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ThermalTech Indiegogo Solar Powered Jacket UV Heat Outerwear
Sports, Wearable Technology

Solar Powered Jacket Promises To Keep You 20º Warmer

February 12, 2016

ThermalTech Indiegogo Solar Powered Jacket UV Heat Outerwear

With most of the east coast suffering through record low temperatures, we were excited to find a jacket promising to keep us warmer longer! When the temperature is well below zero, only giant, bulky coats have a chance of keeping you warm. Unfortunately a large coat is less than ideal as you run around NYC or hit the slopes. Currently on Indiegogo, a new jacket from ThermalTech uses solar powered fabrics to keep you toasty, while shedding the bulk. Unlike Columbia’s (impressive but recalled) electric heating jacket, ThermalTech’s process of harnessing the sun’s energy is completely passive. A UV sensitive layer of the jacket captures and retains the light energy from the sun. This energy (unsurprisingly) is transferred to the fabric as heat. The name-sake ThermalTech layer then slowly releases the heat towards the inside of the jacket, raising the temperature by as much as 20º F versus a jacket without the special fabric. Even when the sun isn’t out, the lining of the outerwear works to keep you warm by absorbing and reflecting your body heat. According to ThermalTech, the jacket is also completely breathable to help keep you from over heating, a necessity if you are planning to hit the slopes with the coat! If all of this sounds perfect for the cold weather ahead, sadly the jacket is not shipping until you need it least – August. There are three different versions of the coat available, ranging from $139 to $169 and the crowdfunding campaign has already passed its goal.  

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by Doug Parker
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Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC smartwatch Wearables
Business, Wearable Technology

Qualcomm Announces Next Gen Chip For Smartwatches and Wearables

February 11, 2016

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC smartwatch Wearables

Underneath the surface of almost every Android Wear smartwatch lies a Qualcomm chip. To be more specific, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. The venerable chip has seen several refinements over the years, but the base design is practically unchanged. When the Snapdragon 400 hit the market 3 years ago it was mainly designed for mobile phones – smartwatches barely existed so it had to be adapted for smartwatch use. With advances in chip design, and a different use case than originally intended, the world’s largest mobile chip producer has finally unveiled the successor to the 400 series chip. The new mobile processor is named Snapdragon Wear 2100 and, as shown by the name, is designed for wearables and smartwatches.  

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by Doug Parker
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SuitX Phoenix Exoskeleton Wearable Walker Ekso Bionics
Wearable Technology

SuitX Announces Plans For Pediatric Exoskeleton

February 10, 2016

SuitX Phoenix Exoskeleton Wearable Walker Ekso Bionics

A few months ago we took a look at ReWalk’s latest generation of exoskeleton, the Personal 6.0. The life changing all-in-one device reduced motor size, integrated a battery, and improved gait motion and speed. As amazing as the ReWalk device is, the people behind SuitX, a startup in the exoskeleton market, believe there is a lot of room for improvement. The number 1 issue they see is the lack of exoskeletons designed for children. Kids with certain neurological conditions are just as in need of the devices as adults, and perhaps even more so; according to SuitX, children have a very small window of time to train their muscles for the motion of walking. Learning to walk and stand is the best training for locomotion and allows children to avoid secondary injuries associated with sitting. Current exoskeletons are too big and too heavy for children. SuitX’s Phoenix exoskeleton is unique because it is modular, only requiring small motors attached to standard orthopedics. This results in a much lighter and more manageable device – weighing in at 27 pounds compared to ReWalk’s 50 pounds. It is also cheaper – costing $40,000 instead of $70,000.  

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by Doug Parker
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Oral Roberts University Tulsa Oklahoma Christian Physical Fitness Requirement Fitbit Charge Activity Tracker
Wearable Technology

University Monitoring Students’ Activity With Fitbits

February 5, 2016

Oral Roberts University Tulsa Oklahoma Christian Physical Fitness Requirement Fitbit Charge Activity Tracker

Activity trackers are a great way to quantify your life and motivate you to move more, but how would you feel if you were graded based off of that information? Freshman at Oklahoma’s Oral Roberts University are about to find out; they will be among the first to have their fitness data tracked by a school – that information will then contribute directly towards their grades. Fitbit fitness trackers will be issued to first year students as part of the school’s required physical fitness course. Besides classroom teachings, the class has a weekly activity minimum that students must meet or exceed. Up until now students were held by the honor code to accurately manually monitor aerobic activities. Using a hand-logged journal not only was that likely tedious, but we would guess students were often a bit “generous” in what they recorded. Using a monitored account, the school will collect information on daily movement, weekly activity, and heart rate (but not weight). The requirements will be 10,000 steps a day and 150 minutes of activity per week at 60 to 80 percent of their range for heart rate. If a student doesn’t accomplish these minimums it will directly influence their grade.  

