Cambridge Consultants
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Electric scooters and fiber-optic shirts land on Engadget's CES stage
From one angle, there are so many similarities between Gogoro and Cambridge Consultants that it's hard to tell them apart. For instance, both are visionary companies that seek to redefine an existing market and both came out with innovative technology that no one had seen before. Another similarity between the two, of course, is that they joined us on the Engadget stage as our editor's choice.
Cambridge Consultants Tê, the tea-machine of the future taste test (video)
After water, tea is the world's favorite beverage, yet to the gadget-producing fraternity, it's cruelly ignored in favor of coffee machines. Thankfully, the folks at Cambridge Consultants are trying to remedy this with the Tê, a machine that promises to whip up a perfect brew in two minutes. Naturally, as your humble narrator is a milquetoast European correspondent, we were compelled to see if it could live up to its impressive claims. Grab a Chocolate HobNob and join us after the break.
Sprint radar imaging system peeps inside walls, floors to detect bombs, tell-tale hearts
Back in 2005, we reported on a little something called the Prism 200, which allowed its holder to essentially see what folks were doing on the other side of a wall. Since then, we've seen plenty of devices that boast the same claims, but it wasn't until recently that the makers of the Prism 200 created a device that can actually see inside those walls. Looking something akin to an old school punch clock, Cambridge Consultants' Sprint in-wall radar imaging system provides 3D renderings of items embedded in walls, floors, and even ceilings. Where as existing X-ray systems require access to both sides of a wall, Sprint's radar setup allows users to see what's going on inside without dual access. As you might imagine, Cambridge is pushing this thing as a security tool, allowing for detection of bombs, drugs, dead bodies -- you know, the usual bad guy stuff. Sprint is currently undergoing testing. Full PR after the break.
Futuristic water bottle uses technology, science to let you know you're thirsty
The future is a scary place, yes -- but one thing we don't need to fear is being unaware that we're thirsty. Research and development firm Cambridge Consultants will be showing off its intriguing "i-dration" concept fitness water bottle at CES in a few weeks, combining a series of sensors on the bottle itself that communicate with an app you've got installed on your smartphone. The bottle will measure ambient temperature, how much fluid you've pounded, and how often you've consumed it; the phone, meanwhile, will use its accelerometer to measure how hard you're working out and combine that with heart rate data from a chest strap. After crunching some numbers, the app determines whether you're low on H2O -- and if you are, it'll make a blue light on the bottle pulse. If it seems like a roundabout way to stay hydrated... well, that's because it is, but Cambridge's angle is that this is a demonstrator for cool new ways that sensors can be tightly packed and integrated with smartphones to create "hardware apps." Speaking of, we could use a tall, cool glass of water. Follow the break for the full press release.
Cambridge Consultants Suma sensor is designed to add '3D' input to traditional control schemes
They're short on details, but the folks at Cambridge Consultants might just be onto something with this new "Suma sensor system" of theirs. Basically it translates the deformation of its soft material into 3D data that can be used in a video game to "unleash the full capabilities of both the human hand and the user's imagination." Sounds a tad far fetched, but the exciting part is that this "Suma skin" control material can replace the traditional casing of a regular gaming controller for less than a buck in parts, meaning that with (relatively) little effort we could see tactile squeezing, gripping and other sorts of finger-friendly input worked into console gaming without having to bid farewell to the form factors we know and love. Cambridge Consultants doesn't mention robotics, but we could also see this sort of material being quite the cost-effective, sensor-laden skin replacement. Just as long as nobody tries to get us to control Ezio with that little stress-ball pictured above.
