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Samsung Electronics Australia has announced the creation of brainBAND, an innovative piece of wearable technology designed to facilitate research into concussion in sports. brainBAND is the work of Dr. Alan Pearce and Braden Wilson.

The prototype has been developed through Samsung’s Launching People program, an initiative that brings together two experts from different backgrounds to demonstrate how technology can investigate and help solve real challenges facing society.

Dr. Alan Pearce, a neuroscientist heavily involved in concussion research and education, and Braden Wilson, an industrial designer, worked with Samsung on the program. Together, they created a wearable technology prototype that can track impacts to the head in contact sports in real-time, with the aim to use this data to better understand concussion in sport and the ongoing impact on the brain.

Concussion is a growing societal issue in Australia with most incidences going unreported as symptoms are hard to see. Unlike traditional head gear designed to protect the head in contact sports, brainBAND is designed to gather information regarding an impact in real-time – a first in Australia.

Philip Newton, CMO, Samsung Electronics Australia commented on the program: “At Samsung, we have a strong belief in pushing the boundaries of technology and challenging the current perception of what is possible through innovation.

“This is why we are extremely proud to have helped facilitate the work of Dr. Alan Pearce and Braden Wilson to create the brainBAND prototype to aid research into concussion in sport.”

How It Works

In the prototype, a specially designed headband houses sensors at the back of the head that measure the force of an impact. This information would then be relayed via an app to medics, referees and coaches, all in real-time through the use of Samsung devices.

A series of LED lights embedded in the headband indicate the level of impact of a hit: yellow, orange and red for high alert, meaning a player should be taken off the field for assessment.

All impact data will be recorded and logged so that, over time, players could obtain a more complete picture of the forces their brain has been put under.

Dr. Alan Pearce, neuroscientist and expert on concussion said: “The ultimate goal is that by understanding the dangers of repeated concussions, brainBAND may help prevent life changing injuries at every level of the game, and protect the next generation of players.”

Released today, the final episode in an eight part content series curated by Leo Burnett highlights the results achieved throughout the initiative by putting the prototype to the test on the sporting field. The video can be viewed here.

Australian football sensation and Samsung brand ambassador, Israel Folau, who was the first to trial the prototype, stated, “I think it’d be great if every player in Australia had access to this kind of technology to make contact sports safer for current and future generations.”

The collaboration with Samsung Australia has inspired Dr. Alan Pearce and Braden Wilson to continue their research and development, utilising the data learned through the Mixed Talents campaign.

Follow the journey of Dr. Alan Pearce and Braden Wilson through concept to prototype, with all eight episodes published via the website (www.samsung.com.au/launchingpeople) and continue the conversation on Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #MixedTalents

It was in October of last year when Hulu promised to release an app for Samsung’s Gear VR headset. The app was supposedly coming that November, but it didn’t. In fact, it’s only become available today, believe it or not.

Still – better late than never, right? The Hulu app is now up for grabs in the Gear VR store. It lets you “watch the entire Hulu 2D library in immersive 360-degree environments”, but also has 360-degree video content thankfully.

At the moment you’ll be looking at 25 “pieces of exclusive and premium content” in glorious 360-degree view. Among the companies that have produced them are Baobab Studios, Discovery Communications, Las Vegas, The National Geographic Channel, RYOT, Showtime Networks, SilVR Thread, Spoke, Studio Transcendent, The Uprising Creative, and Viacom. The VR content is available for free even for those who don’t have a Hulu subscription.

The app also sports Hulu’s first original VR short, called The Big One. It’s about a meteor shower that turns into “an apocalyptic nightmare”.

As for the 2D library, you can watch that while being in an immersive viewing environment – sitting in a comfortable living room, watching a movie in a big screen theatre, or kicking back on a scenic beach are all actual options for this.

Source

Pebble is laying off 40 employees, or about 25 percent of its staff. In a conversation withTech Insider revealing the layoffs, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky suggested the cuts were necessary because of a lack of funds. “Money is pretty tight these days,” he says.

Venture capital firms are in a slowdown right now, but Pebble has managed to raise some money. Tech Insider says that it raised $26 million over the last eight months. And while we don’t know specific sales figures for most of the year, we know that Pebble sold $20 million worth of smartwatches during a Kickstarter campaign at the beginning of 2015.

Still, there’s a clear suggestion that Pebble’s business is not in perfect shape. Migicovsky suggests that its future products could shift their focus toward health and fitness features, which he sees consumers having more interest in. Pebble already offers some fitness features, but it doesn’t explicitly offer a sport model of its watch, nor a dedicated fitness tracker.

Beyond today’s layoffs, Pebble also lost at least one key employee this year: Itai Vonshak, who was hired as head of product in 2014. Vonshak was responsible for Pebble’s Timeline interface, and has since moved to Intel.

Pebble entered the spotlight in 2012 after a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for the initial Pebble watch. At the time, there were no compelling smartwatches on the market; but by the time Pebble launched its second generation watch last year, it was entering a much more crowded field. There were a few watches running Android Wear, some strange inventions from Samsung, and the impending launch of the Apple Watch, which had been unveiled months earlier — not to mention a saturated market of increasingly stylish fitness bands.

Though Pebble did well during its Kickstarter launch, this week’s layoffs indicate it may not have done as well in the year since. Migicovsky, however, tries to make the layoffs sound like a preventive measure. He tells Tech Insider, “We want to be careful.”

