Tag Archives: wearable

The Apple Watch Series 7 will be revealed at Apple’s September event – Here’s everything we know so far

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Based on every rumor we’ve heard, the Watch Series 7 is most likely to see a design overhaul. Unlike its predecessors, the Watch 7 will probably sport a slimmer body with a flat edge running along the sides (making it look like a part of the current iPad and iPhone family). This redesign will allow the upcoming smartwatch to have a larger screen and potentially even a bigger battery.

The renders you’re looking at come from YouTuber Matt Talks Tech, who’s been following the leaks and rumors around the Watch Series 7 pretty closely. According to these leaks, the smartwatch will have an even faster S7 processor, a better OLED screen, and better wireless connectivity thanks to a 5G modem. It’ll retain all of the smartwatch’s fitness tracking, heart rate-sensing, and blood oxygen-monitoring features from the models prior while possibly even unveiling a game-changing new glucose-monitoring feature that should make those pin-prick tests for diabetics obsolete.

The new watch design will most likely be made from the same materials – aluminum, steel, or even titanium, with the Ceramic Shield glass on the display. Matt even speculates that the watch may sport a TouchID sensor built into the Home button (since there’s never been a biometric-based locking system on the Apple Watch so far). The watch will come in its two standard sizes, and all indications show that Apple plans on retaining its original watch-straps so that consumers can easily upgrade their watch while retaining their favorite straps from the past models.

While Apple hasn’t confirmed the exact date for their Watch announcement event, analysts speculate it should be held in September, as it has been for years.

Image Credits: Matt Talks Tech

This black algae dyed t-shirt is Vollebak’s latest creation designed to suck carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere!

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Vollebak grows black algae in giant ponds located in California, which is collected and heat-treated to concentrate it into a black powder to be used as a pigment for dye.

Every day, we wear clothes without knowing how they’re made. Unless you’re already buying clothes from sustainable brands, most of the clothing we wear is produced from material that isn’t harvested responsibly, let alone biodegradable. Take the color black–our favorite everyday black t-shirts are colored by a pigment derived from petroleum called carbon black. However, Vollebak, a clothing brand that uses technology to produce sustainable t-shirts and bottoms, aims to reinvent the way that the color black is made.

Carbon black is a color pigment that’s used to dye our clothing black. After large plots of land called tar sands are stripped of all pre-existing vegetation and animal life, carbon black is extracted from the petroleum stored underground. Noticing the unsustainable practices of producing black clothing, Vollebak discovered that you don’t have to dig up any earth to access black algae.

Known for growing in ponds, black algae only needs sunlight and carbon dioxide to flourish. Having abundant access to a natural black pigment, Vollebak used material technology to collect and use black algae to dye their t-shirts black. The result? The Black Algae T-Shirt feels and looks just like a conventionally dyed t-shirt.

Each t-shirt from Vollebak is made from eucalyptus trees that are harvested from sustainably managed forests. Once the pulp from eucalyptus trees gets spun into a wearable fabric, each t-shirt is dyed with black algae ink, which continues to lock in the carbon dioxide it absorbed while still alive. In order to lock the carbon dioxide into the shirt for up to 100 years, Vollebak uses carbon capture technology to trap carbon dioxide at its emission source.

After harvesting black algae from their ponds, Vollebak puts the algae through a heat treatment that concentrates it into powder form. “The black algae ink has been engineered to be UV resistant so it will hold its color for years. But since this is a bio-based ink it won’t behave exactly like a petroleum-based ink. Over time the black color may brighten around the edges next to the seams. To make the algae last for as long as possible we recommend hand washing the t-shirt in cold water with as little detergent as possible.”

The T-shirts themselves are produced from eucalyptus trees that are harvested from sustainably managed forests. “The rest of the t-shirt is made from wood pulp from sustainably managed forests. Eucalyptus, beech, spruce are chipped and pulped, before being turned into fiber, then yarn, and finally fabric. All the wood is harvested from sustainable forestry plantations and certified by both the Forestry Sustainability Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Representing over 700 million acres of certified forests, the PEFC is the largest forest certification system in the world.” Instead of dyeing the shirt’s individual fibers black, Vollebak dyes the entire outer surface of their shirts in black algae ink, which is why the final color of each t-shirt is more of a very dark grey marl.

