Misfit Shine, available at the Apple store

This week, the Misfit Shine will join at least three other wearable products on Apple Store shelves, including the Jawbone Up, the Nike+ FuelBand and various versions of the Fitbit. Like the Fitbit Flex, the Shine will retail for $100. What makes it a successful design? Simple, classic design and materials that make it feel timeless and a really simple UX that adds meaning and value to our daily lives. Misfit's design constraint came down to power management. The circular shape wraps around a coin cell battery that they spent significant investment trying to get the device to last for a year. According to Misfit, it will last 4-6 months on one battery. Not a bad start!

I've been wearing my Misfit Shine for the past couple weeks and I must say, Sonny Vu and team have done a tremendous job making the device actually wearable. It's classic form and metal finish goes with just about anything, which makes it really easy to wear all day with any outfit, while sleeping, and even in the shower. Heck, I even wore it in the pool while taking my 8 month-old daughter swimming for the first time.

Read more about the Shine at the Apple store on All Things D.

Apple hires major fashion exec

Big news for wearables (well, could be). Apple hires Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve. With a nod to the luxury fashion world, the tech giant brings former YSL CEO on board to work on "special projects." Re-invigorating Apple retail or feeding fire to the Apple iWatch rumor-mill, what could they possibly have up their sleeve? "It appears that Apple will soon be taking tips from a fashion insider.

The tech giant officially annouced that it hired Paul Deneve -- the former CEO of luxury fashion goods company Yves Saint Laurent -- to work on "special projects," according to Bloomberg.

"We're thrilled to welcome Paul Deneve to Apple," Apple told Bloomberg. "He'll be working on special projects as a vice president reporting directly to Tim Cook."

Earlier Tuesday, AppleInsider reported on a tip it received that Deneve had been hired. The news source speculated that Deneve may be filling John Browett's shoes. Browett resigned from his position as Apple's retail chief last fall and the company has yet to hire his replacement. However, according to Bloomberg, Deneve won't be working on retail.

It's unclear what "special projects" entails. It could mean that Deneve might be working on Apple's design side or even on the company's rumored iWatch.

During an interview at the D11 conference in May, Cook said that he finds wearable computing "profoundly interesting", but that "you have to convince people it's so incredible you want to wear it." Cook pointed out that most young people don't wear watches, so it would be the company's job to make them appealing."

Continue reading on cnet. Image source.

Is iWatch in Apple's future?

Smartwatches have been squeezing their way into the wearable consumer electronics market like Pebble, i'm watch, Sony Smartwatch, inPulse and WIMM (to name a few). And much speculation has been around for years that Apple may be a major player in the smartwatch race. Well, the old rumor has surfaced again. According to MacRumors, "Apple and Intel are currently working together on a Bluetooth-enabled smart watch. Full details on Apple's smart watch are unknown, but the report compares Apple's project to Sony's SmartWatch, although it notes that Apple's Siri voice assistant will provide for greater integration with the iPhone in allowing users to take phone calls directly through the watch."

With Siri integration, Apple has the potential to offer a game changing voice-enabled experience that could even replace the need for touch. Imagine a small wearable device that you wear on your wrist that works with your iPhone. Simply talk into it to get important and timely information without having to sift through your purse or pocket to take out your phone. "This could result in a device with a conversation-based interface. ... A connected iPhone would do much of the processing; the watch would record your voice, transmit it to your iPhone, and relay Siri's response. A small touch screen would also allow for limited visual/kinetic interaction, including notifications and basic apps." (Gizmag)

Sounds like they could actually give us a true Dick Tracy experience ...

Image from cultofmac.com

Forget about the killer app, we need a killer OS

There's a lot of discussion around what the first wearable technology "killer app" will be, but first what we need at this early cusping time in the field is the killer operating system to run that killer app. Apple just might be the one to make it happen and I've got my eye on the Nano (among others). With hundreds of millions of iOS devices becoming ubiquitous among Apple users, turning the Nano into a wearable technology iOS seems like a good place to start. Perhaps that's what Apple's not-so-recent hire, wearable technology guru Richard W. DeVaul is up to these days.

The iPod nano is a tiny touchscreen with four small icons and simple apps, including FM radio, music app, photos app, voice notes and pedometer for NikePlus, one of the first wide-spread wearable technology solutions for casual runners. The size and power of this little device makes it a perfect contender for a wearable OS where the device is the hub that can potentially run smart garment "accessories". And with Scott Wilson's (MNML) LunaTik wristband accessories, it's even easier to wear.

But Apple's not the only company creating products in this space. Sony Ericsson has developed the small-scale Liveview with similar capabilities:

Another is the wearable WIMM Android platform, which is a full fledged, stand-alone device including Bluetooth AND Wifi, making it potentially easy to connect smart garment accessories to it: \

And perhaps Google has something up their sleeves with their recent $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility that was announced this morning.

Now, if only Apple would introduce wireless capabilities to the Nano...

Read more opinions at 9to5Mac.

Apple patents iPhone Glove concept

Apple has filed a lot of interesting patents in the wearable space lately. One of the patents is aimed toward warming the hands of iPhone users during cold winter days. The patent "details a glove with a thin, electrically conductive, 'anti-sticky' inner layer that is able to function with a capacitive touchscreen. It also suggests the glove could have apertures on the fingertips for opening and closing the more protective outer layer. Of course, the concept is far from new -- just do a quick Google search for "iPhone gloves" to see a wide variety of choices" (Source). Image from Engadget. Read the patent at the US Patent and Trademark Office.