Trying to enjoy winter sports and effectively communicate on the mountain has always been a tough issue to solve. Over time, lots of screaming evolved into the use of walkie-talkies. Now, leaps in technology have enabled the creation of a product like the Explore1.
The stylish, radio-equipped Explore1 allows for an unlimited number of snowboarders and skiers to stay in direct contact with each other up to a range of three kilometers.
Post-it and other sticky notes are handy tools for leaving messages. But too many of them can create a mess on the refrigerator or other surfaces, and they tend to fall off all too easily. They are also not so great for the environment.
Oronote is a smart version of the sticky note that can be placed on any firm magnetic surface. An included wall plate enables the small white device to also be used on surfaces including bricks and tiles. Oronote lights up and announces when there is a message. It works in conjunction with an app for Android and iOS mobile devices that enables the user to store and manage dozens of messages with different trigger actions and control Oronote’s settings.
In any sporting endeavor, it’s widely acknowledged that bad form is the root cause to a majority of injuries sustained during competition. While rehabilitation helps athletes recover and attempts to address this bad form, old habits die hard, especially when constant vigilance is generally needed to ensure athletes are properly learning and implementing better techniques.
The team behind the BioMetrix is hoping to better inform coaches and athletic medical staff about injured athletes under their watch using the thin, flexible device. It can be placed on the heel, hips, or knee to measure stability, rotation, and drift in position in real time with high-resolution captures, with the athlete able to interact with their form as they perform exercise. With this information, everyone involved can consult a web app from any browser to monitor progress and generate reports on that data, all to avoid common injuries.
The advantage that heads-up displays (HUDs) have over tradiitional GPS devices is that, with HUDs, drivers can keep their eyes on the road while getting navigation and other useful information. But, unfortunately, it’s often just as difficult to see the information on a HUD as it is to make out the directions on a GPS device while driving in bright sunlight.
Carloudy resolves that issue by using E-Ink display technology –- the same technology that makes it easier to read on a traditional e-reader than it is to read on a tablet. Carloudy features a patent-pending design that makes it work fine whether it’s bright or dark out. When it’s night, the device’s ambient light sensor activates LED backlighting for the display. It connects automatically to Android and iOS mobile devices via Bluetooth.
The problem with baby bottles is that it can be really hard to get the milk inside them to reach the perfect temperature for babies and to then stay at that perfect temperature for very long. That’s especially the case while traveling.
Proacmom is a smart, rechargeable baby bottle designed to solve that problem. It heats milk in the bottle with just the push of a button, then warms and promises to hold the milk temperature for hours. Proacmom features an LCD thermometer strip that gauges the milk’s temperature, enabling feeding to be done at an optimum temperature. Its double wall insulating layer reduces thermal loss and retains heat, so frequent reheating isn’t needed. Included are a detachable lithium-ion battery and control unit, and Proacmom can be charged using a Micro USB mobile charger, car charger or PC.
While a good, old-fashioned bike ride is always enjoyable, cycling devices no doubt make them better by offering niceties like location tracking and metric monitoring. Combined with action cameras, though, and a bike’s handlebar soon looks cluttered.
MiniWing’s Camile is a combination cycling device that incorporates a GPS module, a cycling computer measuring speed, altitude and distance, and a 1080p camera that boasts a 140° field of vision that records either 30 fps or time-lapse shots. Up to three hours of video can be recorded on its 32GB onboard storage, videos that can be shared to social media thanks to its built-in Wi-Fi antenna.
Despite the risk of injury reduced by 90% with a proper, full warm-up, most people don’t truly do so. The biggest reason why being that most don’t know when they’ve reached that point.
For all those in the dark, there’s REARM. The workout shirt is a low-tech solution to an age-old difficulty, using thermochromic color change tech in the shirt’s logo to signify when the wearer is truly warmed up and ready for exercise. In addition, to make working out slightly easier and more comfortable, an inline pocket for smartphones and valuables is present on the shirt’s front bottom right corner along with moisture-wicking AIRTUBE technology in its fibers for a drier shirt more of the time. REARM is going for about $25 and is expected by April 2016. The campaign is looking for $1,500 by January 20th, 2016 to bring their shirt to life.
While an interesting idea, REARM pales in comparison to the hugely popular Radiate shirts. They both feature moisture-wicking technology, but the latter changes color at specific points on the shirt to signify warmed-up sections of the body. In the end, its far more useful to not only know you’ve warmed up, but what part of the body has, too.
Sometimes it’s just one of those days where even getting out of bed looms as a huge challenge. And by this point, it’s well known that none of the most commonplace smart devices in people’s lives really help that much. If it has a snooze button, it pretty much means the person still wrapped in their cozy comforter is not going anywhere.
Enter Spritely, the dual sleep tracker and alarm designed to help users achieve better rest and wake up on time. By placing it under a bed between the mattress and boxspring, Spritely is able to track and monitor sleep and send insights and personalized tips straight to a Bluetooth-connected iOS or Android device. And when morning strikes, Spritely wakes users up during their lightest sleep using their own Spotify, Soundcloud, or personal music libraries.
There’s no escape, either. With backup power installed, nothing will make its alarm shut off outside of staying out of bed. A bold proposal, sure, but one that’s designed to nab the determined napper. Spritely is going for $99, 17% off its eventual MSRP, and is expected to ship in December of 2016. Its campaign is looking for $100,000 by February 29th, 2016.
It’s clear: snooze is the enemy. While the ThinkPillow boasts similar sleep-tracking and body position monitoring capabilities and the feature-heavy Beddi wakes users up with similar music library integration, they both ultimately still let users press the snooze button. In contrast. Spritely is a smart decision for chronic oversleepers. Let’s see if it rises (and shines) to the occasion.
Nomadic urbanites have to think carefully about what belongings they drag from apartment to apartment. Matt Lim’s Tack tries to make it so that the awkwardly sized lamp needed to read, work or relax by isn’t the first thing sacrificed before a move.
Tack users have the choice of attaching its main body to the wall using a magnetic strip, with the option to move it in a variety of different positions depending on the amount of light needed. Or the water bottle-sized lamp can live off the wall and function as a standalone, portable light for different rooms.
For some, mornings are the perfect opportunity to attack the day head on and accomplish greatness. For everyone else on the planet, mornings are the perfect opportunity to slam on the snooze button of the smartphone dangerously close to the edge of the bed to get a few more precious minutes of sleep in.
Inventor Winstan Tam was one of those people until he created the Ruggie to address his chronic oversleeping. For him, the snooze function is the enemy. So he cleverly designed developed a mat made of soft memory foam that lives beside the bed, to be stepped on for at least three seconds before the morning alarm is deactivated. When successful, a fully customizable motivational speech is played to ensure early birds get the inspiration they need to seize the day.