Since all the materials used to produce their Black Algae T-shirt, the shirt can biodegrade in about 12 weeks. Once the material has disappeared just the black algae ink will remain in an almost imperceptible, safe and non-toxic state. And while other organic materials release carbon dioxide when they decompose, this ink will continue storing its carbon for over 100 years.

Designer: Vollebak

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Engineered to be UV-resistant, the t-shirt will hold its color for years.

“The wood is turned into [the] fabric using an environmentally responsible and closed-loop production process. In practice, this means that over 99% of the water and solvent used to turn pulp into fiber is recycled and reused.”

Since its not petroleum-based ink, the black algae ink dye will brighten near the t-shirt’s seams and edges.

Circular ‘Apple Watch Air’ concept adds a budget-friendly option to Apple’s smartwatch catalog

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Titled the Apple Watch Loop, this concept by Felipe Duarte does two things – it brings variety to Apple’s smartwatch offering and adds a beautifully-basic ‘Air’ variant in Apple’s watch lineup, just like with their other products like the iPhone Mini, iPad Air, and MacBook Air.

Apple’s always fervently stuck to the square-shaped watch. They debuted the Apple Watch and spoke heavily of how much they were influenced by classic watches, they even added a rotating crown to the design, but unlike the circular Samsung Gear watch and Moto 360, Apple went for what was considered the logical, ‘safe’ option and outfitted their Watch with a square screen, instead of the classic watch-inspired circle display. It’s been some 7 years to the day, and Apple hasn’t really rocked the boat with the watch design – although the watch’s core functions have definitely changed over time, going from a fashionable gadget to a life-saving medical fitness tracker on your wrist. Industrial Designer Felipe Duarte decided to have some fun with the Apple Watch’s design, experimenting with a few radically different details while retaining the Apple Watch’s core essence. The result was the Apple Watch Loop, a fun, friendly, circular concept that’s funky, resistant to damage, and provides Apple’s most important Watch features, in a circular form.

The Apple Watch Loop’s three drastic changes include A. its circular body, and B. the concave screen, and C. the watch strap, which forms a bumper around the smartwatch’s main hardware. Designed to provide a compact-yet-robust experience, Duarte outfitted the watch with a concave screen that’s extremely user-friendly, yet is impossible to damage when you accidentally bump your hand on a surface. Similarly, the large rubber bumper around the watch’s hardware component provides similar shock-absorbing features (although it does result in an unavoidably large physical bezel around the display).

The Watch Loop is still rather unapologetically an Apple smartwatch. It comes with the rotating crown, the familiar interface (although probably slightly modified for the circular layout), sports the heart-rate tracker and magnetic wireless charging zone on the base, and has an interchangeable watch-strap system that’s available in a host of colors. Notably, its speakers hide behind the rubber bumper of the watch strap, its concave screen sinks into the design, helping somewhat reduce mass, and the watch’s circular design can be popped out of its strap and used sort of like a pocket-watch or even a handheld stopwatch. Duarte’s concept aims at bending some of the rules that Apple’s set for its Smartwatch while adhering to the others. At the end of the day, it’s still a memorable design that looks like a part of Apple’s ecosystem. It comes in a fun display case too (which is slightly bulkier than the Watch’s slimmer vertical cases). What do you think?

Designer: Felipe Duarte

A Honda-incubated startup designed this genius in-shoe GPS navigation system that can guide the visually impaired

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Designed to integrate right into the wearer’s shoe, the Ashirase uses a series of haptic ‘tickles’ to help guide the visually impaired as they walk, providing a much more intuitive and effective alternative to using a smartphone.

The Ashirase has a rather heartbreaking backstory. Honda EV-engineer Wataru Chino began working on the concept following the death of a slightly visually impaired relative under circumstances he deemed avoidable. Determined to come up with a much more effective solution to help the blind navigate roads freely and safely, Chino saw no alternative but to craft together a design solution. Honda even helped incubate the design and build the startup through its new-business incubation initiative, IGNITION.

