Tag: CES

CES Innovations Award Winners: Oregon Scientific and Gaiam

While the Consumer Electronics Show is still a month and a half away, it is already awards season. Oregon Scientific, designer and worldwide marketer of person electronics, and Gaiam Inc., have announced that their button-free, touch-screen heart rate monitor the Gaiam Touch is a recipient of of the prestigious International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Award in the Health & Wellness category.

The Gaiam Touch features fashion-forward colors and a comfortable, slim design which is two millimeters thinner than any other heart rate monitor on the market. It is available with a chest strap, allowing for continuous heart rate monitoring, or as a strap-free model for on-demand heart rate monitoring, while the strap-free Gaiam Touch utilizes ECG technology, requiring only a touch of a finger on the monitor’s sensor for an accurate heart rate reading. The strap model operates in digital and analog modes and tracks fat burned. Both strap and strap-free models easily track calories burned and heart rate data. Other features include stopwatch, zone alarm, clock and calendar functions. Continue reading CES Innovations Award Winners: Oregon Scientific and Gaiam

Fitness Technology Looks to be Big Business

According to a recent survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association, fitness technology – the stuff we like to cover at KineticShift – is big business. The sports and fitness category now represents a $70 billion annual business in the United States, with hot product categories including activity-tracking armbands, waterproof mp3 players, GPS-enabled HD cameras, high-tech heart monitors, gesture recognition and full-body tracking user interfaces for games and sports simulators, high-tech sport goggles with GPS locators and many others.

“Technology has changed the game for everyone from professional athletes to weekend warriors,” said Robin Raskin, founder of Living in Digital Times, and organizer of the FitnessTech Expo and Summit at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show.

The upcoming CES in January will also continue to see the marriage of tech and fitness as TV personality and fitness guru Jillian Michaels will discuss the impact of digital innovation along with her recent partnership with Pittsburgh-based BodyMedia. Continue reading Fitness Technology Looks to be Big Business

CES 2012: Digital Health and Sport and Fitness TechZones Returns to Las Vegas

Fitness is not a fad, at least not with the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). This week it was announced that the Consumer Electronics Association’s International CES will feature dedicated TechZones on the exhibit floor in the areas of technology innovations in healthcare, fitness and other lifestyle-centric areas.

This will include the return of the Digital Health and Sport and Fitness TechZones, which will be produced by Living in Digital Times when the show runs Jan. 10-13 in Las Vegas. Continue reading CES 2012: Digital Health and Sport and Fitness TechZones Returns to Las Vegas

myTREK Treks Over to iPhone and iPod Touch

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em_ZcpcYjcc&feature=player_embedded

Want to monitor your pulse but want to ditch the bulky chest strap? Scosche Industries has released its myTREAK pulse monitor and app for for iPhone and iPod touch. The Scosche myTREK, an International CES Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree, allows users track their pulse, calories burned, distance, speed, pace, store past workouts and much more.

“At 24 Hour Fitness, we know that fitness tools can be very useful in helping people achieve their goals; whether it’s to lose weight, run a faster marathon or to get healthier,” said Bill Quinn, senior vice president of merchandising, 24 Hour Fitness. “We are excited to be a Scosche launch partner for the new myTREK pulse monitor and offer our members another option to support them with their fitness journey.” Continue reading myTREK Treks Over to iPhone and iPod Touch

Wahoo Fitness To Turn iPhone Into Digital Trainer

Among the companies at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that showcased new products in the health and tech space was Wahoo Fitness, which recently introduced a line of Apple-friendly products, with the goal to bridge the gap between expensive fitness gear and everyday users.

Wahoo Fitness has developed the unique “fisica” technology, which via a phone dongle lets the iPhone handset or an iPod Touch receive information from various fitness monitoring devices including heart rate monitors, pedometers and other gizmos and gadgets. This plug-and-play add-on can work with around 40 leading fitness apps, helping deliver data to the handheld. The products communicate using ANT+ wireless protocol technology.

We’ll be sure to watch what Wahoo Fitness brings to market this year.

Wahoo Fitness Official Website

U.S. Digital Health Industry to Triple in Total Revenues Says Study

A healthy America could mean healthy profits for the digital health industry. These are the findings from a new Parks Associates forecast, which sees that U.S. revenues from digital health technology-enabled solutions and services will exceed $5.7 billion in 2012.

The study, titled “Delivering Quality Care to the Digital Home: 2010 Update,” shows that revenues in this space hit $1.7 billion in 2010, and further notes that this is a growing market. After all, there was the CES 2011 “Fitness TechZone,” which showcased digital innovations including apps, while numerous companies have gotten on board with the idea of digital health. Continue reading U.S. Digital Health Industry to Triple in Total Revenues Says Study

CES 2011 Recap: The Open Range EV

If you’re going to take it off road, do so in style and do it while still being eco-friendly we say. That’s sort of the idea behind the Ranger EV, the first ever electric, off-road capable utility vehicle from Polaris. The Ranger EV rolled into Las Vegas for the Showstoppers press event during last week’s Consumer Electronics Show and it certainly turned heads.

