Wearables -- Engadget

J-ware odor-free underwear could hit Targets, midsections soon

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 25th 2009 at 4:21PM

Truthfully, there's just not enough work being done in the area of advanced underpants, so we're absolutely elated to hear that textile experts at Japan Women's University in Tokyo are picking up the slack and moving forward with an amazing development. Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut to live on the International Space Station, is current testing the "odor-free" clothing, and it's said that he can rock the same drawers without any pungent smells for a solid week. The garb is designed to "kill bacteria, absorb water, insulate the body and dry quickly," and as if that wasn't awesome enough, they're also flame-resistant and anti-static. The best news? There are already talks of bringing this stuff to the commercial realm. Don't deny it -- you're already thinking of how stellar it'd be to wash clothes just once per month.

Vuzix dips toes in augmented reality, makes video eyewear cool again

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 25th 2009 at 2:43PM

Nintendo ain't the only company making waves at the Game Developers Conference this year -- oh no, we've also got Vuzix gettin' down and dirty with a brand new addition to its video eyewear segment. Said outfit has teamed up with metaio in order to showcase a new Augmented Reality Accessory Kit for the VR920 head-mounted display. The bundle will include the CamAR -- a clip-on USB camera that is designed to accurately track objects and the user's position in three-dimensional space -- along with the PhasAR wireless augmented reality input controller. When these are used in unison, users are able to simultaneously see what's going on in the Matrix and in the display. For instance, imagine reading a book that's tied into a program on the VR920; as you read along, images can pop up and complement the text. Far out, right? The full release is after the break, and we've been told that the attachment should sell for around $100 on top of the $399 VR920 when it ships around mid-Summer.

Continue reading Vuzix dips toes in augmented reality, makes video eyewear cool again

Video: Sanwa's throat mic for city-bred sissies

by Thomas Ricker, posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 6:24AM

Throat mics have been around for decades. However, unless you're manning a tank or involved in black ops, you've likely never seen such a set beyond the reach of a typical paintball turret. Sanwa's throat mic (pictured) is an urban take to the otherwise, combat-inspired gear design you'll find at retail. Unfortunately, we can't find any additional detail beyond the images. We can, however, drop in a hardcore video of the $50-ish US Special Forces Throat Mic (as it's called) from Real Action Paintball. This rugged mic with voice-box positioned transducer is compatible with VOX-capable radios and features four styles of discrete listening devices (special forces, secret service, SWAT, and Socom) and a remote push-to-talk (PTT) switch that can be strapped to the index finger supporting your sniper rifle. Fake-war is so much fun.

Read -- Sanwa's throat mic
Read -- RAP's US Special Forces Throat Mic

Continue reading Video: Sanwa's throat mic for city-bred sissies

Concord C1 QuantumGravity with liquid green energy indicator looks great with your power ring

by Thomas Ricker, posted Mar 20th 2009 at 7:59AM

You're looking at the latest render of the Titanium Concord C1 QuantumGravity timepiece first spotted in January. A wristwatch due to be unveiled in a 10-unit, limited production run at the big Baselworld 2009 watch and jewelry show kicking off in 6 days. There's a ton of extraneous, nonsensical verbiage in the press release making the watch all but unknowable. Still, as far as we can tell, this mechanical watch features a novel tourbillon escapement that spins on two axis points... and liquid. Yes, liquid, containing "green phosphorescent nanoparticles" held in a vertical column as an indicator of the life remaining in the 3-day power reserve. As Concord describes it, the C1 QuantumGravity, "creates its own rules: emptiness is its core material, engineering its constancy; chemistry a dare and transparency a must." Whatevs word-hippie, just tell us where and when.

