One is tough, you drop it and it doesn’t shatter, the other is super resistant to scratches; one is named after a massive primate, the other after a wonderful gemstone. Gorilla Glass and Sapphire Glass are the two major product players in the tough glass race. Gorrilla Glass is developed by Corning, a leading innovator in materials science. Corning has been continuously working on improving the toughness of their product, attempting to strengthen it to survive all types of disastrous scenarios. So far the company created the best product on the market, but has as principal flaw its low scratch resistance. The latest update released by Corning is Gorilla Glass 4, introduced in November. This is one twice as strong as the previous generation, claimed the company, and survived the fall 80 percent of the time, unlike the soda-lime glass used in other phones which shattered in every test. However, the Glass 4 proved to be less resilient to scratches than the Gorilla Glass 3 and thus engineers went back to the drawing board.   Recently, Corning started focusing on the qualities of sapphire glass and looked for ways to insert the scratch-resistance feature into their product. Thus originated Project Phire, an initiative that wishes to combine Gorilla’s strength and the resistance of the sapphire. The new material has been unveiled at a New York investor meeting, reports CNET. The new glass will start selling later this year, without specific details on price or date. Why not synthetic sapphire? According to Corning, even though synthetic sapphire is extremely resistant to scratches, it doesn’t hold up when dropped. And smartphones are dropped a lot. According to some analysts the price of the sapphire glass would increase painfully the price of the smartphone wearing it. We...

The battle for territory in the mobile payments sector is heating up. The ability to pay at the cash register with just the smartphone is motivating other mobile armies to take a stand, especially after Apple Pay was launched with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Apple Pay proved to be easy to use; the user simply needs to hold the iPhone near the contactless reader with the finger on the Touch ID and the Near Field Communication antenna in the Apple device will do the rest. Apple Pay is secure; the company uses a Secure Element chip that encrypts user data in such a way that is preventing the company and curious eyes from getting it. The only parties that see the transaction details are the banks, credit card companies and the merchants that are directly involved in the purchase. According to Apple, a unique device number is “assigned, encrypted and securely stored” to each phone instead of the actual credit card number. Moreover, each individual transaction features a one-time dynamic security code number, too. Even though Apple Pay is limited to the users who own iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models, mobile payments have been increasing – the Business Insider research shows that “payments made through Apple Pay accounted for between 0.1%-1.6% of transactions at five top retailers in the month following the launch of the feature.” The results might seem like a small fraction, but for a brand new platform in its first month, this is actually good progress. Joining in is Google who announced partnering with Softcard, a joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile, to expand the reach of Google Wallet mobile payment service. In accordance with the deal, Google acquired Softcard’s technology, and the US...

Microsoft recently announced the next element of its Surface line, the tablet that can play double role as laptop due to a keyboard attachment (sold separately). Surface 3, now available for pre-order at $499, will ship by May 5th. Surface 3 has lost some weight, in figure and in price, marking a steep discount on the Surface Pro 3’s $800 price tag. The youngest sibling will complement the Surface Pro 3 by offering a 10.8-inch device in a 1920×1280 resolution; a bit more than full-HD, but with a 3:2 resolution like its older brother. It could be that Microsoft wanted the display to look and feel more like a sheet of paper. The device is fed by an Intel Atom x7 processor, a chip with enough juice to power a full version of Windows 8.1 and, later this summer, Windows 10. This is the high-end model, the release suggesting a quad-core Atom design running above 2GHz. The SoC will be accompanied by 64GB of storage with 2GB RAM or 128GB of storage with 4GB RAM, plus a 4G ‘LTE Ready’ version that will join at a later date. Battery life is claimed to run for up to 10 hours for video playback and the screen is described as having “incredibly accurate colors.” Surface 3 will be 8.7mm (0.34 inch) thin at 622 grams (1.37 pounds). It will bring with it a standard 3-position stand and a few accessories: the standard Type Cover, a Docking Station with USB ports, an Ethernet jack and an additional Mini Display Port, and The Surface Pen. The later will be available in red, blue, black, and silver with 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. On the hybrid device will be a full-size USB 3.0 port, a mini-DisplayPort, and a microSD...

