Hasta La Gadget!

A unique, nicely designed fitness wearable just hit Indiegogo. Called the Digi-Care ERI, this Shenzhen-made wearable can track your steps and, most interestingly, trace your activity route using a magnetic sensor rather than GPS, allowing you to see where you’ve been without reducing battery life.

The device comes in multiple candy colors and the company is looking for $50,000 in funding. They’re selling early-bird models for $39 and expect to sell the final product for $99.

I saw the device at the TechCrunch/Technode event in Shanghai and was duly impressed. While I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the location tracking, the company claims they can get one month of battery life out of one charge and that it can sense different activities including cycling, walking, and running. The company is also offering an open SDK to allow programmers to access various data points including temperature as well as build notifications and NFC interaction into the system.

Will they ship? The company said they product was ready and working and they demoed it live. It looks like a more angular Fitbit Force and has a bright OLED screen. In a world full of wristlets, it’s nice to see someone going a slightly different direction.

So far, development on Glass has been extremely limited by the tools put in the hands of app creators. Namely the Mirror API with its constant need for an internet connection and limited functionality. The newly released Glass Development Kit (or at least an extremely early version of it) puts many more arrows in the quiver of coders. For one, apps can be built completely for offline use and can now directly access to Glass’ hardware. This will allow Glassware to be made with the same capabilities as Google’s own creations. It also introduces a few new features, including “live cards” which, like Windows Live Tiles, feature constantly updating information. Where as the static timeline cards live to the right of the home screen on Glass, live cards are found with a swipe to the left. Exercise app Strava has a demo version of an app that keeps details about your jog or bike ride constantly updating on a live card, including distance and speed.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Source: The Verge, TechCrunch

Nike is betting that maybe one or two snowboarders like to showboat. So if you’re more corkscrew, than chicken salad, the firm’s LunarENDOR QS boots — complete with 30 LED swoosh — might catch your eye. If not, they’ll certainly catch everyone else’s as you tear down those nighttime black runs. Back in daylight, you can save power by switching off via the power button on the cuff. That said, we know any self-respecting, gear-loving riders out there will have enough juice to keep their whole techno-shredding set-up going all day. You’ll have to wait until mid-December though before you can pull on your regular sneaks and head to a store to get a set.

Filed under: Wearables

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Via: Onboard

Source: Nike

When we first heard about the Adidas Smart Run, we were more than a little eager to try it out. If you’re both a techie and a runner, then the boatload of sensors (GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, heart-rate monitor, accelerometer) and feature list (Android, real-time coaching, custom workouts) should have you pretty excited, too. Why? Well, until now sports gadgets fell into three distinct categories. There were the wearable fitness trackers — the FuelBands, Jawbones and Fitbits of the world. Then, there were the watches that measure your heart rate and use GPS to track distance (think Garmin, Polar, et cetera). Lastly, there’s everything else that a runner might want to see them through the session: MP3 players, motivational apps (Zombies, Run!), foot-pod and so on. The prospect of having all this in one manageable device? What’s not to like?

The Adidas miCoach Smart Run — to use its full name — arrives at an interesting time, too. Firstly, it was announced on the coattails of two other high-profile Android-based watches (the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Sony SmartWatch 2). Secondly, it made it to market shortly before Nike’s new FuelBand SE sports tracker. The Smart Run may have an impressive spec sheet, and equally robust $399 price tag, but does it show the competition how a timepiece is done in 2013? Or is it just an exercise in box-ticking? We spent more than a few hours (and miles) with it to find out.%Gallery-slideshow121831%

Filed under: Wearables

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In an attempt to end speculation surrounding the popularity of its Galaxy Gear, Samsung has shared its smartwatch sales figures for the first time, and they might surprise you. Reuters reports that the company’s Android-powered wearable has sold 800,000 units since its launch in September, surpassing its own expectations and setting straight recent reports that pegged worldwide South Korean sales at 50,000 units.

To stimulate sales, Samsung has offered plenty of incentives to buy the Galaxy Gear by bundling it with the Galaxy Note 3, with some UK carriers offering the smartwatch for free if they purchased the 5.7-inch smartphone on a two-year contract. Samsung believes the Gear is now the “most sold wearable watch available in the marketplace,” which, if true, would put it ahead of efforts from Pebble and Sony. As the holidays approach, the company says it will offer more Galaxy Gear promotions as it builds out future support for more of its smartphones, adding to its recent software update that brought all of your notifications to the device.

Update: The Verge reports that while Reuters is noting consumer sales, Korean publication Yonhap believes Samsung may actually be reporting shipments to retailers. The same report also suggested Samsung’s 50,000 “worldwide” Gear sales were in South Korea only.

Filed under: Wearables, Software, Mobile, Samsung

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Reuters