Tag: band

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

PureWrist band purifies payments of filthy money

With Apple’s ApplePay having made the splash it has, and Google nipping at its heels with Android Pay, the contactless payment arena is a crowded battleground. It may seem like there’s little reason to try to create alternatives considering how widely adopted both systems have the chance to be.

But that’s not stopping newcomer PureWrist from introducing their own. The bracelet takes a more traditional approach to contactless payment, incorporating the Gratitude prepaid debit card within its stylish, water resistant, silicone construction. Supported by the MasterCard network, the Gratitude uses an embedded antenna that lets users connect their own bank or PayPal accounts and pay with their bracelets at those increasingly common payment points everywhere.

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Categories
Fitness Wearables

Arki walking coach tracks steps, coaches posture

Having good posture gets more and more important as time wears on. The older we get, the harder it is to straighten up, resulting in pain and injury.

Arki is a wearable band that monitors your posture while you walk. It learns habits, like walking and texting, and tracks these movements into an accompanying smartphone app via Bluetooth LE. By measuring arm swing speed, rotation angle relative to gravity, vibrations from feet and other data, Arki can tell whether you need to having better walking habits like taking measured steps, standing up straight and bending the arms and will let you know when to do this with a vibration.

Arki has several other features like using your walk as a passcode and compatibility with smart thermostats. All in all, walking is an important activity that we engage in, but like any other activity it has the potential of being done wrong. It’s nice to see a product that gives feedback for something so common that it is often forgotten. One will cost backers $149 with estimated delivery in April 2015. Arki is looking to raise $100,000 on Kickstarter.

Categories
Watches and Jewelry

Rhino rubber wedding ring shows your commitment to an active lifestyle, betrothed

Rhino RingMost married men want the message out there that they’re taken. The best way to do this is to wear a wedding ring. Some, however, work in harsh conditions where any expensive ring may be damaged. In this situation, the Rhino Ring comes to the rescue. This is a synthetic ring made of rubber to be worn just like a wedding ring. It’s durable enough to withstand hazardous environments, while still getting the message out to stay away. The ring looks like any traditional band and is a cool way for rugged married men to maintain their marital commitments. One costs backers $10 with a campaign goal on Kickstarter of $1,800.

Categories
Connected Objects Fitness Smartwatches/Bands

$29 Jaha fitness band counts steps, saved dollars

jaha2With the likes of the Fitbit Flex, Jawbone Up, and Nike Fuelband hogging up the spotlight alongside other, lesser known fitness bands, Jaha is hoping their version will stand out. With the options to locate and challenge others nearby or take up the virtual challenges Jaha will throw at you with the accompanying iOS app, the product isn’t content with only keeping you informed, but motivated as well. Of course, the challenge is that we’re starting to see a lot of this step-counting functionality built into the smartphones themselves. Jaha’s campaign is trying to shore up $25,000 to have their band around your wrist by November 2014.

Categories
Apparel Organization Watches and Jewelry

Nilly Bands keep your drugs at hand, ready for raves

Nilly Bands a44306de8b94315e8b1d45643874362c_large[1]Dude, what’s that strange circular glow emanating from your wrist? Well, if you happen to be out at night, Nilly Bands might be a good conversation starter. But by day, it’s a bit more obvious that the mild mannered silicone watch-like wrist band holds meds, vitamins, or other really small items that you want to tote hassle-free. Choose from a flat or rounded lid, and if glow-in-the-dark seems too over the top, there’s always black, white, blue, orange or turquoise instead. They’ll eventually come in three sizes so that you can make your ankles glow, too. For $8, backers get the Nilly Band of their color choice and an expected delivery of May 2014.

Categories
Connected Objects Smartwatches/Bands

Haloband taps into smartphone features from the wrist

The Premise. When you’re in a rush and on the go, it can be difficult to access the key features on your phone. Fumbling through the process of unlocking your phone, opening the the app, and waiting for it to boot up can often end up being a waste of time. This can make accessing smartphone apps a problem.

The Product. Using NFC technology, simply tap the phone to your Haloband to access your favorite apps. You can quickly unlock your phone, change the song, turn on the flashlight, check in to social networks, open the camera, and access many other features all with a simple wrist movement. The silicone band is not only flexible and waterproof, but it doesn’t require any batteries either.

The Pitch. Product Manager Sam Luo starts off the video by showing some of the Haloband’s main features and how they’re accessed with a simple tap. At around the 50 second mark, the video suddenly takes a turn towards the realm of high school video projects. If you can get past the cringe-worthy awkwardness of the acting, the video turns back to Luo who asks for a donation to put the Haloband into mass production.

The Perks. For just a $19 donation on Kickstarter, pledgers will receive a black Haloband, and for $22, you can choose your color as well. This is one of the cheapest options for wristband technology today, so it may be worth checking out. If you want to pledge more than $2000, the Haloband team will take you out to dinner along with a tour of Shanghai, China (travel fee not included).

The Potential. Smartphones have incorporated software that improves the accessibility of their phones already, so the Haloband’s purpose of improving their efficiency falls short of the mark. However, if accessing applications on your phone still remains a challenge, the Haloband may very well be an effective and economical solution for your needs.