When someone bumps their elbow against a wall, they not only feel pain but also might experience bruising. Robots and prosthetic limbs don’t have these warning signs, which could lead to further injury. Now, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have developed artificial skin that can effectively indicate if damage has occurred, in the same way, that our skin bruises naturally. The researchers reported their invention in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Read more: Artificial Skin Could Enhance Sense of Touch and Provide Real-Time Haptic Feedback

Scientists have developed many different types of electronic skins, or e-skins, that can sense stimuli through electron transmission. However, these electrical conductors are not always biocompatible, which could limit their use in some types of prosthetics. In contrast, ionic skins, or I-skins, use ions as charge carriers, similar to human skin. These ionically conductive hydrogels have superior transparency, stretchability, and biocompatibility compared with e-skins. Qi Zhang, Shiping Zhu, and colleagues wanted to develop an I-skin that, in addition to registering changes in electrical signal with an applied force, could also change color to mimic human bruising, reports ACS.

The researchers made an ionic organohydrogel that contained a molecule, called spiropyran, which changes color from pale yellow to bluish-purple under mechanical stress. In testing, the gel showed changes in color and electrical conductivity when stretched or compressed, and the purple color remained for 2–5 hours before fading back to yellow.

Then, the team taped the I-skin to different body parts of volunteers, such as the finger, hand, and knee. Bending or stretching caused a change in the electrical signal but not bruising, just like human skin. However, forceful and repeated pressing, hitting, and pinching produced a color change. The I-skin, which responds like human skin in terms of electrical and optical signaling, opens up new opportunities for detecting damage in prosthetic devices and robotics, the researchers say.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Program for Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Teams, Shenzhen Science and Technology Program, 2019 Special Program for Central Government Guiding Local Science and Technology Development: Environmental Purification Functional Materials Research Platform, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials Product Engineering and the CUHK-Shenzhen Presidential Fund.

Read more: Artificial Electronic Skin Senses Pain, Temperature As Fast As Human Skin

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people.

Imec, a Belgium-based R&D and innovation hub, active in the fields of nanoelectronics and digital technologies, has presented a proof-of-concept for determining arterial stiffness. Arterial stiffness is a risk marker for cardiovascular diseases such as stroke and heart failure and monitoring blood pressure.

Read more: imec Spin-Off And Ghent University Present Lopos SafeDistance, A Wearable For Maintaining Social Distance

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number 1 cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. CVDs are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels and include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, and other conditions. Four out of 5CVD deaths are due to heart attacks and strokes, and one-third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under 70 years of age.

The sooner you detect cardiovascular disease, the easier it is to treat. Arterial stiffness is an independent predictor of CVDs and a marker for developing hypertension. Arterial stiffness is usually determined by measuring the arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV).

Because PWV measures often require invasive or less accessible imaging methods, clinicians prefer cuff-based blood pressure measurements to assess CVD risk.

Imec is convinced that a more central pulse wave velocity approach would add value over traditional cuff-measured blood pressure to determine CVD risk.

“We have developed a promising method to determine PWV using an ultrasound sensor and a novel data analysis approach. The ultrasound sensor captures the heartbeat of the patient in the neck and the algorithms subsequently extract the features necessary to calculate PWV. PWV can then be used to determine cardiovascular function indicators, such as arterial stiffness and blood pressure,” said Fabian Beutel, Biomedical R&D Engineer and PhD candidate at KU Leuven.

Moreover, the researchers showed that a central PWV (closer to the heart) correlates more reliably with blood pressure than a peripheral measurement, reports imec.

A small-scale cohort involving 10 people featuring a wide range of blood pressure values from normal to elevated demonstrated the proof-of-concept of this novel method to measure central PWV and estimate blood pressure. The test confirmed that measuring PWV centrally correlated better with arterial stiffness and blood pressure than the traditional peripheral method using an ECG and an optical measurement at a distance from the heart. Unlike with conventional methods, the new blood pressure estimates are within the accuracy limits used in the IEEE blood pressure validation standard.

Read more: Imec, TNO Unveil Disposable Health Patch with Non-Toxic Battery that Runs for Over a Week

“This technology and algorithm can be scaled to any device that fits the application: portable, wearable and even ingestible devices. We’re looking for companies to join us in the research and development of this technology and unlock new medical applications,” Carlos Agell, Health Solutions Program Manager.

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Thanks to the work of Assistant Professor Rabia Yazicigil (ECE) and her colleagues at MIT, a swallowable sensor could someday replace endoscopy and colonoscopy. The pill-sized device would literally shed light on what’s going on inside the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of Crohn’s and other bowel disease sufferers.

Read more: This Smart Pill Stays Inside Your Stomach and Monitors Digestion Up to a Month

MIT researchers previously developed a 1.5-inch capsule that contained a computer chip, a wireless transmitter, and genetically engineered bacteria that light up when they come in contact with blood. The capsule could detect bleeding in the GI tract and send an alert to a smartphone, reports Patrick L. Kennedy in BU College of Engineering.

Yazicigil and her students at Boston University’s Wireless Integrated Systems and Extreme Circuits (WISE-Circuits) Laboratory, in collaboration with MIT, have decreased the capsule’s size to about that of a chickpea by designing an ultra-sensitive, nanowatt-level power, integrated photodetector and readout system on a chip. This transformative size reduction makes this smart pill much safer as it passes through the digestive system.

The proof of concept was presented at the Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Custom Integrated Circuits Conference this past spring. The principal investigators of the project are Yazicigil and MIT researchers Timothy Lu and Giovanni Traverso. Yazicigil’s Ph.D. student Qijun Liu presented the paper at the IEEE event.

In the United States, about 3 million adults suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis. These conditions can cause severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition, and they increase the risk of colon cancer.

The traditional method of searching the GI tract for warning signs is colonoscopy, but that only happens every year or two, and the preparation is not pleasant. Moreover, says Yazicigil, “an endoscopy is an image-based system—it doesn’t really measure the molecular disease biomarkers.”

A stool sample does measure biomarkers, but by the time they exit the system, the most important biomarkers degrade. The newly designed ingestible sensors are noninvasive and it’s as simple as swallowing a pill. Also, they monitor the gut in real-time.

The bacterial sensors light up when they sense their target biomarkers; a chip converts this bioluminescence into electrical signals, and the data is sent to a nearby smartphone or tablet. “Think of this gadget as a wearable, but for inside the body,” says Yazicigil.

