Pebble has issued an update to their PebbleKit SDK that will allow app developers to create and update their apps to support two-way communication with the Pebble watch over Bluetooth. Of course, this is huge for Pebble, as well as the app developers and the users who own a Pebble watch. Now they’ll be able to perform actions through the watch and have them sent to your smartphone.

Also being released today is the Pebble Sports API, which will allow third-party fitness apps to connect to Pebble smartwatches to offer certain data on the watch face, including time, pace, and miles. RunKeeper announced support last week, but Pebble is making the new API available for everyone, so we should be seeing a lot more fitness apps with Pebble support pop up in the near future.

In related Pebble news, the company is now beginning to ship their orange-colored watches to Kickstarter backers who have requested them. The company also completed development for grey and white models, but they have yet to make it into full production still, so it seems some Pebble backers will be waiting just a little while longer.

Also, after raising over $10 million in the Kickstarter campaign alone, Pebble is getting another round of funding, this time for a cool $15 million from Charles River Ventures. This means that we’ll see the Pebble team expand, and this really only marks the beginning for the company, which we expect to hear from in the next few years about new products and updates.

VIA: Engadget

SOURCE: Pebble

Both the iOS app and Android app also have some new features coming their way. The Android app now includes easier methods to enter in non-GPS activities manually, such as running on a treadmill or cycling on the stationary bike. The Android version also received a new widget that you can add to your home screen, letting you start and stop activities.

As for the iPhone app of RunKeeper, more users in more countries now have access to the fitness app, thanks to additions of several new languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and Japanese. The app’s developers note that they’re continuously adding new languages, so we can expect more to come in the future.

Other than that, the updated app comes with the usual big fixes and performance enhancements. As for the Pebble watch, we reviewed the wrist device back in February, and it’s been going out to Kickstarter backers these last few months. While the watch is somewhat cheaply made in a way, third-party support is growing, making it even more tempting to take advantage of the new device.

Both watches work with TomTom’s own Graphical Training Partner. This system allos you to see at-a-glance statistics based around your physical activity – these three bits make up the full nelson for the future of wrist-based sports excellence!

• Race: Race against a personal best or most recent run. Quickly track performance with real-time graphics, to continue to improve run-after-run.

• Goal: Set a distance, time or calorie goal and see progress toward that goal with simple, full-screen graphics and alerts.

• Zone: Set a target for pace or heart-rate (with optional heart-rate monitor) and track progress in a simple full-screen graph throughout a workout.

Both of these watches will be bringing on the heat with a hardware build that’s not to be missed! Both watches come in at 11.5mm thin and are both waterproof and weatherproof – waterproof up to 50 meters/5ATM, that is! You’ll be using a “super-touch display” as well with both scratch and impact-resistant reinforced glass to keep your precious watch safe and fully readable.

You’ll be able to connect with the TomTom MySports website, MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, TrainingPaks, and of course: MyFitnessPal. You’ll be connecting with Bluetooth to keep your Smart Heart Rate Monitor’s data in-tune with your watches’ understanding of your body, the watch works with QuickGPSFix with both GPS and GLONASS satellite technology for a precise location every time, and you’ve got indoor tracking capabilities as well!

These two watches are extremely similar to one another, but the main bits are there for both – the one-button simple design, the lovely large display, and the release: Summer of 2013! Keep your eye on the TomTom tag portal here on SlashGear to hear more about these watches as they come closer to release time!

BONUS: You’ll also see a Dedicated Bike Mount, Cadence Sensor, Built-in Altimeter, and Swimming Motion Sensor coming out for these watches in the future too! Stay tuned!

If you see what the Financial Times notes, they’ve got a “person briefed on the project” who says that though larger projects like Glass are being created in the Google X laboratories, this supposed Google smartwatch is being developed for by the Google Android unit. What we must assume here is that, if the watch were real, it’d be created by one of Google’s hardware partners – perhaps Motorola? Meanwhile the Google developers on-staff creating Android would be taming a version of Android tailored specifically for an ultra-tiny display.

“While Glass is being created in its X Lab, home to experimental “moonshot” projects such as the self-driving car, Google’s smart watch is being developed by its Android unit, according to a person briefed on the project, to act as an extension to the smartphones using that operating system. The project is separate from Samsung’s efforts, the source said, although there is no indication of when it might launch.” – FT

It’s not as if it doesn’t make sense for everyone and their grandmother to be creating a smartwatch at the same time with essentially no warning and no pre-cursor or need, but what if? What if Apple and Google decided, separately, that they’d both create a wearable computer that wrapped around your wrist at once?

That once-utilized watch-loving arm will once again be home to a timepiece, only this time, you’ll be able to do a whole lot more than you were able in the past. Then it’s time again to get rid of the cellphone and the smartphone, right? Seems only logical!

Of course, then again, there’s always that Google Smartwatch patent.

According to The Korea Times, not only is LG currently working on a smartwatch, but they’re also developing another wearable piece of technology, which is said to be something similar to Google Glass. This rumored smartwatch from LG would be able to sync to your smartphone and provide notifications and the like to the smartwatch.

