The rumored iWatch has cropped up in a variety of tips and rumors over the past months, with the latest one surfacing today by way of Brian White, a Cantor Fitzgerald analyst who has grabbed some details about the fabled Apple smartwatch from unnamed sources. According to White, the iWatch will function as a home […]
The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a nifty — if not limited — little gadget, supplementing one’s smartphone with a bit of wearable convenience. The folks over at ars technica have given it a spin in a different way, however, sideloading regular Android apps onto it and finding it fairly capable of running them. Not all […]
Fitbits, FuelBands, and Jawbones don’t matter and neither does their data unless they make us healthier. That’s why Basis wants to build a platform that unites our fragmented quantified self data and mines it for healthy ways to improve our behaviors. So today Basis announced an $11.75 million extension of its Series B and the hire of Ethan Fassett, former head of platform at gaming giant GREE.
The idea of a health data hub isn’t new. The promise is that instead of having one piece of software for each of our devices, all our data flows into a central repository where insights can be gleamed that no single piece of hardware could provide. But all attempts have failed. Even Google couldn’t make it work. But Basis CEO Jef Holove thinks he knows why: They didn’t start with hardware people loved and needed.
That’s where Basis’ own multi-sensor wristwatch comes in. While Fitbit, the Nike FuelBand, and the Jawbone Up just use accelerometers to track your steps and overall physical activity, Basis also tracks your heart rate, perspiration level, skin temperature and more. It’s bigger and costs more, but does a lot more too.
Until now, the Basis has been back-ordered. But now the company has finally worked through its “high five-digits” waiting list and is starting to openly sell the Basis B1 watch to the public for $199.
The watch hooks into Basis’ software that collects all your data. But beyond the typical charts and graphs whose novelty wears off because they don’t really tell you much, Basis crunches its multi-sensor data to provide more serious health insights. It can give you actionable suggestions for how to modify your behavior, and encourage you to keep exercising, This combats the number one problem with fitness devices, which is that people stop wearing them because they don’t feel like they’re getting any real value out of it.
What could make those suggestions even better is data more other non-Basis devices and apps. So Basis plans to build a device-agnostic platform with Fassett’s experience and part of the $11.75 million it raised from Intel Capital (which will help it bolster its supply chain to crank out watches faster), iNovia Capital, Dolby Family Trust, Stanford University, and Peninsula-KCG, as well as previous investors Norwest Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, and DCM. The funding expands the $11.5 million Series B that Basis raised in March, bringing it to a total of $32.3 million in venture capital.
Holove explains that “The platform we’re building is intended to be open. There’s no reason we couldn‘t have complementary devices contribute data and make habits out of that data.”
Becoming the central quantified self hub brings all sorts of opportunities, both to make the human race healthier and to make a lot of money, so it’s no wonder Basis was able to raise again. With its platform pre-populated with data from its own watch, Basis may have the gravity to attract data from other devices. And there are plenty of other devices on the way.
Beyond helping the Basis watch distinguish itself from other health hardware, its extra sensors and software are critical to it surviving the coming onslaught of smartwatches from Pebble Samsung, LG, Sony…and likely Google and Apple. Most have or will have accelerometers and be able to serve as rudimentary fitness trackers. They could make Fitibit obsolete.
The question is whether smartwatches will give so many of us a compelling reason to buy them that the industry can support a half dozen manufacturers or more. I’m skeptical. Most smartwatches seem to just make what we already do with our phones a tiny bit easier. Gee thanks, it now takes two hands to answer a phone call? One with the watch strapped to it, and one to press the buttons? That doesn’t sound worth my dollars yet.
Basis’ Holove agrees, telling me “If we’re going to ask consumers to wear technology, it must do something magical because you’re wearing it, that’s fundamentally impossible if you’re not wearing it. And I think smartwatches miss this.”
Basis couldn’t be in your pocket like a phone with an accelerometer. It has to be on your wrist to get the rest of its readings. And since Basis doesn’t just collect data but uses it to enhance your lifestyle, Holove says “When they look at it, the value is very clear. People know why they’re buying us.”
