Categories
Travel

Road Warrior protects your Flintstones vitamins through the toughest conditions

Traveling often means getting exposed to new bacteria, viruses and other environmental issues for which one may not have that built in immunity because one is not normally exposed to them. So Road Warrior PharmaArmor is offering a pill case able to withstand the extremes that come with travel. It’s made of military-grade plastic, and features eight compartments for storing either vitamins or prescriptions meds. The product is impact-resistant, moisture resistant, dishwasher safe, and offers visual confirmation that meds have been taken to name just a few product features. Road Warrior is also spill-resistant, protecting your meds from harmful moisture.

Road Warrior takes meds seriously and has thought of every kind of protection for one’s pills. It comes with the added bonus of eight compartments, seven for each day of the week and a spare for small items like jewelry or cufflinks, a great idea. This campaign seeks to raise $54,719 by January 8, 2015. For $35, backers get one product with an expected delivery of April 2015.

Categories
Home Pets

Ecofarm puts your lazy fish to work creating aquaponic herbs

Fresh herbs make for some of the tastiest home cooked meals. There’s just a more robust flavor that comes from something that is home grown rather than something store bought.

While most herb gardens can seem like a lot of work, Ecofarm is introducing one that requires minimal work, as long as one doesn’t mind that fish excrement is the fertilizer keeping the herbs healthy and growing. Perhaps the concept isn’t much different than fertilizing a vegetable garden with manure. Just as the cows have to be fed, this herb garden requires the user to keep the fish fed. The tank is self-cleaning because the plants work as a natural filter and clean the water.

Besides herbs, Ecofarm is also able to grow mini tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries. The dimensions of the tank are not stated, but it is touted as being “minimalist” in its size; something that could easily fit on a kitchen counter. It doesn’t clearly indicate how many fish are ideal in the tank, and whether or not more fish are required for herb gardens with small veggies or not.

This product certainly has appeal to those who are concerned about GMO foods, and also those who see cooking as a hobby and enjoy gardening. While a great concept, Ecofarm joins scores of other similar mini eco-system fish tanks like the Avo. This campaign seeks to raise €30,000 (~$37,200) by December 25, 2014. For €60 (~$75), backers get one product with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Furniture

Mobi shelves a standalone nightstand

Space-saving gadgets can make for some wonderfully convenient solutions, whether living in a small home, or a large one rife with clutter. Mobi is a nightstand that doesn’t require wall space, just a bed. The zig-zag shape is what causes it to stay in place, with the bottom portion getting tucked in between the mattress and the box spring. There is also a section to stow a few magazines and a small slit in the table lets a mobile device charging cord hang straight from the device so that it doesn’t fall off of the table. The table can also be used easily with a couch. The product is made of brushed aluminum, and there are also multiple wood effect options from which to choose.

While the dimensions of the table aren’t noted in the campaign, it appears that it is roughly the length and width of a magazine. Not a great deal of space for a nightstand, however, Mobi still seems like a high-quality purchase. This campaign seeks to raise $5,000 by December 23, 2014. Early bird backers get one product for $45, with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Music

Headband-like Dreamphones deliver lullabies, stay on through sleep

Headphones that actually stay put can be a difficult item to find. And trying to sleep while wearing them can be nearly impossible. Most of them lack comfort in a pretty major way.

Wireless headphones may very well be the rave of the future. This would resolve that looming problem that so many people encounter with the constant hassle of untangling. This is one nice feature that Dreamphones has to offer.  Other common issues that this product addresses are keeping earbuds in place while exercising and overall comfort. The headband-style product syncs with any Bluetooth 3.0 device, so even sleeping while listening to music is more comfortable than with standard earbuds. It’s not clear what the headband is made of, but it is indeed washable. The material is thick, and so may be too warm to wear comfortably if one happens to enjoy exercising outside during the warmer months. The user also must be within 30 feet of their Bluetooth device in order for the wireless speakers to function properly.

Overall, this product seems like it will have great appeal to music lovers, exercise enthusiasts, and those who like listening to music while falling asleep at night. It seems like it may be worth exploring further, especially for those who are fed up with the constant annoyance of dealing with tangled and knotted earbud wires. This campaign seeks to raise $5,000. Early bird backers get their own for $59.

