hard news, but the rumor of a possible wearable computer from Apple is again making the rounds.

Apple has reportedly applied for a trademark for the "iWatch" name in Japan. The June 3 filing with the Japan Patent Office was made public last week, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the application.

That would fit with the run of rumors throughout the year that Apple management is developing a wearable device -- in this case a watch or "smartwatch" that … Read more

Prizefight: The Fitbit Flex takes on the Jawbone Up

Wearable tech is becoming a hotbed for innovation, but fitness tech has been the category that's opened people's minds to wearing tech 24-7. So we're taking the Fitbit Flex and the Jawbone Up and throwing them into the Prizefight ring!

The Fitbit Flex is the company's first fitness wristband with Bluetooth syncing. The Jawbone Up brings a unique design that's been fine-tuned after its initial release.

Both of them measure your steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, and quality of sleep with complementary apps.

Who will cross the finish line first? Will it be the … Read more

Google said to be creating game console and smartwatch

Google appears to be boosting both its wearable tech and its gaming status. According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the tech giant is working on developing both a video game console and a smartwatch that could run on Android.

Last year, Google unveiled a Web-connected media-playing console, dubbed the Nexus Q, but it never sold it to the public. The spherical device featured glowing LEDs that responded to music. The Q also streamed content directly from Google Play Music, Google Play TV & Movies, and YouTube, using an Android phone or tablet as the controller. However, a couple … Read more

Enter the relax-matrix: PSiO AVS MP3 Color System, hands-on

CE Week in New York is often about finding the oddball bits of CES all from the comfort of your Manhattan midtown event space. Winning the Oddball Award for me this year was the PSiO AVS MP3 Color System, a wearable "audiovisual stimulation" device aimed at wellness.

It may look like some bizarre knockoff of Google Glass, but PSiO has more in common with home relaxation-therapy gadgets and meditation tapes. The plastic glasses have a variety of colored LED lights that strobe and shift across an opaque visor, while earbuds (or headphones) play back stereo sounds and voices … Read more

Recon's Google Glass lookalikes open for preorders at $500

Recon Instruments, which debuted its wirelessly connected eyewear with a heads-up display at Google I/O last month, is starting to take preorders for the gadgets.

Consumers can place orders now for the Recon Jet for $500 at jet.reconinstruments.com. And though the glasses debuted at Google I/O, they have nothing to do with Google Glass, despite some striking similarities.… Read more

Talk to the hand: No, really, it's a glove phone

I have had the impression for some time that Google has thought of everything.

This impression was mainly fostered by Google, which seems intent not merely on knowing everything I do now, but everything I will want to do in the future.

But then I saw this footage of a man talking into his pinkie finger and thought: "He must be British."

This did, indeed, prove to be the case. For Sean Miles of Designworks in the U.K. decided that the true joy of wearable tech was a driving glove that you can talk into.

At least … Read more

Google Glass could be the next iPhone?

Get ready, Google Glass may soon be as omnipresent as the iPhone. People will be seen walking down the street, grocery shopping, and riding the subway with the wearable tech sitting on their faces.

According to a new report by Forrester, 21.6 million U.S. online consumers, or 12 percent of the population, are willing to wear augmented reality eyeglasses if they come from a trusted brand. Forrester's report is based on surveys with more than 4,600 U.S. adults in April.

"Not since Apple's iPhone debuted in 2007 has a computing device attracted as … Read more

Sensoria smart socks may do more than help you run better

A slew of fancy pedometers has hit the market in recent years, capturing a range of data to help people know how many steps they've taken, how far they've gone, how many calories they've burned, and even one's sleep quality.

Well move over Fitbits and Omrons, because a new kid is moving to the block. Redmond, Wash.-based startup Heapsylon is launching an $87,000 crowdfunding campaign

today on Indiegogo to wrap up product development and manufacturing of its highly anticipated Sensoria Fitness system, replete with smart socks, electronic anklet, and virtual coach mobile app.

… Read more

How FuelBand fuels Nike's bold tech ambitions

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Earlier this month, Phil Black bounded onto the stage at the Tiger Woods Center at Nike's world headquarters here, dropped to ground, and pumped out a handful of perfectly executed pushups with the precision of a former Navy Seal instructor, which Black is.

And then, with a booming voice that commands attention, he reeled off a litany of reasons why the collected venture capitalists should pump money into his startup, FitDeck, with just as much as ease. FitDeck, which has already sold $4.3 million worth of fitness-focused playing cards from his garage, is raising funds … Read more