The FallWatch Consortium brings together a wealth of European technology and expertise in a tiny triangular patch called Vigi’Fall that can be worn by the user in a non-intrusive, permanent manner.
Unique Vigi’Fall fall detection solution could help save 500,000 hospitalisations and 40,0001 premature deaths caused by falls in Europe every year.
A new report from Rock Health looking at the future of the biosensor wearables market shows a market in transition. The next generation of wearables is more targeted towards patient populations, particularly chronic conditions. In a Google hangout about the report, Malay Gandhi, a co-author of the report, talked about some of the qualities that are making these wearables more appealing to consumers and the b2b market and features that will give them staying power.
The Internet of things typically conjures images of “smart” light bulbs and automatic door locks. Yet with an ever larger number of smart watches, activity trackers, and head-worn computers hitting the market, we’re becoming part of the Internet of things, too.
Slowly but surely, a few wearable devices—mainly high-tech pedometers like those from Fitbit and Jawbone—are catching on with consumers, and many researchers and companies are certain that body-worn computers will become second nature—sensing, recording, and transmitting data to and from our bodies, to networks around us.
One of the biggest challenges that wearable gadget makers like Google, Fitbit, and Jawbone face is convincing people to don their devices in the first place. A startup called OMsignal thinks the key is to fit the technology into something you already won’t leave the house without: a shirt.
Among wearable fitness apps, Fitbit and Jawbone have consistently ranked ahead of Nike+ FuelBand and other wearable fitness apps this year.
Life in the wearable health and fitness market can be nasty, brutish and, potentially for some companies, short.
While venture capital funding continues to pour into the wearable tech ecosystem to the tune of $458M in 2013, sentiment on the space has taken a downturn as of late. Among the recent headlines to hit the wearable fitness market in recent months:
Mention the term “wearables” and most people conjure up a fitness-tracking watch or some kind of futuristic fashion accessory.
But wearables are much more than this.
Disabled people are increasingly relying on these gadgets to augment how they see and experience the world. On a personal note, my aunt, Wendy Poth, lost her vision when she was 7. She is currently on the waiting list to purchase OrCam’s computer-assisted vision device. These special glasses interpret nearby visual inputs, like letters and faces.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show this year, wearables are clearly in. While the show has only been going on a day now, we’ve already seen countless new wearable devices from companies large and small. And some of them are even offering something new.
Some companies are experimenting with more accurate fitness monitors, while others are using wearables to create smarter, more contextual notifications. Other, slightly more unconventional products, are measuring things like sunlight and your posture.
In other words, wearables are one of the most exciting things at CES this year. Here are a few highlights.
