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Tag Archives: Robin Raskin

BP-Lytic: A Novel Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitoring Device

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If you ever had blood pressure issues you are going to be interested in a new product that is under development.

The product (patent pending) is a wearable device that can continuously and accurately monitor blood pressure using photoplethysmography.

Click here to find out what this is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoplethysmogram

All this is done without a cuff and has the ability to continuously monitor blood pressure around the clock, yes even during your sleep. This is super important when trying to anticipate strokes and heart attacks.

Now comes the biggest surprise. This new innovative device is being developed by a 16 year old. Robin Raskin, founder of the “Young Innovators To Watch” program for CES, discovered Vardhan Agrawal for her scholarship program.

Details

CATEGORIES 2020 CES Entries 
PRODUCT WEBSITEhttps://vardhanagrawal.com/bplytic/
SCHOOL Cupertino High School 
LOCATION Cupertino, CA 
CREATOR/AGE Vardhan Agrawal, 16

Vardhan Agrawal’s website explains, “Hypertension affects over 75 million Americans today. The new device uses photoplethysmography, a technique that relies on the fact that blood absorbs green light. The device shines a green light into the user’s skin and measures the light reflected back by the blood. When the heart beats, more of the light is absorbed. At a sampling rate of 150 Hz, this outputs a PPG signal.

“The device converts the signal into a series of images using a continuous wavelet transform, which conveys important information (derivatives, scale, and rate of change) about a signal in the form of an image for further processing later.

“The device processes the images in a convolutional neural network to recognize characteristics of the waveform and produces a blood pressure reading.

“Not only does the product feature state-of-the art technology under-the-hood; it’s also been designed with the user experience and a sleek form factor in mind. The device can be comfortably worn throughout the day for “set-and-forget” blood pressure measurement.”

Right now the device is scheduled to be priced at $49, less than half the price of a traditional blood pressure cuff. I will let you know when the product becomes a reality.

CES Hygiene

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As CES rolls around every year, showgoers start thinking about what ailments they are going to contract in Las Vegas. It’s difficult to escape catching something. 150,000 people attend the show.

That’s why people start talking about the precautionary measures they plan to take while attending the show. Since most of my readers don’t go to the show, I thought I would let you take a peek at what CES people are talking about.

It all started this year with tech expert Robin Raskin asking some hygiene questions on Facebook.

Lying on the Beach Podcast Interviews Robin Raskin

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There should be a statue of Robin Raskin in front of the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas with an inscription that says “She turned this arena into a global stage for the introduction of some of the most innovative products in the world.”

As founder of the company “Living In Digital Times,” Robin solicited early stage companies to exhibit their remarkable inventions in this section of CES. She grouped them in sensible product categories for their debut: Digital Health, Digital Money, Fitness Tech, Baby Tech, Family Tech, Transforming EDU, MommyTech TV, Beauty Tech, and Wearables.

Each area had their own summit plus events. These companies also take part in other events during the week of CES including a FashionWare runway show, Mobile Apps Showdown, Last Gadget Standing, Robots on the Runway and the KAPi Awards.

In this episode of “Lying on the Beach” with TV personality Steve Greenberg and PR expert Lois Whitman-Hess, Robin explains how she manages to be at the forefront of technology all the time.

http://www.lyingonthebeach.com/2019/08/26/the-statue-of-innovation/

FashionWare Does Asia

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Photo by Eliot Hess —Happy 4th of July from South Beach. Love, Lois and Eliot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FashionWare Does Asia

I copy and pasted from LinkedIn. Robin is a good friend and one of the most productive leaders in the tech business.

June 24, 2019 

Robin Raskin

Each year at CES Asia we bring a bevy of high tech wearables and dazzle the audience with a fashion show like none other. Not just any wordless runway show, this fashion show educates the audience about how wearables are changing life. Each one of our models represents the state of the art high tech accessories and outfits. So whether you want to look fashionable at the gym, in the yoga studio, at the beach, or on the runway, our models represent in situ settings.

