Categories
Camping Music

Powered by candlelight, Pelty is the retro-futuristic Bluetooth speaker

peltyIt’s a question as old as time itself: how does somebody stranded on a desert island with only a book of matches and some dry timber enjoy their music with Bluetooth speakers? Pelty is the answer, and also the world’s first fire-powered Bluetooth speaker. By lighting a candle and enclosing it in the Pelty casing, the thermal energy from the candle is transferred into electric energy that powers the speaker, providing great entertainment during camping, outdoor activities, romantic moments, or as a neat party trick. Pelty will be shipping out to consumers in November 2014, and is available to those that pledge $199 or more, with bonus scented candles included.

Categories
Organization

Octopush gets your gear into sticky situations

OctopushIn this high tech world that often leaves people wondering how to mount their gadgets and other stuff, the whole focus of Octopush seems to be rediscovering the power of simple suction. When its multiple suction cups come together, they can offer a person such options as wall mounts for gadgets, liquid soap, and toothpaste; or a car mount for a GPS or a temporary gadget mount to attach to a guitar. And that, apparently, is only the beginning. Starting at £7, backers can come up with their own additional ideas come September 2014.

Categories
Sensors/IoT Smart Home

Dropcam Tabs keeps tabs on your home

dropcamtabsThe downside to acquiring expensive, cutting-edge technology is that it creates a need for increased security. A burglar in the home can be an extremely costly and emotionally damaging experience. Dropcam Tabs aims to fix this by recording any situation that may be related to unauthorized entry. These small sensors can be attached to any object and if any motion is detected, it can send an alert to a smartphone and begin recording whatever the networked Dropcam Pro can see. The fact that these devices are roughly standalone is a great sell, but only to those willing to invest in a Dropcam Pro. Dropcam Tabs will launch this summer and can be preordered for $29 each.

Categories
Fitness Wearables

Arcus is the one fitness ring to rule them all

The Premise. Many fitness-centric devices allow people to track their progress as they exercise. Most are worn on the wrist or arm and give information about time elapsed as well as distance travelled. For feedback on actual technique, most athletes resort to a coach.

The Product. Arcus is a motion analyzer that you wear as a ring. It provides feedback to you via its app about the activity or sport you are engaging in down to information on your tennis stroke or golf swing, for example. Other information provided by Arcus include stroke strength, speed, average accuracy, average time, distances travelled, impact, and the list goes on. There are no real limitations to the kinds of feedback or sport that Arcus is compatible with. This ring charges wirelessly and also comes with a magnetic sphere. The ring-wearer can roll this sphere around, allowing it to properly calibrate and gather information about the environment, making its data more reliable. In addition, wearing it on one’s finger instead of wrist provides more accurate motion information. As an added bonus, this smart little ring also allows lets the wearer control any Bluetooth Smart Ready device in the vicinity. The ring comes in many different colors, patterns and finishes and is also completely waterproof.

The Pitch. The Arcus video cuts right to the chase and explains how the ring works along with how many uses it has. For the remainder of the campaign, the Hungarian creators show examples of Arcus at work along with screenshots of the app. It also goes through the huge number of color options for the ring, testimonials, tech information, product comparisons and the prototyping process. The Kickstarter campaign has a huge $320,000 goal in its 35-day run. 

The Perks. Donation levels for one Arcus plus charger and app range from $149 – $230 based on color and finish. Higher tiers offer multi-packs at heavily discounted rates. Reward tiers climb up to $2,500 and all rings are expected to ship by February 2015. 

The Potential. We’ve seen a slew of smart jewelry on the market recently. The Ringly alerts wearers to calls and texts coming through to their phone. For fitness, the ever-popular FitBit tracks fitness performance with an app, similar to Arcus, along with sleep activity and food intake. The WonderRing tracks heart rate, temperature and sports performance and also allows the wearer to control surrounding electronics. While all of these wearables are certainly very cool, Arcus is the only one that actually provides feedback on technique. The fact that it can help an athlete improve upon their game is invaluable. In addition, its capabilities in working with Bluetooth Smart Ready devices make it especially unique. All in all, for the price and wide range of uses, it is clear that Arcus is the next big thing in smart wearable jewelry.