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...]
Wearables to Reduce Infant Mortality
WAAA! (wearable, anytime, anywhere, APGAR), a finalist in UNICEF’s Wearables for Good challenge, is designed to help newborns all over the world, especially the 40 million who are born without medical people attending them. APGAR (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) is the first test a newborn gets. WAAA! is a silicon band with a sensor module that measures a … [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...]
Throwing Your Money into the Ring
London-based startup Kerv is Kickstarting its smart ring into the contactless payment arena, as Europe prepares to go completely contactless by 2020. Although the U.S. is well behind in new payment technology, the Kerv ring is expected to be available—and work—in both markets. It just might take longer for the U.S. to come up to speed. The Kerv ring design is slick and … [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 Buzzes with Project X Ray and HoloLens
Although it seems clear that Microsoft’s HoloLens is geared more to the real, grown-up world, Project X Ray is a sure sign that they remember the rest of us. It’s an AR (Augmented Reality) game that uses the HoloLens to bring 3-D images into play, with images a player can grab, wear, and use to blow up things. You can designate any object in your house as your weapon. (Let’s … [Read more...]
Biometric ID Maker Nymi Gets New CEO
Nymi, which has been working for years to bring a heartbeat-driven identity band to market, has brought in a new CEO and board member to drive enterprise adoption of its product. John Haggard, the new CEO, comes from Yubico, which makes two-factor authentication keys and related software; Haggard was Chief Business Officer there. The new board member is Ram Varadarajan, who … [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...]