Back at CES this year, Razer made a surprise announcement. Sure, the Core external GPU solution and the Stargazer webcam, I was shown something that had little to do with gaming at all. I’m talking, of course, about the Razer Nabu Watch.

The Nabu Watch isn’t the first wearable from Razer. They’ve released a couple of fitness trackers under the Nabu name. However, this was their first time releasing a watch. While many companies are releasing smartwatches, Razer calls this particular one “a watch that’s smart,” which is different. I’ve been using mine for a while now, and it’s time to share my thoughts with you.

Looks

The Razer Nabu Watch immediately brings to mind the Casio G Shock. It’s big, rugged, and black. Virtually everything on the watch is either rubber or metal. The exceptions are the buttons and the face of the watch. It’s not heavy by any means, but it does feel like I could drop it, or even throw it, and it would come out unscathed.

On the face of the watch there are four different screens. The largest screen in the middle is your dedicated time keeper. This is going to display the current time, unless you’re using using one of the secondary watch functions, like a stopwatch. The small screen at the top right is reserved for the date and time. You’ll also see tiny icons to indicate the alarm being set, and whether it’s connected to your phone via Bluetooth. The top left has icons to show which mode your watch is currently in.

Aside from the Bluetooth icon, there is nothing smart about these three screens. In fact, this whole part of the watch is completely separate from the rest. It even has its own coin cell battery that will keep this part of your watch functioning for up to a year without needing changed.

The bottom screen is where all of the magic happens. By pressing the button directly below it, you’ll scroll through the various information, such as steps taken and calories burned. This is also where phone notifications will show up. This face is powered by a rechargeable lithium polymer battery, which lasts around a week. You’ll recharge it with the included proprietary cable, which attaches to the back of the watch with a magnet.

Around the face are four buttons, which are your standard watch buttons. These are “Mode,” “Set,” “Adjust,” and “Light.”

The band is made of rubber, and features two rows of rounded holes. The buckle has two prongs on it, which explains the two rows of holes. At the end of the strap are two pegs, which also lock into the holes on the band. This is a nice touch, as it keeps the end secured in place, regardless of how large or small your wrist is.

Functionality

The watch was easy to pair with my iPhone, and the time automatically syncs, which is a nice touch. The app has all of the basic info that you’d expect from a fitness band. You can keep track of your steps and number of calories burned. It also tells you how long you’ve been active over the course of the day, and how long you’ve slept.

Since it’s a fitness tracker, I’ve done my best to count my steps, to check for accuracy. And overall, it seems to keep a decent record of them. It’ll be off by a bit here and there, but for something that’s strapped to your wrist, it does as well as can be expected. The calorie counter, however, is a different story.

The watch appears to add one calorie burned every 33 seconds or so, even if the watch is sitting on your desk, unused. While the counter does go up faster when you’re being more active, I feel like the count is misleading, since it’s always counting up, even if you’re not wearing the watch.

I tried testing out the sleep monitor, but found the rubber strap and bulky watch too much of an annoyance to wear while I sleep. (It should be noted that I’ve tried wearing other smartwatches at night with the same result, so your mileage may vary).

Aside from the fitness section, you can customize plenty of options such as your alarms, turning on/off Do Not Disturb mode, and customizing how fast your messages scroll on the screen. You can also choose how to dismiss notifications. You can either press the button below the screen, or just shake your wrist to dismiss them.

The app also lets you choose from a list of different “activities” which can be cycled through on your phone. The basics are your fitness functions, but it can also act as a remote control for certain phone functions. Your options are play/pause, next track, previous track, or snap photo. You’ll only be able to choose one of these, as the only way to activate it is to hold down on the front button while that activity is selected. I thought that the camera control was a neat idea, though I can’t say that I used it all that often.

You’re also able to customize your watch time, and choose whether or not to manually set it, if you’re into that sort of thing. You can also share the watch’s data with other installed apps in the settings area, if you use something else to keep track of your fitness data.

Finally, you can choose to share your contact information with someone else, simply by shaking their hand. The only hangup is that they have to be wearing a Nabu device (whether it’s another watch, or one of the fitness tracker bands). I’ve yet to encounter a single other person wearing one, so I can’t say that I’ve been able to test that feature.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m not a fan of the large, clunky style of the watch. While it has been designed to be rugged for gamers, I’m not sure that this is what gamers want or need. It’s big, bulky, and doesn’t do much more than your average fitness tracker. If you’re into big digital watches, and you want a fitness tracker, then this is probably going to interest you. For everyone else, you’ll probably stick to a regular watch, or go for a full smartwatch.

Aside from the rogue calories that were mysteriously burned while the watch wasn’t in use, the watch functioned pretty much as expected, so I don’t really have any complaints about how well it worked.

One nice thing is that I did usually get around a week between charges for the “smart” portion of the watch. And if the battery did die when I was using it, the device still functioned as a good old-fashioned digital watch. That’s something that no smartwatch can say.

If you’re looking for “a watch that’s smart” Razer sells the Nabu Watch in two flavors. One is the standard, which I’m reviewing today. This one retails for $149.99. The other is the Forged Edition. Everything is identical on the technical side, the only difference is that the buttons are steel, and the watch has a premium black finish (and that means no more green highlights around the buttons). The Forged Edition retails for $199.99.