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The Caeden Sona stress-fighting tracker caused me anxiety instead
It sounds like a great, if somewhat abstract, idea. The Caeden Sona is a gorgeous wristband with a heart rate monitor that constantly measures your pulse, in an attempt to gauge how you respond to stress. It then teaches you to build resilience to stress through daily focus and breathing exercises. I tried out the Sona for about a week and was ultimately so overwhelmed by its design flaws that I was, ironically, overcome by stress.
Broods used the Microsoft Band to create music-video magic
Microsoft is no stranger to collaborating with musicians to show off creative uses for its technology. With the Music x Technology project, the company has worked with acts like Big Grams, Neon Indian, KEXP, Phantogram and others to use its Kinect to enhance the musical experience for fans. I got a first-hand look at "Realiti: Inside the Music of Grimes" back at Moogfest in May, an exhibit that let fans remix parts of a song by interacting with a mesh surface. With the help of creative agency Listen, Microsoft teamed up with electropop duo Broods to produce a music video using the Microsoft Band.
Withings Body Cardio: A stylish scale for fussy health nuts
A scale is an odd thing to review. For one thing, it's one of the few gadgets you have to be completely naked to test. It also sends you down a rabbit hole of fitness tech, with too many apps and too many connected devices that do too many things. The Withings Body Cardio scale is emblematic of that, giving you your heart rate, body-fat ratio, bone mass, water mass, the weather (!) and something you never knew you needed called the "pulse wave velocity." Oh, and your weight.
Ralph Lauren made a great fitness shirt that also happens to be 'smart'
Ralph Lauren's PoloTech shirt is smarter than it looks. It's also more expensive. The tee combines the fashion label's preppy aesthetic with the ability to deliver live metrics (heart rate, breathing and steps) from the shirt to your iPhone. The tech built into it isn't completely new, but Polo has added extra value through a companion app that offers workouts tailor-made to how your body is reacting. Basically, then, your effort informs the workout. Recently, I fell out of love with wrist-based fitness trackers, but the eventual goal of those gadgets is to become something akin to Ralph Lauren's shirt: sportswear that you would have worn anyway, but smarter. There are some big caveats, but just as Nike's Fuelband helped catalyze the whole fitness tracker thing, the PoloTech shirt could be the start of yet another generation of fitness tech.
Consumer Reports backs Fitbit accuracy despite lawsuit
Given that there's a lawsuit over the accuracy of Fitbit trackers' heart rate monitors, you might be wondering how trustworthy those wearables really are. Should you buy a chest strap if you need to track your BPM? Not necessarily, if you ask Consumer Reports. It just retested both the Charge HR and Surge under more stringent conditions (additional arm locations and higher-impact workouts), and it found that both were effectively as accurate as a chest-based heart rate monitor. The only significant deviation was when using the Charge HR in particularly intense workouts, and even that could be fixed by wearing the wristband on the forearm.
Xiaomi's $16 fitness tracker gets a heart-rate monitor
Although it isn't readily available in the west, Xiaomi's Mi Band fitness tracker has helped the company account for a quarter of all wearables sold. Unveiled in July 2014, the low-cost rubberized bracelet monitors your activity levels and analyzes your sleep, but soon be able to track another important piece of biometric data: your heart rate. The Chinese technology company today announced the Mi Band Pulse, a $16 (£10) wearable that uses a light-based PPG (photoplethysmography) sensor to measure your body's blood flow.
Apple says the Watch's irregular heart rate tracking is intentional
When Apple trotted out its first update for the Watch, fitness mavens were alarmed at the suddenly inconsistent heart rate tracking. Did Cupertino break one of its wearable's signature features? Well, not quite. Apple has posted an updated support page that indicates the change in heart tracking was intentional. Instead of getting your beats per minute every 10 minutes regardless of what you're doing, its new default behavior is to check only when you're staying still. You can still make the Watch check on the move by using the heart rate Glance (above) or starting an activity in the Workout app, but the change risks creating gaps when you're strolling down the street.
Garmin's running watch finally tracks your heart rate by itself
Garmin is more than a little late to heart-tracking watches (even TomTom had one last year), but it's making up for that today. The company's new Forerunner 225 running watch has a built-in, Mio-developed heart monitor that saves you from buying a chest strap just to find out whether or not you're pumping blood at an ideal rate. You'll also get some of the perks of Garmin's nicer wristwear, such as step counting, an accelerometer for tracking indoor runs and data sharing with your smartphone. If you're eager to prep for a marathon with Garmin's help, you can pick up the 225 sometime this quarter (no later than June) for $300.
