How Moov plans to deliver nearly $1M worth of wearables by July

Following the most successful fitness crowdfunding campaign to date, the team behind Moov is gearing up for batch two and making sure its wearable arrives in time for summer.

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At CES 2014, health monitors join the wearables parade

With three new lightweight, wearable medical devices, iHealth is hoping to give people the ability to monitor their health without needing large, ugly, obtrusive equipment.

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Intel dives into wearables with new smartwatch and headset devices

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich

(Credit:James Martin/CNET) Intel wants to prove that it's not just a PC company anymore.

As the world has shifted to devices for people on the go, the company is trying to make sure it keeps apace with the market. Chief Executive Brian Krzanich on Monday introduced a bevy of wearable related technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

One of the new wearables he showed off is a headset nicknamed Jarvis that can integrate with a personal assistant app on a phone without even touching it. Krzanich said it will work with an assistant that Intel is developing but will also work with an existing assistant. (Siri, anyone?). The other is a set of earbuds with biometric capabilities and gets power from a phone's headphone jack.

Oh, and he also mentioned a smart onesie for babies. It transmits the baby's breathing and other information to a connected coffee cup, which reflects the condition on a little digital display. The product line is made possible by the Intel Edison, a newly announced computing system inside an SD card that has WiFi and bluetooth connectivity, with an Intel processor and multicontroller core.

The company also introduced a smartwatch that has smart "geo-fencing" which, Krzanich says, has the capability to monitor the person who's wearing it from afar. One use case: in case of an emergency and a person steps out of the geo-fence, the watch can send out an alert. "You can imagine all kinds of applications," said Krzanich. Still, some consumers may have privacy concerns.

Related postsIntel kills off McAfee Security brandWearables are white-hot at CES 2014. So they're doomed, right?Hardware firm swaps in 8-core Intel CPU on Mac Pro; speed jumps And to try to keep the "wear" in wearable, the company has partnered with brands like Barney's New York and the Council of the Fashion Designers of America to collaborate on bringing future wearables to market.

The chipmaker is a Silicon Valley stalwart but hasn't always been on the cutting edge of innovation. Krzanich tried to change some of that perception during his keynote. The company has been working on what it calls "perceptual computing," which aims to help a computer sense what's going on around it by using methods like facial recognition, gestures and voice recognition.

The company has also shown a serious interest in Android, indicating that it wants to turn it into an operating system used more for just mobile screens, but devices like PCs, much like Windows is used. On Monday, Krzanich announced a dual Windows and Android processor. Users will be able to switch between the two operating systems with the switch of a button.

Earlier in the day, the company unveiled its first manifestation of perceptual computing: a 3D camera, part of a product line called Real Sense. The slim camera -- about the size of an index finger -- can do things like replace a subject's background during conference calling like a green screen would, or read gesturing to navigate through screens. At the keynote, Krzanich talked up a scanner that would be able to do a 3D scan of a physical object into a tablet.

Closing the keynote, Krzanich also announced that every Intel device is now "conflict free," no longer sourcing materials from war-torn regions like the Democratic Republic of the Congo to build chips for its processors.

Tags: Brian Krzanich, Intel, CES 2014, wearables

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Wearables are white-hot at CES 2014. So they're doomed, right?

Smartwatch will be in vogue at this year's show. Is that a bad thing for their makers?

(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- This year's Consumer Electronics Show will see dozens upon dozens of wearable technology products vie to become this year's breakout device.

And most -- if not all -- will be forgotten in the coming months.

That's because when all the booths are taken down, the convention lights are dimmed, and the last of the tech executives board their flights, we all finally escape the reality-distortion field that is Las Vegas and CES.

See also: CES 2014: What to expect

A look back at past confabs shows that the hot item at CES is a leading indicator of failure for the rest of that year. Remember how 3D televisions were supposed to be all the rage? Or when ultrabooks were a thing? Not only does garnering hype at CES not guarantee success, it's become almost an omen of ill fortune.

