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I got a connected surveillance camera, but used it mainly as a puppycam
Over the last year and a half, I've used a few different connected cameras to monitor my home. This includes more popular offerings such as the Dropcam Pro, but I found myself ultimately unhappy with the yearly fee and the requirement to store video on Dropcam's servers. I've also played with a Foscam IP camera, but it seems like you need a network engineering degree in order to properly set them up (and let's not get started on how ugly they are). That's why I was pretty excited about the opportunity to spend some time with the $200 Withings Home HD camera. It was definitely a departure from similar devices and had that shiny, new-toy smell, too.
How would you change Withings' Pulse?
Regular readers know that I don't get to review too many devices, so it's a perk when one of mine appears on the HWYC timetable. Withings' belt-worn activity monitor was one of the best in the category, but it was a category that was rapidly being superseded by wrist-based hardware. After all, it's far easier to remember to wear a watch than it is to transfer a pedometer when you change clothes. My other gripes centered around the peeling paint job, perishable rubber clip and the fact that the mobile app didn't encourage you to get up. The company has already learned from these lessons, with the Activité and Health Mate now much improved, but if you bought a first-generation Pulse, why not jump to the forum and tell us what you thought of it?
Withings Home brings HD webcam, air quality monitor to the connected home
Withings is a fascinating company. They started out quietly a few years back, selling one of the first Wi-Fi connected bathroom scales and then added a growing family of "connected self" devices including the Withings Pulse Ox activity monitor, the Aura Smart Sleep System, a wireless blood pressure cuff, and more. Now the company is beginning to ship items for the connected home with the arrival of Withings Home (US$199.95), a home monitoring camera with the added benefit of air quality monitoring. We hope to review Withings Home soon, but here's a taste of what the device provides. First, it packs a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor that can capture up to 30 frame per second 1080p video. Next, it shoots that video with a 135° wide angle lens for a super wide field of view, and offers automatic de-warping so your views of home don't look like a bad special effect. Like my current favorite webcam, the Dropcam Pro, Withings Home offers an electronic PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) function. Rather than having a rotating and tilting robotic base, a tap on the Withings Home app screen lets you zoom in and receive an enhanced image showing details. The Withings Home app (free) for iPhone and iPad displays still images that are snapped based on noise or movement triggers. A Home Diary feature provides a continuous timeline of what's gone on at home, and you can get a time-lapse rerun of the past 12 hours of action in your home. Withings also plans to offer a cloud recording service in the near future. The extra added Withings Home feature that's really quite impressive is its built-in ability to track past and current levels of VOC (volatile organic compounds) in your home. VOCs are emitted by cleaning products and pressed-wood furniture, to name a few sources, and can be quite harmful. The base of Withings Home will glow red if VOC levels reach unhealthy levels so that you can open a window or door to get some fresh air. We're looking forward to giving the Withings Home webcam/air monitor a full workout soon, so be sure to stay tuned to TUAW for all of your connected home news.
CES Unveiled 2015 in less than 60 seconds
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-177611").style.display="none";}catch(e){} While today marks the official start of CES 2015, we've been on the ground for what feels like an eternity. It all started Sunday at CES Unveiled, a small pre-show packed with oddities like smart baby bottles, levitating speakers and family-friendly facial recognition cameras. We may not have found the next big thing at Mandalay Bay this year, but it did make for some decent eye candy. In an attempt to share the love, here's a glimpse of CES Unveiled 2015 in under 60 seconds. For more from Unveiled and beyond, check out our 2015 CES Field Guide.
Withings launches a cheaper version of its analog fitness tracker
Who says that activity trackers can't be stylish? Certainly not Withings, which combined its pedometer know-how with Swiss watch-style design to produce the Activité. If there was one downside, it was that the unit retailed for $450, putting it well out of the reach of ordinary folk who cared about their fitness and looking good. Thankfully, the company has been sympathetic to our plight, which is why it's announcing a $150 version of the device, the Activité Pop.
