The first certified devices were shown at CES 2025
The distractions of modern technology seem inescapable. Articles, social media posts, and academic studies frequently condemn the attention-grabbing qualities of our phones and laptops—ironically, a problem we often read about and discuss on the very devices said to cause it.
Amber Case, speaker and author of Calm Technology, knows this all too well. “A lot of technology is not using our peripheral attention, but instead our primary attention, which makes it tiring and difficult to use it,” says Case. The much-maligned smartphone notification is a common example, bombarding the user with pop-ups seeking to redirect the user’s attention.
But observing a problem is just the first step. What comes next is deciding how to solve it, and the Calm Tech Institute, an organization founded by Case, has an idea.
From Principles to Certification
Case’s book, inspired by the work of Xerox PARC researchers Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown, outlines eight principles for calm technology; examples include the idea that technology “should require the smallest possible amount of attention” while in use, and that it “should work even when it fails.” The book’s ideas gained the attention of major technology companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, and Case gave talks at TED and the Thinking Digital Conference, among others.
“But that wasn’t enough,” says Case. While her ideas received plenty of interest, she noticed that interest didn’t translate to concrete action. Companies designing new products were unclear on what was right, or wrong, and uncertain about how they might put calm technology ideals into practice.
So, Case decided on a new approach. She founded the Calm Tech Institute in May 2024 to develop and promote a Calm Tech certification. “A standard is a good way of rewarding that behavior,” says Case.
The certification includes 81 points that span six categories: attention, periphery, durability, light, sound, and materials. Some of the certification’s specifications are quite stringent. It outlines minimum standards for user interface (UI) design, such as consistent use of icons and font typography, asks that all but the “most crucial” notifications be turned off by default, and requires an instruction booklet with a list of replacements and compatible parts.
The Calm Tech certified reMarkable Paper Pro ditches distractions for a paper-like feel.reMarkable AS
Early Adopters Get on Board
The first handful of devices that earned the Calm Tech certification were announced at, or just before, CES 2025.
This first batch included, for example, the reMarkable Paper Pro. Released on September 4, 2024, the Paper Pro looks like an iPad and has a color eInk display, but it’s tightly focused on writing and organizing notes with the tablet’s included stylus. ReMarkable purposefully constrains the device’s features to maintain a distraction-free experience. Though it can sync notes online, the Paper Pro doesn’t have an app store, a web browser, or widgets. It doesn’t even display the time.
Mats Herding Solberg, reMarkable’s chief design officer, wasn’t aware of the Calm Tech certification while the Paper Pro was designed, but once he learned of it, was pleased to find the tablet’s distraction-free approach matched up with the requirements.
“We found that many principles closely aligned with the intentions behind our design,” says Solberg. “These principles will guide us in creating technology that aligns with humans.”
Another early adopter was Mui Labs, creator of the Mui Board, a smart home device that looks like a piece of finely finished decorative wood but, when touched, illuminates to reveal a smart home interface. I spoke with Case at Mui Labs’ booth on the show floor of CES 2025, where the company announced that its latest iteration, the Mui Board Gen 2, earned the Calm Tech certification.
Several other devices earned certification in late 2024. These include the AirThings View Plus, an air quality monitor with a simple eInk display that I highlighted during the 2021 wildfire season; the Daylight Computer, a portable PC with an eInk display and custom OS meant to reduce distractions; and Unpluq, a physical dongle that can lock apps on Android and iOS devices until the dongle is moved close to the device.
Calm Tech Looks to Expand in 2025
While the first products have received certification, it’s still early days for the Calm Tech Institute. The certification’s 81-point specification is not yet publicly available (though Case did provide a copy for me to review). The Calm Tech Institute hopes to have the certification published “soon,” says Case. It’s also exploring research into calm technology and working with neuroscientists to study the “cognitive need for dimensionality and texture” in user interfaces.
“Bit by bit, I hope to influence the industry and reward it,” says Case.
ReMarkable, for its part, seems to appreciate the certification and will likely pursue the certification for its future products, according to Solberg. “I am hopeful that we will continue to deliver products that receive high praise from the Calm Tech Institute,” he says.
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Comments
By dang 2025-01-2121:39 Related. Others?
Calm Technology - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29115653 - Nov 2021 (68 comments)
Calm Technology - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21799736 - Dec 2019 (155 comments)
Principles of Calm Technology - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12389344 - Aug 2016 (66 comments)
Calm Technology - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9107526 - Feb 2015 (1 comment)
Calm Tech, Then and Now - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8475764 - Oct 2014 (1 comment)
Designing Calm Technology (1995) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7976258 - July 2014 (2 comments)
We're building a neuromodulation sleep headband, and we've always had the aim of getting to the point where the user puts it on, it does it's thing (slow-wave enhancement) the person takes it off in the morning and goes about their day.
