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Bluetooth SIG forms new working group focused on fitness gadgets

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:38:26 +0000

We’ve been seeing Bluetooth make more and more inroads into fitness gadgets as of late, and it looks like the Bluetooth Special Interest Group is intent on seeing that trend continue. It announced the formation of a new Sports and Fitness Working Group today, which will be tasked with increasing the interoperability between wearable gadgets and other sensors and so-called “hub” devices like smartphones, TVs and gym equipment. That’s a fairly natural fit for Bluetooth now, but it’s taken until Bluetooth 4.0 for the standard to really emerge as a viable alternative to lower-power options like ANT+ (now commonly used in heart rate monitors and the like).

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Bluetooth Technology To Change How We Play Sports, Exercise And More

Bluetooth SIG Invites Members to Help Drive Technology’s Use and Growth in Sports and Fitness Markets

KIRKLAND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced the creation of the Sports and Fitness Working Group and is now accepting members. This group will work together to enhance interoperability between Bluetooth enabled sports and fitness sensor products and training computers (Bluetooth Smart devices) and hub devices such as smartphones, PCs, TVs (Bluetooth Smart Ready devices), gym equipment, watches and more to allow a new generation of functionality.

Bluetooth v4.0 with low energy technology gives any device, from a static data-collecting sensor to a laptop or tablet, the ability to connect, share and distribute information in real-time. No other wireless technology is able to provide the limited energy consumption, usability, functionality and install-base that Bluetooth v4.0 brings to the sports and fitness market.

Bluetooth SIG member company, Mosoro, has announced a Bluetooth Smart sensor that connects to a golf club and can instantly send information about the player’s golf swing to a smartphone for real-time feedback on how to improve. In 2011, Motorola introduced the MOTOACTV, a Bluetooth Smart fitness watch that can support low energy devices – like a heart rate sensor, can receive alerts from your phone, and even stream music through Bluetooth enabled ear buds. Fitness giant, Nike, recently introduced its Nike+ FuelBand, a wristband that uses Bluetooth technology to automatically sync with your smartphone to let users easily track and analyze physical activity.

These unique products are a few examples of how sports and fitness devices are being made better with Bluetooth technology and just the beginning of what users can expect to see in this market. IMS Research forecasts more than 60 million Bluetooth enabled sports, fitness and health monitoring devices will ship between 2010 and 2015 including over 17.7 million heart monitors, more than seven million sports watches and over two million speed and distance monitors.

Registration for the Sports and Fitness Working Group and Sports and Fitness Bluetooth Ecosystem Team (BET) are open to Bluetooth SIG Associate and Promoter members. Members are encouraged to join either or both of the groups. Those interested in distilling and prioritizing key scenarios and identifying ways to make products better with Bluetooth technology should join the BET. Members interested in working directly on the specification itself should join the Working Group. For more information on becoming a member, visit the Membership page at www.Bluetooth.org.

Supporting Quotes

Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, Bluetooth SIG:

“While there has been potential for innovation in the sports and fitness market, the introduction of Bluetooth v4.0 makes this potential nearly limitless and we are excited about the adoption and use cases we have seen from our members – the Nike+ FuelBand, Polar’s heart rate sensor, and Wahoo Fitness’ wide array of sensors – to name a few. Our members are choosing to utilize Bluetooth v4.0 instead of other wireless options because of its massive install base, simple paring and low power features. Sports and fitness devices that have never had a wireless component, as well as devices that previously used proprietary wireless technologies, are now connecting further and made better with Bluetooth technology.”

Yuichi Masuda, director, Casio Computer Co., Ltd.:

“Casio has been redefining the wristwatch for years by applying the latest technologies. Bluetooth low energy technology has let us create new possibilities for the way people use their watches while exercising, playing sports and more. Using Bluetooth’s low power consumption, we are able to fuel these functions with a single button-cell battery.”

Marco Subilaakso, group product director, Polar Electro Oy:

“The time is right for a truly open and global wireless standard for the sports and fitness market that will support seamless interoperability with other Bluetooth enabled products like smartphones and tablets. Bluetooth Smart devices, with standardized profiles for heart rate sensors, cycling power systems, treadmills, training computers and other fitness equipment, will accelerate cross-category innovation and will deliver amazing new benefits with rewarding experiences for all exercisers and athletes.”

Olli Osara, business unit director, Suunto Oy:

“It is fantastic to see so many sports and fitness industry leaders backing Bluetooth technology. Suunto is excited about the opportunities brought by a protocol that enables a connection between our sports instruments and other devices. This creates potential for a new level of user experience and usability that will help our users have more rewarding experiences in their activities.”

