Nike, known for their athletic wear, announced a new wristband called the Nike+ Fuelband which can track all your movements across different functions, say running, swimming, dancing, and more.

The company is looking to further break into the market of tracking movements, something that many people are interested in and after the success of the Jawbone Up, a very similar wristband.

Via The Wall Street Journal:

“The Nike+ FuelBand tracks all movements, such as running, dancing or swimming, and can allow users to measure that movement and set personal goals. The Nike+ FuelBand, available for preorder Thursday at a suggested retail price of $149, is water resistant, has a battery life of roughly four days and an internal USB. Nike will begin to process shipments of the device on Feb. 22. The wristband will also be available on Nike’s website at that time and will be sold in select Nike retail locations in the spring.”

Not a bad price and for a charge that can last nearly 4 days, very impressive and nice for those of us who forget to throw a device on the charger.

“The latest device, however, is Nike’s first solo foray into the digital space, though Nike worked with partners on the development. The device can synch with the iPhone and iOS platform, and Nike is hoping to allow it to eventually sync with the Android.”

So if you’ve got an Android device, well, you’re out of luck for now. It’s typically standard to launch apps on the iPhone first and then push them over to Android.

“Data that was once available only to top athletes is now available to athletes of all levels,” said President and Chief Executive Mark Parker.”

Would you buy the Nike+ Fuelband?

New Nike Wristband Can Track All Your Movements, Geared Towards Athletes is a post from: The Inquisitr

CES, also known as the International Consumer Electronics Show, is every year in January in Las Vegas. The show has been going on for over 40 years and CES 2012 was January 10th through the 13th.

Attendance this year was the largest ever at just over 153,000 attendees.

Via PCWorld:

“The 2012 International CES had more exhibitors (3100) hawking their wares across more space (1.9 million square feet) and attracted more people (153,000 attendees) than any other CES in the 44-year history of the event, the Consumer Electronics Association revealed in a statement released Friday.”

Featuring the latest and upcoming gadgets, it’s been a big attraction for technology enthusiasts and geeks all over the World. People  travel from all different parts of the globe, as do companies looking to show off and demo their new products or services.

There were several big hits this year at CES. LG and Samsung’s razor thin and incredibly vibrant OLED televisions really stunned the crowd and are the next generation of TV’s for our homes. With a very thin and light profile, yet energy efficient and amazing colors, they’re quite exciting.

With thinner and lighter laptops on many consumers minds, ultrabooks were out and about. The HP Envy 14 Spectre was one that stood out that we’ve mentioned previously. All in all, there’s too many new gadgets to list and go over.

However, one thing that really did grab people’s attention was the quad core Asus Memo 370T tablet for an incredible $250 that will be available in the second quarter of this year. The tablet features some pretty impressive specs for such a small price.

What was your favorite gadget mentioned at CES 2012?

CES 2012 Largest Year Ever, Sets Record is a post from: The Inquisitr

Battery life for our various gadgets pretty well sucks and keeping an eye out for handy power outlets for a quick juice up is becoming a practiced art but you might want to be careful where you plug in that recharging cord because you could end up[ finding yourself under arrest.

This is what happened to 23-year-old homeless Shawn Fawster when he was found by Bangor police powering up a couple of cellphones using an outdoor outlet.

Police have brought charges against a homeless man in Maine who they say decided to charge a couple of cellphones in an outdoor electrical outlet.A Bangor police officer checking downtown businesses says he discovered 23-year-old Shaun Fawster charging his phones in an outlet hidden behind some flowers.

Fawster was charged last weekend with theft of services, but also with carrying a concealed weapon, after the officer claimed he found a folding knife tucked underneath the homeless man’s shirt.

via CBS News

All that for what probably amounts to less than 25¢ worth of electricity. Way to go Bangor.

h/t TechnoBuffalo

Using a public power outlet to charge your phone could get you arrested is a post from: The Inquisitr

Those of us who deal with technology on a daily basis would like to believe that technology will help save the word as things like smartphones, tablets, and other technological wonders still on the horizon become cheaper and more persuasive.

There’s a big problem with that dream.

It’s called China.

Even as it is considered to be the largest seller of so-called cheap goods China has one other notable fact about it that could portend the exact opposite of cheaper electronic prices – right across the board.

The reason for this is that China controls 95% of the world’s rare-earth minerals.

You might wondering why this might be such a dangerous position for the rest of the world to be in but to put it simply, all of our gadgets make a large use of those rare-earth minerals. Not only do our electronics make increasing use of rare-earth minerals but they also are used in making things like laser-guided weapons to the batteries in hybrid cars.

Even though China has pledged to keep the supply of rare-earth minerals open and available they have also been reducing the quota of what can be exported to 35% of the quota from the same time last year.