THE URBAN DWELLER

The combined efforts of Google and Levi resulted in the Jacquard Jacket. While it’s a bit of a flawed design from a practical sense (doesn’t tolerate cleaning, can be clumsy to use) it’s a great experiment in woven computing. The jacket designed for messengers and messenger wannabees lets you tuck your phone away and use the cuff of your jacket to signal commands. The cuff is a woven mesh of interactive filament creating electronic circuitry. A small snap like device communicates with via Bluetooth with your phone. By tapping and swiping your cuff you’re able to get directions, pick up messages and play music for example.

Always on the move, the urban dweller model is also committed to personal health. Hence he’s wearing the Withings ECG Watch. This new version is the first medically accurate smartwatch that serves as an ECG reader and can even measure arterial fibrillation.

YOGA TECH

These Nandi X Wearable yoga pants can improve your yoga poses by providing feedback about your position. The stunning pants intergrate small sensors that provide haptic (body vibrations) feedback. Using a Bluetooth connection to the Nandi X app you’ll see a visual representation of your stance and get the same feedback a yoga instructor would provide.

 

The yoga mat, by the way, is self-rolling. At the end of your session you simply flip it over and it knows to roll.

SAFETY FASHION

Shoe wear has gone high tech as well. This show from Evone contains a fall detector. Instead, the shoe is a GSM that provides autonomous communications (in most countries) and a GPS providing location and position. The shoes also have other sensors: a gyroscope, accelerometer, pressure sensors and a vibration point. If the shoe detects any abnormal activity it sends an alert… first to the wearer to make sure it’s not a false positive and then to the wearer’s network of friends and helpers if it’s a real emergency.

On her wrist, the model wears a bracelet designed to keep her safe. It’s an SOS bracelet, a CES Innovation Award winner designed by App Elles, company committed to preventing violence against women. The bracelet uses an innovative streaming protocol that includes live audio streaming (should you find yourself in a situation, instant replay features and GPS tracking in real time. If you can’t afford the bracket you can use the app to alert friends and family about your location.

Hip Meets Tech

Who says tech clothing can’t have a little attitude? We bought the sequined jacket on a shopping spree but underneath it, you can flash a little bling with the Lumen Body suit. It’s form-fitting and studded with LEDs. The shirt connects vis standard USB cable.

A hipster needs her wallet kept safe from hackers. This one’s a phone from PundiX. PundiX has built an entire ecosystem to make saving, paying with, and tracking your crypto investments as easy (and safe) as any other form of currency. The X-Wallet and the X-Pass POS system provide secure wallet functionality and support most of the crypto out there today.

On her wrist, the hipster’s smartphone of choice is from Fossil. It comes in gorgeous colors, is swim-proof, provides notifications, is customizable, displays social media, tracks activity and runs apps. And it’s demure. What more could a woman want?

Outdoor Tech

This is not your everyday shirt. It lets you keep warm when you’re in the cold thanks to its built-in temperature control. Developed through a partnership between Odio, MAS, Climb8 and I-Thermic, the shirt has a knit, intelligent heating layer. It was designed for skiers who are constantly facing changing temperatures as they ascend and descend the mountain.

 

The sunglasses are more than ordinary too. Opticshokz Xtrainertz are sunglasses that use bone conduction, Instead of covering your ears with a headset, the sound is transported through your facial bones. Great for skiing and outdoor sports, bone conduction lets you hear the noise of the world and of your music at the same time.

Smarty Pants

 

Xenoma’s haptic shirt has been available for a while. This year they introduced pants with a magnetometer-free motion capturing device. Just like the movie stars who record animation with motion capture, you’ll be able to use the pants with their built-in sensors and circuits to record your movements. Added bonus? They’re so flexible you can even wash them in conventional laundry machines. Using “e-skin” motion capture, pants are great for rehab situations or sports situations where you want to work on your flexion or range of movement.

