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Wearable device shipments have soared in the past year
In case you had any doubts that wearable devices were catching on, Canalys just delivered some tangible proof. The analyst group estimates that the tech industry shipped a total of about 6 million smartwatches and fitness trackers in the first half of 2014, or nearly 700 percent more than it managed a year earlier. Not surprisingly, most of the watches were Samsung devices -- the Korean company's rapid-fire Gear watch releases made it almost ubiquitous. Pebble and Sony also did well in this fledgling space. Fitbit and Jawbone, meanwhile, moved many of the simpler wristbands.
Could one of these gadgets upgrade your golf game?
With golf season in mid-swing, is your handicap going down, or just your morale? If it's the latter, a few extra lessons might be in order. Given that I write for Engadget (and not Golf Digest) I can't school you, but I can help you with some technology tips. There's a glut of golf devices designed to help you score better, and I tested swing sensors from Zepp Golf and 3Bays, along with the presidentially-approved Game Golf shot-tracking system. For good measure, I also tried a Pebble watch with the Golf Pad GPS and scoring system -- and even a pair of shoes from Ogio, better known for laptop bags. So, how'd it go? Pretty good, actually -- you'll probably still want those lessons, but these gadgets can get you going in the right direction. Also, and perhaps most importantly, they're kind of fun, too.
Pebble smartwatches get ESPN app just in time for football season
We're a week away from the start of college football season, and to prep for the action, ESPN released a score-tracking app for Pebble smartwatches. The software beams game info from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL alongside both NCAA football and basketball action to your wrist for easy viewing. Should you find yourself some place other than the living room during the big game, the wearable will vibrate to alert you to game update and score changes, keeping an eye on multiple games simultaneously. Sports fans who already have the gadget can outfit it with the ESPN watchapp via the Pebble's library for both iOS and Android now.
RunKeeper will now bribe you to beat your best
You tell yourself you're gonna go running. You might even have an app that gently prods you to get your lazy keister up off the couch. But let's be honest, the most effective motivator is the good ol' fashioned bribe. That's why RunKeeper is teaming up with Kiip, a company that delivers ads and rewards through games and mobile apps. The idea isn't just to get you casually jogging though, but to actually get you to push yourself. Through the new workout rewards program, RunKeeper will deliver discounts on Propel Water, Secret Deodorant or even a Pebble smartwatch when you reach a personal best in distance or pace for instance. All the rewards are specifically chosen to appeal to RunKeeper's athletic market niche, so you shouldn't have to worry about being offered discounts on Transformers Blu-rays. You won't get bombarded by offers either, they'll only pop up sometimes -- and you'll really have to work for them. But it might be nice to get something at the end of a long marathon than a smug sense of self satisfaction.
Pebble nabs the former interface designers for webOS and First Else
Here's some rather unusual news from Pebble: Former webOS designers Itai Vonshak and Liron Damir have left LG to join the wearable startup, which is a pretty big deal given their unique spin on UI design -- you'll want to check out what they did to LG's smart TVs before they left. In fact, if you recall the ill-fated First Else phone from late 2009, its Splay interface -- now available as a standalone launcher (pictured above) on Google Play -- was also the work of the Israeli duo. Vonshak is now in charge of Pebble's Product and UX team, whereas Damir is joining as the Head of Design; and for those who are interested, they're hiring!
Engadget Daily: planes without TVs, limited edition Pebble styles and more!
Today, we review the Slingbox M1, check out new limited-edition Pebble styles, visit a plane without any TVs, learn about how Google helped nab a sex offender and more. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Pebble's smartwatch now comes in pink, blue and neon green
If you'd like a smartwatch that'll match the glow sticks at your next rave, then we've got good news for you. Pebble has just announced a Limited Edition run of its original smartwatch in three eye-popping colors: Fly Blue, Fresh Green and Hot Pink. They're decidedly more fun and hip than the classier Steel Pebble released earlier this year, but that's intentional: We're told that this Limited Edition run is specifically targeted at the younger back-to-school crowd. Like the original Pebble watches, all three colors are available for $150 each.
