As if the act of shaving isn’t enough of a hassle and expense all by itself, there’s the added annoyance of keeping up with whether or not your blade is too dull for another usage or not. A blade that lasts might be considered something of a treasure! RazorPOD seems to have found a way to extend them. The foundation for the technology is rooted in the idea that blades get corroded from a combination of water and rust. So if you dry it right away in their 100 percent humidity-free storage unit, blades will last longer. This is a different angle than something like RazorPit, which seems to be rooted in the idea that it’s continuous usage of the razor that makes it dull, and so it needs to be cleaned and sharpened. One thing that might make RazorPod more attractive is that backers can get it for $17, which is less than RazorPit. Expected delivery is June 2014.
Month: April 2014
As easy as people say it is to count calories and eat less junk food, combining those two goals can prove to be a bigger challenge. Boxed, frozen, canned, and fast food options have readily available nutritional data. But cooking at home, preparing meals out of fresher, healthier ingredients, how exactly does one figure out a serving size?
Extending the idea of a smart scale for humans, SITU is a smart food scale that can provide nutritional data for any bit of food. SITU weighs food and then transmits that information to an iPad. From there, users can track calorie intake, sugar, sodium, or any other ingredient. That information can be used and applied to analytics that will guide users through whatever their goal is: shedding pounds, adding weight, managing diabetes, and more. It’s an idea that others have tried already, including the eerily similar Smart Food Scale by Chef Sleeve, but SITU hopes that its complete nutritional data and ease of use will help it stand out.
While there’s plenty of cause to be skeptical about the scale’s accuracy, he campaign video shares the personal weight loss story of the inventor who used to count calories by hand and managed to lose 100 pounds, lending credence to the effectiveness of a smart scale like SITU. Backers who pledge £50 plus £12 for shipping outside the UK can get a SITU in November and start losing pounds in time for an easier New Year’s resolution.
The Premise. Gun safety in the USA has proven to be seriously lacking. Every year there are thousands of gun-related deaths, most of them accidental and preventable. The worst part is, people don’t know that their guns have been accessed without their permission or stolen until it is too late.
The Product. GunBoxLive is a gun safety system that connects to your smartphone. It alerts the user to which specific gun has been accessed, if the case has been moved, if gun has been accessed, removed or put back into the case. The app also provides immediate options to dial 911, report the gun stolen or show the map location of the weapon. GunBoxLive MD3G is a small device that works with any gun case roughly the size of a USB flash drive. The GunBoxLive HGC1 is a smart case with the device already built in.
The Pitch. GunBoxLive really goes for the shock factor in its campaign video with a sad and not-so-subtle dramatization of an accidental shooting involving two small children. The rest of the campaign follows suit with sad photos and even sadder statistics of gun violence. The developer is looking for a relatively ambitious $100,000 goal in its 60-day run on Indiegogo.
The Perks. The GunBoxLive MD3G device goes for an early price of $279. The HGC1 smart case goes for $359 with estimated delivery dates of October 2014. Reward tiers include service member discounts for policemen, firemen and military personnel and go all the way up to $13,500. As expected for any device that uses a cellular connection, there is a subscription charge. The first year of the app is free, but each additional year costs $60 for one year, $100 for two and $120 for three.
The Potential. GunBoxLive offers a smart way for gun owners to keep track of their firearms. Its options to call 911 and show if the gun has been removed or not puts it above existing smart gun cases such as the Gun Box. While the campaign video may be a bit sensationalist, the issue it addresses is serious. The added cost of renewing the subscription for the app, however, may deter backers. Many gun owners may simply opt for a locked box, but particularly those with kids will certainly see the benefits of the GunBoxLive.
So it’s not been one of your better days at work. You come through the door, and eagerly anticipate cracking one open and pouring it into your favorite beer glass. But disappointment quickly sets in as the head dissipates and it proceeds to go flat. Beer Olive and Hop has been designed with the beer enthusiast in mind. Simply drop the soapstone accessory into your glass and it keeps your beer fizzing and the flavor full. For $10, backers get their choice of Beer Olive or Hop, which is 20 percent off the anticipated retail price. Expected delivery is July 2014.
The Premise. Food poisoning is no fun, and also no joke. With an estimated 5,000 deaths related to food-borne illnesses in the US every year, it’s important to be completely confident that any food consumed is safe and free from disease.
The Product. The PERES is an “e-nose” that is designed to do something no other device has been able to offer consumers: test meat for any potential consumption risks. Compatible with beef, pork, poultry, and fish, the PERES takes an air sample from the proximity from any bit of meat and analyzes the sample looking for any harmful bacteria or signs of spoiling. With the ability to detect over 100 different kinds of harmful substances and instant Bluetooth transmission to a phone or tablet, meat can be analyzed quickly and easily to make sure that dinner will be enjoyable and safe to eat.
The Pitch. ARS LAB, the company behind the PERES, introduces the device and discusses its inception after a nasty case of food poisoning suffered by the CEO’s wife. Backing PERES does more than just bring a device to market, a significant portion of the proceeds are also being donated to various relevant charities. PERES needs $100,000 to finish prototype development as well as to complete the included app. ARS LAB offers a referral program that can result in a free device for referring 10 backers, and also has a number of stretch goals. At $135,000, there will be add-ons for the device to give it new features. $250,000 will include a standalone device that can function without a smartphone, while $350,000 will turn the PERES into a home safety device that can detect gas leaks and humidity. At the $500,000 mark, the team claims that PERES can help detect fertility, be a home drug testing kit, and even prevent infidelity with its powerful nose.
