Best Buy highlights consumer life & wearable tech in Toronto

 

By Sonya Davidson

The exciting world of lifestyle related and wearable tech products is growing quickly and judging by the thousands who visited Best Buy's Life & Wearable Tech Expo last week in Toronto, consumers are definitely intrigued and ready to embrace it all. Yonge & Dundas Square was the location of the second annual showcase that offered the public an up close and interactive look at the latest lifestyle technology. 

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Garmin updates Vivoactive smartwatch, adds heart-rate monitor

Garmin’s given its Vivoactive smartwatch a new functionality. The new Vivoactive HR, as its name suggests, now comes with a heart-rate monitor. It still has the same low-res color touchscreen LCD, built-in GPS, and week-long battery life. But it’s more compact this time, too. It can still be considered a niche device though. But if you would like to monitor your daily runs, having a heart-rate monitor certainly helps. Plus, you also get access to your notifications. It’s coming out in the US in Q2 for US$250 (around $340).

Source: Engadget

Garmin's Connect IQ is an open SDK for wearable apps

Garmin International Inc.  announced Connect IQ, the first-ever open platform for third-party developers to create apps for Garmin products. The software development kit leverages the trusted technology that Garmin is known for, with an emphasis on low power consumption, extended battery life and connectivity to smartphones and peripheral sensors through Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and ANT+.

Garmin prides itself on creating active lifestyle products that become an essential part of customers’ lives, and now with Connect IQ, third-party developers can utilize the expanding line of world class wearables, while also taking advantage of the loyal customer base and diverse distribution channels.

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Review: TomTom GO 2505 Portable GPS

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Tested during a short but vicious Winter storm, the TomTom GO 2505 Portable GPS guided us through almost whiteout conditions, managed  to feed us updated traffic information and give us accurate distance, speed and ETA information.

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