This Smart Lighter Will Help You Quit Smoking

A new Internet-connected lighter called Quitbit will light your cigarette, but wean you off a smoking habit too.

A new Kickstarter campaign called Quitbit takes the same monitoring principles embedded into fitness trackers and helps users track and cutdown on smoking. In a nod to the name, it's like a Fitbit for smoking.

The product, which launched on Monday and is seeking $50,000 in funding pledges, is a pocket lighter that uses a heating coil similar to what's found in cars. But whether you're looking to quit or not, the lighter keeps track of every time you light up and logs that data in an accompanying app.

Users can set custom plans — so they can trim on intake at whatever pace they want — and see much money they've saved by cutting back on packs along the way. It also reveals the time since your last smoke, how many were consumed within a certain period of time and lets you call out the times you shared a cigarette with a friend (or let someone borrow the lighter).

The Quitbit, which also works with e-cigarettes or the patch, was developed by two friends who wanted an easy way to track the quitting process.

"Kuji and I were both smokers and met while in grad school together at Brown," co-founder Ata Ghofrani told. "I was trying to quit when he asked how much I smoked, and I realized there wasn't a really good way to keep track." "I was trying to quit when he asked how much I smoked, and I realized there wasn't a really good way to keep track."

Although there are countless apps on the market that help smokers quit, this is the first solution that includes hardware: "We wanted a piece of hardware to automatically monitor how much you're smoking, without having to manually enter that information within the app," he added.

Although it's up to each person to decide when and if they want to quit smoking, keeping the Quitbit in your pocket — we assume — gives the same affect of wearing a fitness wristband tracker. Sure, you might not wear a Fitbit to specifically lose weight, but it serves as a constant reminder to stay active.

The Quitbit will likely do the same; having access to all of your smoking data might the final nudge you need to scale back.

IMAGE: QUITBIT

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LeapBand Is the First Activity Tracker for Kids

Kids love to get their hands on the tech their parents have — tablets, smartphones, cameras, cars — so it's only natural they'd want what every adult seems to be tinkering with these days: fitness trackers. And with the wearables market heating up, it makes sense that the toy industry is ready to ride the wristband wave too.

The LeapBand (manufactured by toy company LeapFrog) is a watered down version of what you might see in an adult fitness tracker — the Fitbit, Jawbone and Nike+ Fuelband (RIP) devices of the world. It monitors and rewards kids for the activities they do and has a Tamagotchi-like virtual pet baked in. The more a child moves, the more points they earn to unlock new games or win treats for their on-screen cat, dog, dragon, penguin, panda or unicorn.

The LeapBand ($39), which hits stores in August, is specifically designed for kids ages 4 to 7. It comes with a built-in accelerometer, a rechargeable battery and a high-resolution (128 x 128) screen, with backlighting. It will be available in three flavors (pink, blue and green) and is made of plastic.

LeapFrog is best known for its tablets for children (the LeapPad line), so it's fitting that it's among the first toy companies to enter the wearables space. Earlier this year, VTech announced the world's first smartwatch for kids, the KidiZoom Smart Watch. Although it doesn't connect to the Internet like its adult-counterpart smartwatches (so it's not technically a "smartwatch"), the 1.4-inch touchscreen device allows young users to snap photos, take video and play games directly through the watch. The device will hit the market this fall.

The growth of toys like this comes at a time when wearables as a tech category is still in its infancy, but it's believed that the rumored Apple iWatch will launch wearables into the mainstream.

The iWatch is projected to have a huge fitness component; not only will it have a heart-rate monitor and other ways to track your body in real time, it will likely come with Nike's Fuelband software built into the device

IMAGE: LEAPFROG

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Hoop Tracker Helps Basketball Players Take Their Best Shot

We can't all have Jordan's dunk, but a new piece of wearable tech could soon help athletes understand their own strengths — and weaknesses.

Hoop Tracker is a smart watch designed specifically for basketball players that automatically measures training progress, including shooting percentages and accuracy.

"If you're going to perform an activity you're going to want to know how well you're doing it," Hoop Tracker founder Jason Duke told. "Basketball is no different."

The Hoop Tracker system is made up of two main components — a shot detector magnetically mounted on the hoop and the watch itself. Once a player takes a shot, a sensor is activated when the ball hits the backboard or the rim. If the ball goes in, it will hit a lever positioned in the hoop and the shot will be recorded as made. But if it doesn't hit the lever within two seconds, a miss will be registered.

Air balls won't activate the sensor and must be manually tracked by hitting a button on the watch. Data is wirelessly transferred from the shot detector to the watch and can be uploaded to the Hoop Tracker website where athletes can analyze their progress.

Players follow pre-programmed training regimens (or design their own) customized for each position that instruct them to take different shots, such as free throws or three pointers, from different areas on the court. Hoop Tracker also includes games like "Score 100," "3 Point Contest" and "Shoot Around." Athletes can also share achievements with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

The watch can be worn or kept on the sidelines if players are already familiar with the training programs — either way, it will still collect data. Coaches are also able to monitor multiple players at once in a separate mode.

Duke has played recreational basketball since childhood and was inspired to create Hoop Tracker because he felt there wasn't an easy way for players to get quantifiable feedback on their performances outside of expensive, bulky equipment. Shooting guns, for example, can cost approximately $5,000. Another start-up, Shot Tracker, is working toward a similar goal, but uses a sleeve and an app instead of a watch.

"You'll see where your strengths are and it could help you find out what your ideal position is," Duke said.

Hoop Tracker is raising funds on Kickstarter and shipping is expected to begin in October. As of press time, the crowdfunding campaign had garnered more than $36,000 out of a $100,000 goal with six days to go.

IMAGE: HOOP TRACKER

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Samsung Names Its Price for Gear Fit, Gear 2 Smartwatch

For those awaiting more details about Samsung's new Gear 2 smartwatch and Gear Fit wristband tracker, the company announced pricing and availability on Thursday.

According to Sammobile.com, which reported Samsung's official pricing for Taiwan, the Gear 2 will cost $299 in the U.S., while the Gear Fit will go for $199.

Samsung later told that the Gear 2 Neo, which is similar to the Gear 2 smartwatch but has a plastic exterior and comes without a camera, will also cost $199.

The devices will go on sale in April, but the pre-sale starts on Friday via BestBuy.com.

Last month, Samsung introduced the Gear 2 as its second-generation smartwatch, touting a heart-rate sensor, music player and infrared emitter that could be used to control a TV. It's also powered by Tizen; the previous Galaxy Gear smartwatch ran on Android.

Meanwhile, the Gear Fit comes with a curved Super AMOLED touchscreen with a built-in heart rate monitor. The waterproof fitness tracker comes with an adjustable band and connects via Bluetooth, so you can get notifications directly to the device from your smartphone. Like the Gear 2 Neo, it doesn't feature with a camera.

IMAGE: MANU FERNANDEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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