Have you heard of Theranos? The name might seem vaguely familiar because they are a wildly successful start-up that’s raised over 9 billion dollars! They claim they have a faster, more efficient way to test blood using a drop instead of the traditional blood drawn from the vein. Unfortunately, it looks like the enthusiasm over their idea may be misplaced.
There’s an old adage that says if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all. If I followed it, this would be a very, very short review. It’s not that the Adidas Fit Smart is BAD, per se…it’s just that the handful of useful features don’t outweigh the major flaws.
If you were to ask any parent of a kid with food allergies what their biggest fear is, there’s a good chance the answer would be “other people feeding our kids”. Realistically, we can’t expect everyone to grasp allergy awareness like we do. But Allerguarder has a clever way to ease worries and remind caretakers of dangerous food allergies!
My wife recently challenged me to turn off my smartwatch. Instead of letting me discreetly stay connected, I was constantly reacting every time it buzzed, even if I didn’t check my phone. It was interrupting dinner, playtime with my son, and distracting me during meetings. Surprisingly, I’m not the only Gear Diary person who has disconnected from their smartwatch!
Is the phrase “I’m sorry, what did you say?” a common part of your day? It is for me. My hearing is…questionable, or, as my wife put it, “It’s not normal to be 34 and need the closed captioning.” The good folks at Etymotic have clearly experienced this too, and that’s where the Bean Quiet Sound Amplifier can shine.
It’s no longer enough to just tie on your sneakers and head out for a run. Now you need your watch, footpod, headphones, heart rate monitor, and smartphone. We’re about a week away from SPIbelt including a battery in their products just to keep everything charged. Kuai has a much simpler solution: Kuai Multisport Biometric Headphones. That’s a very long and fancy name for a very simple concept. Kuai took headphones, added sensors for heart rate and cadence, threw in 8Gbof memory for music and coaching downloads, and even added connectivity for Bluetooth and ANT+, so you can easily connect…
I have said many times if I win the Powerball the first thing I’m doing is buying a Tesla Model S, for one reason: I would love an electric car but I need decent range for my daily commute. GM has a much better plan than Powerball, though, with the new Chevy Bolt EV, which has a 200 mile range!
Do you have so many keys that you can’t keep track of them all? Can your family hear you approaching from down the street by the jingle of your keyring? Could you slim down your keys, but you just can’t part with your flashlight, pocketknife, and that mystery key you found in a drawer? Enter the Keyport Slide 3.0 and Keyport Pivot!
In the fall, Judie took a look at Ring’s video enabled doorbell. It is a new twist on security that lets you see who is ringing the doorbell, and even communicate with them when you aren’t home. Ring is expanding their offerings further, with the Ring Stick Up Cam!
It’s official, we’re living in the future. Not only is virtual reality quickly becoming everyday reality, but now you can wear a heads-up display while you’re riding a bike, literally seeing your ride statistics floating in front of you like a biking terminator. That’s the future that Solos Smart Eyewear is promising!
Casio is diving wrist first into the Android Wear world with their newest release, the WSD-F10 Outdoor Watch. It combines Casio’s trademark rugged designs with the power of Android Wear, perfect for those times when you need to check Facebook while at Basecamp for Mount Everest. All joking aside, Casio has thrown a lot of extra features into the WSD-10 to make it stand out in the smartwatch world. It has GPS, is water resistant to 40 meters, offers dust and shock proofing, and has a number of Casio-specific apps for outdoor activities. They also offer a time-only display to…
Polar has been expanding their fitness portfolio beyond just heart rate monitoring, with a slew of activity trackers and GPS watches. Now they’re making the whole ecosystem even more holistic by adding weight management with the new Polar Balance scale! The Polar Balance scale is a wifi connected scale that hooks into the Polar Flow app. At only $99 it falls on the cheaper end of the connected scale options, but obviously it works best if you already have an investment in Polar via their activity tracking devices. Also, it can accommodate up to 10 profiles, so your entire rugby…
Ogio has been providing quality bags for quite some time, and this year at CES they are refreshing their professional bags with the Gran Premio and Chelsea collections. Whether you need a small bag to carry a tablet and essentials, or a larger briefcase for your laptop and files, Ogio is going to keep you organized and looking good! The Chelsea collection is designed for women, with a few different styles but the same basic concept of an attractive bag with minimal bulk and lots of organization options. There are sections for laptops and tablets, plus lots of zippers and…
Our team at CES ran into the folks at Trackr, and they were able to get a quick update on some new features, partnerships, and products being offered. For those who aren’t familiar, Trackr is a small coin sized Bluetooth device that helps make sure you never lose your valuables again! Intrigued? Watch the video below for more news and details!
Misfit’s devices have all had a very recognizable style, in that they are small round disks of various materials, ranging from cheaper plastics to metals to even Swarovski crystals. They are shaking things up with their new Misfit Ray, a more bracelet-style tube that tracks activity, sleep, and handles basic notifications, just like its siblings!
Everyone knew CES 2016 was going to be focused on wearable technology, but I doubt anyone could have imagined something like DigitSoles. They make smartphone controlled shoes and insoles that track your steps, adjust the fit, and even warm your feet!
Fitbit is putting their mark on 2016 early, with a new device called the Fitbit Blaze. It’s a smartwatch with a full color touchscreen, but no GPS, and it will sit between the Charge HR and the Surge price-wise, at $199.95. The Blaze will be able to receive basic smartphone notifications, tracks your steps, various workouts, and heart rate, but it does not have standalone GPS; instead it uses what Fitbit calls “connected GPS”, which is just a smokescreen way to say the Blaze uses the GPS from your smartphone for outdoor distance tracking. There’s DNA from the Fitbit Flex…
Under Armour has been slowly building a fitness empire. They absorbed the MapMyRun suite of apps, Endomondo, and MyFitnessPal, but software was only phase one. Now they’ve made the leap from software to hardware, debuting a fitness tracker, heart rate monitor, connected scale and more, all bundled and sold as “Under Armour Healthbox“, and designed through a partnership with HTC. The UA Band looks suspiciously similar to the HTC Grip tracker that was announced but never released, but with a slightly different feature set. There’s no GPS on board, but it tracks steps, sleep, prompts you to move, picks up…
Acer is busy at CES this year! They’ve always been a big player in laptops, smartphones, tablets, and computer equipment in general, and they have updates for just about everything this year! There’s a lot to be excited about, whether you’re looking for a high-end Windows machine or a simple Android tablet, so let’s check it all out!
Alcatel Onetouch is very busy at CES this year. They’re covering a ton of areas, from Android phones to Windows tablets and child-focused watches with safety features. Basically, whether you want a phablet or a device to keep your elementary age kiddo safe, Alcatel has a product for it. On the Android front, Alcatel has a tremendous number of new phones available in the Pixi 4 line. Do you hate the trend towards bigger and bigger phones? Alcatel has a 3.5in phone coming. Looking for a phablet? They’ve got one with a 6 inch screen. And if Android tablets are…
The hardest part of having a toddler is the “I do it myself!” phase. Independence is a huge development step, but inevitably your child needs more parental involvement than they believe they do. Toothbrushing is a big part of this push/pull battle, but Grush has an idea to use connected gaming to make toothbrushing fun and easy for everyone! Grush is designed to appeal to both parents and kids. It uses a Bluetooth connected toothbrush and a companion app with games-kids succeed in the games by brushing properly and for the full amount of time. Parents can use the app…