jawbone

The days of blasting music out of a portable boom box are behind us, and while some companies still offer retro stereo wannabes for iPods, the best way to free your music but still keep it in a tight package is with a portable Bluetooth speaker.

Here we've rounded up several wireless Bluetooth speakers for your consideration. They work with all smartphones and tablets meeting the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) spec. These days, that includes nearly all tablets and smartphones, including the iPhone, iPad, and most Android devices.

To be clear, Bluetooth isn't known for its top-notch … Read more

Jawbone has had some success in the market with the Jambox, a small Bluetooth speaker with speakerphone capabilities. Designed to augment the sound of smartphones and tablets such the iPad, the nice thing about the Jambox is that it plays loudly and takes up little room in your bag, so it makes for an excellent traveling companion.

Logitech's Mini Boombox does exactly the same thing as the $175 Jambox, and while it doesn't do it quite as well--and isn't as slickly designed--it only costs half as much.

The Mini Boombox is smaller than the Jambox and about … Read more

Gentlemen--ladies, too--start your wristbands.

Although better known for its Bluetooth headsets, Jawbone is venturing into fitness gadgets with UP, a wristband that tracks your activity level, what you eat, and when you sleep. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das speaks to Jawbone Product Management VP Travis Bogard to find out how it works and gets an answer to a common complaint about the product--why doesn't it transmit data wirelessly?

This video first appeared on SmartPlanet under the headline "Can a smart wristband make you healthier?"

Jawbone, a company known mostly for Bluetooth audio accessories like the Jawbone Era and the Jambox, is venturing into the health and fitness industry with a new product called the Jawbone Up.

First revealed at TEDGlobal, it's essentially a tiny wristband that works in conjunction with the Jawbone Up iPhone app to track your movements, sleep patterns, and eating habits to help you make healthier lifestyle choices. Jawbone breaks that into three categories: Measure, Engage, and Act.… Read more

I admit it. I enjoy a good firmware upgrade.

There's nothing like a software fix to make you feel better about your device, especially if it adds new features while eliminating bugs. But not every firmware upgrade is good. Sometimes things go horribly wrong. Which is what happened recently when I updated Jawbone's little Jambox Bluetooth speaker to version 2.0.

The update gave me something called LiveAudio, a "technological breakthrough" that would let me experience my music, games, video "like never before"--as if I was, "on stage, in the action, hearing it live." Furthermore, this immersive, three-dimensional listening experience brought "incredible depth, detail, and unprecedented spatial realism to everything from mp3s to special binaural recordings."

Based on the promo material, I expected a lot; I wanted in on the 2.0 LiveAudio action. Wanted it bad. … Read more

Jawbone has pushed out a free software update for its Jambox portable Bluetooth speaker that enables a new audio-enhancement feature the company calls LiveAudio.

Two things strike me about this. First, how cool is it that your speaker can get a software upgrade? I can only hope that Jawbone is busy scripting a software update that will fix the speaker quality in my crappy car next. I won't hold my breath.

The best part of this news, though, is that the upgrade is genuinely worthwhile. Counting myself as a professional audio snob who has heard some dreadful audio spatialization … Read more

Bluetooth audio accessory company Jawbone is extending its line into health and fitness. Later this year the company will launch a motion-recording wristband called Up that will connect to smartphone apps. It will be able to discern when its user is exercising, sleeping, or eating, Jawbone founder Hosain Rahman told me.

Rahman announced the product at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Tuesday. It was, he says, more of a concept launch than a product release. He did not disclose when the product will be available or how much it will cost. Rather, he was hoping to generate interest … Read more

This week we're giving away a slim and sleek Jawbone Jambox, the stunningly designed rechargeable Bluetooth speaker that can be used as a speakerphone or connected to any Bluetooth-compatible music player or device.

The Jambox packs a tremendous amount of high-quality sound in a small package, and even comes with a convenient protective carrying case. A Micro-USB port allows for charging, but also lets you update the device's firmware to extend compatibility down the road.

While it comes in four different colors and grille designs, we're giving the Black Diamond model away for free. Try out your luck by commenting once below. All games have rules, so be sure to see the print below.… Read more

(Edit: We've been informed that the company now goes by Jawbone instead of Aliph, so we've edited the blog post to reflect that). Jawbone has just announced the Jawbone Era, the first ever Bluetooth headset to have a built-in accelerometer. Combined with multi-processor technology, serial flash, and a larger dynamic wideband speaker, the Jawbone Era is emblematic of how advanced even the smallest piece of gadgetry can be these days.

The aforementioned built-in accelerometer is coupled with MotionX, a motion technology licensed by Jawbone from a company called FullPower. This allows the headset to perform certain actions by … Read more