Polar Loop wristband tracks activity, exercise and sleep alongside an iPhone app for $109

Polar Loop activity tracker launches

We’ve tested our fair share of activity trackers and Polar is now adding one more to the fray. That’s not a Nike+ FuelBand you see, it’s the Polar Loop: a wearable for your wrist that keep tabs on activity, exercise and sleep patterns. Touting the “first waterproof” gadget of this sort, the company says the device can discern between activity levels, with alerts and motivational feedback along the way. The Loop syncs to Apple smartphones via Bluetooth with its companion app, Polar Flow. Similar to Nike’s wearable, Polar’s offering displays goal info, calories burned, steps taken and the time on an LED display. If you’re also after a heart rate monitor, the Loop can be combined with Polar’s H6 or H7 heart rate sensors for that purpose when it arrives next month in black with a pink version set for release in 2014.

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Bowflex Boost fitness band coming to market in September for $50

Bowflex Boost fitness band coming to market in September for $50

A little bird at the FCC just tipped us off to a low-cost fitness band that’s about to hit the market known as the Bowflex Boost. Like competing devices, it promises to track one’s daily activities, calories burned and even quality of sleep, but as a key differentiator, it’ll cost only $50. Similar to competitors such as the Nike FuelBand, Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up, it’ll also come with a companion iOS app, which syncs fitness data over Bluetooth and helps users stay accountable to their fitness goals. The Bowflex Boost was first announced this month during the earnings call of parent company Nautilus, which will leverage its direct-to-consumer sales channels to bring the bracelet to market in September. We’re still curious to see what sort of sacrifices you’ll need to make in exchange for the lower cost, but it seems that all will be revealed next month… perhaps in an infomercial.

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Source: FCC, Bowflex Boost, The Oregonian, The Columbian

Withings Pulse review

DNP Withings Pulse review alt title 'A month with the Withings Pulse'

Let’s face it: the quantified-self movement is all about strapping gadgets to your body and letting them tell you things that you already know. Aside from marathon-running gym worshippers, we’re all keenly aware that we could be taking better care of ourselves. Of course, those fancy devices do offer a means to record your data in a way that makes it easy to track your progress, hopefully motivating you to concentrate on getting your activity graph to go up while your weight goes down. We’re two or three generations into the market now, and the crude pedometers of yore have been replaced with units packed with altimeters and accelerometers that promise to faithfully track everything from how many stairs you’ve climbed to how well you slept last night.

Withings is a French company that’s synonymous with the whole fitness tracker movement; it’s perhaps best known for its heart rate monitors and smart scales that push your weight, BMI, body fat percentage, heart rate and even local CO2 levels to the cloud. But until now, it’s had a glaring omission in its lineup: an activity tracker that informs you of your progress apart from your early morning weigh-ins. Worse still, both Wahoo Fitness and Fitbit have encroached on Withings’ home turf with their own weighing scales; more than ever, Withings needs an activity tracker to keep people locked into its ecosystem.

That’s where the Pulse comes in. Like the Fitbit One, this rubber brick packs a pedometer, altimeter and sleep tracker, but unlike its rivals, it includes an optical heart rate sensor as well. With both the Pulse and the Fitbit priced at $100, is this extra feature enough to establish the French business as the world heavyweight? I spent a month with this device strapped to my waistband, so follow me as I take you through what it’s like to have this as a constant companion. %Gallery-slideshow46970%

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MapMyFitness improves Jawbone UP integration, adds Nike FuelBand support

MapMyFitness increases Jawbone UP integration, adds Nike Fuelband support

There are almost as many ways to monitor your fitness these days, as there are ways to get fit. While most hardware trackers come with their own solution to present your (hard-earned) data, some users prefer to keep it elsewhere. If that happens to be MapMyFitness, then good news — there’s full two-way sync for Jawbone UP, as well as Nike FuelBand support. Jawbone’s UP has had API hooks with MapMyFitness for a while, but now workouts etc. can be pushed in either direction, so all those steps can be viewed online (though not your sleep, or manually logged workouts). It’s a similar story with FuelBand, while the Nike+ app and watch have played nice with the services, the wearable was notably absent — until now. Set up is easy, just head to the import section of your account and link them up. Sadly, so easy, you won’t earn any fuel points.