The main challenge faced by the researchers was the device’s power consumption. To conserve power, they designed a chip that switches on every 10 minutes for 16 seconds to take measurements, and for a mere 12 milliseconds to transmit the data, according to the BU College of Engineering.

“That discrete time approach rather than a continuous time approach saves us some power,” says Liu, the ENG Ph.D. student.

Read more: New Smart Pill Releases Insulin in the Stomach, Could Replace Injections for People with Type 1 Diabetes

The WISE-Circuits Lab team, working with the group at MIT who originated the capsule, has done in vitro testing of the streamlined version and is planning in vivo testing in animal models. “In vivo testing is critical for safety, and previous attempts with off-the-shelf components and large batteries made devices too large to be safe,” says Miguel Jimenez, a research scientist at MIT. “The Yazicigil group’s custom, low-power design is an elegant solution to this challenge.”

“I think that’s very powerful,” says Yazicigil. “By collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds, we might actually contribute to society and help people better manage their conditions.”

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Integrating synthetic biology into wearables could expand opportunities for noninvasive monitoring of physiological status, disease states, and exposure to pathogens or toxins. However, the operation of synthetic circuits generally requires the presence of a living, engineered bacteria, which has limited their application in wearables.

Read more: LG Launches PuriCare, A Rechargeable Wearable Air Purifier Mask

An international team of researchers from Wyss Institute, Harvard, MIT, and DREAMLUX, Samsara S.r.l., Italy, have developed a face mask with a lyophilized CRISPR sensor for wearable, noninvasive detection of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) at room temperature within 90 min. The technology requires no user intervention other than the press of a button.

The researchers used lightweight, flexible substrates and textiles functionalized with freeze-dried, cell-free synthetic circuits, including CRISPR-based tools, that detect metabolites, chemicals, and pathogen nucleic acid signatures. The wearable devices are activated upon rehydration from aqueous exposure events and report the presence of specific molecular targets by colorimetric changes or via an optical fiber network that detects fluorescent and luminescent outputs. “The detection limits for nucleic acids rival current laboratory methods such as quantitative PCR. We demonstrate the development of a face mask with a lyophilized CRISPR sensor for wearable, noninvasive detection of Coronavirus at room temperature within 90 min, requiring no user intervention other than the press of a button,” the researchers wrote.

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Colorimetric wFDCF wearables

For their first wearable freeze-dried cell-free (wFDCF) demonstration, the team embedded colorimetric genetic circuits into cellulose substrates surrounded by a fluid wicking and containment assembly made of flexible elastomers. These prototypes were assembled layer-by-layer to form reaction chambers fluidically connected to top sample portals. The devices are flexible, elastic and can rapidly wick in splashed fluids through capillary action.

The fluorescent wFDCF platform allows for continuous monitoring of all reaction chambers through the fiber optic network at user-defined sampling intervals for the automated detection of rehydration events and fluorescent outputs from target-activated circuits.

The researchers used Cas13a and Cas12a for the detection of RNA and DNA, respectively.

For real-time monitoring of environmental exposure and biohazard detection, the team designed a jacket containing a distributed arrangement of wFDCF multi-sensor arrays. The various optical fibers carrying the output emission signals from different sensors can be routed into a single bundle for centralized imaging analysis, which we demonstrate using a wFDCF CRISPR–Cas12a-based MRSA-sensing array, containing spa, ermA, and mecA sensors, that was activated in the wearable prototype with a fluid splash containing 100 fM of spa DNA trigger.

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A face-mask-integrated sensor for SARS-CoV-2 detection in exhaled aerosols

Finally, the researchers explored whether their wFDCF system could be adapted to create face masks capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2, as a complementary approach to diagnosis based on nasopharyngeal sampling. Respiratory droplets and aerosols are the transmission routes for respiratory infectious diseases but have been underutilized historically for diagnosis. Work on breath-based sensing has focused on the detection of volatile organic compound biomarkers in infected patients using electrochemical sensors or downstream mass spectrometry analysis, which may be challenging to implement on a wide scale. The National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Initiative has identified SARS-CoV-2 detection from breath sampling technologies as an active area of interest for alleviating testing bottlenecks.

The virus accumulates on the inside of masks as a result of coughing, talking, or normal respiration. The researchers designed a face-mask sensor containing four modular components: a reservoir for hydration, a large surface area collection sample pad, a wax-patterned µPAD (microfluidic paper-based analytical device), and a lateral flow assay (LFA) strip.

From activation of the face-mask sensor to a final readout only takes about 90 minutes. The limit of detection observed for these sensors is 500 copies (17 aM) of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro transcribed (IVT) RNA, which matches that of World Health Organization-endorsed standard laboratory-based RT–PCR assays.

The researchers say that potential applications for their wFDCF sensors include warfighters and first responders operating in environments where a specific chemical or biological threat is suspected, and clinicians, health workers, and researchers working in high-risk areas. For example, wFDCF-enabled coats and gowns in hospitals could provide alerts to prevent the spread of nosocomial infections. An additional promising application is patient-worn, sensor-enabled personal protective equipment, such as the SARS-CoV-2 face mask.

Read more Graphene Facemask Kills Bacteria and Showed Potential In Deactivating Coronavirus

Researchers involved in this study were Peter Q. Nguyen, Luis R. Soenksen, Nina M. Donghia, Nicolaas M. Angenent-Mari, Helena de Puig, Ally Huang, Rose Lee, Shimyn Slomovic, Tommaso Galbersanini, Geoffrey Lansberry, Hani M. Sallum, Evan M. Zhao, James B. Niemi & James J. Collins

The study was published in Nature Biotechnology.

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Skullcandy, a maker of stereo headphones and earbuds, has partnered with Bragi to incorporate advanced features, including a voice interface and artificial intelligence, into its products. Through this partnership, Skullcandy will create truly smart, future-proof audio products, infused with easy-to-use, transformative technology incorporating Bragi's software platform featuring embedded AI.

Read more: TWS Hearables Held The Biggest Share of Wearables Market in 2020: Counterpoint Research

"Skullcandy has earned our market-leading position due to a keen obsession with our consumer's adventurous uses," said Jason Hodell, CEO of Skullcandy. "Giving our fans the freedom to enjoy their content, control their earbuds and enable communications all without taking off their gloves or letting go of the handlebars is an exciting advancement for our brand."

