Zek | Gear Diary

Fitbit Announces the Fitbit Blaze Smartwatch!

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…

Events, News & Features

Under Armour and HTC Will Whip You into Shape with Under Armour Healthbox!

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…

Events, News & Features

Acer Releases Chromebooks, Tablets, Laptops, and More at CES 2016!

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!

Events, News & Features

Alcatel Onetouch Releases New Phones, Tablets, and even a Kid’s Wearable!

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…

News & Features

Grush Gaming Toothbrush Now Available!

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…

News & Features

Beware of Elaborate Internet Scams That Target Online Communities!

When you spend enough time online, you develop friendships with people you’ve never met. Unfortunately, twice this year I saw online communities raise money for people they thought were genuine community members in need, only to discover after the fact their “friend” was lying, or nonexistent!

Reviews

The Travel Bra-Carry Your Valuables Close to Your Chest!

This intro is a bit different from most reviews because I’m guessing we’re mostly going to attract a female audience. Anyone who doesn’t want to read a review of a bra, note that the Travel Bra people are working on male briefs and other similar concept clothes. Check them out, and read on for our review of the Travel Bra!

Reviews

Power Toothpaste Has Been Turbocharging My Mornings!

Recently, I wrote about Power Toothpaste, which takes normal, everyday toothpaste and gives it some oomph with a dosing of caffeine. I’ll be honest-the idea made me laugh, because who thinks to put caffeine in toothpaste? Power Toothpaste was kind enough to let me indulge my inner guinea pig, and I’ve been testing the toothpaste for the last few weeks!

Reviews

Links-IT Makes Your Pet’s Collar Safe and Stylish!

Sometimes we get pitches for gadgets that solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Other times, we get pitches for products that solve a problem that we didn’t know could be fixed. Links-It is solidly in the latter category, as it solves the issue of split-rings and pet collars, an annoyance all pet owners know too well!

Reviews

Enerskin Compression Sleeves are the Skin You Wish You Had!

I have what I somewhat affectionately call a persnickety knee. It has earned the right to be picky after a torn ACL in 2008 and a torn meniscus in 2014. So while I was excited to test out the Enerskin Compression Sleeves, I knew they had to pass an often grumpy and slightly arthritic critic!

News & Features

Original Pebble and Pebble Steel Receive the Timeline Update!

Pebble promised when they rolled out a new user interface that it would reach the first generation Pebble and Pebble Steel by the end of the year. They’re cutting it a bit close, but with two weeks to go they’ve finally announced that the original Pebbles could share in the new software with their Time siblings!

Reviews

ZeroWater Filtration System Lives Up to Its Name!

Do you have a filtered water pitcher or system in your house? Most people keep some sort of filtered water around, either because they like the taste or they distrust their tap water. Whatever the reason, have you ever considered HOW filtered your water is? ZeroWater has, and they claim to offer the most filtered water possible!

Reviews

Tile Review: Never Lose Your Keys Again!

*Update: Tile can be purchased through T-Mobile, and they are the only wireless carrier offering Tile this holiday season. You can check out Tile and the “Uncarrier” here.* There are two common refrains in my house: “Have you seen my keys?” and “Hey, can you call my phone, I can’t remember where I left it!” Well, there’s also “Stop grabbing the dog’s ears.” and “Please stop licking [the toddler].” Tile can’t help with the dog/toddler wars, but it CAN help with lost keys and phones!

News & Features

Verizon Customers Can Snag a Free Star Wars Google Cardboard Viewer!

Verizon is really going all-in on the Star Wars marketing. They already license “Droid” for their exclusive phones, and now they’re getting into the movies too, with exclusive Google Cardboard viewers for Verizon customers in BB-8, Kylo Ren, Stormtrooper, or R2-D2 themes!

News & Features

Adidas FIT SMART Band Adds All-Day Tracking

Adidas debuted their FIT SMART Band in 2014; at the time it was just designed to be worn when you worked out, tracking your heart rate and acting as an extension of the Adidas Train and Run app. They’ve made the already useful and well-received band even better with new all-day fitness tracking features too!

News & Features

The Upcoming Moto 360 Sport is a Little TOO Retro!

Motorola blogged today detailing the release of the new Moto 360 Sport. If you’re in the UK or France, you can grab yours starting December 18th, and in the USA, they’ll be hitting January 7th for $299. I do question who would buy one at that price, because they’re quite ugly AND look like an old Garmin Forerunner 405!

News & Features

Vanity Fair Shares a Must Watch Video on World AIDS Day

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day, a chance to remember people lost to AIDS and to remind everyone it is still an ongoing epidemic. As part of this, Vanity Fair has shared a short video that showcases the casual, unconcerned response the White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes had to any questions about AIDS.

Gift Guides & Round-Ups

Holiday Gifts for the Fitness Buff

We all have someone in our life who likes to work out, or who needs a little extra push to keep their fitness momentum going. We’ve put together a few ideas for every budget for the fitness lover in your life!

Health and Fitness, Reviews

You Are Your Own Gym, a Review

There have been a few times where I was left feeling utterly physically destroyed. One was definitely the day after my first rugby tournament, one was the first time I tried to run a mile as fast as I could, and one was the first week after starting You Are Your Own Gym.

Crowdfunding, News & Features

Power Toothpaste Supercharges Your Morning

Have you ever woken up and thought, “I need some caffeine, but making coffee is so much work…and it takes too long to kick in! If only there were a way to quickly pick up a caffeine buzz AND keep my dentist happy!” Well, for all two of you who had that exact thought, Power Toothpaste is crowdfunding a solution.

Editorials

Pebble Has a Pricing Problem

I love my original generation Pebble, and have kept an eye on the company and their subsequent watches. I even toyed with backing the Pebble Time, but after seeing how fast prices plummeted, I’m glad I didn’t. Understandably, many who did back the Time and Time Steel are a bit surprised by how fast prices have dropped!

Articles by Zek