Samsung patents vein identification sensor on smartwatches

Fingerprints, heartbeats and veins — they can all be used to identify who you are. While the latter is far from new, it may be on the cusp of mainstream adoption, if Samsung’s recent patent ever comes to fruition. The Korean technology giant recently filed a patent for a wearable device equipped with a vein-reading sensor.

The patent, ambiguously titled “Wearable Device and Method of Operating the Same,” was filed on July 29, 2015, and published on February 4, 2016. The summary describes a wearable device with a sensor that captures a “vein image” of the user, which is processed and used to identify the user. If the vein image captured matches at least one registered vein image, a specific function or application would be run. In other words, it wouldn’t function too differently from a fingerprint sensor.

In the patent, Samsung goes on to describe a sensor that includes an infrared light source and camera. When the infrared light is emitted on the back of a user’s hand, for instance, the camera would capture the vein image.

If a positive vein image identification occurs, it can trigger the loading of a specific user’s music playlist, contact list or credit card payments, for example. The applications could extend to actions like opening car doors or hotel room doors.

As always, patents are never sure bets to make their way to real-world devices. However, the applications for a vein identification sensor on a smartwatch are clear and appealing enough.




Source: Digital Trends

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Expect Smarter Wearables With Samsung's Latest Bio-Processor

 

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced that it is addressing the growing trend of quantified health with an all-in-one advanced system logic chip for the health-oriented wearables market, the Bio-Processor. The Samsung Bio-Processor, now in mass production, is specifically designed to allow accelerated development of innovative wearable products for consumers who are increasingly monitoring their health and fitness on a daily basis.

“With improvements in smart, fitness devices and an increase in consumer health consciousness, more and more people are looking for ways to monitor various personal bio-data, or fitness data, to constantly manage their health” said Ben K. Hur, Vice President of marketing, System LSI business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s Bio-Processor, which can process five different biometric signals, is the most versatile health and fitness monitoring chip available on the market today and is expected to open up many new health-based service options for our customers.”


Samsung’s Bio-Processor is the industry’s first all-in-one health solution chip. By integrating not only Analog Front Ends (AFE), but also microcontroller unit (MCU), power management integrated circuit (PMIC), digital signal processor (DSP), and eFlash memory, it is able to process the bio-signals it measures without the need of external processing parts. Even with its integrated design, the Bio-Processor is particularly innovative thanks to its incredibly small size. When compared to the total area of the discrete parts, the Bio-Processor is only about one fourth of the total combined size, which is ideal for small wearable devices, offering a bounty of options when designing new devices.

While heart rate monitoring alone may have been compelling in the past, the ability to measure a variety of fitness data is expected in today’s wearable products. To meet such demands, Samsung has designed its Bio-Processor to integrate five AFEs including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (ECG), skin temperature, and galvanic skin response (GSR) into a single chip solution that measures body fat, and skeletal muscle mass, heart rate, heart rhythm, skin temperature and stress level, respectively. In addition, combinations of these fitness inputs can be considered for a variety of new use cases.

To speed product development and better understand Samsung’s new Bio-Processor, several wearable reference platforms are now available to demonstrate various uses cases. For example, wrist band, board and patch type reference devices exhibit the Bio-Processor’s potential by demonstrating its ability to measure multiple fitness variables on an extremely small device.

Samsung Bio-Processor is currently in mass production and will be available in fitness/health devices within the first half of 2016.


Source: Samsung

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Japanese university bans all watches from exams

One of Japan's most prestigious universities is banning all watches from entrance exam rooms over cheating concerns. The Wall Street Journal reports that Kyoto University's ban was "required to conduct a fair test," and applies to any type of watch, even mechanical ones. The paper says Kyoto is the first Japanese school to instate an entire ban, although other international schools had similar rulings; schools in Australia and England have banned watches altogether, and the AP Program and SAT test centers in the US have rules against smartwatches in examination rooms.

Kyoto University was the nexus of one of Japan’s largest cheating scandals when, in 2011, a male student posted questions online from his phone during an exam. He then solicited answers from online forum readers. Now, of course, cell phones are not allowed in most — if not all — examination rooms.

