Categories
Imaging Wearables

TimeCap helps you capture once-in-a-lifetime moments

One problem with cameras — no matter how good they are — is that it often takes too long to take a photo or start shooting video with one. The result is that many people often miss unexpected, but highly memorable moments that they would have loved to capture and share with others.

TimeCap is a wearable camera that attaches to one’s shirt or other garment and continuously records video. The device then streams the video footage through the user’s smartphone and stores it in the cloud. It also takes 5-megapixel still images. TimeCap turns on and off by holding the power button for three seconds. Other features include Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi support, as well as 32 GB of internal NAND flash memory, good for 24,000 photos or 4 hours of HD video.

The device works in conjunction with an Android and iOS app that lets users control recording, as well as various other features including social media sharing.

Categories
Kids/Babies Wearables

EyeForcer forces your kids to have better posture while using mobile devices

Kids are spending an awful lot of time sitting in front of smartphones and tablets playing games and surfing the Internet. But all that slouching they are doing can result in terrible posture that leads to medical problems down the road.

patent-claimedEyeForcer is a patent-pending wearable piece of eyewear with an accompanying app that monitors kids while they are using smartphones and tablets, and encourages them to have better posture. It penalizes bad posture by reducing the amount of time that kids using it can spend using mobile devices. EyeForcer ships in November at future pricing of about $65. But Kickstarter backers can get one for a pledge of about $93. Its makers are trying to raise $154,580 by July 6.

Categories
Wearables

Pilot smart earpiece soars with easy language translation

editors-choiceOne main challenge while traveling abroad is the ability to understand people speaking in different languages. Directions and other important information can easily be lost in translation.

Pilot is a smart earpiece that provides real-time language translation. It enables wearers to speak different languages, but still clearly understand each other because the language heard through the earpiece is each wearer’s own language. If someone does not have an earpiece, they can still use the smartphone app to translate. A nice extra feature is that the app can be used as a loudspeaker when in conference mode. Initial languages being supported are English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. Additional languages will follow.

Categories
Health and Wellness Wearables

Fitti Guard smartwatch helps keep you fit and safe

There are many fitness trackers on the market, but they tend to offer limited functions, have a short battery life and lack a display. Smartwatches tend to offer more features, but don’t necessarily do a great job with any specific feature. The number of environment trackers is also growing, but those devices tend to offer no additional features.

Fitti Guard is a health-focused smartwatch that monitors fitness and environmental factors including UV exposure. It features a total of 10 sensors, including UV, noise, air quality, humidity and radioactivity. Users get immediate alerts and helpful advice if their individual levels or dose rates for polluted air, noise nuisance, sunlight or even radioactivity are exceeded.

Categories
Health and Wellness Wearables

QuietOn earplugs uses noise cancellation to tune out the world

Earplugs are handy devices to have when trying to catch some shut-eye while traveling — especially on a noisy airplane — or even while at home if somebody is making a racket in another room or snoring in the same bed. But not all earplugs are created equal. For starters, some are more comfortable than others and some block more noise than others.

patent-claimedQuietOn earplugs use the same kind of active noise cancellation technology found in many higher-end headphones, but does away with the wires. There’s also no buttons. The earplugs switch on automatically when removed from its small charging and carrying case. They work for up to 50 hours on one charge, so QuietOn can work for an entire flight regardless of the destination or most delays.

Categories
Input Music Smartwatches/Bands

Skin wearable music controller needs appeal that’s more than skin deep

Not many people would enjoy the idea of having to take out their smartphone while working out to change music. There’s a level of focus necessary to really get the most out of a workout, and doing that will definitely make sure it’s never achieved.

Swiss inventor Yves Steinmann’s Skin wearable hopes to make that small but annoying situation an afterthought. It’s a simple black wristband that uses Bluetooth to connect to a device in order to control music without an app.

Categories
Imaging Wearables

U-HWK Show camera’s designed to show off athletic skills

The action camera market keeps growing thanks largely to the success of GoPro and other established competitors. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more.

patent-claimedU-HWK Show is a low-profile, lightweight wearable video camera that’s been developed by athletes and designed for all types of athletes. It’s rugged, flexible and under 50 percent the weight of the leading competitors’ newest and smallest models, according to the device’s Kickstarter campaign. U-HWK has also been designed to get easily attached to helmets used in a wide variety of sports, including hockey and baseball. It’s compatible with most existing media players and video editing software, and can store up to 10 hours of video.

Categories
Kids/Babies Wearables

Starling helps babies’ vocabularies shine bright

There have been several wearable devices for babies. But Starling is a newcomer with a twist –- a smart device that tracks the number of words that a baby says and hears each day.

patent-claimedStarling is shaped like a star and can be clipped onto a baby’s clothes or wherever he or she is sitting. The small, patent-pending device has been designed for parents who want to take advantage of research showing that early vocabulary development can impact a child’s success in life because a significant amount of brain development happens before the age of three, according to its Indiegogo campaign.

Categories
Wearables

Modoo helps moms to be with dos and don’ts of pregnancy

A wearable pregnancy monitor that would allow mothers-to-be to monitor and record fetal heart rate and movement at any time sounds like a no-brainer.

Modoo does exactly that, and also sets fitness tasks and provides diet advice that its maker says will allow expectant moms and their babies to be healthier. The small, circular wearable device is light and, according to its Indiegogo campaign video, easily sticks to the user’s stomach area. It works in conjunction with an Android and iOS app. Modoo’s maker set a goal to raise $50,000 by Nov. 7. The device is expected to ship in April at $199, but Indiegogo backers can get one early for $129.

There’s a huge potential audience for Modoo. But it remains to be seen how accurate the information it provides will be. It’s also hard to tell from the campaign video how comfortable it will be to wear Modoo all day.

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

Back to the Backers: Blu wearable smartphone

Since the advent of the iPhone, smartphones have all generally become the same rectangular slabs of glass and plastic we’ve all come to know, love, and obsess over. So when Blu jumped on the scene this past March with its concept for a hybrid wearable smartphone concept, its innovative design definitely garnered attention — although not enough to raise the close to $500,000 necessary to fund it. Now, Blu is back with another Indiegogo campaign and this time its goal is even loftier, aiming for a cool $1,000,000 in an all-or-nothing fixed funding campaign. That goal will cover the development of the product’s many flexible components, from its F-OLED display, circuit board, and larger capacity 4200mAH battery.