End of the Road

KineticWhen we launched KineticShift at the 2010 International CES we hoped to bring attention to the fact that many tech and gadget blogs called out products that entertained but few addressed that technology could also help make users healthier in the process. Since our launch CES has added a program that specifically addresses fitness technology, the trade magazine TWICE (This Week In Consumer Electronics) covers fitness technology and big box retailers such as Best Buy carry fitness devices including motion trackers and heart rate monitors.

There is now a whole category of wearable devices and major players from Google to Apple to Microsoft are now in this space. Fitness technology has come into its own.

On the one hand we could say “mission accomplished,” but of course this trend would have happened without KineticShift. While we managed to get on the radar of many companies and helped promote many products we have also realized that we were never able to break out.

We say kudos to those sites such as Gear Patrol, Gear Junkie and Uncrate that have managed to make a splash. We’ve covered an alphabet of trade shows: CES, SIA, E3, CTIA, SHOT, etc. (not to mention Interbike and many other shows), and we thank all our readers who came and read what we had to say.

We thank the sponsors that we’ve been able to attract as well.

Thank you for four and a half great years. All of us at KineticShift will likely continue to cover and report on fitness technology, but the time has come to for us to move on. While we could continue to do our daily updates the truth is that we were unable to grow and that has limited what we can do. With that in mind, we’ve hit the end of the line.

The KineticShift Staff

KineticShift Seeks Content Partners

KineticShiftKineticShift.com launched during the 2010 CES and since that time we’ve covered thousands of products, attended dozens of other trade shows and worked to become of the best sources of news and reviews for fitness technology. We are looking for content partners or other interested parties, including potential sponsors so that we can take KineticShift to the next level. Continue reading KineticShift Seeks Content Partners

Made in America: KineticShift.com Jersey!

We’ve been posting about Made in America items for nearly two years and in that time we’ve seen a lot of great items from across the country. This week concludes Made in America as a weekly Friday update, but we wi’ll still continue to report on American made products. In fact, we see so many products that deserve calling out that it just makes sense to do so outside of a weekly update.

We conclude the Friday cycle fittingly with KineticShift.com cycling jerseys that were made by Mt. Borah in Wisconsin. The customized apparel maker is notable in that they can do small runs of just six shirts, easy one-offs after that, and they offer fully customizable attire as well as semi-customized clothing. In fact, while our jerseys look like we designed them from scratch these were actually quite simple thanks to the semi-custom forms that Mt. Borah provides. Continue reading Made in America: KineticShift.com Jersey!

Made in America: K-Edge Cycling Solutions

The Boise, Idaho based cycling component brand, K-Edge Cycling Solutions, was created from a singular and focused ambition. The goal was to help an Olympic cycling athlete secure a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. To see how this happened and the resulting product we take a quick look to France, Austria, China, and return to the USA for how it all played out.

Continue reading Made in America: K-Edge Cycling Solutions

KineticShift One Year Later

It was a year ago that we launched KineticShift with a simple goal: to cover the best products, devices and trends to help make a better you. In that time we reported from the Consumer Electronics Show (we’ll be back in Vegas this week), the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Interbike. We’ll be back at those three shows this year, and we’ll be reporting from other shows as well, including the SHOT Show later this month.

We’ve seen a lot of great products and it has been a great ride – including a ride in the Nevada desert with Cervelo Test Team during Interbike. Rather than waste time, energy and space recapping what we saw in 2010, we’ll keep it simple and say it was a great year for innovative products.

We hope that Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association was right when he said to us in a phone interview last week that as far as innovation goes, “2011 will knock your socks off.”

We’re hoping to have them knocked off!