6 Crazy Technology Products You Didn’t Know Existed

We live in a digital age where day-to-day life is becoming much more automated and streamlined. Think about it: innovative companies like Uber, Facebook, Amazon, Airbnb, and Tesla have completely changed the global economy. A revival of entrepreneurship has brought thousands of new startups, each trying to pave the way with new groundbreaking technologies.

Today, people are much more susceptible to adopting new technologies. With quicker adoption and technological advancements, products are being manufactured at much faster speeds. For example, the typical automobile design cycle is now between 24 to 36 months, down drastically from the 60-month life cycle five years ago.

Furthermore, it took several decades for just half of American households to have a house phone, but less than five years to achieve the same results with cellphones in 1990. And now, even more boggling technology is headed our way. Here are seven crazy technology products you didn’t know existed:

Smart Contact Lenses

Samsung was recently granted a patent in South Korea for contact lenses that feature sensors and a blink-controlled built-in camera. The lenses are still in development and, according to SamMobile, Samsung’s goal is to create an enhanced augmented reality to compete with Google Glass features. The lenses will project AR images directly into the wearer’s eyes.

Samsung isn’t the only company working with contact lenses. Google currently holds two patents for smart lenses that detects blood glucose levels based on tears. Ocumetrics Bionic Lens also currently has a pair of lenses that not only offers wearers 20/20 vision, but allows them to zoom up to 8x. The lenses need to be surgically inserted via an 8-minute operation but they never wear out. The lenses are currently in a trial phase, but the company expects to be on the market within the next few years.

PCB Software

The beginning of all technology discussed on this list starts with just a small circuit board. And whether you realize it or not, there are people whose job it is to design those circuit boards, and then there’s technology that allows those people to design those circuit boards — talk about a full circle.

A great example of how PCB software affects all technology is the military industry. When people think of the military, they don’t often think of the military grade electronics software that aid the country’s militant efforts. However, before the dynamic jets and and bulletproof vehicles you see can become a reality, there’s a team of engineers designing printed circuit boards (PCBs) to harbor the power behind that technology. These engineers use A-grade PCB design software and a host of other tools of the trade to create the foundation of which all of military instruments are built upon.

Mind-Reading Headphones

Japanese-based Neurowear’s Mico headphones can essentially read your mind and select songs appropriate for the moment. The Mico scans brain waves to play music based on the wearer’s current emotional state, and works in tandem with an iPhone app. The headphones are currently just a prototype, but the company promises to offer “music inspiration from your subconsciousness” in the near future.

Cicret Bracelet

Straight from a sci-fi film, the Cicret bracelet uses projection technology to turn your forearm into an interactive smartphone touchscreen. The bracelet originally came out in 2014, but has seen many more developments since then. In addition to the phone projection, its proximity sensor track what’s happening in real-time and relays those commands straight to your device via Bluetooth. It also features Wifi, a vibrator for alerts, and is waterproof.

Wearable Pain Relief

Forget the pain medication. Quell, a wearable pain device, uses Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation technology to help ease pain and discomfort. It does so by tricking the brain to release opioids, which relieves pain — and it’s 100% drug free. Wearers simply snap in the device’s electrode, wrap the band around their calf, click the button, and use the optional mobile app to control therapy and track sleep. Its design is also innovate and sleek, created with comfortability and wearability in mind.

Smart Sleep Cover

We’ve all had those sleepless nights. The Luna Sleep Cover is a smart bed cover that aids people in getting a good night’s rest. It does so by understanding your sleep patterns, regulating the temperature at different times, and using several other functions to enhance the sleep experience. According to Co-founder Matteo Franceschetti, the ultimate goal was to automate sleep patterns, particularly for couples who have different habits.