I don't even want to put IO into the device at all. Not only because it increases cost and size, but because I don't what the user having to interact. We have to find better ways to fit the device in your life, so you don't even think about it.
I'm a little worried, in your example, that there might be some configuration required that could be frustrating without a way to do it on the device.
For example, I helped someone transfer their stuff from their old iPhone to their new one a few years ago. The way you're supposed to do it is touch your old iPhone to the new one and it'll just work. Needless to say, it didn't. I think it was about an hour of rebooting the old and new ones before it finally caught. Since there weren't any logs or settings to change or any way at all to influence the process it was more frustrating than magic.
Now, it's possible your product really is as simple as turning it on and it'll just work, in the same way a lamp is "turn on and it works", but if there's any configuration at all that the device does, please expose it to the users. Human brains are incredible at finding patterns, generally better than computers, and if there's a mismatch between the human's model of how something works and the device's model, it's best to allow the human to change the device's model
Maybe this depends on the person, but I find a device with some buttons to configure it infinitely easier and less frustrating than an app.
An app to my brain screams "depends on your phone and will be outdated at some point; requires picking and unlocking your phone to use it; will have updates that change/ruin it at some point".
I just want to feel a button and press it, especially for things supposed to be used in the dark while sleeping.
By Gormo 2025-01-2313:45 > Maybe this depends on the person, but I find a device with some buttons to configure it infinitely easier and less frustrating than an app.
People's subjective experience may vary, but relying on an app objectively entails more complexity and risk exposure for the user than exposing on-device configuration.
It's quite possible that many people who say they prefer using apps do indeed experience a higher level of frustration over the full span of their usage, and are only expressing their immediate-term evaluation at the outset of usage.
By pedalpete 2025-01-2221:37 I think there is the difference of calm in everyday use and initial set-up, maintenance, etc is...less calm.
There are functions managed in the app but we aim for those to be rarely interacted with. All the interactions that you have with the device should be as simple as your wireless earbuds, maybe even easier.
By adhoc_slime 2025-01-2122:292 reply Do you get many people thinking this product is snakeoil?
By pedalpete 2025-01-2221:49 I wish there were more!
There is a ton of snake oil in the industry, and I see so many people building similar products, that take the language of the research papers, and apply it to absolute nonsense.
There is over a decade of research in slow-wave enhancement, Philips funds a lot of research in this space, and even had a slow-wave enhancement device out in 2018/2019.
I'm not sure if what you are asking is "are we snake oil", or "do I get people asking". But in general, I hear so many people talk about grounding mats (no scientific evidence), EMF, neuromodulation to put you to sleep instantly, and so much other garbage, that I wish people would question things more.
I wish people knew how to read a basic research paper and decide if it even says what the company is claiming. I'm amazed that a company can put up a page that says "science", with a picture of a person in a lab coat, and people go "ok, must be true".
We're on a long view of this, and while VCs are dumping tens of millions into snake oil "neuromodulation" companies, we're taking a slower approach and playing the long-term game.
I'm keen to hear your thoughts.
By bongodongobob 2025-01-222:02 [flagged]
I was working on a similar IO problem with wearables a while ago (though by the sounds of things, far less seriously than you are), and I had the idea that maybe that band/strap could function as an on-off switch, so when you undo the band (which you do when taking it off), it turns the device off, and vice versa. Could be something you could try too
By jazzyjackson 2025-01-221:42 This is a fun material you could use to detect if a band was stretched or not, silver coated elastic [0], near 0 ohm resistance when loose, resistance increases when stretched. I built a voltage divider with a patch of it when I was experimenting with fabric input devices, mostly just noise makers, but you can see how responsive it is [1]
By mystified5016 2025-01-2123:17 I'm putting capactive sensors in my wearables to turn them on when in contact with a human.
I strongly believe that the class of widget I'm building should stay firmly out of the user's way. The point is to forget it's there. So, as simple IO as possible.
By _Algernon_ 2025-01-228:251 reply Polar H10 basically works like that. It's great until you are suddenly unable to connect to it via bluetooth, and have to blindly debug the reason. Is the device even on? Battery low? Broken? App issues? Who the fuck knows.
By pedalpete 2025-01-2222:19 Yeah, you hit on a very important point. There are ways to handle this via lighting on the device (as far as, connected, battery, etc), and I think the app being clear about the state, beyond just "connected/not connected" is important.
