Developer and designer Veau de Lanouvelle has created a new Bluetooth smart padlock which has been created for today’s modern travellers and provides a way of both securing their luggage as well as weighing it to make sure it’s within guidelines before …
Category: Connected Objects
When baseball teams and television networks want to record how fast a pitcher throws a baseball, sophisticated — and expensive — equipment is used. With the advent of the connected technologies over the past few years, though, that isn’t necessary anymore. Now, the ability to track and record pitches can be found in the ball itself with the Strike connected baseball.
With its embedded Bluetooth antenna and gyroscope, the Strike is able to accurately track ball speed, spin and rotational axis for the kind of in-depth information any serious pitcher or organization would want to have to make real improvements. Jingletek, the company behind Strike, was able to create a product with this level of functionality while still retaining the baseball’s classic form and weight, a key factor in its possible adoption by baseball players, organizations and possibly the majors.
For more than three decades now, sneakers have been a cultural symbol of the urban lifestyle, and in 2016 have never been as popular. Now, as slow on the uptick as ever, high fashion companies and their devotees are adopting them in the interest of the prevailing trend of the day — making it the perfect time for something like Vixole to come along and capitalize.
The Vixole is a connected sneaker equipped with an LED screen to show off either custom or pre-made designs with the help of a companion smartphone app. It comes in three different versions draped in a black or white colorway. The Vixole Basic comes with a monochrome LED screen, access to the design marketplace to download visuals, wireless charging capabilities, and eight-hour battery life. The Vixole Plus comes with everything the Basic does and tacks on a wide range of sensors that work with its open API for virtual reality integration using the sneaker’s built-in motion detection.
One of the hardest parts about taking care of the elderly is preventing them from falling down when one isn’t watching them.
Heimdall is a 3D camera and computing platform that features smart artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring software allowing it to detect danger and accidents. It’s designed primarily for elderly consumers and their caregivers. Heimdall keeps track of when an elderly person may be leaving a room or their home, and when they may be wandering off alone. It detects falls and other accidents before they happen, and alerts caregivers on their mobile devices so they can take action.
The purveyors of connected smart home objects are convinced that smart home robots are the next big thing. For years now, they’ve infiltrated and surveilled — and in some cases, charmed — homeowners into adding their capabilities to the home. Amaryllo International’s Koova 2 is the sequel to the original while updating it with a few key additions.
This new Koova2 doesn’t stray too far from the original’s small, portable form factor — going as far as still claiming it to be the world’s smallest. It packs a 240° viewing range with auto-tracking capabilities augmented with facial recognition and motion sensors for security purposes, along with a wide array of notifications and alerts to keep users in the know about their abode at all times. Now, two-way audio is added to interact with family and friends or scare off would-be burglars, while activity/block zones let user mark areas to receive/not receive alerts for. Koova2 also offers cloud storage for the video it continuously records, offering users 10-second video notifications and three-second video alerts that are all archived for review anytime.
Current apartments and homes are being built in a manner that makes them more sealed in an effort to reduce energy consumption. This has the unfortunate side effect of amplifying already harmful, polluted air, leading to recent studies by the World Health Organization (WHO) to conclude that indoor pollution is 5x worse than outdoor pollution.
This is why products like Brise are important right now. The combination of a capable air purifier and artificial intelligence makes it a worthy addition to any smart home. The Brise works with its companion smartphone app to analyzing user routines and preferences along with room types and sizes to adjust filtration performance accordingly. This means that Brise will work differently in a kitchen than in a painter’s studio, for instance.
While motorsport is one of the most popular sports in the world, it doesn’t have much of a fanbase here in the US outside of NASCAR. Unrealistic portrayals of race cars as children aid the problem, with most model cars sold unable to capture the nuances of full-size racing vehicles. Change that, and the potential for a more engaged audience skyrockets.
Straight out of the home of heavyweights like BMW and Porsche, the DR!FT model race cars are the first toys to accurately replicate the many subtleties of motorsport-ready sports cars, all without any specialized track necessary. This means that DR!FT model cars perform with real racing dynamics that are true-to-scale, allowing them to accelerate realistically, reach a believable top speed, brake authentically, and even drift. It even comes complete with different engine sounds along with simulated brake and tire sounds.
Parents like to know what their kids are up to when using interactive devices, whether it’s a computer, smartphone, tablet or even a camera. But cameras don’t typically offer a way for parents to keep tabs on their kids’ activity.
Pello is a child-focused camera with filters and Bluetooth connectivity to a parental smartphone app that allows parents to see the photos their kids are taking. The interactive camera is designed specifically for children, and also allows them to easily share their photos with friends.
Everyone has a problem with organization to some degree, which is why so many companies continually introduce new and novel solutions to help. Usually, documents pose the biggest challenge because not only do they need be efficiently organized, doing so must be a habit. If not, it’ll quickly become a mess no one wants to sort through at the end of the year.
The Pup is a connected pocket scanner that’s small enough to be used no matter where you are. The wireless device can scan most size documents — whether they’re their own sheets or part of a book — automatically crop, rotate, format and fix curves among other functionality, and then upload it to a program of the user’s choosing like Word or Excel. It even connects to social networks as well so that parent can share a child’s newest piece of art, for example. Pup features laser guides to grab the perfect scan, single button control for ease of use, has its own lighting, can scan in color or in black/white, and has enough onboard storage to store 10,000 pages.
It would be handy to control all the devices in a room just from the sound of one’s voice. EnzoMind Connect is an intelligent remote control system for devices in the home and office that works via voice control. EnzoMind also makes it easy for users to quickly find any piece of information they want on the Internet. The device uses algorithms based on neural networks and has a built-in Wi-Fi module.
The Android-based EnzoMind Connect ships in August at about $299 for a basic version with two adapters to control two electronic devices, about $359 for the EnzoMind Connect Pro with four adapters to control four devices, or about $395 for a multi-room set with one control unit, three adapters and a satellite that expands its operation to two rooms. But Indiegogo backers can order EnzoMind Connect for a pledge of $249 for the basic version, $299 for the Pro model, or $329 for the multi-room set. There are also double and triple sets. Its makers hope to raise $80,000 by Dec. 7.
Other devices have used neural networks, including the Xpider. And, of course, other devices –- namely smartphones and tablets, as well as Amazon Echo and smart hub systems from companies including Samsung — can be used to control devices around the home. EnzoMind’s makers say it can control most electrical devices. Assuming that it does, however, there are still just too many similar devices on the market that it’s up against to call it a sure thing.