Category: Wearables

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Connected Objects Health and Wellness Wearables

Violet won’t let you burn, keeps eye on sun

The Premise. There’s nothing like getting outside into the sun. The only problem is that risk of overexposure to the sun is high. It’s difficult to gauge when you’ve had enough and are about to get burned. 

The Product. Violet is a small device worn on your clothing or on a wristband when outside. It syncs up with your smartphone to help determine your UV and vitamin D levels. With the accompanying app, Violet-wearers can customize the device’s data, letting it know their skin type and the SPF of the sunscreen they’re wearing, along with when it was applied. This allows Violet to let you know when you need to reapply sunscreen or when you’re going to burn. It also lets you know when you’ve received the recommended daily amount of vitamin D. Violet is small and silver and uses sleek lights as indicators to the wearer. The app shows you your sun exposure data throughout the month and even lets you keep track of multiple users all at once.

The Pitch. Violet’s campaign video is a bit commercial-y, but does a great job of showing off the product’s various features. It really emphasizes the importance of vitamin D without including too many scary skin cancer facts. The rest of the campaign goes through the prototyping process along with different screen captures of the app in action. Violet needs a whopping $100,000 on Kickstarter in order to reach its goal. 

The Perks. Early-bird tiers offer Violet at $69 and $79 for delivery in April 2015. At its regular price, Violet goes for $105 with delivery also in April 2015. Reward tiers reach up to $2,000.

The Potential. There are too many fitness monitoring devices out there to count, but few monitors that actually look at how the sun affects one’s personal health. CliMate measure multiple environmental conditions including the UV index. Similar to Violet, it acts as a remind to reapply sunscreen, but doesn’t only focus on the sun like Violet does. The campaign focuses a little too heavily on how great vitamin D is and not at how harmful UV rays can be, but the product does measure both. As seen in the campaign, the app and product both look sophisticated and have the added appeal of being able to monitor multiple users, which is perfect for children. While the campaign goal is quite steep, Violet seems like the perfect way to enjoy the sun without having to worry about over-exposure. 

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Aquatics Safety Wearables

Shunning sharknados, ORCA eliminates the need for a bigger boat

The Premise. Recreational ocean activities are a favorite for many. Whether they’re snorkeling, scuba diving, surf or simply out on the water, people on the coast love to spend their time in the sea. However, sharks are a real concern for those out in the ocean and a shark attack can seriously harm or even kill someone.

The Product. ORCA stands for Ocean Recreation Comfort Apparatus. It is a band worn on the wrist or ankle while in the ocean that emits sound waves mimicking the killer whales that sharks are afraid of. The battery lasts for up to 12 hours and is rechargeable with an included USB cable. ORCA is powerful enough to emit its sound up to 100 feet around the wearer. This wristband is black and gray and looks much like a traditional digital watch. In addition, the sound it emits isn’t actually harmful to sharks or any other marine life.

The Pitch. Cue the dramatic music as ORCA’s video starts off with a surfer afraid of the sharks she may encounter in the water. Of course all is well once she puts on her watch and paddles out to sea. The rest of the video chats with various marine enthusiasts and gets their take on “sharky” situations. All agree that while shark attacks do occur, it’s important to find a peaceful deterrent for attacks rather than kill all the sharks. This Hawaiian product has a high campaign goal of $175,000 in its 38-day run on Kickstarter.

The Perks. ORCA offers two early-bird tiers for the product at $71 and $91 for estimated delivery in February and March 2015 respectively. At the full Kickstarter price, ORCA will cost backers a $97 donation for delivery in March 2015.

The Potential. It is a wonderful notion to use brains instead of brawn in dealing with a problem like this. As explained in the video, sharks are a vital part of the ocean eco-system and killing them off can have drastic consequences for the entire world. ORCA isn’t the first of its kind, but it certainly is the most humane option for shark deterrents. The SharkShield uses electrodes to create an electrical field around the swimmer, but according to its own website, this product causes painful muscle spasms for the shark which is what causes it to swim away. ORCA uses a simple and compassionate way to repel sharks while allowing swimmers to enjoy the ocean and for this reason it is guaranteed a place in the ocean-lover market.

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Health and Wellness Wearables

Whatever your music tastes GoGlove plugs into the new wave

The Premise. Exercising can be even more exhilarating and fruitful with the right music on to help push you to go further. No music, or slow sappy music, can completely mess with your workout rhythm or even make you want to stop. Most music players need to be handled manually in order to change the song, which can be a total hassle.

The Product. The GoGlove is a sports glove that connects to your music player via Bluetooth. Using different finger touch patterns, the wearer can adjust the volume, skip, go back, activate SIRI, play and pause their music on the go. The thin glove can be worn alone or underneath a ski glove for those engaging in winter sports. Its black material makes it look discreet and subtle.