Categories
Furniture Technology

Redidesk is a desktop PC that’s serious about the “desk” part

Classroom computing is hot button topic nowadays. School districts are pouring ungodly sums of money into procuring the most advanced technology for their children only to have it broken, stolen, or just plain ignored by teachers who care to use their time in a more constructive way. There’s no doubt that it’s important to integrate a sound digital curriculum, but it seems like the way it’s done now racks up bills without much to show for it.

The REDIDESK is a promising all-in-one touchscreen computing solution built within a classroom desk. This combination reduces the chance of breakage or theft, and makes it easier for instructors to integrate computer learning into the curriculum without wasting time, hoping for no technical difficulties. REDIDESK is Wi-Fi enabled and its retractable computer screen still leaves lots of desk space for students to learn with. For example, it offers many orientations to facilitate group work. The desk is also easily assembled, and inventor Darren Riley hopes this aspect will offer the community of those who the REDIDESK will eventually serve the employment opportunities necessary to be empowered. Any donation amount goes toward their $70,000 funding goal so that they can begin a pilot program in Baltimore to test the REDISDESK out on a larger scale. From there, they’ll have enough data to put the desk into production.

The work done here with the REDIDESK is admirable, especially the push to create more employment opportunities in those underserved areas where the REDIDESK would cater to, but the link between superior education and computing remains to be seen. Technology cannot act as a replacement for traditional teaching, something a project as well-intentioned as REDIDESK may not completely understand. In any case, the idea is interesting, and barring exuberant costs for schools themselves, should do well considering school districts will do anything to save a buck.

Categories
Input

Hashkey dedicated keyboard lets you #beonewiththehashtag

The last decade has seen the humble little hashtag shoot to meteoric heights of global importance due to the prevalence of Twitter pretty much everywhere. No one saw it coming, and even the hashtag itself doesn’t even know what to make of it. What used to be the lowly pound symbol on a telephone is now a global phenomenon, and what better way to acknowledge that than taking it off its shared space on the keyboard and giving it its own digs?

The HashKey is a USB-connected single key keyboard featuring the star of the show, the hashtag. That’s literally it. The entire thing is all really tongue-in-cheek and charming, and most will pop a smile watching the campaign try to jokingly convince potential backers of the economic impact of the time wasted finding the hashtag. The HashKey is reminiscent of Art Lebedev’s mini keyboards, but where those have OLED displays that are customizable the HashKey is dedicated. In any case, a Bluetooth connection rather than a wired connection for the HashKey would’ve been nice considering its £17 (~$26) price tag. The campaign is looking for £15,000 (~$23,300) to ship out this social media novelty by March 2015.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness Sensors/IoT

uHoo monitors your air, doesn’t taste like chocolatey chemicals

Every single second of our lives, we breathe. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale: it is this unconscious rhythm that keeps us going, but seldom do we stop to think about the quality of the air around us. We can only do so much about the air outside, but there’s no excuse to being ill-informed about the air in our own homes. The company behind the uHoo is looking to make it easy to know what’s lingering in our own bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms so we can take the actions necessary to protect our health.

Bad quality air can be the cause of all kinds of immediate respiratory issues like allergies, and chemicals and other pollutants can affect our health in the long term. That’s why the uHoo has five sensors that measure particulate matter, airborne chemicals, temperature, humidity, and CO2. It communicates this information to you through a companion app compatible with iOS using Wi-Fi, with an Android and Web-based app coming later. The sparse app gives you an overview of your home’s air quality and gives you details about specific sections of your home, sending alerts whenever it senses something out of the ordinary. Stay on top of your air with $129, and expect a uHoo in June of 2015. The campaign is looking for $30,000 to get uHoo out to backers.

uHoo is continuing the trend of arming users with lots and lots of information about the air, like the similar Table Air. But even if the information it provides is valuable, it isn’t doing enough. A device like this should serve not only as a data recorder but intelligently connect to and control other devices in a home to actively provide that cleaner, healthier environment while you go about your business. It was minimally designed to blend in with your home, but maybe it blends in a little too well.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Input

GoGlove comes in handy for controlling music via gestures

The devices in our life are so incredibly useful, but sometimes that utility can get in the way. Who hasn’t felt somewhat idiotic taking out their phone to do one thing and return it, only to realize within a few seconds that it needs to be fished out again for something else? Headphones with remote controls have alleviated some of that juggling we do but haven’t truly disconnected us from our touchscreen overlords.

