07 Jan 2014
Latest wearable tech innovations revealed at CES 2014
BY Tom Anstey
A host of new and innovative wearable tech devices have been unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014.
CES 2014 showcases more than 20,000 new products to 152,000 attendees on an annual basis and a notable piece of health and fitness technology came from Intel, which revealed a pair of biometric earbuds that can track your heart rate (and display it on a companion app), keep tabs on your running and get power from your device's headphone jack.
Not to be outdone, LG unveiled a pair of earphones that measure your heartbeat in your ears while playing you music as you work out. These new headphones are coupled with LG’s Lifeband Touch, which tracks your activity like a Nike Fuelband, but includes a touch-sensitive screen on the top of the band. It connects via Bluetooth to a phone and LG’s fitness app, but will also display notifications for calls and text messages and control music playback on your smartphone.
Among the new products was the Tao Wellshell, which is designed to track your motions like everything else, but also to integrate a full workout. Based on isometrics, it measures your compressive power and produces precise workouts using your own muscle strength against you.
Also introduces were Notch – a new modular approach to fitness tracking which links up to 10 sensors mounted around your body tracking individual motions – and the Sony SmartBand – A device that tracks your motions like any other activity monitor, but also logs things like the music you listen to and where you’ve been via the Lifelog Android smartphone app.
RunPhones and RunPhones Intensity put an interesting twist on fitness training with a headband that integrates a set of headphones to play music with an integrated personal trainer who barks out motivation for 10-minute high intensity workouts.
According to a recent study by ON World, more than a quarter of a billion wearable health and fitness sensing devices will be shipped worldwide by 2017 as fitness technology becomes more dominant in the wireless marketplace.
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