The hallmark feature of the platform is the ability to go completely hands-free. With a simple voice command, users will be able to start and control their media player, even without internet connectivity, as well as accept or reject incoming calls. Skullcandy also offers direct access to any native voice assistant on a smartphone. This broad range compatibility ensures seamless functionality for all users, regardless of their phone operating system, according to a press release.

"Skullcandy owns the sub-$100 segment in the U.S., commanding huge volumes and enabling us to deliver millions of Bragi-enabled earbuds to the market," said Nikolaj Hviid, Founder and CEO at Bragi. "The partnership with Skullcandy is transformational to Bragi becoming a platform for headphones, just as Android and iOS are for smartphones," said Hviid.

Made up of co-developed, system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology, the all-new Skullcandy platform was engineered with updatable firmware. This enables Skullcandy earbuds to receive over-the-air updates as new features become available. Users will be able to update their audio products via the Skullcandy App to add new features, not only enhancing functionality to make them smarter over time but further adding value by extending product lifespan.

“Through a massively scaled design and integration effort with our strategic partners, Skullcandy has developed a scalable, cost-effective, advanced technology platform for software-defined audio products,” said Jeff Hutchings, Chief Product Officer at Skullcandy. “The new platform utilizes best-in-class, customized BT SoC functionality along with the Bragi OS to support advanced features like hands-free voice control, customizable button interfaces, and more.”

Read more: Huawei Launches Freebuds 4i True Wireless Earbuds, Band 6, and Fit Elegant Smartwatch

The Skullcandy technology platform – which will launch across three new true wireless products later this year – will also allow users to share audio with others nearby via compatible Skullcandy audio products, take a photo with a button press on the earbud, and even end battery anxiety with a verbal update on remaining capacity each time earbuds are activated.

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Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations, and sometimes loss of awareness. According to the CDC, in 2015, 1.2% of the US population had active epilepsy. This is about 3.4 million people with epilepsy nationwide: 3 million adults and 470,000 children.

Read more: Purdue Researchers Develop Wearable That May Help Prevent Sudden Death From Epilepsy

ULTEEM is a sensor solution that transforms ordinary glasses into smart glasses. It allows non-invasively record the electric brain activity generated by the temporal lobes. Developed in collaboration with the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) and sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), the ULTEEM has been successfully tested at NeuroTec.

Use cases

Temporal electroencephalogram (EEG) provides valuable information for long-term generalized epilepsy monitoring and electrooculogram (EOG) signals are widely used in vigilance monitoring, reports CSEM.

Features

• Equipped with dry electrodes, ULTEEM achieves a signal quality equivalent to clinical-grade EEG systems
• CSEM’s patented technology enables connecting sensors with a simple wire not necessarily shielded nor insulated
• Autonomy more than 16 hours thanks to years of low-power design experience in wearables
• Bluetooth Low Energy for data streaming and on-board memory for long-term recordings
• Design and verification according to the latest IEC 60601-1 and IEC 80601-2-26 standards

Benefits

The device is minimally obtrusive and is so small that it may be attached to the frame of the glasses.

CSEM’s technology allows simple integration of the sensors into eyeglass frames avoiding complex production and assembly methods. Stigmatization is a major obstacle to the long-term monitoring of patients with neurological diseases. ULTEEM provides a unique opportunity by allowing them to use their own eyeglasses and remove the clip-on sensors whenever felt uneasy.

Read more: BioSerenity Helping Epilepsy Patients by Diagnosing the Condition Earlier

Clinical partners

A pilot study was conducted for clinical assessment of the ULTEEM device with Neuro-Tec.

What’s next?

The developers are working on a device for nighttime monitoring of epilepsy – the ULTEEMNite for sleep monitoring and 24/7 epilepsy monitoring.

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WellsCare, a member of Born2Global Centre, became the first Korean medical device company to launch a product, the IASO, on major American electronics distributor Best Buy.

Read more Korean Digital Healthcare Company Wins CES 2020 Innovation Award for its Smart Belt

The IASO has been sold through Bestbuy.com's Health & Wellness category since June 2021. The device was featured in the Top Deal list, Best Buy's main promotional event, immediately upon its launch and sold in record numbers after 10 days in the Top Deal promotion.

The IASO is a hands-free, wearable cold laser pain relief device that enables the self-treatment of various pain types. It provides users with hands-free immediate, pain relief through cold laser technology, which is frequently used by hospitals to treat sports injuries.

WellsCare signed a vendor master agreement with Best Buy on September 27, 2020, and confirmed the supply of IASO by finalizing a vendor program agreement (equivalent to a supply contract) the following November 12. This process had begun in 2019, when Wellscare participated in TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco when a Best Buy representative noticed the IASO and recommended that IASO be sold through the retail chain, the company said in a press release.

WellsCare CEO Lee Sung-won said, "I was told by a spokesperson for Best Buy's healthcare department that the sale of IASO is the first time that a product from both a Korean startup and a Korean medical device manufacturer has been sold at Best Buy. For now, our goal is to send shipments every two weeks to BestBuy.com online site and over 800 offline locations in the U.S. and to achieve sales of at least USD 53 million through the steady demand for the IASO."

WellsCare has recently completed the IASO Ultra upgrade, which adds a back pain function to the device. The IASO Ultra will be released soon, and plans are underway for its sale via Best Buy as part of the IASO series. WellsCare is also developing a B2B product for chiropractors and other rehabilitative care providers in the U.S. who specialize in pain management and is in collaboration to develop a digital healthcare pain diagnostic device that can quantify pain based on a machine learning algorithm analysis of bio-signal data.

About WellsCare

WellsCare was founded in 2016 by a team of highly proficient and experienced engineers who aimed to introduce innovation in the field of pain management. Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, WellsCare aims to lead the smart health device market with its advanced technology and innovation.

Read more JDRF Partners with Korean Company to Develop Wearable Insulin Pump

About Born2Global Centre

Born2Global Centre is a full-cycle service platform for global expansion. Since its inception in 2013, Born2Global has been setting the standard for a successful startup ecosystem as the main Korean government agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Born2Global has expanded and transformed startups to be engaged, equipped, and connected with the global market.

