Wearable

Apple Applies to Trademark ‘iWatch’ Name in Japan

2013-07-03

Apple has filed an application to trademark the “iWatch” name in Japan, the first known patent application for the name in any country. The application was filed early last month but was not announced until last week. It has not yet been approved.

The patent application may or may not signal that Japan will be first to get an Apple iWatch, but there are compelling reasons for Apple to focus on Japan when it comes to wrist wear. According to Digital Luxury Group, about 50% of Japan’s online searches for luxury watches came from mobile phones in 2011, versus 17% of all searches worldwide for luxury watches. So many Japanese buyers of high-end watches are already very comfortable with mobile devices. And Japan is a major exporter to China, which has become the world’s top market for luxury watches.

Japan’s Sony has already launched a SmartWatch, which is compatible with Android phones, and last month it upgraded its product offering with the SmartWatch 2, which features more apps, a high-resolution display, longer battery life, and NFC. NFC (near field communication) enables wearers of the watch to share data with the Android smartphones by tapping the watch to the phone.

The other major connected wristwatch on the market is Pebble, made by a Kickstarter company which raised an unprecedented $10 million dollars in one month. Pebble is a Silicon Valley startup that manufactures its watches in China. They run Android and iOS apps. Until now Pebble watches have only been available online, and buyers have to pre-order and wait for their watch to ship. But today 9To5Mac reported that the Pebble watch is coming to Best Buy stores as soon as this weekend.

Nike also makes a smart watch, the Nike FuelBand. Apple CEO Tim Cook wears a FuelBand, which uses sensors to track a user’s movement throughout the day and report on their activity level.

via RCR U.S. Wireless News.

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AGENT: The World’s Smartest Watch by Secret Labs + House of Horology

2013-06-26

QTOOTH loves the spirit of ingenuity… and competition. Here is the latest entry into the smart watch foray from Agent. QTOOTH still wonders about their successful adoption in the marketplace. Not too many people wear watches anymore and they are one of the few wireless devices that seem to be moving AWAY from hands-free. In fact, operating a smart phone usually takes two hands! Agent are well on their way to a very successful Kickstarter round of fundraising to bring their idea to fruition. Below are most of the details from their Kickstarter campaign. Use the link at the bottom of the post if you want to jump into the fray and become one for their sponsors.

Agent Smart Phone

The next generation smartwatch with brand-new technology. World-class developer tools, unparalleled battery life, Qi wireless charging.

If you missed our Kickstarter campaign, you will still be able to get your own AGENT smartwatch. Please visit agentwatches.com for more info.

Let’s talk about a generational leap forward in smartwatch technology.

Smartwatch batteries are less than 10% the size of smartphone batteries. Yet while we’re thrilled when a smartphone lasts the entire day on a charge, we’re frustrated when a tiny smartwatch battery doesn’t last the week.

So smartwatch designers have compromised to conserve battery power—limiting us to simple apps, minimal connectivity and primitive developer tools.

No Compromises

We weren’t willing to compromise. So we spent the last year testing and integrating the very best new technologies from around the world, eliminating limitations of the past.

We’ve created the first smartwatch that doesn’t compromise, with both unparalleled battery life and powerful watch apps. With two-way communication to smartphones and amazing developer tools that you can download today. And with so much more.

This is AGENT, a brand-new generation of smartwatch. Please join us on a tour.

Trendsetting Design

Watches are also fashion accessories.Watches are also fashion accessories.

We want to wear our watches everywhere, so Secret Labs teamed up with NYC watchmaker House of Horology to craft a beautiful watch that matches any outfit.

You can switch from one watchface to another with the press of a button, matching your style or your mood. And you can download additional watchfaces through your smartphone.

Works with your Smartphone

AGENT talks to your smartphone using Bluetooth, enabling convenient control of your music library and acting as a wrist-based display for smartphone apps.

Our powerful Bluetooth firmware makes it possible for smartphone apps to work with your watch, no inter-process communication or white-listing required.

Notifications and lost phone alert

AGENT also displays incoming calls and notifications. And it vibrates to let you know when you’ve accidentally left your phone behind.

Compatible with iPhone 4S or newer, Android 2.3+ and Windows Phone 8.

Connected Watch Apps (Bluetooth Classic + 4.0 LE)

Agent Watch Weather - QTOOTH — Running and Weather Apps

Like your smartphone, AGENT runs downloadable apps.