The Pitch. GoGlove’s campaign video shows a humorous montage of runners, cyclists and other athletic types interrupted by a sappy love song. Its creators discuss the functionality of their product, along with stretch goals. The rest of the campaign discusses battery life and other tech specs of the glove. GoGlove is reaching for a $50,000 goal in a month-long Kickstarter campaign.

The Perks. For early-glove-wearers, the product is $69 or $79 at a regular price with estimated delivery in December 2014. A stretch goal of $60,000 has been set in the hopes of creating an accompanying Android/iOS app so that wearers can customize their glove experience. A second stretch goal of $100,000 would allow the creators to develop a second product in a wristband form, for warmer sports.

The Potential. There’s nothing like exercising to great music and most people know what it’s like to be powering it out to Beyonce only to lag behind when Jack Johnson comes on. Lots of headphones and earbuds offer a way to adjust the players volume easily, but don’t have the array of options that the GoGlove has. Similarly, most opt to simply make a gym or exercising playlist filled with techno jams to keep that heart rate up. Still, GoGlove’s concept is novel in the fitness accessory world and will certainly be a welcome addition to the market, especially for those engaging in colder sports.

Categories
Fitness Wearables

LEO helps you get a leg up on your workout regime

The Premise. The only people who don’t tell themselves in the backs of their heads every day that they should be working out more are the people who are already gym rats. Of course, while the concept of exercise is all well and good, all those who are planning another attempt at their failed New Year’s resolution this year can still seriously hurt themselves if they don’t know what they’re doing.

The Product. LEO is a piece of wearable smart tech in the form of a flexible leg band. The device monitors all kinds of data from heart rate, motion sensing, and even hydration and muscle activity. If LEO detects that it’s time for a break, a drink, or an adjustment to form, it notifies the user in easy to understand language. LEO can help keep exercise and the body at peak levels, and even call for an outright break if things get too far gone.

The Pitch. The pitch video for LEO stresses the simplicity of use and guidance that the device provides, and that’s good because it’s what makes this device so helpful. LEO is sold as an intuitive, automatic workout guide, and that’s what separates it from everything else. The designers need $50,000 for tooling and manufacturing with stretch goals for color options, haptic feedback, and a soccer-focused app to help train World Cup stars of tomorrow.

The Perks. The LEO LegBand is expected to be out in April of next year, and can be picked up along with the app and access to the device’s shared server for $184. Beta tests will begin in September 2014 and supporters can sign up for the early release for $599. Developers can also get into the beta as well as access the API and SDK for $2,999 in December.

The Potential. LEO is a great idea for people who want to get in shape without becoming a professional at one specific activity. Devices like Moov have shown off much more specific, detailed data output from an activity tracker which is great for athletes in training. LEO on the other hand is out to basically keep people from hurting themselves or taking it too easy on the path to fitness, and that’s a great, useful thing to have. It would be nice to see LEO sensors that can go in places besides the thigh just for those that might prefer to keep their trackers elsewhere, but that may be a development that comes later in LEO’s race to the top of the hill of fitness tracking devices.

 

Categories
Relaxation Wearables

Spire provides a take on stress reduction to let you breathe easier

The Premise. Activity trackers are popular for good reason, evolving far beyond the original concept of a smart pedometer. From physical activity to heart rate, these wearable devices can seemingly track whatever anyone might need. Now, there’s one to keep track of breathing as well.

The Product. Spire is a tiny tracker that can be clipped onto any piece of tight fitting clothing and monitors breathing in order to make an assessment about a person’s state of mind. From anxiety to extreme focus, each emotion comes with its own breathing patterns, which Spire can identify and send alerts to a phone to keep the wearer calm and collected. Additionally, Spire can track time spent sitting, standing, lying down, or walking, providing additional balance to daily life. Spire also charges wirelessly with its own charging pad or any Qi charging pad.

The Pitch. The introductory video for Spire is empowering, artistic, and strongly filmed, while also managing to say almost nothing about the product itself. Aside from a few screenshots of the app and a glimpse of the device’s clip tucked into a waistband, it’s hard to determine what the device does or how it’s used. The website makes up for this by offering an exhaustive FAQ section that covers everything from what the device does to where the name “Spire” comes from. The website is otherwise what backers have come to expect from a proprietary pre-order site, with big full-size graphics that are fixed to the background.

The Perks. Spire is available for $119, comes with a charging pad for the device, and ships in September.

