A long, long time ago, like in 2012, a few tech companies thought it would be a good idea to add wireless connectivity to weight scales. Fitbit made one, called the Aria. (The company still makes this, though it hasn't updated the scale in a while). Then France-based Withings jumped on board, with the Withings WS-30, and later the Withings Smart Body Analyzer.

Now performance-device maker Polar is making one, called Polar Balance. Using Bluetooth LE, the scale wirelessly sends your weight and body mass index (BMI) data to the Polar Flow app or a Polar wrist-based device, like a Polar Loop, or a Polar M400, or a Polar V800. The Polar Flow app has something called the Weight Loss Speedometer, to show you how quickly you're losing, or gaining, weight. You don't even have to do anything. You just step on the scale, and it sends your weight to an app.

That's how most of these connected scales work. Some of them call you by name, once they "know" your weight. Some of them tell you how far you have to go until you've reached your weight goal. It might be very far off. It might be very depressing.

In either case, you can't escape it. Once you step on that wireless scale, it's all there. All of your holiday revelry, and your late nights at work eating junk food, and the inevitable slowdown of your metabolism with age. Sometimes you step on a wireless scale and think, No, please don't send that weight to an app, but it's already syncing. You remove a layer of clothing and you step back on but it's too late — the scale is not responding — it's syncing your weight data. It's there, in your app, on your wrist, in your face.

The Polar Balance scale costs $99.95, and is shipping now. It's available in white and black. Happy New Year.