As for the software side of things, it’s said that this supposed smartwatch will either run Android or Mozilla’s Firefox mobile operating system, both of which are tipped to be viable options for the company, although they’ve already been working with Android for a while now, so that seems like the more obvious choice at this point.

Both Apple and Samsung have been rumored to be creating their own smartwatch variants. However, Samsung has confirmed that they’re actually working on one, according to the mobile vice president of the company. The word is still out for Apple, but Google recently joined in on the rumor vine, with LG being the latest one to join the team.

[via The Korea Times]

Pebble says that the watchface SDK is still a work-in-progress, and that it’s mostly just a “proof of concept”. It wants developers to note that the watchface SDK will not allow them access “to the accelerometer (or magnetometer), or communication between watchfaces and smartphones (among other deficiencies).” There’s a good possibility that 99% of the APIs in the SDK will change “as we move towards a full blown SDK”.

Pebble also plans on releasing a firmware update next week as well. The firmware version, 1.9, helps improve user experience. Your watchfaces are now at the bottom of the stack, meaning if you keep pressing the back button, you will find your way back to your watchface. Also, by pressing the up and down buttons on the right side of your Pebble watch, you can alternate between the watchfaces you have installed. There are also “under-the-hood” changes that allows developers to more easily and quickly display text on the watches.

The new watchface SDK will open a new chapter for Pebble E-Watches. Pebble provided a few examples of watchfaces developed through the SDK, including a watchface that tells time in Dutch, a watchface with a dragon that blinks every minute, and a watchface that shows Mario (from Super Mario) grabbing a coin every minute.

Over 40,000 Pebbles E-Paper watches have been made so far, and over 85% of Kickstarter backers who ordered the long strap version of the watch will receive their watches next week. Pebble is making good progress in getting its watches out to all of its 70,000-ish backers. If you haven’t ordered the watch yet, you can pre-order it now through Pebble’s website for $150.

[via Pebble]

The MacUser folks stated that the concept was inspired by the Smart Cover accessory for iPads. They stated that creating an iWatch could be as easy as combining an iPad Nano device onto a leather band. The leather would give the device a classic and conventional feel. MacUser stated, “We came to the conclusion that Apple’s most likely play would be to keep its watch as conventional as possible, with the feel of something classic rather than excitably innovative.

Analysts believe that Apple could take 10% of the global watch market with the iWatch. That would mean that it could make $6 billion off the device. The watch is rumored to be able to survive 5-6 days on a single charge, and there are currently 100 engineers working on the project. Many have said that if Apple could pull of the iWatch (if any company could do it, it’d be Apple), it can kill all of those rumors that say the company is not innovative without Steve Jobs.

Many sources are saying that Apple is prepping to launch the new mobile accessory this year around early Q4. The company may be accelerating the launch of the device because its investors are feeling uneasy about its deteriorating stock price. Tim Cook has been saying over and over that Apple has some “great products” that will help bring the company’s stock price back up. Do you think the iWatch will be the device to do that?

[via Tapscape]

The confusion seems to be warranted, though, as Pebble notes that while the chip used in the Pebble smartwatch doesn’t normally support Bluetooth 4.0, the company had the firmware of a different chip flashed on the ones used in the watch in order to support Bluetooth 4.0. The situation is definitely a little confusing, but Pebble says that this was done to speed up orders.

Pebble posted on Reddit the details of the situation, and note that the Pebble features a PAN1316 chip from Panasonic that uses Texas Instruments components. The chips that TI sent to Panasonic were labeled CC2560, which doesn’t support Bluetooth 4.0. However, Pebble had Panasonic simply flash the firmware of a CC2564 in order to get the latest Bluetooth support.

However, while the smartwatch does, in fact, come with Bluetooth 4.0 support, Pebble hasn’t yet switched it on in the watch’s operating system, but it seems they’ll be doing that sometime in the future, most likely with an update. It’s unclear why they’re holding back 4.0 support, but it could be a number of reasons at this point.

Since the watch doesn’t have any visible screws anywhere, you have to pry the outer shell apart, and there’s certainly no lack of adhesive holding the device together. iFixit even notes that you won’t be able to take it apart without compromising the glass display. Once it’s pried off, however, you get an all-access pass to the components inside.

By removing the lone ribbon cable that makes its way through the device, you can get better access to the internals that are deep down below the e-ink display. The ribbon cable alone houses all four buttons, three LEDs, and the Bluetooth antenna, which makes it nearly impossible to replace an individual component, according to iFixit.

In the end, iFixit noticed a few key points when tearing apart the little device. First off, it’s pretty much impossible to open up the Pebble smartwatch without busting the glass display, since the watch is held to together with strong adhesive to make it waterproof. Also, the low power consumption of the device decreases the frequency that you’ll have to charge it, which increases the life of the battery in the long run, with a possible life of 10 years, according to iFixit’s estimates.

