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Music

SpaceHarp lets you control music, possibly spaceships, with a wave of your hand

MIDI controllers and musical instruments come in al sorts of shapes and sizes and can increasingly be controlled with a range of movements.

Few, however, compare to the majestic SpaceHarp, a console of nine illuminated circles arranged in a horizontal arc around its user. By adjusting the placement of of hands above the circles, musicians can produce different sounds The product’s developers seek to encourage newbies as well as cater to experienced musicians. The SpaceHarp costs $2,095 and should arrive at backers in November 2015. CEO and founder David Clark seeks $120,000 on Indiegogo by May 20.

The developer of the SpaceHarp stresses that its ease fo use isn’t due to simple tricks used in less expensive products such as Beamz, which is a basic Casio keyboard is to a Steinway grand. Still, the Space Harp’s sophistication comes at a price. It is one that puts it out of range for all but those determined to put on the most elaborate gestural displays to produce audio, but it sure is fun to watch someone doing it.

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Input Tech Accessories

iTouch ID makes you the finger prince (or princess) of PC passwords

Creating and implementing a strong password strategy is one of the challenges of using devices that is largely fading on the iPhone thanks to the its Touch ID sensor that allows logging in and passwords.

That level of convenience may be coming to Windows PCs and Macs thanks to a New Zealand team producing the iTouchHD, branded as the world’s smallest USB fingerprint scanner. the aluminum device boasts a sapphire lens so it should hold up to daily wear and tear even as a permanent fixture in a USB port. There’s no word on whether teh company will produce a USB-C version to accommodate the new MacBook. It’s seeking to raise $67,000 NZD (about $50,000 USD) by April 18. An iTouch HD is available for $130 NZD ($99 USD) and is due in October.

While a USB add-on may not have the degree of integration that the similar sensor has on the iPhone, it’s the kind of product that laptop owners could use every day. However, some computers like the iMac have their USB ports on the back where the product may be much less convenient. Plus, beefed-up support for biometrics in Windows 10 could prove a boon for devices like this little fingerprint reader.

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Smartwatches/Bands

Emvio watch lets you know when it’s time to calm down

A number of smartwatches and other bands can measure heart rate, but they’re generally focused on fitness activities.

As previewed last month, Emvio is a specialized smartwatch that eschews apps and general notifications in favor of the primary task of measuring your heart rate variability as an indicator of stress level. As such, rather than use fancy color e-paper or LCDs, the watch face is a thin LED strip on a square slab that displays basic numbers. Rising stress levels are noted with a vibration. These are sent to a smartwatch that tracks stress levels over time and offers suggestions on how to calm down. The campaign owner, Darta Systems, seeks to raise $250,000 CAD (about $198,000 USD) by April 21st. Emvio watches cost $206 CAD (about $159 USD) although the campaign is offering early bird pricing as low as $167 (about $129 USD).

Emvio joins a number of products such as last fall’s successfully crowdfunded Olive smartband and the more versatile Spire wearable that measures breathing. But in an era where more smartwatches are measuring heart rate, much of its functionality could wind up being incorporated into an app.

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Automotive Connected Objects Imaging Sensors/IoT

LyfeLens dash cam keeps watch over your car, steers incident video to phones

Dash cams are slowly becoming more popular in the U.S. as a way to record evidence of what may have happened should there be a collision involving the front of the car while driving. But automobiles are vulnerable from all their sides even when they’re parked.

LyfeLens strives to create greater accountability to those who would harm your vehicle. The aerodynamic car sentinel can record  video using its windshield-facing or interior-facing camera, track the car’s location via GPS, and alert a smartphone when it detects a break-in. It can record video on a microSD card or send it up to the cloud and on to a smartphone. During less urgent times, it can take advantage of its 4G cellular connection to create a mobile hotspot in the car. LyfeLens costs $199 and is expected to ship in fall 2015.