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Humm, a neurotech company focused on helping people learn, launched a public beta for the world's first consumer wearable to improve learning ability. Backed by BlueYard Capital, CRCM Ventures, and founded out of UC-Berkeley's SkyDeck Accelerator, humm is a noninvasive forehead patch that uses electrical brain stimulation to enhance the ability to learn.

Read more: HUMM’s Edge Headset Stimulates Brain to Boost Memory and Kicks Your Learning Speed into Overdrive

Based on research by the brightest minds in neuroscience, humm safely tunes the signals in your brain that impact working memory in minutes, helping to boost focus, multitask better and retain more information for up to two hours. Never before has this clinical and scientific research been designed into a consumer-friendly product for daily use.

"At this tipping point in our global economy, learning and adapting quickly has become essential in both our work and personal lives," said Iain McIntyre, CEO and co-founder of humm. "Our goal at humm is to apply decades of neuroscience research and translate it into consumer products that are safe, affordable, and easy to use, so more people can take on new challenges and unlock their highest potential. We are encouraged by our early feedback and are excited to roll out this next phase of testing so we can get humm into the hands of everyone who needs it."

The new design of the learnable is sleek and simple to use. One 15-minute session with humm costs the same as a cup of coffee, without the addictive stimulants. The connected app will allow users to gain insights into performance over time and help users maximize every future opportunity to learn and grow, according to a press release.

humm uses transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to gently boost the power of theta waves - a type of brain wave that working memory depends upon. These brainwave patterns establish communication between different parts of the brain, restoring the flow of information and improving our ability to recall our experiences. In a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, humm observed a 20% increase in maximum working memory capacity. humm has also been tested by prestigious organizations such as the U.S. Air Force and is currently in use for research at UCSF's Neuroscape lab.

Read more: OmniPEMF Announces Worldwide Availability Of Its NeoRhythm Neurostimulation Headband

"Brain stimulation technology has been around for a long time in the clinical world, but historically it has been far too expensive and clunky to use outside of the lab," said Dr. Vivienne Ming, Ph.D., founder and executive chair of Socos Labs. "humm has reimagined what neurotech can look and feel like for everyday use and has collected overwhelmingly positive feedback on the experience in early consumer testing. We are excited to incorporate humm into our own research to better understand how the brain works and how we can improve it in the not-too-distant future."

The beta program will run for about four months, and humm is anticipated to launch in early 2022. To be one of the first users, apply for the beta here, or sign up for the waitlist for more launch updates.

Remote pregnancy monitoring company Nuvo Group announced that it has received FDA clearance to add a new uterine activity module that provides the capability for remote monitoring of uterine activity (UA). With this clearance, INVU can provide a reliable, passive alternative to existing methods of UA measurement. INVU uses only external sensors, allowing it to be used without any invasive component or the need for an in-hospital or in-clinic procedure.

Read more: Bloomlife Pregnancy Tracker Keeps You and Your Baby Safe by Monitoring Contractions

INVU's UA module was tested extensively in a clinical study with 80 patients, in which the INVU UA was recorded simultaneously with and compared to the intrauterine pressure catheter (IUPC), the current gold standard of care.

This clearance, which supplements INVU's previous FDA clearance for remote monitoring of fetal and maternal heart rates (FHR and MHR), expands the clinical utility of the platform to enable antepartum fetal surveillance, such as non-stress tests (NSTs), to be performed non-invasively and remotely, according to a press release.

INVU will now enable providers to recognize uterine contractions in women who are being monitored at home by passively capturing a granular and unique set of physiological measures from both mother and baby to derive FHR/MHR/UA, the measurements needed to perform NSTs. Designed to provide mother-centric care, INVU can offer NSTs to women—even those who may be prescribed such tests multiple times a week—in the comfort of their homes, all under the guidance of a physician.

INVU is available by prescription from healthcare providers seeking to offer expectant mothers the option of virtual visits by having them wear the INVU Sensor Band for real-time readings. While mothers will have the ability to receive simplified data and insights via the paired INVU app, providers receive FHR and MHR tracings and UA measurements that can be used to optimize patient management.

"The Nuvo team is elated to receive supplemental FDA clearance for remote monitoring of uterine activity," says Oren Oz, founder and CEO of Nuvo Group. "The ability to combine this new indication with remote monitoring of fetal and maternal heart rates allows INVU to provide expectant mothers and their healthcare providers with a comprehensive care system that captures deep data from 32 weeks in the pregnancy—marking a key milestone in our journey to reinvent and advance pregnancy care for the 21st century."

Read more: Garmin Adds Pregnancy Tracking Alongside Health and Wellness for Moms-To-Be

"INVU's unique ability to perform non-stress tests remotely is a significant step forward for pregnancy care," says Dr. Joshua Copel, professor of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive science, and pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and chair of Nuvo's medical advisory board. "As an increasing number of patients look to telemedicine for convenient care that doesn't sacrifice quality, INVU provides a reliable solution to help monitor fetal well-being."

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Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL announced that it will launch its long-in-the-works wearable display next month in Australia with more regions to follow. The new wearable display is called NXTWEAR G. The company also announced its new cross-device multi-screen collaboration feature for select devices, in addition to TCL's ultra-fast LINKHUB 5G Outdoor CPE and MOVETIME Family Watch 2.

Read more: TCL Patent Hints at a Foldable Smartphone that Can be Worn as a Smartwatch

"Some of TCL's biggest strengths are the breadth of its vision and creative capabilities, both of which have never been as evident as they are at Mobile World Congress 2021, where we have several products that enhance the human experience," said Aaron Zhang, CEO at TCL Communication. "By adding value to key existing and future products with Multi-Screen Collaboration, TCL bridges software and hardware gaps across smartphones, tablets, and TVs, curating a symphony of experiences that seamlessly enhance the day-to-day lives of its customers."

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TCL NXTWEAR G

The TCL NXTWEAR G Wearable Display Glasses is a portable cinema for movie lovers, an immersive world for gamers, or a private space at home, work, or on your commute. Combining a sophisticated, foldable frameless design with a comfortable fit, NXTWEAR G showcases a stylish, reflective deep black exterior and a high-end look and feel, the company said in a press release.

No charging is required; the grab-and-go glasses are plug-and-play, so can be powered by your compatible laptop, tablet, or smartphone. This creates a unique, fuss-free watching environment when matched with technology you already own.

