Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

What the hex? Comb720 neatly organizes your smartwatch notifications

All these new fancy smartwatches have forgotten one little thing: their ease of use! Sure, us techies will be able to grasp all the different taps and gestures to get the most out of our new devices but watches are not just technology. Watches are much more widespread than that, and if companies want to capture the average watch user, they’ll need to do more to simplify the interactions with our wearable technology. The Comb720 is trying to do that by being a smartwatch that utilizes seven tessellated, hexagonal tiles that include e-mail, fitness, and messages.

This 7th grade inventor, Davis Barrow, hopes that since these tiles never move, users will quickly become accustomed to where they are, therefore more quickly able to obtain information compared to most other competing smartwatches. The Comb720 comes in a leather-banded, bronze-bodies version, while the active version sports a carbon fiber construction and a durable paracord band, both compatible with iOS and Android. The Comb720 currently costs $250 with a delivery date of February 2015. Its campaign goal is $5,000.

Categories
Accents

Bloom Blanket shows the softer side of tetrahedrons

The Premise. Origami is beautiful and fun to make with paper. Usually it is used as décor or a fun hobby, but never really found in the functional parts of life.

The Product. The Bloom Blanket is the best of art and geometry inspired by origami. Bianca Cheng Costanzo, Bloom’s creator and well-traveled Barcelona guitarist and designer, was inspired by a tessellation to come up with the idea for the Bloom Blanket. She uses Italian wool cashmere to make the blankets. Bloom comes in either white or gray, or a mixture of both. Costanzo also offers backers customization in the size of the tetrahedrons that make up the blanket’s pattern.

The Pitch. Bloom Blanket’s Kickstarter video features Costanzo talking about the evolution of her product, waxing on the intersection of math and design and tossing in the occasional smile and giggle. Her slow, soft voice mixed with the pastel colors of her apartment and the fairy-like music are all hypnotizing and reminiscent of a spa. The video also shows  slow-moving footage of the blanket, but lacks any sort of shot of the blanket laid out anywhere, which would be helpful to see. The rest of the campaign shows different versions of the blanket and the prototyping process. Costanzo hopes to raise $14,000 in her 30-day run on Kickstarter in order to make the minimum factory order.

The Perks. Backers looking to get all cozy with the Bloom Blanket must donate $249 in order to do so. This tier comes with a choice of color for the blanket. The next and highest reward tier goes for $2,000 and offers complete customization of the blanket including color, size, and arrangement of tetrahedrons. Estimated delivery is currently set for October 2014.

The Potential. Everyone loves to cuddle up on a cold night with a blanket. The luxury material of the wool/cashmere blend is especially pleasing. However, geometry nerds may not be willing to shell out $249 for blanket, despite how many tetrahedrons it may have. The Bloom Blanket is certainly an artisan novelty in the elusive luxury home goods/geometry geek market. If the blanket could actually fold into a triangle or if the geometry had some heat-retention benefits, it would be an easier sell.