[Via Watch Luxus]

Tanita's BC-1000 Body Composition Monitor wirelessly sends embarrassing weight details

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 19th 2009 at 12:39AM

Remember all those ANT+ wireless peripherals that were supposed to come flooding out after the introduction of Garmin's FR60 Fitness Watch? We suppose said flood has to start somewhere, and this is it. Tanita's BC-1000 Body Composition Monitor is hardly more than a sophisticated scale, designed to hold humans for just moments at a time while collecting measurements on muscle mass, overall physique, daily caloric intake, metabolic age, bone mass and visceral fat. From there, the unit can either send those details wireless to the aforesaid watch, or it can beam them to any PC with an appropriate dongle. The device is slated to ship this summer for $279.99 with a USB stick or $399.99 with an FR60 watch.

Hyundai's MB-910 watch phone gets priced and dated

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 16th 2009 at 3:24PM

Remember Hyundai's MB-910 watch phone that we spotted around this time last month? How could you possibly forget, right? That masterpiece / atrocity is actually coming to market, and Mobile Gazette has it that the bugger will cost around £200 ($281) when it lands sometime in Q2. As for specs, we're told that it'll boast tri-band GSM connectivity, Bluetooth, a 176 x 132 resolution touchscreen, 128MB of storage, USB 2.0 and the obligatory time-telling mechanism for good measure. Too bad it's closer to "heinous" than "halfway decent."

[Via PMP Today]

Kogan's Bluetooth GPS watch is not for the fashion forward

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Mar 16th 2009 at 9:54AM

If we have one word of advice for folks looking to get into the tech game (that is, besides "why bother?") it would probably be "set the bar low." Don't try to change the world with an unlocked 3G Android handset until you've mastered the basics, like maybe a netbook or, better yet, a watch. Of course, it would be a bit much to expect a true visionary to stop short of a humble timepiece. To this end, Kogan's rebranding that old Mainnav chronometer, the one that packs Bluetooth, a GPS receiver, a temperature sensor, speedometer, pedometer, altimeter, and Google Earth functionality into a package that most of us would probably rather not be seen wearing in public. Available for AUS $129 (about US $85).

[Via SlashGear]

Zypad mil-spec wrist PC gets a refresh

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Mar 13th 2009 at 11:26AM

Looks like the Parvus wrist computer we last saw almost three years ago has received an upgrade. The Zypad WR1100 is a 3.5-inch color touchscreen device aimed at the defense industries, soldiers of fortune (who, surprisingly enough, make a large part of our readership), futuristic Boy Scouts, and anyone else who needs a Linux device strapped to their wrist. Aside from a high strength / low weight fiberglass-reinforced nylon-magnesium alloy housing designed to take a licking in the field, this wrist-worn bad boy rocks 256MB memory, 128MB flash storage, various connectivity options (including WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee), a GPS, a compass, biometric fingerprint sensor, and an accelerometer that puts the system in standby when the arm is hanging down beside the body. Let us take a moment to ponder the irony of the inevitable Quake mod this device will certainly see at some point in the near future.

[Via CNet]

Continue reading Zypad mil-spec wrist PC gets a refresh

Musical bra is not as sexy as it sounds

by Laura June, posted Mar 12th 2009 at 5:33PM

The fine folks over at Instructables have posted some wild mods in their time, but the musical bra you see above inhabits its own realm in terms of weirdness and lack of usefulness... unless you really want a bra that makes music of course. The speaker is on the front, with a battery pack between the shoulder blades at the back, and each cup is equipped with eight different "sounds" culled from a small keyboard, which are triggered by custom-made buttons sewn into the bra. Hit the read link for the full rundown of how to make one of your very own, but fair warning: you're going to have to be pretty adept with needle and thread to get this project done, but the final result should be fairly priceless. After all, who doesn't want a clunky, hideous sports bra that makes noise? Exactly.

[Via Music Radar]

USB finger drive concept attempts to keep up with reality

by Donald Melanson, posted Mar 10th 2009 at 3:52PM

Yanko Design is certainly home to many far-fetched, never-to-be-realized gadgets, but this so-called You-SB finger drive isn't one of them. In fact, it's already a bit behind the curve. Apparently, after losing a finger in a motorcycle accident last year, Jerry Jalava took advantage of the situation to get a 2GB USB drive installed in his new prosthetic finger, which he's happy to inform us stores the Billy

Linux distribution and the movie Freddy Got Fingered. The drive is even removable to allow for upgrades or different drives for different tasks. Can a pico-projector finger be far behind?

