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CES 2015

Wearable Technology

Smart Pacifier Helps Track Your Baby’s Health

January 6, 2015

Pacifi Smart PacifierWhile not usually considered haute couture, I guess you could call the ubiquitous pacifier our first fashion accessory. At CES this week Blue Maestro unveiled “My First” wearable device in the form of Pacifi, a smart pacifier. The silicone pacifier features an integrated thermometer and bluetooth transmitter. It connects to an app on your smartphone and monitors your baby’s temperature. The real time reading is shown on your phone and can be shared with a doctor. If your child is sick, the app can also remind you to administer medication. No one wants to lose a $39 pacifier (or the child attached to it), so the app also alerts you if you are more than 30 feet away from the device, stores its last known location, and can emit an alarm from the pacifier. Since oral temperature readings are not always the most accurate, Blue Maestro has allowed for Pacifi to be calibrated against a more accurate thermometer. Pacifi is classified as medical equipment and will go on sale following regulatory approval, which is expected in Europe shortly and during the first half of 2015 in the US.

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by Doug Parker
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Hexoskin Junior
Clothing

Hexoskin Launches Shirt For Kids

January 6, 2015

Hexoskin JuniorFor the obsessive parent, or overachieving youth, Hexoskin has announced the launch of a junior sized version of their activity monitoring shirt. If you have a child that demands to know what their VO2 Max is, then this is the device for you (look how happy the kid in the press photo looks). Just like the adult version, the Hexoskin Junior monitors heart rate variability, heart rate recovery, breathing volume, and breathing rate in addition to steps, calories, and sleep. The shirt has wires integrated into the fabric that monitor your vital information and relay it to a small box on the shirt. The box can either store the information for later or stream it via Bluetooth 4.0 to your mobile device. Hexoskin Junior is on sale. You can purchase it as a starter kit for $379 that includes everything you need or if you already have a Hexoskin “box” you can purchase the shirt for $149.

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by Doug Parker
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Watches

Withing’s Analog Fitness Tracker Now For Less

January 6, 2015

Withings Activite Pop

How do you feel about saving $300 on a device and not loosing any functionality? Well, then Withings’ Activité Pop is for you. Functionally identical to its $450 brother, the $150 Activité Pop sheds the leather band and high-end black or white watch faces for silicone and colors (sand, black, and blue). Like the original, the tracker is practically indistinguishable from a traditional time piece. The analog dial and appropriately sized face make the Activité family look like plain old analog watch. The only giveaway is a smaller second dial that shows your progress towards your daily activity goal. Inside, the device couldn’t be more different from your traditional analog watch. Activité monitors your sleeping, swimming, running, and walking and has a vibrating alarm to gently wake you. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth 4.0 and automatically adjusts to time changes. Perhaps the killer feature that will drive the Activité Pop onto users’ wrists is an astonishing 8 month battery life through a traditional, replaceable watch battery. That combined with an understated design and reasonable price could mean that the Activité Pop has was it takes to be a break out hit for Withings. Head past the break for Withings’ launch video:

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by Doug Parker
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Watches

HTC’s Upcoming Wrist Worn Wearable Not A Smartwatch

December 11, 2014

HTC Non Smartwatch WearableHTC has been publicly contemplating entering the wearable tech market for almost a year. The company has now disclosed that it will announce a wrist worn wearable at CES this January, but it is not a smartwatch. In fact, HTC says it is unlike any device on the market. This is the latest chapter of HTC disclosing things probably before they should. In February, HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang said that the company would launch a smartwatch by year end. But in September it came out that the smartwatch had been canceled. A month later HTC stated that the postponed device would launch in 2015. Now we find out the wearable is something other than what HTC considers a smartwatch. Hopefully the confusion is not a sign of turmoil, but instead an indicator that HTC really wants to get this right. In October the head of HTC America, Jason Mackenzie, had this to say: “When we come to market with our product we want to make sure the product has a strong point of view and there is a really compelling reason to strap it on your wrist.”

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by Doug Parker
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