Armed with one less sense, visually impaired pedestrians find it incredibly difficult to navigate to unknown destinations. With their limited senses occupied in concentrating on directions, they can often forget to pay attention to their surroundings or the roads, putting them in danger. The inverse is problematic too, because when they pay more attention to their immediate surroundings, they could in the process forget to follow the directions correctly and get lost. Chino’s solution helps the impaired concentrate on the road while also being able to intuitively receive directions in a less-distracting way. The wearable sits sandwiched between the foot and the wearer’s sneaker. This frees up the user’s hand to hold onto their walking cane (as opposed to their smartphone), and allows them to use their ears to sense their surroundings (instead of listening to audio directions).

The name Ashirase comes from the Japanese word ‘oshirase’, for notice/notification, as the in-shoe wearable helps notify the wearer while they walk, effectively guiding them through a series of vibrations. The in-shoe wearable comes in two parts – a silicone band that wraps around the foot, and an electronic ‘compass’ that provides the haptic feedback. Wearables on each foot help guide the user in any direction, guiding the wearer to their end-destination that’s fed into Ashirase’s smartphone app (which also decides the most optimal path for the wearer to take). The app currently runs on the Google Maps API, which provides a few limitations like needing the internet to work, and not being able to provide effective navigation indoors, although the company is already working on overcoming those drawbacks.

Chino’s startup plans on releasing a beta version of the Ashirase system in Japan in October or November of this year, where users will be provided with free versions of the wearable and the app for testing purposes. Following the public beta, Ashirase is gunning for a commercial-ready product by October 2022, with a subscription-based payment system that should cost somewhere between $18 to $27 (or 2000-3000 Yen).

Designer: Ashirase LLC (Wataru Chino)

OnePlus Concept One smartwatch is a high-quality EDC fitted into a sleek wearable design

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This watch conceptualized by Michael Szczególski of 2sympleks Design draws inspiration from the OnePlus Concept One phone that has an electrochromic glass (based on electronic CMF technology) for the camera module glass covering.

OnePlus forayed into the smartwatch market in the early half of this year, but it wasn’t popular amongst tech enthusiasts, given the other smartwatches in the market that offer more. The Never Settle endeavor of the brand seemed to be missing in their first smartwatch, and I’m hoping the table is turned in their next release. This OnePlus Concept One Watch could be the right direction for the brand to foray, if they want to dethrone the best ones like Apple Watch Series 6, Galaxy Watch 3, or Fitbit Sense.

While on first look it might seem like any other smartwatch, there’s one thing that makes it stand out from the crowd. When the camera app is activated, the glass magically turns transparent to reveal the sensors otherwise hidden from plain sight. The Concept One Watch employs this technology to blur the lines between a classic analog watch with kinetic movement and modern-day smartwatch functionality. The Android WearOS watch is a perfect hybrid capable of satisfying proponents of classic watches and ones who like the more modern approach of the connected ecosystem of smartwatches.

This is possible with the electrochromic touchscreen which is completely transparent, revealing the classic watch dial. At the touch of a button with the underlying fingerprint sensor, the watch’s smart functions are triggered. You can control the music, keep track of physical activity, read text messages or make voice calls.

When not required, you can revert back to the completely transparent glass screen mode, revealing the beautiful kinetic watch movement of the hour and seconds hands. You’ll still be able to be notified of important texts or calls, that’ll be indicated by small notifications that in no way intrude on the beautiful watch dial.

The watch’s OnePlus Concept One phone influence is evident in the cool orange strap, accompanying accessories like the charging cable, and packaging. Would I want to sport one on my wrist? Absolutely yes. I hope OnePlus is watching this!

Designer: Michael Szczególski of 2sympleks Design

LG’s PuriCare face mask gets in-built mike and speakers, giving the wearable design improved functionality

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Who would have thought a couple of years earlier, that face masks would be in line for a high-tech upgrade. In fact, big brands like Razer and Mastercard deploying their precious resources and time to develop next-gen masks that ups your style quotient exponentially in the current uncertain times. Even lifestyle brands like Will.i.am or upcoming designers like Ollie Butt believe the face masks are here to stay. LG is another big name that forayed into developing a high-tech face mask last year and has been improving the design and function of the beta model ever since.