The Ranger EV features the longest battery pack in the industry, and thus offers the longest range of any electric midsize vehicle. It is powered by an exclusive 48-volt, AC induction motor, and can cruise with a top speed of 25 mph. It has a range of 50 miles and comes with a 500 pound cargo box, plus can tow up to 1,250 pounds, while offering a 1,000 total payload capacity. In other words, this green machine – which isn’t actually the color green – is up for the off-road and so much more.

Polaris Official Website

KineticShift One Year Later

It was a year ago that we launched KineticShift with a simple goal: to cover the best products, devices and trends to help make a better you. In that time we reported from the Consumer Electronics Show (we’ll be back in Vegas this week), the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Interbike. We’ll be back at those three shows this year, and we’ll be reporting from other shows as well, including the SHOT Show later this month.

We’ve seen a lot of great products and it has been a great ride – including a ride in the Nevada desert with Cervelo Test Team during Interbike. Rather than waste time, energy and space recapping what we saw in 2010, we’ll keep it simple and say it was a great year for innovative products.

We hope that Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association was right when he said to us in a phone interview last week that as far as innovation goes, “2011 will knock your socks off.”

We’re hoping to have them knocked off!

CES 2011: UnitedHealth Group Plans Fitness Challenges for CES Attendees

Two fitness challenges will push the health agenda at CES 2011 for health insurance agency UnitedHealth Group. Participants will compete for an iPad and Xbox 360 with Kinect over the course of the conference running from January 6-9. Continue reading CES 2011: UnitedHealth Group Plans Fitness Challenges for CES Attendees

CES 2011: Kodak to Roll Out Burton Snowboard Branded Camera

Next week’s Consumer Electronics Show won’t have any shortage of cameras, but one camera is already leading the pack in style. This week Kodak announced a new marketing relationship with Burton Snowboards, and this will include the release of a special KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera, Burton Edition. It features the orange pixilated design of Burton’s popular Custom 154 Snowboard. So for the fashion forward boarders, it will practically be a match made in heaven.

The camera will be bundled with a camera holster that can be worn on the arm or leg, thus making this an easy camera to access during a day on the snow. It comes with a remote control, rechargeable battery and a 4GB SDHC Memory Card.  This rugged HD video camera should prove tough enough, and it is waterproof for up to 10 feet, and can capture 1080p HD video as well as 5megapixel still images. It features electronic image stabilization and LCD Glare Shield, along with built-in software with USB output for easy editing – so you can put your “dailies” up to YouTube and Facebook. The only catch for those looking to grab one is that it won’t be available until later in January from Burton.com or Kodak.com (MSRP $199.95). In the meantime, if you head to Las Vegas next week you’ll be able to see it at the Kodak Booth.

Kodak Official Website

Burton Snowboard Official Website

Rugged Convertible Notebook for World Travelers

Planning a trip around the world, or just need to update your Facebook page while you’re off hiking? Either way the GammaTech D12C rugged notebook will survive the journey. This convertible notebook does the transformer thing, going from a traditional notebook to a tablet in a blink of the eye. It features a 12.1-inch Touch Screen display, along with a Web cam and HD stereo audio.

It is drop and shock resistant and tested to stringent MIL-STD-810G requirements. It further features a unique spill resistant design protects it from accidental spills, utilizing a C-face that helps protect the area around the keyboard, touchpad, speakers and wireless and power switches. When off in the wild the D12C is practically air tight as all input/output ports are fully dust resistant as well. Continue reading Rugged Convertible Notebook for World Travelers

SPOT On With CES Innovations Award

The Consumer Electronics Show is still more than a month away, but at the recent CES Unveiled press event in New York City the DeLorme Earthmate PN-60w with SPOT Satellite Communicator was named winner of the CES Innovations Award. The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards program recognizes the most innovative consumer electronics (CE) across 35 of industry categories.

The Earthmate PN-60w was recognized as it the world’s first handheld GPS capable of sending custom text messages using SPOT satellite technology, and is thus ideal for outdoor enthusiasts (as well as international relief workers).

“DeLorme is deeply honored to receive this prestigious award, and especially excited to showcase the PN-60w with SPOT to the worldwide market at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in January,” said DeLorme Vice President Caleb Mason.

The Earthmate PN-60w with SPOT Satellite Communicator previously received a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award and a National Geographic Adventure Gear of the Year honors.

DeLorme

SPOT

Consumer Electronics Show Releases More Info on Sports and Fitness Tech Summit

It seems we were just a year early. We launched KineticShift.com at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show back in January. Now for 2011, the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) seems to have technology and fitness on the brain as well. Continue reading Consumer Electronics Show Releases More Info on Sports and Fitness Tech Summit