The GoGlove wants to make it easier to handle your devices by allowing you to wirelessly initiate a wide variety of actions with just a few finger taps. To use it, a tap of your middle finger activates the gloves and awaits other taps. When input, these taps can do everything from raise the volume of your favorite tunes to begin a recording session on your GoPro, ensuring that you won’t have to stop running or dig deep in your pockets for your device. Each finger on the GoGlove is fully customizable to suit your needs with its iOS or Android companion app, and its Bluetooth LE connection allows for an estimated battery life of a few years of normal use. When weather makes the use of this glove impractical, its embedded remote can be removed for use as well.

The GoGlove will no doubt be useful, especially because it can easily be worn underneath another glove when it gets really frigid out. But the number of actions available looks fairly limited, but there is some work being done in that area so we can expect some more uses out of it. The GoGlove is going for $99, which is $30 off its eventual MSRP. For backers, $40,000 is the magic number that will get this product their hands by June 2015.

Categories
Input

Tiny Swiftpoint GT mouse offers touchscreen gestures without screen touching

The introduction of the touch-centric Windows 8 and the impending advent of its big brother, Windows 10, have given manufacturers headaches in trying to figure out how to best design a computing system comfortable enough to take advantage of their features. Trying to reign its many tiles along with getting the start menu under control with an ordinary mouse just doesn’t cut it. Although trackpads have fared OK, even touchscreen laptop combinations have come up short.

The Swiftpoint GT is a extremely compact mouse with the ability to use natural touch gestures in a non-touch environment. Its ergonomic design has a point-and-click mode with which all the standard mouse functions are available, but the magic begins with a light press of toggle at its front. A comfortable pen-like grip facilitates natural touch screen gestures like scrolling and flicking with natural motions of the wrist, so as to avoid the dreaded crab claw that results from long periods of mouse use.

It sports a Bluetooth LE connection for up to several weeks use, and a separate USB dongle should the computer it’s used with not be equipped with it which doubles as its rapid charger: just 30 seconds of charging time gives user one hour of use. The Swiftpoint GT goes for $93 and should the campaign reach its $25,000 goal, backers should receive their very own December 2014.

The Swiftpoint GT can also be used with an iPad or Android device as well, but the former exists only more as a portal to Windows than anything else. In addition, learning an entirely new manner of input may actually might make using Windows more difficult for some, especially since left-handed users are left out in the cold. Still, the Swiftpoint GT seems like a must have for Windows users who can grasp its benefits, and probably is a bit easier to swallow than the ThumbTrack — fellow hardware manufacturers should take note.

Categories
Aquatics Augmented Reality Connected Objects

Scubus S offers augmented reality under the sea

Scuba divers are lucky; they get to explore parts of the world that most people never get to even see. Unfortunately, they’re limited to using complicated gestures to communicate with each other. The Scuba S is upping the underwater technology game as an augmented reality scuba mask.

The Scuba S is special in that almost anyone but children can wear it, giving it lots of versatility. When worn, the onboard dual core CPU along with the 1GB of RAM work together to provide users with a HUD water temperature, depth and access to a group chat with pre-programmed messages that travel with acoustic waves. The HUD is maneuverable with a small, wrist-worn remote, and can also control a LED flashlight and an HD camera capable of 1080p video. Anti-fog glass is the cherry on top and prevents the Scuba S from being unusable. The early bird price for the product is $499, shooting up to $699 after the end of the $200,000 campaign. Backers can expect their own Scuba S in June of 2015.

The Scuba S offers a lot of functionality in a familiar package, but it’s worrisome to see tech creeping underwater alongside us. Is the vast splendor of the ocean not enough to maintain a diver’s attention span? Won’t there be more missed if we’re busying toggling group chats and cameras?