Wearable Electronics
BLINGPlayer portable MP3 player
September 14, 2007 For those not content with the dreary white, black, chrome and pastel color choices of most MP3 players, this new potable music unit come hip-hop jewelery from MediaREADY could be the answer. Created in response to the popular (but apparently dull) iPod, the 2 GB BLINGPlayer is further evidence of the very blurry line that now separates personal electronic devices and fashion accessories. (read more...)
Plantronics convertible mono to stereo Bluetooth headset
September 12, 2007 Plantronics have introduced a Bluetooth convertible mono to stereo headset for MP3 Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. The Voyager 855 headset offers a convertible design for listening to calls in mono as well as listening to music in stereo as headphones via a detachable stereo cable. Drop the second earbud or detach the cable and the headset serves as a high-quality mono Bluetooth device. (read more...)
Waking up when it suits you: SleepTracker alarm watch
September 11, 2007 Have you ever noticed that on some mornings you wake up more easily than others? These are the mornings when you wake up in the light, "almost awake-time" of your sleep cycle. The bad groggy mornings are when you have awakened from the deep sleep part of the sleep cycle. We've previously encountered technology that takes advantage of this phenomena in the form of the aXbo "sleep phase alarm clock" and now there's the wrist worn SleepTracker personal alarm watch. The SleepTracker tracks sleep cycles and allows you to set your "wake-up" time to coincide with moments of light sleep, meaning you wake up feeling more alert. (read more...)
New sensor technology to boost smart clothing market
August 28, 2007 Smart fabric technology makers Eleksen Group have announced sensor technology allowing consumers to choose which gadget they want to control via their interactive clothing. The new technology system will also benefit garment makers wanting to create interactive apparel (iApparel) but lack the technological capabilities. (read more...)
ezVision video glasses: portable 50-inch virtual widescreen viewing
August 25, 2007 Portable video is set to boom, with video iPods and other devices now storing huge amounts of content and packing the battery life to make them worthwhile. The one thing these pocket-sized devices can’t get around though, is the fact that nobody likes watching movies on a 2.5-inch screen, which is where these ezVision video glasses come in. Slip them on and pop the earbuds in and you’re treated to a private screening with a virtual screen size of 50” and a relaxed viewing distance that’s not too hard on the eyes. Nifty! (read more...)
Zegna Sport Bluetooth iJacket incorporates smart fabric
August 23, 2007 An innovative new jacket design from Zegna Sport will allow wearers to simultaneously listen to their iPod and talk on their cell phone utilizing a controller embedded in the jacket sleeve. The Bluetooth iJacket has been made using smart fabric from the Eleksen Group , makers of touch-sensitive smart fabrics for clothing, electronics and accessories. (read more...)
GPS platform shoes feature hidden safety compartments
August 23, 2007 These shoes are certainly not going to compete with the likes of Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik in the fashion stakes, but could they be a safety boost for women? With an inbuilt GPS, an audible alarm system and storage for your valuables the Platform 001 sandals could definitely be beneficial in protecting against muggings or to locate ladies in the case of emergency. (read more...)
W100 wrist-watch mobile phone
August 15, 2007 Not unlike the personal jet-pack, the wrist-watch phone is one of those inspired ideas that captured the public imagination long before it had a chance to become a technological or commercial reality. Now China's Qiao Xing Mobile has announced the launch of its wrist-watch mobile phone, the W100, which features a 65k TFT-LCD touch screen, 1GB built-in memory and a 1.3 megapixel camera. (read more...)
New Ironman sports watch offers wireless iPod control
August 6, 2007 The new iControl watch from Timex is really handy for changing tunes while running, paddling, riding a bike or flying a plane... and it even tells the time. The advanced sports watch doubles as a wireless remote control for iPod and also works with Apple’s iPhone when the phone is in airplane mode. Part of the Timex Ironman collection, the sleek, light-weight iControl is designed to work in motion and is water-resistant to 100m, making it a convenient way to control your music during almost any activity. (read more...)