AirScript translator beams live theater subtitles over the air
If you ask us, one of the best things about London is its theater scene. Turns out, however, that not every person who appreciates good theatre speaks the Queen's English -- we know, it's shocking to us as well. To serve those unenlightened souls, a new AirScript wireless translation gadget is being trialed at the Shaftesbury in central Londonium. Designed by Show Translations and built by Cambridge Consultants, it combines a simple WiFi-enabled device with an LED-backlit screen and a dude in the background who feeds live subtitles over the air. The pleasure of said dude's services will be a steep £6 ($10), which you might scoff at now, but imagine yourself attending a show in Tokyo or Beijing and suddenly the price becomes a lot more justifiable. Eight languages are available so far (American English is presumably still in the works), with translations done by professionals rather than machines, and all that remains now is to see whether this multilingual birdie flies or flounders.
Vena-enabled asthma inhaler adds IR and Bluetooth connectivity, won't sync with your headset
Putting a new twist on inhalers, Cambridge Consultants this week announced a new Vena platform for medical apparatuses. It's comprised of two wireless standards, Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP) and the IR-based IEEE11073, for exchanging data with between devices. The Vena respirator marks the first demo unit and will connect via smartphone or computer to help keep track of when it's being used and can provide reminders for patients who need to scheduled doses. The information can also be sent to relevant doctors and anonymously to health care specialists who like to mine these numbers and find trends. If you're looking to see it for yourself and maybe try to smooze your way into a lungs-on, it'll be at the Respiratory Drug Delivery Europe 2009 conference in Lisbon, Germany later this month. [Via CNET]
Cambridge Consultants unveils WiFi RadioPro platform
Though not ubiquitous, portable WiFi radios are certainly still longed for, and Cambridge Consultants is hoping to stir up even more demand by offering up a low cost, customizable platform for theses devices to utilize. Shown originally as the Iona WiFi radio at CES, the platform has been renamed RadioPro, and it boasts a manufacturable eBOM of just $15. Furthermore, it supports over 10,000 radio stations, wireless upgrades and a flexible architecture that allows "full customization of the user interface and menus through a dedicated software development kit (SDK)." As if that weren't enough, the design also touts up to 25-hours of active streaming time on a 1500mAh battery, and if all goes to plan, we should see devices that rely on CSR's latest technology hit shelves before 2007 comes to a close.[Thanks, Rob T.]
Informance shades give athletes a heads-up display
For every gimmicky workout product that comes along like the push-up counter or talking grip master, there's also one such as the Nike+iPod or Entertrainer which actually seem to prove useful or motivational. Well you can add the upcoming Informance sunglasses from German lenscrafter Rodenstock to that list, which take your regular sports shades and tack on a tiny LED display that shows stopwatch or pulse data from a wirelessly-linked watch. Developed in cooperation with the UK's Cambridge Consultants, the display projects a 160 x 120 pixel image through a wedge-shaped prism, occupying 12% of the left eye's field of view in a reportedly unobtrusive manner when peering straight ahead. Look for actual products to hit the market sometime in 2009, for an estimated €700 to €1.000 ($990 to $1,400).
Conix One, a new four-cent inhaler that may save the world
No one likes getting injections -- we all wish for those hyposprays from Star Trek, where one little puff takes care of all your medicinal needs, painlessly. Well, we're not quite there yet, but Cambridge Consultants has just announced the Conix One, a new type of inhaler that it claims costs less to manufacture than a single syringe. The company's press release says that its "reverse flow cyclone" provides an "extremely effective deagglomeration process" (just what we've been looking for!), apparently meaning that you can absorb the drug into your lungs faster. If that bird flu does hit, we'll be stocking these faster than you can say "H5N1."
Cambridge Consultants develop NFC diabetes management device
If near field communication (NFC) is good enough for handling your money, then surely it must be good enough for managing vital health information, no? At least that's what Cambridge Consultants is promising, recently unveiling an NFC-based concept device developed in conjunction with Philips that could potentially be used by people to manage diabetes. The system consists of a wireless glucometer and an insulin pump which interact with each other to determine the proper dose of insulin by simply waving the two devices near each other, working just as well underneath clothing. And while they've focused solely on diabetes thus far, the researchers say near field communications could potentially be applied to a wide range of medicinal applications, including pain relief, asthma and respiratory care, and gastric electrical stimulation therapy, among others.
