Month: December 2014

Categories
Fitness

STABALLIZER exercise sphere helps with lifting, balancing and gaming

Everyone’s still talking about the core. A’core’ding to fitness professionals, a strong core helps the rest of your muscles perform at an optimal level as well as improves your posture. There are lots of workouts that target the core and most involve balance.

The STABALLIZER is a eight-in-one fitness device. All clammed up, it looks like a simple medicine ball. However, it breaks apart and can be used for destabilized push ups, as free weights, a balance device, footweights, a kettle ball, plank handles and an AB roller handle. With the STABALLIZER, fitness buffs can engage in planks, squats, lifting, pushups, crunches and more. Additional handles and straps secure the ball to your hands for added comfort.

Interestingly enough, STABALLIZER is meant to be used with your smartphone or tablet. The campaign shows a woman planking with her hands on the half ball. On the flat surface rests her tablet showing a tilting game. Using her strength and precision, she can play the game and have fun while planking at the same time, challenging herself to last the length of the game.

At a first glance this seems like just any other fitness product. However, its compatibility with tablets and smartphones make it a little bit more interesting. While the name is still in typical all caps, yelling at us to buy the product, it offers more than just beefier muscles. This is an entirely new way to integrate technology into our workouts. One goes for $220 for delivery in September 2015 with higher tiers offering more accoutrement. STABALLIZER is hoping to raise an ambitious $200,000 on Kickstarter.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Das Kühling makes your beer cold as ice without much sacrifice

If there is anything that the Germans can do right, it’s beer. In fact, if there’s a way to arrange it so that the beer comes out of the kitchen faucet, they will find it.

Das Kühling makes beer lovers’ dreams come true. This portable music amp turned beer amp can easily go from the kitchen sink to road trip to rock concert since it only takes 12V DC to make it function. So it can be hooked up to a car or truck battery. The user connects a beer keg directly to the amp, set it to the desired temperature and in minutes the beer is cold and ready for drinking. An indicator light lets the user know how much has been poured. Once the beer is gone, the amp self-cleans when hooked up to a line of fresh water. It’s not entirely clear how much the product weighs overall, and it is presently compatible with G-type coupler kegs, though broadening the compatibility is in the works.

This product will likely have wide appeal from the young adult to the baby boomer who appreciates rock-n-roll classics and memorabilia. And of course, anyone who feels that it’s the beer that makes the party. Backers who like to add some games to their beer and fun might want to check out the Allin and Shot Timer campaigns.  This campaign seeks to raise $150,000. For $499, backers get one Das Kühling with an expected delivery of August 2015.

Categories
Nutrition/Hydration

Fred Water Flask holds water flat; fits just about anywhere

Girls who hate purses and guys who don’t carry a briefcase must depend on pockets for everything they need. However, water bottles won’t fit in pockets, so some are missing out on getting their recommended amount of water each day. That’s where the Fred Water Flask comes in. This particular water bottle is made of 100% stainless steel, which means it’s food-grade safe and BPA-free. With a height, width and depth of 5.8 x 3.4 x 1.8 inches, this flat flask is more transportable than any water bottle that is round, square or even rectangular because it fits better in a pocket.

It may also fit well in a purse, briefcase, book bag or gym bag, although it likely will need to be refilled frequently in order for a person to actually drink those 32 ounces of water per day that are recommended for optimal health. Other water bottle options that backers might want to check out include Aqualight, Trimr, Intlishake, and for those concerned about pet hydration, there is K9. This campaign seeks to raise $30,000 by December 31, 2014. Early bird backers get one product for $19 with an expected delivery of January 2015.

Categories
Music

The Magnet guitar camera mount tells your visual story when drilling technique

While the old adage about practice makes perfect has a certain amount of truth to it, practicing bad technique leads to bad habits, which in turn leads to limited skills and a lot of frustration trying to fix something that could have been avoided. A good teacher can help their student with technique during a lesson, but what to do in between? The Magnet guitar camera mount works with the user’s smartphone to create the perfect angle for capturing where those mistakes are happening so that they can be corrected. It adjusts to fit nearly any smartphone, and the phone can be used either upright or in landscape position.

An adaptor for the magnet allows for users to capture both their left and right hand at the same time, though two separate phones have to be used to accomplish this. Backers strapped for cash may just want to consider looking in a mirror while playing instead. This campaign seeks to raise $55,000. Early bird backers get one Magnet for $30, with an expected delivery of August 2015.

Categories
Tech Accessories

Leather Budy seeks to partner with disgruntled earbud wearers

Perhaps the item that should be given the distinction of the eighth wonder of the world is the item that most effectively keeps earbud wires untangled. It seems that this particular unsolved mystery is one which nearly every creative and inventive person seeks to unravel, and Leather Budy is no exception. The newly emerging earbud wire taming gadget attaches to a button on a shirt or blouse to help keep earbuds in place when in use. Then the wires can be folded into the holder to keep them from getting tangled so that they are easily unwound and quickly available for the next use. It’s made of 100% Italian leather, and comes in multiple colors.