According to Bloomberg, one of the team members currently working on the iWatch at Apple says that the watch will be introduced later this year, most likely in the early fall when Apple usually announces new products. This goes along with a very early rumor that we heard back in December. Bloomberg says that a smartwatch has been a long-time project that Apple’s Jony Ive has been wanting to work on, and it’s said that Ive handed out Nike sports watches a few years ago for his team to study.

It’s said that around 100 engineers are working on the iWatch project, so there’s certainly no shortage of manpower behind the task, so it would make sense if we would see the iWatch come to fruition as early as later this year. The iWatch could come with the same features as the recently-launched Pebble watch, but may come with even more capabilities.

As for battery life, The Verge reports that Apple is aiming for four to five days on a single charge, according to their sources. However, current prototypes that are being tested are only lasting around a couple of days, so that’s definitely an issue that the Cupertino-based company is having problems with, so we’re not sure if the watch will actually last a full work week, but let’s hope so.

[via Bloomberg]

The watch is currently on sale for $349 and is available for purchase now. The normal retail price is $449. The watch features Bluetooth connectivity and allows users to see calls, text messages, e-mails, and other notifications directly on the watch face. Users can answer or decline calls right from the face of the watch and the watch has a built-in speaker allowing you to use it as a speakerphone.

The watch is designed to run multiple apps directly on the watch face ranging from playlists to a digital compass to various games. The watch comes with various band styles the user can choose from the color collection, tech collection, or jewel collection. The jewel collection is available in silver or gold. The watch measures 15 mm thick by 37 mm tall by 37 mm wide.

It has an integrated rechargeable battery promises 48 to 72 hours of standby time and actual talk time depends on usage. The watch has integrated GSM connectivity allowing it to operate on a mobile network without a smartphone. It also has built-in GPS and a lot more. The price of $349 is for the color collection. The tech collection is available in titanium or black titanium and starts at $1049. The Jewel collection is available with a silver case, yellow gold case, white gold case, pink gold case, and white gold with diamonds. Pricing starts at $1999 and goes up to slightly under $20,000 for the diamond encrusted version.

[via imsmart]

Of course, the watch would be able to communicate with your iOS device and could things such as view recent calls, view and reply to text messages, manage music playlists, and look up addresses on Apple Maps possibly. The patent also describes a number of ways of powering the smartwatch, including using a solar panel or possibly even kinetic power sources.

Of course, this is only a patent application, which most of the time means that these things usually ever come to fruition in real life. Apple is all about setting trends, but we don’t think that means bringing old trends back from the early 90s with a new slap bracelet that you can also hit your classmates with (remember that?).

An Apple smartwatch certainly isn’t farfetched — users are already using iPod Nanos as watches, but we have a hard time believing that Apple would use a slap bracelet design for their official iWatch. Of course, we’re not really sure what they might do as far as design, but it’s safe to assume that it could be something fairly mindblowing.

[via Patently Apple]

Developer Conrad Kramer released the “BTNotificationEnabler” tweak today in the Cydia app store, and it’s a fairly simple tweak that allows the iPhone to push all notifications to the Pebble smartwatch. Since the Pebble watch uses Bluetooth to connect to the iPhone, any notification from any app will be sent to the watch.

Granted, Pebble is allowing for third-party apps to use its SDK, so it would probably be just a matter of time before most apps eventually support push notifications on the smartwatch itself, but jailbreaking leaves the door wide open for possibly even better tweaks, since these kinds of apps aren’t subjected to Apple’s rules.

Then again, if you want seamless integration with your iPhone, it’s rumored that Apple is working on their own smartwatch, which may or may not happen of course, but it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in the next few months. If an Apple smartwatch does happen, the seamless integration could be quite good for iOS users, and it may even integrate with OS X as well, which would be even better.

[via Cult of Mac]

As with other Apple rumors, the iWatch is exciting the company’s fans. Surely Apple has something great up its sleeve with the watch, those fans might say. Others are already predicting that they’ll buy one and wear it each day, and before long, just about everyone else will, too. The iWatch has somehow joined the pantheon of Apple greats, like the iPod and iPhone, before it’s even launched.

[Image concept by ADR Studio]

But perhaps we need to come back down to reality. Apple’s iWatch idea is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a long time. And I, for one, wouldn’t be caught in public wearing the company’s watch.

Now, I’m sure there are many people who will respond to this column by saying that many industry observers believe that wearable technology is the future. And I can’t disagree with that. But is a watch really the product to deliver the next giant leap in technology?

The beauty of Apple products is that they can be used anywhere a person goes. The iPhone is a work and home device. The same can be said for the iPod and iPad. Macs have even found a way to bridge the gap between consumers and enterprise users.

But a watch is a different story altogether. I’ve yet to find a tech-lover’s watch that actually looks good on the wrist. More importantly, it fails to deliver the kind of end-to-end solution that Apple’s many other products might.

For example, would you really wear the iWatch to work? Sure, it’ll help you keep the time and maybe check your e-mails, but you already have an iPhone and iPad for that. And if you’re in a client-facing business, would a big, bulky Apple watch really send the right message? Perhaps. But it depends on the industry. I don’t necessarily see financial-industry bigshots putting down their Rolex for an Apple iWatch.

