Webelow Wear

In today’s clips we learn another smartwatch (from an Apple provider!), a new wearables technology contest, and a workshop for educators using e-textiles.

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Apple Supplier Foxconn Cooks Up Its Own Smartwatch
CNET

One of Apple’s key suppliers has beaten the company to the punch with its own smartwatch. At its shareholders meeting on Wednesday, Foxconn, aka Hon Hai, demoed a smartwatch that can wirelessly connect to an iPhone to display incoming phone calls and Facebook posts, Want China Times has reported. The watch can also keep track of your heartbeat, respiration, and other vital signs. And if your vitals aren’t tip-top, the device can even offer advice on how to get them up to snuff. More features are on the horizon. Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said his company’s wireless and medical research divisions plan to add fingerprint recognition in order to monitor your personal health, Watch China Times added.

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element14 Gets Into The Fabric Of Technology With Its Latest Challenge
Wall Street Journal

…As one of the hottest topics in global technology and with the first products starting to appear on the market, element14 is challenging engineers and developers to design and develop their own piece of wearable technology. The global competition will focus entirely on technology integrated within clothing and wearable accessories, and aims to encourage a deeper level of integration than those demonstrated by first-generation wearables such as the Pebble watch and Google Glass. element14 have selected Adafruit’s FLORA kit to provide the computing platform for the challenge. The FLORA allows designers to create products that are far more integrated and less expensive and opens up wearable technology to a wider group of users where potential designs could include a tracking device for the elderly or vulnerable, a cycling jacket with built-in visibility sensing lights or gloves that operate as hand-worn data terminals.

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Hacking Education: Free STEM Workshop For All Educators
Tech  Valley Center Of Gravity

Jeff Branson, Education Outreach Coordinator for SparkFun Electronics in Boulder, Colorado, will show teachers, librarians, and other educators how to introduce STEM topics using easy and inexpensive art-based electronics projects like e-origami and e-textiles. This technology is being used in classrooms around the country and is accessible to a number of populations. Educators can receive up to four hours of professional development credit for this workshop.  The Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy is a new makerspace serving offering classes to the public and access to tools and equipment for members. While you’re here, find out what TVCOG can offer educators, and let us know what you would like to see! SparkFun (sparkfun.com) is a popular online electronics retailer with an active and growing Department of Education (learn.sparkfun.com), offering online and real-life tutorials and classes.

Learn more about the workshop

In today’s news clips we learn about a wearables project that knits your brainwaves, a wearables inspired product for your car, and that wearables retailers, SparkFun and Adafruit plan to discuss initiatives that help kids to learn electronics at an early age.

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This Is Your Brain On Bach: Knitic’s Brainwaves Wearables
core77

…Knitic is the collaborative project of artistic duo Varvara Guljajeva and Mar Canet, a pair who have existed in the fine line between art and tech since 2009. Their Arduino-hacked knitting machine records brain states via an EEG headset to be converted into a knitting pattern for a scarf. The wearer’s activity measurements of level of relaxation, excitement and cognitive load while listening to Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” The resulting data yields a stiching pattern, which—in addition to being a great garment for chillier climates—also captures visually the unique act of listening. The team chose to bypass the electronic control of the Brother brand 930 knitting machine models opting for real-time control and modification of patterns by putting in their own arduino control system.

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Dash Is Like A “Fitbit” For Your Car
Mashable

Dash Labs …  is developing an on-board diagnostic reader that plugs into a car’s port (usually under the steering wheel); it can then track the car’s performance in real-time. The device, which connects to a smartphone app, can detect how many times you are too hard on the brakes, and when you’re speeding. It can even tell if the airbag has been deployed, after which it automatically notifies a pre-programmed emergency contact…Dash is still in beta, and has been tested on 300 different car models in the U.S., Canada, France and elsewhere, collecting some 15 million data points from drivers… The product showed its potential by already detecting problems with some drivers’ engines before the engine light went on.

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The Engadget Show 44: Education with Google, OPLC, Code.org, LeapFrong, SparkFun, Adafruit And More
engadget

It’s time to rethink the way our children learn. It’s all a bit overwhelming, attempting to restructure the age-old classroom model, particularly in a system as bogged down in bureaucratic red tape as education. This month, however, we packed up our things and toured the country to find out how educational institutions are adopting new models to help reinvent the learning process — rather than sitting idly by, waiting for the system to change around them. Naturally, technology is playing a huge role in that shift, moving from models of teaching to models of learning, where students can explore, express themselves and learn at their own speed.