Wristwatch emergency beacon a lifesaver in remote emergencies
July 31, 2007 In remote emergency situations, simply being located quickly by response teams can mean the difference between life and death. For example if you’re trapped under debris and found within 30 minutes, you’ve got a 50% chance of survival. Make that three hours and nine out of ten victims will die. Small, lightweight emergency beacons are a simple solution to this equation, but they haven’t proven economically attractive yet. Now in a socially conscious move aimed at invigorating the industry, a global Russian electronics firm has made its emergency beacon designs and expertise available free of charge. (read more...)
New head mounted display for use in military training
Juy 18, 2007 A Helmet mounted display is a versatile technology that allows computer images to be projected in front of the wearer’s eyes, and can be used to show a plethora of wicked awesome things, including distant focus, tactical information and thermal imaging. The usefulness of the product has ensured that it is constantly seeing new developments, innovations and applications. L-3 Communications’ Advanced Helmet Mounted Display has recently been incorporated into the U.S. Army Flight School XXI, a promising sign for the emerging twin fields of “augmented reality” and “making people more like the Terminator”. (read more...)
Headphones: Motorola goes for Bluetooth, JBL adds noise cancellation
June 23, 2007 Two sets of headphones we thought rated a mention: Motorola has released a set of Bluetooth wireless "DJ" headphones which pair with either music devices, games consoles or mobile phones, using a built-in microphone, and JBL have come out with an affordable headset that incorporates an ambient noise cancellation system. (read more...)
Rising to the challenge: true world time in a mechanical watch
June 15, 2007 Despite what the average world time watch might tell you, there's actually 39 distinct time zones across the world, not 24, and they rarely follow straight geographic lines. This prompted the master watchmakers at Blancier to rise to the challenge of producing the world's first truly accurate mechanical world timer - and they've come up with a masterpiece. (read more...)
Video sunnies are on their way: MED's miniature eye-screens are now ready for mass-production
June 4, 2007 We've long been excited by the possibilities offered by wearable micro-screens. The ability to mount a miniature display in a set of glasses opens up a whole new portable video experience where any seat on the bus can be a personal movie theatre and you'll be able to enjoy your video in complete privacy. Now, with the anouncement of a volume manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany, MicroEmissive Displays (MED) is ready to step beyond the prototype and bring commercial microscreens into the mass market. They'll start things off with mass production of the eyescreen ME3204, a 320 x 240 RGB display packed into a 6mm pixel array. It's tiny, bright and clear, with ultra-low power consumption, and the wearer sees the equivalent of a 30" screen at a 2 metre distance. (read more...)
The mophie Bevy – the first Illuminator-built product
May 8, 2007 Mophie today announced the US$15 Bevy, the first product to be released from the highly successful Illuminator project. The mophie Bevy is a multifunctional case for Apple's iPod Shuffle that features a bottle opener and key chain and was designed by a 17-year-old from California. The Illuminator project at MacWorld Expo transformed mophie’s booth into a live community collaboration and creation lab where, over a four-day period, 30,000+ MacWorld attendees were invited to doodle a product concept that enhanced any of the newest Apple products. Concepts were voted on by MacWorld attendees at the show and on mophie.com. Finally, mophie designers and engineers took the winning concepts and developed prototypes in the booth. (read more...)
Sensear - letting you clearly hear speech in a noisy workplace.
May 8, 2007 This clever technology protects workers from damaging ambient noise levels while still allowing them to clearly communicate in plain speech. Sensear's earmuff and earplug systems promote easy, clear communication in environments where ambient noise is above 85 decibels. Hearing damage is an extremely common consequence of working in high-noise environments. In many countries, workers are obliged by workplace law to wear hearing protection to combat the damage exposure can cause. Of course, this is rendered much less effective when workers have to pull their earmuffs off to talk to each other on the factory floor or answer a mobile phone. (read more...)
The Tokyoflash Shinshoku LED watch
May 7, 2007 If the wrist-watch of today is merely the homely older sister of fancy, time displaying mobile phones, Tokyoflash is determined to give it an extreme makeover. With the Pimp Watch and Equaliser Watch already lighting up shelves and wrists all over Japan, Tokyoflash has now released the Shinshoku LED watch, a 4cm wide wristband style it promises will make a “truly unique statement.” (read more...)