So you’d like to track your child’s whereabouts without surgically inserting a GPS chip into their neck, would you? You’re in luck – there’s a device out there by the name of FiLIP, and the team at AT&T have decided to bring it to their realm of devices. You’ll find this machine to take on […]
This week the folks at Xiaomi have been reported to conjure up the next smartwatch in the ever-growing market category of interest, perhaps taking cue from their recently Google-employed Vice President of Xiaomi Global Hugo Barra. Android’s next move to version 4.4 Kitkat has been tipped to be bringing on features that scale especially well […]
“After all these years, it’s finally real.” Samsung has kicked off its advertising campaign for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and it’s calling on the heritage of all the more memorable fictional forebears to remind us just how high-tech the wearable is. Samsung’s new “Evolution” campaign – and a second spot, called “A Long Time Coming” […]
Even Samsung thinks its Galaxy Gear is anachronistic – at least if the commercials are to be believed. New ads for the new Samsung Galaxy Gear that popped up on the company’s official YouTube page this weekend are supposed to be an exercise in wish-fulfillment, but they end up showing off a company and design mentality that’s been stuck in the same gear for 20 or 30 years.
As you can see, Samsung is pulling out nostalgia strings in these new ads, counting down the best sci-fi wrist-mounted communication tech from Star Trek, Knight Rider, The Jetsons and Might Morphin’ Power Rangers to remind us that we’ve always secretly wanted to talk into our wrists and be heard and understood by others. Except that what comes across isn’t how Samsung has finally been able to deliver this space-aged tech to a populace that’s been waiting for it for ages; instead, we see how dated this concept is, and how hilarious and awkward it looks with cheesy sets, bad special effects and costumes that definitely don’t scream ‘modern’ or ‘contemporary.’
By all accounts, the Galaxy Gear is a first attempt that pretty clearly misses the mark for what a smartwatch ultimately should be, and consumers don’t seem all that energized by the concept, at least not based on local evidence here in London. Per CNET UK editor Jason Jenkins:
Samsung Galaxy Gear & Note 3 stand at Waterloo not exactly overwhelmed with people http://t.co/CYmb0gzWds—
Jason Jenkins (@jenkojenkins) October 03, 2013
And again later:
Still no love for the Galaxy Note 3/ Gear stand at Waterloo this morning http://t.co/tiVqBon9Tj—
Jason Jenkins (@jenkojenkins) October 04, 2013
These ads do a good job of taking those of us old enough to remember the shows in them on a trip through memory lane, but in no way does that make me want to strap something to my wrist and start talking to it. And call me crazy, but I can pretty much guarantee that each of those devices depicted in these fictional TV shows got more than a day’s worth of use on a full battery charge, too.
Hear that? It’s the weekend, barreling down the tracks of time. Let’s stop that metaphor right there before we all start reflecting on the meaning of existence, and instead focus on the gadgets that went on sale this week! From the new to the newly-revamped to the somewhat puzzling, this week brought plenty of gizmos to consider. Stop wasting your life and read on!
     |
This year we’ve heard more than a couple whispers – and straight up confirmations – from and about Nokia’s wearable device prospects. Today we’re seeing a couple of views of a device that may well bring the company in to the smartwatch universe. This miniature watch-face-sized piece of equipment has appeared overseas in what we […]
Not content with its current range of fitness wearables, Fitbit is set to unveil an updated version of its Flex tracking device called the Fitbit Force. As spotted by The Verge, the Force will introduce a number of features that were omitted from the Flex but are present in its popular One tracker clip. One such feature is an altimeter that calculates your current altitude and the number of steps you have climbed over a 24-hour period. The second is that the Force will offer a digital watch face, effectively turning it into a fitness-focused smartwatch. This feature will give it an edge over some of its wearable rivals — most notably the Jawbone Up.
Although Fitbit has yet to announce its new product, the company has been taking steps to update its website, uploading a sizing guide for black and slate models of the wristband, as well as early listings for replacement clasps (which have since been removed). We were able to access some of Fitbit’s promotional material, which highlights the Force’s different measurements metrics, and have included some of them in the gallery below. Apparently the Force will be priced at $129.95, $30 more than the Flex, when it goes on sale — but when that is, only time will tell.
Filed under: Wearables
Via: The Verge
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
