The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is testing wearables prototypes not unlike Google Glass. Faithful readers will not be surprised by this; we reported on Sept. 20 that Microsoft was spending $200 million to spur their efforts in that direction. The Osterhout purchase, along with the $7 billion acquisition of Nokia, would suggest that they're pretty serious … [Read more...]
iWatch Watch
Apple made quite a lot of product announcements yesterday, some of them pretty cool. They updated everything except phones (which they did last mont), iPods, Mac minis, and iMacs. No iWatch. No surprise. Move along, everybody. Nothing to see here. … [Read more...]
OmniVision Releases Glasses Reference Platform
Google's not the only company chasing the eyewear category, and it may be facing a lot more competition in the mid-term future. OmniVision is a pretty well-known component company in the display and phone-camera markets; it released this week a platform for what it's calling "the world's smallest 720p LCOS display." Essentially, it's a low-power high-def liquid-crystal … [Read more...]
FILIP: Kids’ first smartphone
Kids are being raised with (by?) phones and pads. Kids, inevitably, want their own way before they're ready. As a parenting tool, they can be useful, as a way to stay in touch and monitor where the kids have gotten themselves to. But only a loon would hand a little kid an expensive phone and expect the phone to survive. FILIP is an interesting middle ground. It's a big … [Read more...]
Avegant Retinal Display Prototype
Most heads-up displays work by putting a monitor close to your eyes, one way or another. cNet's got a hands-on story about the Avegant Virtual Retinal Display, a prototype that actually projects images directly onto your retina. It sounds creepy, but it is, after all, how people see: light hitting the backs of our eyes. There's a key quote from Avegant's Allan Evens, … [Read more...]
Basis raises another $11.75m; opens store
Basis Science, which makes the Basis health-tracking watch, says it's raised another $11.75 million in its Series B funding round, GigaOm reports, bringing the total for the round to $23.25 million. Total funding is now $32.25 million -- not bad for a watch company. And where the Basis device used to be available only by invitation, you can now buy one from the company … [Read more...]
LG touts OLEDs, maybe for the iWatch?
OLED displays -- Organic Light Emitting Diodes -- have been the Next Big Thing in display technology for well over five years. Between technical challenges, patent disputes, and the awful finances of building flat-panel displays, they've never quite made it to market in a big way. That's a shame, especially for the wearables market, because the brightness, low power draw, and … [Read more...]
Oakley HUD Ski Goggles
Here's a disaster waiting to happen, but I can't wait to be first in line to have it happen to me. Oakley, the performance eyewear company owned by Luxxotica, has announced the Airwave 1.5 Goggle, a set of ski goggles with WiFi,GPS, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, Facebook integration, and a heads-up display. It connects with your phone, so you can listen to your music and get … [Read more...]
Powering the Wearables Revolution
No question that battery technology is one of the things that will have to get better before wearables become truly commonplace. There are several areas of necessary innovation that I can think of: flexibility size power density stability A flexible battery that's huge and doesn't hold enough power is no good. A small battery that holds a big charge but explodes … [Read more...]
OvaPal Basal Thermometer
A press release just crossed our desk about the OvaPal wearable basal thermometer: a small patch that a woman wears that syncs with a mobile device which allows her to predict when she'll be most fertile. The patch is waterproof, doesn't require charging, and can be worn for seven days. The thing just won The San Diego Tech Coast Angels quick-pitch competition this … [Read more...]