Let’s face it: While smartphones can do some pretty impressive things from pretty much anywhere, they aren’t exactly user-friendly. They break easily, slide off slick surfaces, get ruined by moisture. And to do anything with them, you have to ignore the world around you and hunch over its unearthly blue glow like some kind of addict.
The best kinds of technology don’t monopolize our attention, but enhance our understanding of and interactions with the world around us. These five Seattle tech companies have built technology that blends seamlessly into everyday activities and provides better outcomes for human health, safety and personal connection — without requiring users to spend more time staring at their screens.
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Redmond
What are you wearing? Smart socks
Details: Sensoria is all about helping exercise nuts exercise smarter. The company’s smart socks feature tactile sensors and a device on the plantar area of the foot — near the heel — that measures pace, foot landing, cadence and the impact generated with each footfall. A device implanted in the sock sends this information to an AI-enabled virtual coach living in Sensoria’s mobile app, which gives verbal feedback about users’ biometrics while they’re running. The company also sells sports bras and t-shirts with inbuilt heart rate monitors.
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: Downtown Seattle
What are you wearing? A mobile panic button
Details: While attending university, React Mobile founder and CEO Robb Monkman was a victim of an armed robbery and hostage situation, and used that harrowing experience to build a device that might help people who find themselves in similar situations. His solution is a small device that silently alerts relevant authorities of its exact location when a user pushes the button, and is primarily used by housekeeping staff in the hotel industry, where cleaners enter guest rooms and can find themselves in vulnerable situations. When activated, the device uses Bluetooth technology to send out a beacon that pinpoints the location of a distress call inside a building, down to the floor and room number.
Bluetooth SIG
Founded: 1998
Headquarters: Kirkland
What are you wearing? Anything that can fit a Bluetooth receiver in it
Details: The Bluetooth Special Interest Group oversees the technology’s standards and licensing to manufacturers. The group provides information to help businesses build technology that incorporates Bluetooth’s wireless technology, including many wearables. These include educational kits, webinars, videos and forums designed to help manufacturers complete Bluetooth’s qualification process. The special interest group moved its headquarters to Kirkland in 2010, and over 30,000 businesses now use its technology.
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: University District
What are you wearing? Intelligent shoe inserts, duh
Details: For JumpStartCSR, the path to good health starts at the feet. Users build a profile through an app called Holmz and, using that information, the company 3D prints their recyclable “Intelligent Digital Materialization” footbeds, specifically designed for each individual and available for pickup on the same day. The ergonomic footbeds are embedded with sensors and electronics that monitor a user’s biomechanical health without the need for manual data entry. The footbeds communicate with the Holmz app to give feedback, suggestions and alerts about musculoskeletal risks. The platform can share data with health professionals through perishable links, meaning users always know who has access to their data. The technology is based on the work of Chief Science Officer George Gosieski who was working on the prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries when he was just 17.
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Seattle
What are you wearing? Rave wristbands
Details: Have you ever woken up in the morning, head throbbing, unable to remember any intelligible conversations from the night before and yet convinced — convinced! — that something magical had occurred between you and several hundred strangers on a dance floor? The team at Seattle-based Gemio definitely has, and they’ve attempted to capture the essence of such experiences with a wristband bearing twenty-four LEDs that, at the command of an app, light up in sync with the rhythm of ambient music. Users can control their own colors or send light messages to friends — handy for finding buddies in dark dance halls — or cede control to the DJ, who can control the crowd’s colors from his or her perch.
