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Trouble sleeping? A snooze-inducing cap might help
If you can't get to sleep at night, then you've probably been told to avoid cheese, say no to caffeine after lunchtime and drink a cup of warm milk before bed. That was good advice, or at least it was, until the advert of the Sleep Shepherd, which is a beanie that promises to gently send you to sleep and wake you up at the right time. Equipped with a variety of sensors, the headgear monitors your brain activity and sends a soothing pulse to your noggin to convince you that it's time to stop thinking about what Dave at the office said to you that morning.
Sound Circle won't let you sleep
I love napping. I could make excuses about it making me more productive and alert, but the simple fact is that naps and sleeping are a great personal pleasure. It's not easy to nap just everywhere and at anytime. I find that "white noise" and soothing sounds can really help me to nap on airplanes, while waiting in various lounges, or just when I want to catch a quick power nap. I've recently tested Sound Circle, an ambient noise app. Sound Circle requires iOS 7.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5. The app is free with a $1.99 in-app purchase for the timer and playlist functionality. When using an app to provide soothing sounds for napping I have just a few simple requirements. First, the app should present me with a selection of "environments" to select from, like softly falling rain, gentle waves, twilight in the forest with birds and insects, or generated electronic noises. The second basic requirement is a timer to let me confidently fall asleep knowing that I'll be awakened on time. Sound Circle does offer a nice, basic selection of sounds, but you have to purchase the timer feature. I do like how Sound Circle allows me to select multiple sound samples and combine them, setting each sound at the desired and separate volume. But I found the controls balky and unresponsive. The app also provides several built in piece of music. I'm not sure exactly how many, because each time I tried to move past the seventh selection the app crashed. Sound Circle is best used with headphones to give a full immersive experience. Professional nappers like myself also use a sleep mask to enhance the experience. The lack of a timer is a real shame. Frankly, it makes the app a non-starter for me. While I'd be open to purchasing sounds or other features, a timer is basic required functionality. Without it I just can't use this app for napping or sleeping when I'm concerned with waking at a specific time. Sound Circle offers a playlist option, but that's also part of the in-app purchase. Frankly, if you want to sleep to a playlist of your own music you can build your own with the built-in Music app and simply set a timer using the Clock function. I don't nap as easily to music (OK, soothing classical or ambient music can work), but many people enjoy falling asleep this way. You just don't need another app for that. My recommendation for music to sleep by? Brian Eno's Music For Airports. Especially nice for use when sleeping in airports and awaiting delayed flights. Sound Circle has potential, but it's not ready for prime time. If you're looking for a sleep noise app with reliable features I highly recommend White Noise.
White Noise HQ brings you customized focus and relaxation
There are a lot of white noise apps available in the App Store, but this one is by far the most robust. Available in both a free and a paid version for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, White Noise HQ is packed with sounds and customization features. In general, most free apps come with extremely limited features. Even paid versions of similar apps contain only different variations of the same sounds, such as water, crickets, etc... White Noise isn't like that. The free version has 25 sounds that include everything from nature to household sounds and industrial machinery. There are also three different "noise" sounds: white, pink and brown. You can create custom mixes of up to six sounds. Create different mixes for meditation, relaxation and motivation. Another thing, Phase4 Mobile didn't just design White Noise to help you sleep. It's also built to free you from distracts and improve your productivity. There's a timer with very specific preset intervals. If you use the Pomodoro method of productivity, you'll love this for timing your tasks. Those of you who want the timer for sleep will be happy to hear that the audio fades out before shutting off. There's no sudden stopping of the noise to wake you up. My favorite feature is when you mix the white noise sounds with other apps, like Audible. Flip over to the settings panel and enable "mix with other apps." This lets White Noise run in the background while other audio apps are active. I spent some time this weekend listening to the new Lev Grossman novel with the sounds of a train in the background. Audiobooks themselves don't do much to drown out noise. Pairing Audible with White Noise helps. There is a caveat here, your audiobook and White Noise play at the same volume. You have to choose your sounds carefully. For instance, the indoor fan noise is quite loud and made it impossible for me to hear the narrator. Surprisingly, the Russian passenger train (yes, that's really a sound on here) was the perfect background for the book. Have a little fun experimenting and see which sounds compliment the mood of the book to which you are listening. Another nice thing about the free app: It's gorgeous. The high-resolution images of beautiful locations are enough to relax you. It does have ads, but they are relatively unobtrusive. If you are annoyed by the ads, you can spend the US$0.99 for the upgrade, which is labeled White Noise HQ. In addition to being ad-free, you'll get 75 sounds, instead of the 25 that come with the free version. Most of these sounds are redundant, which makes the paid version a lot more like all of its competitors. Does a creek in Texas really sound that different from a creek in a forest? Not to me. Still, there is some variety here, like the vacuum cleaner and industrial heat pump options. The best sound is the virtual space wind. The blizzard one is not bad either. Despite the lack of ads and the wider sound choices, I'm not sure that the upgrade is worth it. Yes, you are only spending $0.99, but the free app gives you plenty of options. Plus, the paid version only comes with six sounds installed. You have to manually download any other sounds that you want. It only takes seconds per sound, but it was enough to annoy me. For those of you who cannot stand ads or really need a wider selection of sounds, then spring for the paid version, otherwise, stick with the free app.
