sensors

Note to all you slightly obsessed folks out there who are into tracking your quantified self: isn't it about time you started keeping track of not just all the calories you inhale, but the air pollution as well?

The prototype for just such a device, dubbed Conscious Clothing, and the trio of designers who created it, were awarded $100,000 this week as part of an innovation challenge sponsored by (deep breath) the National Institutes of Health, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The system is described as a "wearable breathing analysis tool" made up of sensors and strips of material wrapped around the chest to measure breathing volume. It calculates the particulate matter inhaled and transmits real-time data via Bluetooth, making it a perfect addition to any self data-tracking regime. … Read more

An iPhone of the future could change its volume all on its own by detecting how near or far you are to it.

"Adjustment of acoustic properties based on proximity detection," a patent application published Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, describes how the iPhone's promixity sensor could be used to automatically change the volume or even switch between the receiver and the speaker.

Holding the iPhone to your ear would lower the volume through the receiver. Moving it slightly away from your ear would raise the volume. Putting the phone down and moving … Read more

Microsoft will finally deliver a Kinect sensor for Windows sometime next year.

The company announced Thursday that the Kinect for Windows sensor will use the same set of technologies key to the new Kinect sensor for the Xbox One, both of which will allow people to issue commands using voice and gestures.

The sensor will include a high-definition color camera and a noise-isolating multi-microphone array. Also part of the system will be a technology called Time-of-Flight, which measures how long it takes for photons to bounce off a person or object. Combined, these features promise greater accuracy and precision in … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- Along with announcing its new AirWave Bluetooth music receiver at CTIA this week, Cobra also launched the latest iteration of its iRadar sensor device.

We first saw this unit earlier this year at CES. Though both the Atom and the original iRadar detect local speed radars, the Atom is physically smaller and reportedly more accurate.

In addition, it works in conjunction with an app that's available on both iOS and Android platforms, to alert drivers where known speed traps are located. Launched on Tuesday, the iRadar Atom retails for $199.95.

Design The Atom is a … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- All of CNET's coverage of yesterday's Xbox One event.

- Here's what we know about Xbox One games.

- Microsoft talks Xbox One naming, privacy and more (Q&A).

- Sharon Vaknin and CNET Reviews' John Falcone at last night's Webby Awards.

- Courts turning to UrbanDictionary as an authoritative source on slang. And here's The 404's contribution to UrbanDictionary.… Read more

We're all used to the idea that Google tracks what we do online. But if you go to Google I/O, you'll find that the data-hungry company, in partnership with the O'Reilly Data Sensing Lab, is keeping tabs on the physical world, too.

At its developer conference, the company has a set up a network of 525 sensor motes. Each small electronics board monitors temperature, humidity, ambient light levels, air quality, audio noise, and radio-frequency noise. And with footstep detectors, some monitor where people are going at the conference, too. … Read more

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple nearly three dozen patents, including one that covers how a device responds to acoustic signals such as scratching and tapping.

Patent No. 8,441,790, or "Electronic Device Housing as Acoustic Input Device," focuses on tech that would allow a device to detect and react to sound resulting from an impact with the housing, such as dragging a finger along the surface of the device. The sensors send information to a microprocessor, which can distinguish between different types of input as well as interpret what each input … Read more

With watches, glasses, and clothing that can double as tech devices, it seems like wearable inventions are only going to continue to proliferate.

How about wearable technology that can read a person's muscle movement and then use that data to control other devices?

This is something that Thalmic Labs has been working on for the past year. The company explained the project in detail in a video released Wednesday.

Dubbed the MYO, this one-size-fits-all armband is a remote control of sorts. When worn on the body, it instantaneously reads the electrical activity of the muscles to track the movement … Read more

As rumors swirl about Apple's manufacturing partners kicking into high gear to produce the next version of the iPhone, a new report adds some more detail on what could be inside the new device.

The latest comes from Vietnamese site Tinhte, which says Apple's next iPhone (expected to be called the 5S) will sport a 12-megapixel camera. That's as compared to the 8-megapixel sensor found on both the iPhone 5 and 4S.

Now it wouldn't be unusual for Apple to make improvements to its camera, which it's done with each successive iPhone model. But the … Read more