Tech Elegance

This stunning laser dress demonstrates how we can extend the role of fabrics. The dress sends high powered red beams that form patterns around any room and on the model’s face. The dress was designed by Michael Starost and Anina.net.

One her finger the model wears the MetGem EDA Ring, also designed by Anina.net and MetaGem. In addition to its elegant look, the ring can keep you in touch with friends or loved ones should you find yourself in a dangerous situation. It uses Bluetooth to communicate with the MetaGe app sending an SMS with the wearer’s geolocation.

The Sunbather

How can a bathing suit go high-tech? For one, it can notify you’re getting too much sun. Working with an app that creates a personal profile for your skin tone, this bathing suit from the Spinali Connected Clothing Collection uses its built-in “cream alert” to tell you when to reapply. It also has a charming Valentine feature alerting your loved one when you need a little help with reapplying your lotion.

Fashion in Motion Dress

This dress is a collaboration between Anina’s

360 Fashon.Net and RFactory. It’s based a novel LED ribbon design. When the dress detects strong movements, like walking down a runway or dancing the lights become more vivid. When you in quiet conversation or not moving much the lights simmer down. Dressed up for the evening and nowhere to put your charger? Try the ReChargeable Wallet. You can power up your phone, or your dress for that matter, with a press of your finger.

 

 

So, what happens when you mix new technology with fashion? You get new materials, new functionality and new ways of creating beauty.

About Robin

Robin Raskin is founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations to look at the intersection of lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces a number of notable conferences and expos at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) and at conferences and events worldwide. The company’s trademark events include: The Last Gadget Standing, Digital Health Summit, FashionWare, Fitness Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, The Digital Money Forum and others.

 

In a previous lifetime, Raskin honed her tech chops at a variety of technology publications. She was editor of PC Magazine and began FamilyPC and YahooTech!. Author of 6 books, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, Raskin has been at the forefront of an ever-changing topic: what it means to be digital. She lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop in now and then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.

Goal: To make sure that everyone reaps the benefits of a high tech lifestyle while avoiding the pitfalls.

Motto: I don’t change jobs… I just collect them.

Specialties: A recovering journalist, Robin’s been writing about technology ever since her husband told her Unix vi would be easier to use than a typewriter. (He lied.) These days she’s sort of the Titantic of Technology- rescuing boomers, parents and kids from getting lost in a digital world. (Hopefully with better results.)

Media-platform agnostic, she’s written 6 books, a ton of magazine pieces, and what seems like a billion blogs. Frequent public speaker and TV/Radio guest.

Robots Fashion Show

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Click here to see robot runway show.

https://youtu.be/NrEU6Amwrkg


Our good friend, Robin Raskin, founder of Living In Digital Times, is in China now at CES Asia. Robin is all about showing off the most innovative products at CES in Vegas and Asia. This week Robin actually created an event called “Robots on the Runway.” Here are a few of runway stars.

Robin Raskin with her robot friends.

XiaoXue is a hostess robot that greets guests at a store’s entrance. It has a voice system, a human-machine interaction system, a facial recognition system, and smart marketing.

GT Wonder Boy is a SMART companion for people of all ages from all different walks of lives. A compact entertainer who can sing and dance.


Amy can follow your voice, respond to directional commands, and interact organically. Amy is trained to recognize you and your voice.

MU MoonBot is a 3 in 1 DIY robot kit with much improved AI. Kids can learn STEAM skills with creatively designing, building, and programming the MoonBot

Staying Old in a Young Business

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Robin is far right.

My girl friend Robin Raskin wrote a brilliant piece for Huffington Post on what it’s like to be old in a young person’s business..I wanted you to read it because some of you are starting to take part-time jobs in environments that are mostly populated by people that are in their 20s, 30s and 40’s.

Life can be fun at your new job, but beware, office life is very different from the days when we were the stars. Here are a few tips that will keep you happy and satisfied. It works. Listen to Robin.

