Categories
Tech Accessories

Featherweight Pillar makes notebooks less of a pain in the neck

PillarConstant laptop and computer use force people to hunch in unpleasant ways while they’re working. A more upright posture is necessary for avoiding that dreaded hunchback look during old age. Pillar is a laptop holder that keeps your laptop up while also maintaining your straight spine. It is extremely lightweight and folds up for optimum portability, but you’ll have to tote along a second keyboard to maintain good ergonomics. Ventilation measures are taken with this stand and a pleasing angle is used to make laptop work even more comfortable. This Icelandic product costs backers $18 at an early price or $20 regularly. Pillar hopes to raise $22,000 in a 30-day Kickstarter campaign. 

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

PharmAssistant keeps patients taking their prescriptions on time

The Premise. When being prescribed medication that needs to be taken regularly, it can be easy to get distracted and forget to take it on time. Add to that special instructions or medications that shouldn’t be taken together and it becomes more than a matter of keeping an eye on the clock.

The Product. PharmAssistant is a solution for people who need reminders on when and how to take different medications. The technology behind PharmAssistant relies on two key components: a smartphone with the PharmAssistant app, and the SmartBottle with a Bluetooth cap alarm. After programming which medications need to be taken and how often into the app, the app will send a blinking light and sound alarm to the cap of the bottle of the medicine, which will continue to go off until the bottle is opened. Additionally, a monitoring service is available that will send an alert to a third party’s phone such as a family member to notify them if a dosage has been skipped. While this service will have a small monthly fee, the bottles will continue to work without a subscription.

The Pitch. Using an animated sales pitch, the PharmAssistant team provide a somewhat over-the-top look at how hard it can be to keep medications straight. Backing up their product with shocking statistics on medication-related deaths in the United States alone, PharmAssistant sticks to the facts, explaining very simply what the product offers for both patients, family members, and even pharmacists. PharmAssistant needs $20,000 to complete the app, test the product, and then begin production.

The Perks. All of the PharmAssistant SmartBottles are expected to be delivered in December of this year. They range in price from $60 for two to $135 for six, and each set comes with a free three month minimum sample of their monitoring service.

The Potential. The intentions of PharmAssistant are noble, trying to make it easy to remember to take medicine or supplements for people every day, but the execution here is lacking. With the exception of the alarms on the SmartBottles themselves or the monitoring service add-on, there’s nothing here that isn’t offered by a simple, first-party phone notification. Programming in the extra instructions and the kinds of medicine do little when without the SmartBottles, all that would be printed with the prescription bottles anyhow. There are some good ideas with PharmAssistant, but the benefits probably won’t be enough to give this product a lasting appeal.

Categories
Connected Objects

QLEEK seeks to recapture physical display for digital media

QLEEKPeople love to display their records, CDs, DVDs and other acronym-identified digital files in their apartments or houses, but not all are nice to look at. The French-made QLEEK offers a way to store digital files onto little cool looking wooden hexagons called Tapps. Different designs for each Tapp are available online to make them look however you want. Tapps present a cool decorating opportunity for those wanting to display them. To play the Tapp’s file, simply place it on the QLEEK device that connects via USB to any computer and the computer will automatically play the video, song, podcast, photo slideshow or any other kind of file the Tapp contains. For early-birds, the QLEEK device and five Tapps only costs $179 or a regular price of $249 with estimated delivery in December 2014. QLEEK is striving for a $70,000 goal in a 31-day campaign on Indiegogo.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Wearables

SUNZs unlocks phones and does other things that phones also already do

sunzsOne little-known risk when it comes to phone security is that an often-unlocked touch screen may have smudges showing the security code needed to access the device. SUNZs is a buckle for any wristwatch that has an NFC chip inside that can be tapped on the screen to unlock the phone, access key features, and can be programmed as a quick launcher for up to eight apps. The product is pitched in an infomercial style, and claims to be “the coolest and most useful tool ever,” which may be overstating things a bit. Of course, since it requires NFC, the iPhone is out for now. SUNZs is available in six colors, and will ship out in August for backers who pledge $13.

Categories
Video Games

Vibro Vest is a wearable subwoofer to enhance entertainment

vibrovestImmersion in media is something consumers want more of, from VR headsets to high-definition visuals. The Vibro Vest is a wearable subwoofer that can be worn while watching movies, playing video games, or listening to music to create a more immersive experience. Devices like this have been sold in the past, and Vibro Vest offers an almost identical experience aside from using eight different motors to power its vibrations.  In the video the creator of the Vibro Vest, Alex Varfolomeyev, explains in detail how wearing such a vest can make entertainment more exciting. The Vibro Vest will launch in August 2014 and can be purchased for $50 plus shipping.