See how the Napa earthquake affected Jawbone users' sleep
If you're one of the many iPhone users with a Jawbone UP strapped to your wrist, you might be used to seeing pretty standard peaks and valleys on your sleep charts. Not so for many in Northern California who were awoken by the rumblings of one of the largest earthquakes to hit the area in several decades -- and the consolidated sleep data is actually pretty cool to look at. As you can see, shortly before 3:30 AM, huge numbers of UP wearers sprung from their beds thanks to the rumblings below their feet. Napa, Sonoma, Vallejo, and Berkeley were the quickest to wake thanks to their proximity to the epicenter, while other affected regions experienced a slight delay before having their sleep interrupted. Thankfully, no deaths were reported, and it appears most people got back to their pillows before too long.
Wearable device stats prove it: you're not getting enough sleep
If you've ever groused that you don't get enough sleep, you now know that you're not alone -- far from it, in fact. The Wall Street Journal has provided a rare glimpse at the tracking data from hundreds of thousands of Jawbone Up wearers worldwide, revealing both their collective sleeping habits as well as their activity when they're awake. And... it's not looking good. Even in well-rested cities like Melbourne, the average person slept just over the minimum recommended 7 hours. In Tokyo, many people get less than 6 hours. You don't want to look to your friends for help, then, since they're probably just as groggy as you.
Sense sleep sensor monitors your zzz's and wakes you up at the best time
You're lucky if you can sleep easily and wake up feeling refreshed all the time -- some people need a bit help to get a good night's rest from apps and gizmos, like this new device called Sense. The gadget, which looks like a crystal ball with rubber bands, acts as some sort of a bedside sleep guardian that monitors not only your sleeping habits, but also environmental conditions. It comes with a "Sleep Pill" that clips to your pillow, which tracks your tosses and turns, automatically transmitting data to Sense via Bluetooth Low Energy and ANT. The gadget then relays all the info you need, including a sleep number to let you know how well (or how bad) you've slept, through the system's iPhone or Android app.
Misfit offers insight on your insomnia with the Beddit sleep monitor
Misfit tackled activity tracking with its Shine offering that looks more like a fashion accessory than a sensor. Now, the data gathering outfit is looking to wrangle sleep cycles with the Beddit sleep monitor. Claiming to be the "world's thinnest sleep sensor," the unit resides on your mattress as opposed to being tucked in between the sheets. From there, the gadget keeps an eye on heart rate, movement, snoring and ambient sound in order to gauge the quality of your slumber. Collected info is then beamed to your smartphone of choice for analysis within the Misfit app. If you're looking to quantify those Zs you catch, Beddit is available now for $150 -- half the price of Withings' Aura bedside system, but without the added sound and light show.
X-Doria's KidFit is a low-cost fitness wearable for five-year-olds
X-Doria is a company we normally associate with smartphone accessories, but now it's decided to branch out into wearables. While the jury is still out on whether children should be introduced to the concept of the quantified self, X-Doria wants to help get kids moving with its new KidFit activity tracker. Targeted at children between 5 and 13, the multi-colored slappable wristband scores activities to reach a daily goal of 100 points. Parents are encouraged to set goals using the iOS or Android app, which connects to a smartphone or tablet using low-power Bluetooth and provides feedback on a child's progress via its vivid "Results Cards." The wearable is also splash-proof, holds a charge for up to seven days and like the FitBit or Jawbone Up, can be set to track sleep patterns with the push of a button. While it won't track your kids in the literal sense (there are plenty of GPS-enabled wearables targeted at kids that can do that), it does offer a 24/7 overview of their activities. It'll be available on August 15th for $50 in black, aqua, hot pink, yellow, and red variants. If you get in now (and are one of the first 1,000 buyers), you can pre-order the tracker for $40.