To me, the iWatch sounds like a gimmick. It’s something that I could see someone wear while on a run or perhaps working around the house. But to wear it as the central part of an outfit each day doesn’t quite add up.

Of course, the technology industry is littered with people like me who have doubted Apple’s ability to score big and succeed. But I think the iWatch is an attempt by Apple to bite off more than it can chew. I get the smartphone, the tablet, the music player, and the television idea. But I don’t get the company’s reported desire to make a push for timepieces.

I’m impressed by Apple’s ability to make smart decisions year in, year out. But if the iWatch launches sometime this year, I couldn’t help but wonder if the best ideas have already been revealed.

The company isn’t offering up a lot of detail on hardware ahead of the official unveil during the MacWorld conference. What we do know is that the company is promising the world’s first truly interactive iPhone and Android compatible smartwatch. The company claims that the watch is the result of patent pending technology that allows it to communicate with the iPhone, iPad, or Android devices.

The watch promises interactive features and feedback that are unavailable in any other smartwatch. It appears that the majority of interactivity with the watch has to do with mirroring alerts and other information from the screen of your smartphone or other device. The watch will offer updates and alerts for incoming calls, text messages, e-mail, reminders, whether, breaking news, and stock market updates.

The Starfish watch also promises to allow you to answer calls, open text messages and e-mails, and access your music library. It will also run GPS or any other apps and has an integrated compass and G sensor. Those sensors allow the watch to gather information during workouts. The watch promises to last 24 hours per charge and there will be an SDK and API allowing users to create apps for the watch. The Starfish Smartwatch will sell for $169.

[via Getstarfish.com]

This watch is constructed atop a single piece of ever-so-slightly flexible stainless steel. It’s made up of a variety of simple components laminated into a 0.5mm pocket in the steel, created in both black and white (with a display that reflects the black or white choice you’ve made with your purchase. This watch comes with a base station that charges your watch up, also from whens you can change your watch format from 12 to 24 hours (or vice-versa).

With the CST-01, you’ll have just about as minimal a watch as you can in this universe of ours. Have a peek above at the talk we had this past week at ShowStoppers during CES 2013 with Sriram K Peruvemba, Chief Marketing Officer of E-ink. We got the opportunity to see not just the black model, but a slightly stripped-down version as well, allowing us to see the basic components of the machine in their purest form.

Be sure to head over to the Kickstarter for the CST-01 and let us know if you’re going to toss down some funding bucks to see this watch take hold en-masse. Also be sure to hit up our ShowStoppers 2013 tag as well as our CES portal to see the rest of the action as it came down in Las Vegas, Nevada!

In the video here you’re able to see one message being sent over wireless Bluetooth connection to the watch itself. We’re also looking at the final form of the watch here, mind you, complete with its basic high-quality band and metal construction. You’ll be working with a 96 x 16 pixel OLED display on the bottom section of the watch for read-back of messages of all kinds from your device while the top bit is reserved for some classy analog watch hands action.

This machine also has the ability to vibrate with each new message, this allowing you to get alerts without being rude – just take a glimpse at your Martian watch and you’re back in the game. This watch is also vibrates according to which kind of notification it’s delivering, with multiple vibrations for a phone call and a single vibration for a text or social media update.

This watch 1.53 x 1.46 x 0.52 inches in size, weighing in at 2.1 oz (59.5 grams) with its leather band or 2.5 oz (70.9 grams) with its silicone band – both are available to you. You’ll be powering this watch up with a microUSB cord via its side under a simple cover, and the box contains the watch, a microUSB cord, and a quick starter guide. You’ll be able to start ordering this device right this minute for $299 right now and the estimated delivery date is currently in-between February and March of 2013.

What we’re seeing here is a watch that takes the best features of a regular watch, that being low power, readability, and an overall pleasing experience and made it as thin as its ever been. This watch is more than just rugged, too, able to be punched directly in the face (so to speak) without having its usability altered at all. The watch itself is actually only 0.80mm thin – miraculous, really.

The watch is charged through a base station that’ll be coming with the device when users receive it in the mail (or in stores in the future) and you’ll be able to choose from two different time displays, 24 or 12 hour formats. The whole weight of the device is 12 grams – that’s less than 5 pennies, imagine that! From what we’ve heard from Peruvemba right here live and in-action at Showstoppers, this machine is going to be a real fashion hit (as well as a tech hit for nerds of all kinds). See it soon!

The watch is in the process of being funded by a Kickstarter where the first 500 users will be able to own it for $99 (if you fund it, of course). After that you’ll be paying for the watch for a total of $129 USD. The watches we’re seeing here are right off the assembly line, prototypes right out of the factory, literally. Check the photos above and below and see it all in your hands soon!

This event will be presented on January 9th via a live streaming webcast at the getpebble.com website. This event will be a live presentation captured from a real live CES 2013 event that’ll be taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This says to us that the presenters, “Eric + Pebble Team”, finally mean business.