The dual 1080p high-definition Sony FHD Micro OLED panels are perfectly positioned to deliver home theatre proportions, as NXTWEAR G emulates a 140-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

NXTWEAR G is compatible with more than 100 smartphones, hybrid two-in-one devices, and laptops from all major manufacturers, and will be available to buy in Australia beginning next month, with market availability to follow in select regions.

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MOVETIME Family Watch 2

Building on the success of the original MOVETIME Family Watch, the new smartwatch includes features that help kids explore the world while giving parents peace of mind. These include more precise location tracking, an improved camera, a larger screen, and 40 percent higher battery capacity. Since child safety comes first, the MOVETIME Family Watch 2 uses real-time geolocation to show where the wearer is at all times and logs a full location history. Safe zone geofencing also means that if they stray outside the designated area their parents have chosen, an alert is sent to the parents' phones. 4G voice, video calls, and text messages can be enabled with a Nano SIM card so that parents can instantly communicate with their kids. A one-touch SOS call button also means young users can reach emergency contacts without any delay.

Read more Fitbit Ace 3: Latest Fitness Tracker for Kids With Touchscreen And Up to 8-Day Battery Life

To make sure the MOVETIME Family Watch 2 is ideally suited to its young users, TCL developed a dedicated Kids UI to sit behind the 1.54" screen. Intelligent and easy to use, Kids UI lets children personalize their home screen with colorful wallpapers.

The MOVETIME Family Watch 2 ships across Europe in mid-August 2021 starting at €149 ($178).

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The new flexible OLED display developed by Samsung could be invaluable to future wearable devices. What are the challenges faced by wearable devices, and what could be the practical applications for Samsung’s new flexible display?

What are the challenges faced by wearables?

Wearable tech is one of the fastest-advancing sectors of the wider technology industry, now outpacing the development of smartphones. Design is a key factor for the devices of the future. The more devices blend in with potential users’ clothes and accessories, the quicker they will be adopted.

Related Plastic Logic’s New Flexible Color Display Set To Revolutionize Wearables

Wearables need to conform to the wearer. The ZYPAD watch was a rugged computer that could be worn on the wrist. However, it was bulky and heavy. There are other medical wearables that function very well but are not flexible enough for the patient.

Wearable devices need to be comfortable. Consumers prefer large displays but the device will be unpopular if it is too rigid and uncomfortable.

A device that can conform to the human body while remaining functional is only practical if it can be used many hundreds of times with little to no damage,” writes Robin Mitchell in ElectroPages.

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Samsung’s flexible OLED display

Samsung’s newly announced OLED display can be stretched up to 30%. One of the biggest achievements of this research was that the team was able to modify the composition and structure of ‘elastomer’, a polymer compound with excellent elasticity and resilience, and use existing semiconductor manufacturing processes to apply it to the substrates of stretchable OLED displays and optical blood flow sensors for the first time in the industry. The team was then able to confirm that the sensor and display continued to operate normally and did not exhibit any performance degradation with elongation of up to 30%.

What are the practical applications of Samsung’s flexible OLED display?

Samsung’s new display has a low resolution, but its flexibility and ease of use proves that it could be a good candidate for future wearables. The stretchable sensor was made in a way that makes continuous heartbeat measurements possible with a high degree of sensitivity compared to existing fixed wearable sensors. It could also be used in smartwatches and smartphones.

Related Nubia Launches Futuristic Flexible Display Smartwatch

“Our research is still in the early stages, but our goal is to realize and commercialize stretchable devices by increasing system resolution, stretchability, and measurement accuracy to a level that makes mass production possible,” said principal researcher Jong Won Chung, co-first author of the paper. “In addition to the heartbeat sensor that was applied in this test case, we plan to incorporate stretchable sensors and high-resolution freeform displays to enable users to monitor things like peripheral oxygen saturation, electromyogram readings, and blood pressure.”

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Recently, MIT announced that it had successfully embedded sensor circuits consisting of multiple ICs and connectors into fibers that can be used for clothing. How does their new invention solve challenges faced by wearables, and could it be the future of wearable devices?

Read more: Smart Fabrics Are Emerging As A New Form Of Wearables

“When you put it into a shirt, you can’t feel it at all. You wouldn’t know it was there,” said Gabriel Loke, MIT Ph.D. student and one of the co-authors of the study.

How can smart fiber help wearable devices?

Wearable devices need to be flexible and comfortable. By design, wearables cannot flex, bend, or change shape to fit a particular surface. Wearables such as smartwatches consist of a ridged circuit connected to flexible straps, writes Sam Brown in ElectroPages.

The fiber, developed by MIT engineers, is thin and flexible and can be passed through a needle, sewn into fabrics, and washed at least 10 times without breaking down. Making a digital fiber “opens up different areas of opportunities and actually solves some of the problems of functional fibers,” says Loke.

Currently, the fiber is controlled by a small external device. The next step will be to design a new chip as a microcontroller that can be connected within the fiber itself, a stop on the way to a working “fabric computer” Loke says.

What are the potential uses for MIT’s new fiber?

Future digital garment combat applications that go beyond recording individual health biometrics to sharing alternative sensor information are something the MIT group has considered.

During combat, the new digital fabric could help to map hazards and threats based on sensor input from multiple soldiers’ garments, according to Forbes.

The digital fibers could also be used in fabrics for medical bandages or compresses.

According to Loke, the fiber with temperature sensor-enabled, could be useful in spacecraft for detecting and measuring the impact of micro-asteroids.

Read more: Chinese Scientists Develop Smart Fabric That Can Display Texts

The idea of these types of smart fabrics has numerous use cases. These sensor-embedded fibers could also be used to investigate plants and other organic life. “I think that really opens up a new dimension,” Loke says.

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According to World Health Organization (WHO), masks should be worn as part of a comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress COVID-19 transmission and save lives. However, not everybody is suitable for wearing traditional masks. The elderly and people with breathing difficulties tend to find reusable cloth masks too stuffy and hard to breathe through, while disposable masks are bad for the environment. LG decided to do something about it. The South Korean electronics giant has launched a rechargeable wearable air purifier mask that lets you breathe comfortably.

