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LG's Smart Activity Tracker wields a swipeable touchscreen and smart TV apps, we go hands-on (video)
We've seen our fair share of wearable tech here at CES already and LG is looking to cast its hat in the ring as well. A waltz through the company's booth revealed the Smart Activity Tracker: a device that rests comfortably on the wrist, much like the Nike+ FuelBand or the Jawbone UP. Despite sharing some aesthetic similarities with the former gadget -- like a dotted LED display, USB clasp and soft-touch rubber coating -- LG's model has a few more tricks up its sleeve. First, the Smart Activity Tracker is compatible with both iOS and Android using the Fitness Band app to track, monitor and share your fitness habits (no big surprise given LG's handsets run Google's OS). As you might expect, the wearable touts Bluetooth for connecting to your smartphone and an accelerometer for tracking purposes. However, LG tacked on an altimeter for more accurate location data (the world ain't flat, you know) and the display can show call info during a run while also offering media controls for navigating through those playlists. Speaking of the display, this one is swipeable, allowing the user to cycle through without pressing a button repeatedly. Smart Activity Tracker bands will also sync with LG's smart TVs and fitness apps like Let's Dance to offer a workout from the comforts of your living room. Unfortunately, these aren't scheduled to arrive until sometime in the heat of summer, but when they do, there will be a few color options to suit those personal preferences. For now, a brief demo awaits after the break.
Insert Coin: Leikr GPS sports watch has 2-inch screen, ex-Nokia engineers on its side
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. Granted, the Garmin Fenix already does decent GPS from your wrist, but there's a limit to what it can accomplish on its basic little LCD. Enter Leikr: a Gorilla Glass beast with a 2-inch, 320 x 240 display that can throw out a wide range of endurance stats simultaneously or switch to a color navigation mode using up to 8GB-worth of onboard OpenStreetMap data. It's designed by former Nokia engineers who claim they've used their mobile skills to make the Leikr catch a quicker GPS signal, connect directly to a cloud-based, Endomondo-integrated exercise portal using WiFi and Linux-based software, and at the same time stick to a smartphone-like 10mm thickness. The project's Kickstarter page has just gone live, with early bird deals still available -- at the time of writing, a minimum $229 buy-in is required to lock down a final production Leikr by the summer. That's hardly cheap, but it's not at $400 Fenix proportions either, so take a look at the video after the break and the funding link below (scroll to the bottom of that page for full specs) and then, you know, dwell on it.
Xsens teases wearable 3D body sensors that won't cost, will track an arm and a leg (video)
When we think of full-body motion capture, we most often associate it with movie-grade equipment that demands a dedicated room, odd-looking suits and a corporate bank account to finance it all. Xsens hints that we may not have to rent a professional studio (or stand in front of a Kinect) to get complete body tracking for personal use. It's planning to show a wearable, 3D-capable tracking system at CES that uses "consumer grade" MEMS sensors to monitor joint positions and movement -- in other words, the kind of technology that might go into a phone's accelerometer, just strapped to our arms and legs. Further details are scarce, although Xsens is pressing for uses in everything from fitness to gaming. We'd like to see partners line up so that there's a product we can buy in a store. Until then, we'll have to make do with the company's skateboard-dominated teaser clip, which you can find after the break.
Our augmented selves: The promise of wearable computing
By Donald Melanson and Michael Gorman It's been an interesting year for Google's most famous side project. After emerging from the company's suitably mysterious X Lab in April, Glass appeared across the roundtable from Charlie Rose, gave conference attendees a skydiver's eye view at Google I/O, strutted down the catwalk at New York Fashion Week and shared the stage with California Governor Jerry Brown as he signed a bill into law allowing self-driving cars on the state's roads. Yet, there's still more that we don't know about Google Glass than we know about it, despite its status as the highest-profile attempt at making wearable computing the next big thing. Public demonstrations of the tech have so far only hinted at its full potential. The promise of Glass echoes that of wearable computing in general, a promise that's remained largely unfulfilled despite decades of research driven by everyone from the military to DIYers.
Microsoft patent application details head-mounted display used to augment live events
It's no secret that Microsoft has been experimenting plenty with wearable computing and augmented reality -- just take a look at some of Microsoft Research's projects -- but a patent application published today has offered a peek at one possible AR application the company has yet to demonstrate. While not describing the device itself, the patent application details how a head-mounted display could be used to augment live events in realtime with relevant information (like stats during a baseball game, as pictured above). To do so, the system would recognize both where you are and what objects are in your field of view, and then display the supplemental information that'd be continually updated based on what's happening or where you're looking. If that all sounds a little familiar, it's because leaked details purporting to lay out Microsoft's future Xbox plans also described some AR glasses, dubbed "Fortaleza Glasses," which were similarly said to provide "realtime information on people, places and objects." At the time of that leak, those were said to be coming sometime in 2014.
