By Business & Finance 
Bite-sized news, views and updates from the global tech industry, edited by Niamh Mac Sweeney.
TRACK, RESET, RESTART
Have your trips to the gym waned since the New Year? Are those New Year’s resolutions you set in January a distant memory? Then maybe its time to aid your health and fitness regime with a little help from technology.
The Garmin Vivosmart Fitness Band (was €149.99, now €109.99) accurately tracks your active minutes per day in steps, distance and calories, and monitors the hours of sleep per night. The fitness band is comfortable to wear, and is available in a range of colours.
The Lenovo Tab S8 8” Tablet is ideal for workouts, warm ups or cool downs at home.
The 16GB memory space provides ample room to download all your favourite fitness apps, making working out at home easy and effective. Now retailing at €149.99.
Keep track of your weight loss progress online and on your smartphone with the Withings WS-30 Smart Bathroom Scales (€139.99).
The Withings Smart Scales makes monitoring weight simple; it accurately records weight, body fat and BMI measurements and can be viewed via the free Withings Health Mate app available on iOS and Android.
VIRTUAL REALITY
HTC, a pioneer in innovative smart technologies, recently announced new developments to the Vive VR system that represent the next step in bringing virtual reality to a mass-market.
With Vive Pre, HTC is creating fully immersive experiences that change how we communicate, how we are entertained, and how we learn and train. Each and every component has been redesigned from the ground up to provide better comfort, ergonomics, and performance. With milestone improvements in both visuals and versatility, Vive Pre creates a world without limits.
“When we first announced Vive 10 months ago we had an ambitious goal of fundamentally changing the way people communicate and interact with the world – forever,” Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO, HTC said. “Since then, Vive has received a phenomenally positive reception from media, industry commentators, consumers, and the hundreds of partners and brands we’ve been working with to deliver inspiring and dynamic VR content. For too long, the promise of virtual reality has been little more than a promise. Today, we stand on the precipice of a new era. Vive is creating a world where the only limit is human imagination.”
POWER AHEAD
Staying hydrated is important and it’s recommended that our daily intake of water should be at least eight glasses. If you’re not good at hitting your daily intake, try fitting in the extra glasses by using a SodaStream Play Drinks Maker Kit (€139.99). The SodaStream is a quick way to jazz up your water with some refreshing fizz.
Another way to stay hydrated and to ensure you get your five a day is with the NutriBullet. With so many creative and healthy juice and smoothie options, at €99.99, the NutriBullet is an ideal appliance for a healthy lifestyle.
GENERATION Q
Sky recently unveiled Sky Q, the next-generation home entertainment system, opening up a whole new way of watching TV.
A family of advanced Sky Q products connects wirelessly to create a new ecosystem meaning you can now watch shows from your box, whether live, recorded or on demand, anywhere around the home on another TV or tablet; pause viewing on one TV screen and pick up where you left off in another room; and for the first time, you can take your favourite shows with you by saving recordings onto your tablet to watch anywhere.
Sky Q is also gearing up the launch of the UK and Ireland’s most comprehensive ultra high definition service later in 2016. The new service will offer customers a range of sports, movies, and entertainment content in picture quality with up to four times the detail of HD.
“We wanted to re-imagine TV so that it’s flexible and seamless across different screens and to put a huge choice of entertainment at their [customers] fingertips,” Jeremy Darroch, Sky CEO said.
MIND OVER MATTER
If you need a performance playlist to keep yourself motivated and your mind focused on your workout, the Sony MDR-XB450APW.CE7 Headphones (€44.99) designed with comfort in mind, could be just the right fit for you. Fitted with lightweight padded ear cups, which deliver rich quality sound, even in windy or noisy environments, meaning its great for outdoor workouts.
Relaxing and unwinding are as important as exercise and healthy eating. Make sure you’re getting the quality sleep required to encourage early morning workouts by using the Misfit Beddit Sleep Tracker (€179.99). Beddit delivers total sleep time and sleep cycle statistics straight to your smartphone. The smart alarm feature can wake you from a light sleep cycle, and the Beddit app provides daily tips and sleep improvement ideas.