What we’re expecting to see at this event is a real live presentation of the final product as well as details on when the device will be shipped to KickStarter backers. With as long a wait as we’ve seen with this device in this campaign, it’d be a disappointment not to have those two things (at least) ready for action. Meanwhile we’ll also hope for additional color casings and features and all that good stuff as well.

You’ll be able to tune in to the whole massive ocean of events all week long via our CES 2013 tag – expect that portal to be filling up with a never-ending stream of madness the whole week through. Also be sure to hit up our Pebble tag to see those updates exclusively as they pop up.

It’s said that Intel will be working with Apple to create the watch device, and it’ll come with a 1.5-inch PMOLED display made by RiTDisplays, and will feature ITO-coated glass. Low-power Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity will also be a big feature in the rumored Apple smartwatch. Sadly, though, that’s all the details that were provided.

Smartwatches have certainly gained some traction lately. We can’t forget the Pebble smartwatch, which raised over $10 million in funding on Kickstarter. Sony also released their own smartwatch. However, the market for smartwatches isn’t anything to write home about, and it may just be a passing fad that will die out in a year or two.

Of course, this is only a rumor, and we’ll remain skeptical of such a product from Apple, but we can’t say that we’d be too incredibly surprised if the company did end up releasing a smartwatch of their own. The 6th-generation iPod Nano was extremely popular as a watch of sorts, and Apple built on that popularity by releasing several watch faces for the mini music player.

[via Mobilegeeks.de]

One of this watch’s biggest features is its low energy consumption, something especially necessary given the limited battery space possessed by a watch. It achieves this conservative energy usage via BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The G-Shock uses an ordinary watch battery, which lasts approximately 2 years with an average daily Bluetooth usage of 12 hours per day.

The G-Shock features countdown timer, 1/100th second stopwatch, an LED super illuminator, five daily alarms, a mute feature, world time zones, and is shock/water resistant up to 200 meters. The smart watch is compatible with the iPhone 4S running iOS 5.1.1 and 6.0 and iPhone 5. The G-Shock+ app is available for download from the App Store, and is required to use an iPhone with the watch.

Casio’s CEO and Chairman of its Timepiece Division Shigenori Itoh offered this statement. “G-Shock continues to be a leader in cutting-edge technology for timepieces. With the release of the Bluetooth LE Smart Watch collection, we are pushing the boundaries of inspired timepieces for the business savvy, technology conscious consumer.”

The Basis watch also does far more than most health and fitness gadgets. It has an accelerometer to track movement, but it also has an optical blood-flow monitor for heart-rate tracking, a perspiration sensor to measure sweat, and skin and ambient temperature sensors. These different sensors help the Basis watch do things that other activity trackers can’t.

After it monitors and records activity, the watch takes the data and presents it to you in a useful way, allowing you to keep track of your health and fitness trends over time. The company introduced a web service to go along with the watch that lays out the data into a readable format. Users can also choose different habits related to their physical activity and sleep that they want to try and accomplish.

An interesting feature about the device is that it doesn’t track calories or anything to do with your diet. Furthermore, the device is launching with the internal Bluetooth radio turned off, but eventually Basis will enable Bluetooth syncing in the future. The watch costs $199, and it’s available now on their website.

Wankel engines have had limited commercial success, delivering power that belied their compact size, but issues around maintenance – as well as the increasing potency and efficiency of rival technologies – have reduced their appeal. Mazda is perhaps the car company best known for using Wankel powerplants, but it ceased production in April 2012.

In the case of Experiment ZR012, the power isn’t by Wankel, but the indications are. The lower “dial” shows hours while the upper shows minutes; the tips of the triangular rotors trace curves against the edge of the markers, with a tolerance of 0.2mm between them.

On the back of the zirconium case – which measures 55 x 44 mm, not counting the lugs – is a power gage, with a full wind good for 39 hours of runtime. Making things complex inside is the fact that the rotors aren’t directly attached to the crankshaft from the mechanism, and there’s an intermediary (and adjustable) stage to connect them all together.

Unsurprisingly, Experiment ZR012 doesn’t come cheap. The watches will be sold at 110,000 Swiss francs ($118k) apiece, followed by another twelve Wankel-powered watches, the red gold RG012, sometime in 2013.

Previously, the company offered black & anthracite, black & blue, black & volt, and volt & black colors. The lineup now has a white & silver version runners can choose. The watch has a highly visible backlit LCD display that shows all sorts of information to the wearer while they are running.

The available metrics the watch can show include time, average and instantaneous pace, and distance run. The GPS features of the watch that are powered by TomTom offer motivational details to help enhance the running experience, including run reminders and messages to help inspire users before and after runs. The watch allows users to collect the details during their run and then share the details back via the Nike+ community.

Wearers who don’t care for any of the colors Nike has in its standard Nike+ SportWatch line can get an exclusive color combination that is available only at Best Buy. The Best Buy exclusive version of the watch is black and red. Both the new white & silver and the black and red version are available for pre-order right now at $169 and $149 respectively.