We've had very few issues with BLE, but it is one of the things I'm most worried about as it absolutely kills the experience.
By pedalpete 2025-01-2222:11 We've taken a similar approach, I won't divulge exactly what we've done yet, but our goal was to not have a button that would have to be placed somewhere that it wasn't going to get pressed in the middle of the night, would have to be large enough to be usable, adding thickness to the headband at some point.
By hn_throwaway_99 2025-01-2221:451 reply How does your headband work? I did some searching and it looks like there are 2 main technologies:
1. tES, transcranial electric stimulation, used by the Somnee sleep band.
2. acoustic stimulation (sound waves), used by the Elemind sleep band, which uses EEG sensors to determine the exact sound waves to apply.
I admit I was quite skeptical, but a brief look showed that both bands have a decent amount of clinical data backing them up, although funded by the companies (unsurprising at this point, but would be good to get some independent studies on their efficacy).
Curious if anyone has tried any of these bands and what they thought.
By pedalpete 2025-01-2222:08 Our headband uses auditory (acoustic) simulation. But we are VERY different from elemind.
If you look at the research behind elemind, it is clear they designed a study to show a positive result. Somnee, less so, but it is only a single paper.
It's interesting to me you used "sound waves" to describe acoustic stimulation, which is exactly NOT what we are doing, or how auditory stimulation work (in our case).
A "slow wave" aka delta waves is the measure of the synchronous firing of neurons which is the hallmark of deep sleep and the foundation of health. It is the activity of the brain pumping the glymphatic system, which is clearing metabolic waste, and is linked to immune function, hormone response, parasympathetic response, and more.
Our EEG headband is detecting these slow-waves (the firing of neurons), and when we detect this brain activity, at a precise point in this synchronous firing, we interrupt the brain, with a brief pulse of sound. In response to this interruption, the brain goes "hey, this is vital to my health, don't mess with me right now", and increases the synchronous firing of neurons, both in that slow wave, as well as following up with another slow-wave after, sometimes 2, even 3, rarely 4 (but it is person dependent).
A slow-wave only lasts for 0.8-1.2 seconds, so this timing is very precise, and we can see the change in brain activity immediately. We stimulate in a 5 on/ 5 off protocol, so we can see the change in brain activity within seconds. We are not comparing different nights, as we know sleep is different across nights. The response is very consistent.
If you read the research from elemind and somnee, they sound very similar, with a huge red flag. They both say "we stimulate near the peak of an alpha wave, and then you fall asleep". There is no measure of a change in the brain activity. Just alpha wave, stimulation, sleep.
I can go on and on about all the red flags, but you can read about elemind here - https://neurotechnology.substack.com/p/avoiding-neurotechs-t...
I found the Somnee headband unbearably uncomfortable, and it didn't do anything for me.
You mention acoustic stimulation as "sound waves" and that's where I wanted to clarify the whole "listen to a 120hz sound and it will improve XYZ".
As far as I am aware, all of this sound waves stuff and interacting with brain waves at certain frequencies is nonsense. A brain wave is a human construct for how we visualize the electrical activity of the brain, just like an EKG is a visualization of electrical activity of the heart.
You'd never say "we're interacting with your heart wave at this frequency", right?
I have many bug-bears with the industry as a whole, and it is a bit terrifying to me that I'm working in this space surrounded by so much nonsense.
We don't fund studies. The scientific principles of what we are doing has been known for about 10 years now. But it is difficult to do, and Philips have a TON of patents around this space - they fund a lot of the research.
However, we support researchers who are already looking into this space because we have the best technology (well, waiting to be proven but we have advanced beyond the protocols of Philips and Dreem).
I hope that helps understand where we're at, and maybe how we differ. I'm happy to answer any more questions.
By polishdude20 2025-01-2121:161 reply Woah can you tell us more about this? Seems like really cool tech
By pedalpete 2025-01-2222:12 I've answered a bunch of questions in this thread about the tech. I'll be doing a bunch of blog posts about our unique take on the sleep space, and where our tech fits in as we lead up to pre-sales.
There are a bunch of research papers on our website, as well as some very basic descriptions of how it works. https://affectablesleep.com
I love tech like this. You put it on and it just does its thing. My HR monitor is like that, although if the receiving device doesn't immediately pair, it can be frustrating figuring out what's gone wrong.
By pedalpete 2025-01-2222:17 This was one of my biggest concerns as all over the wearable space you see comments about "I couldn't get my device to connect".
We haven't had too many issues with BLE, but I think the UI of the mobile app needs to clearly communicate the connection state, and not just "connected/disconnected" but more of "last connection, the device will ping in x seconds" so the person knows the device will be looking for the phone.