Engadget UK giveaway: win a Pebble Steel courtesy of GeniusFlight
School's out for summer, and many of you are no doubt looking forward to sun, sea, several strong cocktails and a few weeks off work. Foreign lands are always better enjoyed with a trusted travel companion, and in lieu of actual friends, we're giving away a black Pebble Steel to fill that role. The second-generation e-ink smartwatch is smaller, classier and pricier than its predecessor, and comes to us courtesy of GeniusFlight: a flight searching site with a difference. GeniusFlight revolves primarily around your budget, which you specify alongside preferred travel dates and departing destination. The tool then tells you where in the world that money will take you, hopefully with some inspiring options you wouldn't have come up with unaided. As always, any Brits interested in taking a free Pebble Steel on tour can enter up to three times via the Rafflecopter widget below. After they've read the rules first, of course. Winning: congrats to Joel C. from London!
Hacking the friendly skies: creating apps for wearables at 36,000 feet
Few activities are as taxing, time-consuming and mentally draining as air travel, and there are hundreds of thousands of travel-related apps to help us get from point A to point B with as little hassle as possible. But there's always room for improvement, especially now that wearables like Android Wear, the Pebble smartwatch and embedded sensors are growing in popularity. While it's already possible to scan boarding passes or receive flight notifications on smartwatches, there are surely other use cases that would ease the burden of flying. Wearable World, which teaches wearable-related startups the ins and outs of the business, partnered with American Airlines to create what it's billing as "the first in-air wearables hackathon." Teams were asked to come up with the best travel app for wearables, and the finalists got to jump on one of the airline's newest planes to polish their app and show it off to real-life passengers.
Engadget Daily: Google I/O 2014, the deal with Android Wear and more!
Today, we discuss tomorrow's Google I/O conference, review the Galaxy Tab S, take a look at Misfit's new Pebble fitness tracking app and explore the potential of Google's Android Wear platform. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Misfit's fitness tracker is now available as a Pebble app
We're calling this "wearable-ception." Misfit's Shine is a waterproof fitness tracker. With an accelerometer and 5 ATM rating, so (potentially) is the Pebble smartwatch. Color us surprised then, to find out Misfit and Pebble are partnering to re-imagine Shine as a Pebble app. Misfit's experience and bespoke fitness tracking software is being shoe-horned into a watch-friendly format, and will be available in the Pebble appstore today -- no Shine required. If you already have a Shine, and are an iOS user, an updated app will fold in support for Pebble watches, should you prefer to keep things separate. The updated app also includes some new metrics, such as calories burned, and distance traveled. Pebble already has a number of fitness apps, but the company claims this is the first stage in an ongoing collaboration with Misfit -- so expect even more fitness functionality in the future.
Honeywell thermostat lets you set the temperature using your Pebble smartwatch
Honeywell may now be looking to take on Nest with a new sleek and stylish thermostat, but it's still making sure that users of its other connected systems enjoy updates too. In a bid to make things a little easier for owners of it evohome smart zoning thermostat, the company has extended support to the Pebble smartwatch, offering up room-by-room heating control from the comfort of your wrist. Honeywell's new smart bundle allows you to set the temperature of in each zone (or room) in your home and turn the heating on or off with the push of a button. The app can also immediately enable or disable any of the preset evohome quick actions, which is especially helpful if you've forgotten to shut off the heating before you fly off on holiday. If you've installed Honeywell's zoning thermostat and also own a Pebble, you can grab the new app and watchface from Pebble's app store using either your iOS or Android device.
Baby steps toward better wearables at Computex 2014
Google's latched on to Diane von Fürstenberg as the solution for making Glass fashion-forward, unveiling a collection of frames made by the famed Belgian designer last week. While it remains to be seen whether trendy-colored frames can make a $1,500 wearable more appealing, a few smaller companies here at Computex in Taiwan have some novel ideas that could make you more willing to strap a mini-computer on your face... or your wrist.