This year, it's universally agreed upon that wearable tech is the trend for CES, which means there will be a lot of also-rans and me-too products alongside a few gems that may or may not get noticed. The Consumer Electronics Show is a hectic and frenetic place -- we have only so much time to devote to any given product.

Chances are, that blockbuster product won't be found at the show.

"I do believe that we will have wearables that break through to mainstream consumers this year, and I'll be watching for it at CES, but I'm not necessarily expecting to find it," said Avi Greengart, an analyst for Current Analysis.

A stroll down memory lane

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Intel’s Vision: Wearables Everywhere In A Post-Windows World

At its CES-opening keynote Intel laid bare its vision for computing in the future. If Microsoft is remembered for the once Quixotic goal of ‘a computer on every desk,’ Intel has taken up the mantel of ‘a computer in every thing.’

Touting new hardware, new computing chips, and operating system agnosticism, Intel talked its way through gaming, sensors, smart gadgets, and more to draw the picture of its take on what is next for the technology industry.

At the core of its view is the idea of ‘smart,’ which is to say a regular item made intelligent through a firm dose of computing power. Its catalyst for this trasmorgification is the Edison, a full computer the size of an SD card. Available in the middle of this year, the Edison runs Linux, and can bring the power of computing into a plethora of new environments.

During its keynote, Intel showed off a few gadgets of its own provenance that contained roughly the same charisma as a bucket of warm spit; contained therein: an awkward headset more fit for a failed Star Trek competitor, a bowl that charged your devices in an unexplained manner, and a watch that did something.

But what Intel has in mind is the introduction of computing power everywhere, a fabric of intelligence woven into your daily life to quantify and understand and react and control your world. If you are even slightly chart-inclined, this is a future of information at the ready of scale you can scarcely imagine.

I would love to know the impact of my morning coffee on my heart rate provided a set of conditions from the previous night. If I was out late, does a four or five shot latte provide the best morning boost? What about the post-caffeine crash? Surely this could be looked into if the devices and brains that were integrated into my life became intelligent enough to tally their own scores, and, this is key, talk to the rest of my life’s trinkets.

And here we’ve come to it: You can’t create an endemic layer of sensor technology that needs to speak to its cohort in harmony, and intelligently enough to draw and explain inferences thereof without a set of firmware intelligent enough to keep the whole game in the air.

And the Edison runs Linux.

We’re in a slightly post-PC era in that the venerable PC in its desktop and laptop formats is losing ascendancy in certain use categories to tablets and other SKUs across old school computing needs. But what Intel is drawing is a future in which the very core fabric of our digital lives will be the passive collating of data, and in its view Windows is nowhere in sight. How can you run Windows on microcomputers that retail for a fraction of the cost of Windows to an OEM building a new PC?

And as you expect, the Edison contains an application store, and supports what Intel awkwardly called “app store programming.” So this is another potential oxygen leak for Microsoft’s yet nascent Windows 8.x operating system.

The Edison is not out yet, its market impact yet demonstrated, and its vision just that, an untested potential, but Intel has plans: A more than million dollar competition is in the works that will see developers walk away with six-figure checks for the best use of the Edison.

Ironically, the company in the best position to state that new hardware well-suited for hacking leads to developer interest is Microsoft itself, who had great success with its Kinect sensor in the homebrew community.

Your Platform, My Platform

The WinTel era is not over, but it’s certainly no longer the titanic force that it once was. Before, when Windows and Intel were lashed together, dominating the personal computing market as a duo full of vigor and vim, there was a shared symbiosis.

Now that Windows is seeing its device volume decline, and rival platforms such as Android laptops and Chrome-based netbooks eat at its device points, Intel is not surprisingly looking to new pastures.

The company did mention Windows in its keynote, but pivoted quickly (provided that my notes are on point here) to a discussion about its forthcoming Windows and Android dual operating system platform. I don’t think the venture has much in the way of legs, but the idea is simple: Bring users the platforms that already have the apps they want. And if Windows is going to lag its rivals, so be it.

This is, of course, a new blurring of the lines between the traditional and the mobile computing worlds, a trend that Microsoft is itself pressing with its Windows 8.x platform and shared Windows core that extends a similar user interface from desktops to tablets to phones to your television.