Withings makes some devices compatible with Apple's Health app
A couple of weeks ago, Apple gave clearance to HealthKit applications with an update to iOS 8 -- one that, as you're likely aware of, ended up causing major problems for iPhone 6 users. But, since this issue has been resolved, more outfits have (finally) had the chance to make their software and hardware friendly with the platform's Health app. As of today, we can add Withings to the list, having just announced that some of its products, including the Health Mate app, can start integrating with Apple's HealthKit. This includes Whitings' Smart Body Analyzer, Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor, the Aura sleep tracker and the fitness-tailored Pulse O2, which is great news if you own one of these as well as an iOS 8 device. We'll likely see more developers do the same soon, so don't worry if your preferred brand isn't on board yet.
IRL: Living with Withings' Pulse O2 fitness tracker
Last year, Withings released the Pulse, a Fitbit-esque activity tracker that clipped to your waistband. Its party trick was an optical heart rate monitor built into the back that helped it stand a little taller than its rivals. I reviewed it and liked it, but my feeling then, as now, is that the mainstream will never think a belt-worn pedometer is the best wearable technology can offer. My point was that it's far too easy to leave the unit on another pair of trousers pants, losing days' worth of data at a time.
Withings launches a CCTV baby cam that'll monitor your air quality
It might have started out just making connected weighing scales, but Withings is now serious about making your home a healthy place to be. That's why the company has launched Home, a connected baby cam that also pulls double-duty to ensure that you're as healthy as you can be. The cause of some physical strife, so it claims, is VOCs, or Volatile Organic Compounds in the air. Thanks to the rise in double glazing and a desire to conserve energy, people aren't leaving their windows open as much as they should, leading to a deadly rise in these VOCs in the air.
Withings Activité is a fitness tracker disguised as a designer Swiss watch
Most fitness trackers look like they belong in the gym or on the race track, which is fine if you're working out, but not so great if you want to look your best at the board meeting or that fancy cocktail party. The Withings Activité, however, changes the notion of the fitness tracker entirely with an elegant design that's more reminiscent of a Rolex or a Hublot. That's because the Activité was actually created by a team of Parisian designers and Swiss watch-makers. Available in either black or silver, it's made out of stainless steel 316L and an "unbreakable" sapphire glass that also functions as a touch screen -- you can tap it to switch between modes. Included is a leather strap that's apparently sourced from a famous tannery in France, though you can swap it out with a plastic strap if you prefer. Outfitted with a classic round face and a traditional analog watch display, the Activité has two dials -- the primary one tells the time, while a smaller sub dial keeps track of your activity targets.
Engadget giveaway: win a health and fitness bundle courtesy of Withings!
Beach season is upon us and you probably want to turn some heads, but being fit is about more than just looking good. You should be taking care of yourself and the right set of gadgets can go a long way towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle. With that in mind, the folks at Withings have offered to give two lucky Engadget readers a trio of smart devices for some fitness steez. The Pulse O2 activity tracker can help quantify movement, track sleep patterns and even measure your heart rate after a workout. While the Smart Body Analyzer scale can provide data on weight loss and even air quality in your surroundings. To round out that holistic regimen, there's the new Withings Wireless Blood Pressure monitor. All you need to do is head on down to the Rafflecopter widget for up to three chances at winning this health-forward bundle. With all those barbecues on the horizon, we could all use a little push to burn some extra calories. Winners: congratulations to Jasminder S., Elk Grove, CA and Shamly V., San Diego, CA.