Kyoto also happens to be the school behind a ban on cosplay costumes at graduation. No cheating? No cosplay? Maybe Kyoto just wants students to have no fu


Source :The Verge

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Vine launches on the Apple Watch

Vine today updated its iOS app to add support for the Apple Watch. The updated app, version 4.4.0, is available for download from the App Store.

In a move that seems like a natural fit for the bite-sized, Twitter-owned video platform, Watch owners will be able to access the service’s six-second clips via two distinct feeds, Favorites and Featured. As their names suggest, Favorites include Vines from creators whom a user follows, while Featured is a curated, hand-selected collection of videos from several topical categories (comedy, music, and sports are the given examples).

In addition to bringing its content to the smallest of small screens, Vine has also endowed the watchOS app with its own loop-counting complication. This widget is a simple readout of a Vine creator’s total views across all clips, updated in real time. While the complication may not be of interest to the average viewer, it will certainly be appealing to the type of content producer whose brain fires off tiny dopamine hits when stimulated by engagement data.

The app update also brings another pair of new features to iOS: Audio Remix and Swipe for Similar. The former allows one to tap on any Vine and create a new Vine “using the audio from that post,” while the latter is a UX enhancement that enables new content discovery with a simple left swipe on the current post.

Source :Venture Beat 

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Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have developed a wristband that can sense hand gestures

As anyone who owns a smartwatch can tell you, one-handed operation isn’t exactly their forte. Beyond the “flick-to-wake” gesture found in a number of smartwatches and Android Wear’s wrist-based notification scrolling, there’s not much you can do without a second hand and set of fingers. But a team of researchers may have developed solution: a strap called Tomo that translates subtle muscle movements into software actions.

The prototype, developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction group, uses tiny impulses to sense wrist muscle movements. Operating on a principle of Electrical Impedance Tomography, similar to PET and CT machines, eight metal contacts send a continuous series of tiny electrical impulses through the wearer’s wrist. Sensors measure the strength of the impulses on the other side and, over time, collect enough data to generate and analyze a digital image of the finger and hand gestures being performed.

The wristband may not be the first capable of recognizing hand and wrist gestures, but it could be the most practical. Camera-based modules are typically much bulkier, the researchers note, and accelerometer and gyroscope-based systems can’t support static gestures. Moreover, the internal nature of Tomo’s analysis means it should work through gloves and clothing. And it’s cheap ($40 in its current form), small, and has a power draw minimal enough to make “integration directly into a smartwatch” feasible.

Tomo’s not perfect, though. Differences in wrist size and thickness between wearers mean the strap’s recognition software must “learn” gestures before it can accurately recognize them. (Think training voice dictation software to recognize diction.) And thanks to the granularity of the muscle measurements, the strap’s accuracy is largely dependent on its tightness and the consistency of its positioning.

Shortcomings aside, the Tomo’s the best attempt yet at a single-handed way of controlling a smartwatch. For the sake of those who never have a hand to spare, here’s hoping it catches on.

Source : Digital Trends 

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Android Wear and Apple Watch May Not Be So Different

The Apple Watch and smartwatches running Google’s Android Wear are becoming increasingly similar. Product differentiators so far are based primarily on the software functions of the devices, and with Apple’s recent watchOS updates, Android Wear devices seem to offer comparable experiences.

After delays, Apple’s latest watchOS was released and advanced some aspects of the Apple Watch, including improved functionality and customization. Google’s Android Wear partners are also launching improved products, however. Motorola’s popular Moto 360 was updated recently and now includes an even wider range of bands and other stylistic options. Samsung’s announcement of its latest, now round smartwatch, the Gear S2, was met with early praise. Critics were especially receptive to its rotating bezel and its added functionality. However, the Samsung Gear S2 runs the company’s own Tizen software and does not run Google’s Android Wear smartwatch OS.

One of the most important moments in wearable tech of weeks passed is Google’s announcement that Android Wear watches can now be paired with an iPhone. Features like e-mail alerts and calendar updates will work when used with an iPhone, but Android Wear will be limited in what it can do. Any app that requires the Android Google Play store will not operate. Additionally, Apple places restrictions on what rival watchmakers can do with its platform.

However, in a world where the Apple Watch and Android Wear watches are performing so similarly on their respective native platforms, Apple has taken steps to differentiate on hardware as well. Apple has recently added color options usually restricted for its higher end models of the Apple Watch to the cheaper segment as well. This represents an update to the Watch’s exterior design in about half the period that an update to a smartphone’s exterior design would take place. Apple may be attempting to promote slouching sales of its smartwatch if the color options are changing so soon after launch.