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In today’s news clips we learn about Mary Meeker’s wearables predictions,  the glove phone,  Sony and Arduino’s workshop, Adafruit’s DIY Citi Smart Bike Helmet, more light up shoes, and a wearables dog collar.

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Mary Meeker Peers Into The Future Of Mobile, Wearables, and Facebook
New York Times

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Mary Meeker, the Internet analyst, has become something of a legend in the tech world for her annual Internet Trends report…Here are some major takeaways from her report: …

Wearables, Sharables, Drivables, Flyables
The last few decades were about the rise of the personal computer and the smartphone. The next few decades will be about wearable computing, like Google glass and fitness tracking bracelets, as well as new gadget categories like drones and smarter cars. That, in turn, will drive the personal data revolution.

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Talk To The Hand: No, Really, It’s A Glove Phone
CNET

…Sean Miles of Designworks in the U.K. decided that the true joy of wearable tech was a driving glove that you can talk into…He listens to his thumb. He talks into his little finger…Sadly, this is not a commercial project. The Brits have often found commerce a touch beneath them…He used a Bluetooth device, and the principles are as simple as the glove itself: the earpiece is in the thumb, the speaker is in the little finger.

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Open SmartWatch Project: Arduino Publishes Tool Chain (Alpha)
Developer World

Last week we told you about the Open SmartWatch Project, and during the weekend Arduino and Sony arranged a workshop with the aim to come up with a proof of concept for how SmartWatch could be setup to work in an Arduino environment. The Arduino folks have since then continued to work hard, and they have now published a GitHub project that includes an alpha version of a complete tool chain, including the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment). This will allow developers to innovate with SmartWatch on top of Arduino’s toolchain.

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Adafruit Smart Helmet Guides Bike Riders With Arduino-Based Light Shows (Video)
engadget

Bike sharing systems like New York’s Citi Bike may be taking off, but it’s doubtful that many participants can find every station without checking a map. Thankfully, Adafruit has unveiled a smart helmet project that could help at least a few of those riders get to their destinations while keeping their eyes on the road.

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Viral Style: Light Up Trainers And Invisibility Cloaks
the creators project

The end of the academic year…mark[s]end of year and graduate shows for arts and fashion faculties. We’ve cast our eyes over this year’s selection and frankly we’ve been mesmerised by these light-up trainers from Central Saint Martins graduate Samuel Yang ever since…If you’re someone who’s super into organising and documenting your life via tech…then why not get your pet in on the act too? Ridogulous Labs have developed a collar that combines with a smartphone app to keep track of your dog’s diet, activities, location, and obedience training—right down to its, er, social calendar. There’s even a voice command option, as well as interactive games to work on its cognitive ability…!

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Today Wearable Electronic Wednesdays latest video features the Flora Lux Sensor ($7.95)

This digital light sensor can measure full spectrum light. This means, if included in your wearables project, it be programmed to react to  light you see (human visible)  and light you cannot see (infrared light). You can pick up this nifty piece of technology at Adafruit Industries and get some more details on YouTube.

As if speaking to the President wasn’t enough, Ladyada continues to live up to her goal of creating the best web based educational community for all ages and skill levels to learn and design electronics. With a YouTube Channel and Google+ Hangouts dedicated to demonstrating new products, answering questions about electronics, or giving you the viewer/blogger/maker/diyer an opportunity to participate in the classic show-and-tell, Ladyada makes learning fun, interactive and accessible. One of our favorites is of course Wearable Electronic Wednesdays where we get to learn about the latest wearable electronics and how to use it.

During the modern version of Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats, Ladyada, founder and CEO of Adafruit, had an opportunity to participate in a Google+ Hangout to ask President Obama a few questions. While she inquired on patent trolls and the status of the first daughters’ science and technology grades, her question regarding a computer programming language requirement struck us as brilliant. The President responded noting the self-taught Mark Zuckerburg and acknowledged that teaching programming in schools may help those potential Zucks to realize their dreams. We couldn’t agree more.

Check the video below for the full chat. Look for Ladyada around 5 minutes.