Forget the smartphone and the smart-tablet, 2012 is the age of the smartwatch. More and more of these cool and super-functional watches are popping up each and every day. They have one thing over smartphones and tablets: It’s really, really hard to lose them while having one of those hard-drinking weekend(or weekday, you lush) nights. Unless you tend to drink around buzzsaws, that is.
These watches usually have one thing in common, though. They announce to the world what you are wearing. What about the unassuming among us who want the functionality of a smartwatch but don’t feel the need to show our beautiful early-adopting peacock feathers to everyone we see on the street? Now there is finally a watch for us, well almost.
A former Microsoft product developer named Peter Hauser has been hard at work designing the cookoo(lower case intended.) This subtle little watch acts as an intermediary between you and your smartphone. Any information you get on your phone can be ported to your cookoo. This kind of functionality is nothing new. What is new, however, is the watch’s gentle aesthetic and durable design. The cookoo is waterproof and lasts a full year with a standard watch battery. Buttons around the bezel let you check into Foursquare and interact with a bunch of other cool apps.
There’s a small catch, though. Peter Hauser needs your help. He has put up a Kickstarter to help get the watch into the hands of the people. For a pledged donation of just $50 you can reserve yourself a cookoo when they launch. That’s a great deal considering they are going to retail for twice that much. Also, yes I’ve noticed I’ve managed to go this entire article without making a Cocoa Puffs reference. We can be subtle as well!