The Potential. Spire is a great concept, especially for people who suffer from respiratory problems or anxiety and aren’t accustomed to breathing normally in certain situations. Unfortunately, the device feels a little one-note in terms of its function and cost, and so it’s hard to see consumers opting for this over other wearable activity trackers. Whether Spire rolls more functionality into their device or a similar breath tracker appears as a feature in a different tracker, a more complete package needs to be made available to make these functions worth wearing every day, everywhere. Add to this the fact the device is currently only supported on iOS devices (Android compatibility is being worked on), and Spire seems like a niche product carved into an even smaller niche.

Categories
Fitness Wearables

Arcus is the one fitness ring to rule them all

The Premise. Many fitness-centric devices allow people to track their progress as they exercise. Most are worn on the wrist or arm and give information about time elapsed as well as distance travelled. For feedback on actual technique, most athletes resort to a coach.

The Product. Arcus is a motion analyzer that you wear as a ring. It provides feedback to you via its app about the activity or sport you are engaging in down to information on your tennis stroke or golf swing, for example. Other information provided by Arcus include stroke strength, speed, average accuracy, average time, distances travelled, impact, and the list goes on. There are no real limitations to the kinds of feedback or sport that Arcus is compatible with. This ring charges wirelessly and also comes with a magnetic sphere. The ring-wearer can roll this sphere around, allowing it to properly calibrate and gather information about the environment, making its data more reliable. In addition, wearing it on one’s finger instead of wrist provides more accurate motion information. As an added bonus, this smart little ring also allows lets the wearer control any Bluetooth Smart Ready device in the vicinity. The ring comes in many different colors, patterns and finishes and is also completely waterproof.

The Pitch. The Arcus video cuts right to the chase and explains how the ring works along with how many uses it has. For the remainder of the campaign, the Hungarian creators show examples of Arcus at work along with screenshots of the app. It also goes through the huge number of color options for the ring, testimonials, tech information, product comparisons and the prototyping process. The Kickstarter campaign has a huge $320,000 goal in its 35-day run. 

The Perks. Donation levels for one Arcus plus charger and app range from $149 – $230 based on color and finish. Higher tiers offer multi-packs at heavily discounted rates. Reward tiers climb up to $2,500 and all rings are expected to ship by February 2015. 

The Potential. We’ve seen a slew of smart jewelry on the market recently. The Ringly alerts wearers to calls and texts coming through to their phone. For fitness, the ever-popular FitBit tracks fitness performance with an app, similar to Arcus, along with sleep activity and food intake. The WonderRing tracks heart rate, temperature and sports performance and also allows the wearer to control surrounding electronics. While all of these wearables are certainly very cool, Arcus is the only one that actually provides feedback on technique. The fact that it can help an athlete improve upon their game is invaluable. In addition, its capabilities in working with Bluetooth Smart Ready devices make it especially unique. All in all, for the price and wide range of uses, it is clear that Arcus is the next big thing in smart wearable jewelry. 

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands Wearables

Glance hugs a watch’s band to deliver inconspicuous intelligence

The Premise. Smartwatches are the go-to gadget for 2014, it seems. Big companies are starting to jump in, people are already buying them, and they are bringing out the most of other connected gadgets in a way that is convenient and easy to use.

The Product. At first glance, the Glance is a sort of fake-it-until-you-make-it smart watch. The device hugs the band of any wristwatch and offers a display that can show text messages word by word or identify someone calling so that a conversation doesn’t need to be interrupted unless truly necessary. However, the Glance has even more functionality under the surface, sending out auto-texts when a response is warranted but can’t be typed out at the moment, controlling other smart devices with simple gestures, and even locate a missing phone by calling it automatically.

The Pitch. Keeping it short and sweet, Glance Team shows off all of the device’s key features in a brief video that confidently sells Glance as more than a discount novelty smartwatch alternative. Some other features, including that Glance is waterproof, are touched on later on in the campaign materials alongside the technical specifications and hardware details. Glance Team wants to raise $150,000 CAD in order to finalize all of the designing and manufacturing. Stretch goals are available: At $300,000 CAD, the option to engrave a message on the Glance will be unlocked. At $500,000 CAD, Windows Mobile and Blackberry compatibility will be added on top of the existing iOS and Android functionality, and at $750,000 CAD, a microphone and speaker will be added to every Glance.

The Perks. A Glance is available for $70 CAD and should arrive to backers in October of this year. An advance version is available in September for $700 CAD and a stylish sterling silver edition is available at the end of the year for $1,000 CAD.