Anyone who has ever experienced a hit-and-run would appreciate the value of having LylfeLens on the job. Clearly, though, the biggest technical challenge is keeping it powered while it passively monitors its surroundings, records video and  serves up Internet access. The company claims the product has a high-capacity internal battery that can power a few days of active and standby use, but is looking into methods such as wired installation and solar.

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Smartwatches/Bands

Neptune Suite makes the smartwatch the center of your digital life

editors-choiceLots of companies are hopping on the smartwatch bandwagon these days. Most, like the Kickstarter record-setting Pebble Time watch, are accessories to smartphones; others include a  and make them standalone devices.

However, no family of products has done as much to elevate the smartwatch as the king of all devices as the Neptune Suite. Montreal-based Neptune, which first found crowdfunding success exponentially crushing its Kickstarter goal for the chunky Neptune Pine, has switched to Indiegogo with a bangle-like smartwatch called the Neptune Hub. It’s packed with technology. But that’s just the beginning of the Suite’s story.

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Connected Objects Music

Instrument 1 gets your groove on no matter how you play

The power of music apps have opened the door to a wide range of controllers — things that look like keyboards and disco floors and guitars. The incredible variety of sounds they offer when paired with the right software, however, pales in comparison to their relatively limited ways of producing those sounds.

That’s not the case for unfortunately named Instrument 1, a bold MIDI controller and musical instrument that allows mixing and matching of sounds and play methods. One can strum it like a guitar with its “digital strings” that don’t break, pluck it like a bass, tap it like a drum machine or play it a bit like a piano keyboard. There’s even a way to emulate guitar playing when used with an iPhone or watch. About the only traditional way of producing sound from an instrument that isn’t supported is blowing into it.

The compact Instrument 1 can run for about three hours off its built-in battery (alas, it uses too much juice to charge via USB) and i1s companion app  allows owners to define their own sounds. The versatility can keep backers’ hands occupied for $349 come January 2016. Artiphon  seeks $75,000 by April 12th. Curiously, particularly given how many organizations helped in the product’s development. the company is shying away from committing to producing more Instrument 1 units after fulfilling its Kickstarter obligations

The Instrument 1 is reminiscent of the Zivx Jamstik that was successfully crowdfunded on Indiegogo back in 2014, but that product — while also portable and less expensive — is more focused on replicating a guitar experience on the go for learning and practice. But this latest MIDI-compatible plaything should evoke a lot of fun for newbies who want to experiment with different methods of producing music as well as experienced musicians who want something compact and versatile.

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Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

Stesco imaging device captures three dimensions from two iPhones

3D was the laughing stock of the TV industry a few years ago. Despite all the ridicule and lack of content hurled at it, though, all of those 4K televisions  flying off the shelves can support 3D. In addition, new TVs in development promise improved quality 3D without glasses.

For those who’d like to take advantage of the second (or extended first) coming of 3D television using today’s devices, Tel Aviv-based Moebius Industries has created Stesco. The clever pocket-sized bracket  holds two iPhones adjacent so that they can each capture part of a stereoscopic image Its price is so low that the campaign can be forgiven for its gratuitous use of selfie sticks in its videos. The company offers a free app that stitches together the two photos or video streams after establishing a communications link, presumably via the Lightning connector. Moebius seeks to raise £30,000 (about $44,000) by April 13. Stesco costs £8 (about $12) for either the iPhone 5(S) or 6 and should ship in July.

While  iPhone photography add-ons have proliferated, most have focused on the convenience of the device that happens to be in your pocket. Unfortunately for Stesco, few people carry two iPhones in their pocket. And even if you have a friend willing to lend you one, it must be of the same generation to work to the product. While it produces smaller images and costs more than three times as much, Poppy 3D does the 3D capture trick with one iPhone. However, for partners, families, or amateur video crews who have easy access to a matched set of Apple smartphones, Stesco is a ridiculously inexpensive way to create stereoscopic photos and video.