These apps can talk to traditional Bluetooth devices such as smartphones and heart rate monitors (for exercise apps) as well as the new generation of Bluetooth Low Energy devices such as door locks (so you can leave your physical keys behind).

Working with your smartphone, watch apps can also retrieve info from the Internet, keeping you up to date with the things that are most important to you.

Dual Processor

Agent Watch Sleep Mode - QTOOTH — Power-optimized dual processor design

Powerful watch apps demand a powerful processor. But powerful processors drain batteries quickly.

For long battery life, a smartwatch’s processor remains in sleep mode most of the time. While last year’s processors consume 300μA in sleep mode, AGENT’s brand-new ARM Cortex-M4 processor consumes just 33μA (11% as much power).

And to keep that processor in sleep mode as much as possible, we added a much smaller secondary processor. The second processor takes care of housekeeping duties and events and itself remains in a super-low-power 0.1μA sleep mode most of the time.

Precision Power Metering

Agent Watch Power Meter for Apps - QTOOTH — On-demand power consumption measurements for app developers

Because watch batteries are so small, watch apps must be designed for battery efficiency. But since power metering chips consume too much power, smartwatches have lacked the tools necessary to power-optimize watch apps.

So we’ve been stuck with simple apps that get decent battery life—or more sophisticated apps that can drain battery and ruin the user’s experience.

Thankfully, recent hardware innovations in coulomb counting, combined with some really smart software, enable AGENT to provide precision power metering on demand without sacrificing battery life. This gives developers the tools they need to create sophisticated Bluetooth-connected watch apps which are also battery friendly.

Managed Runtime

Traditional smartwatches run apps in an unrestricted environment. This can lead to memory leaks, lockups, and permanently disabled watches. Without access controls, apps can even steal private data from other apps.

Smartphones solve these issues through sophisticated security frameworks and managed runtimes. AGENT’s OS includes a managed runtime, optimized for our low-power architecture. It is called the .NET Micro Framework and it makes watch apps trustable.

This feature-rich managed runtime also offers developers modern features they crave: event-based programming; multi-threading; garbage collection; lambda expressions; exception handling; automatic power management; and much more.

World-class Development Tools

Watch apps can be written in C# using Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 (including the free Express edition). Deploy your apps over Bluetooth and debug them interactively.

Developers can also use AGENT as a secondary display, interacting with it remotely via Bluetooth from their Objective-C, C#, or Java smartphone app.

We’ve also created a desktop emulator, making it easy for developers to start creating watch apps while we are hard at work getting your smartwatch ready for your wrist. We will release the preview version of the emulator right after the Kickstarter campaign ends and will release the final version this autumn.

High Speed Memory Display

Traditional LCDs can display smooth user interfaces, but they’re very power hungry. E-paper displays are very energy efficient, but their slow refresh rates don’t allow for animations.

So AGENT uses a new 1.28″ Sharp Memory Display which combines the best aspects of both technologies: fast animations; high clarity outdoor-readable display; and ultra-low (~20uA) power consumption.

This new memory display also runs at a lower voltage than the last generation, eliminating energy-wasting voltage boosters from our electrical design.

Wireless Charging

We love MicroUSB for charging our devices, but AGENT needs to be water resistant. And we are not big fans of proprietary charging cables.

Qi (pronounced ‘chee’) is a global standard for wireless charging, and we are building it into the AGENT smartwatch. Simply set your watch on the included Qi charging pad (or any other Qi charging pad) from time to time to keep the battery topped off.

No wires, no hassle. The included charging pad is compact and powered by MicroUSB. If you have a Qi charging pad from Energizer, JBL, LG, Nexus, Nokia, or Panasonic those will work too.

Motion and Light Sensors

AGENT senses motion in three dimensions with an integrated 3-axis accelerometer. Motion data is available to apps on demand and via timestamped motion events. Use your smartwatch as a pedometer, a sleep tracker or a game controller.

Two integrated light sensors (both broadband and infrared-only) work together to measure ambient light, enabling AGENT to intelligently illuminate the display in dim lighting conditions. And of course apps can retrieve the current ambient light level anytime.

Fail-safe Recovery Modes

Since AGENT firmware is updated wirelessly, we built fail-safe recovery modes into our hardware design. This ensures that firmware updates cannot disable your watch.

We incorporated bootable dual-bank flash, so we can store two sets of our recovery mode software. If a firmware update is aborted—even while updating the recovery mode software itself—its backup automatically recovers and lets you start the update over again.

