JINS' fatigue-tracking smart glasses hit Japan next month

Okay, so you've been able to order JINS' non-smart (dumb?), app-customizable glasses for awhile if you live in Japan. That much is pretty well established. But the eyewear outfit's recently announced that its line of Meme smart glasses will be available in the company's home-region stores starting next month on November 5th. Maybe they'll eventually make their way stateside considering JINS' store in San Francisco. How much is that doggy in the window? According to our Japanese Engadget colleagues, ¥19,000 or about $160. We tried them out at CES this year and came away pretty impressed, especially with the purported 16-hour battery life.

Description of Glasses

Many people know that they should take breaks when they're fatigued, but actually recognizing that worn-down state is tricky; it's all too easy to push past the breaking point. If JINS' upcoming Meme smart glasses live up to their billing, though, you'll always know when it's time to relax. The Bluetooth wearable includes both eye and motion sensors that can tell when you're close to nodding off. If it gets to that point, a companion smartphone app will give you a heads-up. The eyewear is useful even when you're fully alert, as it can handle basic fitness duties like step counting and calorie tracking.
While the Meme glasses won't ship until spring 2015, JINS will offer a programming kit this fall so that third-party apps can make use of its head tracking skills. Pricing also hasn't been nailed down, but the company plans to release three styles (including the sunglasses you see above) in its native Japan for somewhere between ¥70,000 to ¥100,000, or $685 to $979. There's no word on a US launch, unfortunately, but we're hoping they'll be available for import -- they'd be perfect for dealing with that mid-day slump.