The Perks. A PERES e-nose is available to backers who pledge $120. Developers who want to add more functionality to the device can get the SDK and one of the devices for $750. The first batch is expected to ship in July 2014.
The Potential. The food safety industry can always use as much help as it can get, and PERES seems like a great thing for any home cook or even restaurant owner to keep handy. The social sharing aspects of the device seem a little unnecessary (who wants a status update from their friends about spoiled meat?) but overall the device is a great kitchen implement that would be right at home next to any meat thermometers.
Whether on the commute to work or while doing chores around the house, listening to music on a good set of headphones seems to make the world a better place. It can be relatively cumbersome, however, to keep headphones handy and use a smartphone music player or app to get to those favorite tracks. The Streamz smart headphones have an Android processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, enabling it to function as the music player itself, even for streaming services such as Pandora. While there have been other music players built into even lighter weight (albeit non-networked) headphones, Streamz features navigation buttons on the side of the earcup, as well as intended voice control integration, Streamz allows users to get great sound quality and waste no time in setup. The basic 4GB model is available in August to backers who pledge $299.
Life gets messy and cluttered with all of those little things we need to live our lives day to day. Money, keys, pens, and other debris seem to float around with little rhyme or reason. Nunchuk is not a weapon, but a small flexible magnetic strip that wraps around your personal flotsam and jetsam. Several magnets make the vegan leather product able to fit around different sized and shaped objects. One of these nifty accessories costs backers $13 with an estimated delivery date of July 2014. Nunchuk needs to raise $3,700 in its short 16-day run on Kickstarter to fight its way onto the market.
Ever heard of drift triking? This newer sport involves riding around on an adult-sized trike while coasting down hills. The Verrado Electric Drift Trike makes this sport possible on flat ground with added power. n adult incarnation of the classic Big Wheel toy, the trike comes equipped with a hub motor and battery pack for extra long life and speed. Verrado joins the Kickstarter market with the Horizon, another adult electric trike as well as the two stand-up trikes, the HalfBike and Me-Mover. One of these super-powered trikes goes for an early price of $1,400 with an estimated delivery date of June 2014. Verrado hopes to raise $20,000 in its 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Premise. Blades that dull quickly, inaccurate cutting, they break way too soon. These are just a few of the common complaints among those who use a paper cutter for scrapbooking and other craft projects. So how many paper cutters have you been through since you started crafting for a hobby?
The Product. CutterPillar apparently has a rather popular reputation among those who have need of a paper cutter, and so now it has decided to fill the need for one that’s portable with CutterPillar Crop. Besides having a blade that stays sharp for several years, some of its more coveted features among paper cutter users include durability and a clever but battery-needing LED light that shines through the paper so that you know exactly where the blade is going to hit.
The Pitch. The video for the $15,000 campaign suggests that CutterPillar Crop is aiming its product at a niche market of crafters, especially scrapbookers because it includes sound bite type interviews with several people from that group of consumers. There isn’t much to say outside of highlighting the features that set it apart from the others with which the interviewed consumers apparently had some pretty bad experiences. It seems a bit unbelievable that one would have to go through five to 10 paper cutters in order to find something that’s actually a good product, an average range they all stated experiencing, but the world may be different when paper is such a passion.
The Perks. There are four tiers from which backers may choose. For $30, backers get one product, and the anticipated retail price is $65-$70. Expected delivery is August 2014.
The Potential. Many scrapbookers and archivists have moved on to computers that allows for many things that might have required “cutting and pasting” in the past to be done with the right software program today. But sometimes there’s no real substitute for the actual cropped article. While crafters might be the primary group drawn in this product, teachers might also take an interest in it, but there are of course less expensive alternatives.
The Premise. Pools are a great way to cool off in the warm weather, but getting out of them can often have you sopping and shivering. Towels can be cumbersome to tote and keep dry and clean, and aren’t very sanitary if they have to be shared, especially among kids.
The Product. Extending the concept of air dryers from public restrooms to the rest of the body, The Body Dryer gets you dry and toasty with a device that looks a lot like a bath scale. Its killer feature is In fact, it can even weigh you, helping you to feel better about all that swimming exercise you got in the pool. The device can dry you off in 30 seconds, which is good, because you’ll no doubt be the object of attention standing on it as it gently blows a swirling column of air at you.
The Pitch. The video for the $50,000 campaign intersperses footage of the inventor talking about his product with that of a bikini-clad woman taking a dip in and then hanging around a towel-bereft swimming pool. The makers of the body dryer explain the features of the product and how they’re looking to make this a residential tool that can cut down on towel consumption in the home.
The Perks. There are two tiers from which backers may choose. For $150 a backer gets their very own Body Dryer, which is $100 off of the anticipated retail price. Expected delivery is September 2014.
The Potential. The Body Dryer is clearly hoping to capitalize on much of the success of air dryers like the Dyson Airblade, but at a much more affordable price. It may be a more eco-friendly towel alternative that could have primary appeal to commercial owners of gyms with a pool and hotels might take an interest. Even with its quick drying time, though, these settings would probably want a few around to eliminate any drying queue. It may also be more sanitary, doing away with the bacteria that collects on towels. But what about the bacteria, mold and fungus that eventually collects on the area where you stand? It also has to be plugged in, which may be a concern around watery areas in which it must be used without limiting access to it.