We have a few tricks up our sleeve, as we're like Santa (we know when you are sleeping, we know when you're awake), and seeing as the headband is only used for sleeping, we can have an open connection when you are awake, and then go into low power mode when we detect you've closed your eyes, and then we can ping on a more reasonable schedule.
By cr125rider 2025-01-2214:29 Magnets could be the premium tier
The irony of trying to read this article and being assaulted by cookie warnings and ad popups that appear while scrolling is not lost on me.
By bilekas 2025-01-2210:05 > Access Thousands of Articles — Completely Free > Create an account and get exclusive content and features: Save articles, download collections, and talk to tech insiders — all free! For full access and benefits, join IEEE as a paying member.
By lm28469 2025-01-2210:31 Out of the four categories they show only one needs consent: targeted ads, the others can be fully anonymous. The "essential cookies" can't be disabled, the "analytics" can be fully anonymous, the "personalisation" can be fully anonymous.
People say that but it's not really true. If they just have 1P cookies for basic functionality (login), then I believe there can be a discreet notice at the bottom informing the user of that fact. Groups like IEEE should be the ones pioneering those patterns.
By high_na_euv 2025-01-2215:04 Cookies for auth do not need such thing
AFAIK, only 3rd party cookies require this consent. I am pretty sure you require consent for 2nd party as well. Your own site's cookies? Do what you want.
GDPR, however, also covers other things like your storing user's data, but that is separate from cookies. Cookies are stored on user's device.
By d1sxeyes 2025-01-2222:29 What do you mean by second party here?
By lowercased 2025-01-2213:302 reply Not even sure you need any discreet notice about anything for strictly necessary first party cookies. That's my understanding of GDPR, at any rate.
You don't HAVE TO have a cookie banner for cookies which don't require consent.
Cookies not requiring consent :
Also, the law is about trackers, not specifically cookies: so data in local and session storage are concerned as does browser fingerprinting.- "technical" cookies: for session, saving some user preferences (consenting to cookies or not, language etc.) - cookies used for load balancing or to protect against fraud - cookies used to save a cart or used to invoice some service - usage statistics cookies IF the data is anonymousBut it's so much more effective to pretend like there are onerous requirements imposed by governments that interfere with the user experience. See: TikTok's early and unnecessary self-imposed, location-based shutdown with a pop-up message blaming the big bad government. Bonus points for ass kissing the easily manipulated current administration.
Sorry, I don't understand this. They complied with legal requirements a couple of hours before obligated to do so.
Is my understanding of that situation wrong?
By daveguy 2025-01-2219:49 TikTok was not required to restrict access to the app from devices in the US. Rather US companies (web hosting and app stores) were required to cease support. This means app stores like Google and Apple had to prevent downloads and installs (Apple still is). But the blanket shutdown of anyone with GPS coordinates within the US was not required. People were even still allowed to side-load the app where possible like in Android. So, the early and overly restrictive limitations from TikTok was for show and messaging to manipulate public opinion.
Edit Reference:
> If not sold within a year, the law would make it illegal for web-hosting services to support TikTok, and it would force Google and Apple to remove TikTok from app stores — rendering the app unusable with time.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/24/1246663779/biden-ban-tiktok-u...
That's true. Strictly technically necessary cookies do not need consent or even information with a banner. Guess it's nice to know, but probably not legally necessary.
By high_na_euv 2025-01-2215:06 >Guess it's nice to know
It isnt, why should I care?
By recursive 2025-01-2218:25 Your user agent has different, more reliable ways of informing you of this.
By globular-toast 2025-01-229:01 Of course they do. They aren't forced to use cookies that require user consent.
By master-lincoln 2025-01-2215:361 reply You have been brainwashed successfully
By missinglugnut 2025-01-2217:551 reply Totally unnecessary personal attack there.
My take: if a law and it's enforcement almost universally lead to a worse outcome, the burden is on the lawmakers and enforcers to do better. You can yell about the websites all you want but being mad at most of the internet at once is a losing game.
By krageon 2025-01-239:18 To say you have fallen for a political play is not a personal attack. It is not some sort of personal failing, but a trap set for you. Informing you of that is a nice thing this person has chosen to do for you.
By GJim 2025-01-2211:40 Ummmmm
If they didn't have ads that track me, then they would have no need to ask my permission to use cookies that track me.
There is no requirement so seek permission for other cookies needed to run the website. Quite why some readers of a technical news site (!) are still confused about this is bizzare.
In short, blame the scummy adtech industry. Not the legislation that gives us our privacy.
