Hasta La Gadget!

You know that expression that people say when they’re really good at something? The one that goes, “Oh, I can do [insert action here] in my sleep.”

Most people who make that claim obviously can’t back it up. But there’s an app called Sleep Art that will help you create works of art while you’re asleep – and you don’t have to be a really good artist to begin with. Heck, you don’t even have to know how to draw!

The Sleep Art app uses your iPhone’s gyroscope to monitor your movements and the microphone to listen to your breathing in order to create unique and personalized pieces of art – all while you’re sound asleep.

It was developed by Europe’s Ibis hotel chain, which held a contest where winners slept on a sensor-equipped bed and had a robot artist create special paintings of their sleeping patterns.

You can download the Sleep Art app from the iTunes App Store for free.

[via Dvice]

Waking up has always been a difficult process for me, and I have to say that I haven’t found an easy way to wake up until now. The only real workaround is to get a good night’s rest. That being said, if  you have the same difficulty getting out of bed as I do, there’s an app for that!

The ZenAwake app tries to wake you up in a gentler way than traditional alarm clocks, by starting the wake-up process 10 minutes before you’ve set your alarm. It starts as a gentle chime that increases in frequency over time. This is supposed to wake you up gradually, instead of just jarring you awake like most alarms.

The app uses The Golden Ratio to gradually increase the frequency of its chimes, which they claim will help wake you up more naturally. It’s definitely something people should try, especially if you’re very grumpy in the mornings like me.

The ZenAwake app is available for $1.99 at the iTunes app store and it seems like they are developing an Android version as well.

You could monitor your sleep using the science of actigraphy but, as we’ve learned, accelerometers don’t always make for the best slumber trackers. The real deal stuff, used by scientists, requires all sorts of electrodes, which are a tad cumbersome and tend to yank out hair. Sony is proposing a system that removes the glue and sticks the sensors in your pillow. This is according to a patent application the company filed that proposes, among other things, an advanced alarm clock that monitors brain waves to detect when you enter and leave REM sleep. One particular example has it guiding users though an efficient power nap, by starting a timer once they’ve started dozing and only waking them once they’ve come out of a deeper sleep state. The proposed alarm could take any number of forms, from a buzzer, to a flashing light or bed shaking motor. To dig through the application for yourself hit up the source link.

Filed under: Sony

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Source: USPTO

Being a gadget writer at CES may seem like a glamorous gig. Yes, we get to play with a lot of new toys, and yes, that is often a lot of fun. But canvassing the show floor and running to press conferences is brutal on the body. More »

Jetlag and disrupted sleep patterns are conditions we’re all too familiar with, right along with flashing lights that claim to remedy them. A new wearable device, tagged Re-Timer, also promises to be of help by mimicking sunlight and resetting the body clock. Reportedly the result of 25 years of sleep research at Australia’s Flinders University, it’s worn like a pair of glasses and emits soft green light, fooling the part of the brain that regulates your circadian rhythms. When used at different times of the day for specified durations, it claims to advance or delay the clock as desired — countering the effects of frequent air travel and improving alertness levels. The rechargeable, portable device is safer and more effective than medication, according to its chief inventor Professor Leon Lack. If nothing else, the $260 visor is a bold fashion statement, although it may not be as cool as having robots convert your dreams into art.

Continue reading Re-Timer could play with your brain, fool body clock to minimize jetlag

Filed under: Wearables

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Via: Gizmag

Source: Re-Timer, Flinders University