And in the rare case that your watch gets into a bad state, our second processor can reset the watch and force it into recovery mode.

Advanced Power Management

7 days of battery life with Bluetooth. 30 days of battery life in watchface-only mode. This is the minimum standard we set for AGENT.

So behind all our premium energy-sipping components lies an advanced power management system. With three separate ultra-efficient power converters and custom power management software, AGENT is optimized to allocate every microwatt of battery power wisely.

And when the watch reaches 10% battery remaining, it automatically switches into watchface-only mode. This ensures that your watch still provides basic timekeeping functions if you’re away from power for a few days.

Watch Straps

AGENT features an accent-stitched watch strap. Available in six accent colors (orange, black, green, red, blue and white), these standard 22mm watch straps can be swapped without specialized tools.

UPDATE (22-May-2013): Thanks to extra funding from our backers, you will be able to choose between a genuine leather watch strap and a silicon rubber watch strap (leather straps pictured above).

UPDATE (31-May-2013): We now have an extra-long watchstrap (20mm longer) option. The extra-long watchstraps will be available in a subset of accent-stitching colors (black and white stitching), in both genuine leather and silicon rubber materials.

We will send you a survey before shipment, so that you can select your watch strap’s accent stitching color. The default accent stitching is white, as seen in the video.

Assembled in USA

Secret Labs manufactures its electronics products in the USA. Likewise, we plan to assemble AGENT’s advanced circuit boards and the watch itself in the USA.

Building AGENT smartwatches in the USA speeds our time to market, reduces our manufacturing risk, and enables us to build the watch with exacting standards. It also helps employ our neighbors, which we love.

Warranty

Every AGENT smartwatch will come with a limited 2-year warranty. This will cover the replaceable battery under normal usage circumstances.

Dimensions

Specs

120MHz ARM Cortex-M4 processor
with secondary AVR co-processor
1.28″ Memory Display (128 x 128)
with intelligent backlighting
Anti-glare glass lens
Bluetooth 4.0 BD/EDR + LE
3-axis accelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Vibration motor
7 days battery life (typical)
30 days in watchface-only mode
Qi wireless charging
Water resistant (ATMs: TBD)
AGENT OS 1.0
including .NET Micro Framework 4.3
RoHS, Pb-free
Designed for repair and recycling
including replaceable battery

About the Creators

Agnet Watch Creators Secret Labs - QTOOTH

Secret Labs engineers and manufactures electronics platforms for software developers. Our open-source Netduino product line (launched in 2010) is used by 10,000s of software developers worldwide as the basis for their custom electronics projects.

Secret Labs also builds hardware, software, and services in the smart home and building control industries—with years of experience working with wireless technologies and building robust protocol stacks.

http://www.netduino.com

Agent Watch Creators House of Horology - QTOOTH

House of Horology crafts fashion-forward, precision timepieces. Their Bedlam watches are popular on both runways and wrists. New York Magazine just named them “Best Men’s Watches of 2013.”

House of Horology’s passion is to create premium timepieces without the huge price tag.

http://www.houseofhorology.com

The Road to Your Wrist

Agent Watch Prototypes - QTOOTH — Prototype to production

The watches in the video are the latest prototype watches, with cases precision-milled out of aluminum and powder coated black. We are evaluating several premium case materials for production watches and will select the final material based on beauty and wireless performance.

Our prototype watches use ARM7 processors, Bluetooth Classic, and a wireless charging breakout board. For production, we are using our dual-processor design, a dual-mode Bluetooth radio (including Bluetooth LE), and our custom-designed wireless receiver coil (integrated into the caseback).

We have completed design of the electronic circuitry for production AGENT watches, and we have ported our operating system to the new Atmel Cortex-M4 microcontroller. We have also built validation boards using the production circuitry and are using those boards now to optimize our power management and to integrate Bluetooth Low Energy support into AGENT OS.

Upon successful funding of this Kickstarter campaign, we will use raised funds to create watchcase molds and production circuit boards. We will then obtain the necessary international certifications for wireless radio and wireless power devices (FCC, CE, Qi). We also need to pay for one-time engineering costs for items like our custom backlight assembly.

And most excitingly, we’ll be ordering a rather large volume of processors, screens, batteries, and more…to make AGENT watches for our backers.

via AGENT: The World’s Smartest Watch by Secret Labs + House of Horology — Kickstarter.