The story goes like this: Everest Horology Products has a real love for the Rolex line of timepieces, and because they wanted a product that did not exist, they decided to make it themselves. The Everest Band is the group’s first product, and it’s been developed over the course of 8 months, from drawing board, to prototyping, to production. The watch band that’s at the center of this whole project was created with 3D prototyping and what’s called “opti-jet” technology to make the next-generation insert inside the band a reality in this product – and Everest Bands Kickstarter is the next big step.

“3d prototyping was incredibly important in both aesthetic and fit for this rather unique project. Since the Everest band was fitting on to a Rolex, where tolerance for error is around .005 mm, it had to be perfect. The room for error was so small that with accurate models we would know if we were going down the wrong path very quickly. It allowed for us to try different designs at an incredibly low price and test both a solid and flexible concept.

The flexible “opti-jet” technology we used was intrical in determining the solid end link insert. One thing that we know will set this product apart from the rest is the fact that the insert that we used has both a molecular bond and a mechanical bond. This type of double redundancy allows to ensure that we have a permanent piece that will never fall out. The majority of other designs are one or the other – without the 3d Prototyping we would not have been able to correctly make this design happen.” – DiMartini

Above: 3D prototype test model bands appear in a basic off-white tone before they’re perfected. Once the perfect size is found, the perfect colors come next.

The insert in the band here is not just so well made that there’s no danger of it falling out, it’s darn near impossible to pull out, too! With the air friction barrier action going on here there’s a solid product, inside and out, that’s like nothing else out on the market – not in Rolex watchbands, anyway. Have a peek at a demonstration of the Everest Band here to see the final product:

DiMartini also made it clear that Kickstarter was and is instrumental in getting this project off the ground. A startup situation like this makes it so startup debt – a killer, in many cases – doesn’t need to be as much of a factor as it traditionally has been in the past. The web as a whole, too, has been a perfect battleground for Everest Horology Products to take off in and with.

“Kickstarter is our marketing tool and we are the voice. It was a perfect scenario for a company like ours. … The web has been our way of getting out the word and been our main reason we are seeing the success we have. The Forums, Facebook, twitter, etc. have been absolutely incredible for allowing us to communicate with the public. We have used it to not only market the product, but also design it. We listened to what the market wanted and what others were missing.” – DiMartini

Take a peek at the Kickstarter project page for Everest Bands right this minute to get a better idea of what this team of innovators is aiming to do for the future of timepiece bands right this minute. And stay tuned with the Everest Horology Products group for future products as well – things are looking up!

“Thanks for supporting Pebble on Kickstarter. It’s time for you to tell us where you live, and to select a color for your Pebble. We’ve added Grey, due to popular demand. If you backed a Jet Black Pebble, you can also upgrade to Color if you’d like!

We’ve set up a new website for our Pebble backers to manage their order. You have until Sept 30, 2012 to choose a color for your Pebble using this site” Pebble

The site also allows those who forgot to add in international shipping costs (an extra $15) to pay for that, though if you included the charge in your initial pledge then you won’t be asked for more. Exact shipping dates haven’t been confirmed, though the Pebble team did admit a few months back that it would miss its original September estimate.

Nonetheless, there’s still plenty of excitement about the watch. Designed as a companion for an iOS or Android phone, it can show messaging alerts, notifications, calendar alarms and more, as well as integrating with other systems such as fellow Kickstarter hit Twine.

Hardware specifications include Bluetooth 4.0, an e-paper display for low power consumption, and a vibration motor for discrete alerts. The watch is also compatible with generic watch-straps, for those who want to customize.

Pebble notes that watches won’t be hitting customers wrists by the original September estimate, although it remains hopeful that production will scale quickly. Taking to its Kickstarter page and issuing a manufacturing update, Pebble notes: “While we won’t be able to start shipping Pebbles in September, our current schedule has us on track to go from manufacturing zero to 15,000 Pebbles per week as soon as possible.”

It’s not all bad news, though: the company unveiled the color of the Voter’s Choice Pebble watch, showing off a funky orange hue. Other color options for the watch include black, red, and white. As for where the project is right now, Pebble say the watch is in Engineering Verification stage. The team is making sure everything is perfect with the design before the necessary tooling can be created for mass production. The team has thrown up some images of samples for your perusal in the meantime, which may or may not help ease the pain of a delayed watch.

[via The Verge]

The idea was originally from Sam Jerichow and submitted to Tokyoflash’s design studio, and it’s a good balance of the aesthetic the watch company has become known for, and the sort of usability that people demand from, well, a regular watch. You can see how well it works in the video below:

Three display colors are on offer – red, blue or natural – and two casings, black or silver. Both are made of stainless steel and water resistant to 3ATM. A demo mode runs every few seconds, animating the display.

Tokyoflash Kisai Online is available to order now, priced at ¢149 until the weekend and then jumping up twenty bucks.

The watch provides a navigation arrow that will help steer users to destination points, and there’s a TracBack function that will help the owner retrace their steps as well. In combination with a desktop application, users can also plan certain routes and trips and share them out to friends and families in the process.

