Nex Band Is a Wearable Device Complete With Modular Charms

Charm bracelets aren't just for kids anymore.

NEX Band is a customizable wearable device for adults that allows the wearer to add charms or “Mods," each with a unique set of features.

"It's a disruptive concept because it gives power to the consumer to customize their bands on the inside and out at a fraction of the cost," Adam Adelman, CEO and co-founder of Mighty Cast, the company producing NEX Band, told.

While most wearable devices focus on a single niche use, the NEX Band includes five different modifications including giving the wearer the ability to track their fitness or send coded messages to other NEX users. Some Mods may also function as stand-alone fashion statement pieces.

Each of the multi-colored LED Mods can send notifications, be exchanged with other users and managed with the NEX mobile app. The company uses its patent-pending "Base and Token" technology to connect the Mods to a cloud system to update any information in real-time. "In essence, we're a Pandora charm bracelet 2.0," says Adelman.

Beginning May 13, SDKs, APIs and emulators will be available for developers to use to "create Mods for The NEX band and/or use the technology to adapt the base and token concept to other form factors outside of wearables and into the Internet of Things," said the company in a press release.

The NEX Band itself is Bluetooth enabled and iOS and Android compatible.

Similar to Google’s Project Ara smartphone, Mighty Cast believes modular tech is the next level of technology. So if a developer wanted to create a Mod that requires hardware inside the Mod, Mighty Cast claims it's possible.

"The NEX Band is set to disrupt the wearable space, giving power to the consumer to customize their user experience, not lock themselves into one application,” says Adelman.

The NEX Bands are currently available at a pre-order amount of $49.99 — half off its expected price of $99.99 — with the next batch shipping in the fall.

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FTC 'Consumer Complaint' Emails Are Actually Scams

No business owner likes to see customer complaints, but a new email scam could be even more damaging than an unsatisfied client, according to a new warning from the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC is warning businesses about emails sent with the subject line "Pending consumer complaint." The email looks like it's from the FTC and informs recipients that a complaint against them has been filed with the government. However, it likely contains malware, the agency said.

The emails ask recipients to click on a link or attachment for more information, or to contact the FTC.

"These emails pull out all the stops to look official: They have an FTC seal, references to the "Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA)" and a "formal investigation," and what look like real FTC links," Amy Hebert, a consumer education specialist for the FTC, wrote on the agency's blog. "The truth is that they're fakes."

The FTC advised those who receive such emails to not open them or click on any of the links, as they may contain malware.

"Malware can cause your device to crash, and can be used to monitor and control your online activity, steal your personal information, send spam and commit fraud," Hebert wrote.

Businesses that receive such emails should forward them to the FTC's email address for deceptive spam - spam@uce.gov — and then delete the message immediately.

This article originally published at BusinessNewsDaily.

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Infrared Sensor Could Lead to Night Vision Contact Lenses

If you're scared of the dark, you may no longer have reason to fear.

Researchers out of the University of Michigan have developed an infrared sensor that could eventually be used in the production of night vision contact lenses.

Infrared imaging typically involves multiple technologies to view all ranges of the infrared spectrum, in addition to bulky cooling equipment. It is most often used by doctors to monitor blood pressure, identifying chemicals or simply seeing in the dark. Thanks to graphene, a tightly-packed layer of carbon atoms, scientists were able to create a more accessible sensor that only needs to be at room temperature to work properly.

"We can make the entire design super thin," Zhaohui Zhong, an assistant professor at the university, said in a statement. "It can be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone."

Scientists detected light by watching how electrical charges in the graphene impacted a nearby current. They placed an insulating barrier between two graphene sheets and watched as electrons, set free when light touched the top layer, made their way to the bottom one. When the researchers measured a change in current from the top to the bottom layer, they were able to determine the brightness of the light that reached the graphene.

"Our work pioneered a new way to detect light," Zhong said. "We envision that people will be able to adopt this same mechanism in other material and device platforms."

This new sensor, which is smaller than a pinky nail, could have many benefits in the scientific and military communities (in addition to its more consumer-based possibilities). Google announced its development of a smart contact lens that could monitor glucose in January, and in February 2013, Nokia was granted $1.35 billion from the European Union to develop graphene as the strongest material in the world.

The research done on the infrared sensor was published in the academic journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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World's Most Advanced Diving Suit Could Lead to a Cure for Cancer

Phil Nuytten's newest diving suit may as well have been invented by Tony Stark. At six and a half feet long, and weighing 530 pounds, the aluminum contraption looks more like a Buzz Lightyear ripoff than anything.