Withings Pulse O2 monitors blood oxygen levels for climbers, asthmatics
Withings released its Pulse tracker late last summer, and now the outfit has announced it's successor: the Pulse O2. Just like that first fitness gadget, the new model keeps tabs on heart rate, sleep and activity (steps, distance, elevation and calories), but it also keeps an eye on blood oxygen levels with a lens and light mounted on the unit's back side. While you might not find that a useful bit of info, mountain climbers and folks who suffer from breathing problems -- like asthma -- need the data to monitor respiratory function. The Pulse O2 automatically syncs in the background thanks to Bluetooth Low Energy and Withings has added real-time coaching to its Health Mate app for a bit of added motivation. And as you can see in the image above, there's a new wrist strap so you can sport the Pulse O2 like a watch, if that's your preferred method of wear. Sound too good to pass up? Well, the wearable is on sale now for £100 ($120).
Withings' latest health gadget is designed to help you sleep (updated)
If you're anything like us, then getting out of bed on a cold, dark winter's morning is akin to raising the dead. Plenty of gadgets have promised to monitor our circadian rhythms and rouse us at the most biologically convenient time like the Zeo, but none have managed to totally win us over. That hasn't deterred Withings, which is launching the Aura, a two-part device designed to help us with our shut-eye. The $300 Aura combines a movement sensor that sits beneath your mattress and an LED lamp that promises to relax you at night and gently rouse you in the morning. The unit also promises custom light-and-sound patterns that'll help with power napping, getting over jet lag and chilling out with a good book. Naturally, all of this data will be fed into a mobile app, and we're looking forward to comparing this against our Philips Wake-up Light when it arrives in the spring.
Daily Roundup: Laptop buyer's guide, Apple's gold-colored iPhone, Withings Pulse review, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Withings Pulse review
Let's face it: the quantified-self movement is all about strapping gadgets to your body and letting them tell you things that you already know. Aside from marathon-running gym worshippers, we're all keenly aware that we could be taking better care of ourselves. Of course, those fancy devices do offer a means to record your data in a way that makes it easy to track your progress, hopefully motivating you to concentrate on getting your activity graph to go up while your weight goes down. We're two or three generations into the market now, and the crude pedometers of yore have been replaced with units packed with altimeters and accelerometers that promise to faithfully track everything from how many stairs you've climbed to how well you slept last night. Withings is a French company that's synonymous with the whole fitness tracker movement; it's perhaps best known for its heart rate monitors and smart scales that push your weight, BMI, body fat percentage, heart rate and even local CO2 levels to the cloud. But until now, it's had a glaring omission in its lineup: an activity tracker that informs you of your progress apart from your early morning weigh-ins. Worse still, both Wahoo Fitness and Fitbit have encroached on Withings' home turf with their own weighing scales; more than ever, Withings needs an activity tracker to keep people locked into its ecosystem. That's where the Pulse comes in. Like the Fitbit One, this rubber brick packs a pedometer, altimeter and sleep tracker, but unlike its rivals, it includes an optical heart rate sensor as well. With both the Pulse and the Fitbit priced at $100, is this extra feature enough to establish the French business as the world heavyweight? I spent a month with this device strapped to my waistband, so follow me as I take you through what it's like to have this as a constant companion.
Withings Pulse hands-on
Just how many activity trackers can this emerging, but admittedly niche market support? We have no idea, but Withings is hoping that there's room for at least one more. The company will be releasing the Pulse tomorrow for $99, and taking on veterans of the scene like Fitbit and relative newcomers like Jawbone. The tiny device counts steps, monitors your sleep patterns and can even measure your heart rate. Unfortunately, it can't do the latter constantly and in real time, though, that might be a slightly unrealistic expectation of any tracker. Like some of Fitbit's products it can also monitor your altitude, which is great for people who want to know how many steps they've climbed. The Pulse itself is quite small, about the size of standard issue pedometer and almost as light. The casing is made of a nice soft touch plastic that feels down right lovely in the hand, which is good since you'll be manhandling the Pulse more than most other trackers. It's a far cry from the glossy piano black finish it sported at CES. %Gallery-192404%
Daily Update for June 20, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Withings taking pre-orders for new Pulse activity tracker
When it comes to the "connected health device" market, the leader has been Withings. The company started selling its first WiFi-connected scale back in 2010, and since then has added such devices as a baby scale and a blood pressure monitor to the product mix. Today the company announced that it has begun taking pre-orders for a new activity tracker named Pulse (US$99.95). Pulse weighs just eight grams and has a clip built into the back that performs several functions. First, the clip provides a way to attach the Pulse to your pants, bra or an included sleep wristband. But put your finger on that clip and it turns into a pulse monitor. As you'd expect, the device syncs to your iOS or Android smartphone a number of times throughout the day, and the information is viewable in the Withings Health Mate app that many people are already familiar with. Withings has also built up partnerships with over 100 other health and fitness apps, so the information can be shared with those applications as well. Pulse displays not only your pulse rate, but also the number of steps you take (similar to Fitbit and other devices), elevation gain, estimated distance you've walked and calories burned. If you're running or walking, Pulse displays how many minutes you've been active and how far you've gone. Pulse has an estimated two-week battery life, and also features a touchscreen that you can swipe to view two weeks' worth of fitness data. The device is expected to ship within the next 30 days, and we'll have a full TUAW review soon.