Athens university prints polymer circuits with lasers, speeds us towards low-cost electronics
The dream of ubiquitous technology revolves around cheaper materials, and polymer circuits could help make the dream a reality... if the solvents used to produce the circuits didn't cause more problems than they cured, that is. The National Technical University of Athens has developed a more exacting technique that, like most good things in science, solves the crisis with lasers. The approach fires a laser at a polymer layer (covered by quartz) to throw some of that polymer on to a receiving layer; by moving the two layers, the scientists can print virtually any 2D circuit without resorting to potentially damaging chemicals. Any leftover worries center mostly around risks of changing the chemical composition as well as the usual need to develop a reliable form of mass production. Any long-term success with laser-printed polymers, however, could lead to more affordable technology as well as more instances of flexible and wearable gear -- there might not be much of a downside to ditching the circuit status quo.
Autographer wearable camera takes the whole taking pictures thing out of taking pictures
Sure, we've all got a camera on us at all times, thanks to the prevalence of smartphones and point-and-shoots, but these devices present an issue when it comes to that modern human desire to electronically capture everything that happens everywhere ever: having to actually take the pictures. That's why the unsettlingly giddily-named OMG Life is working to unleash the Autographer, a hands-free, wearable camera that promises to take "thousands of photographs a day" via its wearable lens. Just drape it on your person and it will uses its six on-board sensors (GPS, color, accelerometer, motion detector, magnetometer and thermometer) to determine the right moment to snap one of its unwieldy volume of images. Says the company, For instance, Autographer might capture an image when the wearer speeds up as they run for the bus, moves from a warm pub to a snowy street or turns around to greet a friend. Also, you know, stuff like your wedding and the birth of your child. The camera's got a five-megapixel sensor, OLED display, 8GB of on-board storage and built-in Bluetooth for sharing those pictures. The company's currently aiming for a November release, just in time for capturing every single moment of the holiday season. In the meantime, the press info is after the break.
Looxcie HD brings 1080p and WiFi streaming to a helmet near you
Looxcie isn't just a luxurious sounding word (and terrible pun), it's also a maker of life-casting head-mounted cameras. Up until now, it would only let you capture your life in a rather pedestrian 480p, but the new Looxcie HD does away with that, letting you grab that bike ride in full glorious high-definition. Other additions include WiFi (previous iterations relied on Bluetooth) to hook up to your Android or iOS device with, a larger 1,200 mAh battery and improved low light performance. Owners of previous models might spot that with new features comes a new, larger form. The price of evolution it seems. The price for the device, on the other hand, is $279, or $329 if you opt for the "Explore" bundle, which incidentally you can pre-order now. Peep at the source for more.
WSJ gets early, slightly uncomfortable look at Google's Project Glass
It's about time someone got the chance to test-drive Google's $1,500 smart-glasses independently, without any rose-colored lenses getting in the way. The Wall Street Journal's Spencer E. Ante just became that lucky person -- he played with prototype specs for 10 minutes and described them as a "wearable smartphone" that weighs just "a few ounces" and is smoothly controlled by voice commands. Saying "OK, Glass" brought up a menu in front of his right eye that made it "easy" to record stills or video, although unfortunately the device wasn't quite ready to show off any phone, messaging or navigation functions. Overall, Ante acknowledged the "long-term potential" of Project Glass, but in its current form he found the HUD to be "disorienting" and "uncomfortable" -- partly because he instinctively kept closing his left eye to make it all work. Clearly Google still has some work to do if the device is to make a better first impression, but no doubt there's also room for acclimatization on the wearer's part. If the military can get along with this type of eyewear, then hopefully so can everyone else.
Woven's wearable platform for gaming, cool points and a whole lot more (video)
TshirtOS showed us one take on wearable gadgetry earlier this month, and now it's Woven's turn. This particular e-garment packs quite the selection of hardware, as you can see above -- a trio of LilyPad Arduino boards (and some custom ones), a Bluetooth module, 12 x 12 RGB LED "screen", speakers, bend sensors, a heart rate monitor, shake motors and a power pack. You'll need to accessorize, of course, with a smartphone for hardware harmony and to run companion apps. So what's it for, you ask? Well, the creators are touting it primarily as a "pervasive" gaming platform, and even seem to have a working first title in the form of SPOOKY (think gesture-based ghost-fighting). Other uses (which appear a little more conceptual) see Woven as a workout companion, TV remote, Wii controller, social network alerter or simply a fashion accessory. Check out the videos below to see it in action and imagine all the fun you could have in the five minutes before you're ushered into that padded room.
