Capturing your point of view, invisibly

I wrote about these back in July when wearable tech company, ZionEyez, was raising funds through Kickstarter, which earned them almost $350,000 for their first production run. Since then, they've been working hard at producing their first video camera eyewear that looks...well...like any other spectacles you would see on the street. An evolution of the Steve Mann aesthetics, nobody would ever know that you're glasses are recording every moment. This invisible, ambient nature of the technology integration is exactly where wearable technology is heading...and I can't wait to see what's coming in 2012.

Engadget says: Sure, you may already lead an exciting life, but wouldn't it be great if you could broadcast those daily escapades -- you know, to all of your internet friends? ZionEyez hopes to deliver a method for sharing your point of view -- quite literally -- in realtime, across the web. The company's first product, a set of 720p embedded-camera eyeglasses called Eyez, houses a tiny camera to the left of the standard-size eyeglass lens, with a processor, Bluetooth and WiFi module embedded in the adjacent ear piece.

Images from Engadget

The Oyster card wearable travel pass

[gallery]The Oyster card, London’s electronic travel card system, is something synonymous with natives and visitors alike. It's a handy card that gives you flexibility with your journeys around the city, and saves you money at the same time. Equipped with RFID, it allows travelers to jump on London tube trains, buses, trams and many regular train services without having to take out any cash. Designer Benjamin Parton thought it was time for a redesign- something fun and memorable with improved functionality. The Oi is a wearable oyster card that can be worn as a ring or “watchstrap widget.” Oi uses the same radio-frequency coil infrastructure as the existing Oyster cards and the final product can be bent and twisted without damaging the internal components and is also unaffected by interference from other radio frequency devices.

Continue reading on Yanko Design. Images from Yanko Design.

HD Video Recording Glasses for Facebook

This is one of the most exciting wearable technology efforts I have seen in a long time. ZionEyez is working on a pair of HD Video Recording Glasses for Facebook called Eyez™. The glasses include a tiny 720p HD video camera that is so tightly integrated into the eyewear, that you virtually cannot see it.

Eyez™ records live video data and takes pictures. The data can then be stored on the 8GB of flash memory within the Eyez™ glasses, transferred via Wifi/Bluetooth or Micro USB to a computer, or wirelessly transferred to most iPhone or Android devices. After a one-time download of the “Eyez™” smartphone and tablet app, users can wirelessly broadcast the video in real time to their preferred social networking website, such as Facebook.

They are already funded nearly $300K on Kickstarter and plan to release their first line in Winter 2012. If you pledge $150 or more in the next few days, they'll send you a pair when they're ready.

More info on Kickstarter.

Jawbone wristband tracks health to fight obesity

Jawbone announced a project they've been quietly working on for years on stage at TED Global. It's a wearable band called Up, which is infused with sensors and a connected smartphone, allowing you to track your eating, sleeping, and activity patterns. Together, the combination of a sensor-infused wristband and a smartphone app will provide nudges for healthier living, based on your behavior. The industrial design was designed by Yves Behar's Fuseproject, and the software was developed by Jawbone's current CTO, Jeremiah Robison, who interestingly came from the social-gaming company Slide. It makes me wonder how (and if) game mechanics and game play will be used in the experience.

Continue reading at Fast Company. Image from Fast Company.

Bringing beauty to diabetes

[gallery] I love it when simple ideas can have such a big impact. Designer and creator, Jessica Floeh, is investigating the union of fashion and technology at Parsons' School of Art and Design. She believes that merging the two fields presents opportunities to "rethink aesthetic systems and sustainability", which she has begun to do in her project titled Hanky Pancreas. The project includes a collection of insulin pump accessories that decorate and bring aesthetic beauty to clunky, techy-looking pump hardware that is worn on the body. The accessories hide the hardware while also celebrating it and merging it into the aesthetic of the outfit.

In addition to her demo in the video, Jessica has some great customer quotes on her website that describe the value of her collection and how important this simple solution can be to people who suffer diabetes:

It's not just a piece of technology I'm hiding anymore, it's actually a part of me and how I'm dressing

It's important to me to feel connected to others who share my condition

I like that it brings attention to my pump because I like to tell people about my diabetes...

More info at Hanky Pancreas. Images from Hanky Pancreas, Products & Tech News, La Placard.

Light-embellished cufflinks

[gallery]Adafruit creates wearable electronics that are "subtle and fun to wear". Their premiere product, iCuffLinks, is a rather beautiful set of geekwear cufflinks that mimic the breathing light patterns of an Apple PowerBook power switch. Simple products like this is a great way to introduce technology-integrated (in this case "embellished") wearables into a wider commercial market. And the kicker? They can be purchased OR you can make them yourself. The iCuffLinks are open source, which includes circuit board files, schematics and CAD file posted on GitHub.

To compliment the iCuffLinks, Adafruit is currently working on a necklace version. I can't wait for that one!

Purchasing info here. Image source.