PS4 sleep mode, friend takeover features still coming
The PS4 is missing a few features Sony promised during its console reveal last year, such as sleep mode and the ability to let a friend take over your game online. These features are on their way, Sony Head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida told Kotaku at E3. "Our team has been working on it," Yoshida said. "There are some things that we announced in February of last year that were not planned for the launch timeframe." Yoshida didn't provide a timeline for the new features, but said he's asking his tech team "every other week" when they'll be ready. During its PS4 reveal show in February 2013, Sony Lead System Architect Mark Cerny described sleep mode as a suspend/resume process that allows you to power down and boot up the PS4 from the same spot at the press of a button. In October, we learned that feature wouldn't be ready on day one. [Image: Sony]
Sleep Number's smart bed series now has a $1,000 entry-level mattress
Even if you're resting, your Sleep Number mattress probably won't be. We heard about the company's smart beds back in CES 2014 (if you can remember that far back), but now the tech inside the firm's premium model is being shared among the entire bed series.. The SleepIQ software inside apparently registers movement, breathing and heart rate around 500 times each second. Those brains previously commanded a premium: the X12 model clocked in at around $6,000. Starting this week, however, mattresses featuring the tech will start at a slightly more modest $1,000. Metrics for both you and your partner can be beamed to tablets, smartphones and PCs where you can log exercise, caffeine... and the rest of life's mundanities. And who knows? Poring over said data could also prove to be its own sleeping aid.
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.
Jawbone's Up24 fitness tracker lands in the UK, Europe and Asia
If you've been eagerly waiting for Jawbone to bring its first wireless fitness tracker to your locale, today could be your lucky day. After a period of exclusivity in the US, the accessory maker has expanded sales of its Up24 wristband to 29 new markets (including the UK, China and Japan) letting customers enjoy low-energy Bluetooth support that Fitbit and others have been offering for more than a year. The launch is timely, given that Jawbone recently updated its Android app with wireless syncing and push notifications to get the most out of the rubberized wearable. As with all its products, Jawbone's making the Up24 available to buy on its local webstore, but the company is also enlisting the help of Apple and Amazon to manage sales. Prices start at £125 in the UK and €149.95 in Europe, but do make sure to check out the full list of confirmed markets after the break.
Withings' latest health gadget is designed to help you sleep (updated)
If you're anything like us, then getting out of bed on a cold, dark winter's morning is akin to raising the dead. Plenty of gadgets have promised to monitor our circadian rhythms and rouse us at the most biologically convenient time like the Zeo, but none have managed to totally win us over. That hasn't deterred Withings, which is launching the Aura, a two-part device designed to help us with our shut-eye. The $300 Aura combines a movement sensor that sits beneath your mattress and an LED lamp that promises to relax you at night and gently rouse you in the morning. The unit also promises custom light-and-sound patterns that'll help with power napping, getting over jet lag and chilling out with a good book. Naturally, all of this data will be fed into a mobile app, and we're looking forward to comparing this against our Philips Wake-up Light when it arrives in the spring.
Some new Retina MacBook Pros suffering from WiFi issues
The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros with Retina display are hands down the best laptops Apple has ever made. Yet there seems to be a growing number of issues related to sleep and WiFi connectivity with the flagship laptops. Besides Apple's support forum threads, which detail the issues, and some readers contacting us reporting the same thing, I can also confirm my new MacBook Pro seems is quite buggy when waking from sleep in the morning. After waking from sleep -- and though the WiFi signal will show a connection -- my MacBook Pro won't be able to access the internet. The solution is simple enough: Turn WiFi off and then turn it back on again. But while it's an easy fix, it's also an annoying one to do on a multiple-times-a-day basis. Keep in mind, however, that whether this issue affects a limited number of units, or is more widespread, WiFi and sleep issues like this can often be eliminated with a firmware update.
AIRO wristband tracks not just sleep, exercise and stress, but also what you eat
There are fitness wearables that track steps, gauge your quality of sleep and monitor your stress, but few combine all three. As for keeping track of what you eat, most people still resort to old-fashioned food diaries and calorie counters. The AIRO wristband, however, aims to measure all of the above completely automatically. Launching today, the AIRO uses a special embedded spectrometer to track not just your heart rate, but also your sleep patterns, workout intensity and calories consumed. It's even able to break down the nutritional intake of your food. Abhilash Jayakumar, co-founder and CEO of Airo Heath, tells us it's able to do this because specific nutrients have different light properties. "As your body breaks the food down, the sensor can detect the amount of light that passes through the blood based on green, red and infrared patterns." So, for example, if you just ate a candybar, you'll see a spike in sugar intake reflected on an accompanying AIRO app. The wristband is able to parse the nutritional value of food into protein, fat and carbohydrates. Jayakumar tells us that the app is right now not quite sophisticated enough to tell the difference between simple starches and complex ones, but the team still has more experiments to do, so don't rule that out just yet. "We might be able to see a difference in waveform, that would show you whether something is better or worse for the body." Further, Jayakumar notes that the AIRO's caloric intake measurement might differ from that on food packaging, because different people process foods differently.