Georgia Tech develops self-charging battery that marches to the owner's beat
One of the last times we saw the concept of a self-recharging battery, it was part of a high-minded Nokia patent whose ideas still haven't seen the light of day. Researchers at Georgia Tech are more inclined to put theory into practice. Starting from a regular lithium-ion coin battery, the team has replaced the usual divider between electrodes with a polyvinylidene difluoride film whose piezoelectric nature produces a charging action inside that gap through just a little pressure, with no outside voltage required to make the magic happen. The developers have even thumbed their noses at skeptics by very literally walking the walk -- slipping the test battery under a shoe sole gives it a proper dose of energy with every footstep. At this stage, the challenge mostly involves ramping up the maximum power through upgrades such as more squeezable piezoelectrics. Georgia Tech hasn't progressed so far as to have production plans in mind; it's nonetheless close enough that we could see future forms of wearable computing that rarely need an electrical pick-me-up.
Researchers use bioimpedance as a biometric, let health monitor devices know who you are
Wouldn't it be great if fitness and medical gadgets automatically knew who was wearing them? Researchers from Dartmouth have come up with a new way to provide health monitors just such an ability using a tiny electric current and a bioimpedance sensor. You see, each person's body provides a different amount of opposition to electrical current, so bioimpedance can be a unique biometric identifier. The researchers' idea is to create a bracelet that uses bioimpedance readings to recognize its wearer in a secure, unobtrusive manner and communicate that identity to other wearable devices. Using such a bracelet, "the devices discover each other's presence, recognize that they are on the same body (and transitively learn from the wrist device whose body), develop shared secrets from which to derive encryption keys, and establish reliable and secure communications." As opposed to other biometrics or password authentication, bioimpedance readings can be taken passively, which is much more appealing than remembering passcodes or scanning fingerprints and retinas. For now, the researchers have created an eight-electrode proof-of-concept bracelet, but its accuracy leaves something to be desired -- it correctly identifies its wearer only 80 to 90 percent of the time, whereas fingerprint recognition has a failure rate of less than 1 in 1,000. So, we're a ways off from bioimpedance-based security, but research is ongoing, and you can learn all about it at the source below.
Google gets patent for eye tracking-based unlock system, shifty looks get you access
Look up. Now down. Back up here again? Imagine having to do that every time you wanted to unlock your phone, as this granted Google patent for "Unlocking a screen using eye tracking information" possibly suggests. Okay, it actually looks more like it's intended for the firm's super spectacles -- which given their general hands-free nature -- makes more sense. The claims are fairly straightforward, unlocking of a device would be granted based on "determining that a path associated with the eye movement substantially matches a path of the moving object". As long as those moving objects aren't moving too fast, we think we can work with that.
TshirtOS is web-connected, programmable, 100 percent cotton (video)
An LED display, camera, microphone, speaker and accelerometer all packaged into a t-shirt and controlled via your smartphone? That's the concept behind tshirtOS, a wearable platform for "self-expression" that currently only exists as a prototype. It can show off tweets, play music videos, capture belly-height photos and send them off to Instagram, and pretty much do anything except play percussion. CuteCircuit, which came up with the idea in cahoots (inexplicably) with Ballantine's whisky, says it's about to conduct product tests and will mass produce the smart-shirts if enough folks register interest. There's no Kickstarter page, definite specs or pricing for any of this, but based on CuteCircuit's history and the video after the break we're inclined to believe TshirtOS is more than just viral marketing stunt for the sake of a dram -- click onwards and judge for yourself.
Olympus announces MEG4.0 wearable display prototype, skips the skydive
While Google may have grabbed headlines for its recent wearable tech stunt, Olympus is doggedly forging ahead with its own similar prototypes, seven years on. Unlike Project Glass, the MEG4.0 isn't a standalone structure and needs a glasses frame to hang on, although the sub-30g unit shouldn't tax it too much. The QVGA (320 x 240) display can connect to devices through Bluetooth 2.1, with Olympus pointing to a smartphone hook-up to provide both the processing power and internet connectivity -- which sounds different to what we're expecting from Google's effort. The current prototype can squeeze out eight hours of intermittent use, or two hours of non-stop projection. While the device is being pitched at everyday users, Olympus isn't offering any suggestions of launch dates or pricing, but you can check on what the company is willing to share in the (Google-translated) press release below.