Android Wear smartwatches have found the most success against the Apple Watch in the cheaper market. Apple does not disclose their smartwatch’s specific sales numbers, making it difficult to judge where their offering stands. However, estimates have predicted sales between 9 and 12 million for the Apple Watch and sales between 4 to 6 million for all Android Wear devices.

Source : Android Headlines 

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Pebble launches the world's thinnest and lightest smartwatch, the Time Round

Pebble announced yesterday  the launch of its first fully circular smartwatch, the Pebble Time Round. At just 7.5mm thick and weighing only 28 grams, the Pebble Time Round is the world's thinnest and lightest smartwatch. The watch has an all-metal construction, with a 38.5mm face and comes with many customization options.

The watch's circular display does have a thick bezel, however having a smaller display does allow to increase battery life, something Pebble has been prioritizing throughout their product line. Despite that effort, Pebble has sacrificed battery life for design with the Time Round as its thinner form-factor means a slimmer battery. In fact the watch can go for two days before needing a full charge, in contrast to a week for previous models. To compensate, Pebble claims that the watch can charge very quickly, and can operate for 24 hours with a 15-minute charge. The Pebble Time Round has an always-on 64-color e-paper display with backlight.

The watch is splash resistant, or IPX7 certified (unlike other Pebble watches that are water resistant), so you can still wear the watch while washing your hands however you will not be able to submerge it in water. Finally, just like the Pebble Time, the Pebble Time Round has a built-in microphone and now has 4 buttons positioned around the sides for navigation and control.

To please a wider range of customer, Pebble focused on customization with their new watch. The Pebble Time Round comes in one-size-fits-all, however has a 20mm strap option for men, and 14mm strap option for women. The watch also comes in three different colors; Black, Silver and a special-edition Rose Gold for the 14mm strap size. Finally you can download new watch faces to further personalize the watch.

Although battery life has been compromised on the new Pebble Time Round, its new design will definitely attract new customers as the trend for circular smartwatches, or smartwatches that look more like real watches seems to be growing in popularity. In addition, according to Pebble, the watch is “So light and thin, it's pretty easy to mistake Pebble Time Round for any other watch.” The Pebble Time Round starts at $249, and can be reserved at Pebble.com Best Buy, Target, and Amazon. The Time Round will start shipping and will be available at US retailers in early November.

Source: Pebble

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watchOS 2 Finally Arrives

You know what they say – better late than never. To put things into perspective, Apple's September 9th event that passed by this fall saw the announcement of two new iPhones are per the usual modus operandi, in addition to a spanking new iPad Pro as well as the all new Apple TV. Not only that, hardware is not all there is to it, as software too, plays an important role, which was why Apple did dedicated some time to iOS 9 andwatchOS 2. The watchOS 2's launch experienced a delay because of a last minute bug, but that is better than releasing something that is gimped only to fix it slightly later, right?

watchOS 2 is finally here, taking approximately five months after the original release of the Apple Watch. This will be an updated OS – no doubt about it, and there are no groundbreaking changes along the way, although it does make the entire experience a whole lot better.

watchOS will come with a slew of new watch faces as well as additional details on the face itself through what is known as 'Complications' by Apple. Apart from that, many of the apps will now be able to run natively on the timepiece, and some might have even said that all of this should have been right there from the very beginning.

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Nixon releases a range of watches for fashion conscious Star Wars fans

Let's start with the watches, an area where Nixon has a lot of experience, the Star Wars Collection is being launched on September 18, initially with only the Dark Side range in tow.

The collection features a range of Stormtrooper, Imperial Pilot, Boba Fett and Darth Vader inspired timepieces.

The 51-30 (below, centre) comes in at £420, it features a 60 seconds sub-dial and Imperial logo, as well as custom case back featuring the famous Stormtrooper quote, "Move Along". The second sub-dial features a blaster hand with kill (high tide) and stun (low tide).

The Ranger (below, left) comes in at £280, the hour and minute hands are inspired by an Imperial Pilot's helmet, features a red date complication, and a back inspired by the Ranger's 'Crash and Burn' way of life.