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DIY Headphone Implant – Yes, Implant

2013-06-23

So here’s a bit of news from the human evolution frontier. Grinders, also known as biohackers, are people who identify with transhumanist and biopunk ideologies. Transhumanism is the belief that it is both possible and desirable to so fundamentally alter the human condition through the use of technologies as to inaugurate a superior post-human being. Sounds extreme? Maybe, maybe not. Think heart pacemakers or sub-dermal blood sugar management for diabetics. There are many examples of where modifying the human body is already routine. However, it is probably the DIY aspect of this following story that may make people ask, “Really?” Enjoy!

DIY Headphone Implant

By: Rich Lee
Published: June 24, 2013

This idea was completely inspired by @Saumanahaii ’s thread here:
http://discuss.biohack.me/discussion/252/subdermal-bone-conduction-headphoness#Item_32

First, the idea is based on this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Your-Invisible-Earphones/

The project is set up like this:
1. implant magnets
2. test implants with coil to make sure audio is picked up
3. implant coil/other parts w/transdermal jack & power charger

Having stuff like this done isn’t really the realm of doctors. Most Grinders rely on body modification artists to install their implants. I’ve had work done by the body modification master Steve Haworth in the past and have relied on him for advice on several project ideas. Steve instinctively knew the best way to go about the implantation in a way that would minimize chances for infection and would leave no scarring. The implant procedure itself went very smoothly and the pain was surprisingly minimal.

The first thing everyone asks is “why would you do this?” Honestly, I don’t feel the need to answer this question. People either get it or they don’t. I’m a Grinder, and we are notorious for getting it.

The second question is usually “what are you going to do with it?”

Listening to music is nice and probably the most obvious answer, but I intend to do some very creative things with it. The implant itself is completely undetectable to the naked eye. The device & coil necklace are are easily concealed under my shirt so nobody can really see it. I can see myself using it with the gps on my smartphone to navigate city streets on foot. I plan to hook it up to a directional mic of some sort (possibly disguised as a shirt button or something) so I can hear conversations across a room. Having a mic hooked up to it and routed through my phone would be handy. You could use a simple voice stress analysis app to detect when people might be lying to you. Not to say that is a hard science, but I’m sure it could come in handy at the poker table or to pre-screen business clients. I have a contact mic that allows you to hear through walls. That might be my next implant actually.

I plan to hook this thing up to an ultrasonic rangefinder so that hums can be heard when objects get closer or further away. This will basically give you a sense of echolocation like a bat has. This could be really handy for blind people (many of whom use echolocation for navigation) since it will be audible only to them and doesn’t require making clicking noises with your mouth or using some other manual noisemaker. Echolocation is something I want to start practicing with now because I might be legally blind soon. I lost much of vision in my right eye overnight a few years back. I just woke up and couldn’t see well up close or far away. My other eye has compensated for the vision loss but the doc says the good eye can go at any time and when it does it will be very rapid. I’ll lose my drivers license, won’t be able to read, and glasses won’t correct the problem. Making money will be harder. A cornea transplant will be my only option and that is a bit out of my budget at the moment. So I figure learning to navigate with echolocation is a good thing to develop now, not that I’ve resigned myself to blindness or anything.

Beyond that, I’d love to hook a geiger counter up to it and experience the world or radiation. Living near the old Nevada nuclear testing grounds provides a lot of opportunity for this. I wouldn’t mind finding some yellow cake uranium while on a hike because that stuff is expensive. Hearing a gentle hiss around warm objects might be a novel way to experience the thermal realm. The implant is going to allow for a lot of new senses. Plugging new sensors into the jack will allow me to experience a lot of the world that is normally invisible. Well, it still might be invisible but now it will be audible. This new synesthesia of sorts is an exciting way to explore the world and develop new instincts about the way the world works around you.

I still have a lot of experimenting to do and a lot of things to troubleshoot. Several things impact sound quality and volume. First, the closer the coils move toward the implant, the louder the sound becomes. Pressing on my tragus and moving the implant closer to the eardrum likewise increases volume. A future implant will definitely be a coil very close to the existing implant. This should reduce my power consumption (I think). I’m also considering adding more magnets in other parts of the outer ear to see if that enhances the effects. It should. Bluetooth will be in a future version as well.

I have a hundred project ideas as well as plans for future implants. I can only do so many at once, but if people are welcome to design and ship me implants if they need a lab rat. I know a lot of hopeful lab rats actually.