Keepin' it real fake: China's Codoon SmartBand pays homage to Jawbone Up
Viewing it from afar, you could easily mistake this gadget for Jawbone's Up fitness band. What we have here is actually the SmartBand from Chinese fitness accessories maker Codoon, and it's almost a carbon copy of the Up in terms appearance and functionality. Bend this strip around your wrist to track your movement and sleeping patterns (with the ability to wake you up with vibration at the optimal sleeping cycle; just like the Up), and afterwards, plug the hidden 3.5mm headphone jack into either an iPhone or an Android device for analysis and sharing through Codoon's website. After we reached out to Baidu regarding the Baidu Cloud logo on the SmartBand, a spokesperson told us that it's the first wearable developed on top of Baidu's PCS (Personal Cloud Service) to sync and share data, and Codoon's upcoming Bluetooth fitness products will work on the same platform (likewise for the Baidu Eye project). Still, it's a real shame that the startup couldn't come up with its very own design for its first hero product. Expect this rip-off to hit the market in early June for an unknown price -- but you can already get an Up in China, anyway.
Sony patent application puts electrodes in a pillow, eases you out of slumber
You could monitor your sleep using the science of actigraphy but, as we've learned, accelerometers don't always make for the best slumber trackers. The real deal stuff, used by scientists, requires all sorts of electrodes, which are a tad cumbersome and tend to yank out hair. Sony is proposing a system that removes the glue and sticks the sensors in your pillow. This is according to a patent application the company filed that proposes, among other things, an advanced alarm clock that monitors brain waves to detect when you enter and leave REM sleep. One particular example has it guiding users though an efficient power nap, by starting a timer once they've started dozing and only waking them once they've come out of a deeper sleep state. The proposed alarm could take any number of forms, from a buzzer, to a flashing light or bed shaking motor. To dig through the application for yourself hit up the source link.
Re-Timer could play with your brain, fool body clock to minimize jetlag
Jetlag and disrupted sleep patterns are conditions we're all too familiar with, right along with flashing lights that claim to remedy them. A new wearable device, tagged Re-Timer, also promises to be of help by mimicking sunlight and resetting the body clock. Reportedly the result of 25 years of sleep research at Australia's Flinders University, it's worn like a pair of glasses and emits soft green light, fooling the part of the brain that regulates your circadian rhythms. When used at different times of the day for specified durations, it claims to advance or delay the clock as desired -- countering the effects of frequent air travel and improving alertness levels. The rechargeable, portable device is safer and more effective than medication, according to its chief inventor Professor Leon Lack. If nothing else, the $260 visor is a bold fashion statement, although it may not be as cool as having robots convert your dreams into art.
Ibis hotels to have robots paint art while they track your sleep: no, that's not creepy at all (video)
First they invaded our factories, and now it's our hotel rooms. Is nowhere safe from the robots? In truth, Ibis' upcoming Sleep Art project is very slick, even if it smacks of robot voyeurism. Ibis hotels in Berlin, London and Paris will let 40 successful applicants sleep on beds that each have 80 sensors translating movements, sound and temperature into truly unique acrylic paintings by robotic arms connected through WiFi. You don't have to worry that the machines are literally watching you sleep -- there's no cameras or other visual records of the night's tossing and turning, apart from the abstract lines on the canvas. All the same, if you succeed in landing a stay in one of the Sleep Art hotel rooms between October 13th and November 23rd, you're a brave person. We all know how this ends.
iOS 6 offers Do Not Disturb feature, adds more Zs to your slumber
Ever get annoyed when your sleep is interrupted by a call or message coming into your phone? As we were hoping, iOS 6 is getting the badly needed Do Not Disturb feature we first saw in Mountain Lion last month. The idea is simple: when activated, push notifications will be automatically muted and the screen won't light up. A whitelist option will be available so you won't miss important callers; you can also set up the feature so that if a person calls you more than once, the phone will allow the call to come through. This is an exciting option for anyone who is tired of waking up to a notification only to find out it's their turn in Draw Something. Check out our full coverage of WWDC 2012 at our event hub!