The Unit (above, right) is priced at £125, it's a custom polycarbonate case with Imperial inspired geometry. The red LCD display is taken from a TIE Fighter cockpit, displaying the time, temperature, and date.

There are two versions for each watch, a white 'Stormtrooper' model, and a black 'Imperial Pilot' model.

If your money can't stretch to the more premium models above, there are two 'Time Teller' variants, which only cost £65 and feature a 'blaster' second hand and Stormtrooper aesthetics.

If you're after something a bit more special, the Darth Vader 51-30 Automatic LTD is individually numbered, and comes in at over £2125. The Darth Vader watch, along with the Boba Fett watches will be available on November 19.

As well as watches, Nixon have also created a range of accessories, including bags, wallets and belts.

Source T3

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Adidas-owned Runtastic has made an activity-tracking wristwatch

Runtastic, maker of a health-and-fitness mobile app that was recently acquired by apparel giant Adidas, has just launched a new analog wristwatch that doubles as an activity tracker, called the Runtastic Moment.

Steps & Distance, Active Minutes,

Calories Burned, Sleep Cycles and Goals

The Runtastic Moment watch, like almost every other wrist-wearable with a certain combination of sensors, tracks steps, active minutes, calories burned and sleep cycles. But, unlike some others, it's waterproof up to 300 feet, which means it can be worn during swimming. It doesn't exactly track swimming yet - but in the future, Runtastic says, it may be able to track swim strokes.

Another selling point for this style of activity-tracking watch is its battery life. Runtastic estimates that the watch should last for about 6 months on a standard coin battery.

It pairs wirelessly over Bluetooth to share data with a Runtastic app for iPhone and Android.

There are two price tiers for the Runtastic Moment. The "Fun" and "Basic" versions of the watch have a stainless steel case, a silicon strap and ship for $130, the only difference being that the unfortunately-named Basic has a slightly larger watch face. The Elite Moment and the Moment Classic both cost $180; the former ships with a black leather band, and the latter is available in silver, gold and rose gold casing.

Runtastic estimates that the watch should last for about 6 months on a standard coin battery

It's not Runtastic's first hardware product; the company previously made the Orbit, a $119, 24/7 activity-tracker with a sharp OLED display. A new Orbit is expected out later this year, and will include heart-rate tracking, the company said.

Nor is the Runtastic Moment the only analog wristwatch that includes some element of activity-tracking and pairs wirelessly with a mobile app. The Withings Activite, a $450 Swiss-made watch, and Withings Pop, its less expensive non-Swiss counterpart, are both strikingly similar in design. Both the Runtastic Moment and the Withings models have round, clean-looking traditional watch faces, with smaller dials that indicate how much you've moved throughout the day.

Runtastic was acquired by Adidas last month for $239 million, and has said it would "remain its own entity" within Adidas Group.

Source : The Verge 

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Motorola's new Moto 360 brings customisation and style to Android Wear

Let's start with how it looks. The original Moto 360 was always the best-looking smartwatch around, and it's successor seems to follow on in that tradition.

The new case design features extended lugs to improve fit and comfort, and there are now two sizes, a 46mm and 42mm case diameter. Each Moto 360 is manufactured from aircraft-grade 316L stainless steel and scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.

There's also a new collection designed specifically with women in mind. The case features smaller, more elegant lugs, the peak-shaped bezel is jewelry-like, and the new double-wrap band creates a very fashion-focused aesthetic.

Bands can be swapped in seconds, and customers will have the option to completely customise their device with the Moto Maker program.

Next up we have hardware. The original Moto 360 was criticised for its low-powered guts, but the new model shouldn't have that problem.

With Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 chip, with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU and 512 MB RAM, navigating the Android Wear OS should be a silky smooth experience.

The 42mm watch has a 35mm screen with 263ppi, and the 46mm watch has a 40mm screen with 233ppi. Motorola claim this has the highest screen to case ratio of any smartwatch on the market, there's practically no bezel in sight.

Battery life also looks set to improve, with a 300mAh in the 42mm and a 400mAh on the 46mm. This provides around 1.5 or 2 days use respectively, the devices also feature wireless charging similar to the previous model (but chargers are not compatible).

To round things off the smartwatch has two mics, WiFi, an optical heart rate sensor and an IP67 dust and water resistance.