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Whistle canine fitness tracker can be pre-ordered now for $100

Whistle canine fitness tracker can be preordered now for $100

Pet care industry spending exceeds $50 billion per year in the US alone, so there’s no question that folks are dropping some serious dough on man’s best friend. A device to track your dog’s health, then, makes an awful lot of sense, from a business perspective at the very least. Whistle, designed by a company bearing the same name, keeps tabs on your pooch for 100 bucks. The device connects to your pet’s collar; from there, it quietly measures activity and rest. The information it gathers can then be shared with both you and your dog’s doc, and it’s also added to a database, available to researchers around the world. The device and associated service will provide feedback for improving your dog’s health, tailored to his or her specific breed. You don’t pay any fees beyond the $100 pre-order charge, which you can submit directly to the manufacturer at the source link below.

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Source: Whistle

Basis fitness tracker gets an Android app, to be available in Q1; iOS version still in the works

Basis fitness tracker gets an Android app, to be available in Q1; iOS version still in the works

We’ll say this about Basis: no one can accuse it of rushing products to market. It was a whole year ago back at CES 2012 that the company first announced its fitness band, which only just went on sale six weeks ago. It’s a pretty promising device, actually, with sensors that track sweat output, heat dissipation, blood flow and heart rate. Unlike other fitness trackers, too, it can automatically detect when you’re asleep or working out, so that you don’t have to log that information manually. The problem is, there aren’t yet any mobile apps, meaning you have to view all your data through a web console. Well, we have some good news: the company just released screenshots of its Android app, which fortunately has the same clean UI as the website. The bad news: it won’t actually be available to download until later in Q1, and the iOS version is still in development.

For now, here’s a little preview of what you can expect. The “Insights” feature gives you a daily summary, with everything from sleep quality to resting heart rate to calories burned. If you like, you can scroll through the days or view your progress in one-week increments, though a Basis rep hinted monthly and yearly views might be added later. Additionally, you can page through so-called habit cards, which keep tabs on how well you’re sticking to a healthy routine, doing things like getting up from your desk and moving around. As we said, the app will be available on Android by the end of Q1, following a period of beta testing. If we can catch a demo here at CES, we’ll update this post with a short hands-on video but for now, help yourself to some screenshots below.

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Source: Basis

Larklife fitness band jogs into retail stores, nags you about exercise and sleep patterns


Larklife fitness band jogs into retail store, plans to nag you about exercise and sleep patterns

Sure, your iPhone already keeps track of your work schedules, lunch meetings and Lego creations — isn’t it about time you let it tell you when to go to bed, too? It can, if you’re so inclined — at least when paired with a Larklife fitness band. This wearable pedometer peripheral tracks your activity, sleep patterns and diet with a companion app, nagging you with suggestions on how to eat, sleep and exercise. It’ll even gently buzz you awake with a vibrating alarm, should you try to shirk its suggestions. The $149 Bluetooth band promises to sync with your device in real time, removing the burden of syncing and updating exercise data. It’s also an iOS exclusive, and is fittingly available at Apple retail locations. Determined to do your holiday shopping from your armchair? No worries — Lark’s own website is offering free shipping through December 25th. Read on to scope out the company’s official press release.

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Basis fitness tracker finally goes on sale for $199, mobile apps still MIA

Basis Band fitness tracker finally goes on sale priced at $199, mobile apps still MIA

Remember the Basis Band, that fitness-tracking wristband that was supposed to come out earlier this year? Well, the company obviously missed its target for an “early 2012” launch, but it’s been busy refining the product and publishing intermittent blog posts to let people know how the device has been shaping up. Well, at last, it’s ready for prime time: the band is on sale today, priced at $199, as originally planned.

In case you’re just hearing about Basis for the first time, here’s a quick recap: unlike Nike Fuelband and other devices aimed at athletes, Basis is attempting to lure in more mainstream users with the ability to set goals and get rewarded for staying on track. (Other devices, including the new Jawbone Up, do this too.) What’s interesting, though, is that for a device that claims to target the everyman over the nerd it actually collects an impressive amount of data. For instance, the “Patterns” view in the web console will show not just how many steps you take throughout the day, but which hours of the day you were most active. The band, meanwhile, tracks sweat output, heat dissipation, blood flow and heart rate — something we can’t say about all those other fitness trackers. As for the UI, the site itself is visually pleasing, though some mobile apps would also be nice. (A Basis rep says they’re working on it.)

