Hasta La Gadget!

[CES 2014] Pebble is mostly known as one of the top Kickstarter campaigns that raised over $10.2 million from over 68,000 backers in 37 days back in April 2012. According to the company, over 300,000 Pebble Smart Watches have been shipped to date. (more…)

Pebble Steel SmartWatch with New Apps original content from Ubergizmo.

[CES 2014] The wearable device trend is catching on, which is why we’re seeing the market inundated with various gadgets that latch onto the human body and try to make our lives easier. Garmin has announced one such product today. Called the Vívofit, it is billed as a stylish and lightweight fitness band which has been designed to “turn good intentions into lifelong habits.” It happens to be the only fitness band available right now that greets users with a personalized daily goal, then continues to track their progress and remind when when its time to move around to achieve those goals. It displays steps, calories, distance, time of day and goal countdown on a curved display that is always on. (more…)

Garmin Announces Vívofit, A Stylish And Lightweight Fitness Band original content from Ubergizmo.

[CES 2014] This is the year of the wearable and finally a company is trying to make a connected band really sexy!  The June by Netatmo is a  bracelet equipped with a jewel sensor that  connect to the iPhone to monitor sun exposure. This smart piece of jewelry is dedicated to women who want to track their daily UV exposure to avoid sunburn and premature ageing… (more…)

June by Netatmo: Connected Bracelet with Jewel UV Sensor original content from Ubergizmo.

The rise of mobile has given me so much: 24/7 connections with friends around the world, information exactly when I need it, the ability to track my fitness and health goals. Unfortunately, it’s also given me a complex about my giant sausage fingers and their constant inability to navigate the tiny keys on my smartphone’s slippery touchscreen. Sometimes I think I should have just bought a BlackBerry.

When I read about Haloband on their Kickstarter page, I felt like the Shanghai-based startup was speaking directly to me: “Everyone has trouble in locking and unlocking smartphones. The frequency usually hurts phones’ screen and keys, as well as our hearts. So we decided it’s time to do something.”

Haloband is a silicone wristband embedded with an NFC chip and lets you operate your choice of functions by tapping your Android smartphone on your wrist. It’s also linked to a cloud account, which means you can save your ID as well as information to share with other mobile devices. After setting up your wristband with the Haloband app, you can use it to unlock your phone, take photos or send emergency alerts, among other options. To get an idea of what Haloband can do, watch their hilarious Kickstarter video embedded above (“I’m from the future. If you scan my wrist, you can get my business card information. This is my information, from my wrist, on your phone. Because I’m from the future.”)

For those of you who think Haloband is pointless (and I’ve seen a few comments saying that), the wristband can be helpful for people with repetitive stress injuries and other issues with their hands. I have RSI that affects my wrists and thumbs, and I can see some of Haloband’s functions making my smartphone use a little easier when I have a flare-up of pain. It looks like there are plenty of people who agree with me about its usefulness–the project has already raised almost double its $10,000 goal on Kickstarter and its early bird specials are closed, but you can still select from several options, starting from just $25 for a black or white Haloband. Funding closes on Jan. 16 and the bands are scheduled to ship in February.

Haloband was developed by a Shanghai-based team that includes a former Intel engineer and focuses on NFC technology. They plan to release an open API so other developers can create their own Haloband apps and help smartphone users wrist easy (rimshot).

There has been a lot of speculation about Google Glass and when the company is finally going to open it up to the public. The first wave of Glass units were offered for sale to select “Explorers.” Over the past year Google gradually opened up its Explorer program to more and more people. Earlier this week the company allowed Google Play Music All Access subscribers to purchase Glass, a sign that its gearing for a public launch. It is expected that Google Glass might be launched for the public in April 2014, and that it may be priced at $600.

There’s no doubt in the fact that Google can’t charge for Glass what it requires Explorers to pay for their units, $1,500. The average consumer is probably not going to want to pay an exuberant amount for a smart glass, despite the fact that it is probably one of the most hyped wearable device out there. The price of Google’s wearable device has been debated a lot, some believe it is imperative for the company to keep it under $500 if it wants to attract the average consumer. Robert Scoble hears that its more likely for Glass to be priced around $600, what effect that would have on prospective buyers, only time will tell.

Google Glass Price Expected To Be $600 original content from Ubergizmo.