Parrot Zik Sport headphones do noise canceling, heart monitoring
Parrot's Zik 2.0 noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones may not be ideal for workouts, but fans may want to give the new Zik Sport a spin to get a similar experience. Granted, these are actually in-ears instead of the earcup type, but Parrot and Philippe Starck still managed to tuck in eight microphones -- six for noise-canceling, two for voice calls -- in addition to a heart rate sensor, pedometers and a five-hour battery (and this is with all the features turned on). That's a very impressive package given how much smaller these headphones are.
A Microsoft smartwatch could appear in weeks
Do you remember Spot? Well, that was Microsoft's very early smartwatch effort, lost in the mists of bygone technology. Finally, a long time coming, a more modern effort from the company is apparently on its way-- and coming soon. According to Forbes' anonymous sources, Microsoft's next smartwatch will be able to passively track your heart-rate (meaning less stress on the battery) and work across several mobile platforms. Both points make a lot of sense, but the latter could be especially important if Microsoft wants a hit: Windows Phone is still a very distant third to both Android devices and the iPhone. The rumored product could also explain why the heck Microsoft developed a smartwatch keyboard in the first place. We'll let you know more when we hear it.
Jaybird's readiness-sensing fitness tracker arrives October 26th
Want a fitness tracker that can tell you when it's time to get moving, rather than simply record your movements? You won't have to wait long. Jaybird has confirmed that its Reign wristband will reach the US on October 26th at the $199 price promised back in January. The key to the Reign is its "Go-Score," which estimates your readiness for activity based on your heart rate variability -- the higher the score, the better-suited you are to going for a run or bike ride. It's also one of the few trackers that can handle swimming alongside exercise and sleep, so this may be your wearable of choice if you regularly hit the pool. So long as you have an Android or iOS device to pair with, the Reign may be worth checking out if you feel that other activity devices don't cover enough ground.
Google Glass can tell if you're stressed
It's not always easy to tell when your stress levels are through the roof, and you may not always want to break out a heart rate sensor just to find out when it's time to relax. You might not have to, if researchers at Georgia Tech and MIT have their way; they've developed BioGlass, an Android app that uses Google Glass to determine how frazzled you are. The software measures your heart and breathing rates by checking for tiny movements picked up by Glass' accelerometer, gyroscope and front-facing camera. In theory, you'd only have to wear the smart eyepiece to know when it's time to calm down.
SMS Audio makes Intel's heart-rate tracking earbuds a reality
Back at CES, Intel showed off its smart earbud concept that matched tunes to your pulse, and now it's bringing similar tech to the masses. Thanks to a partnership with 50 Cent's SMS Audio, the heart-rate-tracking chops will hit the gym inside the headphone maker's new BioSport offering. Looking to "motivate and encourage" peak activity levels, the in-ear option packs a biometric optical sensor needed to monitor both physical exertion and relaxation. What's more, the audio add-on syncs the collected data with RunKeeper to keep tabs on progress, and as you might expect, the pair is IPX4 certified for sweat and water resistance. So how did the collaboration come about? Well, I had a chat with Intel's New Devices Group head Mike Bell and SMS Audio President Brian Nohe about just that.
LG Heart Rate Monitor Earphone review: good fitness gadget, poor earphones
Heart rate monitors are no longer the exclusive domain of fitness gadgets. The last 12 months have seen sensors make their way into smartphones and wearables, replacing for many of us the need for a standalone pulse monitor. The problem is a lot of these options have been unable to deliver accurate heart rate mesurements, partly because those sensors have to maintain contact with your skin; if they slip, then the readout skips. Maybe LG has the answer, then: Put heart rate monitoring technology into a pair of Bluetooth headphones. If you're like me and are constantly wired for sound during workouts, what could possibly be better? LG's Heart Rate Monitor earphones link to an iOS/Android app, with absolutely nothing burdening your wrists. LG's fitness app can even add your exercise sessions to a step counter, so long as you buy LG's optional Lifeband Touch fitness band. What's more, the app also integrates with other fitness apps like RunKeeper. It all sounds great on paper, but there's a problem: the headphones don't actually sound good. Let me explain.