Robin Raskin

“Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men (and women) are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I’ve thought about writing this piece for the last two decades which means I am not getting younger. But now that no amount of hair dye, gym time, or makeup does the trick, it’s time for me (and many of you) to fess up. For those of you who were pioneers in the world of technology, congratulations, you are now old people in a young person’s business. Can you survive in a world where a cloud is no longer a cumulus in the sky and an incubator isn’t just for chickens and babies?

Understanding age and ageism in a young person’s world is going to take some effort, some humility, and some crafty thinking. Here’s my to do list for growing old after forty years in the tech business.

1. Try new tech, even if you screw it up: When I began writing about tech, you could screw up in the comfort of your home; no one was the wiser. Today, social networking (a likely place to screw up) makes your errors totally transparent. Get over it. If you haven’t used Instagram or SnapChat, you need to try it. If you haven’t tried to navigate VR, you must. And you must summon the same child-like sense of wonder you did when you first typed Ctrl+Alt+Del.

My thirty-something kids call me out when I mix up my messaging systems, my photos show up upside down, or my voice to speech texts are laden with the word PERIOD spelled out. I accidentally stick lines of thumbs up emoji into every chat, and my touch typing is a lot faster than my texting. But I do it and am deprecating about my often very public screw ups.

2. Humor ‘em: They take life very seriously, as you did when you needed to prove yourself to the world. Remind them that to screw up is human (and probably machine-like, too).

3. Laugh about the culture divide: I love my young assistant to death, but when I give her a list of “to dos” and she tackles them in the order she sees fit, I’m apoplectic. “When I give you a to do list, it is not a pick list,” I tell her. We laugh and move on. We also have honest discourses about everything from corporate dress to politics. I love every minute of it.

4. Dole out a complement: Would it kill you to say something like “that’s such a novel idea” or “I love your thinking” to a twentysomething? At least complement them on their rapid fire texting or their ability to divvy a Venmo tab. You may be wiser, but chances are they’ve got more mobile dexterity.

5. Don’t bring up the good ole days more than once a week: Seriously, they weren’t so great (okay, the pay and benefits were better). But files got lost on hard disk drives, user interfaces were inscrutable. In contrast, new technology is more inclusive for many more people. If you survived the early days of technology, you’ve earned your badge to tell your story. Just not too often.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask: What is an ICO? Or what’s the difference between an incubator and an accelerator? I’m not familiar with that acronym. Asking questions is not a sign of idiocy; it’s a sign of interest. Asking for help is a skill that takes a while to develop in young employees, and you need a refresher course as you get older.

7. You are what you wear: I’m not saying you need to be a walking advertisement for the connected lifestyle, but you won’t be taken seriously if you don’t cart around the tools of your trade. Think of it like your business card, only more expensive. Super lightweight notebook, late model cell phone, appropriate looking laptop bag, etc. Start weaning yourself from quaint practices like paper business cards.

8. Collaborate: No one in the tech business toils in an ivory tower anymore. There are so many group project trackers, calendar add-ons, voting systems, video conference tools, shared documents and collaborative tools that you’ll probably want to enter a nunnery, but get proficient. Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Trello, MS One Drive, Zoom… just to name a few. If you’re going to do business in the tech world, you’re going to have to be fluent in collaborating with them on the platform of their choice.

9. Cultivate your persona: You have earned the right not to wear khakis and black t-shirts. You cultivated a look from a different era. To my older friends: Think Iris Apfel or Donna Karen —two icons who’ve kept their status in a young person’s industry. Guys, I’m afraid you’ll still be stuck with the khakis, but lose the suit (unless you’re Vint Cerf or Graydon Carter).

10. Add to your diversity checklist: The world has changed since I was the only woman in the tech room, and there’s room for lots more. Seek out diversity and you’ll expand the rather limiting world you knew in the early days of tech.

11. Never be complacent: Survivor badges are a reality show myth. You need to earn the respect of your industry every day. Riding on your laurels? It’s not part of the the new DNA.