More Google Glass details: experimenting with connectivity options, control possible via voice
While Vic Gundotra wasn't willing to talk Glass in our run-in here at Google I/O, a few others were. In speaking with folks from Google, we learned a few new details about the project, while confirming some whispers that we'd heard floated in the past. Here's a quick rundown: Engineers are currently 'experimenting' with connectivity options. Existing prototypes -- including those worn in the skydiving stunt this morning -- do not have any sort of built-in WWAN connectivity. While it's possible that a 3G / 4G module could end up in production devices, the general idea is that latching onto nearby WiFi hotspots or relying on a wireless tether with your smartphone will be the primary way that Glass gets its data to the web. Controlling Glass will eventually rely on a mixture of inputs: it'll recognize voice commands, while also taking cues from the right sidebar. There's a touch-sensitive pad on there that'll understand gestures. It's entirely probable that Glass will also be able to be controlled via one's smartphone, but physical inputs will be the preferred ones. Glass has an accelerometer and a gyroscope, enabling wearers to tell Glass what to do by nodding, shaking one's head, etc. (For what it's worth, we've seen similar demoed by NTT DoCoMo.) The internal battery sits just behind the ear on the right side; the capacity and longevity weren't confirmed, though. Glass will be able to record locally, but the idea is to have 'most everything' streamed live to the web; it's the "live, right now!" nature of Glass that Google intends to push as one of its differentiating factors. In an area where wireless data isn't available (like a remote National Park or a hospital room that forbids phone usage), storing video locally would be possible for uploading later. We also confirmed that the team is playing around with various colors, with orange, white, black and blue editions being sported here at I/O. Whether or not all of those hues make it to market remains to be seen, of course, but we're adequately jazzed about the possibilities.
Silicon Micro Display rolls out $799 ST1080 wearable display
It may still be some time before you can take Google's ambitious wearable computing project for a spin, but there's certainly no shortage of head-mounted displays out there for those looking to blaze a trail of their own. You can now add Silicon Micro Display's new ST1080 glasses to that list, a full 1080p display that will handle both 2D and 3D content (in a variety of formats), and also allow you to see through the glasses for augmented reality applications (albeit with just 10 percent transparency). As with most such glasses, however, you won't get head-tracking capabilities, and you'll have a couple of tethers to contend with (HDMI for video and USB for power, including via an optional battery pack). Those not put off by those constraints or the whole visor look can place their order now for $799. [Thanks, Majik]
FCC wants to set aside wireless spectrum for medical body area devices, our hearts are literally aflutter
The FCC has been making a big push towards freeing up the airwaves for medical uses, and it just took one of its biggest steps on that front by proposing to clear space for wireless body area networks. Agency officials want to let devices operate in the 2.36GHz to 2.4GHz space so that patients can stay at home or at least move freely, instead of being fenced in at the hospital or tethered to a bed by wires. Devices would still need the FDA's green light, but they could both let patients go home sooner as well as open the door wider for preventative care. Voting on the proposal takes place May 24, which leaves our tech-minded hearts beating faster -- and if the proposal takes effect, we'll know just how much faster.
Microsoft granted patent for wearable EMG device
Those muscle spasms? They're now good for something. Okay, so Microsoft's just-granted patent for a wearable EMG device doesn't really thrive off of involuntary twitching and such, but it does use your movements to control your smartphone, notebook and other gadgets. The "Wearable Electromyography-Based Controller," which we first glimpsed back in 2010, uses sensors to interpret the electrical signals generated by a user's muscles, and then communicates with the wearer's computer via a wireless (or wired) connection. Redmond envisions the wearable device in various incarnations: as an armband equipped with sensors, a shirt, eyeglasses and even nodes attached directly to the user's body. In the armband example, motion control could be used to interact with a PMP while the user is jogging. No matter the setup, a calibration process allows the system to locate specific sensors and collect information based on specific gestures or movements, which means playing Guitar Hero with only an air guitar may someday be a reality after all.
Genius Ring Air Mouse scrolls through the FCC, added buttons in tow
If the Ring Mouse caught your attention a while back, you're in luck. The Genius Ring Air Mouse has tiptoed through the FCC with a dapper new façade and sporting both air cursor and scroll modes. In addition to the left and right clickers we've seen before, this model adds a drag control for moving objects with ease and a back button for web surfing. As you might expect, the device is charged via USB connection and a LED indicator will keep you up to speed on the battery's status. We can't recommend you offer this as a gift to your significant other, though, at least not for any special occasion.
