Chelsea Stark was the Games Editor for Mashable, where she covered everything from AAA titles, mainstream consoles, indie gems, mobile games and gaming culture. She handled news, feature stories and reviews. Before that, Chelsea was Mashable's Multimedia Producer, where she helped develop visual storytelling aids, whether they were photos of video. She came to New York in 2010 to pursue her master's degree in journalism at NYU's Studio 20 program, which focused on innovation as journalism is changed by new technology. Before coming to New York, Chelsea lived in Austin, where she did online journalism and social media for the local CBS affiliate. She loves good beer, classic Nintendo games, and all things geeky, and spends her time attempting to find anything close to good Tex-Mex in Brooklyn.
Gaming hardware maker Razer announced its plans to enter the wearable tech market with a hybrid smart watch and activity tracker, called the Razer Nabu, at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show on Tuesday.
The Nabu is a "smart band", a rubber bracelet with two OLED screens that offers users a mix of notifications from their device, which tracking everything about their daily habits.
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The Nabu's top screen is the public icon screen, which will display icons if users receive calls, texts or other alerts from their iOS or Android devices. There is also a 128x32 pixel private message screen on the underside of the band, allowing users to see notifications without showing them to anyone nearby.
"We wanted to address the lack of privacy for most current smart watches," Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan told Mashable. "The big problem there is anyone can see your calls and texts right on your wrist."
The Nabu can track your sleep cycles, and its fitness tracker functions include an accelerometer and an altimeter, Tan said. It can also track gestures, such as handshakes, and detect other nearby Nabus to exchange information with.
All the data can be used by third-party developers on what Tan describes as an open development platform. Developers can update their existing apps to work with the Nabu, or create new ones. To encourage adoption, the Nabu is $49 for developers. The Nabu already works with existing platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Runkeeper and Twitter.
Tan said another smart watch problem the Nabu addresses is battery life, as the smart band can last for 7 to 10 days without a charge.
Razer is generally known for gaming hardware, but Tan said he thinks the Nabu can integrate well into Razer's current user base.
"We want to create something for our users that will make their lives better," he said. "It can get people out of the nasty habit of staring at their phones all day, and live smarter."
The Nabu will be available at the end of Q1, Razer said. The company has not announced its retail price.
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Image: Razer
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