Read more AirPop Introduces AirPop Active+ Halo, A Smart Mask that Tracks Your Breath and Air Quality

With the LG PuriCare you can breathe in pure air everywhere you go by blocking harmful particles with high-efficiency filters. LG has showed off its PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier at the IFA press conference in Berlin.

“The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier is an exciting addition to our growing lineup of products designed to deliver meaningful health and hygiene benefits,” said Dan Song, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company. “At a time when consumers are seeking ways to make life safer and more convenient, it’s important that we’re able to offer solutions that add measureable value.”

Why should you buy LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier?

The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier employs two H13 HEPA filters, similar to the filters used in the company’s home air purifier products.

The LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier has DUAL Fans with an ultra-small and lightweight motor and a Respiratory Sensor that senses your breath and controls the airflow to make it easier to breathe.

There are two H13 HEPA filters on board, similar in nature to the kind the company uses for its in-home air filtration system. There are also UV-LED lights designed to kill bacteria — an added level of protection beyond the filtration system, reports TechCrunch.

What's more, your glasses will not fog up when walking or jogging with this new mask. While most masks leak air under the nose or chin, the PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier seals to your face to better protect you. The ergonomic design was created to form to the shape of any face, so it feels incredibly comfortable for everyday use. The exterior and interior parts can be replaced as needed to keep your PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier clean and safe.

Read more New TEAL Reusable Respirator Mask Can Sense Proper Fit and Filter Saturation

The LG PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier mask can be bought online from LG and other sources. It is priced at US$152.

Fitbit may soon add snoring and noise detection to its devices. As reported by 9to5Google, details were found in the current Google APK for Android that indicate new functions for Fitbit's smartwatches and fitness trackers.

Read more: Fitbit Inspire 2 Now Has Phone Tracking Feature from Tile

According to descriptions, the new feature will enable your microphone during sleep so that your Fitbit device can monitor noise, including snoring.

Your Fitbit wearable will analyze noise level (how loud or quiet it is) to determine the baseline noise level, then record any noise above this to judge whether it's snoring. It will then assign you a label based on how long you were snoring for.

“We look for snore-specific noises. When our algorithm detects an event that’s louder than the baseline noise level, it performs a calculation to decide if it’s snoring or something else. If the noise level in your room is louder than the snoring, this feature may not be able to pick up the snoring.”

The tool can also be used to measure the ambient noise in your bedroom. Fitbit will tell you how loud it is in your sleeping environment on a scale between “very quiet,” which the company classifies as a consistent 30 dBA or less, and “very loud,” which falls in the 90 dBA and above range.

However, Fitbit cannot tell you who is snoring, so if you have a partner who snores, know that their nighttime sounds will be included in the detection mix. Fitbit will show you these results as a percentage, indicating how much of your night was spent snoring, reports 9to5 Google.

Keep in mind that this feature can detect snores from you or someone next to you. Here are the possible results you may see:

• “None to mild” means you were snoring for less than 10% of the total time you were asleep.
• “Moderate” means you were snoring for 10–40% of the total time you were asleep.
• “Frequent” means you were snoring for >40% of the total time you were asleep.

Read more: Fitbit Wearables May Soon Start Measuring Your Blood Pressure

According to 9to5 Google, Fitbit also will be introducing “sleep animals” as part of a separate upcoming feature. Each different style of sleeping will correlate with an animal. For example, a restless sleeper would be a bear, a short sleeper would be a hummingbird, a solid sleeper would be a tortoise, and so on.

Samsung has revealed a stretchable OLED display that acts as a heart rate sensor. The wearable device which can be mounted on the wrist, combines Photoplethysmography (PPG) heart rate sensors and an OLED screen to offer real-time heartbeat monitoring.

Read more: Google and Samsung are merging Their Operating Systems

On June 4, researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), Samsung’s R&D hub dedicated to cutting-edge future technologies, published research in the world-renowned journal Science Advances about a technology that overcomes the limitations of stretchable devices.

Through this study, stable performance in a stretchable device with high elongation was achieved. This research was also the first in the industry to prove the commercialization potential of stretchable devices, given that the technology is capable of being integrated with existing semiconductor processes, reports Samsung.

OLED ‘Skin’ Display That Can Be Stretched by Up to 30%

One of the biggest achievements of this research was that the team was able to modify the composition and structure of ‘elastomer’, a polymer compound with excellent elasticity and resilience, and use existing semiconductor manufacturing processes to apply it to the substrates of stretchable OLED displays and optical blood flow sensors for the first time in the industry. The team were then able to confirm that the sensor and display continued to operate normally and did not exhibit any performance degradation with elongation of up to 30%.

To put their research to the test, the SAIT researchers attached stretchable PPG heart rate sensors and OLED display systems to the inner wrist near the radial artery. Doing this allowed them to confirm that wrist movement did not cause any property deterioration, with the solution remaining reliable with skin elongation of up to 30%. This test also confirmed that the sensor and OLED display continued to work stably even after being stretched 1,000 times. What’s more, when measuring signals from a moving wrist, the sensor was found to pick up a heartbeat signal that was 2.4 times stronger than would be picked up by a fixed silicon sensor.

“The strength of this technology is that it allows you to measure your biometric data for a longer period without having to remove the solution when you sleep or exercise, since the patch feels like part of your skin. You can also check your biometric data right away on the screen without having to transfer it to an external device,” explained principal researcher Youngjun Yun, corresponding author of the paper. “The technology can also be expanded to use in wearable healthcare products for adults, children and infants, as well as patients with certain diseases.”

Overcoming Technical Challenges With Stretchable Materials and Structure

Implementing stretchable display technology proves difficult because usually when a display is stretched or its shape is manipulated, the device either breaks or its performance deteriorates. In order to overcome this problem, the SAIT researchers replaced the plastic material used in existing stretchable displays with elastomer. The system developed by the SAIT team is the first in the sector to implement a display and sensor using photolithography processes that enable micro-patterning and large-area processing.

Commercialization and Expanded Applications

The stretchable sensor was made in a way that makes continuous heartbeat measurements possible with a high degree of sensitivity compared to existing fixed wearable sensors.

Read more: Samsung to Include Blood Pressure Monitor on its Galaxy Watch Active2

“Our research is still in the early stages, but our goal is to realize and commercialize stretchable devices by increasing system resolution, stretchability, and measurement accuracy to a level that makes mass production possible,” said principal researcher Jong Won Chung, co-first author of the paper. “In addition to the heartbeat sensor that was applied in this test case, we plan to incorporate stretchable sensors and high-resolution freeform displays to enable users to monitor things like peripheral oxygen saturation, electromyogram readings and blood pressure.”