Towards the end of its talk, Intel brought Steam on stage to show off its Steam Machine hardware, which brings games into your living room. It’s a direct threat to the Xbox, in other words. The Steam rep was more than effusive about Intel. Oh, and Steam Machines run SteamOS, which is based on Linux.

So, Intel today was on about Linux an Android more than it was about Windows and other Microsoft products. To have such a long ally doodle up a picture of the future that all but excludes Microsoft is no subtle move.

Intel will continue to sell billions of dollars in chips to power PCs each year, but it is certainly not tying itself to the past. We already knew nearly all of this, but it’s important to note that even that those closest to Microsoft’s soul — Windows — are aware of its current weaknesses.

So, onward in the view of Intel, towards a smart world, where every object no matter how small is intelligent. Where Microsoft fits into that currently only has a single apparent answer in Intel’s future: It doesn’t.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

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CES 2014: Epson takes on fitness wearables with Pulsense wrist-worn sensors

Epson takes on fitness wearables with Pulsense wrist-worn sensors | News | TechRadar --> Mobile version2014-01-07T10:40:00ZMagsNewsletterRSS FeedsFollow @TechradarA Future Site ▼ TechRadarTechnology, testedSearch the siteSearch term:Log inJoinLog outHomeReviewsVideosPhonesTabletsCamerasComponentsComputingCar TechNewsDealsBundlesSave on broadband TrendingCES 2014PlayStation 4iPad AiriPad mini 2Nexus 5Windows 8.1Xbox OneThe Tip OffHomeNews by technologyEpson takes on fitness wearables with Pulsense wrist-worn sensorsEpson takes on fitness wearables with Pulsense wrist-worn sensorsCES 2014 In wristband and smart watch formsBy Michael Rougeau 7th Jan 2014 | 03:21Comments TweetYou, too, can look like her with Epson's PS-100 or PS-500Related storiesGoogle to debut new wearable camera tech designed for Helpouts at CESLG Lifeband Touch unveiled at CES 2014Intel promises to demo 'innovative wearables' at CES 2014

Epson, the company famous for printers and projectors (and smart glasses, more recently), is entering the fitness wearables market with the new "Pulsense" line of wrist-mounted devices.

The company announced the Pulsense devices at a pre-CES press conference on January 6.

The line will initially include two devices, both of which will launch in summer 2014: the $129 (about £78, AU$143) PS-100 wristband, and the $199 (about £121, AU$222) PS-500 smart watch.

They monitor wearers' heart rates, activity levels, calorie burn and sleep patterns, and store and track that data.

The four elements

Both Pulsense devices have cloud functions so users can track their fitness data between devices, and Epson also claims these devices have the longest battery life of any comparable devices available.

During the pre-CES presentation Epson describe the four elements it believes are necessary in successful wearables: sensors, mobile applications, data visualization, and "big data," with "analytics and algorithms needed to transform the data into meaningful information."

In other words, the Pulsense devices will track and store your data, give you valuable feedback, and interact with other devices.

One function of that connectivity is that when it fills up with data - after collecting 480 hours of heart rate data, for example - you'll dump that data onto a computer or smartphone so the Pulsense device can keep track over long periods of time without needing a massive amount of internal storage.

They're open source, too, so third-party devs like Digifit and Custom Fit 4 You will be able to have a go at making their own apps for the PS-100 and PS-500.

A history lesson

The company also gave CES attendees a history lesson, making the dubious claim that it invented wearable technology decades ago.

It began with Seiko Epson's Quartz Electronic watch, which the company says was the world's first sports watch. It was released in 1969.

Then, in 1985, Epson release a smart watch called the RC-20, with a 42 x 42 pixel display, a touch interface, and computer connectivity.

So apparently Epson is qualified for this sort of thing.

Good thing, because as a press release revealed, Epson has more smart products that "address the needs of the health, fitness and sports segments" in the works to be announced further on down the road.

We went hands-on with Epson's Moverio BT-200 smart glassesJoin TechRadar and get our weekly newsletter

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