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Fitbit

Oral Roberts University Tulsa Oklahoma Christian Physical Fitness Requirement Fitbit Charge Activity Tracker
Wearable Technology

University Monitoring Students’ Activity With Fitbits

Oral Roberts University Tulsa Oklahoma Christian Physical Fitness Requirement Fitbit Charge Activity Tracker

Activity trackers are a great way to quantify your life and motivate you to move more, but how would you feel if you were graded based off of that information? Freshman at Oklahoma’s Oral Roberts University are about to find out; they will be among the first to have their fitness data tracked by a school – that information will then contribute directly towards their grades. Fitbit fitness trackers will be issued to first year students as part of the school’s required physical fitness course. Besides classroom teachings, the class has a weekly activity minimum that students must meet or exceed. Up until now students were held by the honor code to accurately manually monitor aerobic activities. Using a hand-logged journal not only was that likely tedious, but we would guess students were often a bit “generous” in what they recorded. Using a monitored account, the school will collect information on daily movement, weekly activity, and heart rate (but not weight). The requirements will be 10,000 steps a day and 150 minutes of activity per week at 60 to 80 percent of their range for heart rate. If a student doesn’t accomplish these minimums it will directly influence their grade.  

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Fitbit Alta Connected Fitness Activity Tracker Notifications smartwatch
Wearable Technology

Fitbit Alta Is Company’s Most Connected Activity Tracker

Fitbit Alta Connected Fitness Activity Tracker Notifications smartwatch

Fitbit has had a huge past year; not only has the company gone public but it also has reached a point of popularity that counterfeits are being smuggled into the US. Last month at CES the wearable producer expanded their lineup with their first true smartwatch-like device, the Blaze. Now the company is revealing their most connected fitness tracker ever, the Fitbit Alta. While Fitbit makes compelling fitness trackers, anyone looking for smartwatch-like connectivity in a tracker needed to look at other brands. The new Alta model should solve that; if you have been in the market for a Fitbit, this is probably the device you have been waiting for!

The most notable change with the Fitbit Alta is the screen. Gone is the microscopic display that has almost become iconic for the brand. It has been replaced with a touch sensitive monochrome OLED display that is almost as large as the front of the wearable. This large screen finally enables Fitbit to have true push notifications including calls, texts, and calendar events. The are also multiple watch faces baked into the tracker which can be displayed either landscape or vertically. The watch face isn’t the only way Fitbit is allowing you to customize the device. The Alta promises to be the company’s most fashionable device to date. Despite a few notable partnerships, such as with designer Tory Burch, most Fitbits are relegated to the company’s rather unsightly rubber bands. The Alta has been designed to be easily swappable between bands with connectors on either end which allow interchangeable bands to slide on. While the Fitbit Alta will initially ship with the company’s traditional elastomer band, it has already announced both leather and metal bands are forthcoming and that there will be a line of gold and Tory Burch accessories for the Alta.

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Fitbit Blaze Color Touch Screen Fitness Activity Tracker Smartwatch
Watches

Fitbit Announces Blaze Touchscreen Fitness Wearable

Fitbit Blaze Color Touch Screen Fitness Activity Tracker Smartwatch

It is no secret that Fitbit had a huge Holiday season this year. Following the Christmas holiday, the free Fitbit app jumped into the top 15 of the App Store, where it remains almost 2 weeks later. This is a pretty solid predictor of just how many Fitbits were gifted. While the publicly traded company seems to be maintaining its popularity, their devices are starting to feel a bit dated. Their most connected device (the Surge) still has a monochrome display and is clearly marketed (and priced) for the running enthusiast. The company’s other offerings are a huge step down in connectivity, offering, at best, a tiny, single line, text display.  To kick off the new year, Fitbit has upped the ante and is introducing the new Fitbit Blaze. The Blaze is a color touchscreen device designed for fitness and everyday use. It offers several watch faces, rich notifications, music controls, a heart rate monitor, activity tracking, and auto sleep and workout tracking. The device also is able to utilize your phone’s GPS to track your runs and offers guided workouts via the company’s FitStar service. Blaze is basically a small square module that can be popped out and moved between bands; it ships with a rubber sports band but you can purchase additional straps including leather and link metal ones. The $199.95 device is compatible with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone and has a 5 day battery life. You can preorder the Blaze now and it is expected to hit retail shelves in March.  

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Jawbone Up For Groups
Business

Jawbone Sues Fitbit Over Theft Of Confidential Info

Fitbit Jawbone Data Theft Suit

Fitbit has been sued by one of its top competitors over allegations of theft of confidential information. Jawbone filed papers at San Francisco Superior Court claiming that Fitbit poached 15 employees that are thought to of or are under suspicion of copying important documents onto thumb drives as they were exiting the company. Following Fitbit trying to recruit over 30% of Jawbone’s employees, Jawbone is claiming Fitbit has been engaged in a covert effort to steal talent, intellectual property, and trade secrets. The thumb drives in question are said to contain information on supply chain, market predictions, financials, and product roadmaps. For its part Fitbit is claiming that the allegations are baseless and that they are “unaware of any confidential or proprietary information of Jawbone in our possession.” Jawbone is seeking unspecified financial compensation for its losses and a bar on further poaching of employees. News of the lawsuit comes as Fitbit prepares for its IPO.

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Fitbit IPO Filing
Watches

Fitbit Preparing for IPO

Fitbit IPO Filing

In a sign that wearable devices are perhaps about to hit a tipping point, Fitbit has filed a S-1 form announcing its intention to go public. Fitbit, which exclusively produces fitness tracking devices, had a stellar 2014. The company saw a 144% rise in revenue year-over-year and a 441% increase in profit, selling almost 11 million devices versus 4.5 million in 2013. Fitbit also saw a 1580% increase in users paying for its digital trainer service. These numbers certainly are impressive, especially versus 2013, but are they sustainable?

Despite owning 62% of the U.S. fitness tracker market, NPD analysts believe that sales will peak at 32 million devices next year and begin diminishing. This issue isn’t one of popularity for wearables, but instead redundant features. Wrist-worn wearables fall into one of three categories: fitness tracker, sports performance, and smartwatch.  

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Wearable Technology

WIRED Explores The Secret To Making A Wearable That People Will Actually Want

Tory Burch Fitbit

It is no secret that while the designers at Nike, Fitbit, Pebble, Samsung, and Google are able to cram an impressive amount of technology into devices that are wearable, those devices are hardly aesthetically pleasing.  Up to this point, any mass market wearable technology more complex than a digital watch has been more utilitarian than fashionable.  In a WIRED article by Liz Stinson, she explores several possible downfalls.  One issue arises from the lack of fashion conscious, ground up design.

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