In a world where getting around a foreign city is unimaginable without Google Maps, the hospitality industry has no other option than staying ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. The top hospitality players are aggressively expanding new ways to enhance guest experience with dedicated apps, software and even robots. Here are four of the technologies providing a whole new dimension to business and pleasure travel.   Mobile Room Access is the hot new trend in the hospitality industry. Using a dedicated, hotel-branded app, guests simply swiping their mobile device across a specialized keypad to access their room. Some hotels have already rolled out mobile key cards, among them Starwood Hotels. Its dedicated Bluetooth-enabled SPG Keyless technology was launched in early November 2015 at its W, Aloft and Element brands, numbering close to 150 hotels totaling 30,000 rooms. Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members can download the app from the App Store or Google Play and register their device. When a guest’s upcoming stay is eligible for SPG Keyless, the guest receives a push notification and by opening the app is able to access the room by swiping it across a keyless pad. The Cromwell, the only standalone boutique hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, became the first hotel in Sin City to offer the trendy technology. Hilton Worldwide will start offering Hilton HHonors members mobile room keys at four of its brands starting early 2015 and will deploy the technology across 11 brands globally.   Booking via Instagram. Courtesy of Conrad Hotels and Resorts, travelers can use the ‘gram not only to post enviable photos of their vacations, but also book a stay at one of its destinations. Guests simply click on an Instagram photo and via Curalate’s Like2Buy technology are redirected...

With the effects of climate change becoming more and more visible every passing day, introducing environmentally friendly practices into everyday life becomes increasingly important. And while renewable energy still has high investment costs in many cases, returns on initial investments do not fail to appear. They may come in special tax rates, increase in prestige, lower operating costs, increased rent rates and high occupancy levels, thanks to green-loving Millennials. Plummeting costs And as more research goes into green energy and renewable sources, initial investment costs are dropping by the day. In fact, according to recently revealed research by the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) in Finland, solar and wind energy is expected to become the cheapest form of energy in the near future. The Neo-Energy project, which conducted the research, uncovered that North-East Asia, especially China will be able to switch to a completely renewable energy system within five to ten years, under economically feasible conditions. In fact, project simulations show that the price of solar electricity will be cut in half by 2025-2030, thanks to costs decreasing 20 percent every times capacity is doubled. Solar cells from the sea Not only is solar energy becoming more cost-effective, it is also getting greener every day. While green energy becoming greener does sound somewhat unnecessary, no energy source is completely green. Wind turbines and photovoltaic panels are still manufactured using man-made materials, the production of which does in itself also carry a carbon footprint. Not for long, though, if researchers at Queen Mary University of London’s (QMUL) School of Engineering have their way. In February 2015, QMUL researchers have announced successfully creating electricity-generating solar cells using the chemicals chitin and chitosan, found in the shells of shrimp and various other crustaceans. The two biomass-derived materials...

With all the amazing progress technology has made so far, two-thirds of the world’s population does not have access to Internet, 4 billion people out of Earth’s 7 billion inhabitants.  Google’s Project Loon aims to change that. This larger part of the population who needs access to the Internet either cannot afford the cost of a connection, or none exists where they live. Google’s project is among the most fantastical ones out there. What Loony thing is this? Project Loon is the innovative work of engineers attempting to bring internet access to rural and remote areas as well as to bring people back online after disasters. The concept is a network of high-altitude balloons running on the edge of the universe, also known as the stratosphere, at about 20 miles (32km) high. This space in the sky is sort of “above the sky,” twice as high as where the planes fly so that no interference actually occurs. This aerial wireless network can provide up to 3G-like speeds, they say. The project began in 2013 in New Zealand where a small group of pioneers tested the Loon technology. Later, the pilot test expanded to California’s Central Valley and in Northeast Brazil; the results of the pilot tests are being used to improve the technology in preparation for the next stages of the project. The balloons are moved using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Once they collect the information about the speed and direction of the wind, they will move across the stratosphere. To help resist high pressure in the stratosphere, the central control of each balloon is covered by a sheet of polyethylene plastic filled with helium. This envelope apparently has the ability to keep the controllers in the air...

Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439; since then the printing industry has evolved, from printing blocks to 2D printers with the capacity of mass-producing documents in just minutes. Today,  3D printers are capable of creating pretty much anything, from mechanical parts to prosthetics to buildings. Even though it’s been 32 years since an engineer named Chuck Hull invented 3D printing, only recently the process became one of the industries of the moment for investors. From 2011 to the present day 3D printing has raised almost $4 billion, while during 1987-2010 (23 years) it raised only $300 million. Increase in interest by public investors translates into extraordinary potential and profit in the industry. 3D printing advocates say the technology will be routinely used to build homes, food, and human tissue and believe that it has the potential to revolutionize how we do everything. A good example is General Electric, which announced that it is using this technology to make the next generation LEAP airline engine that will save fuel consumption and expense. Probably the even better news is that 3D printing is no longer reserved for corporations only, but available to all. A Chinese construction firm, WinSun Decoration Design Engineering, unveiled a five-story apartment building, dubbed “the world’s tallest 3D-printed building,” along with a 11,840-square-foot neoclassical mansion, both made entirely with a giant 3D printer. The properties were built with a patented ink created from a combination of recycled construction waste. This project follows last year’s revolutionary initiative when the company built 10 affordable houses in 24 hours, each of 650 square feet at around $4,800. For the affordable project the company used four 3D printers that measure 20 feet in height, 33 feet in width, and 132 feet in length. The process is...

The Mobile World Congress grows bigger every year. Over 93,000 visitors from 200 countries attended the 2015 MWC at the Fira Gran Via and Fira Montjuïc venues in Barcelona; more than 2,000 exhibiting companies showcased their latest products and services across 100,000 net square meters; more than 2,800 international media and industry analysts were present to report on everything that took place at the Congress. Some of the most exciting announcements came from Samsung, Lenovo, Microsoft, Intel, Blackberry, but they are not the only ones. Wearables were present at the event, as well as 5G connected humanoid robots and virtual reality headsets. The star of the event was undoubtedly Samsung, unpacking its newest line of flagship smartphones: the six appeal Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. They both have a completely redesigned look and feel, mostly due to ditching the cheap plastic for premium metal and glass; the new design feels somewhat familiar. Technical specification-wise, the two models are similar: a lightning fast 64 bit, Octa-core processor powers the devices, breaking from Qualcomm as its primary supplier for the first time since the Galaxy S2. The new processor, dubbed Exynos 7420 – CPU, is supported by a meaty 3GB RAM and 32/64/128GB internal storage, ditching the micro SD slot – this might upset a few, but probably shouldn’t as the internal storage included should suffice. Both smartphones come equipped with a 16MP back camera with optical image stabilization, autofocus, 4K video and LED flash and a 5MP, wide angle front camera with 1080p@30fps, dual video call and auto HDR. The display measures 5.1 inches with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels (~577ppi pixel density), protected by the latest Corning release, the Gorilla Glass 4. The display is where the two devices differ...

