Wearable Technology

Smartwatches, augmented reality glasses, fitness trackers –any compact extension to your smartphone or tablet– is firmly in Google’s sights with the announcement of Android Wear. What is Android Wear? It’s a push to extend Android to those smartwatches and wearable devices, using a standard API and developer tools so Android apps for smartphones and tablets can be ported to, or seamlessly integrated with those wearables. Google is working with developers and hardware partners like Samsung, Fossil and LG on the Android Wear Initiative. And you’ll see two Android Wear-powered smartwatches at Best Buy Later this year: the Moto 360 and LG’s G Watch.  

Perhaps you’re like me, or perhaps you’re a “normal” human—either way, you lose stuff. The delightful people at Best Buy Canada (and a cutie-patootie named Chris Herbert, the inventor of TrackR) are showing us technology that will essentially give you a super-robot memory and stop you from losing your mind and ruining your life. This all comes in the form of the TrackR Wallet.

We often get most excited about features in activity trackers like heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking. But one often overlooked, yet very useful, feature is the motion alert sensor that can be found in a few models.      

Modern Wearable Technology has come so far in such a small time. Nowadays, we’ve gone past the idea of smarter watches and exploded into biometrics, distance tracking and even sports coaching. Regardless of what you’re interested in, there’s a good chance that there’s a wearable out there that does something to peak your interests. In Wearable Tech 101, we’ll take a look at what modern wearables are and how they can benefit your everyday life. Come have a look.

Summer doesn’t officially start until June 21st but depending on where you are in the country, you’ve been hit with your first heatwave already. Vancouver recently enjoyed it’s first 30 degree day of the year and it looks primed to be a hot summer from here. That means you’ll have those longer days outdoors and what are you going to do with all of that time? Here’s a look at some of the types of wearables you can use to enjoy staying fit this summer.

As a luxurious summer for most of us draws to a close you may find that despite being fairly active you’re not feeling as energetic or healthy as you think you should. If you’ve fallen off the fitness bandwagon it’s not that hard to get back on—if you have the right tools to help you. Enter wearable technology (and a few other little extras) that can help you kick things into high gear and get you to the next level.

Looking for a cool, high tech gift idea? One that can help someone live a healthier lifestyle or make them love their smartphone that much more? Look no further than wearable technology, a category of gear that’s taken off this year, finally living up to the promise of wearing a mini computer instead of carrying one.

Are you the proud owner of an original Galaxy Gear smartwatch, but bummed out that you’re missing out on some of the cool new features of the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, like their standalone music app and S Health sleep tracking? Samsung is listening and its now offering the ability to upgrade the original Galaxy Gear’s operating system from Android to Tizen —the OS powering its latest generation of smartwatches.

It’s going to be a long hard semester and getting fit and staying fit is going to help you stay focused, feel good and most importantly, avoid getting sick. So use this month before school to get fit and stay fit! 

Keeping your heart healthy is one of the best reasons to kick off a fitness program or reduce your daily stress. Here are a few devices that can help.