Heads-up on  personal technologies in the offing
From Vishnu Anand
Shanghai, July 19 2015:
At the Asia edition of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, 'flavour of the season' was  clearly fitness bands and smart watches.
Lot of relatively smaller Chinese and Korean manufacturers are adding their own functionality modifications to these devices. However, the expo also featured highly innovative and fun devices which make sense for the budget-conscious home user.
Here is our handpicked list of innovations under $ 50, that will hit the market  -- and soon become available worldwide.
Ultra-portable DJ console - Monster Go DJ
JD Sound, a Korea-based professional audio products company has launched a DJ console a size slightly larger than a Toblerone bar (266mm X 66mm). With two touch screens allowing you to operate three-band equalizers, volume controls, fade in/out options, and queuing capabilities -- pretty much most tools professional DJs need to do their stuff. The USP of the product is that it weighs just 0.63 lbs, and allows you to play and store MP3s on its 4GB internal memory. With battery life of 12 hours powered by a Lithium Polymer mobile battery, the Monster Go DJ comes with USB charging options as well. The Monster Go DJ will be available in a month across China and South East Asia. 
Tap and Pay for your next metro ride
Watchdata, a Beijing based wearable devices company has integrated a payment gateway app to a smart watch, with NFC capabilities. Besides performing regular e-com transactions like bill payments, Watchdata has tied up with the subway rapid transport system in Ghangzou where commuters can simply tap their watch against the ticketing panel at metro rail gates, without procuring tickets. By end of year, the company hopes to tie up with Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong metro networks as well. Something Delhi, Bangalore and other Indian metro train operators can definitely try out.
End-to-end fitness tracking
Fitness bands are going beyond just measuring the number of steps you walk in a day. Oaxis, the Shenzhen-based smart devices company has created three products that work in tandem to provide end-to-end health and fitness tracking. One, a regular real-time heart rate monitor that co-ordinates your pulse rate with age and height and number of steps taken. Two, a smart water bottle that is connected via Bluetooth to the heart rate monitor that 'pings' the water bottle to vibrate when you are dehydrated, and a mini digital display screen on the bottle that tells you how clean or unclean the water is.
The water bottle also keeps track of how much water has been consumed. The third device is a smart body analyser -- a smart weighing scale that sits in your house. When you return home, you stand on the device which syncs your weight, amount of water consumed, number of steps taken, and provides an overall health analysis.
Tap to hear
The same company has also created an innovative mobile speaker phone that plays music on a speaker simply by taking your smart phone close to it. Place your phone on the device and it plays your music by catching the vibrations that sound (or rather music) creates. The Close Contact Wireless speaker can also be used in a meeting room with just one person having to dial in.
Bluetooth for white teeth
Oral B, global manufacturer of dental hygiene products, showcased at the MWC its Bluetooth 3D toothbrush -- an app-powered electric toothbrush that segments your pearlies into 4 important 'zones'. During your morning brushing ritual, all you need to do is to turn on the Oral B app and start brushing. The app provides real-time colour coded information of how much bacteria are being killed real-time. In 20 seconds, Oral B promises that one zone of your teeth will be completely bacteria free -- when the colour code turns from red to green, after which you can proceed to the next zone. The app also measures how hard you are pressing the brush against your teeth for possible gum damage. The moment you hear an alarm, it's time to be less violent on your teeth and reduce the pressure on your brush. At the end of 120 seconds, your teeth are ready to take on a new day of action.

See our Image of the Day for more images  of these  launches  from MWC Shanghai