WiFi tech lets scientists monitor your vital signs through walls
MIT's CSAIL lab has just taken its very cool but kinda creepy WiFi motion tracking to a new level: monitoring your vital signs from another room. Last we saw, the same researchers bounced low-powered WiFi signals (100x less than a home router) off of individuals to finely track their position behind a wall. The resulting 10cm (four inch) precision was nothing compared to what they can now do, however. Fancier algorithms enabled the system to approximate subjects' volumes within millimeters, and then calculate their breathing level by amplifying and observing the subtle changes over time. From breathing levels, the researchers could extrapolate heart rate with 99 percent accuracy -- something foreshadowed uncannily by earlier research. The tech may lead to non-invasive vital sign monitoring, more advanced baby monitors and other, more sinister, applications.
Leak hints the Galaxy S5 Mini will keep its bigger sibling's sensors
While many have been expecting Samsung to launch a mini version of the Galaxy S5 given the company's past habits, there have been questions about just what the smartphone would include. Would it be as hobbled as last year's S4 Mini? Maybe not. SamMobile has received photos of a purported Galaxy S5 Mini which hint that this smaller device could include the fingerprint and heart rate sensors of its full-size sibling, as well as the water-resistant shell. Not surprisingly, it would also share the Ultra Power Saving mode and other software tricks.
Samsung's mobile health app can now tell when you're stressed out
The Galaxy S5's heart rate sensor has mostly been handy for fitness gurus, but it's now helpful for the rest of us, too. Samsung has pushed out an update to S Health that uses the sensor to track stress levels; if your heart is racing after a bad day at work, you'll know. The app also tracks long-term trends, so it should be clear when you're overdue for a vacation. While S Health won't help you get rid of the annoying coworkers or personal dramas that cause stress, the app will at least make it clear that it's time to relax.
LG's Lifeband Touch and Heart Rate earphones coming May 18th (update: US pricing)
Though the internet was trolled recently with Apple's "biometric" earpods, LG's fitness-oriented Heart Rate earphones and Lifeband Touch are no joke. In fact, they're finally set to arrive next week in three sizes for $180 and $150 respectively, after being outed by various rumor sites and, of course, LG itself. The LifeBand looks much like we saw it then and most closely resembles Nike's Fuelband, though it has similar functionality to Samsung's Gear Fit and the FitBit Force. Activated by turning your wrist, it has a full-touch OLED display, 90mAh battery and a triple-axis accelerometer and altimeter. Those will let you track your exploits via Android or iOS apps like MyFitnessPal or Runkeeper, along with LG's own fitness app. You'll also see (and feel) incoming calls and messages, and can control music using the touch display.
This skin-sensitive controller ramps up game difficulty when you're bored
The concept of using your emotional state to alter gameplay is nothing new, but the technology to make that happen has frequently relied on cameras and other special add-ons. Stanford University's Corey McCall has a far more elegant solution -- he recently developed technology that builds skin-based emotion detection into an otherwise ordinary gamepad. The controller changes the intensity of a game based on the feelings you convey through breathing, heart rate and motion. It can boost the difficulty level if you're obviously bored, or tone things down if you're taking a challenge way too seriously. There may not be a great need for McCall's approach when systems like the Xbox One can check your pulse at a glance, but it could let console and peripheral makers offer emotion-aware gaming without requiring cumbersome (or costly) extras.
TomTom's new GPS watches track your heart rate without a chest strap (update: US pricing)
Now that smartwatches have built-in heart rate monitors, it's not enough for GPS watch makers to require a chest strap for the same feature -- they've got to step up. TomTom, at least, is ready. It just revealed the Runner Cardio and Multi-Sport Cardio, both of which improve on the original Runner watch by combining position-based exercise tracking with an integrated optical heart rate sensor. The new wristwear lets you train based on intensity, ranging from low-tempo warmups to full-on sprints. If that's the kind of fitness monitoring you've been craving, you can pre-order the Runner Cardio and Multi-Sport Cardio for £250 ($416) and £280 ($466) respectively. Update: TomTom has since given out US pricing: it'll cost $269 for the Runner Cardio, and $299 for its Multi-Sport sibling.