If anything, the product’s simplicity comes from the hardware: it uses Bluetooth 4.0 2.1 to transmit all your data to the cloud so that you don’t have to sync over USB. Basically, between that and those various sensors, the band should theoretically detect when you’re sleeping or exercising so that you don’t have to switch modes or enter any information manually. It’s worth noting, though, that other fitness trackers mainly stumble when it comes to logging food intake — something sensors can’t detect — and that’s not even something the Basis band covers right now. In other words, it’s easy to praise a device for working automatically when it completely bypasses the whole diet piece of the wellness equation. According to Basis, research suggests people don’t really use these food-logging tools anyway. We can believe that, actually, though for $199 it would be nice to at least have the option, no? That’s another thing: at two hundred bucks this is considerably pricier than competing devices, including the Up band ($129) and the new Fitbit One ($100). Even so, the user experience is everything, isn’t it? If you’ve ever been food-judged by Up, or if the Basis band really is as low-maintenance as it seems, it could still be worth a gander.

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Source: Basis

Fitbit One tracker now ready to wake you up, count your calories all day for $100

Fitbit One tracker now on sale for $100,

If you’ve been biding your time for a FitBit One all-day fitness tracker, you can stop counting the days and start counting calories — it’s now in stores for $100. The newly minted replacement for the FitBit Ultra brings a vibrating alarm, along with a spiffier splashproof design, black or burgundy colors, and a brighter clock / motivational message display. You’ll also get Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity with the Fitbit mobile app on laptops and handheld devices that support the wireless option, letting you see all your stats or taunt rivals on Facebook. If you’re raring to go, grab it at the source below or check the PR for more details.

Continue reading Fitbit One tracker now ready to wake you up, count your calories all day for $100

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Fitbit One tracker now ready to wake you up, count your calories all day for $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Larklife fitness tracker syncs your data over Bluetooth, knows when you’re running instead of walking

Larklife fitness tracker syncs your data over Bluetooth, knows when you're running instead of walking

In case you haven’t noticed, fitness gadgets are having something of a moment right now. The past year alone has seen the launch of Nike’s FuelBand, the ill-fated Jawbone Up and a refreshed line of Fitbit trackers. Now another product is arriving that promises to do basically the same thing — namely, track your activity, sleep patterns and food intake using a wearable gadget and mobile app. That thing you see up there is called Larklife and for now, at least, it works exclusively with iOS devices. It’s a splash-resistant (but not waterproof) band that has a pedometer inside, counting your steps throughout the day. It can also tell how long you sleep each night, as well as how long it takes you to nod off. There’s even a vibrating alarm built into the band — something we first saw on the Up earlier this year. (As it happens, Lark’s earlier products were sleep aids, so the inclusion of this feature actually makes a lot of sense.) As for monitoring your dietary habits, Larklife doesn’t automatically track your food intake, but the app does include a food diary where you can manually enter your meals.

Additionally, Larklife uses Bluetooth Smart to automatically sync with your iPhone so that you don’t have to plug the band into a PC just to update your fitness stats. (The new Fitbit trackers work this way this too.) Additionally, the band uses a proprietary technology that can discern when you’re running or walking, which means the app will log workouts even if you forget to enter them. The last intriguing bit is that the app dishes out smart, contextually aware advice. Didn’t get much sleep last night? Larklife will remind you to eat more protein than usual at breakfast, so that you have enough energy to get you through the day. The app also rewards good behavior in the form of iOS notifications and colorful on-screen badges, though competing products admittedly take a very similar approach when it comes to keeping users motivated.

Larklife is up for pre-order starting today, and is priced at $150 — a rather large premium over the new Fitbit One, which will sell for $100. As for precise availability, all we know is that retailers will start stocking Larklife “before the holidays.” Whether that means Halloween, Thanksgiving or some gift-giving celebration will be revealed some other day.

Continue reading Larklife fitness tracker syncs your data over Bluetooth, knows when you’re running instead of walking

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Larklife fitness tracker syncs your data over Bluetooth, knows when you’re running instead of walking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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