One third of our life is spent in bed. Sleep is vital to a healthy and relaxed life and the technology today comes to bring even more comfort in the bedroom. The latest is the invention of Italians Matteo Franceschetti and Massimo Andreasi Bassi, the Luna mattress cover. Luna is a smart device that will start shipping in August 2015 after having raised $552,153 of a $100,000 goal on Indiegogo crowdfunding website. In fact, the project sounded so exciting to supporters that the goal amount was gathered within 6 hours. Everybody dreams of a good night sleep. The mattress cover is made out of 5 layers: top and bottom fabric layers, a sensor layer, a batting layer, and a temperature control layer. It comes in 4 sizes: full – 54in x 75in; queen – 60 in x 80in; king – 76in x 80in; California king – 72in x 84in, and weights only 7lbs. It is made almost entirely out of polyester and can be machine-washed. Its intelligence is provided by a series of sensors: sleep phase sensors, biometrics sensors (temperature, respiratory, and heart rate), ambient temperature and humidity sensor, ambient light sensor, plus a microphone. It has Wi-Fi-enabled integration with other devices in your home. Its low voltage system is powered through a 90W power supply. Let’s have a look at how it watches over our dreams. Luna is designed to slip over your mattress, as a fitted sheet does. Its sensors collect information and send it to your smartphone where you can view how well you’re sleeping at night; over time, the information forms profiles of your sleeping behavior. An exciting aspect is its dual zone technology that lets you set different temperatures for each side of the bed. Once it learns how...

As soon as the first smart home device launched, I’ve started wondering: who was going to put a leash on what we now call The Internet of Things. Surely all with an interest in this age of ultra-connectivity and smart devices have had at least one vision where all these things around us turned against us and took over. Sounds scary, no? Just recently, Stephen Hawking’s warning regarding artificial intelligence and how it could end humankind made international news. The first test space for the internet of things and artificial intelligence is the “smart home.” We are now witnessing the evolution from building and home automation to smart homes: this evolution is driven by the progressing maturity of the Internet of Things and the use of artificial intelligence. Current significant technological challenges revolve around the immaturity of home intelligence and the means and ways to “educate” it. Romanian antivirus firm Bitdefender strives to do just that, although not directly. Bitdefender BOX is a physical network device described as “the security solution for the Internet of Things,” but not only that. The BOX is claimed to be a defense against all security layers, usually sold only to businesses, such as botnets, phishing, data theft, or everyday malware. The hardware piece took over one year of assiduous work to be complete was designed to secure not only PCs, but also tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, smart fridges, lighting systems, and alarm systems connected to Wi-Fi. Bitdefender BOX is a fascinating hybrid between a router, network firewall, and intrusion prevention system. Its specifications are far from impressive – single-core 400 MHz MIPS microprocessor, 16 MB Flash memory, 64-MB DDR2 RAM, two 10/100 Ethernet ports and a wireless chipset that supports the 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi needs, capable of speeds of...

I was browsing through images of computers, phones, and smartphones and their transformation over the course of years, when it dawned on me that not only art imitates life, but technology does, too. All of the sudden, my mind was back in the Baroque period, reminiscing the famous paintings of Flemish painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens. The term “Rubenesque” popped into my mind, terminology known by art enthusiasts to be referring to his fondness of painting plus-size women, the beauty standards of those times. And I stared at the world’s first desk computers, at the first phones, at their generous widths. How times change… today’s beauty standards got stuck somewhere at size zero. The ever-skinnier tech devices follow the trend. The latest to enter the scene of skinny devices is Samsung’s Galaxy A7, one of the company’s slimmest smartphones yet, only 6.3mm (0.245 inches) thick that weighs 141g. At first glance, its design makes you think of Apple’s iPhone 5 with its curved edges, metallic band, and silver home button surround. But you’ll soon see the Samsung in it. Samsung Galaxy A7 is attempting to please its followers and to catch the attention of Apple users as well, as “one of the slimmest Galaxy smartphones equipped with premium hardware for a superior social experience, expanding on the popular services provided by the Galaxy A5 and A3.” The hardware on the 5.5-inch smartphone, even though not Samsung’s best, is worthy of attention as it humbles the price along with the technical specifications. A7 comes equipped with two separate quad core processors – 1.8GHz and 1.3GHz or 1.5GHz and 1.0GHz for the dual-SIM version – paired with a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon chip; eight cores should be snappy at handling multiple tasks. Backing up the package are...

