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Brian Heater

Brian Heater

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brian Heater has worked at number of tech pubs, including Engadget, PCMag and Laptop. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL and shares his Queens apartment with two rabbits.

dt10 tech wrecked our bodies next it will make us healthier but than ever

Tech wrecked our bodies, but next it will make us healthier than ever

TVs, computers and smartphones have made us more sedentary than any other generation, but the next batch of technology promises to boot us from our connected cocoons and get moving again.
Mobile Features
dt10 tinder will look quaint beside the future of digital dating relationships header feature

Tinder will look quaint beside the future of digital dating

Online dating went from a novelty to the de facto was of meeting a mate in only 10 years, and as it goes mobile, it will continue to reshape the relationship landscape.
Web Features
Apple Store Watch

Where’s our wearable revolution? The state of tech’s biggest unfulfilled promise

We look at the state of wearables and wearable tech for the final installment of the Wear Next column.
Wearables Features
apple watch

What becomes of the Misfits and FitBits of the world after the Apple Watch? Apps.

Are hardware manufacturers already planning for a life after fitness trackers? Yes, and it looks like an app.
Wearables Features
Misfit Shine

The next great wearable doesn’t need to do more, it needs to transform

Future wearables need to adapt beyond the wrist, which means a more modular approach that lets you tailor your wearable to your situation.
Mobile Features
why im not sold on smartwatches asus zenwatch

Convinced you need a smartwatch? Neither am I, and I’m really trying here

Not convinced you need a smartwatch? Neither am have I, and I been wearing one for months. How will companies convince the world we all do?
Wearables Features
theres no killer app in the first 24 apple watch apps wear next 040615 timekeeping

Still skeptical about the Apple Watch? The first 24 apps won’t change your mind

None of the first 24 Apple Watch apps scream “game changer.” So what will it take?
Wearables News
while smarter watches make life easier prosthetics better projectdaniel mohammad amp daniel notimpossible copy

While smarter watches make life easier, smarter prosthetics make life better

It’s pretty easy to lose perspective when you write about the same thing day and day out. After a while, subject matters become so central to your way of thinking, it’s easy to forget how much the things you write about really matter to people’s lives. Take the humble smartwatch. In the course of writing […]
Mobile Features

Did Google shoot too high with its Glass ‘moonshot,’ or not high enough?

Did the Glass Voyager program stumble because the product was too forward thinking, or not forward thinking enough?
Mobile
apple watch edition on sale taiwan wear next 031615

Apple’s Watch is finally ushering in a world beyond ‘one size fits all’

Apple has always been a one-size-fits-all company, but it’s veering the other direction to address one inescapable fact: Everyone wants to wear something different.
Wearables News
LG Watch Urbane

Why are we so ready for wearables? We’re sick of boring smartphones

Now that smartphones all look and work the same, wearables represent the unlimited, untapped potential of what electronics can do.
Wearables News
Pebble Time

Forget the Apple Watch, Pebble is far more fascinating

Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky is happy to point out the company’s smartwatch is “the most popular smart watch platform in the world right now.” But can this tiny business keep up with the Apple Watch? Let’s hope so.
Wearables News
will smartwatches kill fitness bands and basic wearables wear next 022314

Will smartwatch supremacy mean the race is over for fitness bands?

Fitness bands have lead the charge on getting ordinary people to strap technology to their bodies, but as smartwatches take off, is there room for them to stick around?
Wearables News
Apple Watch

Even Apple’s sworn enemies need the Apple Watch to succeed

Smartwatches aren’t exactly flying off shelves, which means that even Apple competitors are looking forward to the Apple Watch to legitimize the product category and get sales pumping.
Wearables News
i.amPULS

Let Will.i.am be a cautionary tale: Celebs should use tech, not design it

): Will.i.am, for all of his passions, has introduced the world to what is almost universally being regarded as one of the worst piece of wearable technology of all time.
Wearables News
study fitness bands may only benefit fit people fitbit 0006

Not a gym rat? Fitness wearables may not benefit you at all

Fitbit ads show a bunch of fit people working out … and according to studies, that may be accurate. For the vast majority of unfit people, wearables don’t yet exist outside news reports and those aforementioned ads.
Wearables Guides
why fda regulation is a good thing for wearables wear next 012614

Like kale, letting the FDA regulate wearables is bitter, but it’s good for you

FDA regulation may slow down the gadget train, but it’s a small price to pay for knowing that devices meant to help us won’t accidentally harm us.
Wearables News
Google Glass