Mike Stashak, vice president sales and marketing, Wahoo Fitness:

“Wahoo Fitness is excited to be working with some of the world’s top sport and fitness companies to develop new ways to connect fitness enthusiasts with their favorite devices. The clear winner is the end user, who now has increased functionality and flexibility while pursuing the fitness activities they enjoy.”

Craig Ochikubo, vice president and general manager Wireless Personal Area Networks, Broadcom:

“Bluetooth low energy technology will play an important role in expanding the usefulness and capabilities of smartphones by enabling interaction with heart rate monitors, shoe sensors and other sports and fitness devices without significant impact on phone battery life. Broadcom continues to support and help drive proliferation of this exciting new technology in mobile devices to enable innovative applications that will have real impacts on people’s lives.”

Paul Williamson, product marketing manager for health and fitness, CSR:

“CSR is actively supporting leading brands in the deployment of Bluetooth low energy technology for the fitness market. The formation of the sports and fitness working group will accelerate the development of profiles that enable exciting new experiences for consumers.”

Svein-Egil Nielsen, director emerging technologies and strategic partnerships, Nordic Semiconductor:

“The release of Bluetooth v4.0 with Bluetooth low energy technology as a hallmark feature gives users the ability to seamlessly track all kinds activity – often via their smartphones or computer – have that data automatically backed up to the Internet, analyzed by motivational apps, and even shared across various social media platforms. We are excited about the possibilities and potential that Bluetooth technology has in this market.”

About Bluetooth

Lytro Teardown Shows Potential Wireless Capability, Smallish Sensor

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:17:14 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Lytro (other than nearly grabbing a Crunchie (I voted for them)), the camera where you shoot now and focus later. And the latest news comes not from the company itself, but from the FCC, which just today published the internal photos from its investigation of the device. There’s nothing fabulously surprising, but Wireless Goodness points out that the chip pictured, a Marvell Avastar 88W8787, has Bluetooth and wi-fi capabilities. Companies don’t generally include capabilities in hardware they don’t expect to use; it drives up the cost of the device and feeds speculation like this article. Lytro hasn’t announced wireless syncing or updating, and the user manual makes no mention of it, so there’s no way to be sure. Lytro has not returned an email on the subject. ( Update: Lytro says: “The initial Lytro camera is not Wi-Fi enabled. Connectivity is important to us, and we’re working on it.” Could mean anything.) Also pictured is …

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The Samsung Doth Advertise Too Much, Methinks

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:39:23 +0000

At CES, the AOL booth where we worked, did interviews, and ate lunch was just a few short feet from Samsung’s huge Galaxy Note booth, where they were giving out free shirts printed with your caricature, drawn, of course, on a Galaxy Note. There was a line around this thing the entire time we were there, scores of people waiting for hours for their free t-shirt. Outside CES there were enormous banners in the most prominent and expensive ad spots on the convention center. Phone? Tablet? It’s Galaxy Note™! And just yesterday, in a grandiose ad rather out of keeping with their well-done “next big thing” campaign, the Note was made out to be the end of all our troubles, ending the tyranny of using our fingers and letting us circle and cross out and all those things you wish you could do on your obviously-now-obsolete iPhone. But I saw the Note at CES and formed my opinion in about five or six seconds: it’s weak. And that’s why this advertising blitz makes so much sense. First, let me just …

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Facebook Could Jumpstart HTML5 Platform With App Bookmarks On News Feed

admin — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:51:37 +0000

Facebook’s late-comer HTML5 mobile app platform lags way behind the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace. Yesterday I spotted Facebook’s latest effort to catch up — a test showing bookmarks for third-party applications at the top of the mobile news feed. Currently, Facebook buries HTML5 app bookmarks at the bottom of its mobile site’s pull-out navigation menu, and only shows them in the iOS or Android Facebook app’s search bar. Placing them much more prominently atop the mobile home page could increase engagement — the first step in attracting developers to the platform and earning money on in-app purchases. The Facebook mobile app platform launched in October to help the social network start monetizing mobile through in-app payments on which it collects a 30% tax. Apps run through an internal web browser within its iOS and Android apps, allowing it to circumvent Apple and Google’s tax. However, the platform hasn’t gained serious traction with developers or users, and that’s a serious risk the company noted in its S-1 filing to go…

