Intel, SMS Audio team up on headphones that track your heart rate
Intel, SMS Audio team up on headphones that track your
heart rate
The chipmaker continues its push into wearables with a
new collaboration with rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's headphone
company and a set of fitness-focused earbuds.
by Ben Fox Rubin @benfoxrubin August 14, 2014 4:30 PM PDT
The SMS Audio BioSport In-Ear Headphones
Intel/SMS Audio
Intel on Thursday unveiled a new partnership with SMS
Audio, the headphone company owned by rapper Curtis "50 Cent"
Jackson, and revealed the companies' first collaboration: a set of
fitness-focused headphones called BioSport In-Ear Headphones.
The device, which can track a user's heart rate during
exercise, is part of Intel's continued push into wearables. The chipmaker in
March acquired fitness-band maker Basis Science and on Wednesday said it has
partnered with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to try to
improve research and treatment of the neurodegenerative disease using wearable
technology.
"This is not a hobby for us at Intel," Mike
Bell, general manager of Intel's New Devices Group, said in an interview
Thursday. "We really believe that wearable technology is going to be a
large segment."
The headphones also are part of a broader trend in the
tech industry to provide fitness-based products, such as the water- and
dust-resistant Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport and a multitude of wearable wristbands
that can track steps walked and hours slept.
Bell added that the new headphones help illustrate part
of the chipmaker's strategy in wearables, saying Intel seeks to add new
features into devices but still make that technology essentially
"invisible." In the case of the headphones, Bell said Intel was able
to make the device battery-free, with its power source coming from a
smartphone's audio jack. That feature means the device looks generally the same
as another set of headphones and doesn't need a separate rechargeable battery,
like with LG's Heart Rate Monitor Earphone.
Intel in January mentioned it was developing earbuds with
biometric capabilities that can charge through an audio jack.
The BioSport In-Ear uses optical sensors that can look at
blood flow through the skin to provide users with an accurate but noninvasive
heart-rate reading, Bell said. The sensors are developed by a third-party
company, which SMS Audio and Intel declined to name.
Users are able to track that data using the app
RunKeeper, developed by Boston-based FitnessKeeper. Combined with the app,
users will be able to track their heart rate through the headphones, as well as
their distance and speed using RunKeeper, which tracks movement using a
smartphone's GPS system.
The headphones are also sweat- and water-resistant, and
have a patented ear-hook design to help provide a comfortable fit.
For SMS Audio, which also has NBA star Carmelo Anthony as
an investor, the device provides another offering in its growing lineup of
sports- and fitness-related headphones. SMS President Brian Nohe said that
focus helps the company differentiate itself from other high-end headphone
makers such as Bose and Apple's Beats, which were co-founded by rapper Dr. Dre.
Nohe said that he expects Intel and SMS to come out with
more collaborations in the future. The partnership with Intel only involves
product development, he said, so the chipmaker won't be sharing in sales
proceeds of the device.
The BioSport In-Ear will go on sale sometime in the
fourth quarter and pricing for the headphones will be announced later this
year. As a comparison, the LG heart-rate headphones have a suggested price of
$180 on its website.
This article is very much helpful and i hope this will be an useful information for the needed one. Keep on updating these kinds of informative things...
ReplyDeletehttps://textmunication.com/
https://textmunication.com/solutions/text-message-marketing/
https://textmunication.com/industries/fitness-sms-mobile-marketing/