| Cult of Mac

Ditch the Apple Watch Sport band, get Shift instead

By

Shift lets you maintain form, spend less time looking at your wrist and more on the trail and traffic.
Shift lets you maintain form and spend less time looking at your wrist.
Photo: EdgeGear

A pair of avid runners turned engineers have reinvented the watch band into something kind of genius, and we’ve got it in the Cult of Mac Watch Store.

Your Apple Watch provides a torrent of information – so why wear it in the same spot as the watch your great-grandfather wore? Putting key stats and info in your natural line of sight is not only easier to read, it’s easier to use and it’s safer.

Could Apple Watch soon track weightlifting as well as cardio?

By

Stainless steel Apple Watch meets pumping iron.
Stainless steel Apple Watch meets pumping iron.
Photo: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

As a fitness tracker, Apple Watch is currently little more than a fancy pedometer. It only tracks distance and calories — the quantity, not the quality, of your movement. That’s a problem because fitness is about more than burning calories.

However, an interesting patent from Apple — plus a new technology claimed to be “Siri for understanding human movement” — suggests that Apple Watch could soon be adding weightlifting to its repertoire. Which would be good news for gym-goers and CrossFitters everywhere.

Apple Watch wins the wrist war before it starts

By

Apple Watch did some monster pre-orders in its first day on sale. Photo: Leander Kahney
The closer we get to Apple Watch, the more advanced it looks in comparison to its competition. Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Ever since Tim Cook unveiled the Apple Watch last September, it’s been one disappointment after another as far as I’m concerned. Apple’s first wearable won’t come in the minimalist form factor of the fitness bracelets I love. Worse yet, the launch version of the fashion-forward device will lack GPS, suffer from underwhelming battery life and fail to offer truly native third-party apps.

For the first time, I realized I would not be buying an Apple product when it first hit the market. “It’s not worth lining up for,” I told my dad when he asked what I thought after the Apple Watch’s big reveal.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Apple Watch’s launch day, which is coming sometime this spring. And I’m not talking about the previously unthinkable — an Apple fan calling the Microsoft Band the best smartwatch on the planet. No, I’m talking about wading through an ungodly sea of really bad smartwatches at International CES earlier this month and seeing indisputable proof of just how innovative and disruptive Apple Watch actually will be.

Why I love Microsoft’s fitness band, and what it means for the Apple Watch

By

The Microsoft Band. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The Microsoft Band is an awesome gadget. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo:

I’m really digging the Microsoft Band. I’ve worn various fitness trackers for a couple of years now, starting with the original Jawbone UP and most recently the new Fitbit Charge.

I’ve had mixed results with them, and none have became indispensable. The Microsoft Band, on the other hand, is rapidly becoming a fixture on my wrist. It’s a great omen for the Apple Watch, which is due in early 2015. The Apple Watch will be like the Microsoft Band on steroids, and if it works as well, it’s going to be awesome.