The future of computing, in Microsoft’s vision, is way beyond the mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen. Will this extraordinary vision of personal computing be strong enough to walk side-by-side Apple and Google? Time will tell. Let’s take a look at Microsoft’s pitch. Many had given up hope when picturing Microsoft’s future in the world of OSes, after the launch of 8 and 8.1.  But the vast majority of us has at least one device running on Windows OS, typically a PC or laptop. The press event which took place last week in Washington made spectators wonder: is this really a Microsoft conference? It was indeed Microsoft, and it made 2015 be the year that science fiction becomes real. Windows 10 will arrive in fall 2015 as a free update to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 and will run on phones, tablet, laptops, on a massive conference-room TV, and a mind-blowing holographic headset.  Opening the session, Joe Belfiore reminded attendees what the company showed off last September regarding Windows 10. Then, news started flowing. Cortana Enters the PC Platform The witty Cortana has outgrown the Windows Phone platform and now finds a home in  Windows 10, aiding with the system’s search features. She sits nicely right next to the Start button on the desktop’s taskbar, able to perform any basic trick she does in the Windows Phone, whether she’s asked vocally or via text. Thanks to Microsoft’s cloud-based Bing brains, she is able to advise whether or not you’ll need a coat the next day by checking the forecast. She can dig on your local machine, OneDrive account, and even your business network, to find files or respond to commands through natural language queries: Belfiore asked her to find some specific PowerPoint slides and to show...

LEED, passivehaus, Net Zero, Living Building Challenge: these familiar certifications address the sustainability and cost-efficiency of a structure. The healthfulness and sustainability of interiors has been vastly overlooked. Interior designers with an interest in healthy dwellings have been hindered by a lack of scholarly research, minimal resources, and no quantifiable way to verify the quality of their efforts to their clients. In an effort to change that, the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), in collaboration with 11 partners, is creating the Protocols for Health and Wellness in Design. These protocols will streamline guidance for features and products that promote occupant wellbeing. Fernand Arias, Director, Strategic Initiatives at ASID explains, “The protocols are a platform to empower interior designers to be translators of health and wellness outcomes for occupants through methodologies and industry standards and certifications.” To form these protocols, ASID is bringing together experts across multiple fields including doctors, nurses, interior designers, architects, product developers, and healthcare administrators. Their concentrated efforts will forge a new certification program that can help interiors designers and their clients gauge the healthfulness of a planned or existing interior. The protocols will also incorporate existing certifications such as Healthy Product Declarations, Cradle to Cradle products, and LEED v4 as well as biophilic principals and active design. Active design is the relatively new approach to interior planning that is quickly gaining traction. In addition to measuring VOCs and air quality, access to natural light and fresh air—the basics of which many interior designers are familiar with—active design principles include floor plans and the arrangement of furniture that encourage movement and social engagement rather than sedentary behavior. ASID announced its plans for Protocols for Health and Wellness in Design at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative meeting (CGI). CGI has offered...

