Oola Sportswear ~ Active Garb That Covers!

Our entrepreneurial MIT alumna (and former co-lead of MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition) Haya Al Ghanim has just formally launched her Oola Sportswear venture on Indiegogo!

"Elegant, functional and loose-fitting activewear making outdoor sports accessible to more women. Oola is a modesty-inspired line of clothing that will give a segment of women a chance to experience outdoor sports without the burden of layering bulky, non-matching, non-technical clothes. Stylish, loose-fitting, made of sports tech fabrics apparel that can be worn by ladies who prefer more coverage for outdoor activities."

Nimb ~ Panic-Button Smartring Kickin Now...

Nimb is a panic-button built-in to a smartring with location-ID and sensible settings which is Kickstarting now...

WOVNS ~ Kickin Woven Textiles-on-Demand!

WOVNS is Kickstarting now to allow you to turn digital designs into custom short-run Jacquard-woven fabric!

"WOVNS is a platform that empowers everyone to create their own woven textiles. Unlike digital printing, weaving integrates a design into the very construction of the fabric, yielding a textile rich in both color and texture. WOVNS fabric is perfect for medium-weight apparel such as shorts, dresses, bags, and wraps, as well as home decor including upholstery, pillows, and throws. Or think of your own creative uses."

Apple Watch ~ Ive Overviews Design Features...

Apple's Jony Ive on soon to be released Watch...

Prosthetic Mods ~ Double Amputee Fully Armed!

Amputee Makes History with APL’s Modular Prosthetic Limb!

"A Colorado man made history at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) this summer when he became the first bilateral shoulder-level amputee to wear and simultaneously control two of the Laboratory’s Modular Prosthetic Limbs. Most importantly, Les Baugh, who lost both arms in an electrical accident 40 years ago, was able to operate the system by simply thinking about moving his limbs, performing a variety of tasks during a short training period."

Moto 360 ~ WSJ Reviews Wearable Wallclock

WSJ's Joanna Stern reviews the Moto 360 wearable wallclock...

"The round display isn't perfect. The bottom of the circle is frustratingly chopped off. Motorola explains that it's where the engineers had to put the display driver and ambient light sensor. All I know is every time I looked at it I was reminded of making construction-paper squircles in kindergarten. And the problem for women like me, with thin wrists, is that the watch may sound small -- 1.8 inches in diameter and just a half-inch thick -- but it almost looks like I grabbed a clock off the wall and strapped it to my arm."

OwnPhones ~ Wireless Custom-Fit 3DP Earbuds

The DM's Victoria Woollaston reveals No more uncomfortable earphones! Custom-made buds are 3D printed to fit...

"Each OwnPhone is custom made to fit the wearer’s ear perfectly. People order the customised phones using a smartphone app. Images of a person’s ear are then turned into 3D-printed models. Colours, styles and materials in individual OwnPhones can be personalised."

Kickstarting now...

Shoulder Bot ~ MIT Body-Mounted Extra Arms...

The DM spotlights MIT's Robot on the Shoulder...

"Robotic arms that lift heavy objects, grab things out of the wearer's reach and can be used to hold objects steady. [...] There were built at the institute's d'Arbeloff Laboratory by Federico Parietti and Baldin Llorens-Bonilla, both in the Mechanical Engineering Department. The extra limbs created by MIT weigh around 10lbs (9kg) so they can be strapped onto the shoulders or hips, but can still lift heavy objects. While they may not use mind control, they can learn from the way a person’s body moves."

The Nod ~ One Ring to Control Them All...

Andy Boxall at DigitalTrends spots the Nod, a ring which turns your finger into a high-tech magic wand...

"Essentially a clever, wearable universal controller, which will interact with many mobile devices running Android or iOS, Windows or Mac computers, the Nest thermostat, TV, and even connected lightbulbs. To make things work, use gestures."

Smartlens ~ Google's Cameras on Contacts IP...

Patent Bolt spots Google's contact lens camera and electronics IP...

Cyborg Drummer ~ Barnes w/ Power Prosthetic!

UD spots "one arm" Jason Barnes playing drums with his prosthetic! Maybe it's obvious after you see it, but it gets you wondering what other kinds of performances could be uniquely enabled with similar power tools for those classically considered "disabled"? Hear more about his saga straight from the source...

Fin ~ Ring Enabling Palm & Gestural Interface!

Check out the Fin finger frob that's Indy'd...

"Fin is a tiny hardware product that you can wear on the thumb of your hand as a ring and it will make your whole palm as a gesture interface."

Cat Tracking ~ BBC's Secret Life Exploration!

BBC's Secret Life of Cats follows 50 pussies in small British village!

EarMachine ~ iOS Hearing Enhancement App...

Thanks to MedGadget for spotting the EarMachine, a Free iOS App for Hearing Problems...

"Smartphones have essentially the same hardware as hearing assist devices, including a microphone, analog-to-digital converter, and a CPU to process the audio and modulate it to the specific user. The EarMachine is a new app that harnesses the power of iPhones to do just that."

If we combine this sonic adjustment app with noise cancellation, whisperware, voice recognition, translational "babelfish" apps and we can really make progress towards Smartbuds, the acoustic analog to Glass.

Glass Teardown ~ Guts of Google's Wearable...

Star Simpson and Scott Torborg teardown Google Glass...

Glass Experiences ~ Google's Jordan on API...

Jordan does partial reveal of Google Glass API...

Stop The Cyborgs ~ Neo-Luddite Manifesto...

Neo-Luddite manifesto seeks to Stop The Cyborgs writes BBC in Privacy 'impossible' with Google Glass warn campaigners...

"The warning comes from a group called "Stop the Cyborgs" that wants limits put on when headsets can be used. It has produced posters so premises can warn wearers that the glasses are banned or recording is not permitted. [...] The limits that the Stop The Cyborg campaign wants placed on Google Glass and similar devices would involve a clear way to let people know when they are being recorded. "It's important for society and democracy that people can chat and live without fear that they might end up being published or prosecuted," [...] "We are not anti-technology, we just want people to realise that technology is a powerful cultural force which shapes our society and which we can also shape."

Mycestro ~ Wearable Index-Finger Mouse/Pad...

Mycestro is finger-mouse PC/AR controller. They're Kickstarting!...

"Mycestro is a 3D mouse that fits on the index finger and allows you to control your computer with hand gestures and mouse functions."

Glassholes ~ Google "Unintended Consequence"

LOL, Google's getting griefed by Ryan Lawler at TC for the unintended consequences of their always-on wearable gear -- the generation of Glassholes;-) See also Joy of Tech on the reality... P.S. And, as usual, Google are being assholes about the IP.

Supercomplications ~ Today We Call Them Apps

Lovely review in the WSJ, The Watch Men, by John Steele Gordon of Stacy Perman's new book A Grand Complication...

"In the watch trade, anything beyond the marking of the hour, minute and second, is called a "complication." So my $80 Swatch has two complications, indicating both the day of the week and that of the month. A pocket watch sold by the firm of Patek Philippe in 1933 has 24 complications, including an alarm, several sets of chimes (one of which plays the same melody as London's Big Ben), the appearance of the night sky over New York City at any given moment, moon phases, even sidereal time. No wonder it is known as the "supercomplication." Today, of course, any iPhone has far more complications (we call them apps). [...] The spine of Ms. Perman's story is a sort of informal game of horological one-upmanship between two very rich Americans, James Ward Packard and Henry Graves Jr. They never met, but their silent competition to own the world's most complex watch pushed the design of these mechanical devices nearly as far as it could go and produced some of the most stunning mechanisms ever constructed."

Glorious stuff!