Seattle startup Gemio will enter the smart jewelry market in 2016, targeting fashion- and tech-conscious teens with Bluetooth-enabled friendship bracelets they can pretty much design themselves online. The bracelet’s “gem optics” sparkle or flicker (your choice) and can be controlled remotely by a smart phone—you know, if you leave it in the locker room or somewhere. You can … [Read more...]
What’s on Your Finger?
One ring to bind them all, one ring to ... check your email? Apple has applied for a patent for “Devices and Methods for a Ring Computing Device.” That’s right; an iRing, a touchscreen device that you can wear on your finger, complete with a battery and the ability to communicate with other iDevices. It might also have a camera and a biometric sensor for Apple Pay. There … [Read more...]
Making Fashion Work
The intersection of high tech and high fashion is well getting closer, if you believe what you could see at the September 2015 London Fashion Show. In fact, some in the fashion industry are predicting that within 10 years—possibly as few as 5—we’ll be wearing our phones and cameras on our sleeves as well as our hearts. Or, more accurately, in our sleeves, since the devices will … [Read more...]
Omate Announces TrueSmart Standalone Smartwatch Update
Omate was one of the first smartwatch companies, and carved its own path with standalone devices that used SIM chips and didn't need to be tethered to a smart phone. The company today announced its latest update: the TrueSmart+, based on Android 5.1 (Lollipop) and a custom UI. Apps for the watch will be downloadable from Omate's "OStore." A 1.5-inch touch screen is the main … [Read more...]
Chromat Shows Curie-Powered Smart Bra, Shape-Changing Dress at NYFW
As part of New York Fashion Week, the New York-based fashion house Chromat last week showed a couple of pieces powered by Intel's Curie wearables platform: a sports bra that allows more ventilation depending on body heat, and a dress that changes form when a wearer's adrenaline spikes. The Aeros sports bra can open vents to cool down the wearer's body when it senses heat and … [Read more...]
Omate Pivots to Jewelry With Ungaro
Omate was an early entrant into the smartwatch business, with a well-constructed analog device that included a microSIM and did not require a tethered phone. It still sells those watches, but has now entered the designer jewelry business with the French couture house Ungaro. The Ungaro x Omate is a notification ring that vibrates when you get a message from one person that … [Read more...]
What to Expect From Levi’s Deal with Google
A fashion designer at Google's annual I/O developer conference? Inconceivable. But with the unveiling of Project Jacquard, Google's touch-enabled material, it suddenly makes sense that Paul Dillinger, Levi Strauss’s head of global product innovation. could be seen wandering amidst developers. After all, the world of apps and fashion are about to collide, and Levi's will be … [Read more...]
Apple Watch Review Roundup: This One Will Take Some Getting Used To (Updated)
The flood of major reviews of the Apple Watch is coming in, and they're consistent: Apple Pay is magical. Nice hardware. Third-party apps are pretty bad. Haptics are cool. 3D emojis are not. This is the best smart watch. Using one will take some getting used to. Joshua Topolsky at Bloomberg writes about how it's a fair amount of work to figure out which … [Read more...]
NYTimes Apple Watch Review: Rough and Revolutionary
We suspect that the New York Times jumped the gun this morning by publishing a full-on review of the Apple Watch, [UPDATE: other outlets have been publishing reviews today, too] even though Apple won't even start taking orders for it until Friday. On balance, though, we don't think Apple will complain too much. Tech columnist Farhad Manjoo pretty much ratified Apple's aims … [Read more...]
Diamond-Encrusted Apple Watches, In Case $17,000 Is Too Little To Spend
Much as we'd like to, it seems impossible to write about anything this week that isn't related to the Apple Watch, so we offer this: You may know that there is actually a business of gold-plating iPhones. (Android phones too, but that's not what we're talking about right now.) One would think that a $17,000 18k gold Apple Watch would be the top of the market, but one would … [Read more...]