The era of wearables shone bright at the International Consumer Electronics Show this year. Slowly, the bulky, unattractive gadgets make room to elegant and fancy ones. Here are some of the most stylish pieces that stole the spotlight in Las Vegas. Stelle Audio Earbud Locket. The creators of the design-focused audio products befriended high-end fashion with wearable necklaces and earbuds. The relationship materialized into a beautiful Bluetooth earbud system shaped into a lovely crystal necklace. This gives the headphones an extreme makeover – they roll up nicely into a crystal locket necklace that look great even while not in use. Set up is side-aided by voice prompts guiding the user through the Bluetooth pairing. The controls are on the locket itself, eliminating the trouble in finding the cord that has the set of controls. It has a built-in microphone which allows for hands free calls with the sound quality is standard with 6mm drivers. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is said to last through 10 hours of use. The necklace comes in two colors: onyx and seabreeze. It will become available in February at $199. Swarovski x Misfit Shine – they formed a team that designed the Swarovski Shine collection, a fancy set of fitness- and sleep-tracking jewelry. The collection features nine pieces that include watches, pendant necklaces, and bracelets with Swarovski’s looks and Misfits’ brains, able to detect steps taken, calories burned, distance walked, and sleep quality. The sparkling tech-jewels require no charging and have a battery lifetime of up to 6 months. The collected date syncs with your smartphone by simply placing the Swarovski Shine Activity Tracking Crystal on your smartphone touch screen. The preorders start at $169.99 and go up to $249.99. Bang & Olufsen premiered BeoPlay H8, the wireless headphones with...

What if your property could promote the health of its residents without increasing maintenance costs? You would have an undeniable marketing advantage with potential tenants who suffer from migraines, asthma and other respiratory ailments, as well as those who are simply health conscious. A new line of hardwood floors helps purify the air inside of units without increasing operating costs. But just how dirty is the air inside of your property? When most of us think of polluted air, we think about congested urban cores stifled under a cloud of smog. Surprisingly, the air inside of a home has 2-5 times more organic pollutants than the air outside. Several items in a typical residence emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs): paints, varnishes, glues, cleaning supplies, carpets, markers, copiers, printers—the sources of airborne toxins are endless. New constructions and recent remodels can be particularly toxic, as many building materials are laden with VOCs that are released over time. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the constant onslaught of VOCs causes and exacerbates health issues such as migraines, asthma, fatigue, and damage to the lungs, liver, and kidneys. Many VOCs are confirmed carcinogens in humans and animals. Minimizing VOCs from the air can notably improve resident health, comfort, and satisfaction. Lauzon has created Pure Genius flooring, a natural solution for improved indoor air quality. Hard maple and red oak wood is treated with a titanium dioxide agent that is then activated by natural and artificial light. Photocatalytic technology transforms airborne toxins into harmless molecules. The floors continually break down toxins in the air overtime, improving air quality by 85 percent. It’s like planting three trees in each residence. Lingering odors are a frequently cited turn-off for potential residents. Lauzon’s smart floors minimize odors, making it a wise...

Winter sports fans, this one is for you. The white powder sparkles from the top of the mountains and you can’t wait to get there and slide down, over and over again. The next generation skiing and snowboarding is here powered by the most exciting wearable technology existing on any mountain anywhere. One of the most popular devices out there is the action cam GoPro Hero 4 Black Edition. It offers stunning image quality and powerful new features that takes the cameras’ industry to a whole new level. The camera itself is a tiny box with a powerful processor able to record amazing video quality. The Hero4 Black displays incredible high-resolution 4K30 and 2.7K50 video and high frame rate 1080p120 video. Its features include built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with super upload speed that sends your ride-videos up on various channels of social media. To help you find easier those cool moments without having to go through hours and hours of video, Hero4 Black has on its right side a ‘Hilight Tag’ button, which when activated, puts a tag on them and helping you find them faster when viewing the footage in GoPro’s free mobile app or desktop Studio software. On its left side is an easy-to-lose removable cover that protects Micro-HDMI and Mini-USB ports and the microSD slot that supports cards of up to 64GB. The Mini-USB port is used to charge the device and transfer the content off your microSD card, but can also be used with an optional 3.5mm stereo mic cable so you can attach a studio-quality external mic. The device doesn’t have a built-in touchscreen, but it has a Hero port on back that allows you to attach GoPro’s LCD Touch BacPac or the Battery BacPac. Unlike Hero3+ Black, Hero4...

