Watch

Upcoming Pinner for Apple Watch to bring comprehensive bookmark discovery to your wrist

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 27, 2015

Following Apple’s announcement of the March 9 media event, UK-based developer Sam Oakley, the brains behind the Pinner for Pinboard iOS app, has shared a preview of his upcoming Apple Watch app.

Pinner for the iPhone and iPad is a delightful app for managing your Pinboard in bookmarks. Unlike many other Watch apps that only offer basic functionality of their iOS counterparts, Pinner for Apple Watch has a full-on set of easy to use features to help explore Pinterest bookmarks in compelling new ways.

New Watch apps previewed: MoneyWiz and MileWiz

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 16, 2015

Ahead of its wearable release in April, Apple invited select developers to submit their Watch apps for the inclusion in the App Store. We've already seen previews of Todoist, we know eBay is working on a bidding Watch app and Nimblebit even created a puzzle game for it.

And now, developer SilverWiz has posted a pair of previews of its two productivity apps for the device: the personal finance app MoneyWiz 2 and the automatic mileage tracking software MileWiz.

Montblanc debuts new ‘e-Strap’ smart band for traditional watches

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Luxury brand Montblanc has announced its first foray into the booming wearables market with the 'e-Strap'. The German company, which is known for making fine pens, watches and other jewelry, hopes the accessory will allow traditional mechanical watches and wearable tech to co-exist.

The e-Strap is an Italian leather watch band that features an embedded tracker with a tiny 0.9-inch monochromatic OLED touchscreen display (128x36). That display is capable of showing activity-tracking data and a variety of push notifications from a connected iPhone, or similar device.

Swatch says it doesn’t need Apple, will launch its smart watch next year

Sébastien Page ∙ July 27, 2014

Some silly rumor made the rounds last week claiming Swatch was in talk with Apple to produce a line of iWatch devices. This was quickly denied by Swatch, who's now saying it will bring its own smart watch/fitness tracker to market by next year.

Swatch CEO Nick Hayek recently told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag (via Reuters) that the company will soon update its Swatch Touch line, which will be equipped with features appealing to athletes:

Apple said to be working with Swatch and others to produce multiple iWatch devices

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

VentureBeat is out with a new report this afternoon, claiming it has learned that Apple has partnered with Swatch to produce an entire line of 'iWatch' devices. Apparently these devices are going to come in multiple styles, and at a variety of price points.

Citing sources familiar with the project, the outlet says that while the current consensus is that Apple is building one or two iWatches by itself, the firm may actually be preparing a variety of smartwatches with several partners from the watch industry...

Watch maker Swatch not happy about Apple’s yet to be announced iWatch

Sébastien Page ∙ May 3, 2014

Swiss watch maker Swatch is not happy about Apple's iWatch. To be more specific, the company is not happy about the fact that Apple's wearable may be called iWatch, a name that definitely sounds a lot like iSwatch, a trademark registered by the watch maker for one of its lines of watches.

Nevermind the fact that Apple has yet to unveil the iWatch, which by the way might not even be called iWatch, Swatch is going on the offensive...

Pebble Smartwatch: some thoughts on why the smart watch is here to stay

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Believe it or not, but Monday marked my first hands-on experience with the Pebble Smartwatch. I’ve striven to avoid the product all of these months, because I figured that Apple would eventually get around to making a “real” smart watch.

Apple still might do that, but its time table hasn’t aligned with the expectations of the tech blogging industry, mine included. Apple never said that it was working on a wearable, so it’s really our fault for creating such expectations.

In the meantime, the Pebble Smartwatch and its SDK have had plenty of time to marinate and mature. The latest update to Pebble’s software brings with it systemwide notifications, and there’s no hacking or jailbreaking needed to do that. In the eyes of many, that’s enough to make the Pebble Smartwatch worthy of serious consideration, and I tend to agree.

ESPN’s News and Deportes channels added to Apple TV and iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

Less than 48 hours after Apple added new video content from Vevo, Weather Channel, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Smithsonian Channel to its $99 Apple TV set-top box, ESPN announced Wednesday it's enabled access to two new channels - News and Deportes - on the Apple TV and iOS devices, through the WatchESPN software for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

This is important because ESPN is a global powerhouse.

Owned as a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation, the U.S.-based cable and satellite television channel is a lot of people's go-to source for all things sports...

The best apps to watch cable on your iPhone and iPad

Lory Gil ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

Over the past few years, cable channels have really jumped on the on-demand bandwagon and now offer premium content available on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. If you have a cable subscription, the entertainment-viewing world is your oyster.

I am one of those people who has “cut the cord” of cable television. Actually, I never had the cord in the first place. I’ve just managed to get by on broadcast TV. When the nation went digital, I didn’t even get a converter box for my TV set. I spend most of my media-watching time on Netflix or Hulu Plus on my Apple TV.

However, there are times when watching television is necessary for me, like when there is an earthquake (which actually happened in Sacramento a few weeks ago) or following the presidential elections. For those times, I go to my iPad or iPhone.

Whether you’ve cut the cord on cable and need a way to watch broadcast television, or want to take your favorite cable shows on the go with you, we have a list of apps to suit your needs

Buddy crowdfunded smartwatch claims a battery life of 10 days

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hirm_ie6IkI

One of the challenges smartwatch makers face deals with the tiny batteries that power these things. That's why Bluetooth Smart (or Bluetooth 4.0) technology is so great. It consumes only a fraction of the power required by previous Bluetooth implementations and can wake up devices nearly instantaneously.

Enter Buddy, a crowdfunded Bluetooth smartwatch with a claimed battery life of as much as ten days, or an impressive two weeks on standby. Besides telling time, the Buddy also relays notifications from your iOS, Android or Windows Phone devices, lets you control music playback, place calls, receive and display data from your device like turn by turn navigation, display your media like pictures and more...

CES 2013: Bluetooth Smart-enabled Cookoo watch launches with iOS compatibility

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYgDAQVZLQo

Among the many exhibitors vying for your attention at the CES show room floor are makers of connected smart watches. Pebble, the most highly funded Kickstarter project to date, already teased “big news” at CES as it readies to finally launch its Android and iOS connected E-Paper Watch.

You can now put Cookoo on your list of CES smart watch announcements. Another Kickstarter project, the Cookoo watch just launched worldwide as an iOS and Android connected accessory supporting low-power Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth 4.0) networking.

In the case of Apple's platform, the scratch and water-resistant Cookoo watch supports the iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad mini, iPad 3/4 and fifth-gen iPod touch and uses a button-cell battery so it doesn't need to be recharged like typical smart watches do...

Meet iSiri, the best iWatch concept to date

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 28, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W_mn5rkwyCs

The radical iSiri gadget idea by designer Federico Ciccarese may be the ultimate iWatch concept conceived to date. Falling somewhere in between this eerie-looking Matrix-ified gadget and another conceptual time piece with a FaceTime camera on it, iSiri seems so obvious and inevitable. If only Apple didn't replace the rectangular iPod nano with a tall one...