An iPhone-ready ceiling fan and more news for June 5, 2014
What's in the news this morning? A cool fan with a rude name, good news for Pebble owners and Apple's apparent misuse of a product name. Let's get to it. Big Ass Fans has introduced a ceiling fan that can be controlled with your iPhone. The Haiku with SenseME is smart enough to know when a room is occupied and turn itself on or off accordingly. Additionally, it learns your "comfort preferences" and responds to temperature and humidity conditions in its environment. The companion iPhone app lets you create schedules and fiddle with various controls. Now I need to figure out how to convince my wife -- our family's CFO -- that I need one of these. The Pebble smart watch firmware, iOS app have been updated. Good news, Pebble owners. Pebble firmware 2.2 is available, and the iOS app has been updated as well. The updated app now uses iBeacon to know when the watch and the phone are close by each other. Other changes include a music progress bar and additional button functions. Australian company claims Apple stole the name "HealthKit." An Australian company called...wait for it..."HealthKit" lets users track their health and fitness online. Sound familiar? HealthKit co-founder Alison Hardacre thinks so, and she's not happy about it. "We won't let them trample over our product. Someone needs to be fired for this. We have a business with the same name and a similar product, if they had done a quick Google search they would have seen that. It's not fair."
Pebble update lets you pump up the jam from your wrist
The Pebble smartwatch nicely alerts you to most of your smartphone's activities, but it's pretty limited in controlling it -- there are just a few functions, like music track skipping. A new 2.2 firmware update finally gives a much-requested feature, however: changing the volume of your phone's music player. That, along with a new iOS-only track progress bar, will help you avoid reaching for your handset when you're grooving while running or biking. You can finally rearrange apps directly on the watch too, and will get longer alarm sounds and some bug fixes. You can grab it by going to "support" in your smartphone app, then choosing "check for updates." Apple users will first need to hit the App Store for an iOS update.
Watch strap batteries could double the life of your wearable
Smartwatches are starting to look a whole lot better, but they're still liable to run out of juice in mere days. A flexible-battery manufacturer here at Computex reckons its thin, flexible lithium-ceramic cells, shaped into wristbands, could offer as much as 500mAh of extra power, with existing models already offering an extra 300mAh. According to ProLogium, that would effectively double the battery of Pebble's smartwatch and, well, on-paper specifications suggest that it could more than double the capacity.
Air Berlin's latest iOS app can push boarding passes to your Pebble
Still carrying a paper boarding pass when you travel? Air Berlin's got a new way to go green this Earth Day. The airline's iOS app now sports Pebble integration, letting you display boarding passes and flight information on your smartwatch. You can pull up the QR code-style pass on your wrist when it's time to board -- the agent will be able to confirm your seat and flight info as soon as you scan, eliminating the need to pull out your phone as you queue up at the gate. Air Berlin is the second airline to offer this feature -- Vueling teamed up with Sony to add boarding pass functionality to the SmartWatch 2 just last month -- and we can only hope US carriers will follow suit.
How would you change the Pebble?
Talk about Kickstarter and, inevitably, Pebble will come up. The smartwatch received over $10 million in funding, and was one of the biggest success stories to come from the site. What's interesting, however, is that the minimalist aesthetic carries over into the feature set -- offering nothing more than the odd notification and music control, and yet nailing it totally. The aim of this discussion, however, is to ask what you think and feel about the unit now that it's been strapped to your wrist for the better part of a year? So why not head over to the forum and share your experiences.
Pebble updates its iOS app with new apps, sharing options and v2.1 fix
Pebble today rolled out an update that brings its iOS App to version 2.1.1. The most notable feature in the latest version is a bug fix for version 2.1, which was released earlier this week and included a critical flaw that prevented users from managing their Pebble smartwatch from the application. This latest version fixes the v2.1 bug and adds several new apps to the Pebble appstore. It also includes the ability to share apps with friends via email, Twitter, Facebook, and text messaging. Users updating from version 1.0.x will notice the following changes in version 2.1.1: Pebble watchapp directory: browse, find and install the latest watchapps for Pebble. List of prior notifications now stored on your Pebble. Watchapp locker: keep track of your favorite apps and manage the apps on your Pebble. Completely revamped and improved user interface design. Pebble smartwatch owners can download the latest version of the iOS software from the App Store for free.
Feedback Loop: Ultrabooks, discrete graphics, Google Voice replacements and more!
Welcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There's so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week. Happy Saturday! This week, we took a look at Ultrabooks with discrete graphics cards, debated the merits of smartwatches, discussed viable alternatives to Google Voice, talked about how we discover new apps and fondly remembered some of our earliest RSS feeds. Head on past the break and join the conversation in the Engadget forums.