Read - Yanko Design, "You-SB"
Read - Jerry Jalava's Flickr page

[Via Grinding.be]

SmartNav units control PCs with just your noggin'

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 10th 2009 at 10:07AM

It's not as if there has been any shortage of conceptual contraptions conjured up to control computers with just the brain, but it has been increasingly difficult to find units ready for the commercial market. Enter NaturalPoint, who is offering up a new pair of SmartNav 4 human-computer interface devices designed to let users control all basic tasks with just their head. The AT and EG models are designed to help physically handicapped and health-minded individuals (respectively) get control over their desktops by using their gord to mouse around, select commands and peck out phrases on a virtual keyboard. The sweetest part? These things are only $499 and $399 in order of mention, so you should probably pick one up just to give your mousing hand a rest.

[Via EverythingUSB]

Read - SmartNav 4:EG
Read - SmartNav 4:AT

USB Robot drive is the retro Re-Animator

by Thomas Ricker, posted Mar 10th 2009 at 8:28AM

Ahh, how cute. Mr. Robot wants you to hold his USB head. Better than taking yours, we guess. $25 and he'll harass your keys about his superior 4GB capacity. Perspective on the harsh realities of robot relations pictured after the break.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Continue reading USB Robot drive is the retro Re-Animator

Romain Jerome's watch reveals The Truth About Roswell

by Thomas Ricker, posted Mar 9th 2009 at 6:08AM

It's all here: alien remains, the Yucca Flat tracks of a US Air Force collection vehicle, and the exploded gears of an unearthly aircraft. No, this hellish landscape is not some declassified aerial view taken aboard a Janet Airlines flight. Rather, it's the latest watch face from Romain Jerome's Moon Dust-DNA collection. Unfortunately, the price of The Truth About Roswell watch is all very hush-hush as you'd expect from a Swiss-crafted watch limited to a 9 piece run. Now hurry up and check the un-cropped image after the break -- we're expecting the authorities any second.

[Via A Blog to Read]

Read [Warning: PDF]

Continue reading Romain Jerome's watch reveals The Truth About Roswell

Mimi Switch remote control relies on facial expression, not phalanges

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Mar 8th 2009 at 8:47PM

For some reason, whenever gadgetry and smiling cross paths, things tend to get a little creepy. Where the smile trainer was mostly a curiosity, the Orwellian implications of the Okao Catch technology were a bit much -- even for the hardened tech blogger. Sure, the Mimi Switch is quite clever: instead of relying on your fingers, this remote control uses an earbud containing infrared sensors that measure the inner ear movements resulting from various facial expressions. "An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks his tongue out," says the inventor, Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka University. Sounds innocent? Not so fast. The device can also be used to monitor your facial expressions for the appropriate levels of cheerfulness. "If it judges that you aren't smiling enough," the inventor goes on to say, "it may play a cheerful song." Or if you're smiling too much, the thing can be programmed to play some latter-day Depeche Mode. That always bums us out.

Solestrom's new nano-bikini doesn't hold water

by Joseph L. Flatley, posted Mar 7th 2009 at 12:41PM

Last year the brain trust in Zurich announced their high-tech leisure suit that never gets wet, and now Solestrom International (the UV-detecting bikini company) has announced its own water-repellent nano-material. Called Sun Dry, each fiber of the new fabric is surrounded by an invisible barrier that allows water to pass through it rather than being absorbed into it. Essentially, the swimwear can't soak up liquid, is resistant to chlorine, and is rated SPF 50. Running the gamut from black to maroon to red, the clothing is in the $29 - $99 price range. Perfect for your next trip to Rockaway Beach.

[Via Telegraph]