Even its name, the "Exosuit," sounds like slang from a science fiction novel.

It's a first-of-its-kind design that lets deep sea divers plunge more than 1,000 feet underwater, all the while maintaing surface level pressure. The state-of-the-art rotary joints throughout the arms and legs allow divers extreme flexibility and finesse, as well — apparently, enough to pick up a dime.

This July, researchers are using the suit to study bioluminescent organisms deep within the Atlantic Ocean. Due to their extreme depths, the creatures were previously only attainable via remote instruments or trawl nets. Now, scientists will be able to use the Exosuit and observe them up close in their natural habitats.

The ultimate goal is to collect the organisms' unique, fluorescent proteins and use them in future studies about cancer detection, spinal cord injuries and the overall makeup of the human brain.

Cousteau says the upcoming fieldwork in July is only the beginning of great scientific advancements. In addition to the bioluminescent research, he says, the Exosuit has big potential for helping divers shoot underwater documentary films and discovering new species. Marine and biology education for the next generation could be drastically changed.

"This is a dream come true for divers and marine scientists everywhere," he says. "It's opening a door to a new layer of the ocean. We can only imagine what we'll find."

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Best New Android Tablet Apps to Make Life Simpler: Better contact management, financial tools, and free magazines

Contacts+

Contact management is often a mess, especially with the multiple accounts that people often have to juggle. Contacts+ is a good solution for cleaning things up and linking those in your contact list to social and communication networks.

The Contacts+ app syncs the contacts' profile data and contact information so you can send a message through one of many platforms. There are greater customization options than what is found in the stock contacts Android app, with great-looking profile photo options and methods for tweaking the overall Contacts+ scheme.

Talon for Twitter

Talon is a well-designed Twitter app that is geared towards power users looking for more than just what the company-created app contains. Talon for Twitter offers viewing images and web links in-line, and multiple layout choices.

True geeks like myself also get to see which client each tweet is coming from. Another smart move is separating the discussion and conversation panels from a specific tweet so you can see if the sender interacted with others.

Just like the developer's other excellent Android app, Sliding Messaging Pro, Talon gets frequent bug fix and optimization updates along with new features.

Level Money

Level Money is a great, new tool that links to bank accounts for rapid access to financial information. It calculates total income, savings and recurring bills in order to determine spendable cash. This amount is designed to show you how much can be spent on a specific month, day or week.

Level Money also provides several widgets so you can get this information at a glance right from the home screen without the need to open the app.

ISSUU

Issuu hopes to democratize publishing with a low point-of-entry and monthly cost for creating magazines. The company boasts of over 30 million magazines and catalogues in its Android app.

The result is an interesting mix of content, which has much of the community-enthusiast feel of Flipboard. It is worth exploring for the variety of content; time will tell if this becomes a disruptive element to magazine publishing.

This article originally published at TabTimes

Image: Android

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3D Printed Food: It's What's for Dinner

Although squeezing out food, layer by layer, from a 3D printer may not yet be particularly efficient — nor sound that tasty — companies are already testing how the Jetsons-esque technology can transform the way we eat. Such old favorites as chocolate, candy, and pasta will take on groovier, sculptured forms when extruded from food printers, and the machines will allow the cooking-adverse to prepare "homemade" ravioli at the push of a button. That should free up more time to watch a tech-fantasy film like Her while the food printer is hard at work preparing dinner. Here's a look the 3D printing concepts on the menu at a range of companies:

Chocolate

This month, 3D Systems announced a development agreement with candy maker Hershey "to explore and develop innovative opportunities for using 3D printing technology in creating edible foods, including confectionery treats." The printers could allow manufacturers to create candies in new shapes and customized designs. Hershey isn't the first company to see 3D potential for chocolate: U.K.-based Choc Edge offers a printer for $4783 and a pack of syringes and chocolate for $25 that create what are essentially chocolate illustrations (pictured above).

Pizza

Because the health and happiness of astronauts is paramount, NASA granted contractor Systems & Materials Research $125,000 to develop a pizza printer. The prototype uses shelf-stable powdered food and oils, offering nutrition while minimizing garbage on board a space vehicle. It first prints a layer of dough onto a heated plate that bakes the dough and then lays down a tomato base that has been stored in powdered form and mixed with water and oil. Last comes a printed "protein layer."