Now they’ve announced the latest version of the PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier (that’s an odd naming convention) that had three fans and a couple of HEPTA filters to keep most pathogens out. The new face mask has a smaller and lighter motor, and built-in microphones and speakers. The latter helps in automatically amplifying the wearer’s voice when talking courtesy of the VoiceON technology. For that matter, the techno Razer Project Hazel face mask has a similar tech to make communication easier. The improvements on the LG PuriCare don’t stop there as it weighs just 94 grams now and has a 1,000mAh battery with a recharge time of two hours. LG says it can be worn without any discomfort for around eight hours, but hey, remember it is a mask, and it will feel a bit uncomfortable after just a few hours. LG claims in the fresh press release that the ergonomic PuriCare Wearable is designed in a way to “minimizes air leakage around the nose and chin to create a tight but comfortable seal for hours.”

The improved version targeted towards active individuals is slated to come to Thailand in August, and it was worn by the Thai Olympics team on their way to the summer games in Tokyo. Launch in other markets is dependent on the local regulatory authority approvals. So it remains to be seen how the LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier fares in real-life settings. How the users perceive it is going to be more important than anything else, so we’ll have to wait and watch!

Designer: LG

Bellroy’s leather Apple Watch straps give your smartwatch a classy, old-school touch

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Isn’t it funny that Apple sells its own leather case for the iPhone, a product that has literally no history with leather, and leather holders for the AirTag, a relatively cutting-edge device that isn’t really connected to leather… but the Apple Watch doesn’t have leather straps. Wristwatches and leather straps have been an unavoidable match for centuries, but it seems like something Apple just glossed over. If that fact somehow bugged you too like it’s bugging me, Bellroy’s got a clever solution. The smartwatch straps from Bellroy come with a durable elastomer base for comfort and to prevent slipping, but are then finished off with a wonderfully eye-catching eco-tanned leather top.

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

The leather-elastomer blend gives the watch the best of both worlds. The leather brings back the watch’s most trusted strap material, giving the watch an authentically classic appeal, while the elastomer base on the strap prevents it from slipping on your wrist. Since the Apple Watch’s main hardware is fairly heavier than most regular watches, it succumbs to the effects of gravity, which is why having a rubbery base to the strap helps. A texture on the underside also promotes breathability, so the strap never makes your skin feel sweaty.

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

The premium leather on top, however, comes with an eco-friendly veggie-tan and patinas over time, becoming uniquely imperfect as the leather ages… a phenomenon that contrasts beautifully to the Apple Watch, which always looks cutting-edge. It’s a contrast that feels weirdly comforting, if you ask me. It gives the technology a facet that feels much more human, one of aging… while still remaining classically timeless, because leather and wristwatches are truly an inseparable pair!

Bellroy’s Apple Smartwatch Straps come in 5 colors – Black, Basalt, Cobalt, Racing Green, and Toffee, and ship worldwide with a 3-year warranty.

Designer: Bellroy

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

Bellroy Leather Strap for Apple Watch

This Band-Aid-inspired wearable finger strip generates energy from your sweat, even when you’re asleep!

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Our bodies are an abundant source of energy to power new-age wearables; the only question is to figure out how to do it most practically. This thin Band-Aid-like energy harvester developed by the team of engineers at the University of California, San Diego, could be the answer to powering our gadgets in the future. Of course, there are other similar prototype wearables we’ve seen in the past, including some by the UC San Diego team itself, but this one is different.

The thin, flexible strip worn on the finger can generate energy when you are sleeping or simply doing nothing since the sweat from your body powers it. As the fingertips produce exponentially more sweat than any other body part, they are virtually an abundant source to put to good use. The strip has carbon foam electrodes that absorb the sweat, and a chemical reaction is initiated between the lactate and oxygen molecules. The result is electricity generation that’s stored in capacitors to power our modern power-hungry wearables. According to co-first author Lu Yin, “This work is a step forward to making wearables more practical, convenient and accessible for the everyday person.”

The strip comes equipped with piezoelectric material to generate energy in response to pressure. Activities like typing, exercising, driving your car, or opening the refrigerator also result in energy production. During the testing phase, the team tested to strip during 10 hours of sleep on a subject, and it produced 400 millijoules of energy. This is ample energy to power an electronic watch for 24 hours. Another experiment by the team tested the energy generated with casual typing and clicking with a mouse, resulting in 30 millijoules of energy. Yin emphasized the fact that “when you are sleeping, you are putting in no work. Even with a single finger press, you are only investing about half a millijoule.”

