In 2017, the Willow smart breast pump debuted to accolades and excitement at the Consumer Electronics Show. There wasn’t a lot of tech on display made specifically for women, and breast pumps hadn’t evolved much in earlier decades. Now, for CES 2020, the company is introducing the Willow Generation 3.
The Willow is discreet and quiet, letting women pump more easily in public, instead of in scary pump rooms. The second generation offered some improvements, like a quicker assembly and clear window for viewing milk flow. “We’ve reengineered Willow from the inside out to create the smartest and most productive pumping experience for moms,” Vickie Mrva, president and chief marketing officer of Willow, said of Gen 3.
The new device uses redesigned suction technology to more closely mimic how babies nurse. “Moms will transition to expression even faster than they do today, which really maximizes a woman’s letdown and her milk output,” said Mrva. Based on 5,000 sessions with the third generation, the Willow has increased milk output an average of 20 percent over earlier iterations, she said. The sessions themselves won’t be any faster, but there’s a new sensitivity setting and three different suction levels that will allow Willow wearers to adjust for comfort. The Generation 3 will also pair more easily to phones; Mrva compares it to connecting Airpods.
The Willow app has always let users track their milk output, but the new update will also give personalized tips. “So, for a particular mom, the app can recognize and feed her information to give her a tip on, for example, if she’s got a bra on snug enough to hold the pump in to maximize her milk output,” said Mrva.
This data would be based on both output and changes in breast size or shape recognized by the devices. While Mrva says the tips are based on this personal information, the data is anonymized. “We do not use personally identifiable information or sell data in any instances,” she said.
One thing that hasn’t changed with the Willow is its $499 price tag. Some of that cost could be covered by insurance, in certain cases, but it’s definitely pricey if not. The Willow also uses expensive proprietary bags but recently introduced a $50 reusable container. The company is planning on giving out 50 of its smart breast pumps for free at CES, but here’s hoping the comfort and convenience will be more affordable by the time Generation 4 debuts.
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The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.