If this pattern continues it is inevitable that the prices we pay for our gadgets is going to increase with China being the big winner.

via Slashgear

China holds our technological future by the balls is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you’re like many people in the connected world, you probably close your laptop and take your smartphone or e-reader into bed, texting or Facebooking until such time you drop off into dreamland.

The results of a recent poll suggest that such behaviors can be detrimental to sleep quality. The National Sleep Foundation recently released the results of their annual Sleep in America Poll, and it seems that 43% of those polled report rarely or never getting a “good night’s sleep” during the week. More than half report near-nightly “sleep problems” such as waking feeling unrested or sleep disruption.

It seems artificial light generated by devices such as laptops, televisions and smartphone screens could be contributing to America’s sleep issues, says Charles Czeisler, MD, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour–making it more difficult to fall asleep… This study reveals that light-emitting screens are in heavy use within the pivotal hour before sleep. Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who reported that they routinely get less sleep than they need.”

In addition to limiting exposure to bright screens in the time directly prior to bed, it was recommended that alcohol and late-afternoon naps be restricted for better sleep.

Gadget use before bed may disrupt sleep is a post from: The Inquisitr

As we move more to a mobile world all the gadgets we use, from tablets to smartphones, have one weakness – the glass surfaces. It is in this market that Corning’s nearly indestructible Gorilla Glass has proven to be a a big player – well really the only player, until today that is.

A new player; Asahi Glass, is entering the indestructible glass market with a product called Dragontail that the company says they have been working on for years now and is finally ready to challenge the 800 lbs Gorilla in the room.

You can decide for yourself by watching the promo video after the press release (via Slash Gear).

AGC Unveils Damage-Resistant Dragontrail™ Glass for Smartphone, Tablet PC, TV Makers Worldwide

Tokyo, January 20, 2011 – AGC announced today it will launch worldwide sales of Dragontrail™, a glass material that is highly receptive to chemical strengthening, to respond to surging global demands for high-quality cover glass used for screens on electronic devices. By 2012, AGC expects to achieve sales of over 30 billion yen (about 360 million USD) in the global market for chemically strengthened cover glass used in smartphones, tablet PCs, TVs and similar devices.

Chemically strengthened Dragontrail is six times stronger than conventional soda-lime glass, highly resistant to scratches and features a beautiful, pristine finish compared with resin. Dragontrail, developed from market-proven raw glass for chemical strengthening, is free of environmentally harmful materials

AGC uses a highly efficient float process to manufacture Dragontrail by utilizing the company’s extensive technical expertise in producing specialized glass for electronics acquired through manufacturing TFT glass substrates. The superior production efficiency of this manufacturing process ensures stable supply of cover glass for the growing global mobile device market. AGC will also proactively respond to growing demand for cover glass used in televisions.

“Dragontrail is a a strategic product that will build new foundations for growth under Grow Beyond, our management policy,” said Yoshiaki Tamura, Deputy President of AGC’s Electronics Company unit. “We will continue to explore new applications for this versatile product as we expand its global market.”

The demand for cover material is growing in parallel with the rapid proliferation of smartphones, tablet PCs and other devices, many of which feature designs where touchscreen panels cover the majority of their surfaces. These mobile devices require protection against shocks and grazing resulting from touch operation, accidental drops and scraping inside a pocket or bag. AGC’s Dragontrail offers a superior substitute to conventional cover material, such as soda-lime glass, which lacks strength, and resin, which is prone to scratches and limited by poor texture quality

Dance like a Gorilla, sting like a Dragontail is a post from: The Inquisitr

I so many ways it is pretty neat how much of the science fiction from shows like Start Trek are finding modern day implementations. It’s fairly easy to see the similarities between our cellphones and Star Trek’s communicator but now it looks like we might be on the path to a modern medical tricorder.

It still might be limited to doing only ultrasound scans but there is no denying the fact that GE’s Vscan is some pretty cool technology and surely is only a harbinger of things to come. In an interview at the Web 2.0 summit GE CEO Jeff Immelt showed off this technological wonder that has the same power as a console based ultrasound machine from about two to three years ago and would have cost $250,000 to buy.

They might not have announced a price for this Blackberry sized ultrasound scanner but that didn’t stop Immelt from waxing poetically about the potential.

The price of the device was not revealed, but Immelt asked the audience to imagine these devices going to Africa and helping health care providers there determine “if a baby is breech,” for example. “This could be the stethoscope of the 21st century,” he said.

Immelt also gave a demo of an enhanced online medical records system, in which patient data is combined with clinical outcome data and research to help caregivers apply effective and current treatments to patients. Medical records, he said, don’t win only because they give patients portable electronic files, but rather, “it’s about making better clinical decisions faster.”

Source: cnet News

Here’s a video of the Vscan in action

image credit: cnet News – Rafe Needleman

One step closer to that magic Star Trek medical tricorder is a post from: The Inquisitr

Today, Google announced plans to launch an e-book service by the end of the year, in direct competition with Amazon’s Kindle.