The team is working on improving the device to make it practical, efficient, and durable for everyday use. To this end, Yin added by saying that, “We want to show that this is not just another cool thing that can generate a small amount of energy and then that’s it – we can actually use the energy to power useful electronics such as sensors and displays.”

Designer: University of California, San Diego

Engineer designed and built his own functioning mechanical prosthetic hand and it looks like a steampunk beauty!

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It looks like equal parts Iron Man and the Winter Soldier, and it makes really cool whirring and clicking noises too!

Most people look to 2019 with a certain fondness and nostalgia, but the year proved quite difficult for Ian Davis. Not only did he lose 4 of his fingers in a freak workshop accident, but he was also diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, an aggressive type of cancer. To add figurative salt to his wounds, Davis found out his medical insurance didn’t cover costs for a prosthetic hand because ‘he only lost his fingers and not his entire hand’. Determined not to be shaken by this strange detour life forced him to take, and also empowered by his sheer willpower to keep creating, Davis decided to build a prosthetic of his own.

Relying on his professional knowledge as a mechanical engineer, and taking to 3D printing, Ian embarked on a journey to rebuild his hand and his life. “Being a maker, it was a tough deal,” Ian said as he had to use his hand for everything. Davis even documented the entire process on his YouTube channel through a series of videos that show assemblies, versions, updates, and upgrades. In his latest upgrade, Davis demonstrates the prosthetic’s ability to splay (or spread out) the mechanical fingers… something he says is very rare, if not entirely absent, in commercial prosthetics. The fact that the entire prosthetic limb is engineered from scratch gave Davis the ability to repair and augment his creation, something he wouldn’t be able to do with complex, commercially manufactured prosthetic limbs… especially given America’s strict laws against the “Right To Repair”.

What’s really noteworthy about Davis’ creation is that it’s entirely mechanical and doesn’t rely on electronic components, software, and batteries. In a Reddit thread, he mentions that the mechanical hand has many obvious benefits over an electronic one. For starters, it doesn’t need charging (and conversely never runs out of charge either), but it’s also MUCH faster than electronic limbs. It takes an average of 0.2 seconds to open or close the fist, as opposed to electronic prosthetics that can take 10 times longer. Let’s also state the fairly obvious in that it even looks absolutely INSANE, with the steampunk metal digits and the tiny #15 industrial chain running through them… as well as the whirring and clicking sounds they make as they move.

It’s a relentless process of trial, error, and improvement for Ian Davis. He started working on the concept back in July of 2019, and slowly and surely built new features into his hand to make it better, with the latest addition being the splaying function. Moving forward, Ian also plans to implement an Arduino with a display to gain individual control of the fingers and some servo motors to advance the design.

“My end goal is to get picked up by one of the major prosthetic manufacturers and design hands for them in their R&D department, creating real-world solutions for partial hand amputees. Durable products that you can take to work and actually get jobs done with. Allowing people to get back to their lives, doing things that they loved before the time of their life-changing accidents”, Ian says.

Designer: Ian Davis

This Wearable musical instrument made from PVC pipes radiates Dr. Octavius vibes!

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If you’ve ever come across a Tubulum, you know how cool it sounds, and the way it is made is nothing short of imaginative! Made out of a collection of tubes or PVC pipes, the DIY musical instrument’s sound is determined by the length of each pipe. So how could a Tubulum be bettered to look even more badass? It could take the shape of an OCTAV – a musical instrument that can be worn like a harness and give us those cool Dr. Otto Octavious vibes!

Designed by Asaf Wainberg, the one-off musical instrument is purely out of the realms of cool DIY stuff that you can’t give a miss. Like the Tubulum, the OCTAV is made out of PVC pipes leading to six pads (like drums) that create sound. The principle here is that the sound generated by tapping on the pads depends on the length and circumference of the pipes attached to it. And the whole thing is fixed onto a harness so you can move around with it.

Keeping Dr. Octavious in mind, I wish there was a way to control the arms robotically; it would make a kick-ass piece to strut.
However, the similarity ends there as this musical rig is on the incredible spectrum of things, wrapping the musician on the front and back for a superhero-like look. If you are inspired enough, this could be a replicated DIY weekend project to surprise your buddies. Who knows, you could be the next viral sensation, just like Asaf Wainberg will be in a few weeks!

Designer: Asaf Wainberg