The importance of privacy, style, and other lessons learned from Google Glass

Google is clearly taking all of the lessons learned from one of the most public betas in recent memory back to the drawing board.
Wearables Features
sony press event mwc 2016 news smartwatch 3 silver ces

What will future wearables look like? We’re still not sure after CES 2015

CES 2015 promised to shed some light on the still-emerging category of wearable tech, but there are still no leaders, and many of last year’s questions remain unanswered.
Wearables News
hyped up wearables of last years ces moverio bt 200 feature

Where are they now? Looking back at the hyped-up wearables of last year’s CES

In the lead up to CES 2015, we take a look at where last year’s biggest announcements ended up.
Wearables News
apples watch may overshadow other wearables at ces 2015 wear next 122914

It’s still not here, but Apple’s Watch will loom large over competitors at CES 2015

Though Apple will snub CES as it always has, competitors ranging from titans like Samsung to newcomers like Pebble will still have to find a way to best its upcoming Watch.
Wearables News
graphene and other tech ready to revolutionize wearables wearnext graphine

From graphene to flexible displays, this tech could revolutionize wearables

Today’s wearables are fairly simple and often cumbersome, but a host of new technologies, from graphene to flexible displays, could change the way they look, feel, and work.
Wearables News
next gen wearables microsoft band app

From pollution to weather, next-gen wearables will tell us more about our world

Your smart watch knows how much you move, but what about the quality of the environment around you? Next-gen wearables that monitor the outside world could help us live even better.
Wearables News
which wearable manufacturer controls your future wear next 120814

Your body is the next gadget battlefield, and every company wants the wrist

The battlefield in the war for ecosystem dominance will play out on the battlegrounds that are our bodies. For the moment, the stakes are pretty low.
Wearables News
wear next pulling back curtain gadgets early leads failure 112414 google glass 2

We’re killing Google Glass by forgetting it’s just one big experiment

Google Glass may die out, but is it Google’s fault or our own inability to understand what an experiment is all about?
Wearables News
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As it turns out, making wearables wearable is harder than it seems

As tech companies pack more and more sensors and features into smartwatches and fitness band, wearability sometimes goes out the window. But isn’t that the entire point?
Wearables News
Wear Next 111014

Admit it: Fitness trackers are as much about showing off as working out

You work out, and you want people to know. As the sensors inside fitness trackers get smaller and smaller, we’ll never see them disappear completely, because projecting your commitment to fitness is an important part of why we love these gadgets.
Wearables News
microsofts band can compete with fitbit jawbone microsoft 009

Slick features, universal compatibility give the Microsoft Band a fighting chance

While other fitness bands are fighting to be the cheapest, Microsoft wants to conquer the top of the market with a band that has unique features, works with any platform, and yes, costs more.
Wearables News
Wear Next 102714

Now cheaper than ever, fitness bands face an uphill run to stay relevant

As fitness bands get cheaper and cheaper, the companies making them will need new ways to survive, which could mean anything from subscription apps to selling your fitness data.
Wearables News
Amazon Kindle Voyage

Amazon Kindle Voyage review

We review Amazon’s latest ebook reader, the Kindle Voyage. Here’s why it may just be the best book reader available today.
Mobile Reviews
carriers needs to adapt for smartwatches without smartphones brian heater 102014

Before smartwatches can stand solo, carriers need to rethink their plans

No one wants a smartwatch that fizzles and dies without a smartphone, but before we can get there, carriers will need to get smart too, and sell us data without an additional plan.
Wearables News
a history of wearable cameras from gopro to google glass brian heater 101314

Smile, you’re always on camera! Now how did we get here?

Tiny cameras, and wearables in particular, are reaching ubiquity in popular culture. But how did we get the state where you’re always on camera? As it turns out, it’s been decades in the making.
Wearables News
Manufacturing the Future

Manufacturing the future: How 3D printing went from pipe dream to your desktop

Long before companies like MakerBot made 3D printing as simple as a box that sits on your desk, dedicated pioneers were perfecting the technologies that made it possible in their garages.
Emerging Tech
ftc issues report on internet of things privacy and security smartwatch wearables

Workplace wearables could help you get more done, or just drive you nuts

Now that work-issued smartphones are commonplace, it’s only a matter of time before wearables worm their way in too. And while they could help you get more done, the potential for abuse by employers is just as ripe.
Mobile
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