wearables

More rumblings about Google's Heads-Up Display Glasses materializing sometime in the near future were heard today. According to The New York Times, the public will be able to buy these high-tech glasses by the end of the year and they will cost somewhere between $250 and $600.

Rumors that the HUD Google Glasses were in the works have been brewing for the past couple of months. After accounts that Google was finishing up the prototype in December, tech news site 9to5Google reported that a tipster actually saw the glasses.

The prototype apparently resembles Oakley's Thump glasses but functions … Read more

The prototype for Google's HUD glasses has been seen, according to tech news site 9to5Google. And, supposedly they resemble Oakley's Thump glasses, which makes them look a lot like something the Terminator might wear.

But, it's not just how Google's glasses look, their function also mirrors something out of the Terminator trilogy.

In December, rumors spread that Google was finishing up a prototype on high-tech glasses known as wearable head-up displays (HUD) that could tap into Google's cloud-based location services and detail users' surroundings. The information would then appear as an augmented reality computer display. … Read more

Imagine: You're walking down the street at night. You turn a corner, and suddenly, coming your way, you see someone with "Avatar" playing on their jacket.

It's a futuristic notion, but according to the folks at open-source hardware maker Adafruit Industries, it's one that's just months away.

That's because Adafruit has just unveiled Flora, its brand-new Arduino and Arduino-compatible wearable electronics platform. Designed to give anyone the ability to craft a matrix of up to hundreds or someday, more than 1,000 small LED "pixels," Flora is meant to make it possible to easily craft custom wearable multi-LED pixel designs perfect for art events like Burning Man, or even the streets of whatever town you live in. … Read more

A couple years ago, while out enjoying a bike ride, Walt Froloff became increasingly annoyed that his cell phone kept slipping out of its holster.

By the time he got home he decided to fashion an accessory that would allow him to attach his phone to his wrist. Now, he is president of a startup that makes just that--WristOffice.

"This was born from frustration, anger and disbelief," Froloff said. "The future can't be you holding something in your hand trying to find things."

Froloff's WristOffice was one of several wearable devices showcased Tuesday … Read more

Google is reportedly designing eyeglasses that could display information on the world around us.

The high-tech specs purportedly would tap into Google's cloud-based location services to convey details about the user's surroundings. The visual information would then appear as a 3D augmented reality computer display.

Known as wearable head-up displays (HUDs), the glasses are reportedly in the late prototype stage, says tech news site 9to5Google. Based on information from one of its sources, the site describes the glasses as similar in appearance to conventional eyeglasses but with a few buttons on the arms. The actual display technology is … Read more

Wearable technology has often been viewed as a joke, but Apple and Google are trying to change that, according to a new report.

A small team at Apple is currently working on wearable technology that would send data to an iPhone or iPod, The New York Times reported yesterday, citing sources. One idea, the sources say, is an iPod that features a curved-glass display and wraps around a wrist. People could use Apple virtual personal assistant Siri to communicate with the device.

Though the idea is still in its infancy, according to the Times, it's not so outlandish.… Read more

Patches of tiny needles have already been shown to effectively deliver medications painlessly, and without a bloody mess. Now the tiny needles could also be used to monitor body chemistry in real time.

The new tech, developed by a team of biomedical engineers out of North Carolina State University, the University of California at San Diego, and Sandia National Laboratories, employs electrochemical sensors in the hollow channels of microneedles to detect certain molecules. The researchers reported their findings in the chemistry journal Talanta.

Current body chemistry monitoring involves taking samples, often before or after an event. Wearable micro-sensors, on the … Read more

The GoPro line of wearable cameras has been dominating the action sports video camera realm, but a new challenger has just arrived. The Swann Freestyle HD hopes a display will be the game changer.

The Freestyle HD caters to impatient people who don't want to wait to load their videos onto a computer or play them back through a television at home.

The detachable 1.5-inch LCD screen is tiny, but it will let you know if you captured that spectacular skateboard wipeout or not.… Read more

OK, I'm ready for the backlash. I'm wearing an iPod Nano on my wrist as a watch. I already own an iPhone. And an iPad. What's wrong with me?

Would you believe me if I said that I'd have done the same thing if there was any watch that could do what this one does? Would you believe me if I said I didn't do this for the iPod?

Let me explain.

I've always been a fan of digital watches and funky watch design, especially tech watches (I even defended them on TV). I'm a watch geek. I wore a retro Casio watch. I just got a cool Diesel one. A long time ago, I tried the Fossil Palm-powered watch, the Fossil Wrist PDA. I still have it in my desk drawer. Microsoft Spot watch? Check.

The iPod Nano-as-watch is a proud successor of that line, a gadget that I believe will stand the test of time for its novelty. Apple may not make a true iWatch, and the iPod's long-term destiny may not inevitably be on my wrist, but for now it's the most innovative use of iPod technology since, well, the first iPod. … Read more