At the D11 Conference, Jason Johnson and Yves Bahar have unveiled a new digital lock system for home doors called “August.” The iPhone app allows users to send virtual keys to doors to other users. The system installs as a deadbolt with two screws into modern doors. The company says that installation is seamless…
Jawbone, the company behind the Jawbone Up fitness tracking wristband and companion app, today is announcing some big news including a new API to allow other apps to access its fitness tracking data and the acquisition of competitor BodyMedia. The new API dubbed the “Up Platform” will see the company create its own app ecosystem of sorts, allowing other developers to access Jawbone UP data and integrate their apps to “complement your UP experience.”
To go along with the new API, Jawbone has already updated its UP iOS app with a new side menu that allows users to share their data with integrated apps and the ability to “to seamlessly integrate new data into your feed, lifeline, and trends.”
Initially Jawbone has partnered with a number of fitness related apps including: IFTTT, LoseIt!, Maxwell Health, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal, Notch, RunKeeper, Sleepio, Wello and Withings. Here are a few examples of how Jawbone UP integration works with these third-party services:
-Log a run or bike ride with RunKeeper or MapMyFitness, and view your workout data in UP, including maps of your route, to see how last night’s sleep may have impacted your speed or distance.
-Step on your Withings Smart Body Analyzer and automatically import your weight into UP to track it in the context of how you sleep, eat and move, and get support from your UP teammates as you work toward your goal.
-Create IFTTT Recipes to receive nudges based on your UP activity, like texting you to go for a run if the weather is sunny, or tweeting at your workout partner when you reach 15,000 steps.
-Complete a workout with a live personal trainer in your home or hotel room using Wello, and log the workout directly into UP.
Devs can reach out to Jawbone here if they are interested in integrating their service with UP.
California-based audio accessory maker NYNE is getting ready to show off its latest line of bluetooth speakers, docks, and home audio products at CES next week, but for the past month I’ve already had the chance to play with one of its latest creations- the NB-250 water-resistant Bluetooth speaker.
There is a ton of competition among Bluetooth speaker manufacturers, but a couple have been able to make their way to the top of the majority of recommendation lists, including our own. NYNE’s main competition in my eyes is Logitech and Jawbone, two well-known accessory makers with high-quality, sub $150 bluetooth speaker products on the market. After having hands on time with both the $140 Jambox from Jawbone and the $99 UE Boombox from Logitech, NYNE’s NB-250 does have a few things going for it. First is design…
Expand
Expanding
Close
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3xk48GsPIg&feature=player_embedded]
Jawbone released Up, an app-enabled wearable fitness tracker, roughly one year ago, but a slew of hardware issues ensued, and now the company has corrected those errors and launched a second iteration of the product today with 141 new parts.
The primary problems with the original version of Up concerned water contamination and flexibility. It was apparently not durable enough to handle moisture, and many users who came into contact with water subsequently reported damaged internal parts, while other users snapped components if they bent or twisted the bracelet. There were also many complaints regarding battery life issues.
Jawbone’s CEO and founder Hosain Rahman said his team went back to the drawing board, however, and the new Up design is now perfect after 46 weeks worth of user trials and testing:
“UP marks our commitment to solving everyday problems for real people. We’ve combined hardware, software and data, developed 28 new manufacturing processes, and created unparalleled testing standards validated by nearly three million hours of real-world testing. The resulting breakthroughs have allowed us to create the category’s first truly day-and-night wearable product – a band that looks great and fits effortlessly into the way you live, along with an app that delivers detailed data with meaningful insights to help you achieve your goals.”
Up is essentially a rubberized bracelet with sensors and a 3.5 mm headphone jack concealed by a removable cap. Users must plug Up into an iPhone to sync it with an iOS app and retreive measured data on their sleep habits, activity level, moods, and more.
The bracelet comes in three sizes and eight colors, and it is available starting today for $129.99 at Jawbone.com, Apple, AT&T, and Best Buy. The updated Up by Jawbone iOS app is also available for free in Apple’s App Store.
Get the press release below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj1iO78d6AM]
With the unveiling of Apple’s new Lightning connector and often necessary 30-pin adapters for the iPhone 5 and refreshed iPod lineup, it is perhaps a perfect time for Jawbone to declare “The Dock Is Dead” in its latest ad for the Big Jambox wireless Bluetooth speaker. We put previous generations of the speaker to the test, but the new Jambox has since improved on many of the areas that the old model lacked. We also had positive experiences reviewing other products from Jawbone in the past.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=91MRBRJogPw]
The main gripe we had in our original Jambox review was that sound is not as big as other (bigger) portable Bluetooth speakers.
While both of these products sound great at low volumes, the Logitech has much bigger speakers and simply blows past the Jambox at higher volumes. At its loudest, the Jambox hits about four to 10 levels of the Logitech—it is really no comparison.
The Jambox produces the kind of sound that can be the background music at a dinner party, run a conference call or office presentation in a small conference room, or just listen to your music in a hotel room. I would even recommend it for sitting on a porch or terrace and reading a book. However, you will want more on windy day at the beach or when using it in the kitchen while the dishwasher is running. At 30 feet away, the Bluetooth can tether and you will definitely feel lacking.
Jambox, as if it were listening, introduced the new “Big Jambox” today, which has a bigger sound, longer battery life, and more buttons. As you can see below, you can now control the play/pause and moving forward/backward tracks right from the Jambox. On the downside, it appears that charging the Big Jambox requires a dedicated power cable. The previous version charged via micro-USB, which still exists to set up the MyTalk smart apps.
.
We are in line to get our hands on one of these when it launches May 15 for $299. We will hopefully have a review shortly. The gallery follows:
Expand
Expanding
Close
Jawbone’s CEO Hosain Rahman has published a blog post stating his deepest regrets for some of the issues the Jawbone Up has been having. Users have experienced the band not holding a charge or bricking completely. To make up for the problems, Jawbone is launching a return program December 9th that will allow users to get a refund for the product and even keep it — no questions asked. That’s right, you’re getting the Jawbone Up for free if you’ve already purchased it. The refund program will be located here. Jawbone has also decided to halt sales of the band.
Last week, we reviewed the Jawbone Up — the fitness band we leaked the details for in September — and gave it a pretty positive score, since ours hadn’t broken. The band gave us great results when it came to tracking our daily steps and sleep patterns. But for the customers who bought the band and saw that it was breaking, it was far from worth the $99. Luckily, Jawbone was exchanging defective bands.
CEO Rahman cites the issues with the band were specific capacitors in the power system that wouldn’t let the Up hold a charge for long at all. Here’s to version 2.0!
We’ve embedded the post after the break:
