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Walyou

Sunfriend: A UV Watch That Protects You From Sunburn
LG Makes a Connected Lightbulb, Because it Can
Facebook Buy Oculus VR for $2 Billion
Musaic Wireless HiFi Audio System Controls Your Music and Your Lights
SmartMio Brings Muscle Stimulation and Wearable Tech Together

Sunfriend: A UV Watch That Protects You From Sunburn

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 06:00 AM PDT

Sunfirend only looks like a watch to be accurate, but it doesn’t matter. This new gadget measures UV exposure so it can alert the user when they are about to get burnt, so they can spend time in the sun without having to worry about being in it for too long.

This gadget pretty much makes sunscreen unnecessary. Sunscreen does protect the skin from the harmful rays, but it isn’t only good: It stops the skin from absorbing UVB rays used to make vitamin D. Some experts have warned that the use of sunscreen has caused worldwide deficiency in the vitamin.

Sunfriend is an attempt to reverse or somehow affect the Vitamin D deficiency while still protecting people from the sun’s dangers.

How does it work? You begin by inputting your skin sensitivity on a scale of 1 to 11. The LED lights lining the watch will illuminate as the UV exposure increases. When it’s time to stop getting roasted and step into the shade, the LED lights begin to flash.

Image via Geeky Gadgets

For a bit more on cool gadgets, check out the MIDI project, combining plants and music, or the Vaavud wind meter and its application on Smartphones.

LG Makes a Connected Lightbulb, Because it Can

Posted: 26 Mar 2014 05:00 AM PDT

It’s only a matter of time before everything we own has network connectivity, so it shouldn’t shock anyone when smart lightbulbs begin hitting store shelves.

As our world gets more and more connected, it’s not surprising to see all the things we can control with WiFi and a smartphone app, but lightbulbs were’t high on many people’s expectations when it comes to connected household accessory, yet we already have Bluetooth color changing bulbs from Phillips and Lumen on the market. Now LG is throwing its hat in the ring with the Smart Lamp.

LG’s bulb is not exactly the same as the competition, though. It comes it at less than half the price of Lumen’s bulb and $27 less than Phillips’s. There are many similarities, such as the connectivity and intensity controls. They can all be set to assist your phone in providing notifications or alarms and sync to music playing from your phone, but LG’s bulb only provides white light, while Lumen and Phillips both offer bulbs of varying hues.

Connected bulbs represent a big move to provide granular home automation. In the past, many home automation solutions required mostly proprietary hardware, which presents a large barrier to entry. That all changes when you can automate your house one bulb at a time.

While it used to cost tens of thousands to integrate smart connected systems into your house to control things like lighting, media centers, climate, coffee makers, or whatever else you were trying to connect, you can now buy wireless bulbs, smart thermostats–such as the Nest, and $35 media dongles like the Chromecast.

There are plenty of ways this new technology can help integrate your smartphone into your–now smarter–house. With new connected lightbulbs–such as the LG Smart Lamp, your lights could dim or flicker when you have a call or a text, pulse to the beat of your music, or come in in the morning with your alarm clock.

The LG Smart Lamp is currently is only announced for LG’s home country of South Korea, but it will no doubt be available for US customers later this year.

Source: Engadget

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Facebook Buy Oculus VR for $2 Billion

Posted: 25 Mar 2014 04:55 PM PDT

In the latest of huge Facebook purchases, the social media company have now purchased Oculus VR, the makers of Oculus Rift, for $2 billion.

You might not have heard of Oculus Rift, but it's the latest in gaming technology to offer an immersive experience to gamers. Its makers, Oculus VR, are looking to put players right in the virtual shoes of the characters that they are playing in their games, so that no longer are you just moving analogue sticks and subtly pressing buttons; instead, you're getting as close as you can to actually being within a video game. Considered as a small start-up with a healthy amount of interest and plenty of burgeoning support from both the gaming and technology industries, Oculus Rift was already set to go big on its own, but now, Facebook have bought Oculus VR for $2 billion and Oculus Rift is set to go stratospheric.

For the privilege of getting in on a huge gaming and technology promise, Facebook have paid $2 billion worth of cash and shares, with that ginormous figure being made up of $400 million in money and $1.6 billion worth of Facebook shares, which, as of the end of the day's trading sessions, were selling for $64.10 a share. Too, Oculus VR could also be given an extra $300 million by the social media giant, depending on their performance.

But what does Facebook expect to get out of this deal? Are they planning on putting our Facebook newsfeeds directly in front of our eye sockets now, forever forced to glare at unflattering selfies of our friends and family until we take the Oculus Rift goggles off? Not so, according to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who says that Oculus Rift's focus, first and foremost, is going to be games but "after games, [they are] going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences", with Zuckerberg giving examples of "Enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home". So those are certainly some big plans.

As for Oculus VR, they have this to say about the rather surprising sale "At first glance, it might not seem obvious why Oculus is partnering with Facebook, a company focused on connecting people, infesting in internet access for the world and pushing and open computing platform . But when you consider it more carefully, we're culturally aligned with a focus on innovating and hiring the best and brightest; we believe communication drives new platforms; we want to contribute to a more open, connected world; and we both see virtual reality as the next step." Some high praise indeed for their new bosses, but how is the industry reacting?