The Potential. As an entry point into the smartwatch market, Glance will suffice for some people. It offers a surprising number of features but still isn’t quite as fully-fleshed out as a typical smartwatch might be. It is, however, still a cost-effective solution for calls and texts, and the auto-text feature is great for those that can’t always pick up a phone and send a text out right that minute for whatever reason. It’s a simple concept that looks right at home around the standard watchband, but as the competition begins to become less expensive, the temptation of an upgrade may steer consumers away from Glance.

Categories
Health and Wellness Wearables

Upright poises to perfect your posture

The Premise. Poor posture can lead to a slew of health problems as people get older. Those who hunch from time to time in their youth will end up hunching over permanently in old age. With the amount of sitting that people do from day to day, it’s difficult to maintain good posture all the time.

The Product. Upright is a small device that attaches to your lower back. When your posture is poor, the product vibrates, alerting the wearer that they need to straighten out. Multiple sensors allow Upright to detect when the wearer is sitting, standing, running or walking. The accompanying app receives information about your posture habits from the device via Bluetooth technology. Upright is small, white and attaches to your back with a sticky substance.

The Pitch. Upright’s campaign video features several different slouchy people straightening up in situations where confidence is needed, such as an interview or date. Testimonials from users and experts on the benefits of good posture round out the video’s narrative. The rest of the campaign goes through the technology involved in the product as well as detailing the mobile training app that the product comes with. The Swiss-made Upright hopes to raise $70,000 USD on Indiegogo.

The Perks. For an early special price, Upright will cost crooked backers $69. At a regular price, the Upright goes for $79, both with estimated delivery dates of March 2015. Reward tiers go all the way up to $1,725, aka the company pack for any company that wants its employees to sit up straight, not a bad idea. 

The Potential. Posture is definitely a problem for most nowadays. We always seem to be hunched over our computers, books, or phones. Similar to Upright, the Lumo Lift also reminds wearers to sit up straight while tracking activity and posture using an accompanying app. Lumo Lift is a a similar price as Upright, but is worn on the lapel instead of directly on the back. This likely makes it a bit more comfortable if conspicuous. All in all, Upright is a clever product and, if it can stay attached to the skin all day, it will certainly enjoy great success for those looking to alleviate back pain. 

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Video Games Wearables

ANTVR seeks to make gamer attention undergo an Oculus drift

The Premise. Virtual reality headsets have been on the cusp of being widespread technology for decades, but now it seems like all of the pieces are finally here and this long-promised device will be in homes across the world in a matter of months. Everyone knows about the Oculus Rift, but one company wants to make people forget that name already.

The Product. ANTVR is an all-in-one virtual reality headset designed for movies and of course, video games. The product has a number of refinements to it that make it a step above the competition, from a fully wireless model to an aspherical lens designed to reduce distortion and eye strain. Packaged with ANTVR is a gun controller that is perfect for first-person shooters, providing unparalleled control, but for those that prefer other genres, ANTVR has them covered. The gun can disassemble down to a grip designed to function as a joystick or sword, and can itself unfold into a traditional-style controller that doubles as a racing wheel.

The Pitch. The ANTVR team is excited about VR and its passion for the medium shows in the countless features that it shows off in the launch video. With so many options and styles of use in mind, there’s a lot of ground to cover and the Kickstarter campaign page has a lot of information, all of it exciting. ANTVR needs $200,000 to bring their virtual dream into reality.

The Perks. The beta ANTVR setup, complete with the transformable bag/vest, controller, headset, and all the other necessary hookups and goodies will ship out in September of this year to those that pledge $300 or more. To take things a step farther and provide more freedom of movement, the wireless ANTVR is available for $500, while developers that want ANTVR early to have a game or app ready at launch can get their equipment in July for $1,500.

The Potential. VR headsets are primed to be the next big thing in media, not just in gaming. Anyone with a device ready to go around the same time that the Oculus Rift launches stands to achieve a great deal of attention. That being said, the ANTVR system looks like a fantastic alternative to the Oculus because of its built-in compatibility, application flexibility, wireless setup, and jaw-droppingly transformable controller. As an all-in-one system with no need to get anything else, the ANTVR looks like something that will be a must buy for anyone who wants the best immersive experience right out of the box.

Categories
Video Wearables

LifeLogger wears like a headset, captures moments like a camcorder

lifeloggerWho doesn’t spend at least a little time once in a while to remember the good old days, the happiest and most special moments of one’s life? Problem is, memory can be a little spotty sometimes, and there’s no way to share a complete picture of that memory with another person. LifeLogger is a small, wearable camera in the style of early Looxcie headsets that fits over the ear designed to record all of life’s big moments. With eight hours of battery life, GPS, and Wi-Fi the LifeLogger can stream video live through the cloud or store videos online to be reviewed at any time. The LifeLogger is available for $169 and will be out by the end of this year.