The fashion industry is consistently adopting new technologies to further the possibilities of what we can wear. However, in 2021, designers aren’t interested in making smart clothes that do things we don’t need, such us, remind us when we’ve forgotten our keys. Instead, they are looking at the potential of new materials to positively affect the human body, according to a new digital exhibition called Surface Tension.

Read more Smart Underwear Takes Health Tracking to the Next Level

The exhibition is co-curated by researcher and designer Rosie Broadhead and writer & artist Wilson Oryema. Surface Tension “argues that technological advancements in clothing design shouldn’t just turn us into cyborgs, but proposes that the future of wearable tech is holistic,” reports Vice. Both Wilson and Rose believe that the clothes we wear should not be for decoration and protection only but they could influence what goes on within our bodies.

Surface Tension is like a digital gallery, where you can walk through like in a video game. It features 17 wearables created by scientists, designers, artists or medical doctors which can positively impact both its wearer and the environment. “It’s all about healing the body in some way,” Rosie explains, “so there's some biological element to all of them”. Rosie is the founder of SKIN SERIES, a brand that looks at the potential of using probiotics within fashion design — a 3D model of the brand’s ‘Seaweed Encapsulated Baselayer’ which can aid in cell regeneration and reduce inflammation is included in the exhibition.

“We’re worried about what is in our food, what is in our skincare,” Rosie continues, “but we need to start asking, ‘What is next to our skin?’” After all, everything that we come in contact with affects our microbiome (the bacteria, fungi and other tiny microbes which live on and in us), so why shouldn’t this be brought into consideration when designing clothes?

Here are some of the stuffs featured in the exhibition:

Biometric Protector

DOES Pharma presented a family of products with the aim of protecting the most important features of our body towards our identity recognition. “Our products provide the perfect protection for keeping your body features as recognizable as possible towards your body surveillance functionality. Available in a variety of sizes, colors and designs and produced with non pH-damage materials, we offer a collection of products that work towards your daily biological uniqueness protection,” DOES Pharma says.

Their products include:

• Tongueprints Biometric Protector
• Fingerprints Biometric Protector
• Ears Biometric Protector
• Iris Biometric Protector
• Anus Biometric Protector
• Nosepores Biometric Protector

ALMA Smart Underwear

ALMA Smart Underwear is a non-invasive tool designed to monitor vaginal health. When symptoms occur, a female will use the underwear in order to identify what type of infection is coming. The biosensor placed in the gusset of the underwear, measures pH and other biomarkers present in vaginal fluid. The data is accessible to the user through the phone and if necessary the app directly connects to professionals for medical support.

Read more YKK’s Smart Zipper Can Be Connected to Mobile Phones

Entangled by Marion Lasserre

Entangled is a design and material research project investigating the potential of integrating future materials and microorganisms into the 3D printing process with the aim of creating novel footwear. The project research explores how materials for 3D printing (flexible resins, biomaterials) impact the skin over time and what could be done, by using the 3D printing technology to improve foot health. Traditional shoe making processes still use glues and agents which will be toxic overtime for makers and the environment.

Mechanical Counter Pressure (MCP) Glove

This MCP glove was designed, tested, and validated for space operations by Final Frontier Design for NASA in 2015-17. The design of the glove compresses the skin at a pressure necessary to maintain cardiovascular function in the vacuum of space. The MCP glove design includes restraint lines of Spectra running from the fingertips, down each finger, along the palm, and to the wrist to control human and pressure loads.  Adjustable pressure on the skin is realized through inflatable pockets running from the fingertips to the wrist and donning and doffing is allowed through two diagonal zippers along the wrist, reinforced with lacing.

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Lumen, the maker of metabolism measurement device through the breath, and Garmin International, have launched the second phase of integrating health and activity data.

Read more Lumen Introduces at Home Metabolism Tracking Device, Available Worldwide Now

The second phase will integrate that metabolism data with biometric data collected with the Garmin wearable itself. In that regard, people will now be able to view their body battery and heart rate data (both resting and active) directly in the Lumen app to gain a better sense of how their workout affects their metabolism. The information can be used to optimize their training and their diet based on the results.

According to the research team at Lumen, the trend is clear: Garmin users are now optimizing their fitness routine by training their metabolism, reports BusinessWire.

“Proper nutrition is just as essential as your workout routine, whether you’re just getting started on your fitness journey or training for a triathlon,” said Travis Johnson, global product lead for Garmin Health. “The combination of real-time metabolic data from Lumen and biometric data from Garmin is a powerful tool that lets you make informed decisions about how to fuel your body and achieve your fitness goals faster.”

Throughout the last 3 months of this integration, Garmin users took over 11,000 post-workout metabolism measurements. The results of these measurements were highly successful, as 70% of users shifted to burning fat as a fuel source following their workout. This efficient shift from carbs to fat burn is a key factor to training a flexible metabolism.

Compared to the average user, they also worked out 15% longer, fasted and woke up in fat burn 10% more, and took 18% more daily steps.

"We see that Garmin users who measure their metabolism with Lumen become smarter athletes because they get metabolic feedback in real time on their wrist after workouts. In phase 2, users can connect their metabolism to Garmin’s Body Battery™ energy monitoring feature to optimize their workout readiness with the right nutrition," says Barak Alon, head of data at Lumen.

The feature integration was first launched in November 2020, as the Lumen metabolism measurement app was made available for Garmin users on the Connect IQ™ Store along with a Health API integration.

In this second integration phase, Garmin users can now directly correlate their Body Battery, heart rate, and workout to see how well their body shifts from carbs to fats as a fuel source.

Read more Garmin Partners Up with Fitabase to Offer New Data Management for Wearable-Based Research

The new data metrics now available to Garmin users in their Lumen app include:

• Body Battery
• Resting heart rate
• High heart rate

With 1 in 5 American adults owning a wearable device, the future of health tracking is shifting to the combined value of nutrition and fitness data. Innovative integrations such as Garmin and Lumen are at the forefront of utilizing data and technology to determine what workouts truly work for our body through real-time metabolic insights and personalization.

