Wearable technology is all the rage right now, and I’m not just talking about Google Glass or Apple’s forthcoming iWatch. Companies large and small are getting in on the trend, and that was made all the more obvious as we roamed through CE Week’s ShowStoppers showroom.
As you’ll see in the video above, we venture from smart watches to bone-conduction musical hats to wearable portable video recording devices and blue-light therapeutic glasses. It’s a wild ride.
We start by visiting Basis, the folks who’ve developed the Basis smartwatch with more sensors than any other smart watch on the market. The company has thrown a little style into the mix with new interchangeable “fashion bands.” Some are leather, some are colorful, and some are made by legit artists. You can check them out here.
The next stop we made was with a company called MaxVirtual, which built a special hat called the Cynaps. The Cynaps uses Bluetooth to connect to an audio source and then pumps that music into the hat, and ultimately into your brain through bone conduction. With nary a headphone in sight, you can enjoy music and the shade of a hat bill all at once. The MaxVirtual Cynaps is available now for $79.
But what’s audio without some video? A quick tour of the Ion Camera station offered up a number of portable recording products, namely the Ion AirPro 2 and the Adventurer. The AirPro 2 bumps from a 5-megapixel sensor to a 14-megapixel sensor, complete with a microphone and one-click capture. The Adventurer, on the other hand, tracks speed, location, altitude, and direction natively in the file. You can check out more here.
Last, but certainly not least, we made our way to the Psio station, where I learned that Clockwork Orange-style stimulation can actually be good for you in the right circumstances. The Psio glasses offer up natural blue light, which helps relieve stress, boost mental acuity and regulate the Circadian Rhythm. The glasses come with 10 preloaded “exercises” and price starts at $399.99.