Wearable Electronics
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
