back to article 'Smart ring' revealed by upstart Chinese mobe-maker

Glasses and smartwatches dominate talk about wearable technology, but there's a new piece of binary bling to consider: a smart ring from new Chinese mobe-maker Geak. The little-known company yesterday introduced the Android-powered Mars and Eye smartphones alongside the Geak Watch and Geak Ring. The wearable devices serve as …

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  1. Gray Ham Bronze badge

    "There’s no hard info on exactly how it works"

    Of course not ... elves don't reveal their ring-making secrets.

  2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Joke

    But Geak will maintain a "master ring"

    One ring to rule them all.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm a bloke.

    I don't do smart wear, google glasses, jewellery , nipple piercing or stupid logo'd t-shirts.

    Next thing it will be massive sovereign rings, gold chain medallions and flared trousers. I thought we'd learned from that years ago. Make History at school compulsory again!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "I'm a bloke. I don't do smart wear, google glasses, jewellery , nipple piercing or stupid logo'd t-shirts."

      We can't persuade you to have a smart Prince Albert, then?

  4. Blergh
    Windows

    RFID?

    Presumably it is just an RFID on the ring, which in fact they could put on anything. How about implanting it just under the skin of the users hand instead? In that way only they could use it and they wouldn't need to put up with that ring. Although on second thoughts I guess that just means a thief would also take a gouge out of your hand when they stole your phone. Hmm work in progress.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: RFID?

      RFID-tag under the skin (like my dog). There's a YouTube video of someone who has done this, and built a lock-box for their handgun... the idea is that they have instant access to a weapon, but their kids don't.

      I rather like the idea of a ring or watch with RFID- any handset or tablet you pick up becomes 'yours', with your contacts, mail, documents etc. (obviously the security aspect needs further thought...)

    2. Phil Bennett
      Thumb Up

      Re: RFID?

      I really like the ring-authentication method, but RFID is a bit of a weakness. How about having a decoder ring style rotatable section, so you enter a password when you put it on? You could use heat or friction or something to detect the ring being removed, and then you've got a really useful mobile authentication device.

      Add some ultra low power Bluetooth (or other low power networking) to communicate with your gizmos, and never remember a password again. Kind of like an RSA token with a physical pin.

  5. Cliff
    Windows

    RFID and hyperbolic marketing woo?!

    Actually, that would be right up a certain fruity firms street!

  6. Thomas Whipp

    pulse "AND" heartbeat monitoring

    wow - really packing the features into that watch.... I'd have settled for just one or the other :P

    that said I have been looking at heartrate monitors reacently as my gym has inexplicably changed its cross trainers to not have pulse sensors on the arms so this is the sort of feature I'd be interested in).

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: pulse "AND" heartbeat monitoring

      For gym-bunnies, and for people with medical conditions that require monitoring. Many of the less-serious heart conditions could be more easily diagnosed if you could present a consultant with a fortnight's log of heart data.

  7. frank ly

    Notice the design of the ring

    Full of grooves and recesses; perfect for gathering a yucky mixture of sweat, dirt and dead skin cells. How many true geeks would regularly clean their ring?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How many true geeks would regularly clean their ring?

      Thank you for that. I just snorted coffee out my nose.

    2. Mr. Nobby

      Re: Notice the design of the ring

      I'll have you know that I clean my ring at least twice a year.

      We aren't all disgusting you know.

      1. CyberAngel
        FAIL

        Re: Notice the design of the ring

        You mean one should clean a ring?

        oops!

        More than one third of a century of negligence...

  8. AlexH

    Halfway there...

    Going to guess it's an unpowered NFC chip that does the magic - perhaps one that can be reprogrammed by putting it on a stand that induces current into some more 'active' circuitry.

    I think this would be really useful if you could exchange contact details between two rings - for example, during a handshake. If these became the norm in business it would completely eliminate business cards and solve the problem of putting faces to names after a busy networking session. Obviously, this would be more challenging, assuming the ring in the article is passive.

  9. dssf

    Unmentioned, obvious utility use?

    Unmentioned, obvious utility use?

    Now, instead of relying on just screen locks and 2-factor authentication, how about:

    Program the ring to recognize bio-factor authentication:

    -- recognizers user's/owner's pulse and capillary peculiarities

    -- receive activation/shutdown sequence by user's secret grunt, breath-holding, and fist-clench action

    Also, the ring could contain the vitals and sensitive stuff, so that if the phone is stolen, then at least it has no valuable info on it, yet it still is automatically factory-wiped when out of proximity for more than x-number of minutes, and reporrts itself as stolen, then self-destructs in 30 minutes if left on and the owner does not re-set it. Otherwise, on the restart after a forced or battery-run-down shutdown, the phone could self-destruct (internally).

    So, even if a thief cold-cocks the owner and steals the phone AND the magic decoder ring (MDR), the thief has to be able to mimic or coerce an owner.

    I now declare this to "Prior Art" by the time it is read by anyone else. Feel free to reproduce and dissiminate widely to prevent the idea from being patented or surreptitiously re-copyrighted.

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