Thermos, the brand that’s well-known for making bottles to keep our drinks warm, has decided to wise up and introduce a connected hydration bottle. Geniune Thermos Brand worked with iDevices to make a bottle that connects to the Thermos Smart Lid app, available on iTunes. It can also sync up to your Fitbit and alert you to stay hydrated throughout the day.
Thermos’ Smart Lid is both an app and the lid itself. The straw tube in the smart hydration bottle’s lid contains sensors to figure out how much liquid is left in the bottle, as well as the temperature of your beverage. The app shows you all the info the straw picks up, so you can keep tabs on your drinking stats. You can set a goal amount to drink, or have the hydration calculator figure out a goal for you. The app keeps track of your intake, sip by sip. You can easily set reminders for progress, so your phone can remind you to drink water and refrain from drying out internally.
The app’s secret is the hydration calculator, developed in conjunction with EXOS, the training, nutrition, and PT consulting firm. Input your weight, age, activity frequency, intensity, and duration, and the app will figure out how much water you should be drinking.
The bottle is BPA free and tough enough to stand up to a few falls, but it’s not made for hot stuff. We will have to wait for Genuine Thermos Brand to make an actual Smart Thermos for keeping things hot.
Fitbit users get an added bit of convenience, thanks to a partnership between Thermos and the popular fitness wearable maker. Info from the Smart Lid app can sync to your Fitbit account automatically when you empty the bottle. In Thermos’ press release, Tim Rosa, the VP of global marketing at Fitbit, said, “We know it’s important for people of all fitness levels to drink enough water.”
Unfortunately, Android users will have a wait a little longer to enjoy the benefits of Thermos’ new smart bottle. There’s no Android app yet, and the iOS app requires iOS 7 and up. The smart thermos connects to the iPad Mini, iPhone 4S, third-generation iPad, and fifth-generation iPod Touch or newer versions.
The bottle and app were first revealed at the International Home and Housewares Show this past March. The integration of Fitbit went live October 21. Although the thermos isn’t available yet, you can keep an eye out for the SmartLid Thermos on the company’s website this November.
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.