TAG Heuer's Latest Timepieces
March 15, 2007 It’s coming up to the annual Basel Watch and Jewelry Fair in Switzerland, where some of the world’s most desirable gizmos will be shown for the first time, and luxury watch manufacturer TAG Heuer has announced its sporty line of spring 2007 timepieces in advance of the event today. The collection includes a redesigned TAG Heuer Formula 1 line, 2007 Monaco Vintage Limited Edition, the latest SLR for Mercedes-Benz, the Aquaracer Automatic Chronograph Day-Date line and Aquaracer Calibre S models. (read more...)
The first commercially available Brain Computer Interface
The evolution of the Computer Human interface may seem to be rooted in the infernal keyboard and its recent travelling companion, the mouse, but much work is being done in the areas of virtual worlds, voice recognition, handwriting recognition and gesture recognition to give us a new paradigm of computing. It now appears we are on the edge of another brave new virtual world – the direct interface between the brain and the computer is here. One of the Holy Grail’s of research, there are many such projects going on around the world at present. Now the German g.tec (Guger Technologies) group has taken the technology out of the lab and into the real world with a complete BCI kit, and amazingly, there’s also a kit for a pocket PC - a super-low-weight biosignal recording system “g.MOBIlab” is used to measure the EEG and the data processing, analysis and pattern recognition are performed on a commercially available Pocket PC or in this case, your windows PC. The first BCI system will enable the composition and sending of messages, and control of a computer game. There’s also an invasive (implanted) option still being trialled in the laboratory – this is significantly more effective abnd the system can already accept and process input from both the embedded array and the cap array. Though the first work in the area is focussed on enabling paralysed humans to communicate far more freely, the potential to enhance one’s communications quite freely is clearly not that far away. There’s also the potential unlocked by putting such a device into the hands of thousands of eager and capable amateurs who will no doubt broaden the understanding of the human mind with their pursuits. The BCI system is nominated for the 2007 European ICT Grand Prize. (read more...)
Urban Tool sportHolsters for people who need to carry a lot of stuff elegantly
February 7, 2007 Part of the collateral damage in the invasion of personal technology has been the increase in the number of important belongings we need to carry with us to function efficiently – just a few short years ago, it was just keys and wallet and sunglasses and maybe prescription glasses and perhaps a filofax, but most of us now also carry a mobile phone and MP3 player, a PDA and maybe we’d even carry a compact camera if we had a spare pocket ... and so it goes. Briefcases, backpacks and bags are the most popular solutions to this gadget clutter, but they make vulnerable targets for thieves, and heaven knows how much pain the loss of a phone, PDA or keys might cause. Indeed, for this humble writer, the personal inventory checks which need to be carried out every time I move location seem to take a disproportionate amount of my limited CPU activity. Now there’s a new and interesting range of garments which carry all of these objects and can be worn under existing clothes. Urban Tool sportHolsters come in a number of functional and quite diverse designs suitable for slipping your whole digital ensemble under a tux or being able to work out in the gym while wearing one comfortably. We really like this idea – for the next decade at least, we’ll have lots of gadgets to carry and this body-hugging holster concept appears the most practical solution. (read more...)
Xplorer shoes offer advanced personal location services
January 29, 2007 We’ve written several times about the concept of electronically fencing dogs and cats for their safety, or the safety of others. Similarly, as GPS technologies have become commercially viable, of tracking assets and loved ones to ensure their safety. Now personal location services company GTXC Corporation, is set to unveil a line of Xplorer Smart GPS shoes at the World Shoe Association (WSA) in Las Vegas on February 1 which offer a range of new opportunities. Xplorer shoes incorporate a small and robust GPS tracking device which hooks up with GTXC's internet user portal to offer a very compelling array of personal location services. The portal enables caretakers to easily define safe zones or un-safe zones or geographical boundaries on a Google Earth map and to set up cell phone alerts if a perimeter is breached by the wearer. This should significantly benefit caretakers of children and the elderly, as they can easily customize their monitoring and text location alerting through a simple "set it and forget it" system. The shoes also employ assisted GPS for enhanced indoor location accuracy, and will transmit for days before a recharge is needed. The intelligent power source enables a guardian to track the whereabouts of a loved one and the performance and status of the device itself from any handheld. Xplorer is inviting discussion with footwear and clothing manufacturers interested in pursuing the myriad opportunities for the device in areas such as military, maritime and law enforcement, personal health monitoring, physical training, live real-time gaming for groups of wearers, and even extending to interaction with appliances and other household items. (read more...)
