Hasta La Gadget!

One of the features of smartwatches, apart from being able to tell the time and receive notifications, is usually the inclusion of health-related features. What this means that certain smartwatches will be able to track certain parts of your workout, like the distance you have run, the speed at which you have ran, calories burnt, heart rate, and so on. According to the rumors, Apple’s rumored iWatch is said to be packed full of health-related features, which is why a recent report from TechCrunch on how Apple might be interested in acquiring a fitness smartwatch company might not be such a stretch of the imagination.

The company in question is called Basis Science, who has been responsible for the creation of the Basis Health Tracker Watch. According to TechCrunch, the company is apparently actively looking for buyers for its health tracking smartwatch business over the past few weeks, and Apple has been named as one of the companies that might be interested in them. Apple is apparently not alone in expressing their interest as reportedly companies such as Google could be interested as well. With rumors that Google could be looking to launch a smartwatch of their own as well, their interest in the company is also somewhat believable. Apart from Apple and Google, the rumors claim that Samsung and Microsoft could be interested as well. Take these rumors with a grain of salt for now, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for additional details.

Basis Science Reportedly Looking To Sell Themselves To Tech Companies original content from Ubergizmo.

We’re sure many are curious as to what Apple’s iWatch could feature as Apple is a company many love to watch whether you love them or hate them. Many are also curious as to what the iWatch might pack under the hood to help distinguish it from the competition. After all having the same functionality as the Pebble or Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch will probably not do Apple any favors. That being said, in a report from NetworkWorld, it has been discovered that Apple might have recently hired the former CTO of Ceracor, Marcelo Malini Lamego as part of their R&D team. Based on Lamego’s specialties, many have speculated that his talents will go towards helping Apple with their iWatch.

Lamego is credited with over 70 patents and patent applications related to sensors and patient monitoring, however some believe that Lameog’s work on Rainbow, a non-invasive monitoring tool that can track several blood and physiological parameters at the same time, might be of interest to Apple. In the past, Apple has hired several health experts whom are believed to help contribute their expertise to the iWatch. Based on these hirings, it would seem that Apple’s iWatch is shaping up to be a somewhat complex medical/health device. A recent report, however, suggests that the iWatch might not be as complex as we think it is, and that Apple’s hiring of these experts are to ensure that readings provided by the iWatch are accurate. Make what you will of Apple’s latest hire but until we hear from Apple, all we can do is speculate.

Apple Hires Another Biometrics Expert For Its iWatch original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple’s making a smartwatch. By now that’s a foregone conclusion. What we don’t know, though, is what an iWatch will be. Although the people who are making it might offer us some clues.

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The Samsung Galaxy Gear does not come cheap, especially for a device that is in a relatively new market. At the same time it isn’t prohibitively expensive either, but with so many different smartwatches to choose from, perhaps Samsung could be looking at price as a differentiating factor for future Galaxy Gear devices. This is according to a new set of rumors which seems to suggest that Samsung could be feeling the pressure from the rumors that Apple could be prepping a smartwatch of their own called the iWatch and because of that, they could be thinking of lowering the price of the Galaxy Gear 2.

According to the rumors, it has been suggested that Apple could price their iWatch at $299 which is the same price of the Galaxy Gear when it was first released. It is because of that that Samsung could be thinking of dropping the price of the Galaxy Gear 2 in order to make it a more attractive alternative piece of technology to the iWatch. Price is undoubtedly a factor many take into consideration when purchasing a gadget, but features matter too, so perhaps if the Galaxy Gear 2 were to be as impressive as the iWatch, then perhaps Samsung could beat out Apple on price. Either way take it with a grain of salt for now, but what do you guys think?

Galaxy Gear 2 Rumored To Be Priced Lower Than iWatch original content from Ubergizmo.

Apple is seeking physiologists to join its team, according to a new call for job applicants discovered by 9to5Mac today. The position on offer is for a “User Studies Exercise Physiologist,” and seeks a candidate who will be responsible for creating and conducting studies “related to cardiovascular fitness & energy expenditure, including calories burned, metabolic rate, aerobic fitness level measurement/tracking” and more.

At the very end of the listing, Apple also notes that the right candidate will not only need to gather and research this kind of data, but also “apply relevant knowledge to the design of products and their testing/validation through user studies.”

The new job listing comes hot on the heels of a report earlier this week from 9to5Mac about Apple hiring a sleep research expert away from Philips, and the Jan. 31 report from the website about Apple working on a new dedicated health app called “Healthbook” for possible inclusion in its next major iOS iteration, iOS 8. 9to5Mac speculates that these, combined with recent reports that top Apple execs are meeting with the FDA, confirm the company’s intent to enter the health and fitness product market, and that an iWatch riddled with biometric sensors could be the first such device to come to market.

So far, Apple has kept mum on all speculation regarding a potential iWatch or any upcoming changes to iOS 8. But Apple CEO Tim Cook did at least acknowledge that “the wrist is interesting” and “natural” in terms of the wearable category, but also that there’s nothing really compelling already out there in the market to convince an average consumer who doesn’t wear something on their wrist to invest in wearable tech. I’ve argued in the past that the problem with current wearable tech is that none of it offers something you necessarily miss deeply when you forget it or it runs out of battery for a day; Apple may be trying to change that with all this focus on health-related hires, research and development.

At this point, there’s no question in my mind that Apple has wearable tech far along in the product pipeline. But unlike competitors including Samsung, it will never release anything half-baked, so it could be a while yet before we see anything launch, despite the growing number of signals that point to an iWatch’s existence.

Image courtesy Todd Hamilton.