Fitbit

16 Stories

Fitbit Recall Follows 3rd-Degree Burns

Owners of 1.7 million Ionic smartwatches to get $299 refund

(Newser) - Be ready to check your Fitbit smartwatch—or your wrist for a burn. Fitbit is recalling 1.7 million smartwatches due to burn risk tied to the overheating of the lithium-ion battery contained inside its Ionic smartwatch, with the model number FB503 on the back, the US Consumer Product Safety...

NFL Reporter: Fitbit Exposed My Boyfriend

Jane Slater reveals all on Twitter

(Newser) - An NFL reporter says she caught her ex-boyfriend cheating when his Fitbit data went crazy in the middle of the night, USA Today reports. "Wish the story wasn't real," Jane Slater tweeted in a post that's gotten over 470,000 likes and 46,000 retweets. "...

In a $2.1B Deal, Google Will Try on Fitbit for Size

Cash deal takes search giant deeper into consumer electronics

(Newser) - Google is stepping up its competition with Apple by spending $2.1 billion to acquire Fitbit. The deal is for $7.35 a share in cash, the Wall Street Journal reports, a price 19% above closing Thursday and a solid 70% higher than before negotiations were reported last week. Owning...

Fitbit Data Leads to Murder Charge for Stepdad, 90

Police believe he killed stepdaughter, staged suicide

(Newser) - Police in San Jose believe a 90-year-old man murdered his 67-year-old stepdaughter—and he might have gotten away with it if she hadn't been wearing a Fitbit. Police say they found Karen Navarra dead at her home Sept. 13 with a kitchen knife in her hand and deep wounds...

Fitbits Pose 'Increased Risk' for Deployed Troops: DOD

Department of Defense says GPS data from fitness trackers too sensitive, bans them

(Newser) - The Pentagon has restricted the use of fitness trackers by deployed personnel after an app revealed the movement of troops in sensitive areas. Per CNN , Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan issued a memo barring use of the technology six months after a fitness tracking company called Strava released a global...

Cops' New Hope: Missing Iowa Jogger's Fitbit

Boyfriend says Mollie Tibbetts 'never takes it off'

(Newser) - With little else to go on , authorities are using Fitbit data in the effort to find a University of Iowa student who's now been missing for nine da ys. Mollie Tibbetts, 20, hasn't been seen since she went for a run in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18, but...

Woman Uses Fitness App, and Insurer Takes Notice

Woman in Denmark apparently goes a little too public

(Newser) - A woman in Denmark using a fitness app to post her workout data caught the attention of the wrong people—the insurance company paying her for the last several years after an injury. As Business Insider reports, the woman had been receiving $33,000 a year since 2008 after a...

Murder Suspect on Trial Claims Victim's Beau Was Involved

Wisconsin case could hinge on Fitbit, Google data

(Newser) - A felon is on trial for the slaying of a mother of three in Wisconsin, but his lawyers argue the man who actually did the crime is the victim's boyfriend. Now, Fitbit and Google data could help resolve the case. Attorneys for George Burch, 40—who is alleged to...

Experts Say Fitness Tracker Map Reveals Secret Military Bases

'A lot of people are going to have to sit through lectures come Monday morning'

(Newser) - Last November, Strava published a Global Heatmap tracking the movements of the 27 million people who use its fitness service—either through its app or devices like Fitbits—over two years. A 20-year-old international security and Middle East expert finally took a closer look at the map this weekend after...

He Said a Fat Intruder Killed His Wife. Her Fitbit Said Otherwise

Richard Dabate now charged in wife's 2015 murder

(Newser) - When Richard Dabate called 911 to report that his wife had been fatally shot inside the couple's home in Ellington, Conn., he claimed the masked killer was a "tall, obese man" with a voice like Vin Diesel, who'd also tied up Dabate, according to police. Thanks in...

Fitbit Heart Tracker Is Way Off: Lawsuit

Study found it is up to 20 bpm off during exercise

(Newser) - The heart rate tracker technology in fancier models of Fitbit starts to become inaccurate when people start exercising, according to a study included in an amended class-action lawsuit against the company. In a press release , plaintiffs' lawyers say California State Polytechnic University put both Fitbits and ECG sensors on 43...

Man's Fitbit Helps Doctors Save His Life

It revealed vital heart data at the hospital

(Newser) - It happens every day—someone going about his or her ordinary schedule has a seizure, gets looked over by a doctor, and hopefully lives to tell about it. Only in the case of a 42-year-old man who went to the emergency room at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in...

Layoffs Could Mean Smartwatches Are Running Out of Time

Pebble is letting 25% of its workforce go

(Newser) - Is the smartwatch's time already over? Tech Insider reports Pebble—one of the first companies to release a smartwatch—is laying off 40 employees, about 25% of its total staff. Pebble raised $26 million this year, in addition to the $30 million it has raised on Kickstarter since its...

Woman's Fitbit Reveals She's Pregnant

Redditor decoded the wonky data for her husband

(Newser) - A couple in New York City have good news to share thanks to some wonky Fitbit data and a helpful Redditor: They're expecting. YoungPTone, who identifies himself only as David, posted about issues with his wife's Fitbit on a Reddit thread last week, suspecting a problem with the...

University Makes Fitbits Mandatory

Data will be sent to central computer

(Newser) - In a move that critics say is more Orwell than Oral, freshmen and transfer students at Oklahoma's Oral Roberts University have been told that Fitbits are now mandatory—and failure to log at least 10,000 steps per day will affect their grades. The Christian university has had physical...

Fitbit Has Had a Really Bad Week

Company sees lawsuit, security breach, falling stock

(Newser) - Fitbit devices may have sold like hotcakes around the holidays, but the company is off to a miserable start in 2016. Just how bad has the past week been? Well, on Tuesday, Fitbit revealed Blaze, its new "smart" fitness watch. Immediately the company's stock fell 18%, reports Fortune ...

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