We spent some time on the phone in the weeks before CES with Eric Dy, CEO of Bloomlife, a new company with a wearable monitor that tracks uterine contractions during pregnancy. It's an interesting product and approach, one that's being unveiled at CES. Contractions can be an important indicator of fetal health but are often subtle things and can be missed. There are existing … [Read more...]
I Spy with My Little Wearable Monitoring Device
Do you think the government uses our wireless devices to keep tabs on us? Well, we’ve found proof that you’re right—if you work for the U.S. government. ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence) is developing MOSAIC (Multimodal Objective Sensing to Assess Individuals with Context): a project to help “U.S. intelligence firms” pick people who are spy material. The … [Read more...]
In the Same Vein: New Recognition Technology from Samsung
Fingerprint and iris scanners might soon be old hat in the recognition game. Samsung’s recently published patent “Wearable Device and of Operating the Same” is for a wearable device that can identify a user by an image of her veins. The device takes a picture of your veins via a camera/infrared combination and compares it to a stored image. If they match, the device could be … [Read more...]
New WiFi “HaLow” Standard Uses Less Power, Has Greater Range
The WiFi Alliance, which controls the WiFi standard, has approved the 802.11ah version of the ubiquitous wireless standard, dubbing it "HaLow." WiFi HaLow operates in the 900MHz frequency band, below the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band. That lower frequency means lower bandwidth than the other bands, but greater range and less power draw. That makes it particularly well-suited for IoT … [Read more...]
Hexoskin Raises Nearly $1 Million for Connected Fabrics to Chase FDA Approval
It's been a good year for the connected fabrics business: OMSignal shipped shirts with Ralph Lauren, Clothing+ got scooped up by Jabil (which developed a reference platform), and now Hexoskin has closed a funding round of just under $1 million so it can chase FDA approval for a new line of clothing. Hexoskin's parent company, Carre Technologies, says the upcoming line will … [Read more...]
Verily, Is Google Out for Blood?
You can’t get blood from a stone, but Google is apparently planning to get it from a watch. On your arm. Without needles. Are we the only ones who think this could be the foundation for a really bad sci-fi movie about vampire robots? Google recently applied for a patent for this device, but details, like how it gets the blood without a needle, are scarce at this point. The … [Read more...]
US Commerce Department to Host Smart Fabrics Summit This Spring
The US Commerce Department, in partnership with the Industrial Fabrics Association International, announced today that it will host a Smart Fabrics Summit on April 4, 2016 in Washington, DC. A release from the Commerce Department says that the day-long session will be designed to get fashion, technology, and policy players around the same table. Specific issues include … [Read more...]
Bluetooth Range to Increase Four-fold, Boost Speed, Embrace Mesh Networking
The Bluetooth SIG, the organization that controls and maintains the Bluetooth standard, has some big plans for 2016. The group said today that it will be increasing the range of Bluetooth Smart (which used to be called Bluetooth LE, or "low energy") by a factor of four, beyond its current top range of 330 feet. Moreover, it was planning a doubling of bandwidth without … [Read more...]
Intel Introduces “Wearable Smart Gateway” for First Responders
It seems like an obvious market opportunity: body-worn technology and first responders. Turns out, though, that the first-response industry is extremely demanding and conservative. It spends limited taxpayer money, procurement cycles are long and competitive (and not-infrequently clubby), interconnectivity is a must, and system failures can literally cost lives. Civilians … [Read more...]
FDA Asks for Comments About Wearable Tech in Trials
One of the promises of wearable tech has been the possibility of making wearers' data available for clinical trials. There are have been about a million obstacles to that goal. A recent two-day seminar at the New York Academy of Sciences discussed this very issue, with opinions ranging from "it's too complex so it'll never happen" to "here's how we're doing it today." But … [Read more...]