In terms of connectivity, the fenix comes equipped with Bluetooth plus altimeter, barometer, and compass sensors. The altimeter will provide elevation data, the barometer may be used to see any upcoming changes in the weather, and the compass naturally helps the user with their bearing. The fenix can also auto-calibrate using the built in GPS chip, and automatically set the time by determining the location of the watch.

Garmin has made sure the watch is rugged and durable too. There’s a “high-strength housing” that will survive shocks and bumps, plus a glass front that will resist scratches. The LCD display is LED backlit, with the watch held together by polyurethane wristbands. Garmin says the watch should be capable of 50 hours of battery life when actively using GPS, and its also waterproof up to 50 meters. The fenix should be on sale sometime this Fall, and cost around $399.99.

The watch has been designed to be as small as possible while still providing the necessary information, minimizing drag and resistance in the water. The Swim automatically knows what strokes the swimmer is using and tracks them accordingly, as well as monitoring variables such as distance and pace. Swimmers can also start timed sets, and everything is controlled via six buttons on the watch.

As for battery life, Garmin say it should be good for up to one year. It’s user replaceable too, so the watch doesn’t need to be sent away to have the battery replaced. The Garmin Swim is available starting from today, and will cost $149.99.

NikeFuel allows users to compare their performance against that of other athletes in the same sport and share achievements with friends. Nike chose the colors of the new version of the watch to match its line of apparel and shoes. The colors include Black/anthracite, anthracite/blue glow, and high-impact volt green.

The starter version the watch is the anthracite/blue glow addition and is priced at €149. The starter version of the watch doesn’t include a Shoe Sensor, which is required for outdoor use. The other versions of the watch include the Shoe Sensor and sell for €169. The new version of the Nike+ Sportwatch is available now online and in retail stores.

“Our extended range of products will be very useful to those adding running into their exercise regime. And the new NikeFuel measurement brings added motivation, allowing people to share and compare their performance with friends in other sports,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director, from TomTom.

The company is also unveiling new pledge options on its project with the pink ladies’ version of the cookoo watch. To get the pink ladies’ version will cost you $95 via a pledge. The pink version is the same as the other versions of the watch with the ability to receive notifications from a smartphone app for various things such as tweets, texts, or e-mail.

A few other new pledge options are available as well with the $200 basic developer pack that gets you a black cookoo watch and unsupported license to develop apps using the Connected Device Profile and API for Android devices. For $750, you get an Independent Developer Pack with two cookoo watches and a license to develop an app along with an hour of e-mail support. At $4000, you get a developer pack with 10 watches, a license to develop apps, and eight hours of support.

It’s not the end of the world, though. Pebble will keep churning out watches later on in the year, you just don’t have the opportunity to be part of the initial wave anymore. The first watches are expected to ship in September, and will now feature Bluetooth 4.0 which brings a low-power mode.

Pebble is still accepting donations for the project, but you won’t get a watch. A $1 donation will net you “exclusive” details about the project going forward, although a separate URL is also offered that allows you to plug in your details to receive information about when the next watches are available.

The watch is designed to connect to iOS and Android devices using Bluetooth and push notifications such as email, calendar alerts, and caller ID. The Pebble makes use of a e-ink display for outdoor visibility which saves on battery too, and the team has created an SDK so that developers can create their own apps and push them to the phone.

[via Kickstarter]

So you might wonder how this set of developers is able to get an application running on a piece of hardware that does not yet exist, yes? As it turns out, they’ve not really taken the time to actually implement the application on the watch itself, but certainly will have the watch working with the application when it is released. They’ve done this with a simple situation called: it’s going to be easy enough to do, so why not just do it?

Have a peek here at RunKeeper Live integration for the already-released version of RunKeeper:

The watch itself will likely be running an interface which allows for ultra-simple modification of applications on both iOS and Android to connect and display what you need when you need it on your wrist. This watch, again, is the most successful project in the history of Kickstarter with over $8 million dollars in contributions already having been racked up thus far, and will continue to capture our hearts through the future. Have a peek at the timeline below to see where we’ve been already!

[via RunKeeper]

Coders will get “as seamless as possible” an experience hooking their apps up to Pebble, with support for background notifications and processes so as to allow for media playback control even when other apps have the focus. There’ll be a native application switcher, and four buttons plus an accelerometer for broader input options.

“We want to make sure Pebble apps can easily communicate with smartphone apps as well as the Internet and cloud based services. So we’ll be creating iOS and Android libraries that enable smartphone developers to push data to a companion Pebble app for display on the user’s wrist, as well as allowing Pebble to remotely control smartphone apps. And we’ll allow Pebble to send data (such as a motion log, or recorded times from a stopwatch app) to a web service via Bluetooth and the smartphone’s internet connection. One more feature that we think is especially cool: we’ll provide a web service so that web app developers can send notifications to Pebble without having to write a single line of code for either the smartphone or the watch itself” Pebble

Previous hardware confirmations included waterproofing – suitable for shallow swimming and wet weather, though not diving or deep immersion – and support for generic 22mm watch straps that will attach to the 50 x 30 mm body. There’s no speaker or microphone, but you do get a vibration motor for discrete alerts. The Pebble team actually began ordering components at the tail end of last week.