Ravioli

Natural Machine's Foodini ($1,400), to launch later this year, can make many kinds of food. Here's how Mashable explains the ravioli printing process: "Prepare the dough and the filling, load them into the machine's food 'capsules' and select 'ravioli' on the printer's iPad-like interface. Foodini will then print the ingredients in the shape of fully-formed ravioli, and the only thing left to do is cook them."

Chickpea Nuggets

An additional Foodini recipe: vegetarian nuggets made of chickpeas, bread crumbs, garlic, spices, olive oil, and salt. Natural Machines co-founder Lynette Kucsma says the machine has also printed quiche, hash browns, cookies, crackers, brownies, and "upscale/designed" fish and chips.

Corn Chips

Cornell Creative Machines Lab built a printer that can create a swirly, flower-shaped corn chip, using masa dough. It can also make hamburger patties with layers of ketchup and mustard.

Sugar Candies

Looking for inspiration in sugar cubes? 3D Systems' Chefjet (one color, about $5,000) and Chefjet Pro (multi-color, about $10,000) — both available later this year — can print uniquely shaped sugar confections in flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, mint, cherry, sour apple, and watermelon. They can also print custom cake toppers — presumably in the likeness of the guest of honor.

This article originally published at Businessweek here

IMAGE: ROBYN BECK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Proof the Next Great App Could Come From a Kid

Are kids these days really as hopeless and self-absorbed as we claim? Perhaps not.

The next wave of tech extraordinaires seem to get younger and younger, and the app-creating students mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg.

Check out the apps below from impressive, pint-sized developers, who’ve accomplished much more before high school than most people more than twice their age.

1. Chow Checker

New Hampshire’s Hampstead Academy is a strictly peanut-free zone due to the relatively high number of students with nut allergies.

This inspired the school’s eighth graders to create the cleverly named Chow Checker app, which identifies food allergens to determine if certain foods, from grocery stores or restaurants, are safe to eat.

You can create a profile and select up to 12 allergens, and then search for a product name or scan a barcode. Either option pulls up a list of ingredients in that food, as well as nutritional content.

The app taps into the daily updated Nutritionix food database, which includes more than 300,000 food items. You can add notes about the food for future reference.

Hampstead students worked with the MIT Media Lab to write the app, which was a Verizon Innovative App Challenge winner in 2013.

Available for free on Android.

IMAGE: HAMPSTEAD ACADEMY

2. Bubble Ball

When he was 14 years old, Robert Nay’s physics-based puzzle game, Bubble Ball, unseated the seemingly indomitable Angry Birds for the iTunes App Store’s top spot in January 2011. Not bad for someone who created his first website in third grade and already owns his own company, Nay Games LLC.

Nay wrote Bubble Ball with Corona tools from Ansca Mobile. It took him roughly 4,000 lines of code.

The app capitalizes on players’ creativity, prompting you to set up lengths of wood and metal, and activate various power-ups to manipulate your bubble for the sake of reaching the goal.

There are 144 official levels, and because anyone can create a new level, the game is constantly evolving. There are already more than 200 community-created levels to explore.

Available for free on iOS and Android.


VIDEO: YOUTUBE, NAYGAMESCHANNEL

3. Backdoor

David Singer’s app, Backdoor, removes a key component of communication -- identity.

Backdoor, which launched in July 2013, is an anonymous messaging app that lets you reach your friends by signing in through either Facebook or Google+. The app gives you clues to learn more about the sender’s identity. In-app purchases provide additional clues, such as gender, likes, interests and more.

Cashing in on people’s desperation and curiosity? Color us impressed.

Singer, who considers himself primarily a UI designer, was 13 years old when he wrote the app. He’s the same kid behind YouTell, the popular website that allows you to post questions and solicit anonymous feedback.

Available for free on iOS.


IMAGE: BACKDOOR

4. Things to Think About

Second through fifth graders from Jackson County, Mich., worked with two high schoolers in the same district to create iPad app Things to Think About.

Its premise is to jumpstart and foster children’s interest in writing and critical thinking, as well as encourage dialogue about challenging ideas and issues.

The app asks kids to dream big, think through “what would you do” scenarios and expands horizons past kids’ environments.

The students brainstormed 100 writing prompts in 12 categories, including Friends, Family, School, Fun and Feelings. A student’s original hand-drawn illustration and the option of a child’s short voice narration accompanies each prompt.

Available for free on iOS. An Android version is in the works.

IMAGE: JCISD EDTECH

Image: Flickr, Stephen Chin

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