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by Doug Parker
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Fitbit Alta Connected Fitness Activity Tracker Notifications smartwatch
Wearable Technology

Fitbit Alta Is Company’s Most Connected Activity Tracker

February 3, 2016

Fitbit Alta Connected Fitness Activity Tracker Notifications smartwatch

Fitbit has had a huge past year; not only has the company gone public but it also has reached a point of popularity that counterfeits are being smuggled into the US. Last month at CES the wearable producer expanded their lineup with their first true smartwatch-like device, the Blaze. Now the company is revealing their most connected fitness tracker ever, the Fitbit Alta. While Fitbit makes compelling fitness trackers, anyone looking for smartwatch-like connectivity in a tracker needed to look at other brands. The new Alta model should solve that; if you have been in the market for a Fitbit, this is probably the device you have been waiting for!

The most notable change with the Fitbit Alta is the screen. Gone is the microscopic display that has almost become iconic for the brand. It has been replaced with a touch sensitive monochrome OLED display that is almost as large as the front of the wearable. This large screen finally enables Fitbit to have true push notifications including calls, texts, and calendar events. The are also multiple watch faces baked into the tracker which can be displayed either landscape or vertically. The watch face isn’t the only way Fitbit is allowing you to customize the device. The Alta promises to be the company’s most fashionable device to date. Despite a few notable partnerships, such as with designer Tory Burch, most Fitbits are relegated to the company’s rather unsightly rubber bands. The Alta has been designed to be easily swappable between bands with connectors on either end which allow interchangeable bands to slide on. While the Fitbit Alta will initially ship with the company’s traditional elastomer band, it has already announced both leather and metal bands are forthcoming and that there will be a line of gold and Tory Burch accessories for the Alta.

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by Doug Parker
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Layer Design Worldbeing Thunderclap carbon footprint tracker wearable
Environment, Wearable Technology

Worldbeing Wearable Tracks Your Carbon Footprint

January 29, 2016

Layer Design Worldbeing Thunderclap carbon footprint tracker wearable

It is no secret that we are harming the environment. Between toxic air, bizarre temperatures, and increasingly violent weather, all is not right in the world. While it is easy to look at various industries and see how they are hurting the earth, it is a bit more challenging to look inward and understand exactly how your actions are effecting the environment. That is the concept behind Layer Design’s Worldbeing wearable. The Nike Fuelband-like bracelet would work with a companion mobile app to track things such as transportation choices, energy usage, food consumption, and shopping. While still in development, the bracelet would rely on consumption data from power companys’ smart-meters, carbon footprint info from food databases (such as MyFitnessPal), and granulated purchase data from a connect credit card (more detailed information is being added continually to credit card records). If Worldbeing shipped tomorrow you would need to input a lot of the data by hand, but the company behind it, in partnership with the Carbon Trust, believe that by the time Worldbeing becomes available, much of the information would be widely available and automatically fed to the app. The wearable itself is used to monitor your activity and transportation choices in addition to providing a glance-able readout of how your carbon footprint compares to a previous day. Layer Design envisions a social aspect to the Worldbeing, allowing you to compete against friends to have the lowest carbon footprint for the day. Keeping with the whole earth-friendly idea, the plan is to construct the wearable device from recycled plastics and e-waste; it will utilize an ultra low-power e-ink display and charge via a physical connection (induction charging is not very efficient). While there is no schedule for the release of Worldbeing, the device did achieve the goal level of interest on site Thunderclap.  

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by Doug Parker
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Samsung Fitness Tracker Gear S2 SM-R150 Triathlon S-Patch Fitbit
Watches

Samsung Preparing New Fitness Oriented Wearable

January 29, 2016

Samsung Fitness Tracker Gear S2 SM-R150 Triathlon S-Patch Fitbit

Two years ago at the Mobile World Congress, Samsung introduced a bevy of new wearables. Among those was a fitness tracker called the Samsung Fit. The Microsoft Band-like device was mediocrely reviewed and didn’t make a big splash in the market place. But if a rumor from Tizen Cafe is to be believed, Samsung is ready to tackle the fitness market again. The new device appears to be based on the Gear S2; it has the same shape and seems to sport the signature rotating bezel. Code named SM-R150, SamMobile is reporting the device is being called Triathlon internally. Besides that, little is known about the device. We can infer it is possible that the new wearable will integrate Samsung’s new S-Patch bio processor, which the company showed at CES this year. Based on images from Tizen Cafe, the SM-R150 seems to have a component that attaches to one’s shirt but the purpose of it is not clear. The images also show a “Body Equalizer” view with the ability to select things such as body fat and weight, a rep counter for the gym, and a way to track hydration. In one image you can also see a screen that appears to feature Airplane Mode, music playback, and a Settings option. We expect to find out more about the device in a few weeks, when the Mobile World Conference kicks off on February 22nd.  

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by Doug Parker
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