The Peek Bites The Dust

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:13:10 +0000

You may remember the Peek , a device that showed up back in 2008 (so long ago, now!) offering nothing but email. That’s right, nothing but email in an age when smartphones were already becoming popular, and the iPhone was changing the way people thought about interacting with their data. In a way, it was genius: limiting the service and the device made it easy to explain and simple to use. It does email, period. An interesting tack, and one that kept them rolling for a few years, but alas, Peek is finally going to take the big sleep. Despite revising the hardware and switching up the pricing, the Peek couldn’t maintain relevance in the face of smartphones and tablets. There was always the question of whether it was a legitimate market at all, but I object to that objection. I think it’s a brilliant proposition, and one many people found useful. But …

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New Everpix iPhone App Automatically Uploads Your Photos To The Cloud

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:37:44 +0000

Photo organization service (and TechCrunch Disrupt finalist ) Everpix just launched its first iPhone application . The app does two key things: it offers you a way to access your entire photo collection from your phone, plus it automatically uploads all your iPhone photos to the Everpix cloud. The app is a crucial part of the overall Everpix experience, which, for those of you unfamiliar, works primarily as a Mac application at present (Windows coming) to automatically organize and combine all your photos, whether they’re stored on your computer or in the cloud. The service supports photo uploads from iPhoto, Aperture and Lightroom, plus photos from your online collections on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr and Picasa. With Everpix for iPhone, your on-device photos can now be more easily uploaded to the Everpix cloud. Instead of having to first sync your phone to your Mac, download the photos into the software program of your choice, then wait for Everpix to upload them, you can now just use the new app to have those uploads happen automatically. In some ways, it’s similar to Google+’s “Instant Upload” feature…

Appafolio Lets You Make Native Multimedia Presentations On iOS

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:34:23 +0000

Like how there are all sorts of companies offering tools to let you build your own web site today, a new wave of them is doing the same thing for mobile apps. Appafolio stands out among the various options because it lets you create a polished native presentation for iOS without having to do any coding. Instead, you either download the Appafolio app ( here ) or use its web site to select the text, icon and images you’d like to feature. The interface reminds me of setting up a Powerpoint presentation (in a good way), in that you can create pages within your app for specific types of media that you want to showcase, including slideshows and videos. Once you’ve created the product, you can direct anyone to view it who has the Appafolio app installed by sending them a shortlink or a pass phrase. The download-and-pass-phrase process creates some friction — or at least it seemed that way to me when I tested it. But, using the Appafolio native app as a portal for presentations also means that the slideshows and videos can …

Apple’s Off-The-Charts iPhone And iPad Sales

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:20:07 +0000

Sometimes you have to see things to truly appreciate their magnitude. Apple’s latest quarter was so massive that MG had to write two posts about it: $46 billion in revenues, 37 million iPhones sold, 15 million iPads. The chart above, which comes from Francesco Schwarz, using data from Apple and Asymco (see a fully interactive version here ), shows how unusual this quarter was for Apple. The quarter was driven by iPhone and iPad sales. And you can see that by looking at the blue and red lines, which show unit sales of each. iPhone sales went from 17 million the quarter before to 37 million. They more than doubled in a single quarter. But look closely at the iPad line. What I just noticed for the first time is that Apple sold almost as many iPads last quarter as it sold iPhones in the previous quarter. And now it is selling as many iPads as iPods. That red line is going to keep on going up. Will it ever catch up to iPhone sales?

Android Smartphone Round-Up: December/January Edition

admin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:22:45 +0000

We took a break from the Android round-up in December because, well, to be honest I was on vacation. But January gave us a few extra smartphones and the holidays are over, so we’re back. What we’ve got for you today leans into more expensive turf, and unfortunately, our favorite Android devices for the past two months are also exclusively at Verizon, so Big Red subscribers should pay attention. Without further ado, these are our favorite December/January releases of the Android persuasion: The Samsung Galaxy Nexus , the LG Spectrum , and the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx . Enjoy! Samsung Galaxy Nexus Features: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Verizon 4G LTE support 4.65-inch 1280

Dirty Money

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:18:59 +0000

The New York Times has published a long article on Foxconn which, while it doesn’t provide much in the way of new information, does act as a sobering reminder of just how companies like Apple can make so very much money. When our own John Biggs visited Foxconn , he focused on the company itself, its scale, its intentions. When I wrote about Apple’s suppliers failing to meet environmental standards , it was more about the laxity of regulators within China. Today’s NYT piece depicts Apple as prime mover and potential catalyst of change — but its actions and information from insiders suggest that it is simply unwilling. There is a certain genius to negotiating down the price of every screw and wire, and never paying a yuan more than is absolutely necessary. As in design and build quality, other companies aspire to Apple’s accomplishment in this area. Something the …

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