Speculation over the service is hinging on two key differences. While Kindle titles hover around $9.99 for most titles, Google indicated a more open-ended pricing policy, allowing publishers to charge a higher rate and creating some rumbles about driving up the general price of e-books.

The other very large difference is that Google wants to eliminate the necessity for an expensive, one-function piece of equipment, allowing consumers to access their purchases on any web-enabled device. Netbooks, smartphones, home computers and digital readers will be able to access content, and consumers will be able to- get this- move the books they’ve legally purchased from device to device just because they feel like it! (Kindle purchases are only viewable on the pricey Kindle device, iPhones and the iPod Touch.)

Amazon currently offers around 280,000 titles in the Kindle Store. Google has already digitized about seven million books.

Two men enter, one man leaves: Google promises e-book service by end of 2009 is a post from: The Inquisitr

A lot of folks who run web sites, blogs or other such web services stats junkies. Being able to see what is happening traffic wise is something that they just can’t get enough of. The problem is that after awhile they all start to look the same, after all there are only so many ways that you can graph the numbers that come streaming in.

Enter the Emotional Statistics bowl.

The bowl is a different way of displaying your web traffic in that it uses flashing diodes to represent how deeply your visitors are going into your site. If you also sell things via your site the center of the bowel will light up when someone has made a purchase.

Different lights and positions in the bowl shows whether the visitor came by search referral, regular referral, ad referral or directly. The different colors also indicate if the visitor is a repeat user – green for newbies and white for repeat visitors.

The only thing you have to be careful is that someone doesn’t mistake it for a cool soup bowl.

[via SlipperyBrick / pictures courtesy of Yanko Design]

A super bowl for your web stats is a post from: The Inquisitr

In the minds of most people and the media in general when you mention geeky gadgets the first image is of some lonely guy living in the basement of his parents with piles of discarded gadgets littering the floor. It has been the last bastion of male geek superiority but alas folks it is no more.

At least to a recent survey done by Forrester Research this is the case. They found after questioning more than 1,000 single males and more than 1,000 single females that the women were just as into gadgets as were the men.

Some of the findings are:

• single women prefer laptops over desktops in contrast to men who preferred the desktops
• 44% of all single women owned a game console of one type or another
• 27% of surveyed women own a hand-held gaming device while only 29% of men do
• 78% of women own a digital camera compared to 76% of men

The only area where men far surpassed the women was the reading of tech news. For men the number came out to around 40% while with women it was only 20%.

[hat tip to Planetary Gear / pic courtesy of Planetary Gear]

Guy’s last refuge of geek superiority gone is a post from: The Inquisitr

Everyone knows of the old fashioned Will It Blend guys and their videos of stuff getting tossed into a blender and whipped into itty bitty pieces but have you heard about Can Water Cut It yet?

No? Well it’s true and you can see how they saw their way though an iPod using nothing more than a handy dandy Flow Waterjet

[hat tip to Hacked Gadgets]

iPod cut in half by water is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m not one much for gadget accessories but every once in awhile something comes along that you just have to admit to yourself that you would really like one of those things. You can keep your cat tail USB sticks or any number of the hundreds of other silly ass USB gadgets but show me something that looks cool and helps fill a need and I’m right there.

Such is the case with this Power Shelf as it perfectly answers the big clutter problem with all our rechargeable electronics. Now instead of a jumble of wires and valuable cell phones and laptops collecting around electrical outlet all ready for us to trip over you can use the Power Shelf to tame the wire madness and get those items up off the floor.

The company offers a complete line of Power Shelf’s starting at $15.95 and going up to $59.99

hat tip to Crave

A gadget accessory I could really like is a post from: The Inquisitr

Look I like technology as much as the next person but at what point do we say enough is enough. There are some areas where it just doesn’t belong or make sense and in my mind the shower is one of those places. That kind of luddite thinking obviously isn’t to be found at Aquapeutics because they have just come out with a luxury shower to beat all showers.

The shower comes with the following goodies as part of the package

Touch screen TV
MP3 compatible input
6mm tempered glass
Copper faucet
Stainless steel frame
Heater pump
Multi-function rotation sliding bar
4.5KX steam generator

All this and free delivery for $4,299.00 – and you can pay using PayPal.

View Full Album

[hat tip to Geekologie]

Hi, my name is Hal and I am your new shower is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ever wanted to use the force to move objects with your brain? Will it may not be possible without the use of technology, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The Force Trainer comes with a headset that uses brain waves to allow players to manipulate a sphere within a clear 10-inch-tall training tower. The wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere will rise in the tower.

A state of deep concentration is needed to achieve a Force-full effect. Star Wars sound effects and audio clips are emitted from the base unit to cue progress to the next level (from Padawan to Jedi).

The Force Trainer is expected to sell for between $90 and $100.

Cool: The Force Trainer brings Star Wars to Life is a post from: The Inquisitr