Hasta La Gadget!

We first met Andrew Chang — one of the co-founders behind LUMOback — when he approached us at the end of our panel at SXSW and offered to show us his smart posture sensor. He was wearing it right then and demoed it for us on the spot. We were impressed enough to stay in touch. Fast forward four months and the device has launched on Kickstarter and already surpassed its $100,000 funding goal. We recently caught up with Andrew to learn a little more about the device’s evolution from mockup to pre-production and to get some hands-on time.

While we didn’t get the chance to wear the smart posture sensor ourselves, Andrew gave us a thorough rundown and brought along various iterations of the device which you’ll find in the photo gallery below. LUMOback is an 8.5mm thick appliance roughly the size of a credit card that’s worn like a belt and rests against your lower back. It’s packed with sensors, a vibration motor, an iOS-compatible Bluetooth 4.0 LE radio and a Li-Ion battery which provides about 4 days of operation on a charge. The only visible components are a single capacitive button, an LED and a micro-USB charging port. It’s splash resistant and features an adjustable elastic strap.

The hardware may be interesting, but it’s the software that really makes LUMOback useful. Paired with an iOS device over Bluetooth, the smart posture sensor monitors if you’re running, walking, standing, sitting or laying down. When you’re standing or sitting, it knows if you’re slouching and optionally alerts you by vibrating. It even measures how much you’re slouching and to which side, and knows if you’re laying on your stomach, back, left or right side. Best of all, the app logs your posture over time, gives you feedback, and lets you journal how you feel. There’s a social networking component as well, and you’re able to share some of that information with others.

Andrew and his team are still tweaking the hardware and the software (nothing we saw is finalized yet), but the LUMOback smart posture sensor should cost between $100 and $125 when it ships this fall. Hit the break for our hands on video, and be sure to check out the screenshots gallery below.

Continue reading LUMOback smart posture sensor hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Wearables

LUMOback smart posture sensor hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like big sodas, paper ticket stubs may soon become a thing of the past in New York. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has announced that, come next month, its employees will begin trials of a smartphone-based ticketing system aboard the Metro-North Railroad. While the grand experiment is currently closed to the public, it’s said that railroad workers will use their Android, BlackBerry and iPhone handsets to purchase rail tickets, which may then be validated directly from their smartphone. During the trial, the new system will be compared to the current purchasing scheme that combines both ticket machines and on-board purchases. Should everything prove successful, the MTA will expand the Metro-North’s new system to all-comers. Transit-minded folks will find the full PR after the break.

[Image credit: Masabi (Flickr)]

Continue reading New York MTA announces smartphone-based ticketing trials aboard Metro-North Railroad

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Software

New York MTA announces smartphone-based ticketing trials aboard Metro-North Railroad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 04:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may not be that well known over here, but the Telefonica-owned Tuenti social network is big in Spain, where it has 13 million users and rakes in over 40 billion page views per month. Now it’s hoping to make itself better known elsewhere, today kicking off a major expansion that will see it made available around the world in nine different languages. What’s more, it’s also announced some new mobile apps for the occasion, including integrated messaging and dedicated Tuenti apps for Android and BlackBerry, with iOS and Windows Phone versions promised in the “coming weeks.” As TechCrunch notes, the social network is similar to Twitter in many respects, with status updates (or what Tuenti calls “moments”) limited to 140 characters, but it also veers a bit into Facebook territory as well, focused more on the notion of friends than followers. You can sign up and give it a go yourself at the source link below.

Filed under: Internet

Telefonica’s Tuenti social network kicks off global expansion, rolls out mobile apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week the folks at CasaTunes have revealed a new system in CasaTunes Air, a system with which you’ll be able to have multi-room wired and wireless music streaming all coming from your iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone. This system works with a CasaTunes Music Server and has your AirPlay devices as well as your wired devices (simple speakers, for example) working all throughout your home. Inside the iOS app you’ll be able to play tunes from any number of your own music collections and direct the sound to the rooms you’ve set up throughout your house or apartment.

You can also use this system with your Mac or PC, all of it using iTunes and AirPlay technology to make the whole show go. You can also use Android smartphones and tablet as well as any number of web browsers from whatever device you’ve got handy to control your CasaTunes Music Server. There’s also a wall mounted CasaTunes Keypad you can use to work with music you’ve got stored locally.

David Krinker, CEO of CasaTunes notes that this CasaTunes Air system is made specifically for users who have “maxed out their wired solution but are still looking to add music in more rooms.” CasaTunes Air also supports a growing system with add-ons galore. This system, in fact, is an add-on for already existing hardware that CasaTunes already distributes. CasaTunes version 4 with CasaTunes Air is ready to go for all CasaTunes line of music servers.

Check out CasaTunes Air for 6-room solutions ranging up to your highest dreams, and head to our recent review of an alternate solution in this same realm, the PLAY:3 from Sonos, as picked up in multiples by our own Chris Davies and check our multiple solutions using AirPlay as well in the timeline below!

CasaTunes Air expands AirPlay for the wireless home is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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There are countless ways to escape a bad date, from remembering it’s your grandma’s birthday, to simply faking a vomiting spell. But—admitting its matching algorithm isn’t always perfect—eHarmony has created a handy iOS app that fakes a believable phone call, giving you an emergency exit to an awkward night out. More »