The future of healing broken bones

Jake Evill, a recent graduate of the School of Design at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, has created the ‘Cortex Cast’, a fully ventilated, super light, shower friendly, hygienic, recyclable and stylish exoskeleton and his design is absolutely beautiful. It's a breath of fresh air to a tired old medical device. Ville's take on casts can be compared to Bespoke Innovation's take on prosthetics where both designers consider aesthetics, comfort (including fit and breathability), and unique manufacturing techniques in their innovative new approaches. "Unlike the stinky plaster casts that we’ve begrudgingly become accustomed to, the cortex cast allows in plenty of airflow to prevent that itchy, uncomfortable feeling. The cast is also far less bulky, allowing the patient to still easily wear a long sleeve shirt.

The cortex cast utilizes the X-ray and 3D scan of the patient to generate a 3D model in relation to the point of fracture." Continue reading on enpundit.

Eville is looking for investors or partners for his Cortex cast. Go here for more info. Images from Jake ville's portfolio site.

Vocalize sounds without your voicebox

Nic Wallenberg's The Human Speaker is a curious electrical collar that allows you to vocalize electronic sounds without using your voicebox. Usually when singing or speaking, vibrations originating in the voice box are transported up the throat to the mouth, before emanating from the lips as sound waves.

The Human Speaker works much the same way, except the collar, rather than voice box, is the source of the vibrations. The pitch of the notes that emerge is determined by the collar, which, Wallenberg writes, can produce up to two notes at a time. Wearers can manipulate the sound with their mouths much as they would normally.

Wallenberg points out that the two-note limit can be cheated if you have multiple collars, or access to a camera and some video-editing software, apparently, judging from the below.

Continue reading on Gizmag

Shoes that turn into shelter

From geometric caravans to homes in a cart, the idea of having a portable shelter wherever one travels can be an enticing one (depending on your disposition, of course). Australian design company Sibling has made what is probably the most provident of shoes, a pair of sneakers with an integrated shelter hidden in the back.

Designed as a concept for shoe company Gorman, these "Walking Shelter" shoes are meant for instant shelter whenever it's needed. Say the designers:

The Walking-Shelter is a human shelter stored within a pair of sneakers. Stored compactly in integrated net pockets within the shoe, the shelter expands out and around the body to form an enclosure that relies on the human frame as a supporting structure.

The shelter accommodates for the body in a variety of ways and can be customised by the user to adapt to a variety of contexts and environments.This project was developed as a one-pff prototype and auctioned off, with all proceeds going towards Little Seeds Big Trees.

It may seem like a pretty wacky design at first, but it could have enormous potential in situations like disasters, homelessness or travelling extremely light. Whatever it is, it makes conventional shoes twice as useful.

Continue reading on Treehugger.

Misfit Shine, available at the Apple store

This week, the Misfit Shine will join at least three other wearable products on Apple Store shelves, including the Jawbone Up, the Nike+ FuelBand and various versions of the Fitbit. Like the Fitbit Flex, the Shine will retail for $100. What makes it a successful design? Simple, classic design and materials that make it feel timeless and a really simple UX that adds meaning and value to our daily lives. Misfit's design constraint came down to power management. The circular shape wraps around a coin cell battery that they spent significant investment trying to get the device to last for a year. According to Misfit, it will last 4-6 months on one battery. Not a bad start!

I've been wearing my Misfit Shine for the past couple weeks and I must say, Sonny Vu and team have done a tremendous job making the device actually wearable. It's classic form and metal finish goes with just about anything, which makes it really easy to wear all day with any outfit, while sleeping, and even in the shower. Heck, I even wore it in the pool while taking my 8 month-old daughter swimming for the first time.

Read more about the Shine at the Apple store on All Things D.

A forecast on the future of wearables

As Google Glass gains momentum (including all the media buzz about it right now), companies and researchers are trying to decide what will be the next big breakthrough in wearable technology. MIT Technology review talks about the challenges we face when bringing these new products to market and forecasts the future of wearables by painting a picture of siginificant growth over the next 3 years. "Juniper Research expects nearly 15 million wearable smart devices (including glasses, health and fitness monitors, and other devices) to be sold this year, amounting to $800 million, and nearly 70 million to be sold by 2017. But the field remains experimental, and it’s still not certain what form most wearable computers will end up taking.

We’re just starting to see the early adopters of wearable computing wandering the streets gazing through Google’s head-worn computer or staring down at their Pebble smart watch. But a slew of researchers are already hard at work figuring out what will come next. Among the more outlandish ideas these researchers are experimenting with: sensors embedded in clothing and teeth, and—oh yes—a wearable computer designed just for dogs.

After languishing in research labs for years, wearable computing is suddenly a hot topic in technology circles. The introduction of technologies such as the Pebble watch, fitness-tracking devices like Jawbone’s Up, and Google Glass, which is currently available to developers and is slated for public release next year, have ignited demand for more wearable gadgets." Continue reading on MIT Technology Review...

Image (1978-1980 and now) source includes a nice history of wearables

Apple hires major fashion exec

Big news for wearables (well, could be). Apple hires Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve. With a nod to the luxury fashion world, the tech giant brings former YSL CEO on board to work on "special projects." Re-invigorating Apple retail or feeding fire to the Apple iWatch rumor-mill, what could they possibly have up their sleeve? "It appears that Apple will soon be taking tips from a fashion insider.

The tech giant officially annouced that it hired Paul Deneve -- the former CEO of luxury fashion goods company Yves Saint Laurent -- to work on "special projects," according to Bloomberg.

"We're thrilled to welcome Paul Deneve to Apple," Apple told Bloomberg. "He'll be working on special projects as a vice president reporting directly to Tim Cook."

Earlier Tuesday, AppleInsider reported on a tip it received that Deneve had been hired. The news source speculated that Deneve may be filling John Browett's shoes. Browett resigned from his position as Apple's retail chief last fall and the company has yet to hire his replacement. However, according to Bloomberg, Deneve won't be working on retail.

It's unclear what "special projects" entails. It could mean that Deneve might be working on Apple's design side or even on the company's rumored iWatch.

During an interview at the D11 conference in May, Cook said that he finds wearable computing "profoundly interesting", but that "you have to convince people it's so incredible you want to wear it." Cook pointed out that most young people don't wear watches, so it would be the company's job to make them appealing."

Continue reading on cnet. Image source.