The latest wearable tech news murmurs and blips
This week’s wearable tech news has been dominated by the announcement of a feature packed Android Wear 2.0 update, Google’s big VR push and Fitbit cementing its place as the king of wearables with a pretty astute acquisition.
We reveal some other interesting news from the developer conference, while at the same time catching up with the news blips and murmurs of the past seven days…
Project Soli on a smartwatch
Google certainly has been busy at this year’s I/O developer conference. We’ve had big Android Wear news, our first Project Jacquard smart garment and we also got a glimpse at Project Soli in wearable form.
Announced at last year’s conference, the small chip that utilises the same tech found in radar to detect objects, will be able to offer gesture control without touching a screen. Google has talked up numerous uses for the tech and has now shown off how it could change the way we interact with a smartwatch.
The prototype watch, built with LG, was shown off at one of the developer sessions showing how small gestures could navigate the interface. You can see a video of it in action above courtesy of some hands on time that the folks at The Verge managed to grab.
Liv wants to break bad habits
Liv doesn’t want to count steps or calories, it wants to help you break bad habits. The world’s first smart subconscious-behavior tracker and awareness trainer wants to rid you of ‘Body Focused Repititive Behaviors’ or BFRBs. That could be sucking your thumb, biting nails or pulling you hair.
Once you’ve trained it to learn the bad behaviour, a vibrating alert will remind users when bad habits start to kick in. It’ll also make suggestions on how to replace bad habits with good ones including a series of breathing exercises.
Startup HabitAware is offering kid and adult bracelets and is available to pre-order now.
Nest smart home devices just got smarter
Yes, your Nest Cam and Thermostat will now play nice with other smart home kit including Belkin’s WeMo kit, the August Doorbell Cam and both LIFX and Misfit Bolt smart lightbulb setups.
The combination of the Nest Cam and August Doorbell Cam will let you keep an eye on the inside and outside of the house, while Nest’s Thermostat can now be combined with Belkin’s Wemo smart switches to control appliances and lighting via Nest’s Home/Away Assist feature.
Keep them coming Nest and Google.
PornHub wants to sex up your workout
From the same company that brought us the WankBand and free VR porn for all, PornHub wants you to burn calories with its new BangFit workout program.
Once you’ve got access to the special videos, you can sync with the game using your smartphone and a dedicated BangFit band. As you sync with the actions on screen, you’ll earn points in a kind of adult version of Guitar Hero.
You can start sexercising soon with the software currently in beta. The NSFW video above will explain how the hot and sweaty action all works.
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