The semiconductor company MediaTek is kicking off CES with a new system-in-package for wrist-worn wearables, including GPS, Bluetooth Low Energy, and support for 320x320 MIPI displays. Finbarr Moynihan, MediaTek's general manager of corporate sales, told Wearable Tech Insider that the MT2523 series is based on a Cortex M4 with 4MB RAM and 4MB flash memory. "This would … [Read more...]
Samsung BioProcessor Sensor Promises More Advanced Wearables
Those of us obsessed with finished goods can forget that Samsung is one of the world's powers in microprocessors. The Korean giant announced this week a new sensor chip, the BioProcessor (part number S3FBP5A, for those of you keeping score at home), that promises to measure heart rate and rhythm, skin temperature, body fat, and stress level. Samsung says the chip is in … [Read more...]
Google Glass for Enterprise Hits the FCC
All electronic devices in the United States need approval from the FCC before they hit the market; it's usually (but not always) the last stop between Engineering or Manufacturing and Sales. Google has filed an application for Glass for Enterprise, the refined business version of the Glass that the company sold to "explorers" up until early this year. The enterprise version … [Read more...]
VERT: Pro Wearable Game Tech that Includes Fans
There’s been a lot of news this year about wearables and professional sports but the data mostly enlightens coaches and players, leaving fans out of the loop. VERT took that next step, becoming the first wearable tech useds, providing jump height data in the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship games in real-time on ESPN2. VERT is worn around a player’s waist and … [Read more...]
Kapture Records The Sounds Around You
Do you go through your day thinking, “Wait! What just happened”? Want to preserve baby’s unexpected first word? Something amazing your friend just said? Something you overheard a stranger saying? Take a look at Kapture, a wristband that continuously records your audible world in 60-second loops. A tap on the band and the last loop is saved. Send it to your smartphone and, … [Read more...]
SmartCap Monitors Sleeping on the Job
Sleeping on the job might bring up images of napping at your desk, but in many industries it is a major health and safety hazard -- literally a case of life and death for the worker and for others. With the clear exception of Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot, sleeping on the job is not a funny or trivial problem. No one wants an airplane pilot or the driver of an 18-wheeler … [Read more...]
Misfit Introduces Foot-Worn Cycling Tracker
Few, if any, inexpensive fitness trackers can deal with cycling. Vigorous as it might be, cycling just doesn't involve the arms, which is where most trackers live. Misfit's figured it out: put the tracker on your foot, which does move. Oh, duh. The Misfit Flash Cyclist Edition puts one of Misfit's signature tracker buttons in a clip that mounts on your shoe. For $50, you … [Read more...]
Pebble Rolls Out Minimal Health Tracking
One of the interesting things about Pebble's smartwatch strategy is its minimalism. Feature creep has no apparent part in the company's culture; they make watches and notification devices, and motion detectors seem to have been included in later models because they're dirt cheap and take hardly any power. Now, Pebble says they'll activate the motion trackers in something … [Read more...]
Bandages Get a Hydrogel Upgrade
MIT's got an interest in wearable technology with the creation of a “smart Band-Aid,” a flexible, adhesive hydrogel that can carry health sensors and monitor a patient’s condition. With a reservoir in the gel, the dressing can also deliver medication and warn when the medication level getting low. Researchers think one of the first uses for the hydrogel -- which is 90 … [Read more...]
The Rumor Mill Grinds Out an Apple Watch 2 in March
We're writing this out of a sense of obligation, not belief: the generally reliable 9to5Mac is citing "sources" as saying Apple will announce an Apple Watch 2 in March, maybe with a new camera, wireless, sleep tracking, and sensor pack. Or maybe not. Or maybe with a smaller, 4-inch, "iPhone 6c." Or maybe not at all. One thing we do know: there will be an Apple Watch 2. But … [Read more...]