Withings Smart Activity Tracker hits the FCC with a catchier Pulse name
Withings introduced its Smart Activity Tracker at CES with many details regarding how it worked, but few hints of just when it would reach our belts and wrists. Courtesy of an FCC approval, we now know that it's relatively close. The exercise and sleep sensor has gone through US testing with no real surprises in hardware, but a much simpler branding strategy: the manual suggests the tracker will just be called the Pulse, which could help in a market full of one-word rivals. About all that's left is for Withings to say exactly where and when we can get its new wearable.
Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer adds functionality, subtracts setup time
Way back in 2010, TUAW reviewed one of the first connected health devices for the iOS ecosystem. That device was the Withings Connected Body Scale, which I had owned for about a year at the time the review was posted. Withings recently released the latest iteration of the device, the all-new Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer (US$149.95), adding new features while also making setup of the device incredibly easy. Design Like the previous models, the Withings WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer looks like a scale that Jony Ive would be proud to have in his bathroom. It's a thin slab of dark glass with a display in the familiar top-center position and a metal circle dead center. But don't just think of this as just a pretty bathroom scale... It does a lot more than just display the bad news about your weight every morning. The previous versions could also determine your BMI (body mass index) and display just how much excess poundage you're carrying around. Now the WS-50 adds extra features -- not only does it also check your pulse rate, but it also captures the ambient temperature and CO2 levels in your house. All of this information is made available to you either on the Withings website (free account required) or through the free Withings Health Mate iOS app. That app is also now used to set up a new scale (more on that later) and display data from the Withings Blood Pressure Monitor. You could think of the app as your window into your well-being ... or lack thereof. Functionality Setup is incredibly easy to do. Back in the old days in 2009, setup was a complicated affair requiring a USB cable, opening the back of the scale, and performing sacred rituals involving squirrels and tap-dancing. Well, forget the sacred rituals part, but it was a total pain to set up. Not any more! The WS-50 comes with batteries not only included, but installed. You pull a plastic tab to let those batteries do their job, and then fire up your iOS device. In Settings > Bluetooth it's a simple matter of pairing with the device, and then you're asked to go to the Health Mate app to finish setup. It's as simple as tapping a button to "Install now", after which you're asked if you wish to copy the Wi-Fi settings on your iOS device to the scale. Reply in the positive, and the WS-50 is added to your network. %Gallery-186253% At that point, there's nothing left to do except start using the device. My wife and I have been using one of the Connected Body Scales since 2009, so we're familiar with how the device works. You stand on the scale a bit longer than usual, allowing it to not only get a solid weight number as your body rocks slightly back and forth, but to take those BMI readings as well. The first time I used the WS-50, it took even longer, apparently checking in with the Withings mothership to determine who was standing on the scale. After a short time, my initials showed up on the left side of the display, indicating that it had figured out that it was me and not my wife. I might be deluding myself, but it seems like the WS-50 does the body fat reading somewhat faster than the old scale did. I do have to wonder about the accuracy of the pulse rate monitoring, as my resting rate -- as measured multiple times per week via a Withings Blood Pressure Monitor -- is always about 25 beats per minute less than what the WS-50 measured. I'll have to keep an eye on that for a few days to see if the odd readings persist before sending the review unit back to Withings. That pulse rate isn't the only new information that the WS-50 is capturing; since I set it up yesterday afternoon, it has also been monitoring the temperature