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Personalized mobile shopping app launched by Under Armour

UA Shop will provide consumers with a personalized mobile shopping experience.

Popular sports apparel maker Under Armour has announced the launch of its first mobile shopping app, which has been built on the Under Armour Connected Fitness platform and designed to improve and personalize the consumer shopping experience. Called UA Shop, the mobile commerce app will tie into the company’s digital fitness apps, integrating data from the brand’s fitness platform, which includes its own apps and websites that track diet, exercise, sleep and other activities related to health and fitness, reported The Baltimore Sun.

The UA Shop application will provide product recommendations based on fitness tracking data.

According to Under Armour, the digital fitness data will allow for UA Shop to create a personalized shopping experience for every consumer that is based on his or her previous purchase history, workout history and athlete inspiration.

Under Armour Launches Mobile Shopping App - UA LogoThe app will recommend products based on the individual user’s specific fitness tracking data. For instance, a consumer who lives in a cooler climate and who enjoys hiking may be recommended products such as an Armour outerwear or baselayer. On the other hand, a consumer in a warmer climate who has recorded several runs via the MapMyRun app may be provided with running footwear or UA CoolSwitch apparel options.

Under Armour’s mobile shopping app is one-of-a-kind.

According to the company, its UA Shop retail app is the only one on the market directly connected to the health and fitness data of over 170 million digital fitness members.

Under Armour’s senior vice president of revenue, Jason LaRose, said in a press release that “UA Shop is the next step in our connected fitness evolution as Under Armour becomes a true Math House.” LaRose added that “This app was created to maximize our digital platform and complement our existing in-store experiences by bringing consumers a way to find the products they want, when they want it.”

Presently, the mobile shopping app is available exclusively to iOS users and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. That being said, the company has said that UA Shop will also become available to Android users and should be heading to the Google Play store soon.

Iron Man-inspired underwater augmented reality helmet developed by the Navy

U.S. Navy researchers have developed a new high-tech underwater helmet with AR display.

While augmented reality (AR) displays are nothing new to the military, as they’ve used these displays for decades (particularly in the form of heads-up displays (HUDs) in the cockpits of aircrafts and more recently integrated into helmets), this technology is now evolving further with the development of an underwater augmented reality helmet. The unique diver’s helmet is being developed by engineers at the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division. It will feature a built-in HUD, which can guide divers to specific locations, help them find objects, and even provide them with vision when there is almost no visibility.

The AR helmet is being designed to increase the efficiency and safety of divers in the line of duty.

According to Tech Times, the futuristic Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) helmet will help to make the work of professional divers easier and more streamlined compared to the current standard masks and neoprene gloves that are worn. The mask narrows the field of view and the gloves obstruct precision.

Underwater Augmented Reality - Image of DiverJust like the Marvel superhero Iron Man, divers will be able to view all the necessary data they need within the helmet, from checking their location to tapping into sonar data. They can keep looking straight ahead instead of having to check a smartwatch display.

Dennis Gallagher, the research team leader, said that what users of the new helmet can expect is “a capability similar to something from an Iron Man movie.”

Although still in the prototype phase, the underwater augmented reality helmet could see widespread use.

Due to the fact that underwater work typically involves poor light conditions and/or salty water, the DAVD displays can help to provide additional visual clues that could greatly assist divers, showing them the image in front of both eyes, creating visual depth. The AR display can also improve their connection to surface sources, such as a ship, which can send out information to the display.

While the device is only in its early prototype phase, future improvements made to it could lead to the inclusion of sonar sensors mounted on the helmet, which would make it even easier for information to be collected and displayed.

The Navy has said that in-water simulation testing for the underwater augmented reality helmet is slated for October.