iRiver S10 - postage stamp-sized audio video player and recorder
November 20, 2006 iRiver released an interesting new personal media device onto its home Japanese market last Friday (November 17) which is one of the first of an entirely new breed of wearable device that combines the elegance of jewelery with some compelling functionality. Firstly the S10 is little larger than a postage stamp and with dimensions of 42 x 30 x 10.8 mm, small and light enough (17.5 grams) so it won’t get in the way. It also has a small 96 x 128 pixel, 65,000 color 1.15 inch OLED screen which can play MPEG-4 video or run a slide show and its Lithium polymer battery offers eight hours of continuous playback so the lights don’t go before the party's over. (read more...)
The FMP3 watch, USB seat warmer and a bunch of other things you didn’t realise you needed
November 13, 2006 The impact of ubiquitous personal digital technology on the way we live is only starting to become evident, though it’s a safe bet that what we do and say is far more likely to be recorded (and published) than ever before given that most people in developed nations are now carrying an audio recording device (in their MP3 player or phone), a digital camera (in their phone) and perhaps even a digital video recording device in one of their toys too. That’s one of the aspects of RareMonoShop’s new FMP3 watch that we think makes it a killer app. The otherwise normal-looking watch can record up to a Gigabyte of conversation/negotiations and suddenly the worth of that verbal contract being the paper it’s written on (i.e. nada) increases substantially in value. Apart from service as a covert recording device, there are several other aspects of the FMP3 watch that make it a winner – it records audio direct from any source such as a CD player or radio, with or without a computer (USB2.0 and Windows or Mac), has an FM transmitter which means you can play it through your car audio system and sells with 1GB memory for JPY16,800 (US$143) and 500MB for JPY12,800.00 (US$109). A few examples of other new products to be sold from the new English-language website designed for international customers include a clever portable Aluminium lap-desk, a laptop holder for the car, a Silent Keyboard/Mouse and a bunch of USB-powered devices such as a bottle cooler and warmer, an Aroma Diffuser, Warmer Slippers/Gloves, Seat Warmer, Eye Warmer and a 9 port USB Hub that looks like a Gold Ingot. The new web site opens this week though we have the Japanese-language address if you want a sneak peak. (read more...)
iPod-infused jacket in 15 new designs
October 27, 2006 If you were hankering for one of those iPod-infused jackets but they didn’t have anything in a suitable style to begin with, things are looking up, as the Kenpo Jacket for iPod range has just added 15 new styles and more than a dozen colors including bubble jackets (some with fur-lined hoods), sleek sprinter’s jackets, snowboarding jackets and windbreakers. From snowboarding to a night on the town, wearers can pause, skip tracks and adjust volume, without fumbling with awkward zippers and gloves, or hard to get to pockets, all the while leaving one’s iPod tucked away in the jacket's inner padded pouch. There's also a new locking feature that prevents the settings from being changed due to accidental bumping. (read more...)
The iPod-enabled Messenger Bag
October 24, 2006 Electronics are slowly forcing their way into our clothes (the iPod-enabled suit) and our carry-alls. G-Tech’s new Messenger Bag includes an integrated external speaker and provides a space to stash a cell phone and Apple iPod inside and control the iPod from the strap of the bag. The US$130 bags will be available mid-November and offer use of the built-in speaker to deliver stereo-quality external sound, or a built-in, universal 3.5mm extension jack that plugs into virtually any device, including laptops, to route audio through the speaker. The bags utilize Eleksen’s ElekTex smart fabric controls, a unique five-layer laminate of electrically conductive materials that transforms fabric into an electronic touchpad. The technology replaces hard touch pads, flexi-circuits and polymer switches which have limited the growth of the wearable electronics market with restrictive wiring. (read more...)
