Microsoft announced on Wednesday the planned release of its own wearable fitness tracker, the Microsoft Band. The device is available for purchase on Thursday from Microsoft for $199, and will work with Android, iOS and of course Windows Phone 8.1.

Among the features targeting fitness, the Microsoft Band tracks your exercise reps, calories burned, heart rate around the clock and your sleep. It also has a UV monitor built in with real-time UX information to make educated decisions on sun protection when you go out.

The wearable tech from Microsoft …

We know what you are thinking; “Another wearable fitness device?” And to that we say, yes, another wearable fitness device. But we like this one and what is has to offer, as well as what you don’t have to offer to own one.

The Misfit Flash is a good way to track your exercise and sleep patterns. It offers all the same capabilities as the other wearable’s on the market. The major differences are simple; it requires an app to be able to track your fitness goals because it doesn’t come …

According to a new study by Scott Owens out of the University of Mississippi, the Wii Fit has very little effect on family fitness levels. A Wii Fit was loaned to eight families and their usage and fitness impact were tracked over time (three months before they got the Wii, and three months after).

The final verdict seems to be that there are “No significant changes” in family fitness from the Wii. Over the period of three months Wii Fit usage went down by an amazing 82 percent, from 22 minutes a day for the first half of the time, all the way down to an average of four minutes a day in the last six weeks. The children did display some “significant” increases in the area of aerobic fitness. Basically it seems that people got bored, otherwise they may have done better.

Watches today do more than watches could do in the past. I have seen watches that have cell phones built-in and watches that connect to the Internet. Garmin is a brand closely associated with GPS devices, but the company has a wider range of products and has introduced a new watch.

It would be easy to assume that the new watch offers GPS capability, but it doesn’t. The watch monitors data from your workouts and saves it for wireless transmission to your computer for analysis. The watch is compatible with any ANT+ fitness device like heart rate monitors, foot pods, or home and gym equipment.

It looks like Samsung and Adidas have paired up to take on the likes of Apple and Nike+ in the fitness gadget market. The miCoach F110 mobile phone brings on similar workout tracking capabilities and then some.

The miCoach comes packaged with a heart rate monitor and a “foot pod” for tracking your steps wirelessly to the phone. The device will then keep track of your pace, distance and heart rate giving you audio feedback on your progress and exercise level during your workout.

And so surfaces another fitness gadget. Swirlnet, a company around for a good part of 2007, is getting ready to show off at CES a new version of its Swirl product. This one is called the Swirl MX.

The Swirl MX is designed to work with Swirlfit, the online companion of the fitness device, to help you “create your own heart rate zone training programs and intensity-match them to your favorite music.” The product itself is described as a 1oz heart rate monitor, music player and virtual personal trainer which “guide you so you stay in target training zones throughout your workout” by offering real-time voice coaching.

The Adeo Fitness Companion from MotionLingo is a pretty cool exercise gadget that fits inline with your headphone cord and tracks your outdoor workout.

The Adeo is really a GPS device that tracks your movements during outdoor workouts such as running, walking, biking, etc. As you move the Fitness Companion tracks your current position, the distance you have gone, your pace, and speed along with your workouts’ elapsed time, the elevation and estimated calories burned.

The Adeo can report this information to you audibly during your workout through your headphones. This can come in very …

Apple is planning to release iOS 8 today, its latest operating system for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Apple usually lets the releases go around 11am PST but it might not get to everyone’s device right away. iOS 8 is compatible with the iPhone 4s and up, iPad 2 and up, all iPad Mini’s and the 5th generation of the iPod touch.

A quick recap of the new iOS 8 features include an updated photo album with improved on-device photo editing, enhanced voice and video messages, an updated predictive keyboard that anticipates your next word, new fitness apps, a cloud-based drive, enhanced notifications and a few others. You can see all of the details from Apple here.

Apple announced on Tuesday the release of the much anticipated Apple Watch and along with it came just about every feature speculated in the months coming up to is arrival. The new wearable technology comes in three different styles, the standard Watch, the Watch Sport targeting the fitness minded and the Watch Edition with a little more elegant and sophisticated look.

The features include, as you might expect with a digital interface, many face options including stopwatches, stock quotes, weather updates, photos, drawings, the digital time or simulated watch hands to name a few. It will also automatically keep the time adjusted correctly, even when you move through time zones or into daylight savings time.

Just when you thought there wouldn’t be another one, Adidas proves you wrong. miCoach is Adidas’ version of a wearable activity tracker. Much like any of the others on the market today it tracks health data such as heart rate, steps walked, and calories burned. The miCoach also has LED lights that change color with the intensity of the workout and is made of a comfortable material that makes it easy to wear for long periods of time.

You can use Adidas miCoach app to set weekly goals and training plans. …

How would you like your very own mass spectrometer that is small enough to fit in your pocket? Or, maybe the question we should ask is; who wouldn’t like their very own mass spectrometer?

Bring on Scio, made by the guys over at Consumer Physics, this is the first molecular scanner that can fit in the palm of your hand. Scio is a device that can scan physical objects and tell you their chemical make up. You want to know what exactly is in that medication your Dr prescribed …

Ok, this is probably one of the coolest ways to help you quit smoking we have seen.  The Quitbit lighter is much like all the wearable fitness trackers out there, only this one keeps track of something completely different; your smoking habits.

While it does help you light up those cigarettes that you are trying to quit, it’s a constant reminder that you are trying to quit. It keeps track of how many cigarettes you’ve smoked and also tells you how long since your last one right on the device. …

Adidas announced on Wednesday the release of a new smartwatch targeting runners, putting some additional competition in the wearable exercise devices with Nike’s Fuelband and the Fitbit Force.

According to Paul Gaudio, the vice president in charge of Adidas’ interactive division, the Adidas smartwatch is focusing on making the best running watch as apposed to competing in the smartwatch space with Google and Apple. The Adidas smartwatch includes the ability to connect through Bluetooth with a smartphone but will require less dependency by incorporating flash storage for music right on …

Fitbit, makers of the fitness tracking Flex wristband, announced Thursday that it will be releasing the Fitbit Force this fall. The Force is an updated version of the Flex with some additional features, most notably an OLED display right on the device.

The added display is a big advancement in the device. Not only will this allow the user to see their distance progress and calories burned as you might expect, but it can also see the names of incoming callers. The Fitbit Force will pair with your iPhone via Bluetooth and …

The new Nike+ SportWatch GPS powered by TomTom is like a fitness coach. One that will track what you do, track how you do it, and then makes you do it again you filthy maggot. Double time! Okay, maybe it isn’t that motivating, but it will help.

The Nike+ SportWatch GPS combines the accuracy of GPS with the shoe-based Nike+ sensor (attached to your iPod Nano) to track time, pace, distance, calories burned, and heart rate, as you do your daily run. It will actually talk to you through your iPod Nano. The Nike Senor translates your workout data from the Sport Kit to your iPod Nano, which can then be connected to NikePlus.com.