Time magazine reviews Thalmic Labs' Myo armband - Action News
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Kitchener-Waterloo

Time magazine reviews Thalmic Labs' Myo armband

Time magazine reviewer Lisa Eadicicco has put Thalmic Labs Myo armband through its paces, and finds the Kitchener startup's device is too expensive for a gadget but concludes it has potential - especially in gaming and productivity.
Thalmic Labs co-founder and CEO Stephen Lake shows off a prototype of the Myo gesture control armband. Initial sales of the armband were hot. The company sold out its first batch of 25,000 pre-orders in just a month, back in 2013.

Time magazine hastriedThalmic Labs' Myo armband on for size and while it concludedtheKitchenerstartup's $200 US device is too expensive to be used as anoccasional gadget, it suggestedit does havepotential.

In a review published Wednesday, the magazine's tech writerLisa Eadiciccogave the Myo armband a lukewarm review, saying thedevice is"fun to use in some cases," but it didn't leave her "convinced that our gesture-controlled future is here just yet."

Eadicicco praised the device'sshort learning curve, concluding gaming is where the Myo "really shines" and praised how itinteracts withSphero devices, in particular.

"Nothing I did with the Myo was as amusing as using it to control a Sphero device, which are spherical robotic toys typically controlled with a smartphone. There's just something that feels downright cool about being able to summon a tiny robot with the wave of a hand."

But Eadiciccosaid the device's strengthis also, in a way, itsAchilles heel.

"Many of the apps in the Myo Market's gaming section are "connectors," or apps that let you use Myo with existing games. This is an excellent advantage if you already own these games, likeCounter-Strike,World of Tanks,Saints Row V, andSkyrim,among others.

But if you don't have these titles and aren't willing to shell out the money for them, Myo's standalone game selection looks fairly limited."

The review concludes by giving the Myo armband 3 out of 5 stars.