in my home (or at least in the bathroom where the scale is located) and the CO2 levels. Those readings are available from the iOS app and website, and unsurprisingly show that the closed room is about 10°F warmer than the rest of the house. I checked the CO2 readings against another device that monitors those readings in my house and they were quite close. Does the new information provide added value to the Withings Smart Body Analyzer? If the pulse reading is accurate, that information could be quite informative, although I personally think that the combination of blood pressure and pulse information tracked by the Blood Pressure Monitor is much more valuable. As for the temperature data, it's really dependent on where you have the WS-50 located. In our case, it's giving us fairly worthless information as it's in a small closed room that is always warmer than the rest of the house. Sure, we can see the variations as the day progresses, but I'm just not that sure how it relates to my comfort level and health. The CO2 information is quite useful, as I noticed several times this winter (using my other monitor device) that on days when the CO2 levels were much higher than average, I would feel fatigued and/or have a headache. Conclusion Withings was the first company to the connected health devices market, and the WS-50 Smart Body Analyzer continues their trend of creating top-notch equipment to keep an eye on your health. They've also done a wonderful job in turning setup from a relatively painful process involving a Mac or PC and a USB cable to just connecting to the device through Bluetooth and completing setup in less than a minute. Whether or not the new information provided by the WS-50 is valuable is another question. Resting heart rate is a good measure of all-over fitness, but only if the measurement is accurate, which I was unable to verify in my limited testing. As I mentioned, the usefulness of the temperature reading is really dependent on where the scale is permanently located. I do think the CO2 monitor is a very good idea, providing a flag for WS-50 users to open a window to get some fresh air if the level climbs too high. It should be noted that the original scale is still available from Withings as the Wireless Scale WS-30 ($99.95), so if you feel that the added bells and whistles are not to your liking, you can still get the Withings quality for $50 less.
Withings Smart Kid Scale tracks your baby's weight
Withings makes a popular line of wireless body scale products that let users record and track their weight on their iOS devices. Recently, the company has brought another product to market that targets parents. The Withings Smart Kid Scale is a child-sized body scale that sends weight readings to the Baby Companion app via WiFi or Bluetooth. The app allows you to track your child's weight progress, see where your child fits with the average weight of children his or her age and allows you to track the child's nutrition as well. I found the Baby Companion app lacking on several fronts. First, it took more than a dozen tries to get the scale to pair with the app and even then, a connection was hit or miss. The app's UI seems too convoluted as well. It's trying to be too many things and those that just want an easy way to see their baby's weight data might be put off by all the bell and whistles. The scale itself was little better. I'm a fan of Withings' body scales because their design is top-notch and the company uses sturdy, high-quality materials. The Smart Kid Scale, on the other hand, is mainly plastic and feels cheap. A nice thing about it, though, is that the scale comes with a detachable tray, so you can lay you infant down in it to take a weight reading, but as your baby grows, you can continue to use the scale as a stand-on unit until your child reaches the ages of between 6 and 8 -- when they typically go over the 25kg / 55lb scale max. So is this scale something parents should buy? I brought the scale over to friend's house who has children and I let them use it. While they said it was nice, when I told them the price was US$249, they told me the value-to-cost ratio wasn't worth it. I would agree -- the scale prices most parents out. It's too much money for something that doesn't offer much more than a normal scale does. After all, once your child outgrows the baby tray, why not just have them stand on a regular bathroom scale?
