The weird world of offbeat wearables

By Jon Turi From engadget

While most of us have yet to morph into a gadget-laden “gargoyle” (like the one in Snow Crash) the wearable market has still lavished an endless assortment of devices to scatter about our person. The majority of offerings fall into the fitness tracker and smartwatch categories, all with a relatively predictable set of features. There’s an oft-missed underbelly to the wearable category, however, one that’s rife with devices bearing more unique qualities. Some are valiant and useful products, while others treasure entertainment value and extreme fashion above all else. We’ve collected a few samples of the weird and wild side to the wearable world that may finally help you pull your new look together.

Sound style
Headphones don’t always jive with your musical motivations; sometimes you want your sound to be heard. Packing relatively cumbersome Bluetooth speakers can be a pain, but that’s all in the past with the Wristboom from BIGR Audio. This colorful $40 speaker has all the necessities: a respectable output considering its size and a built-in microphone to help you take calls Dick Tracy-style.

We’ve tried it and it’s actually a decent little speaker for its size. The soft-touch rubbery wristband feels great too. If you want a hands-free boogie session that goes where you go, you can head over to BIGR Audio’s site to pick up one of your own.
Image Credit: BIGR Audio

Back to the future
ThinkGeek is well-known for fanciful and sometimes non-existent products that quickly become fan favorites. Recently, the company added a steampunk-styled Tesla Watch to its stable of products, and it’s no joke. The watch, which should arrive in October, sports classic Jules Verne-style flourishes, including an “ornamental” winding key and LED-embedded vacuum tubes, which may help you see the time through your welding goggles.
Image Credit: ThinkGeek

Smarter watch
If a wrist-worn smartphone like the forthcoming Rufus Cuff seems a bit much, perhaps you’d be more inclined to flip the script and go with the high-concept design of a Neptune Hub. The company aims to put smartphone powers into a smart cuff that acts as a hub for a series of peripherals (including a phone-like dumb slate).
Image Credit: Neptune

Secure skin
All those tribal tattoos may look good, but do they help you unlock your phone? Motorola teamed up with VivaLnk to help bypass the task of repeatedly punching in passcodes on your Moto X through the magic of NFC and a relatively temporary digital tattoo. These swirly stick-ons should last you about five days each and are resistant to your daily regimen of showers and workouts.
Image Credit: Motorola

Brain games
If saying “serenity now” doesn’t take you to your happy place, perhaps InteraXon’s Muse can help you get there. This noggin-based meditation assistant uses EEG sensors to track your brain activity. It works alongside an app that asks you to focus, relax and enjoy soothing sounds. It also challenges you to remain cool, calm and collected and rewards you for game-like accomplishments.

Melon is a similar product that also helps you chill using apps and EEG tracking, while Thync uses “neurosignaling” and low-level electric pulses to actively adjust your mind state.
Image Credit: Muse via Amazon

Cat life
Your express train to “kawaii” (cute in Japanese) is a set of Necomimi brainwave-detecting cat ears. Subtle curls of the lip and wind-generating eye blinks not conveying your cuteness to its fullest? Just add cat ears that wriggle and twist according to your Hello-Kitty-spangled gray matter’s electrical activity.
Image Credit: Necomimi

Part of the party
Although these wearables have a functional shelf life that’s about as long as the Coldplay concert you’re attending, they make you part of the show. Whole stadiums of glowing Xylobands can be controlled by radio signals, letting the lighting master toggle the LED wristbands of concertgoers at will. They can be set to flash along with the beat or glow a certain hue.
Image Credit: Xyloband

Disco Dog
The wearable party favors shouldn’t just be for people, right? Dogs love a little flare as well (probably?). Party NYC’s Disco Dog jacket can turn Fido into a billboard of scrolling messages or a rainbow of 256 RGB LED sparkles, depending on its human’s will. If the dog strays too far from its Bluetooth host, it can even tell passers-by that it’s lost (so much for that escape plan).
Image Credit: YouTube

Touch to talk
Has the Star Trek communicator finally arrived? Kinda sorta. This Bluetooth- and WiFi-connected clip-on hockey puck lets you talk to select people or groups at the push of a button. Although the tech world was titillated by the reference, Orion Labs’ Onyx utilizes the company’s mobile network and is geared more toward enterprise consumers rather than Trekkies. Once we can push to talk to the ISS, then we’ll be sold.
Image Credit: Orion labs

One love
Ringly’s been around since 2014, providing vibration and a soft LED glow when notifications arrive on your smartphone, all for around $200. Omate and French fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro had a more monogamous plan when they released the Ungaro ring. This pricey ornament ($500 – $2,000) lets you know when your one-and-only has called or texted by vibrating. It’s iOS only until 2016, but love has no bounds, right? You’ll obviously ditch Android to stay in touch with your significant other if they’re in Apple’s ecosystem.
Image Credit: Ungaro

Waist watcher
After breaking the bank on an Ungaro Ring, it’s probably belt-tightening time, and French gadget maker Emiota is here to help. Its product, called Belty, was built to do more than just secure your trousers, though. This is also a fully functioning activity tracker that can track steps and nudge you if you’re inactive for too long. It’ll loosen up as you sit and return to a more secure tightness once you’re up again. Best Worse yet, it’ll even keep track of your waistline changes over time.
Image Credit: Emiota

Energy fuel
If you’re really worried about your waistline, you’ll likely drop the belt and get your running kit together. Did you know that tomatoes reportedly provide “antioxidant power,” which could help you keep up the pace? Japanese juice purveyor Kagome teamed up with the art duo Maywa Denki to create Tomatan. This robotic little buddy, created as a publicity stunt for the Tokyo marathon, will keep the tomatoes (and antioxidants) flowing as you run.
Image Credit: YouTube

Baby’s perspective
First there was the Narrative Clip (originally called Memoto), an all-day clip-on camera tasked with documenting life at intervals from a first-person perspective. Google Glass joined the fray, letting users take photos and videos seen as if from the wearer’s own eyes. But what of the babies, you ask? How can we tap into their tiny little perspective? Electricfoxy, a studio that merges fashion and technology, offered up the Peekiboo to solve that problem.

The cap has EEG sensors built in to track a baby’s moods and when things get exciting, it triggers a small camera to capture the source of the amusement.
Image Credit: Electric Foxy

A new way to Like
The classic thumbs up has passed into the digital realm and gotten mired in the Facebook universe. That’s OK, you can let the real world bleed into your digital feedback habits with the LikeBelt. This waist-worn device lets you tap into NFC tags dedicated to Facebook Likes without surfacing your smartphone. A few well-aimed hip thrusts and you’re off to the next location, where we’re sure you’ll get a real-world thumbs up for your next positive feedback maneuver.
Image Credit: Vimeo

Quick change
Sure, digital watch faces are easily swapped out when you tire of the same old look, but Liber8 Technology’s Tago Arc aims to make more of a fashion statement. Using your smartphone and NFC, you can easily change patterns on this E Ink bracelet to match your mood or outfit. The accompanying app offers a series of pre-made designs for about $1 each, but you can whip up your own artwork as well. The company’s Indiegogo campaign has already successfully concluded, but if you want to snag one of your own, pre-orders are available and delivery is expected just in time for Christmas.
Image Credit: Tago

For more on this story and video go to: https://www.engadget.com/2015/09/05/the-weird-world-of-offbeat-wearables/#gallery=316508&slide=3602967&index=4