Category: Gadgets

Smartwatches from Pebble are released in three limited edition colors

Pebble’s classic wearable device is available in bright pink, green and blue.

Earlier this week, Pebble introduced new limited edition colors for its existing classic smartwatch, allowing consumers to choose from smartwatches in three colors that include Hot Pink, Fly Blue and Fresh Green.

These neon shades are a notable switch from the traditional colors of the company’s classic device.

Consumers looking for a change from the original Gray, Orange, Arctic White, Cherry Red and Jet Black watch colors, or who want a design that is a little more flashy, likely will not be disappointed in the vibrant and bold new color variations. The limited edition watches come complete with matching color bands, which are interchangeable.

However, in addition to the matching color bands, Pebble has provided users with the option of customizing their smartwatches. The company has announced that very soon users will be able to download two new watchfaces at the Pebble appstore. These include an animated Reading Rainbow watchface that features Levar Burton and a weather watchface from The Weather Channel.

According to Pebble’s blog, “Fresh, Hot, and Fly come with matching bands and—just like the rest of the Pebble lineup—are fully customizable with the skins and bands of your choice. We’re having lots of fun mixing and matching bands around between the different colors ourselves.”

Smartwatches from Pebble were first introduced back in 2012.

Pebble began as a Kickstarter project and was developed by Canadian inventor Eric Migicovsky. The project raised over $10 million from the pre-selling of 85,000 Pebble smart devices. In January 2013, mass production of the product began.

Last year, the company began to ship the watches worldwide. According to Pebble it has sold 190,000 globally and its consumers have downloaded 2 million watchfaces and apps. The watch has been well received and is equipped with several features. Aside from changeable watchfaces, it has an up to 7 day battery life, readable daylight display and is water resistant. Also, the company has a second generation Pebble Steel smartwatch that is slimmer, has a scratch-resistant face and has a stainless steel body.

The three limited edition color smartwatches are available for purchase from the company’s official website and cost $150.

Mobile security issues becoming apparent with wearable tech

As the number of smartwatch and smartband wearers grows, the amount of data tracking increases, too.

According to the results of a recent mobile security study that have just been published, the users of wearable tech devices can become the victims of cyber attacks, personal data breaches, or simply basic tracking by an individual with a low budget and a small amount of knowledge on the subject.

In fact, the study showed that all that is required is about $70 worth of hardware to track a wearable tech user.

The study was conducted by Symantec, the online and mobile security giant. Its researchers came up with a very simple design that brought a Bluetooth radio module together with a Raspberry Pi computer that was capable of scanning the area for the signals of wearable technology. The device was brought to various parks and sporting events where the researchers were then capable of recording the data that was being broadcasted by devices that were nearby.

The mobile security “attack” went completely undetected by the device users because no attempt was made to connect.

Mobile Security - Wearable techThe device made by the researchers never attempted to make a connection with the specific wearables that were being tracked. This was not required because the data was collectable due to the sheer simplicity of the wearable tech, which communicates with more complex devices – such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops – in order to make its information usable to the wearer.

The researchers brought the detection devices to public places in Ireland and Switzerland. They found that among all the types of mobile devices that are carried by people in these types of location, it was wearables that were particularly easy to track. According to the team, in a blog post that they made on the subject, “All the devices we encountered can be easily tracked using the unique hardware address they transmit.”

Among the types of mobile security vulnerability that were found in these devices, the researchers were also capable of remotely probing the gadgets to reveal identifying information or serial numbers. That said, they felt that this type of information would be considered to be “trivial” by people who have computer knowledge and who would be capable of actually accessing this data.