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The best tech for college athletes
Look, there's clearly more to college life than studying and partying. There's also sports! Before you hit the field, gym, rink or court it's probably worth taking stock of how you can improve your game with a little help from modern technology. An Apple Watch or Vivosmart can count steps and track your gym sessions, while Polo makes a smart shirt that offers seriously in depth data about your body's performance. There's also sensors that can help you do things like improve your swing in golf or baseball. And, of course, after a long day of training, there's nothing better than unwinding by watching your hometown team make a run at the World Series on MLB.tv. Oh, and don't forget to check out the rest of Engadget's back-to-school guide here.
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.
Ralph Lauren starts testing interactive fitting rooms in NYC
Ralph Lauren isn't afraid to experiment with new tech. Last year, the brand introduced a smart shirt for athletes, designed to measure performance with conductive silver threads and other tracking sensors. To add to this, Ralph Lauren's announced it will begin testing interactive fitting rooms at its Polo flagship store in New York City. These smart mirrors, created by a startup called Oak Labs, are capable of recognizing a customer's clothing pieces via RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags and displaying these on a large touchscreen. Once that happens, you can request different sizes and colors of items in your possession, which are then brought over to you by a Polo associate. From there you're able to keep trying on different looks or simply check out -- and if you don't speak English, there's support for Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Portuguese.
A closer look at Ralph Lauren's smart shirt for athletes
I wish I could say I went "hands-on" with Ralph Lauren's new tech-infused smart shirt, but that would have meant putting my hands all over Marcos Giron, the collegiate tennis player who's making his US Open debut this week. I'm sure he would not have appreciated that. Even so, I still got to see the shirt (and Giron) in person at a press event here in New York, where the tennis tournament is already underway. Read on to see how it works.
Ralph Lauren is making a tech-infused polo shirt
US Open ball boys will be sporting the latest in wearable tech starting this Monday, according to the NYT: Ralph Lauren's "Polo Tech" shirts. Of course, nearly everything the company makes is a "wearable," but these particular shirts contain conductive silver threads and other sensors designed to measure performance. The apparel maker said it wanted to do something different from the usual sports bands while eliminating the complexity: "You're just putting on a shirt." It'll still have the tech, though, measuring factors like your heart rate, breathing and movement, and relaying them to a smartphone or computer (though there's no word yet on exactly how). It won't be limited to athletic wear either, as Ralph Lauren plans to also launch sensor-equipped dress shirts later in the year. We're not sure what you'd do with those -- hanging out at the yacht club can't burn that many calories. [Image credit: AP/Ralph Lauren]
Ralph Lauren's solar-panel backpack charges your phone in hours, your credit card in seconds
We here at Engadget are in favor of hitting the books from time to time, but we can't have lame gadget-less backpacks hurting our true techie rep. That's why we're excited to see Ralph Lauren outing its first solar-equipped knapsack as part of its RLX sports line. Four solar cells around back harness the sun's power to generate 3.45 watts -- completely juicing up an iPhone in a purported two-to-three hours, assuming you've got "proper sunlight orientation," of course. Like the optional orange hue (it also comes in black), the sun-sucking cells aren't particularly low profile -- but for $800 don't you want something, uh, recognizable? Still, if you simply must be that guy be sure to hit the source link and don't look back, but for everyone else, might we recommend a portable USB charger for a little less coin?
Woz to appear in live Segway polo match
Just call it the WozWatch-- not only did Woz just appear in a ride at Epcot, but now he's going to appear live on your computer, playing (what else-- this is the Woz) Segway polo.A site called The Digital Lifestyle is going to be broadcasting a Segway polo match (it's what it sounds like-- polo with Segways) this Sunday afternoon at 1pm EST, and Steve Wozniak himself will be one of the players. I can't begin to imagine what eight old guys riding around on Segways trying to whack a ball must look like, but if you want to find out, set your iPhone alarms. "It's not a joke," claims the trailer, but we can't help but think there will be laughing involved.
Segway Polo match featuring Woz to be broadcast live on the 'net
Curb your enthusiasm, young buck. We know you're pretty stoked to hear that a live Segway Polo match will be coming to a browser near you this Sunday, but really, you don't want your office mates to come ask what's getting you all excited. Apparently, The Digital Lifestyle is gearing up to bring us "the world's first live broadcast of a full Segway Polo match," and yes, Steve Wozniak will reportedly be in attendance. Go on, cancel any other plans you had for December 16th at 1:00PM EST -- your secret is safe with us.[Image courtesy of Flickr]
US-based Segway polo team grabs gold in 2007 Woz Challenge Cup
Well, would you look at this -- the Silicon Valley Aftershocks (look familiar?) managed to avenge last year's tie by shutting out the New Zealand Pole Blacks in this year's Woz Challenge Cup. 'Course, we could explain exactly how all five goals were scored and how well balanced these finely-tuned athletes were, but let's be honest, we're not here for that. What we are here for, however, is the video coverage of the event, which is at least good for a few chuckles. Go on, check it out after the jump.Read - Woz Challenge Cup resultsRead - Video coverage of the event
Polo Ralph Lauren offers literal window shopping
It's not unusual to see the latest and greatest fashions prepped up behind a huge glass pane when strolling by a retail clothing store, but the traditional idea of enticing customers to come in could be replaced by just handling transactions at the glass. Polo Ralph Lauren has unveiled a unique way to shop in at its stores, allowing customers to complete purchases by interacting with the glass window of the building, and is testing the idea at the flagship location in New York. While we've seen some fairly obscure ways to shop, picking up a new outfit by tapping on a huge window may take the cake -- a projector beams 67 inches worth of Ralph Lauren's latest threads onto the store's window, while a "thin touch foil" mounted on the glass powers the touchscreen. Apparently customers can shop around the clock (if you dare wander out on city streets at those odd hours of the night) by just tapping images of the clothing they want and swiping their credit cards on the wall-mounted card reader. The company plans to keep the display up and running through September 10th, after which a decision will be made based on its success (or lack thereof) to either nix the windows shopping experiment or introduce it into more stores. While we're unsure what makes waiting in an outdoor line to purchase items any less annoying than waiting inside, this may be the perfect way to exercise those impulse buying muscles, and hey, at least it gives window washers some steady work.[Via SmartMobs]
Wii Sports expanding?
An innocuous line of text found on Nintendo's official E3 website has us wondering: might we see Wii Polo in the future? The bottom of the Wii Sports page has a final bullet point, "Additional games may be added to the Wii Sports group." Interesting.What other sports do you think would be a great fit for the Wii controller? No. Darts is not a sport.
Flickr Find: Woz playing Segway polo
Our man Eliot, from Hack A Day, was at the Maker Faire this weekend and who did he spy playing Segway polo? Why, Woz of course!Thanks, iamdigitalman.
