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These Japanese smartglasses are trying to teach me zen
I'm on the subway, my head tilted downward to face my phone. I blink five times, I put my hand on my tummy to "feel" my breathing. To casual onlookers, I look suspicious as hell (or about to cry), but I'm meditating -- so please leave me alone. Yes, there's no lack of meditation apps on both iTunes and Google Play, but a wearable that monitors your body's reactions and offers feedback is rarer. JINS Meme is a pair of Japanese-made smartglasses that look pretty much like normal glasses. I've trained with them and run with them, and now the latest app for the specs is trying helping me to chill the eff out.
JINS smartglasses swap fitness advice for meditation guidance
In a bid to get you focusing at work, Japan-based JINS has announced a trio of companion apps for its Meme smartglasses. The focus isn't on posture or workouts this time, but literally focus -- by monitoring your eyes. These are the same glasses we've been using at the gym, but this time the apps tap into the high-tech sensors found on the nose bridge. Specifically, three-point electrooculography (EOG) sensors that can pick up minute electromagnetic changes from your eyes, detecting when you blink without any cameras involved. The company cites scientific research that shows that frequency and intensity of our blinks represent whether we're concentrating or not, and JINS has built three different apps that track that. Oh, and your posture, too. No slouching.
JINS' subtle smartglasses turn into sport-centric sunglasses
JINS' fatigue-tracking smartglasses have a new running-obsessed relative: the Meme MT. At the Japanese glasses makers' flagship store in Harajuku, JINS is offering free trials for anyone interested, but perhaps hesitating on that 19,000 yen ($160) price tag. Similar to the features we saw on the original Meme glasses, sensors and gyros inside the frames offer highly detailed metrics -- enough for software and algorithms to pump running info including your center of gravity, gait and pace to the companion running app. The glasses maker has been making a gradual push into the US, launching another flagship store in the unofficial home of wearable tech: San Francisco. Still, no word yet on when or whether it'll be offering its smartglasses options there, however.
ICYMI: A cold foam heart, fast oil change invention and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-524051{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-524051, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-524051{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-524051").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Castrol invented an oil-storing apparatus that lets you change the oil and filter by swapping in a fresh container under two minutes. It's already inside an Aston Martin racing car but the company's goal is to get it into mainstream consumer cars within a few years. Meanwhile Cornell scientists invented a polymer that has pores and can pump fluids, allowing it to act as an artificial foam heart. And a Tokyo-based eyewear company will begin selling its smart glasses next month. The classically-styled eyeglasses can track movement and are definitely less nerd-defining than the telltale Google Glass version.
Testing the smartglasses that actually look like glasses
What happens when a company that makes old-fashioned spectacles attempts smartglasses? You get something like Meme, from Japanese glasses maker JINS. Still in prototype stage and courting developers, the glasses will go on sale early this year for around $800 (correction: JINS expects the glasses to arrive priced somewhere far more reasonable: apparently that's the point). However, let's get out of the way what Meme doesn't do. There's no screen; there are no cameras. There's no voice activation or commands. But when I put them on, they feel like... glasses. And after testing some (if not all) of the other smartglasses, it was a relief. Is less more? JINS hopes so.
New smart glasses warn when you're fatigued
Many people know that they should take breaks when they're fatigued, but actually recognizing that worn-down state is tricky; it's all too easy to push past the breaking point. If JINS' upcoming Meme smart glasses live up to their billing, though, you'll always know when it's time to relax. The Bluetooth wearable includes both eye and motion sensors that can tell when you're close to nodding off. If it gets to that point, a companion smartphone app will give you a heads-up. The eyewear is useful even when you're fully alert, as it can handle basic fitness duties like step counting and calorie tracking.