###

Rich Lee is a Space Gangster, businessman, Grinder, and black hat transhumanist; he promotes tech piracy, biohacking, and committing Grand Theft Future. Contact Rich at megalorich @ gmail .com

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GEAK Ring Puts Near Field Communication on Your Finger

2013-06-19

Some say NFC is dead, but GEAK from Shanghai wants to prove them wrong. Announced alongside the GEAK Watch earlier today was this GEAK Ring, a tiny NFC-enabled wearable device that stores your identity. The ring’s pitched as an intuitive way to unlock your phone — just hold it with the hand that’s wearing the ring, and it’ll unlock without having to type in the password; plus it’ll stay awake as long as it’s still in the same hand. Another feature is that since the ring has your contact details stored (presumably rewritable), you can also use it to share your contact card with other NFC-enabled devices. But of course, given the risk of NFC (near field communication) cloning, you should treat GEAK’s solution as a convenience rather than a more secure method.

At launch, this ring will only be compatible with the GEAK Eye and GEAK Mars quad-core phones that were also announced today, but it’ll support other devices from the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo starting in November. GEAK will be taking pre-orders from August 8th, and it’ll cost Chinese buyers ¥199 or about $30 each. It’ll sure go nicely alongside that Google ring.

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Google Ring Adds Gesture Control to Project Glass

2013-06-19

So perhaps there won’t be as much head-shaking and nervous-tic-looking movements from wearer’s of Google’s new Project Glass. A US patent application submitted last September for a Google ring and just now published raises the possibility of more sophisticated control coming from your hands. A ring, or something similar, can serve as a gesture control marker for a receiver on heads-up display glasses, allowing for learning gestures. It could even use multiple rings or other pieces of jewelry for more sophisticated commands. One of the main issues that we here at QTOOTH see with this though is the fact that it moves away from hands-free operation, which we consider the ideal for most tasks. This is true of all finger, hand, and arm (and leg!) worn wireless controllers. What if you make an unintended gesture? Darn those pesky mosquitoes! What if your hands are engaged in another activity? But perhaps the Google Ring could be used in place of a stylus or mouse when appropriate. We’ll see if the Google ring ever comes to fruition. Time will tell….

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Apple’s Tim Cook On Why The Nike+ FuelBand Works And Google Glass Doesn’t

2013-06-04

As the future of wearable wireless technology slowly reveals itself, it is interesting to see how everyone has different views on what form it should take. One of the big takeaways from the All Things D conference was the interview with Apple’s Tim Cook who had some specific observations when it came to wearing a device on the face versus wearing it on the wrist:

Mossberg/Swisher: Is the future wearables?

Cook: I think so. I wear this. It’s a FuelBand.

I think Nike did a great job with this. It’s for a specific area. It’s integrated well with iOS. There are lots of gadgets in this space now…[As for] the ones that are doing more than one thing…there’s nothing great out there that I’ve seen. There’s nothing that’s going to convince a kid that’s never worn glasses or a band to wear one. So I think there’s lot of things to solve in this space, but it’s an area where it’s ripe for exploration. It’s ripe for us all getting excited about. I think there will be tons of companies playing in this.

I see it as something, as another very key branch of the tree. You think about the post PC era, and we really started talking about this several years ago. I think the iPhone pushed us toward that fast and the tablet accelerated it. I think wearables could be another branch on this.

Cook: I’m interested in a great product. And I think in terms of glasses, I wear glasses because I have to. I can’t see without them. So I kind of have that problem. I don’t know a lot of people who wear them who don’t have to. People who do wear them generally want them to be light, to be unobtrusive. They probably want them to reflect their fashion, their style and so forth. And so I think from a mainstream point of view, this is difficult, this is difficult to see.

I think the wrist is interesting. I’m wearing this [FuelBand] on my wrist. It’s somewhat natural. But as I said before, I think for something to work here [gestures to wrist], you first have to convince people it’s so incredible that they want to wear it.

Because you two guys are wearing watches. If we had a room full of 10-20 year olds, and we said ‘everyone stand up who has a watch on,’ I’m not sure anyone would stand up. I don’t see it. Their watch is this [pulls out an iPhone]. I don’t think it has to be just that. I think there are other wearable ideas that could be interesting. The whole sensor field is going to explode. It’s already exploding. It’s a little all over the place right now, but with the arc of time, it will become clearer I think.

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