Wind-Up Wearables

Can You Spot the Real Cutting-Edge Device among the April Fool’s Products?

Every year many technology companies make announcements for April Fool’s Day. Several of this year’s announcements reflected the hot area of wearable technology. While I’ve been tracking the wearables market, I’ve come across many ambitious and cutting-edge devices. Compared with some of yesterday’s announcements, I think it’s sometimes hard to judge which ones are real and which ones are made up.

Below are four spoof April Fool’s gadgets and one real one. Without help from Google, pick out the real wearable device and Tweet its name at me @George_CCS or leave your comments at the bottom of this page.

Samsung Fingers

This is Samsung’s glove-like wearable device featuring a flexible display. It has cellular capability, a 16-megapixel camera optimised for selfies and it can be charged using solar power. Preset hand gestures activate various features (see below).

Roku Watch

Streaming entertainment company Roku has created the Roku Watch. This smartwatch features 1.5-inch screen, a Roku Remote and a customisable strap. It also tracks the user’s activity levels.

Virgin Active Smarty Pants

Wearable technology by Virgin Active aims at helping men burn calories when they’re not in the gym and tone their bottoms. Similar to pedometers that count steps, the Smarty Pants count their wearer’s bottom clenches.

InteraXon Muse

The Muse headband from InteraXon measures its user’s brainwaves and syncs with smartphones and tablets. It lets users control applications, games, helps reduce stress and even allows users to control devices directly with their mind.

Kodansha Keboarm

Japanese publisher Kodansha’s Keboarm wristband uses a small projector to display manga comic strips on a user’s arm for an immersive reading experience. It has a week’s battery life and is dustproof and waterproof.

Don’t forget to Tweet me the real one!