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Connected Objects Writing

Rocketbook connected notebook erases scribbles in microwave, literally cooks your books

As popular as tablets have become, many people prefer the experience of writing on paper. After all, the medium is tough to beat when it comes to cost and ease of sharing. But of course it’s difficult to distribute electronically.

The Rocketbook notebook uses paper with an invisible array of markers (dots) to allow the transfer of handwritten text and drawings and transferring them from the notebook to a companion app. On the surface, it’s similar to Livescribe, another system that uses dot paper. However, there are some distances between the two products. While the Livescribe system requires its own pen that can include audio, the Rocketbook can work with any pen. Also, the Livescribe system can relay information to an iPad or the cloud in real time as you write.

In contrast, Rocketbook pages must be scanned by the book’s app at some point  via a camera-like interface during or after their creation. A series of seven icons, including things like an airplane and a fish, can be designated to route scanned documents to different folders and cloud services, but good old letters or numbers would be a welcome alternative.

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Connected Objects Cycling

Noke smart U-lock protects your two-wheeler from a stealer

There have been no shortage of smart locks designed to protect the home. But many feel most at home on the road with two wheels hitting the road and a desire to protect what moves them there.

Just last fall, Fūz Designs introduced the Noke smart padlock that kept lockers closed to all but the right iPhone owner. Now the company has returned to Kickstarter with the Noke U-Lock. Evolving the electronics of the original into a shell that it calls “virtually indestructible,” the protective device  accommodates both bikes and motorcycles.

After pressing the unlock button on the device, the lock seeks out a smartphone with the right code in the companion app and disengages. Noke has also built functionality for lending a bike into the app and for revoking those lending privileges. Consumers can also track their bikes via GPS built into the product. Apple Watch compatibility is in the works. And bucking a trend, the company is even supporting Windows Phones in addition to iPhones and Android devices.

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Automotive Cycling

Five Questions for RightPSI

Backerjack asked John Milanovich a few questions about his crowdfunded tire pressure indicator, RightPSI

What does RightPSI do and how does it do it?

RightPSI is a tire cap that turns orange when your tire is low, black when not, and yellow if overfilled. You unscrew the cap to your valve stem and screw ours on. You then fill through ours and it changes color when you fill it so you can use it as a gauge. Low tire pressure impacts how a car, motorcycle or bike handles and breaks which directly affects safety. For bikes and motorcycles, it impacts fuel efficiency and pollutants.

There seem to be a number of inexpensive color-coded tire pressure monitor valve caps on the market. What makes RightPSI different

RightPSI is the only cap that you can fill through and acts as a gauge. Also, you can see ours from 20 feet away.

The product won a Popular Science award in 2011. Why has it taken so long to get to the crowdfunding stage?

RightPSI

While I knew about Kickstarter and Indiegogo, we were working on our manufacturing process.  We had a two-year time there where we were working to find the right person to supply our plastic parts. I had explored Chinese and European suppliers for these parts, but ended up with a US supplier and consultant. I started seriously reviewing Kickstarter a year ago and we launched a failed Kickstarter in December. We learned a lot from it, and relaunched Feb 15.

Colors are nice and all, but why not have some kind of Bluetooth alert that lets your smartphone know when your pressure is low?

We may have a version 2.0 that does that! We have some initial design work for it. However, our current version is getting a lot of interest and we think in some instances it is preferable. We have had a lot of response from locations where they say we don’t want anything with a battery. We think there is a market for both and we are excited to get this first analog version out.

What have been some of the best product suggestions you’ve gotten from the crowdfunding community?

A lot of people have mentioned the smartphone idea. One suggested that it could light up upon touching so you could check your tires in the dark. Also, people have suggested markets I did not explore prior. A guy emailed me saying, I love your product; I am in a wheelchair and this would make my life easier. I had not thought about that before, but since then I have had other people in wheelchairs e-mail me. That is very exciting to me.