Mobile tools are all about immediacy and action — and when it comes to maintenance, that means responding more quickly, entering and completing work orders from the field, and getting real time updates to ensure the right work is done at the right time. Yardi Maintenance Mobile offers the convenience of creating, updating and closing work orders from a mobile device, with the ability to include photos and notes as well as add technician labor and inventory to work orders — and the information is automatically updated in Yardi Voyager®. For Wesley Fonseca, maintenance technician at Post Glen near Atlanta, Ga., Maintenance Mobile has been a game changer. “I’ve seen my time management get so much better with Yardi because of how I’m able to access the work orders on my smartphone. Maintenance Mobile has helped me save time in that I don’t have to print the work orders. I can map out my whole day and give certain spaces for emergencies and that sort of stuff. I have the ability to add and drop work orders, and sign them off in the field. Also, being able to have what I need at my fingertips, right on the spot, has helped me be more time efficient.” In addition to improving efficiency, mobile tools help improve retention by providing great service to residents and tenants. “Maintenance Mobile is a good selling point as far as the residents are concerned because everything is so technologically advanced now. They expect to see technology in use,” Fonseca says. “The residents have their place where they can put the different time of whatever day that they prefer for us to visit. They like being able to submit requests online, have us receive them, and then fix things and document...

Looking back at the course of innovation in technology throughout 2014, it’s clear that wearables have gained a lot of traction. Watch after watch, bracelet after armband, the French are now introducing the wristband – Cicret. The first thing to know about this little wonder is that the prototype is still in the works and if you want to spend some money on it now, the only way to do it is to donate for the development of its first prototype on the Cicret website. Back to the description. The Cicret Bracelet is a small wristband that supposedly has the ability to turn the wearer’s arm into a touchscreen. It sounds pretty cool to be able to give up your smartphone in an era dominated by them. The device works through a tiny embedded pico projector and a row of 8 proximity sensors built into the bracelet that point towards the user’s forearm, reminding of the technology behind projected keyboards. These enable the Cicret system to detect the location and movement of the user’s fingers, turning the surface of the skin into a touchscreen. The regular gestures apply: tap, swipe, and pinch. Cicret will operate as a standalone device and, when activated with a twist of the wrist, projects an Android interface onto the arm. The proximity sensors detect where the user’s fingers are and allow them to interact with the interface as they would on any Android device. Furthermore, the device features an accelerometer and a vibration module, as well as an LED for notifications. Connectivity is provided by way of WiFi, Bluetooth and a Micro USB port. The bracelet will also have its own onboard storage of 16GB and 32GB. The bracelet will allow users to send and receive emails, browse the...

Canadian startup Thalmic Labs blew people’s minds back in 2013 when they presented an armband that empowered the wearer to control several kinds of technology using simple hand gestures. The Myo armband changes the way we interact with everyday computing devices. Seeing how it works is like glimpsing into the future, or at Iron Man Tony Stark’s gesture-controlled hollo-computer.   What is Myo? Myo is the most natural way yet to merge technology and people. Myo seems to be the next step after we’ve hit the limits of today’s form factors, whether they are personal computers, tablets, or smartphones. Thalmic Labs’ armband is a gesture control device that is placed around the widest part of the forearm. A piece of software displays a series of training gestures to get you accustomed to the interface. The gestures are simple: bend the open hand left or right, sweep the forearm left or right, spread out the fingers, clench into a fist, press the thumb against the pinky. The last gesture is the one that awakes and puts Myo to sleep. Also, when slipping it off your forearm it automatically goes to sleep, saving the battery life. You might need to reposition either your arm or the armband to have it recognize the gestures, but once you figure it out, it’s easy to use. In case you worry that if won’t fit your forearm, Thalmic Labs say that the armband was created using a comfortable flex technology which allows for one-size-fits-all design, and it comes equipped with 10 sizing clips. Myo comes in black and white. It weighs 93 grams, 0.45 inches thick. It’s expandable between 7.5 – 13 inches (19 – 34 cm) forearm circumference. How does it work? Myo uses Bluetooth Smart technology to connect...