Great idea as long as one doesn’t wear anything without buttons down the front. Interested backers might also want to check out the Mous Musicase, MagClip, and earMC campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise €2,800 (~$3,500). Early bird backers get their very own Leather Buddy for €9 (~$11) with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Running

Bionic Runner blends safe running training with great outdoors

One of the best things about running is being able to enjoy the outdoors and still do something healthy for one’s body. But training outside can mean an increased chance of injury from awkward foot strides, over-extension or impact fatigue. So Bionic Runner was specifically made for runners who prefer being outdoors. This bike has an eight speed gear hub that allows runners to perform advanced training techniques such as resistance, intervals, and threshold. While it duplicates the motion of running and is a great cardiovascular workout, it significantly reduces the chance of getting injured. In addition, it’s foldable for maximum convenience and portability.

Since the high risk training techniques running usually presents are transferred to the bike, runners can spend more time focusing on their gate when they do actually run. Interested backers may also want to check out the Hamtoner, Go Kin, Spyder 360, and Most Fit campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $40,000 AUD (~$33,300 USD). For $965 AUD (~$800 USD) backers can have their very own Bionic Runner with an expected delivery of April 2015.

Categories
Cycling

Indigo Uni Mount takes cyclists’ smartphones for a ride

Where to put the smartphone when riding a bike so that it is safe and still easily accessible can be a conundrum. Indigo Uni Mount lets cyclists have the benefit of their phone in the center of their handlebars, which means that the GPS function is also easily usable. The 1/4 Garmin mount allows for the phone to swivel so that it can be used in either standard or landscape mode. The phone mount is made of UV grade acetal thermoplastic, and uses 3M VBH tape for attachment, so no tools are needed.

At the present, it is not compatible with rubber, silicon, textured and porous surfaces, but efforts are being made to change that. It’s also not recommended for use with mobiles that have a screen that’s over 5 inches, another inconvenience. Backers in search of a phone mount might also want to check out the Linkmount and Squido campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $4,000 AUD (~$3,300 USD). Backers can get one Indigo Uni Mount for $16 AUD (~$13 USD) with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Chill Lizard watches over cans chilling in the freezer, tells you when they’re ready

If it is indeed true that global warming is, in part, caused by consuming warm beer, then Chill Lizard seems to have a most noble cause. The Chill Lizard band gets attached to one’s beverage of choice, set for one’s desired temperature, and the coaster buzzes when the beverage has hit the ideal cool spot, averting explosive freezer messes. The wireless sensor in the band is how the coaster receives the alert, similar to a system used in various restaurants for when a table is ready for waiting customers. The product automatically defaults to a temperature of 36 degrees and can be adjusted up or down. It will go as low as 29 degrees for frozen treats.

Chill Lizard is apparently designed with an American marketplace in mind since there doesn’t seem to be a Celsius indicator available. Provided the wireless connection will work from inside the freezer, this product is great for those who can’t plan ahead enough to put beverages in the fridge. This campaign seeks to raise $30,000 by December 30, 2014. For $30, backers get one product and an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Pets

Lift Dish telescopes to keep pets fed and watered

Many pet owners would agree that owning a pet is one of the most rewarding things on the planet. It’s amazing how they often seem to know just when their owners need to have the opportunity to cuddle them the most. Unfortunately, many pet owners experience pain in their back, or elsewhere when feeding time rolls around. So Lift Dish was created with the physically challenged in mind. The handle for the food and water dish telescopes up to 32 inches so that pet owners with back, hip or knee pain or in a wheelchair don’t have to bend or stoop to feed their furry best friend.

This product is perfect for the elderly who have trouble moving around, but love having the company of animals in their homes. Pet loving backers may also want to check out the K9 dog water bottle and Mousr campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $25,000 by December 29, 2014. For $50, backers get one Lift Dish with an expected delivery of March 2015.

Categories
Home

Pizza Bed: is it real or is it a pizza dream?

This product gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “rolling in dough.” Okay, bad puns aside (for the moment), pizza lovers and those with an eccentric sense of humor can’t help but love the idea of a comfort food…er…comforter set that looks like pizza. Too bad the creator of Pizza Bed didn’t think of making it take on the smell and feel of pizza too. Imagine not only the look, but even the smell of pizza wafting through one’s bedroom with sauce and cheese oozing between one’s weary toes. It would be enough to make a person have pizza dreams! Or maybe that was thought about and then considered to be a little too over the top.

Amused backers may also enjoy checking out the, ShotGunR, Wobbly Baron chair, Fan-Hand and Raptor football campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $125,848. Early bird backers get a bed set complete with fitted sheet, flat sheet, duvet cover and two standard sized pillowcases for $75 with an expected delivery of February 2015.