Consider, if you will, this scenario: scientists searching for a flexible, stretchable material for wearable technology decide to use chewing gum—and it’s not even in the Twilight Zone. Here’s how it went: one scientist chewed gum (brand unspecified) for 30 minutes; some other scientists washed the gum with ethanol. After letting it sit overnight (perhaps on a bedpost), they … [Read more...]
Control Your GoPro With Your Ski Goggles
We're told that the snow is starting to fly (here at WTI's nerve center in Brooklyn, it's been 50 degrees in December, so we'll take people's word for that), and that means people's thoughts are turning to skiing and ski gear. Recon Instruments, the Intel company that makes heads-up displays for ski goggles, has a new app that lets you control your GoPro Hero camera -- … [Read more...]
Multi-sensor Tool Tracks Throwing and Batting Mechanics
Sports teams and athletes (and the considerable ecosystems around them) have been figuring out how best to take advantage of wearable tech. Motus Global has created a set of sensors that create real-time biomechanics reports about how a baseball player throws and bats. The MotusPro comprises five six-axis sensors that fit into custom-placed pockets on compression shirts, … [Read more...]
VFILES, XO Help Lady Gaga Fly In the Face of Fashion
VFILES, a New York Web portal, is a clearinghouse for digital fashion, a social network for all aspects of the burgeoning tech fashion industry. They’re the source for Lady Gaga’s flying dress, Volantis, and Azealia Banks’s “mermaid bra,” both by Studio XO. They're now collaborating on bringing the clothes to the public. The Volantis flying dress has gotten a lot of media … [Read more...]
Tattoos for Healthy Living
Tattoos, however cool, are not usually associated with health, but Austin-based tech development company Chaotic Moon Studios is looking to change that with TechTats. The biowearable has an elegant steampunk look, with all the circuitry operational. It can track the wearer’s biometric data via an Atiny85 microcontroller and electro conductive paint, and download the data to … [Read more...]
Samsung Drops Out of Top Five Fitness Tracker List, says IDC
IDC's 3Q15 wearables figures are out, and Fitbit is the big winner while Samsung the big loser. The market research firm says Fitbit sold 4.7 million devices in the third quarter, twice as many as it sold in the same period last year. It accounts for 22.2 percent of the global market. Apple, IDC said, sold 3.9 million Apple Watches, for 18.6 percent of the market. It was … [Read more...]
EasyJet: Uniforms Go Digital, Planes Remain Unchanged
The low-cost European airline EasyJet, comparable to JetBlue in the U.S., is celebrating its 20th birthday by taking cabin and engineer uniforms into the (near) future. The uniforms, designed by British design shop CuteCircuit, have lights and LED displays and likely some bells and whistles as well. Engineers’ uniforms are a little spooky, with lit-up hoods and sleeves; … [Read more...]
“Pay As You Live” Health Insurance?
Someone's got the bright dystopian idea of using fitness tracker data to individualize health insurance rates. The "Pay as You Live" concept is based on "Pay as You Drive" insurance programs such as Progressive’s Snapshot, where you snap a dongle in your car to track how you drive; safer behaviors supposedly result in lower car insurance rates. Some members of the British … [Read more...]
Why Some People Are Dissatisfied With The Apple Watch
Creative Strategies has long been a well-known market research company following technology, and their opinions sometimes feel like they tilt in Apple's direction. That makes a recent survey of people who bought and abandoned their Apple Watches particularly interesting. Researchers found 340 people in that boat and discovered that about half of them lasted two weeks or … [Read more...]
Tech from India: Neyya Rings the Changes
Fin Robotics, a startup from Kerala, has taken India into the global wearables market with Neyya ring, the device formerly known as Fin. Fin was announced at the January 2014 CES show. Then it was to be an optical device that could turn your hand into a tap-and-swipe interface. With crowdfunding and mentoring by the Startup Village in Kochi, as well as interest from technology … [Read more...]