Not content with going after the style market, Motorola has also targetted the fitness-focused consumers with the Moto 360 Sport.

The Sport variation is very similar to the other model, however it features both a heart rate sensor and GPS. It runs Android Wear on a LCD display that combines a traditional backlit transmissive screen with a front lit reflective technology.

Both watches will benefit from the recent Android Wear update that brings iOS support and interactive watch faces.

Motorola has also announced that all devices will be available in the UK later this month, with prices starting at £229.


Source :T3

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The LG Watch Urbane Luxe is a 23-karat gold smartwatch for $1,200

The LG Watch Urbane's vanilla model was already huge, but for people who want their Android Wear smartwatch to be really eye-catching, the company is now offering a limited-edition 23-karat gold version for the low low price of $1,200. The LG Watch Urbane Luxe offers exactly the same technical specs as the regular Urbane, released earlier this year, but attempts to justify its pricetag with a gold body, a strap made of alligator leather, and an "exclusive" shiny lacquer case.

"Wearable devices shouldn't be thought of as an extension of one's smartphone but an extension of oneself," says LG's Chris Yie, apparently indicating that the only people who'd buy the Urbane Luxe are coated in gold and clad in alligator skin. Certainly, if you do drop the $1,200 on a dressed-up Android Wear smartphone, you'll be a member of an exclusive club — only 500 of the golden watches will be made, in partnership with Reeds Jewelers in the US. The Urbane Luxe might not be as ostentatious a device as a $10,000 Apple Watch Edition, but it is a chance to strap a slab of gold to your wrist and have it do a little more than just tell the time.

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Sony Crowdfunding a Smartwatch, But it Only Works With iPhone

Sony employees are working on a new smartwatch that rather surprisingly lacks an integral feature: support for Sony smartphones.

The smartwatch, dubbed Wena, surfaced on Sony's crowdfunding site First Flight, boasting a traditional analog face and all of its "smart" electronics bundled into the wristband. The device, developed by Sony employees with help from watchmaker Citizen, includes the ability to track a user's activity, alert them to notifications and emails, and make payments.

For now, the smartwatch works only with Apple iPhones running iOS 8 or later, The Wall Street Journal reported. There is no support for Sony's own Xperia handsets.

The smartwatch is currently being crowdfunded on Sony's First Flight. Announced in July, First Flight is Sony's attempt to encourage employees to develop new products and fund those ideas through crowdfunding. The idea is to boost entrepeneurialism at Sony and for the company to find new technologies that may catch on with consumers.

Wena, however, is already causing some to scratch their heads. For one, Wena, which stands for "wear electronics naturally," is not your typical smartwatch. Nearly all other smartwatches on the market come with a touch screen that can be used to interact with software. Apps are available to them and in the vast majority of cases, when they're hooked up to other products, their faces become even more useful. Wena, however, has what could be called a "dumb" face.

It's also unclear why Sony would attempt to sell a product that doesn't come with support for its own smartphones. The idea that Wena will only connect to an iPhone seems to reflect the realities of Sony's business, which has relied less on smartphones to drive business. Instead, Sony is more concerned with its PlayStation gaming division and sensors bundled with smartphones. Those two divisions have proven to be among its most successful in the last few years.

Still, Wena represents the realities of the smartwatch market. The nascent space is still trying to gain its footing and attract customers, and companies are willing to try anything to see if their option catches on.

While wearables are expected to gain in popularity over the next several years as consumers increasingly buy up fitness trackers and other products, smartwatches are an unknown quantity. Last week, research firm IDC illustrated that point, saying that Apple Watch—the most successful smartwatch to date—sold through 3.6 million units in the second quarter. IDC earlier believed that Apple could ship 22 million smartwatches in 2015, an unlikely tally given its tepid launch.

Questions abound over Wena's future. For now, the device is only slated to launch in Japan and uses a near-field communication technology that is widely available in that country. And although it has already reached its funding goal of 10 million yen ($82,395) with 15.3 million yen raised, that sum has come from just 311 "supporters."

