From April 29 to May 1, Berlin was the site of the “world’s first hackathon on fashion and tech,” a concept about whose more elusive particulars we are still a bit unclear. However, by means of some English-language reports, some Facebook pages, and in spite of Google Translate, we can now report the pith and substance of the event, beginning with the observation that Hack Day … [Read more...]
Can You Hear Me Now? Glove Converts ASL Sign Language to Sound
American Sign Language is a rich and complex language that takes time and effort to learn, just like any language. For people who are hearing impaired, ASL means being able to communicate with the world. Now, two undergraduates at the University of Washington have won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for a device that translates ASL to sound or text. Navid Azodi and Thomas … [Read more...]
Judge Tosses Jawbone Patents in Trade Fight with Fitbit
Remember that Jawbone and Fitbit were suing each other over patents and trade secrets and unfair hiring practices? Jawbone started the fight, but Fitbit's coming out better. A judge at the International Trade Commission yesterday tossed out Jawbone's patents, ruling that the company's patent on the very idea of gathering heath and sleep data is invalid. The ruling weakens … [Read more...]
Smart Clothing and Body Sensor Market to Hit 190 Million Units Through 2021, Says Tractica
The market research company Tractica says consumers will buy as many as 190 million pieces of what it categorizes as smart clothing and body sensors in the next five years. But they don't really say how that might happen. If you want detailed numbers, you'll have to pony up $3800 for the full report. (We're generally pretty skeptical of five-year market projections, which is … [Read more...]
Revolar: Personal Safety at Your Fingertip
Personal safety alarms have been around for a while in the form of whistles and loud audible alarms buttons, but they had a major flaw: you couldn’t be sure if there was anyone around to hear them, or whether the person who heard them would be someone who would help. Revolar’s button alarm, along with others such as ROAR for Good’s Athena, make sure that if you’re in trouble, … [Read more...]
Team Wearables: Another Sport Heard From
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...]
Health Tech Companies Augmedix, BioBeats Announce Funding Rounds
Augmedix, a San Francisco-based EHR (electronic health record) company, has raised $17 million to incorporate Google Glass into its product, TechCrunch is reporting. Separately, BioBeats, which has a biometrics coaching app, says it's raised $2.25 million. Augmedix has an interesting model. A common complaint about AR visors in social situations is that they distract the … [Read more...]
A Rebooting Nokia Acquires Digital Health Pioneer Withings
Withings, the French digital health company best known for its Pop and Activé smartwatches and its connected scale, is being bought by Nokia for about €170 million, the companies said this morning. Withings will be the basis for a Nokia Digital Health business, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. Nokia, of course, was far and away the … [Read more...]
Faster Next Gen Apple Watch to Have Cellular SIM, Says WSJ
We're coming up on the first anniversary of the Apple Watch's announcement -- as opposed to its shipment -- so expect a lot of stories about its shortcomings, benefits, and future. The Wall Street Journal has one such, which cites "sources" as saying the next version of the watch will have a faster processor and be able to connect directly to cellular networks. Both guesses … [Read more...]
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...]