We'll have some more nuanced critique of the sale later in the week but for now, early reactions to Oculus VR's sale to Facebook seem to be quite harsh with Markuss "Notch" Persson (the indie developer and creator of Minecraft) tweeted the following, "We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out." with his opinion not being alone in a world of indie gaming sceptics who are wary of big business. These indie developers are many of the devs who had planned (or do currently still) to support and develop games for Oculus Rift so how Facebook and Oculus VR work to dispel these doubts and turn Oculus' plans for virtual reality into a real dominant market force, will be incredibly interesting indeed.

We'll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: Games Industry International, Markuss “Notch” Persson’s Twitter

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 Priced at $350 to Hit the Market in July, Oculus VR Exhibits Crystal Cove Prototype aka Oculus Rift 2.0

Musaic Wireless HiFi Audio System Controls Your Music and Your Lights

Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:45 PM PDT

We are so used to things having only one function that we act extremely surprised when a company launches a wireless HiFI music system capable of controlling our lights, not only of our music.

Musaic was developed by Matthew Bramble, who has acted as Technical Director of Cambridge Audio for 10 years, along with Carolyn Van Dongen. Bramble revealed to Gizmag that he has been planning to create such a product for quite a while now: “I’ve been thinking about it for years. The big leap came when Carolyn and I were thinking about moving house. We realized that if we wanted to do something new whilst still relatively young and untied-down, this was actually the time. So last May instead we gathered our savings, put the move on hold, I left my job and we started Musaic.”

Similar in concept to Sonos, Musaic takes things a bit further by adding smart home functionality to an already brilliant wireless HiFi music system. Most manufacturers of audio equipment are not that keen to recommend buying one of their devices for each of your rooms. In Musaic’s case, however, this is exactly what you need to do to make magic happen. Upon placing a Musaic in each of your rooms, you can synchronize between them the music that’s being played back or, on the contrary, you can have each Musaic playing a different song.

One could argue that there already are plenty of wireless HiFi music systems on the market, but in reality, few have such a high quality and even fewer are backed by people who have worked for an audio equipment manufacturer for a decade.

Another great thing about Musaic is that it does not discriminate its sources, when it comes to streaming music. The device will work equally fine with PCs, Macs, Android, iOS devices, and even NAS drives or UPNP/DLNa servers. What more could you ask from a HiFi system?

The London-based company is slowly but surely approaching the approximately $100,000 goal it has established on Kickstarter. The campaign will end in 25 days, so I’m confident about people seeing the true potential of this device. After all, it’s not everyday that you can buy a wireless HiFi music system that takes control over your lighting fixtures.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the aluminum Braven 850 speaker and the Yamaha HiFi radio alarm clock.

SmartMio Brings Muscle Stimulation and Wearable Tech Together

Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:05 PM PDT

SmartMio Wearable Sports Muscle Stimulator

Devices used for Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation haven’t evolved that much in recent times, but SmartMio means to change all that by creating a wireless product that connects to iOS and Android via Bluetooth.

Alex Pisarev, CEO and founder of SmartMio, explained the origins of this wearable device: “It started with my father. He has years of experience building medical technologies for various institutions, like customized medical devices as well as for private individuals starting from cardiographs going to x-ray devices.”

Dr. Vladimir Pisarev, Alex’s father, holds a PhD in biophysics and MSc in biology and electronics engineering, and has 35 years of medical device engineering experience. Alex pointed out the innovations he wanted to include in the device he was developing: “So, I proposed him to make it completely wireless and make it wearable in fact with Bluetooth technology. I was developing applications for Android, so I put together a test application to communicate with the device and that’s how we built the first SmartMio prototype.”

The founder of SmartMio also emphasized the difference between EMS devices that one can buy using teleshopping and the device his company has made: “It’s very popular among triathletes and distance runners and even team sports in Europe. It’s a bit more popular in Europe, actually. It’s not like you can go into any store and buy a sports EMS. This is actually why we have SmartMio and why SmartMio is better and more convenient than other devices for athletes. It has a very friendly user interface.”

According to Filipp Almakov, COO and CMO at SmartMio, the wearable sports muscle stimulator will get some support from sportsmen, starting right next month: “There’s an expedition that's happening in early April and the guy who leads the expedition has agreed to take SmartMio with him. We’re putting SmartMio under extreme conditions to see how it performs. This is something that’s going to prove how effective SmartMio can be.”

The company is currently running a campaign on Indiegogo, where it’s getting really close to its $50,000 goal. SmartMio has great chances of reaching that goal, consider that there are 41 more days to go at press time. Securing such a wearable sports muscle stimulator is as easy as backing the project with $89, while there still are Early Bird spots, as the price goes higher after that. In addition, the device is available for pre-order on the company’s website.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Samsung Gear Fit and the sensor-packed Hexoskin shirt that acts as a fitness tracker.