Peer-reviewed

In collaboration with San Francisco State University, Lumen has validated an ongoing study launched in 2020, which shows the validity of Lumen to detect changes in metabolic fuel utilization in a comparable manner with a laboratory standard metabolic cart, providing the ability for real-time metabolic information for users under any circumstances.

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Performance sports wearables maker Coros announced its largest ever software and app update. These new features and advancement of existing features comes as the brand continues to respond to the ever-evolving needs of performance athletes. The latest update focuses on sports science and improving user’s training efficiency by way of both COROS watches and the COROS App, available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Read more Coros Pace 2 Is the World’s Lightest GPS Watch Especially Designed for Competitive Runners

EvoLab brings the following enhancements to the COROS platform:

• Real time training load – based on intensity and duration of activity
• Improved Aerobic/Anaerobic Training Effect calculation
• Short-term and long-term fitness analysis
• Fatigue level and recovery recommendations

Furthermore, EvoLab offers a number of newly designed Road/Track Running Specific features are being introduced with plans for expansion to Trail Running and other activities in the future:

• Marathon Focused Running Level – indicating Marathon distance readiness and provides an easy comparison between runners.
• Running Performance Analysis – comparing today’s run versus expectations.
• Race Prediction Tool and Pace Guide – offered for 5k, 10k, Half-Marathon and Marathon distances.

“Our team of developers have spent the last 12 months on the EvoLab project, responding to the performance needs of our users, said Lewis Wu, CEO COROS Wearables. “In the process, they have completely revolutionized the way athletes receive personalized fitness evaluations from a GPS Watch. The final result allows for better and more efficient training which ultimately is our mission at COROS.

EvoLab will be available for early release to the first 1,000 users who sign up here and will be more broadly released within the next month, according to a press release.

In addition, COROS announced that it will be bringing 4 new products to market with the PACE 2 Speed Series and the all-new Keychain Charger. The PACE 2 Speed Series includes 3 all new limited run colors of the Award-Winning PACE 2 GPS Sports Watch:

• Red – inspired by the synthetic track surfaces
• Green – representing the pines of the Pacific Northwest, home to this summer’s Track and Field Championships
• Gold – epitomizing the pinnacle achievement of the sport, and the medal that COROS Pro Athletes Emma Coburn and Eliud Kipchoge look to take home this summer

Read more Coros VERTIX GPS is the ‘Most Powerful GPS Watch Ever’

Lastly, the Keychain charger is a fun introduction to the COROS range, as it solves one of the biggest issues caused by the brand’s renowned battery life – lost chargers. Users can purchase the new Keychain Charger for $24.99 and clip it onto their keys, water bottle or belt loop so it’s always at the ready, on the rare chance a charger is needed.

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Google and Samsung announced that they are essentially combining Wear OS — Google’s operating system — and the Tizen-based software platform that has been central to Samsung’s wearables for many years.

The new platform will be called ‘Wear’ for now and Tizen will be discontinued, reports MobiFlip.

“This isn’t just for Google and Samsung. All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform, and developers will be able to use the Android tools they already know and love to build for one platform and ecosystem. And because of these benefits, you will have more options than ever before, whether it’s choosing which device to buy or picking which apps and watch faces to display,” Bjorn Kilburn Director of Product Management, Wear, wrote in a blog post.

Read more Samsung Leaker Cracks Samsung’s Secret Language Code About Upcoming Galaxy Watch

This is what we know so far:

• From now on, all new Galaxy Watches will be equipped with Wear and it seems like a new chip (maybe from Google and Samsung?) Is being planned.
• Older models are not supplied with Wear, but Samsung would like to guarantee three more years of updates.
• There will be some Tizen Samsung apps for Wear, but not all. S Health, for example, is being discontinued and Samsung is getting the new Fitbit apps from Google. The data can be transferred.
• Google itself is revising most of the apps, for example there is navigation for Google Maps without a smartphone. All these apps will of course also be available for Samsung models. Also, it sounds a bit like we won't get Samsung Pay and Google Pay is the standard.
• Samsung has helped Google to optimize the performance of Wear and it is also referred to as longer battery life. The performance is probably around 30 percent increase, there is no information about the battery life.
• Fitbit is also making a Wear OS app. As Fitbit is already a part of Google, Samsung's watches may end up getting all those Fitbit features too.
• The focus is also on more independent smartwatches, so we'll see many new models with 4G.

Read more Will Samsung’s Upcoming Smartwatch Run on Google’s Wear OS

“We are also making it easier for our developer community to build great apps (including new Tiles!) for the platform, and reach millions of consumers all over the world through the Google Play Store,” Kilburn wrote.

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As the schools are slowly opening after a long pandemic lockdown, kids are getting ready to meet their friends and explore independence this summer. However, adjusting to the freedoms of the season could be a challenge for many families. For parents looking for digital solutions to keep track of their kids, child-tracking watch like Gizmowatch 2 can help.

Read more Garmin Joins Forces with Children’s Mercy Kansas City to Keep Kids Active During COVID-19 Pandemic

Geared toward kids 3 to 11, the Gizmowatch 2 features GPS and LTE connectivity on Verizon’s network so kids can call and text approved contacts, and parents can keep an eye on them in real time.

This new model boasts a larger screen than its predecessor, better battery life, and a lower price: $99 plus the cost of LTE connectivity (which starts at $10 per month).

The GizmoWatch 2 can help you stay connected to your kids without excessive unwanted contact. Parents can set up to 10 trusted contacts of their choice, reports Neil Mitchell in Verizon.

The watch is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500 1.2GHz quad-core processor. It has 4 GB of RAM and a 500mAh battery that Verizon says can last up to four days with typical usage. The typical usage can include calling and texting up to 10 parentally-approved contacts, as well as setting alarms and task reminders, and even playing a fun pre-loaded energy burning game.

In terms of water resistance, the GizmoWatch 2 is rated IP67, meaning it can withstand up to 3.2 feet of water for 30 minutes.

The Fun Activities section has a step counter, which parents have to enable in the app. You can also add a step goal, set a time to receive a daily notification with your child’s step count, and write a congratulatory message they will see when they reach their goal.

Read more The 5 Best Fitness Trackers for Children

The voice changer lets kids record a message then hear it back as a robot, someone who inhaled helium, a squirrel, or a monster. They can share this funny recording with their friends.

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