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Smart Iron makes a steamy case for connected appliances

It seems just yesterday that pioneering products such as the Nest and Philips Hue were tying household objects that we take for granted to the smartphone for some concrete benefits. But now the adding of connectivity has become somewhat mundane.

Take, for example, the Smart Iron. While most products have an accelerometer to detect when they move, the smart iron uses it to detect when it’s stopped moving to start off a countdown to automatic shut off.

Smartphone users can also use its companion app to set the iron’s temperature and be notified when the iron reaches it. If that doesn’t seem like world-beating features, consider that the product is something of a proof of concept for Meta Innovation’s Meta Box platform, which the company plans to integrate into a range of similarly simple appliances.

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Apparel

Collar Perfect portable steamer benefits wrinkled professionals

The Premise. Bulky irons are great for some clothes, but not all. Dress shirts, with their buttons, collars and pockets, are difficult to iron because there’s so much room for error. Most opt to send their shirts out for pressing. But those who aren’t able to pay for such a luxury are stuck with wrinkled shirts or melted buttons.

The Product. Collar Perfect is a small device about the size of a computer mouse. It is a essentially a mini iron in clamp form. It’s sized and shaped to make ironing touch ups much easier. Not only does it leave the bulky ironing board behind, but it’s also much more portable, making looking dapper on the go possible. All you need is a plug to use it. If you’d like to flat iron something, the clamp folds out flat as well.

The Pitch. Collar Perfect’s video features a man getting ready for a date and failing miserably. He burns his shirt with an iron and forgets his pants to a nice dinner. His annoyed date hands him the Collar Perfect. The rest of the campaign features helpful snippets of the Collar Perfect in use not only on shirts but also on skirt hems as well. Collar Perfect is looking to raise $40,000 on Kickstarter.

The Perks. A $20 donation will get backers the Collar Perfect at an early price. When those are gone, backers can get the Collar Perfect for only $25 with estimated delivery in April 2015. Reward tiers go all the way up to $5,000.

The Potential. Collar Perfect is, by all accounts, a great way to smarten up your clothes, especially if you’re out of the house. This is a useful product for men, as most women have been able to achieve the same results of mini-ironing using their hair straighteners. Collar Perfect’s one drawback is that it isn’t cordless. The creators would do well to consider using a battery with a USB charger. Still, this product definitely has a place with young professionals who just can’t seem to keep themselves put together.