Rugby (or, as its participants like to call it, real football) can be brutal. Fifteen men to a side, dressed in shorts, shirts, and knee socks (and no pads) run into, around, and over each other to kick, pass, and carry a ball into an end zone as many times as possible. Elbowing and head-butting bring penalties, but have been known to happen. Even the vocabulary is a bit on the … [Read more...]
About Pugi Kohl
Wearables Skin Game: Less is More?
When it came to screens, for a long time it’s been the bigger, the better. Nothing like seeing Game of Thrones gore life-size, or being able to check out the tonsils of The Voice contestants. But while TVs, wall screens, and monitors were undergoing a growth spurt, there were people in labs trying to make view screens smaller, easier to carry around. And what could be easier to … [Read more...]
Newest ASUS ROG Gaming Unit Strikes Up the Band
ASUS Republic of Gamers has announced its newest gaming unit, the ASUS ROG GT51CA, and it is reputed to be a king-of-the-jungle beast. It’s faster—well, that goes without saying in the gaming world—with 6th generation Intel Core i7 processor you can overclock to 4.6gHz (no rebooting), can take up two 2 Titan X graphics cards, so great resolution, has a cooling system for the … [Read more...]
Teaching Future Service Dogs New Tricks
Service animals—almost always dogs—literally open doors for their disabled owners, as well as turning out the lights as they leave. Service dogs’ training varies with the kind of disability they will be helping with, and they can physically help their person with stairs and balance, bring medicine and water, provide assistance in emergencies and when the person is unresponsive, … [Read more...]
NBA Whips Out a Can of Whoop on Whoop
Fitness and biometric wearables are a perfect fit for professional sports, even though the sports’ governing bodies do not always agree. International soccer talks about it, the NFL and MLB seem to be going for it in some form, and now it’s becoming an issue for the NBA. And the NBA says “no.” Why? Because, and here’s the sticking point, none of the professional leagues … [Read more...]
Snapchat May Be Deciding That Glass Is Half-Full
Let’s be up front about this: everything in this item is based entirely on rumor, although it's sourced on someone cruising industry want ads and noticing an anomaly. What popped for the perspicacious browser was that Snapchat, the wildly popular photo sharing app, is looking for hardware experts to develop Snapglass. This after the company's 2014 purchase of Vergence Labs, … [Read more...]
Empatica Embrace: Wearable That Can Save Lives
Seizures are frightening, sneaky, and can be life-threatening. While epileptic seizures are the most common—1 out of 26 people will develop the disease in their lifetimes—seizures also can result from Alzheimer’s, stroke, genetic factors, brain tumors and infections with high fevers. Just knowing a seizure is imminent can mean being able to avoid a medical emergency. The … [Read more...]
Toyota Wearable Will Bring a World of Detail to the Blind
Toyota’s first wearable has nothing to do with cars but a lot to do with mobility. Project Blaid is designed to help people who are blind or visually impaired to make their way through the world more easily. The device is a light, U-shaped yoke that fits around the user’s neck and over the shoulders. It can recognize common shapes and signs, and fills in information by voice … [Read more...]
Wearable Keeps Moms Abreast of Infant’s Feeding
You might think that breastfeeding is one of those natural things that don't need electronic help. Women have been doing it for millennia and the human race is still here so they must have gotten it right, for the most part. It is true that some women more trouble than others, but the difficulty is most often medical or, well, mechanical, rather than portion … [Read more...]
Garmin Updates Vivofit and Vivoactive Fitness Trackers
Garmin is a major player in the fitness wearables marketplace, mostly at the higher end. Last week at Mobile World Congress, the company showed upgrades to Vivofit and Vivoactive, two of its less pricey smartwatch fitness products. The Vivoactive HR has all the features of the original Vivoactive, including tracking runs, steps, and sleep, and has sports apps. The new HR … [Read more...]