WHO, WHAT, WEARABLE
Casio WSD-F20A
Looking to stock a rugged smartwatch for your adventure-loving clients? The new Casio WSD-F20A, which runs on the newly coined Wear OS by Google (formerly Android Wear), is worth considering. The latest addition to Casio’s PRO TREK series of outdoor watches features Casio’s rock-solid GPS software, which includes the ability to tap into low-power GPS and full-color maps with navigation even when the watch is offline. The device itself can survive harsh weather (down to –10 degrees Fahrenheit) and the occasional hard hit—its build passes U.S. military muster for durability.
What we liked: The WSD-F20A is the Swiss army knife of smartwatches: It’s packed with tools you may never use but appreciate having on hand—such as a digital compass, altimeter, barometer, activity tracker, accelerometer, gyrometer, and microphone. They’re all easily accessed from the watch’s round, roomy touch screen.
What we didn’t like: It’s solidly built, so it’s on the heavy-and-bulky side for daily use. However, if we were hiking the Himalayas or exploring Norwegian fjords, the size probably wouldn’t bother us.
Best feature: Maps downloaded to the device ahead of time can be accessed on the watch during treks into the wild (battery life is roughly one day when GPS is in use). And the WSD-F20A works in places where there’s no cellular service. Packing your bags yet? ($399.99; wsd.casio.com)
The Casio WSD-F20A comes preloaded with access to outdoor and sports apps from nine global app companies.
SUPPLY IN DEMAND
GemLightbox
When it comes to social media, photos are king. But too few jewelry retailers have an easy, low-cost solution for taking professional product photos on the fly. (And make no mistake—success on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat relies heavily on a steady supply of new product pics.) The GemLightbox, an all-in-one jewelry photo studio from Australian startup PicUp Media, was created for jewelers looking to capture their sparkling merch with an everyday smartphone—no lighting skills required. You simply pop the jewels into the light box and start clicking to produce crisp, bright, silhouetted photos destined to wow your many followers. ($899; picupmedia.com/gemlightbox)
PicUp Media plans to debut a wirelessly connected rotating stand—to facilitate 360-degree videos and GIFs—for the GemLightbox in the near future.
APP CHAT
Genius Scan
Flatbed scanners aren’t exactly mobile. Thankfully, modern technology has gifted us with a brilliant hack for scanning docs on the go (huzzah!). The Genius Scan app by developer the Grizzly Labs turns your phone into an actual scanner. Here’s how it works: You take a photo of the document you want to scan while in the app. The app then saves the image as a high-resolution PDF or JPEG that you can email directly from your phone to others. Built-in filters boost contrast and clarity, rendering every document you capture perfectly legible. (Free for Android and iOS; thegrizzlylabs.com)