Robin Raskin is founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations that intersect lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces conferences and expos at CES and throughout the year focusing on how technology enhances every aspect of our lives through the eyes of today’s digital consumer.

You can also click here to read Robin’s Huffington Post article.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_59b54cebe4b0c50640cd6846

You Too Can Be A Big Shot For $20

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Robin Raskin, tech entrepreneur, is wearing her creation, Faux Glass, and Fred Fishkin, a tech journalist, is sporting Google Glass.

Leave it to Robin Raskin, a long time journalist turned entrepreneur, to create the most hysterical tech/fashion statement of all time. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her Crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for Faux Glass.

What a hoot. I’ve known Robin for decades. She never ceases to amaze. Although she is only seven years younger than me, I feel like her mother. Her boundless energy and never ending creativity is that of a 21 year old. I am constantly in awe.

Faux Glass has been designed to look like Google Glass but in reality is a $20 pair of glasses with some LED lights. Robin is raising money on Indiegogo to bring Faux Glass to market so the masses can have the opportunity to look cool. Why should the folks who can afford the augmented reality glasses at $1,500 be the only ones to look special?

Robin said “It’s no faux pas that we designed these toy glasses to look ‘faux real.’ The reaction from people in the know has been hysterically funny.” The official press release says, “Faux Glass lights up in amazing colors, includes a magnifier and spotlight, and has a series of commands that don’t do much of anything but bring a smile to anyone who sees them.”

Faux Glass will also be available for sale on the Faux Glass website in December. Check Robin out. She is an editor, author and tech expert. She founded, Living in Digital Times, (LIDT), a team of technophiles, who bring together top experts and the latest innovations that intersect lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces conferences and expos at CES as well as other times throughout the year.

Pop-Up Tech Parties

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The tech industry may be full of nerds, but they sure know how to party. Eliot and I joined our good friend Robin Raskin and her friend Judy Tomlinson at a pop-up Tech Cocktail party in the Design District last night. This was the debut of the Miami’s showcase where 10 startups pitched their ideas to investors. Make sure you click on Robin’s link because she is one of the most remarkable women in tech. I’m going to do another blog post about her,

I’m also going to do another piece about Judy because she is an engineer who designs digital jewelry. As you know, there is a whole new industry called wearables. That means you wear technology in the form of a necklace, wristwatch, ring, pin, and other yet-to-be named accessories.

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Robin and Judy

Both Robin and Judy were in Miami for a Boston Consulting gig and heard about the Tech Cocktail meetup in a local warehouse, so we went along with them. Tech Cocktail parties pop-up all over the country and their purpose is to promote local start-ups. We met some creative people at a few innovative companies that we will write about in the coming weeks.

Here are some photos from last night. It was pretty dark in there.

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gdgt Live

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The world of tech likes to party. Every month, or sometimes every week, there is some event that industry people can attend to see new products, socialize, drink, eat, and go home with a bag of goodies.

The gdgt event last night, smack in the middle of Silicon Alley in New York  City, was a little different. This one was targeted to the consumer. Thousands of people showed up to walk through the exhibit hall at The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street. Manufacturers and app developers had their new introductions on display to get first hand customer reactions and to start generating sales. FYI, gdgt, a company that dropped its vowels, is a blog where you can get reviews from people who actually have the product you’re looking for. They run live events all around the country as a means to get the innovative companies to interact with the public.

Last night was my first time attending as a blogger. I am usually a PR person pitching product myself. I wanted to find new, exciting products to tell you about. One of the most interesting pieces of information that I picked up is that AARP is becoming a sponsor of some of these events. Robin Raskin of Living In Digital Times told me that AARP is expressing more interest in technology. It all makes sense to me but I will let you know about any services they develop involving innovation.

Here are some of the innovations I saw last night that might interest you.

1) iRobot Roomba 790 with Command Center

2) iPieces from Pressman, a host of new games from Pressman Toys

3) Cobrar entry into the app market with the iRadar

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