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Android Wear now works with iPhones

Google has officially announced that Android Wear is coming to the iPhone. But there are a few caveats. For one thing, only the latest iPhones -- those that are running iOS 8.2 and up -- are supported (that includes the iPhone 5 onwards). More importantly, this app only works with the very latest in Android Wear watches. Right now, the only watch that works with this is the new LG Watch Urbane, which is the most recent Android Wear watch to launch. We're told that the app will also work with all future Wear devices, including upcoming watches from ASUS, Motorola and Huawei.

But what about older Android Wear devices? Well, we're told that the iOS app won't work with them because they don't run the latest Android Wear release out of the box. Only the latest Android Wear watches have this capability, a spokesperson said, in order to ensure a streamlined setup pairing with an iOS phone. That said, while older Android Wear devices aren't technically supported, I wouldn't be surprised if someone somewhere were able to make it work. Of course, we won't be able to find this out until we can try it out for ourselves.

All told, Android Wear for iOS should work almost the same as it does for Android phones. You'll get notifications from your favorite Google services like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Now, as well as Apple's Calendar, Google Fit, the weather, alarm, agenda, Translate and so forth. It'll work with voice queries and you can change the watch face just as you can with the Android app. According to Google, you don't need to have any of these apps installed; they're all built into the iOS app itself (We're guessing that you'll be asked to login with your Google credentials and it'll go from there). Any third party app notifications that show up on your iPhone will also show on the watch. Google did say that Android Wear for iOS doesn't support notifications from any Google Play store apps, but that's to be expected.

So there you have it; if you were a little upset at the limited wearable options available for the iPhone, now you have the latest Android Wear lineup at your disposal. If you happen to have an LG Watch Urbane and you have an iPhone lying around, you can go ahead and try out the app -- it's slowly rolling out on Apple's App Store starting today.

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A quick peek at Intel and Fossil's first Android Wear watch looks very familiar

We've finally gotten a glimpse of what Fossil's long-awaited Android Wear watch will look like. And, it looks like a lot of other Android Wear watches.

Intel already has already made several splashes in wearable tech, from Barneys jewelry to the still-unreleased Android Wear-powered Tag watch. Fossil has made smartwatches before, too. But now Intel and Fossil are planning a number of wearables with Fossil, called Fossil Connected Accessories, and the details were briefly teased at Intel's Developer Forum keynote.

These won't be just watches: they'll include connected bracelets for men and women, as well as connected watches and this full round-screen Android Wear watch. According to Fossil's Greg McKelvey, Fossil will also be making connected watches for Michael Kors and Kate Spade.

Shown off for a few moments at the developer conference, the first Fossil Android Wear watch looks from a distance like the Moto 360, LG Watch Urbane, Huawei Watch, and other gleaming round watches. More details, including features, price and the actual watch name, will come down the road.

Source : CNET 

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The Apple Watch is no longer by appointment only

Apple wants customers to be able to walk into its stores and try on an Apple Watch without an appointment, reports 9to5Mac. This has been a requirement since the Apple Watch started selling in stores in April, but the company is apparently making it optional in order to streamline the retail experience. Previously, shoppers who wanted to try on the Apple Watch in store had to book an appointment online, entering their Apple ID and picking a time. But from this week it seems this is no longer compulsory, with London's Covent Garden Apple store confirming the change in policy to The Verge.

Although plenty of anecdotal reports suggest that this appointment process was never strictly enforced, this move certainly implies that the company wants to make it easier for customers to get some hands-on time with the device. At the moment, the Apple Watch occupies a relatively hallowed space in the company's stores, with assistants taking customers aside to offer them trays of bands and watch types. Dropping appointments seems designed to make this procedure less fussy and more egalitarian, while presumably aiming to sell more watches in the process.

Source: The Verge

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Misfit teams up with Speedo on a fitness tracker for swimmers

Misfit's Shine activity tracker has been around for a while now, but today the company is giving the wearable new duties. The company has teamed up with Speedo for a new Shine gadget that logs the details for your workout in the water. The duo says that this is "the first device of its kind with swimmers in mind," packing in lap-counting algorithms to tally stats for all stroke types. Keeping its aluminum exterior, the waterproof Speedo Shine sports a lighter shade of silver but it'll still beam all of your lap and distance details to Misfit's Android and iOS software. In the near future, it'll also play nice with the Speedo Fit swim-tracking app. And yes, this Shine still keeps tabs on the rest of your activity and sleep patterns with a watch battery that's said to last six months.

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