Categories
Fashion

Twilash provides one-stop shopping for eye beauty enhancement

TWILASHWhen applying makeup, most women focus on their eyes and, more specifically, their eyelashes. In order to maintain their best feature, women carry around multiple tools to achieve a beautiful look. TWILASH combines all of these tools in a Swiss army knife-like product. TWILASH features mascara with a brush, an eyelash enhancer, eyelash separator, curler and mascara remover. The compact version costs $13 while the regular goes for $30 on Indiegogo with an estimated delivery date of May 2014 (even though the campaign ends in June). TWILASH hopes to raise $20,000 in a two month campaign.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

The Quitbit smart lighter aims to help a bad habit go up in smoke

The Premise. On nearly any trip in public, it’s getting to the point where it would be uncommon not to see somebody wearing a fitness tracker. Getting healthy is a priority for thousands of people, and using technology to do so is a no-brainer these days. But in addition to encouraging good habits, there’s one habit that many people could stand to break in becoming healthier.

The Product. The Quitbit is a pocket-sized tracker for how many cigarettes a person smokes in a day. It, along with its proprietary app, can log how many cigarettes have been smoked, how long it’s been since a cigarette, and can even disable features until a threshold has been met. It’s able to do all of these because the Quitbit is also a flip-up lighter that functions like a car cigarette lighter, with heat coils. The device lasts a week without being recharged and can upload smoking data to social media, either in terms of how fewer cigarettes have been smoked in a week, or how much money has been approximately saved by reducing smoking.

The Pitch. The Quitbit’s campaign is extremely professional and confident, from the design of the product itself down to the supplemental materials available on its Kickstarter and Web site. The entire brand’s attitude is one of helping, not shaming, and that’s part of what makes this product so appealing for those that are cognizant of what smoking does to the human body. Quitbit needs $50,000 to get funded for prototyping, tooling, certification, and manufacturing.

The Perks. The Quitbit lighter and app are available to backers who pledge $79, and will be out at the end of this year. The lighter/tracker can be engraved with a personalized touch for $149.

The Potential. There’s a great amount of potential here for people who want to quit smoking by degrees, using hard data to do so. Because the Quitbit doubles as a lighter, it’s something that no smoker would want to be without, and the social aspects will get those who want to see their friends and family lead a more healthy lifestyle get involved with messages of encouragement. The design is simple, intuitive, and sharp, and the concept is unique enough to make this a great tool in the fight to quit smoking for good, perhaps then being passed on to a friend who can make use of it.

Categories
Kids/Babies Wearables

1Decision Bracelet alerts you when the little one wanders off

1decisionKids have a nasty habit of wandering off at the worst of times. There’s nothing scarier than realizing your child is not where you thought he or she was. The 1Decision Bracelet offers safety and security for your child out in public. One bracelet is worn by the child and the other by the parent. As the fearmongering campaign video shows, it is programmable so that when the bracelets are out of a predetermined range from one another, the parent’s will vibrate alerting them that the child has begun to wander off. Unlike GPS bracelets and watches, however, it doesn’t provide any clue on how to find them once they;re out of view. One set of bracelets costs an early donation of $55 or a regular donation of $75 for delivery in October 2014. The 1Decision Bracelet hopes to raise $65,000 in a 40-day Indiegogo campaign.

Categories
Lighting

Kangaroo Light folds some extra illumination into tight spots

KANGAROO LIGHTFor people everywhere, bags and purses become black holes of loss and mystery when our things go missing. A little extra light can come in handy sometimes and flashlights have somewhat of a narrow presence. The excessively capitalized KANGAROO LIGHT is a flexible light that is designed to sit in the bottom of your bag to make it easier to find things. It folds into different shapes making it light and portable, much like the RagLite. The KANGAROO makes a nice reading light as well. One of this British product costs backers £40. The light hopes to raise £50,000 in a 45-day Kickstarter campaign.

Categories
Camping

Bison Bag lets you catch some Zs between the trees

Bison BagCamping is a fun summer activity enjoyed by many. Accessories used for staying out all night are usually multi-purpose, cutting down on supplies needed. The Bison Bag is one such product. This camping convenience is a hammock and sleeping bag in one. It is rated to hold large amounts of weight and comes with everything one needs to attach it to a tree. If the hammock should tip over, it holds the occupant inside, perhaps preventing injury. One Bison Bag costs camping backers $60 or $70 at an early-bird price and $90 when the early bird bags are gone. This product hopes to raise $15,500 on Kickstarter.