Medical professionals will tell you that patient noncompliance is one of the main reasons treatments and medication don’t work as well as expected. Obviously, doctors have to depend patient reports to determine whether the patient is using a drug or other therapy correctly, and just as obviously, not every patient is going to tell the whole truth. This may be truer of orthotics … [Read more...]
A Bikini That Takes Out the Trash
A swim suit—a bikini—that filters toxins out of sea water as you swim can sound either ecologically wonderful or personally, well, yucky. It has to be said, though, that the prototype is quite attractive. The cleaning part of the suit, Sponge, is made of heated sucrose combined with a 3-D printed elastomer frame. Engineers at The University of California Riverside created … [Read more...]
Nighttime Flag Football
We generally don't write much anymore about crowdfunded products, but we're big fans of flag football, and this one looks too cool to resist: LED and fiber optics laden jerseys and balls for nighttime play. AfterDark jerseys come in Youth and Adult sizes and are lit with fiber optics and fiber optic flags. Balls and field definition cones are lit with LEDs. The jerseys have … [Read more...]
Tag Heuer Sneaks $1800 Smartwatch
You might want to mark your calendar for November 9, because that's apparently when Tag Heuer is going to set a new top price point for Android Wear watches. Several reports gathered by Ars Technica point to that date and an $1800 price tag for an upgradeable watch powered by an Intel SoC. There's a web site that counts down to the launch date, but have patience because it … [Read more...]
Friendship Bracelets Go Tech
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...]
Microsoft Band 2 Incorporates Cortana
Microsoft tossed out a ton of new products today, including an updated Microsoft Band 2 fitness tracker. The new version includes a curved OLED screen, a barometer, and can track a VO2Max. It also will support third-party apps as well as Cortana, the voice recognition application that Microsoft is rolling out across its entire product line. The Band, available for preorder … [Read more...]
Holo Headgear From Google?
Google glasses set a lot of imaginations on fire, while leaving the real world relatively unscorched. Now Google has applied for a patent for marrying holographic displays to Google Glass. The company applied for the patent for “Lightguide With Multiple In-Coupling Holograms For Head Wearable Display” in early 2014. According to TechCrunch, this will let Google use AR … [Read more...]
Mass Producing Medical Patches
You track your exercise program with electronic bracelets and watches. Why not track your health with an electronic patch? Nicotine and pain medication dermal patches have been a boon to a lot of us. Now it looks as if medical patches can go electronic, and electronic medical patches just take a giant step forward thanks to some researchers at The University of Texas in … [Read more...]
Swatch Joins Connected Watch World with Touch Zero One
We've beaten up Swatch a bit over the past couple of years for its stated rejection of the smartwatch business. The Swiss time giant is now taking a tentative step into that world with a connected activity watch built around (of all things) beach volleyball. There's a degree of method to that particular madness; Swatch is the lead sponsor of a global beach volleyball tour -- … [Read more...]
Virtual Vision from Vuzix
Lovers of tech gadgets, especially those of my generation, grew up reading science fiction. We’ve been waiting all our lives for the kinds of things we read about, with virtual reality being pretty near the top of the list—right after transporters, but before lunar cities. Vuzix, “the world leader in video eyewear technology,” has paired their iWear headphones with the … [Read more...]