Still, the big news today is that Pebble is the most funded Kickstarter ever, with over 25,000 backers pledging – at time of writing - $3,623,547. We’ll have to wait a little longer before those backers actually get their watches, however.

It’s a staggering achievement, and possibly one of the fastest growing Kickstarter projects in history. The $1 million mark was hit in around 28 hours, with potential buyers and developers interested in the watch after it starting receiving wide media coverage yesterday. The watch has turned heads not only due to its iOS and Android support, but also low price, and attractive propositions for developers.

The Pebble features an e-paper display for improved visibility in direct sunlight, has a built-in motor for vibration alerts, and an accelerometer. The software on the watch can be customized with different watch faces, and the creators are planning to create an ecosystem around the device. They’ve already partnered with Freecaddie in order to provide information on over 25,000 golf courses, tapping into smartphone GPS data. The company say that developers will be able to create their own apps with the provided SDK and upload them to the Pebble phone app.

The project still has 36 days to go until orders close, so there’s still plenty of time to get in on the opportunity if you’re on the fence. While you’ll have to fork over some money now, manufacturing won’t begin for a couple of months, with orders being delivered in September at the very earliest.

[via Engadget]

The watch will connect via Bluetooth to your Android handset (sorry, iOS fans) and will let you read text messages and emails on the 1.3-inch OLED display as well as provide alert notifications. If you don’t want a typical black strap either, you can pick up some more colorful ones for $20 a piece.

It connects to the SmartWatch app found on Google Play, although if you own a Sony Android phone, you should find it preinstalled. You need that app for basic functionality, although there are also “micro apps” that plug into services like Gmail and Facebook. You only get around 128 lines on that small display, but that’s good enough for casually checking messages or email.

For more on the Sony SmartWatch, check out the full SlashGear review.

If $150 is a little bit out of your budget, or you need iOS support, why not take a closer look at the Pebble? It features an e-paper display instead of OLED, which should give it an advantage in outdoor visibility, and it’s a little cheaper too: currently you can pledge $115 on Kickstarter to pick one up. You’ll be waiting longer, though: the first units aren’t expected to go out until September.

[via Android Community]

The watch connects to your iPhone or Android device using Bluetooth, and alerts you to notifications with the built-in vibration motor. While text messages aren’t supported on iOS, almost everything else is: incoming calls, Facebook and Twitter notifications, as well as email, calendar, and weather alerts. Luckily for Android owners, text messages are supported by the watch.

You’ll also be able to configure the watchface. If you want something simplistic, like text, that will be available, as well as classical and more modern faces. Pebble say that the watch will come with a wide variety of different faces, and more will be added as time goes on.

The big selling point of the watch is apps. The Pebble will be able to run different apps for various scenarios: for example, cycling would tap into the phone’s GPS in order to display speed and distance, while runners would be able to control their music from the watch. Pebble is also working with Freecaddie to bring a rangefinder app to the watch, with data on over 25,000 courses. Developers will be able to make their own apps for the watch with the available SDK and upload them to Pebble’s phone app.

If this sounds like your dream watch, head over to Kickstarter and make a pledge. Right now, the first 200 people will be able to get their hands on a black Pebble watch for $99. After that, they’ll set you back $115, with a white and red option costing $125.

Sure, the Approach S3 functions as a perfectly ordinary timepiece when you’re off the green, featuring a modern and rugged design, but you really want it for the golfing features. It has data on over 27,000 golf courses. Not only that, Garmin promise regular updates to fine tune the accuracy of the course data, as well as adding new courses along the way.

Features of the watch include manual pin positioning, distances to layup points, and a digital scorecard. Thanks to the GPS chip in the watch, plus all the included course data, you’ll be able to see the exact distance in yards between you and the hole, so you can better judge what club to use and how hard to swing.

Aspiring golfers will be able to pick up the watch starting this month, at a price of $349.99. The Approach S3 will be available in white with a red trim, and black with a gray trim.

The MOTOACTV’s GPS tracks the front, center and back distances to the green and to hazards, while a “virtual caddy” can keep a track of scorecards, clubs and other stats like number of putts taken. As with the regular MOTOACTV there’s wireless sync with MOTOACTV.com, where performances can be logged and contrasted with how the professionals might have handled the course.

The site also has satellite fly-through views of courses with animations showing how you did, and there’s social integration for sharing your round with other golf fiends. As you’d expect, all the regular apps – like the pedometer and MP3 player – are present too.

Unfortunately Motorola hasn’t done anything about the MOTOACTV’s biggest drawback: its price. The Golf Edition is priced at $299.99, more than many subsidized smartphones, and while golfers may be content to spend that sort of money on a new club, we’re unconvinced they’ll see the appeal of a wrist-mounted Bubba for the same price. It’s up for preorder from today, with deliveries expected from April 1.