Sony announced last year that it was working on a wearable device you could attach to your glasses for a Google Glass -style heads-up display of notifications, directions, fitness stats and more. The company showed off the SmartEyeglass Attach at this year’s CES , and now has a demo that lets you see what it’s like when you use it.
The Single-Lens Display Module has a processor and sensors that allow it to calculate and display certain stats on its own. It also packs a connectivity module that lets it pair with a smartphone to relay notifications and other content on the 0.23 inch OLED display.
It clips on to just about any piece of eyewear so you don’t have to stay married to one particular pair of glasses to use it. Professionals who need both hands free while out in the field (say, on a construction site or in a chemical laboratory) could certainly benefit from having data at eye level.
However, given how conspicuous it looks, it probably won’t catch on among casual users in its present form.
Sony says that the unit should hit shelves next year.
➤ Single-Lens Display Module demo: the concept model SmartEyeglass Attach [Sony Developer World]
The Basis Peak’s heart rate monitor now works with third-party apps
The Basis Peak doesn’t try to replicate a smartphone on your wrist. Instead, it’s meant mainly for fitness and sleep tracking.
To that end, the company announced today that the health tracker will now share heart rate data with third-party fitness iOS apps like Strava, RunKeeper and Endomondo. Unlike other health trackers or smartwatches, the Peak constantly monitors your heart rate without the wearer having to enable the feature.
The feature uses the Bluetooth GATT protocol to share data with the apps, and Basis has a page where it will list compatible iOS apps. As for Android apps, Basis states the following on its site:
Basis also announced that the Peak will receive a firware update in December to enhance the Bluetooth connection to iOS and Android devices and add a notification center to the device, alerting user about texts, phones calls and calendar events from their smartphones.
The company also announced that new SportVent straps will be available in December, in five colors: Ember (red), Coral, Vapor (blue), Onyx (black) and Firefly (green) for $29.99 each.
While today’s support for third-party fitness apps is helpful for athletes and anyone that wants to track their health, the upcoming notifications will make the Peak a much more appealing alternative to the current range of smartwatches out there.
With the $25 Chargekey, you’ll never be caught without a USB cable again
Picture the scene: You reach into your bag to grab your USB cable, hoping to give your Kindle or iPad an extra shot of juice before you leave the office for the day. But then you remember – you switched bags that morning and forgot to move your cable to the new satchel.
It’s not a life-altering dilemma by any means, but it’s a dilemma nonetheless. And it’s this dilemma that the Nomad Chargekey hopes to solve.
The Chargekey was funded via an Indiegogo campaign , eventually closing with more than $170,000 in the coffers back in December, having originally only sought $50,000. Available for Micro USB devices (e.g. Android phones, Windows Phone, Kindle) and iOS devices with a lightning connection (e.g. iPhone 5 and iPad mini), the premise is pretty simple.
You hook the Chargekey onto your keychain using the little hoop, and then you’ll never leave home without it. Assuming, that is, you don’t forget your keys.
While you can of course remove the Chargekey from your keychain, the idea is you place your keys in between the device and the USB port, and connect them up.
In terms of downsides, well, the obvious one is that you can’t really hook this up to a wall-charger given it’s so miniscule. But it’s not really designed for that scenario – it’s supposed to remain on your keychain and sit next to your laptop. Perhaps a more genuine issue over time will be the wear-and-tear it’s likely to endure being in your pocket, in amongst keys and other potentially scratchy objects. With that in mind, Nomad actually offers a separate device called a Chargecard , which is a credit card-sized incarnation of the Chargekey, and slips inside your wallet instead.
Costing $25, the Chargekey perhaps just creeps in at the right end of ‘affordable’, and if you buy two or more items at the checkout, the US-based company will ship worldwide for free.
That all said, when you consider you can buy a tiny Micro USB cable on Amazon or eBay for just a few bucks, one that can be slipped inside your wallet, then the $25 price-tag does start to seem a little punchy. Thus, the Chargekey will work well as a gift perhaps, or for those who really need to have a USB cable tethered to themselves at all times.
Related read: The Fluxmob Bolt: A tiny wall-charger and backup battery that packs a punch
➤ Nomad Chargekey: Micro USB | iPhone 5/5c/5s/iPad [lightning connection]