smartwatch tagged posts

Researchers have developed a simple and ecofriendly way to use a laser to turn natural leather into flexible and wearable energy devices. The new approach could lay the groundwork for more sustainable wearable electronics. In a paper in Optics Letters, the researchers demonstrate the new technique by creating microsupercapacitors on leather in various patterns, including a tiger, dragon and rabbit.

“Using a laser, we directly write conductive patterns onto vegetable-tanned leather to create microsupercapacitors that can store energy and help smooth electrical signals so that wearable e...

Long-term data gathered from wearables can quicky indicate illness and other abnormalities in a patient’s health. Smartwatches and other wearable devices may be used to sense illness, dehydration and even changes to the red blood cell count, according to biomedical engineers and genomics researchers at Duke University and the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The researchers say that, with the help of machine learning, wearable device data on heart rate, body temperature and daily activities may be used to predict health measurements that are typically observed during a clinical blood test. The study appears in Nature Medicine on May 24, 2021.

During a doctor’s office visit, a medical worker usually m...

FingerIO allows you to interact with mobile devices by writing or gesturing on any nearby surface by turning a smartphone or smartwatch into an active sonar device. Credit: Dennis Wise, University of Washington

As mobile and wearable devices such as smartwatches grow smaller, it gets tougher for people to interact with screens the size of a matchbook. That could change with a new tech developed by Un of Washington computer scientists and electrical engineers called FingerIO. It tracks fine-grained finger movements by turning a smartphone or smartwatch into an active sonar system using the device’s own microphones and speakers.

Because sound waves travel through fabric and do not require a line of sight, users can even interact with a phone inside a front pocket or a smartwatch hidden under...